Twenty minutes later, the rain stopped. Ashley huddled under the awning of a closed restaurant. She thought about what a terrible night it was, the most terrible of her life. No, it had been the most terrible night for her father.

Even as the rain let up, Ashley's waterworks sparked again. Misery clouded her awareness, and she ignored the moving shadows around her, even when a young man emerged fully from the alley. She jumped when he spoke.

"What's wrong?"

He was older, handsome, and non-threatening. However, not many non-threatening handsome young men went out past midnight. Not anymore. Ashley's hand caressed the gun in her pocket.

"Nothing's wrong. Go away."

If he didn't jet in two minutes, Ashley decided to shoot him. She was surprised at how quickly the decision came to her.

The boy ignored her and sat on the bench. Okay, maybe three minutes. She thought he would ask her what she was doing out at night, but he didn't. It would have prompted her to return the question, but the conversation took a different direction.

"I know why you're sad," he said.

"You do?"

"Uh-huh. You're sad because you're alone."

Ashley held the gun, though she didn't see the need for it anymore.

"Look, I'm not sad," she lied. "Just go, please."

She had never been exposed to weird men. It didn't occur to her how weird strangers could easily mutate into dangerous strangers. She didn't know it was perfectly within her rights to walk away and ignore him.

"You probably think I'm a major creep, but I'm not." He moved closer to her, undermining his statement. "It makes me sad to see such a beautiful girl all alone. You could get hurt out here all alone in the city, in the dark."

She should have left then, and maybe he would have let her. It flashed in her head he might be a bad man, and recent experience had taught her what bad men were capable of, but she refused instinct. He's my age. He won't hurt me. But maybe I should check and make sure...

"You say you're not a creep, but you've been tres creepy so far."

Even as she spoke, Ashley had the insane wish for him to kiss her. She wanted her bad memories to fade in physical feelings for the stranger.

You need to start walking away, not making out, a voice within her cautioned.

I nearly died tonight, and I might still die tonight. I deserve to have my first, and possibly last kiss, she countered.

It was like the boy heard her thoughts, and chose that moment to lean in. Close up, she could see he was more than a bit older than her. Sixteen at least.

"You don't believe I'm a creep. Can I kiss you?"

Ashley answered his question by closing the last six inches between them. Sharing her first kiss with a high school boy would have made her the coolest girl in school. Too bad she was never going back, and too bad most of her friends had fled the city, were declared missing, or dead.

Wonder if I'm doing this right.

Your father is dead and you're worried about your skills as a kisser. Some daughter. The voice mocked her, and she couldn't stand it. Ashley thought she could drown out her loss with physical contact, but it wasn't working. She felt worse with each second. The kissing needed to stop.

Things were getting too heated too quickly for young Ashley. She tried to pull back. The boy's hand cradled her head, insisting she continue. So they kissed some more. And more. Ashley was ready to breathe on her own. The kissing was too scary, too new. It got scarier when one of his hands shot up her skirt, and the other went up her blouse.

She moved his hands away, but they continued their excursions.

"Get off of me!"

When he didn't listen, she bit his arm. He yelped, slapped her, and went on. It took her a second to recover from the slap. She bit him a second time, clamping on and yanking with her teeth. A small chunk of skin tore away from his arm. The boy cried out and finally jumped off of her.

"Damn! Why'd you do that?"

Ashley spit out the piece of his arm stuck in her mouth. She felt like throwing up for days on end, but she held it in. She needed to be ready if he came at her again.

"Seriously?"

He was examining his wound, which was bleeding at a ridiculous rate. "Oh, c'mon, you want me. Not every girl gives it up in the first five seconds, you know."

The gun. She had to take out the gun. Residual fear made her weak, and she found she couldn't move much.

"I've never done anything like that before."

"Guess you're a virgin then. Don't look like one, and you don't kiss like one."

He stood over a puddle of water, and the reflection caught Ashley's eye. He didn't look like the boy at all. In the pool of water, she saw not a boy, but a thing with black skin and yellow eyes. Its mouth moved, and its voice sounded like a young man's, but the monster could not be human. Ashley blinked, and the reflection returned to a clear puddle.

"Goddamn cunt. You're gonna get it anyway," he said.

He reached for her. Something in her brain allowed her to react, and she shot the gun into the air.

"Holy fuck, are you crazy?"

"Leave me alone."

Ashley imagined pointing the gun at him, but she didn't want him to see how badly her hands shook, so she brought the gun down at her side, ready to lift and shoot if she had to.

The boy's lips set into a sneer, similar to an animal. He wasn't going to leave.

The squeak of the cab's brakes saved Ashley's life, and the boy ran back into the shadows.

****

She loved cheap cab rides. To take her to the Coach Inn, the fare totaled $181.20. Ashley gave the driver eleven twenty-dollar bills and got out of the cab. While the driver took her bags out of the trunk, she surveyed the Coach Inn.

For such an infamous landmark, it wasn't bad. Ashley expected thugs and prostitutes to be having a party in the parking lot, but found one bald man smoking a cigarette by his car. The L-Shaped building had red doors and concrete walls. The neon sign by the roadway was red too. Underneath the large "COACH INN" letters, it read vacancy. Although, the "v" was out, so it read "acancy". Ashley felt safer than she had been on the street.

Bags in hand, she approached the plexiglass office. There was no one inside. She rang the service bell.

Dun dun dun.

After a minute, a greasy-haired man appeared from a separate room. He neared the window, and Ashley saw his glasses were as greasy as his hair.

"Welcome to the Coach Inn, you're last stop from home. How may I help you," he droned.

"I'd, uh," Ashley cleared her throat, "like to get a room, please, sir."

He narrowed his eyes. "Are you alone, girl?"

She thought about lying, but decided it didn't really matter at a place like Coach Inn.

"Yes."

Grease-ball looked her over. He stayed quiet (like a mouse in church), and she was afraid the next thing to come out of his mouth might be, "Get out of here, before I call the cops!"

"Hmm." Another moment of staring before he said, "Room's $85 a night."

Ashley fumbled in her bag. Getting four twenties and a five took longer than it should have. There was no organization to her satchel, and the money had been stuffed inside, along with all of her other important personal items. When she handed the bills over, he checked her twenties under the glare of the light. Satisfied with their validity, he turned to a wall of keys hooks, some empty, but most of them not.

"22C. Checkout's at noon."

He looked as if he wanted to say more, but didn't.

"Thank you." Ashley took the key.

She turned around, ready to find room 22C. Grease-ball slipped out of his plexiglass office. When she went to pick up her bags, he was already trundling down the sidewalk with them.

"What are you doing?"

"My job. Not gonna let you walk there alone." Grease-ball was grumpy in his chivalry.

"Thanks."

His kindness was unexpected. Two small tears fell down her cheeks, and she allowed them, but just the two.

Why are you being nice to me? She wanted to ask. The ugliest man in the ugliest establishment, and he treated her decently. She couldn't figure it. The boy from before had hid secrets beneath his beauty, uglier secrets than the dandruff flakes on Grease-ball's shoulders.

The kind, gruff man walked on, with Ashley following. They walked to the second to the last door at the end of the L-shaped structure.

"Don't use the water 'til you let it run for a minute. And don't hang around outside. This place is full of bad people looking for someone like you."

"Like me?"

"Innocent. Corruptible."

He smiled. Two front teeth were missing from the equation and Ashley grimaced. Her disgust didn't faze him. Grease-ball put her bags down and offered more of his holey smile before walking away.

"Wow." Ashley said.

Maybe she needed to worry about Grease-ball after all.

****

A/N: I know what you're thinking...Ashley should learn to stay outta trouble! Hit the vote button and you'll feel better :D

Today's dedication goes out to my newest follower,  XxDemons_GirlxX. Not only is she cooler than cool, but she's also got a hella cool horror apocalyptic tale to check out, Dead END: 

https://www.wattpad.com/story/51361472-dead-end