What Goes Around

Bill was in the back loading bedding in the washing machine when he heard the front bell out in the office.

Sherri, his wife of almost a decade was handling the front desk of the 10 unit motel they owned and ran.

"That should be eight rented." Bill thought, pleased. At $85 a night, five units was about break even point, they could survive on that but barely. Eight rented on a weekday night was very good. Most Friday and Saturday nights they filled up, especially in the Spring and Summer months as the tourists poured up the coast heading for lord knows what.

Bill and Sherri had plans to expand and put in a small bar, a café but that was still at some future date. They had obtained the couple of acres next door which looked out over the ocean, now the idea was getting that paid for.

Bill had never planned to end up here, doing something like this. But when his Aunt and Uncle had passed away just six months apart, he was surprised to find he inherited the rather run down place.

Five of the units were pretty bad, it was clear the last few years had been a struggle for his Aunt and Uncle, something he really had no idea about since he had only visited a few times over the years.

The idea was to sell the place, but it sure needed a lot of work. It was Sherri's idea to fix the place up and sell it, run it in the meantime to pay the bills.

Now years later, it was all in shape and they were doing OK.

Bill finished up and went out into the office to see who the new guests were. It took him a moment to understand, two very scruffy looking young men stood there. Sherri sat over in the corner in a chair, her face white.

That was when Bill saw the small silver pistol.

+++

Bill's mind was whirling as he drove, there had to be some way to get out of this situation, get away. Sherri sat in the back seat of their big crew cab truck with one of the young men, the other sat in the front with that little pistol pointed at him.

If it had been just himself, Bill might have tried to grab the weapon, do something, but with Sherri in the back with the other one, they had things under control.

He had to assume the other one was armed also, although he had not seen a weapon.

He glanced down at the fuel gauge, it read almost full. No help there, they were not going to run out.

He just had to buy a new Ram Ecodiesel crew cab, the thing had a big fuel tank and the screen on the dash told him it would be well over 700 miles before the fuel ran out.

He also thought of the few tools he kept alongside the seat in a storage compartment, the one screwdriver was a fairly heavy one. But no way could he reach it without getting shot, he was sure of that.

Just then, he heard Sherri whimper in the back seat, he caught a glimpse of the one back there moving over her way.

"Oh, no. Not that." Bill thought. He was fairly sure that the guy was bothering Sherri, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The guy in the passenger seat had turned and was looking back with a smirk. There was a moment there when Bill thought again of grabbing for that gun, but he didn't. It was just too risky.

"Yeah, pull her tits out, Rick!" The one with the pistol said with a smirk. He was staring over the back of the seat, turned sideways.

Now Bill knew for sure they were molesting Sherri.

It flashed into his mind to drive the big truck right into one of the huge trees they were passing. But both he and the guy next to him had seat belts on, and while the air bag would help protect him, Bill knew that Sherri wasn't strapped in.

Any impact hard enough to do the job would probably kill her. There was nothing to do but drive on.

"Damn, she has nice tits!" The one in front said again, looking back.

Bill very nearly lost it then and went for it, but he didn't. The guy noticed how tense he was.

"Just drive, mother fucker." The guy told him, thrusting the barrel his way.

Bill drove on.

***

Several times Bill caught a glimpse in the rear view mirror of Sherri and the kid in the back. It was clear since he could see part of her upper body that her blouse was off, her bra askew. He also saw the face of the kid in the back, since Sherri had driven the big Dodge last, the mirror was set for her rather than Bill who was much taller.

So he could see most of the upper portion of them.

At one point, Sherri looked up and their eyes met, her face was a mask of fear. Then she sat up momentarily, now both her blouse and bra were gone.

The little piece of shit was taking advantage of her, and there was nothing he could do about it. Then her head went down, and all he could see was the back of her head.

Bill realized she was using her mouth on the guy, one hand had her by her hair. A sickness wafted over him, still all he could do was drive on.

All of this for the few dollars in the register, and now Bill was fairly certain the plan was to kill both of them when they got to wherever they were headed.

There were some grunts from the back seat, then the sound of Sherri spitting. Bill very nearly turned left, if the cliff over the Ocean and been closer, he might have done just that. But there were trees, some fences. A few homes as they drove on, just no opportunity.

"Pull over up there." The one in the front seat said.

"Why?" Bill knew why and wanted to get past the wide spot up ahead.

"Just do it, asshole!" The guy was insistent and poked him with the weapon. Bill pulled over and stopped.

They traded places, the 2nd man took the pistol and climbed into the front. Now Bill knew there was no second weapon. There was a brief instant when Bill thought of flooring the rig, but he knew that the small engine, while it did fairly well, it just didn't have enough to get away before they could fire.

"Drive." The other man, now in the front seat ordered.

Bill pulled back out onto the highway.

The sounds from the back began again.

"Man, your old lady sure does give good head." The guy now in front said, causing a flash of fury to rush over Bill.

Then he turned and was looking into the back.

"Hey, push her leg over so I can see that." The one in front told the 2nd man.

"God, she doesn't shave the fucking thing." The first one said, staring into the rear. The one in the back handed something to the other, Bill glanced over and saw that it was the simple white cotton panties Sherri normally wore. He momentarily saw the one in the back seat's bare behind as he moved to climb on top of her.

"Please, no? Let me do it this way." He heard Sherri say.

"Shut the fuck up and lay back." The guy ordered. Bill then felt the motion in the vehicle, or thought he did. He could hear Sherri as she cried out in pain.

"Damn, this bitch is tight!" The one in the back was grunting as he said that. Sherri was now groaning periodically.

That was when Bill decided. They were better off dead than let this horror continue.

+++

Up ahead was an area where Bill had gotten a ticket nearly a year before. The road crested a small rise, and the car they had back then had slipped up to almost 70 MPH. A cop sat just past the rise, a good spot to catch speeders. Bill was pissed off about it that time, now he was hoping that cop would be sitting there waiting.

Pressing slightly on the throttle, he built up some speed. He had it up to 65 as they crested the hill, still hoping the cop was there.

No such luck, the wide spot was empty.

"Hey, you slow down, mother fucker! You pull any shit and I will pop you!" Again he thrust the pistol at Bill, actually touching his temple this time.

Just then he heard the man in the back let out a groan. Bill knew what was happening, it made him almost physically ill. That was when he saw the big truck up ahead, laboring up the hill in the right hand lane, it's four way blinkers going.

Just as they reached the truck, Bill turned the wheel into the side of it, a glancing blow. The sound was loud, he let go of the wheel and grabbed for the pistol. The big Dodge careened first to the left into the other lane, then made a sudden swerve to the right, again striking the truck. It began what seemed to be a long slow spin.

For a moment there he thought he had not managed to control the pistol but then he had it by the barrel. The big Dodge was now swerving off the highway towards the ditch. Suddenly they were in the ditch, Bill expected the impact to be severe but everything seemed to slow down. Then came the shock, the air bags deployed but Bill was as ready for that as he could be, and managed to still grip the gun even as the slam of the airbag struck. The truck rolled up on it's right side and slid, finally coming to rest.

There were several seconds of shock and then while still hanging from his seat belt, Bill managed to reverse the pistol, point it at the man below him and pull the trigger.

Nothing happened. He pulled it again, for another few seconds, Bill was confused, then he realized the pistol must be empty.

The man below him seemed frozen in shock, Bill used the pistol to hit him squarely in the side of his head, not all that easy to do since he was still hanging from his seat belt. Then he reached down to release his belt, but it wouldn't budge with his weight against it. He frantically reached into the box next to him and his hand touched the pair of clippers he used on wires, he used that to cut the belt.

His body dropped down on top of the young man under him, the guy was motionless. Bill turned and looked back, Sherri was kneeling on something, bloody but looking back at him. The Bill realized that folded underneath her was the other man.

Somehow he managed to worry his way into the back and open the rear door which was above him. He helped Sherri up and boosted her, as he did that someone on the outside was reaching in to help. Bill was standing on top of the man that was now below him.

"Jesus, lady? What the hell?" The man outside exclaimed when he realized she was naked.

"Help her! Please!" Bill yelled. Somehow they got Sherri out, Bill looked down at the man he was actually standing on, the guy was beginning to moan and move. He stomped as hard as he could on the man's head, lifted his foot and stomped the 2nd time. He was not being gentle one bit. Bill felt something give with the 2nd blow. Then he struggled and managed to climb out.

Sherri was standing there, still naked and now shivering from the cold. The man from the truck was staring at her. Bill pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around her, then the man from the truck finally reacted, taking off his heavy jacket and handing it to her.

"Oh, honey! I am so sorry!" She whimpered, as Bill hugged her.

"Hey, guy? What the fuck is going on?" The truck driver said, looking down, fear in his eyes.

Bill realized he somehow still had the pistol in his hand. He dropped it on the ground.

"Do you have a phone? A radio? These guys are robbers, we need some Cops out here."

"What guys?" The man asked, his eyes wide.

"The ones in the truck." The man looked at Bill, then went over and peered into the truck.

"Jesus Christ, those guys look dead!"

"I sure hope so." Bill muttered bitterly.

By then several cars had arrived and stopped, after what seemed to be a very long time, Bill heard sirens in the distance.

+++

Sherri had a couple of broken fingers, a broken rib, some cuts and bruises, but the rear air bags had done their job, even with her not being belted in. As they crashed, somehow the man on top of her became on the bottom and had acted as padding at the impact.

The police had one heck of a lot of questions, since Sherri was nude and the one in the back had his pants down.

The one in the front was dead, his neck broken. Bill didn't mention his hitting the man with the gun, stomping on the man at the last before climbing into the rear, and was somewhat hopeful that action was the cause.

No real point in complicating things, let them assume the crash was the cause.

+++

The motel was closed for a couple of months, but they had savings so they managed on that.

Bill expected Sherri to need a long time to recover, but she was tough and actually was doing better than Bill was after awhile. He was having troubles with depression, and also was ashamed at his inability to protect his wife.

Sherri did everything she could to pretend that all was normal, but it was a long and difficult time for both of them.

The insurance company actually balked at first in covering the truck, claiming that it was a deliberate crash. But that one made the news and some local outrage caused them to rethink the situation.

+++

Close to a year passed since the robbery, Bill only made a couple of feeble attempts to make love to Sherri, each time it was clear that she was having a struggle, so finally he just left her alone.

There were the few terrible weeks when the trial for the one that survived was held, they both had to relive it all during the testimony.

The Judge sentenced the young man to 8 years for the robbery and rape, not nearly enough in Bill's opinion but nothing he could do about that. Part of that might have been sympathy as the guy was now confined to a wheelchair and would never again walk. Of course his attorney tried to make out that the dead one had forced the other one to help with the robbery, but that did not stick very well.

Finally they could go back to their lives, or what remained of it.

It was bad enough that even though Sherri seemed to be trying to be strong, she was still having issues, but then so was Bill. After all, he was the one who could not protect his wife, and it ate at him when he tried to sleep at night.

Working daily, Bill finished the lounge and small restaurant they had planned, and business was improving.

+++

Finally one evening as they readied for bed, Sherri spent a very long time in the shower before coming out. Bill glanced up at her, instantly spotted the soft pink little shorty nightgown she had on.

He had seen her look like that so many times, but it had been ages.

"Honey?" He smiled at her.

"It's time, Bill." She slipped into bed, and they made wonderful sweet and gentle love.

+++

Things did settle into what was close to normal, and five long years slipped by. The business was booming, they had several good employees, the robbery and resulting situation was now a distant memory. Oddly, it was almost like that had happened to someone else, just a story. They never talked about it, there was no need to.

So it was a shock when one evening a man walked in, brandishing a pistol. It was almost like the last time years before, the difference this time was that Sherri was over in the lounge section running things there, and Bill was in the front office.

It took Bill a moment to realize that it was the same young man, now older, one side of his face still disfigured by scars from the crash. He was supposed to never be able to walk again, clearly not true since here he stood.

"You are the mother fucker that fucked me up like this! Where is the fucking broad?" The man screamed, waving the pistol erratically.

This time things went differently, and Bill was ready. He reached under the counter, grabbed the Glock he had purchased and kept there within easy reach.

Surprised and rushed, the first round from the man missed, shattering a mirror on the wall behind him.

Bill didn't, he emptied his pistol. Shoot until the threat no longer exists, was what he had learned in firearms class.

There was no surviving that, of course.

Bill sat down in his chair behind the counter for several long minutes.

Then he picked up the phone and dialed the police.