***

Shark Mako and Mary Broderick made their way through Skerrington Forest as fast as they could.

“We need to head in the direction of that helicopter.” Said Shark. The only problem was that the helicopter suddenly sounded like it was flying all over the place, zig-zagging from left to right in the sky, which made their situation even more confusing than it already was. After some twenty minutes of running after it, the sound of the helicopter had completely disappeared.

“I need to stop for a minute, catch my breath.” Said Mary.

“We can’t. You heard what that fucking psycho said, he can track us by our scent. We’ve got to keep moving.” Shark replied.

“Come on, he can’t do that!” Argued her friend.

“Guess what? As crazy as it sounds, I think that he probably can. I’m not stopping, Mary.” Shark said, firmly.

“But I’m exhausted!” Mary whined.

“Better than being raped, or dead.” Shark responded. “If we stop, then that twisted little shit is going to catch us, fuck us, and kill us.”

“I can’t carry on. I just need a minute, that’s all.” Said Mary, and she came to a halt. Shark stopped running, and began pulling at Mary’s arm.

“No, Mary, No! We have to keep a distance between us and that fucking maniac. NOW COME ON!” Shouted Shark. Mary pulled her arm away.

“I just need to rest. I’m not as fit as you.” She tried to point out.

“For fucks sake. You’re gonna get the pair of us killed.” Spat Shark. Then, from some distance away, they heard a voice calling to them. It was Howard Trenton.

“Still on your trail, girls! I’m still on your trail!” He shouted. Suddenly, Mary Broderick found her second wind.

***

The young man who, in years to come, would be known as ‘The Butcher of the Black Pathway’, moved ever forwards, through Skerrington Forest. He could feel dampness spreading across his lower back. That fucking knife wound has opened up again, Howard thought to himself. His one arm and hand now hung completely useless at his side, and Howard’s bollocks felt like they’d had an unfortunate accident with a power press. That Shark girl… fuck, she’s got some strength, I’ll give her that much. I knew that she was gonna be a challenge, but for crying out loud… I feel like I’ve gone ten rounds with that huge Russian guy from that ‘Rocky’ movie… actually, his hair was pretty similar to Shark’s. I’ll have to mention that to her, when I catch up with her and Mary again, which I will. I don’t think that they’re too far ahead of me now. They can run all they like, but they can’t do anything about that scent that the pair of ‘em are leaving behind. I can’t fuck around with Shark anymore… as soon as I corner them again, she’s gonna have to be dealt with, and straight away. She’s too fucking dangerous, the silly tart.

Howard pulled out a pair of earphones from his coat pocket, which were attached to an mp3 player. Time for a nice bit of gentle, ambient music… ‘San Gorgonio’ by ‘X Radius Zero’… not that it’s that ambient, really, but I like it all the same. Howard hit the play button on the small music device. Ah, now this is nice, just strolling along through the forest, surrounded by all these trees and the darkness… just think, the chances are, this time tomorrow night, I’ll either be dead or banged up in prison. I’ll probably never have a stroll like this again. Shame really. Oh well. I’ve always known the score… sooner or later, I was always going to get caught. I wonder if I’ve made the national news headlines yet? Maybe even the international news? If I survive all of this, then I’ll soon find out. I’m not actually sure if I want to get out of this alive, to be honest. I don’t think I’d do very well in prison. Actually, that’s an understatement. I’d be getting the shit knocked out of me all of the time. I mean, I’m strong, but some of the psycho’s you get in the nick… ouch. And let’s face it, I try, but I’m not really much of a brawler. A killer, yes, but not a brawler. Just look at the good-hiding I took from that cunt, Shark, earlier. Nah. I’ll be better off dead.

The young serial killer warmed to the idea of his own death. Yeah… thinking about it, I should really just do myself in once I’ve had my fun with the girls. I might actually do that; hike up to the top of Knighton Mountain and fling myself off the ridge at ‘Fools Gauntlet’. Or maybe drown in Coldsleet River? On second thoughts, I think I’ll skip the drowning experience, ta very much. Chances are though, the coppers might do me a favour when they catch up with me… some of them are bound to be armed, all it’ll take is one wrong move from me, and they’ll most likely open fire. Now, that’d be a nice, quick way to go, unless, of course, they don’t actually shoot to kill… just fire a round or two at my legs. That’s gonna hurt. Howard looked up, to the sky; it was a clear night, and he could just make out the glow of the three-quarters full moon coming from behind the tree-tops to his left. The temperatures are gonna fucking plummet soon. I wonder how Mary and Shark are going to cope with that? Still, it could be worse for the pair of them. Things could be a lot colder, thought Howard, and this, in turn, made him think about Mandy, his first victim. Not that it was murder… Mandy was an accident… but nobody will ever believe me about that…

Chapter Twenty Four

The first death happened when I was thirteen years of age. I was living with mom, and it was before she started getting ill. I’d gone for one of my long walks, this time along the beach in Coldsleet, except, at some point, I’d managed to lose all track of time, and I found myself close to the nearby village of Keln, which is about three miles down the coast. It was about seven thirty, on a warm, early September evening. The sun was beginning to set over the Irish Sea, and I was just strolling along, lost in my own thoughts. I’d got my mp3 player on, and I was enjoying the music coming from it. It was a really nice, tranquil evening. There’d been quite a few people knocking about on the beach at Coldsleet, but as I walked further south, away from the town, there was no-one around at all, which was how I preferred it. So yeah, there I was, just a kid, minding his own business and taking a nice evening walk, when out of thin air popped Mandy, who went and ruined everything.

When I say that Mandy popped out of thin air, I didn’t mean it literally. I actually stumbled across her, near some rocks, as I negotiated the bend around Keln Point. Mandy was a little bit older than me; I later found out that she was sixteen years of age at the time of her death. She was just there, right in front of me, washed up on the rocks, face down, her upper body lying across the pebbles, but her legs half-submerged in a large rock-pool. Mandy was wearing a small, pale blue bikini. There was a fucking crab, just walking, as bold as you like, across her lower back, and it looked like it was about to take a chunk out of Mandy’s skin. I don’t like crabs at the best of times; they remind me a bit of spiders. I walked over to where Mandy was lying, and kicked the creature from off her. It scuttled away, but that didn’t stop me from picking up a few pebbles and throwing them at it, just for a bit of fun. The crab disappeared into a large clump of seaweed, and it was then that I turned my attention back to the teenage girl who was lay out in front of me.

I knelt down beside Mandy, and checked her pulse. She had one, but it was pretty faint. Her face was tinged blue, and I guessed that she’d had some sort of accident out in the ocean, and almost drowned. I gave her a little shove in the back, and sure enough, she coughed up some seawater. Throughout all of this, Mandy was out of it, unconscious. Now, anybody else would have just gone off to find help, but not me. No, I decided that I was going to try and help her, right there and then, except I didn’t really know what I was doing. I grabbed Mandy’s hands in mine, and then stood up, dragging her lower body from out of the rock pool. She started shivering with the cold, and that’s when I decided that I’d lie down next to her, in order to warm her up. And that was a really bad idea.