Defective - A Psychopath's Tale

Chapter 29

Nells

Lydia kept working with her computer as we drove. We'd been traveling about half an hour and still had a bit to go; the dealership Holland suggested was naturally on the end of the steaming pile of city furthest away from where we'd left from.

"Doesn't that fat bastard do anything besides watch TV?" Lydia commented.

I looked over, she had one of the cameras she'd placed at Fat Prick's house up. He was parked, again, in front of the TV smoking herb and stuffing his fat face.

"Doesn't he have a job? What the fuck, is he on vacation or what?" She further commented.

"Yeah, at least he did before I fucked up his world and got him in jinx with the Greeks." I glanced over at her and shrugged. "Maybe his father kicked him out of the business."

"Can I kill him?" Lydia bluntly asked, catching me off guard.

The Studebaker swerved some as I looked over fast at her, I held my eyes too long on her and started to drive off the road. Was now the right time to talk to her? I'd been putting it off too long already, ever since she punched the guys clock that'd been sneaking up on me at Sheila's. Rhonda's. I'd been worrying about her getting the fever, apparently my worry was justified, she'd gotten it.

I paused, I was still hesitating. She'd saved my life. But if I didn't talk to her, she could be setting herself up to dangle. She had a reckless edge, sure she'd been curbing it, but if the blood fever got a hold of her, she wouldn't be able to control herself.

"Lydia..." I began, she took her eyes off the display and looked at me. "I have a concern."

"Okay, shoot." She replied, even though she wasn't supposed to, I'd asked no question of her.

"There's something that happens to people sometimes... when they've, well, after their first kill, animals, people, it just happens. It has many names, where I'm from, we call it 'blood fever'. People just get hungry for the kill, especially when they take a human life. The fever can manifest itself very fast. Now that you've had your first kill, I want to make sure that doesn't happen to you." I explained hoping what I said made sense.

What happened next, Lydia's response, was completely unexpected. She started laughing, hard. She was completely amused.

"I'm not joking Lydia. It happens, it sounds like it's happening to you!" My voice had become urgent.

Slowly she contained herself, eventually talking to me. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry Nells, I really am. I didn't mean to laugh at you like that."

Then she sighed and looked out the window for a few minutes. At first I thought she was thinking about what to say. Then after she was taking so long, I wasn't sure what was going on with her.

"We need to talk Lydia." I said, hoping to get her involved in a serious conversation.

She was still smiling when she looked over at me. "Oh shit Nells, that wasn't my first kill, wasn't even my second or my third. Fifth, that's more like it. I don't have the fever, and I'm not going to get it either. Shit, fuck, I'm fine. Sure, I like doing the deed, makes me all wet and gooey. Shit, you've got to experience the same thing, maybe not the wet and gooey part, but the male equivalent."

The Studebaker swerved again.

"Fifth? What the fuck are you talking about? Who else have you killed?" I pressed hard.

Lydia waved a hand, she looked mildly amused. "Well, the first time, I was about nine, I think. There was this boy, he was a bully, he used to make faces at me, beat me up and steal any money I had on me and take my lunch tickets. One day, I was walking down the sidewalk not far from home, and he just so happened to be knelt down on the curb. He was fucking with some ants or something. The street was fairly busy and a delivery truck just happened to be going by when I walked behind him. He looked back, saw me and called me a name and laughed. I'd had enough of his shit, so, I used my foot and gave him a shove as he was standing up. I knew he was going to whoop on me again. He fell in front of the truck. I screamed as he was run over, totally traumatized the psychologist they sent me to said."