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Post by kooshmeister on Sept 26, 2014 8:13:30 GMT
While trying to find a phone, he attracts the attention of state troopers Conners and Prestone. As they drive up, he pulls Donner's gun on them, and takes them hostage, forcing them to throw away their sidearms and take him in their patrol car to meet with their superior officer Captain Esteridge, in order to turn himself in, as he doesn't want to be a fugitive
This plan doesn't go very far before Ryder pulls up alongside them in his stolen pickup and shoots both men in the front seat. Conners dies instantly. Prestone lives long enough to steer the out of control car off of the road so it won't crash, but dies nonetheless. Screaming in rage and anguish, Jim gets out of the car and contemplates shooting himself because he doesn't believe Ryder will ever let up, and just keep killing everyone around him and tormenting, before changing his mind after taking some time to calm down. Stashing Donner's gun in the waistband of his jeans, he heads off, seeing no further sign of Ryder for the moment.
At a restaurant, he decides to wait for a bus when his presence doesn't arouse the owner's suspicions. Ryder comes in and makes a show of sitting down across from Jim, who pulls Donner's gun and threatens to shoot Ryder under the table. Ryder eggs him on, and, finally, Jim squeezes the trigger, but the gun is empty. Ryder reveals he emptied the gun first, then put it in the dead Donner's hand, knowing Jim would take it. He then departs after putting two pennies onto Jim's eyelids (the toll to pay Charon, metaphorically telling Jim he's as good as dead) and giving Jim the gun's missing bullets so he'll have a sporting chance.
Hiding the weapon again, Jim gets on the bus that arrives, and it turns out Nash is aboard, too, heading home after her shift at the Longhorn ended. He tells her hasn't killed anyone and begs her to believe him, just as a deputy sheriff's car with siren wailing comes up alongside and makes the bus pull over. Two deputies get out, Hancock and Dodge. Jim decides to revert to his original plan of surrendering, but even when he throws Donner's gun down, Hancock accuses him of spitting on his sleeve and commands him to "wipe it off." Dodge, realizing that his partner intends to murder Jim by making it seem as if he were going for his gun, tries to talk his partner down. It turns out Hancock was best friends with Conners and Prestone, and is in a very vengeful mood. He screams at Dodge to shut up.
As they arguing, the situation is diffused by Nash, who exits the bus and picks up the gun Jim dropped. He'd loaded the bullets Ryder gave to him, and she fires off a round, startling the deputies. She makes them drop their guns, and expresses her disgust at Hancock's actions. Despite Hancock's furious vow that she hasn't heard the last of him, she goes with Jim and they swipe the deputies' cruiser, leaving them behind with the bus. Ryder, watching from afar in his truck, ominously checks his own gun's ammo before driving off after Jim and his new friend.
On the road some time later, Jim and Nash get attacked by two police cars. Among the officers in them is Hancock, who begins blasting away at them with a shotgun relentlessly. Nash attempts to return fire but drops the gun when the car is rammed from behind. Jim evades the police by letting both cars pull on either side of them. When Hancock leans out with his shotgun, Jim hits the brakes just as he fires. The gunshot hits the other police car's tire, causing it to flip over, killing both officers inside. The car containing Hancock hits it and rolls over as well, killing him and the other deputies with him. Jim and Nash speed on, leaving the destroyed police cars behind.
A helicopter belonging to the state troopers appears over the next rise, and a trooper riding in the passenger seat begins firing at them with an M16. Some more police cars arrive, these belonging to the state cops as well and not the corrupt and tripperhappy county cops. Ryder drives along in the pickup truck he stole from the murdered couple, and Nash sees him, finally believing Jim for real. They watch as Ryder shoots at the helicopter, hitting its engine. The pilot loses control and the helicopter crashes on the road. The pursuing state troopers don't stop in time, hit the burning copter wreckage and all die. To Jim and Nash's amazement, upon doing this, Ryder doesn't come for them; instead, he turns and drives off.
Nash demands to know why Ryder spared them, and Jim isn't sure. They've got bigger problems, though. The purloined police car has been shot so full of holes it just up and dies on them, so they get out and walk, managing to find a motel. Nash, exhausted, goes and lies down. Jim decides to have a shower. While he's in the bathroom, though, Ryder breaks into the room and ominously lies down in bed next to the sleeping Nash. When Jim finishes showering and comes out, he finds the TV on and Nash gone. He rips the towel rack off of the wall to use as a weapon, and decides to go after Ryder. Exiting the motel room, he walks right into the waiting arms of two state troopers, who seize him. He fights, and the larger of the two restrains him, while the other, a sensitive-looking young man, introduces himself as Captain Esteridge, the superior of Conners and Prestone from earlier. Further, he doesn't want to arrest Jim. Instead, he's asking for his help...! Jim has a bad feeling suddenly.
Jim accompanies the two troopers to a ring of police cars surrounding a tractor trailer. Esteridge hurriedly explains that Ryder is in the cab of the truck, and wants to see Jim, and they haven't got any time. Jim soon sees what Esteridge means when he notices that the cab is detached from the truck's trailer... and Nash is tied between the two, her arms attached to the trailer, her feet to the cab's bumper. Ryder revs the engine, threatening to drive forward and tear her in half. Esteridge explains they can't just shoot him because he has the truck in gear. If he dies, his foot will come off the clutch and the truck will drive forwards of its own accord, killing Nash. Any attempt made by the troopers to sneak up and free her is met with Ryder revving the engine and inching the truck forwards a few inches, stretching her. Esteridge tells Jim he must get into the truck and talk to Ryder. Jim finally agrees, goes and gets in.
Ryder is friendly and pleasantly chatty, as if nothing in the world is amiss. Then he takes out a loaded gun and gives it to Jim, daring him to shoot him. Jim hesitates, remembering what Esteridge said about what will happen if Ryder dies and his foot comes off the clutch. Fearing that he'll Nash if he kills Ryder, he refuses, only for an angry and disappointed Ryder to switch gears and floor it. Jim screams in horror and lunges to try and stop the inevitable, as, outside, Nash screams and the state troopers watch in helpless horror as the truck roars forwards, stretching her to the breaking point. We hear, but don't see her fate, as the scene fades to black and then into the next scene of Jim being examined by a paramedic and consoled by Esteridge at the police station. Jim acts numb and doesn't respond.
After finishing his examination, Jim accompanies Esteridge to listen in on Ryder being interrogated by one of Esteridge's sergeants. However, Ryder will give only vague or sarcastic answers to the officer's questions. Esteridge explains that Ryder's fingerprints don't show up in their database and he has no criminal record or ID on him. He is a complete nonentity. They don't even know his name until Jim gives it to them. He then asks to speak to Ryder. Initially Esteridge refuses, but ultimately he agrees, hoping that while conversing with Jim, Ryder will let something about his past or real identity slip. However, all Jim does is spit on Ryder. The killer is amused as an annoyed Esteridge pulls Jim out, warning him that that was not a smart thing to do.
Jim asks what will happen now. Ryder is taken by a few troopers and put into a prison bus for transport, while Esteridge takes Jim in his Dodge SUV to drive him to a nice hotel to stay while they wait for the trial. In the bus, Ryder eyes the shotguns his guards are carrying, and begins futzing with his shackles. In the Dodge, Jim likewise eyes Esteridge's holstered revolver. He grabs it and puts it against Esteridge's head, forcing him to stop the truck. Esteridge knows what he's planning to do, and tells him it's crazy. Jim says it's just something he has to do. Making Esteridge get out, he turns the Dodge around and drives after the bus. As he pulls up behind it, the back door opens. Ryder is still wearing his shackles but they're undone, and he has a shotgun. Grinning insanely, he leaps from the back of the speeding bus and crashes through the windshield, going, "HI, KID!"
Jim hits the brakes. Ryder flies out the broken windshield and smacks into the pavement. He gets up, grabs the gun, and begins shooting at the truck. Jim, ducking, loses Esteridge's gun under the pedal, but manages to use his hand to press the gas down, driving forwards and smacking into Ryder, knocking him back several feet. Jim gets out, grabs the shotgun, and walks over to the body. He pokes it several times, and Ryder doesn't move. However, turning to go back to the car, he hears the sound of shackles hitting the pavement. Ryder got back up, removed the undone chains, and threw them at Jim as a taunt. Turning to find the hitchhiker grinning insanely at him, Jim responds by calmly pumping every round left in the shotgun into John Ryder, killing him. Discarding the empty gun, Jim goes and leans against the side of the car, tired.
The End.
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