The Story Behind the Story: The Last Ride

I am not a big fan of serial killer stories because they are so overdone in modern fiction. Serial killer stories tend to be generic, and the killers themselves tend to be not remotely believable. If popular fiction reflected real society, every third person living in the United States would be a serial killer. The Last Ride was the second story I ever wrote, and was originally published in Demon Minds magazine. It was a story idea my wife presented to me. It was such a neat concept that I had to pursue it, despite my serial killer aversion.

The story is told through the point of view of our killer. He’s a collector. From the time of his youth, he has been killing things and taking a part of them: an ear, an eye, a hand. These days, when he feels a need to collect, he begins to hitchhike across the country. He kills the poor, unsuspecting folk who are unfortunate to give him a ride. He doesn’t feel as if he’s doing anything wrong. For him, this is as natural as breathing.

I liked this vehicle of telling the story. For me, hitchhiking is the sort of crazy thing that I would never even consider, whether it’s giving somebody a ride or accepting one. Think about it. You have no idea who’s going to be on the other end. I know that back in the day in the sixties and seventies this was a common thing to do, but these days you have to be nuts to be involved with hitchhiking. And if you are thinking about it, you might want to read my story The Last Ride at http://www.carlalves.com/blog-post/th....