Ashley acted quickly, diving for the blade, which she grabbed with her tied hands. She was back on her feet in no time and charged into the woman, shoulder first. The girl fell to the floor and Ashley landed on top of her.
There was a moment where the girl, Claudia, Ashley remembered, looked up in disbelief. Disbelief that this little mouse was able to outwit her and get the upper hand.
Ashley didn’t dwell on it; she swiftly raised the knife high above her, grasped in both hands, and drove it down.
She felt the blade sink into the gut of the woman, who let out a cry of pain. Ashley then pulled the weapon sideways, across the woman’s belly, slicing her open, allowing blood and ropey entrails to push their way out.
The girl roared in pain and rolled away, clutching her stomach as red liquid spilled through her fingers.
‘Fucking bitch,’ she spat, blood running from her mouth.
‘Sis?’ Ashley heard the man call from ahead. During the conflict, he had obviously kept on going, and Ashley couldn’t make him out anymore. The woman groaned and gargled in response, but it was quiet, almost muted. She coughed and spat a splash of blood across the ground.
Ashley’s mind raced as to what to do next; the woman was down and didn’t look to be getting up any time soon, suffering what may have been a fatal wound. Though remembering the faceless man, it might take a little more to put these people down.
Could they even be killed?
Worth a try.
Ashley then clasped the handle of the blade again and thrust it down, letting her full weight drop behind it. She guided the tip into the side of the girl’s head and felt herself stop mid drop, suspended as it initially pierced into the skull with a crack, then held. The girl let out a horrible screech and the blade found its way farther in. Ashley pushed down, forcing it in, and twisted and twirled the blade, attempting to mash up the brain beneath.
The woman thrashed and screamed, blood spilling from her cranium and gut, but her movements were weak.
Realising she still needed to get away, Ashley heaved the knife free, which took three tries, and angled the sharp edge along the ropes that tied her wrists together. She then ran it backwards and forwards, trying to get as much leverage as possible with the awkward grip.
‘Sis?’ she heard the man shout again, louder this time. Ashley cut at the rope, frantically. The knife was soaked in blood and slippery in her hands, but she worked as quickly as she could.
‘Hey,’ she heard the man yell, and Ashley looked up. She could see him now, up ahead, still carrying Kim, whom he promptly dropped to the floor like a sack.
Come on, she prayed, willing the knife to do its work much, much faster. The man set off in a sprint towards her and she, in turn, swivelled and ran. Ashley tried to keep on cutting as she fled, but it was hard to keep the knife steady.
Looking back over her shoulder, she saw the man move with frightening speed as he closed the distance, keeping low, like an animal finely-tuned to its environment.
‘What do you think you’re doing, girl?’ he yelled.
Come on, come on, come on.
Ashley then felt the rope finally give and fall slack. She wriggled her hands completely free and let the rope fall, keeping a firm grip on the knife, and ran for her life.
But it was no good, he was just too quick, and he closed the gap in mere moments. Ashley knew he would catch up to her in no more than a few seconds. So, instead of letting that happen, she stopped and turned to face him. She also brought the weapon up and held it out before her, letting him see what was waiting.
The man pulled up short a few feet from her.
‘Well, did you take that from my sister?’ he asked. He turned back to look at the writhing woman on the floor.
‘Stay back,’ Ashley said, ‘or I’ll gut you too.’
The man nodded, seemingly impressed. ‘Didn’t think you had it in you, little mouse. You’re full of surprises, ain’t ya? And you did indeed gut my sister, but that only means I gotta do the same to you.’ He then pulled free his own long machete. ‘Here, let me show you.’
Ashley took a step backwards, still training the knife on him as he took a step forward, matching her movements. Running wasn’t an option as the man was far too quick, and this time she had no head start to speak of. If she couldn’t run, that left only one thing, and it could very well mean her death. But she knew if she didn’t try, then she would die anyway. Hell, at least this way might be quicker, and less painful, than what they had planned for her.
Ashley took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves.
‘You know what,’ she said, feeling an odd sense of calm take hold. ‘I think I want to give it another try myself.’
The man looked surprised, initially, then he threw his head back and let out a hearty belly laugh. ‘Damn, little mouse, I really like you. Shame it’s gotta end this way. You would have been fun to play with.’
Ashley didn’t wait any longer, she lunged forward, blade first, ready to hack and slash as wildly as she could.
After the first swing, Ashley knew her escape attempt was over.
The man dodged under her arm, and when she tried to bring the knife down to his back, he just feinted to the side, effortlessly avoiding her attacks. He then ducked behind her as she overcommitted again, now completely out of her reach. It was helpless, and Ashley braced herself for the inevitable retaliation.
She felt a swift blow to the back of her head.
Spots of light erupted, pinpricking her vision, and dizziness took hold. She felt her body fall, but as she dropped, she was already feeling far removed from reality. Ashley realised she was losing consciousness, and her last sight was the man standing above her, still smiling.
He raised his knife.
Ashley was thankful that the black swallowed her up, stealing her consciousness, grateful she wouldn’t feel the pain of her death.
Chapter 26
The man held up his machete, ready to carve up the girl that had tried to escape.
The meek little mouse.
Obviously not so meek anymore.
In a strange kind of way, maybe the weekend had done her good, shown her what she was really capable of. She’d gotten the better of Claudia, leaving his sister howling and writhing. Ted couldn’t remember ever seeing that happen before.
This little mouse had a lot of potential.
Shame he had to kill her.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t warned her, more than once, yet still she disobeyed. In a way, he could respect that, but rules were rules. He’d told her what would happen, and he needed to follow through. His father always said that if you didn’t make good on a threat, then you were nothing, and no one would respect you.
In this world, you had to earn everything.
So, she had to die.
He gripped the handle of the machete tighter.
Didn’t she?
In all the years he and his family had been killing and feeding, and it had been too many to keep track of, he’d never really seen anyone like her. She’d proven to have a determination and strength he hadn’t seen at first. And she was easy enough on the eye. Even the love mark his sister had bestowed upon her only improved things, as far as he was concerned. Battle scars were sexy, something to be proud of.
Plus, he knew Tim was getting tired of being the youngest, the weakest. His brother was desperate for more. Could it be time to recruit again? It was another mouth to feed, of course, but maybe a good-looking girl like this one would draw more meat out for them.
Maybe the reason things were so rough and sparse at the minute was because they had all stagnated. Things between them hadn’t changed for a long, long time.
Was it time for the family to grow?
It had been over forty years since Tim had joined, brought home by father, kidnapped after wandering too close to the woods. Maybe it was time for new blood.
But they could barely feed themselves as they were, so was adding another to thei
r ranks sensible?
Maybe she could replace one of the others?
Tim hadn’t proven that useful in luring food, especially not recently, so why not swap him out? And wouldn’t it be fitting to swap him with someone he brought in?
The choice, however, was not his to make.
Father would have to make that decision. If he agreed, then the girl would go down to see Grandpa.
And if it wasn’t to be, at least they still had another warm body for the feast. Maybe the only stupid decision here was to actually kill her.
Ted slid the machete back into the loop on his trousers, his mind made up. His sister was still rolling around on the floor like a wounded puppy.
‘Well, sis?’ he said and stepped towards her. ‘What happened here?’
‘Ted, helgh,’ the girl mumbled out, drastically slurring her words. Was that supposed to be help? Drool ran from her mouth, mixed with blood. Her jaw worked as she tried to speak again, but it simply gnawed at thin air, refusing to work how it should.
‘Oh shit,’ Ted said, laughing. ‘She broke you, sis. You might be full-on retarded now.’ He collapsed to the floor in a fit of hysterics. ‘Jesus, she fucking done you over. Do you know how long it’ll take to heal up from this? Sorry sis, I don’t have that kind of time to wait. I’m going to be late getting back as it is.’
He got to his feet. Claudia reached up for her brother from a pool of her own blood. It was an exciting sight to him.
‘Ted,’ she pleaded again, forcing out the word.
He just shrugged. ‘Ma and Da aren’t gonna be happy with you when I tell them. Hell, they might even be impressed with our guest here and have her replace you. Take you both down to see Grandpa and see what he has to say.’
Claudia tried to crawl forward, but her motor skills were obviously affected and her hands didn’t seem to move where she wanted them to. It was a comical sight, like a little marionette moving around by unpracticed hands.
Ted turned away and began to tie up the redhead again. Completely this time, like he had done with her friend; feet bound to arms. He wouldn’t make the same mistake as his sister.
‘Ted,’ she said again, the words still coming out as little more than mush.
Ted hoisted the girl up to his shoulder. He looked down at his sister one final time. ‘Get home as quick as you can, sis. Food won’t keep for too long. Might not be anything left. Imagine that? Imagine that hunger being extended for who knows how long, while the rest of us are content, with full bellies.’
He turned and walked away, leaving her behind to moan helplessly to herself.
He walked over to the other bound girl. She looked up at him in total fear. So helpless and afraid.
Like a scared little mouse.
What an interesting turnaround.
‘Okay,’ Ted said, pulling free his weapon again with his spare hand. ‘I don’t think I can trust you enough to let you walk ahead. And I can’t carry you both, so what I’m going to do is take off your scalp. That’s going to hurt. And, to be honest, I’m only doing it for fun. I don’t collect them or anything, I haven’t even tried it before. Which is probably why I’m going to do it now. You’re going to be my first. And when I’m done, I’m going to bury this thing,’ he held up the weapon, ‘into your skull, as far as it will go. Like your friend here did to my sister. Don’t know if you saw that. Shame, would have been nice to get you back to the house. The family might have had half a mind to keep you around, like a pet. Not much of a life, but at least you’d have been alive.’
He bent down and the woman, on cue, began to beg.
‘No,’ she pleaded. ‘Please, I swear, I won’t try to get away. Please. I won’t cause trouble. We can go back to the house. I’ll walk. I won’t run. Anything you want. I swear I won’t try anything. Please. Please don’t kill me.’
Ted studied her expression and knew that she was broken. A puppet for him to manipulate. He pretended to give some consideration, before finally giving a nonchalant shrug.
‘Fuck it,’ he said, ‘we’ll give it a try. It’s not like you’d get far, anyway.’
With his spare hand, he cut free her legs, leaving enough rope loose from her existing bonds for him to hold like a leash. He got to his feet and yanked hard at the rope, forcing the girl up to a standing position.
‘Okay, doggie, walk. Follow the trail.’
She did as instructed, walking forward with her head bowed down.
He smiled, pleased with his work.
Despite Claudia’s fuck up, he would single-handedly bring both of them back to the family.
And, who knows, maybe even introduce them all to the newest member.
Chapter 27
Craig managed to scream, even though every movement, no matter how slight, caused him great pain.
‘No,’ he pleaded as the cleaver was held aloft. ‘Please, don’t do this, just don’t—’
His words turned into a prolonged screech as the father dropped the cleaver, sinking it into the flesh of his thigh. Through it all, he heard the people gathered around him laugh manically.
‘I like it when the animals squeal when we slice them up,’ the father said. He waggled the knife free and brought it up again. ‘Proves you ain’t nothing more than a pig. And this leg of yours looks might tasty.’
The cleaver came down again, sinking farther into Craig’s thigh. Warm blood squirted free. The pain was white hot.
‘Hit a good vein there,’ the woman said. ‘Careful not to waste any, dear.’
‘I won’t,’ the man said. ‘Table’s big enough to catch all the blood. Grandpa will get his fill, don’t worry.’
Again and again he brought the cleaver down, each time cutting farther and farther into Craig’s leg as the blonde man screamed in agony and desperation. Another chop brought a new, more tender kind of pain as blade met bone.
It was more difficult for the man to shake the blade free this time, and each twist of the metal sent a fiery jolt of agony up the length of Craig’s thigh.
Chop, chop, chop.
Through the bone, again into the meat, and beyond. Craig’s throat was raw from screaming so much. His voice began to give out.
‘Finally,’ the man said. ‘We’re through.’
Craig looked down and saw the man pull a length of dirty material from his overalls. He quickly began wrapping it round what was left of Craig’s thigh as a makeshift tourniquet.
‘Just so you don’t bleed out too quickly,’ he said.
Then, after undoing the ankle bonds, the crazed man held his prize up high. Craig could see his own detached leg in the man’s hands, one end no more than a jagged, bloody stump.
‘Who wants first bite?’
‘I do,’ Henry said excitedly, raising his hand.
‘You’ve already had a bite,’ the man said. ‘I got an idea.’
He set the leg and cleaver down on the table and picked up what looked like a strong carving knife. He then cut a thick slice from the top of the thigh, like carving turkey meat, and held it out to Tim.
‘I know you ain’t getting much, boy,’ the man said to his son, ‘but for all you do for this family, this is the least you should get in return. First taste. And one day, you’ll get your fill, I promise you that. You’ll get your fill and everything that comes with it.’
Tim actually looked touched, and he gratefully took the meat. He brought it to his mouth and bit down, sloppily chewing into it.
It was too much for Craig.
The pain.
The sight of these people cutting into him.
Seeing a person, who could have been a friend, start to eat him alive.
The feeling of violation was staggering.
Craig wanted to pass out. Surely he had gone through enough? Surely the pain alone should have been sufficient to knock him out?
But no such luck. Whatever horrible fate God had planned for him, the twisted son of a bitch obviously wanted Craig to experience every last second.
The sucking and slurping noises from Tim, as he greedily devoured his food, made Craig want to vomit. Hell, everything he’d experienced this night made him want to throw up. But he didn’t. He just continued to writhe and moan, helplessly.
It was all he could do.
The bearded man then started cutting off more from Craig’s detached leg and served up a section to his wife.
‘Thank you, dear,’ she said to him. She then looked over to Craig and flashed him a crooked smile and a wink. ‘And thank you, honey. I’m willing to bet this is going to be very tasty.’
She bit down, still maintaining eye contact with him, and yanked a chunk free. She chewed, slowly and deliberately, savouring the taste. Her eyes closed and she let out an appreciative moan.
‘Oh boy,’ she said, spitting small chunks as she spoke. ‘I was right. This is delicious.’
‘Come on,’ Henry said, bouncing up and down on his heels, ‘I’ve been waiting long enough. When is it my turn?’
‘Soon,’ the older man said impatiently. ‘But you go last, because you can’t control yourself.’
The man then carefully cut off another piece, slightly bigger than the previous two. ‘I’m gonna need more than that,’ Henry said.
‘I know you are,’ the man said. ‘You always do. It’s how you ended up so damn big.’
‘Ain’t my fault,’ the brute said. ‘Can’t help the hunger inside of me.’
‘True enough,’ the man said, nodding. ‘But you should learn to control it. Anyway, this piece ain’t for you.’
The man held the newly cut slice in one hand and studied it. He then looked over to Henry, who was watching him like a greedy dog, salivating, waiting for his turn. The man shook his head and lifted the detached leg in his free hand. Craig saw exposed red flesh where the man had cut strips free.
‘Here,’ he said and threw the entire leg over to his bulbous son.
Henry was large, and powerful, but obviously not very nimble. In his excitement, he spilled and dropped the appendage and it rolled across the dirt floor, gathering up bits of dust and grime. The giant quickly grabbed it and held it out before him, an excited grin on his face, like a kid with a present on Christmas morning.
The Extreme Horror Collection Page 13