Nobody.
Until the Havoc boys come, I have to save myself.
Glancing out the window at the brick walls of Prescott High, I wonder where the rest of the Havoc Crew is.
Or … I do until I see a skeleton mask lying on the sidewalk beside a spatter of blood.
Charter Crew.
My jaw clenches as I turn back around to watch Neil climb into the driver’s seat.
“You ready, Bernadette?” he asks me.
I might not be, but I can tell from his voice that he’s been waiting for this moment for years.
I’m sure he plans on savoring every wicked, awful moment.
The Thing drives me almost an hour outside of town to the cemetery where Penelope is buried. I could bike that route with my eyes closed I’ve been there so many times. Resting my head against the window, I listen to “Tiptoe Through the Tulips with Me” by Tiny Tim, a 1968 nightmare of a song that makes my bones hurt.
It’s featured in plenty of horror movies because it’s scary as shit, like a maudlin clown with a knife. It’s always been Neil’s favorite song. It sets the tone for the afternoon as he winds up a quiet blacktop road toward the parking lot of Our Lady of Mercy cemetery. My father was Catholic, so we have a family burial plot here.
The nicest thing Pamela ever did for Pen was to bury her here beside our dad.
Probably because it was pre-paid so therefore, in her eyes, free.
Neil parks the car, humming the words to the song under his breath as he loads his pistol with a fresh magazine, bobbing his head in time with the music.
This primal sense of survival takes over me as I exhale, sitting in the back of his cop car, fully aware that he could kill me at any moment.
That’s not what he’s here for though, not yet. If I died now then he’d never get to stick it to me, show me he was boss, punish me for all my years of resistance. Nah, it wouldn’t be near as fun. I’m sure he intends on raping me, too.
I swallow back my fear, letting that icy lump crash into my stomach as I let my alpha female side take over.
Fight, Bernie, always.
The boys will come for me. I just need to buy them time. That’s my job right now.
Neil climbs out of the car and then opens my door, gesturing with his gun to indicate that I get out. For a moment, he just studies me, but then his lips curve up into an insidious smile.
“We’re going to play a game together, Bernadette,” he tells me as I lick dried blood from my lip, staring back at him as I wait for the rules of this nightmare. Memories flicker in my mind, but I push them back. Not going there, not right now. The Thing makes a show of checking his gun to ensure that the safety is off. “You remember when we used to play hide ‘n’ seek when you were a kid?”
I do.
And I wish I didn’t.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are …”
Neil used to force Pen and me to play with him, chasing us through the dark as we scrabbled like rats to avoid him. If he found us, it usually wasn’t good. He was always drunk back then, and he’d knock us around a bit, just for fun.
“I’m going to give you a fifteen second head start,” Neil tells me, tapping the butt of his gun against his palm. “But if I find you …” he trails off and then aims his weapon at the angel statue above Penelope’s grave. My eyes widen and my breath quickens, but I can’t do anything but watch as he pulls the trigger and blows off her head. Bits of marble that look like skull fragments explode across the grass as I take off running, weaving between tombstones and around mausoleums.
I need to find somewhere to hide, I think, eyes darting around the cemetery as the sun dips low in the sky and the birds call out their final songs from the trees around us. The Thing is laughing, the sound echoing across the freshly-mowed grass as he counts down from fifteen.
“Twelve,” he continues, his voice a maniac growl. He’s planned this all perfectly, lying in wait on his belly and watching with eyes above the swampy water for us to venture too close to the watering hole. See, Neil isn’t about showy moves like dumping a kids’ corpse in a trunk. He just crawls around on curved claws until an opportunity arises.
Just like it has today.
And this, this is why he’s always been so goddamn dangerous.
“Eleven.”
I keep running, being careful not to trip. I need every second I can get to put space between me and him. But the issue with this graveyard is that it’s carved from the woods and surrounded by a cast-iron fence that’d be very difficult to climb in handcuffs.
I have to find a way to get the jump on Neil, I realize as his countdown ends, and I swing behind a statue of the archangel Michael. He’s the defender of justice, right? Seems a fitting place to stand as I struggle to control my breathing, to stay quiet, to channel the cat-like silence of the Havoc Boys.
If you don’t get him, Bernie, he’ll get you. Be proactive, not reactive.
“Ready or not, here I come!” Neil calls out as I close my eyes to block out the graveyard, focusing on his footsteps and the clinking of the keys at his belt. “Bernadette …” he oozes, working his way toward the woods.
I imagine he’ll keep a close eye on the exit and the fence, assuming that I’ll try to make a run for it. Instead, I’m going to do the opposite and head into the thick of the graveyard, using the tombstones to hide.
“You know how good your sister’s pussy felt?” he asks, causing my eyes to fly open with angry tears. I grit my teeth to keep from crying out. Hearing him say that … it’s like torture, pure torture. He knows it, too, and like a hunter with a dog, he’s trying to flush me out. “The last night that I fucked her was the last night she was alive. Did you know that, Bernie? Did you?”
A gunshot explodes into the quiet, sending a flock of songbirds into the sky, their voices high with fear. I use the moment to peek around the corner of the mausoleum, spotting Neil just forty feet from me. He’s just knocked the head off of another statue, leaving destruction and disrespect in his wake.
I exhale and then duck low, struggling to crawl with my arms bound by the cuffs. I don’t make it nearly as far as I want, rolling over and sitting up with my back against another tombstone.
“Does it bother you that she killed herself?” he asks, moving slowly across the grass, gun held ready, clasped in both of his hairy hands. I close my eyes. “Left you here to suffer the way she did? What sort of big sister does something like that?”
Count to three and then keep going. You can do this. You’ve got this.
I open my eyes again and roll onto my belly, crawling closer to Neil. He’s just in front of and to the right of me, and I know I only have a few precious seconds to find a new hiding spot before he turns and sees me.
There’s a large tomb on my left that I head for, putting my back up against it just before I hear Neil pause. He’s listening for any sound, any clue.
“When I find you,” he tells me, his voice thick with lust. I can hear him smacking his lips in anticipation. “I’m going to shoot you in the leg, and then play with you until you stop screaming. If you’re a real good girl then I’ll take you to the hospital and you can tell them how your boyfriend’s gang jumped and killed your vice principal and then turned their sights on you. This doesn’t have to end in your death, Bernie. It could be fun for both of us.”
Fuck you, I think, feeling my eyes sting with angry tears. The next chance I get, I’m going to kill you, consequences be damned. Neil Pence’s expiration date has come and gone.
I hear him start to walk away and get ready to move again.
“Boo,” Neil growls, appearing from the opposite side of the mausoleum. Luckily, I have quick fucking reactionary commands. Turning, I lean back and then kick up as hard as I can with both feet, nailing Neil in the balls. He fires the gun into the air as he howls with pain and I struggle to my feet.
I barely make it three steps before he’s on me, grabbing me by the hair and shoving my head as hard as he can in
to the side of an obelisk. Stars fill my vision as my knees buckle and Neil follows me down to the grassy ground.
He’s struggling to control me with one hand and fire the gun with the other, so I take advantage of him being off-balance to turn over. Better to be on my back than my belly. I bend my knees, keeping my legs together so that when I use them to push at him, I have more power.
My boots hit the arm holding the gun, sending the pistol flying.
“Fucking cunt,” Neil snarls, grabbing my legs with one arm and swinging at my face with the other. He manages to crack me across the cheek, but I shove him off of me, scooting back to put space between us. He chooses to go for his gun as I get to my feet and start running.
Another gunshot explodes the grave on my right as I sprint with everything I have and disappear around the side of another mausoleum. As soon as I’m out of sight, I start looking for somewhere else to hide.
I have seconds, at best.
There’s a huge hole not far from me. It’s very clearly a grave awaiting a body.
The idea of crawling into it makes me sick, but I have nowhere else to go. I’m trapped between the mausoleum and the fence. The thing is, once I get down there, I won’t be able to get out. I discard the idea and decide to run for it.
“I see you,” Neil calls out, firing his gun at me again. I trip and fall then, struggling to catch myself with the cuffs on. I go down hard, certain that this is it, that I’m done for. But when I roll over and sit up, I see Neil replacing the magazine on his gun. That gives me just enough time to crawl behind another grave.
It’s not much help though because he saw me.
He knows where I am.
I’m panting like crazy as I sit up, glancing around the tombstone to see him coming straight for me.
This is it.
My last chance.
I wait for Neil to get close. I don’t expect him to shoot the gravestone I’m hiding behind, and I cry out as bits of cement hit me like projectiles. Oddly enough, the move works out for the best. I use the rush of adrenaline, the cloud of dust, and the echo of the gunshot to shove up to my feet and slip around the other side of the tombstone.
For the briefest of seconds, I’m behind Neil.
I throw my handcuffed arms around his neck as he curses at me, slamming his back against another statue and crushing me against it. The move knocks the breath right out of me.
He gags as I hang from him like a noose, using my bodyweight to put stress on his airway. Neil collapses to the grass and rolls to his back, sandwiching me between his body and the ground. He throws his elbow back over and over again, battering my ribs. After a moment, he stops, and then I realize that he’s fumbling with something at his belt.
The next thing I know, he’s shoving a key into the handcuffs and the right side comes undone.
Neil turns on me as I move to back up, the cuffs hanging from my left hand, the one with the HAVOC tattoo. He tackles me into the grass, getting me underneath him, putting gravity on his side. His forearm goes into my throat, cutting my air off.
“You like that, Bernadette?” he growls out, voice husky from being choked. Spittle flicks my cheeks as I writhe, desperate for air, my nails gouging his forearms bloody, even through the sleeve of his uniform. “Does that turn you on?” Neil leans down and kisses me, his stubble scraping my face as I kick and flail.
One of my knees manages to slip between his legs, and I nail him in the balls for a second time. As soon as I get some space to move, I launch myself forward, wrapping my hands around his neck like I did with Oscar.
He even falls backward, letting me get the upper hand.
I squeeze harder, putting every ounce of my weight into trying to choke him. There’s no malice in me right now however, no joy at seeing him suffer. This is purely about survival. For me to escape this place alive, I have to kill the step-thing.
“And here we thought you’d be needing some help,” Hael says from beside me. I glance up just in time to see his boot come down on Neil’s face. Blood sprays as my stepfather screams, and I’m lifted up under the armpits by gentle hands.
Callum tucks me under his chin, wrapping his arms around me.
The relief I feel in that moment nearly sends me to my knees.
“Ah, Neil,” Vic says, appearing on my stepfather’s other side. “You got started without us.”
Aaron and Hael haul Neil to his feet and slam his back against the side of a crumbling stone crypt while Oscar steps forward with his revolver in hand. He keeps it trained on Neil as my stepfather’s shit-brown eyes flick between the boys like he can’t possibly understand how they got here.
Frankly, I don’t know how they did, just that I knew they would.
“How the fuck did you get out of the station?” the Thing snarls as I cuddle into Callum. I don’t want Neil to see how scared I really was, how vulnerable I felt, like a child all over again. Cal just squeezes me close, enveloping me in his scent and his hoodie and his eternal calm, like a dark sea under a full moon. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Yeah, well,” Vic says, shrugging. “We are, and just in time to see our girl strangle the life out of you.” He laughs again and moves forward, getting up close and personal with Neil as Hael and Aaron hold him back. “To be honest with you, officer, you’d have been lucky if Bernie had strangled you. We have something much darker in mind.” Victor works his jaw for a moment, like he’s thinking, and then hauls back to punch Neil in the face.
Just one hit is all it takes to knock my stepfather’s head back against the stone and plunge him into unconsciousness.
The boys let him crumple to the ground like a discarded toy.
“Find the key to those cuffs,” Vic orders, but Aaron’s already on it, bending down to retrieve the small, silver key from the grass. He quickly unlocks the remaining cuff from my wrist, and then places both sides on Neil’s wrists instead.
“Hey,” Hael says, stepping close and peering in at me, still trapped in the safe circle of Callum’s arms. “You okay, Blackbird?”
I glare at him.
“Of course I’m okay,” I snap back, pretending like I don’t notice how badly I’m shaking. The boys extend me the same courtesy, which I appreciate. “I had him. Didn’t you see?”
“You’re the only woman I know who could go from being handcuffed in the back of a squad car to choking the life out of an armed police officer in less time than it takes most people to decide what movie to watch on a Friday night.” Oscar tucks his gun away again, confident that Neil is out for the time being. I’m not sure if Oscar’s statement is meant to be a compliment, but I take it as one anyway.
“You made the right choice, calling us,” Aaron says, trying his best to smile at me. But he’s shaking, too, and it occurs to me that they were probably as afraid as I was. Maybe more so. I know I’d rather be the one in danger than see any of them hurt. Likely, they feel the same way about me.
“How did you know where to find me?” I ask, finally taking a step back from Callum. As soon as I do, I wish I were pressed up against him again.
“Weirdly enough,” Hael starts, doing his best to keep smiling, to keep the mood light. “Vaughn called to tell us that Neil was, uh, ‘taking you to see your sister’.” He scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Looks like our dog has properly come to heel, at least.”
“Thankfully,” Vic agrees, looking down at me with crow-black eyes. I can see the strain in them from holding back; he wants to touch me like Cal is, hold me close, check me for wounds and fuck me into a restful sleep. Instead, he takes on his role as leader. “Are you sure you’re okay? If you want to have a breakdown later, I’ll hold you all damn night. Right now, though, if you can function, we need you. We’ve got urgent business.”
I feel a sense of relief in that, in knowing that I have to push my feelings aside for the sake of Havoc. I’m good with that sort of thing, with violence and intrigue. Not so much with my own emotions.
“I’m okay,” I say, a
nd I mean it. I’m hurting all over, and deep down, there’s a little girl crying inside my heart. But that can wait. I can unpack later. “What do we need to do?”
“We need to start a riot, that’s what,” Cal says, and I flick my attention to him, brows raised.
“A riot?” I echo as he nods with his chin in the direction of a black SUV that I’ve never seen before. My guess: they boosted it for a quick ride out here.
“Let’s load Neil up and we’ll explain on the way,” Callum tells me as Hael and Aaron each grab one of the Thing’s legs, dragging him across the grass with zero regard as to where his head falls. If he smacks his skull against a tombstone here, a metal memorial plaque there, eh. Not our problem.
The boys chuck him into the back of the SUV, leaving him with Aaron and his .22 since we don’t have any ropes or gags on us. Gotta improvise where you can, right?
“I’ve scrambled the camera feed,” Oscar tells Hael as I sit in the SUV with Callum, feeling useless as the guys deal with picking up the pieces of this mess. “I can’t say what it recorded before now, but it’s the best I can do in the moment.”
“Good enough,” Hael says, climbing in the driver’s seat of Neil’s squad car and slamming the door. He takes off down the winding cemetery road as the other boys join me in the SUV and we follow after.
I have no memory of that drive into town, only of laying my head on Cal’s lap and feeling his fingers stir my hair.
When I wake up, I find us parked outside the old Prescott High building, music blasting from inside. Neil’s car is in front of us, and there are about a dozen girls waiting beside it. Pretty sure Stacey Langford is one of them.
“Hey there, sleepyhead,” Vic says with a tired smile, watching as I yawn and stumble from the SUV with Callum beside me, like my own personal guardsman. Hael, Aaron, and Oscar are already on the sidewalk waiting for me. “I was just about to give Stacey the go-ahead.”
“Go-ahead for what?” I ask, glancing over at her and her strange posse of girls, all of them dressed in pink sweatshirts and matching ski masks. Stacey yanks hers on and smiles as I cling to Callum, cranky and tired but alive. Alive and safe.
Chaos at Prescott High Page 35