by David Sharp
I don’t have much time.
Back through the grate, he saw Tanya looking up at the ceiling as sheetrock dust sprinkled down softly upon her. Jason fidgeted with his hands. They were still bound behind his back, yet he could move them freely. He pulled tight... and nothing happened. I hope I am not making it tighter. Jason wriggled more slowly, edging his wrist in small controlled circles. Through the grate, sounds of muffled voices became louder with the click and squeak of an unseen door.
X
Tanya’s attention left the ceiling back to the slats of the closet doors. Kelly felt into the corner of the soft floor below her. Her hands broke through the rotten wood, beyond its mulch dampness, into a space below. A draft blew up from the rain soaked outdoors. Lightning flashed revealing a crawlspace past the jagged hole.
Kelly whispered, “There is a way out.”
“What? Oh Kelly, thank God you are back.”
“I think we can fit.”
“I thought I lost you, too. I am being punished... like my mother was.”
“Listen to me. We have to get out of here.”
“But, Jason is still out there.” Tanya motioned to the slats.
Kelly shook her head letting her hair blow in the draft from below. “This is the only way”
“I don’t know if I can go down there.” Tanya felt the floor.
Kelly lowered her front half down, unaware of snagging the hem of her shirt on a loose board.
X
The sound of the rain increased in volume. The trickle of water in the vent became a stream. Jason tried to speak and his voice still would not come. Seen through the grate, he watched helplessly as Kelly descended. The crawlspace was dark. The soft light, filtered through the closet door, did little to illuminate. The one exception was the occasional flash of lightning from the storm. Jason could make out spider webs billowing from the dank breeze and something else, a figure. He strained to see into the gloom. Horror filled his mind as it played tricks with his vision.
Is somebody there?
Jason tried to warn Kelly. All he could do, with his parched throat, was make a croaking noise that was drowned out by the storm and the fury — the sounds of fists connecting with flesh. He was torn between the warning and the need to see the fight. The ruckus rose and stopped with the slam of bodies to the floor.
X
Tanya’s eyes grew wide as saucers as she looked up. Kelly briefly glanced then realized she was caught. She tried to untangle her shirt from the splintery wood, until she saw the body.
X
Jason saw it too. Taut and slightly withered, the pale face was instantly recognizable. John had been unceremoniously dumped under the house. CJ never left. Jason shuddered more from the sight than the cold water pooling around him.
Did Adam know this the whole time we were riding in John’s car like everything was okay?
A feeling, unlike any he had ever felt before, crept over him. The sensation felt partly like guilt with another part like disgust, yet there was something else that he could not put words to. The only thing he could relate it with was the complex feeling he felt after the run-in with Mike and the jocks. A dark cold feeling he could not name.
I can’t be a shark, can I?
X
Kelly tried to get out of the hole and her shirt tore a little, but did not rip free. The effort drove her legs across John’s corpse. His body tottered over, partially on top her, yet still upright. It took all she could do not to scream. In a desperate whisper, Kelly said, “Tanya, get me out of here.”
Tanya turned slightly, eyes still huge in wonder. “Somebody is out there.”
“Tanya, get me out. And don’t scream.”
Tanya got her wits about her and tried to free Kelly’s shirt. She saw John’s corpse not quite believing it to be there. Before she could react, Kelly’s hand covered her mouth.
“Promise me.” Kelly roughly shook Tanya’s face.
Tanya mumbled through the hand, saw Kelly’s eyes, and nodded in agreement.
Breaking free, Tanya said, “Oh my God.”
“Now, help me.” Kelly pulled at her caught shirt.
Tanya exhaled and focused on the ripped fabric. “I’m trying.”
Kelly’s footing slipped and she fell deeper into the hole stretching the shirt farther.
Tanya tried to ignore the pale face of John as she yanked. “Pull with me.”
“Alright, just don’t let me fall in.” Kelly strained.
The shirt tore and Kelly and Tanya hit the wall. A gasping, deep, blood curdling scream shocked them both. In rising terror, they looked up as pounding on the ceiling caused sheetrock dust to rain down.
X
The scream startled, yet the fight went on. Jason moved his hands and found them farther apart and slid one hand free of the rope. He could hear the visceral fight and wanted to see what was happening. Adam is fighting because of me. Slipping the last of the knot away, he put his sore arms to his side and rose up on his elbows. Water leaked past him continuing to flood the air duct. Eyes an inch above the rotted floor, he flinched as the punks slammed down near him.
Adam, bleeding from the chest, swung and made contact with Liev’s face. The reprieve lasted only a second. Liev managed to manhandle Adam and roll over him with a wet thud.
I have to do something. Jason tried to lift higher, but his side felt the sharp metal edge of the duct.
Liev, bruised and splattered, was on top of Adam rearing to punch with his busted fist. Adam pivoted. The punks wrestled across the floor. Over and over, Adam tumbled with Liev wrenched on him.
Jason slipped and lost sight of them. The door to the room below sounded as if it had slammed open. Jason frantically turned his head back to the grate sloshing his chin in the water. He tried to speak again, at first nothing then his voice came out in a hoarse whisper, “Get out. Get out of there.”
The storm was too loud for them to hear him and the vent too high to see. Forsaken, he looked on as more sheetrock dust rained down on his friends.
X
Water dribbled down from the vent above into the closet.
“I’m going,” Kelly said in a hushed voice. She slid back into the hole avoiding the jagged edges.
Tanya gingerly attempted to follow, but could not stop looking at John’s body. She made it halfway down and stopped. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Come on. Keep your eyes on me.”
“It’s John… I’m scared.”
Without warning, the closet doors flung open, the makeshift lock (the board under) scraped the floor, and Hex’s rough hands pulled Tanya out of the hole to the crawlspace.
Tanya screamed, “Get off me!”
Kelly listened, to the struggle in terror, to the sounds of the grunts and sliding footfalls of Hex dragging Tanya away, punctuated by Syd’s high pitched laughter.
X
The sounds came clearly. Jason could not see what was happening outside of the closet from his vantage point, but he could see Kelly below as she tried to slide deeper into the dark space behind John’s body. Her hand stuck to the body’s side. John’s corpse lurched forward and maggots fell out of his permanently open mouth. The larvae landed onto Kelly’s hand in a writhing mass. Kelly gagged, pushed the dead weight off, and vanished into darkness.
Jason lifted up again, his entire front wet. The room was empty. His eyes roved in their sockets looking for a sign of either one of the punks. Out of the far right, a blade slashed by barely missing his face. Jason saw the animal look in Liev’s eyes and cowered.
“I’m not through with you,” Liev said in madness.
Adam popped up from behind and bashed Liev with both arms like a sledgehammer. The knife was knocked free and slid a short distance across the wooden floor. Jason leaned out of passage, stretched out his sore arm, and reached for the blade. Before he could get ahold of it, Adam was face to face with him.
“Jason, I never meant for it to be like this.”
Conf
usion swirled. “Did you know?”
Adam looked shocked and cast his eyes down. “No, I guessed. They talked about doing stuff. I didn’t think they would, but I was wrong.”
“Adam, I don’t know if I believe you.”
“I’ve been trying to help you.”
Jason struggled internally. “Why were you cooking that stuff?”
“It’s better than jumping in cars.” Adam fought back his emotion. “Please, you got to believe me.”
Jason stared into Adam’s hazel eyes. Against his better judgment, he said, “I believe you.”
Adam leaned in and kissed Jason who did not resist. The warmth filled the moment of something more than desire.
A yell from below shrieked over the sound of the storm.
Adam pulled back, breaking the kiss, his eyes darting like he had remembered where he was for the first time. “That was too easy,” Adam whispered.
“What?” Jason looked anxiously towards the vent. “They have Tanya.”
Adam nodded his bruised face. “We can stop them.”
Jason felt a weight lift. “You will help me?”
“Yeah, I will.” Adam reached out to pull Jason up and was gone when Liev tackled him. Both of them crashed into a table knocking down glass and chemicals. The impact brought chaos and strong fumes.
Jason could not see what had happened to them through the fog and debris. I don’t know what to do. Should I save him? Jason pined for fallen Adam, his damaged punk. He still wanted him, regardless of what he had done.
Another scream came from below.
He’ll be okay. He’s a fighter. Jason grabbed the fallen knife and lowered back into the water lined duct. I have to save my friends first. The passage forked and he followed the bend under the floor. The rain water was deeper by an inch and a half, going on two towards the end. Jason shuffled down to what he hoped would be another grate keeping his mouth up to breathe. He saw light ahead and pushed on. The metal air duct groaned under his weight. The water was just below the edge of the second grate. Jason put his face to it, at an uncomfortable angle, and looked down into a nightmare.
X
Flame shot up from a small, blowtorch like lighter, bubbling the liquid inside a pipe. In a cloud of smoke, Syd kept the flame set with a steady hand. The glass began, to glow a dull orange.
“No, look, I get it.” Tanya shook all over. “I won’t come back. I promise.”
“How sweet,” Hex said. With a tilt of her head, the short spikes of her hair seemed as sharp as her eyes. “You saw John.”
“Knappy pulled at Tanya’s hair and rubbed a grimy hand along her tear stained face. “…right, you won’t be coming back now.”
“Wait! Look, I don’t care about what you do, just let me go.”
Syd smiled and shook her red head. “Why would we do that? You came running here to our place. You can’t go.”
“No, somebody will come looking for me.”
“Really, like they came looking for John.” Hex motioned to the closet.
“No!” Tanya tried to move, but they had her.
“It burns doesn’t it?” Syd laughed as she moved the searing glass away from the flame.
Tanya screamed and gasped at the touch of the pipe.
“I love that smell.” Hex inhaled the pungent aroma. “It smells like bacon.”
Knappy moved closer, eyes large in his doughy face, and muttered something indecipherable.
“That smell is so sweet. We could have played dolls, you and I.” Hex held Tanya tight.
“I want her eyes then.” Syd decided.
“Stop, for God’s sake stop,” Tanya cried out and broke down in harsh sobs.
Knappy found his tongue. “God is not of flesh and blood. He is in between, waiting to be let out — the rest is grave.”
Tanya screamed.
X
Jason tried to yell and got a mouthful of water. I have to get down there. The vent groaned under the stress. He spit out the foul liquid and was about to yell again when he saw Syd put the pipe back under the flame. He tested the grate and it was solidly attached. If I can find the screws, I can use the knife. Jason felt around the edge of the grate and discovered the screws. They were small and in groves where his fingers could barely fit to reach. The metal duct groaned again, the sound partially masked by the raging storm outside. Half of Jason’s face was submerged in the cold. His fingers seemed to be of no use, while water kept getting in his mouth. Frustrated, he tried to back out and found to his horror that he could not. I can’t be stuck. Everything shifted forward with his weight. The rainwater sloshed against and around him. Its top half leaked out of the grate in a broken stream to spatter on the floor next to the punks who paid it no concern. Jason prayed not to panic. I have to think this through. Jason could not move back as the water created a vacuum of sorts that held his body, wet clothes and all, in place. And he did not have enough leverage to lift up and crawl back, or enough room to turn around, nor could he even yell out without choking and being found. Jason was stuck like a trapped animal in the wall. Surrounded by water, he could do nothing about the terror below except watch it unfold.
Dolphin, I am not a dolphin.
X
The dull orange end of the glass blazed hotter from amber to a deep fiery red. The pipe singed the damp air around it. Tanya felt the heat on her face. The sweat poured from her pores. She fought back. The punks had a hard time holding her down. And the heat was unbearable, but she could not look away. The sound of sizzling filled the air. Her sight melted and charred like a burnt and bubbling film stuck in a projector. Tanya screamed and flailed, until her eyeball ruptured in a torrent of goo and black blood.
X
Jason screamed. Coughing and spitting out water, he banged back and forth in his watery cell. All the times I’ve been bullied. The metal groaned louder under the thrashing. All the times I’ve felt weak. Wood and sheetrock cracked under his fists. All of those things I made it through. The water rushed into a waterfall out the grate splashing below next to Tanya’s twitching body. But, this is too much. Jason watched them all as the sound of tearing metal grew to a crescendo. I’ll make them pay.
Syd laughed, the laugh dying on her lips as she looked up. Hex tried to stand and made it as far as a half crouch. Knappy reached into his trench coat. A look of awe tinged with fear crossed their dead eyes when the ceiling ripped open.
The fear was gone only red rage swirled in Jason’s mind. These punks he had collected clippings of were nothing, but petty killers. Jason clutched the knife in his hand as the duct broke free, tearing out of the wall. Thunder rumbled giving the moment the effect of God’s judgment in his mind.
I am a shark and I will eat them all!
Retribution
X
Jason hit the floor, crashing and splashing down. The water softened the impact and he shook it off. What was I thinking? For a brief moment, he tried to figure out how he had gotten out of the vent. Part of the ceiling and wall had torn off into the room along with the water filled air duct. Debris in the form of splintered wood and shattered sheetrock surrounded him. It had happened so fast that he took a moment to process the damage. Am I okay? He moved his free hand over his body looking for cuts or injuries and found none that were substantial, only a few minor abrasions and scrapes. Jason scanned the wreckage and his heart broke on the sight of Tanya. Half buried and twitching, she lay dying under the diminishing waterfall from the severed duct. One eye was in ruin and the other was staring off into another world that only she could see. I could have saved you, if I had been faster. Jason clutched the knife. It made him feel tough and steeled his nerves against the unknown.
A scraping sound broke the moment. Jason turned quickly and saw no one. Where are they? He knew that whoever had made the sound had to be close or buried, since there seemed to have been no time to escape. Doubt haunted Jason. He heard the scraping again and looked towards the rotted floor in the closet, and the crawlspace below. Ke
lly is still down there. Jason crawled forward with hope. A shadow moved in the closet. He stopped like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. The blue lightning of the stun gun arced in the dark. Knappy’s face appeared from shadow with icy eyes and a grim, ringed, smile. There was a whooshing sound as the punk vanished into the crawlspace.
“No!” Jason attempted pursuit, stumbling he slipped face down on the rubble.
Hex’s bloody hand shot up grabbing his arm with vice like intensity. Jason fought and shook off her calloused grip. Hex’s hand clutched at the air straining to latch onto something. The debris shuddered at her attempt. Jason backed away in shock and nearly leaped out of his skin when Syd jumped on his back, screaming in a high pitch. He fought back reaching around, stabbing, and missing. Syd was fierce in her blind rage and cut him over and over, while her legs wrapped around his side making it hard for him to breathe. Jason bucked like a horse and the motion kept the cuts from going deep. The shank was not that sharp, but its dull edge still hurt him. Jason felt a fury rise inside.
“Get off me!” Jason planted his feet down, bucked hard, and swung back. The legs disengaged with a shriek. Jason turned and saw Syd stuck on the blade at the end of his arm. She shrieked again and her small body curled up like a spider. Jason picked her up using both hands and tossed her to the side where she hit the wall.
What have I done?
Jason was shaking, the knife still clutched tightly. He looked at it and watched the blood drip off of it and flow over his hand. It felt warm. Inside, he felt that he should have been reviled by the sight and was disturbed to find he was not. The aftermath swept over Jason. There was no time to mourn or judge his actions. He turned away from the carnage and wiped the blood off the knife onto what was left of his torn pants. A jean pant leg that was in tatters from the dog attack, while the denim seat was barely held together.
Too much has happened. I have to save Kelly and make things right.