by Lucian Bane
He hurried over and looked. “My God.”
“What do we do?”
“I know we need to hurry,” he said. “Look for a razor, I’ll have to cut it.”
Solomon hurried to look, feeling sick at the idea of cutting the skin.
“I’ll start undoing what I can on the other two,” his uncle said while Solomon tore through supplies. “I got this,” Solomon held up a kind of sharp tool “I got this, can it work?” He jerked to the foyer. “Where’s Chaos, is she okay?” He raced to it and let out a breath at finding her in the same spot.
“Solomon!”
Solomon spun at hearing panic.
Chapter Fifteen
“Something’s wrong!” he said, fighting to get the shit off of her head while her whole body shook.
“A seizure!” Solomon hurried over. “She’s having a seizure, hold her, help me hold her.” Solomon put his weight on her shoulders.
“I can’t hold anything!” his uncle said, frantic.
Solomon fought to hold her down. “Come on,” he whispered near her face. “Pull through, please pull through.” It seemed like forever before she stopped shaking and Solomon pulled up and looked at her. “Come on, come on, hey,” he said, tapping her face. “Wake up, come on. Pull through, come on you can do this, pull through!” he yelled, tapping her harder. “She can pull through!” he told his uncle, shoving his hand away and tapping her face in desperation. “Hey, come on, pull through, you can do it. God!” he yelled, “Pull her through! Pull her through please, I beg you!”
Nothing.
And then a gasp.
“Oh shit! She’s alive!” his uncle said while Solomon let out a sob of relief and hurried to get her undone.
“Get the other one,” Solomon said, removing all the sick shit from her. “Stay with me sweetheart,” he called to her. “You have to live, okay? You have a mom and a dad that are looking for you. It’s time to go home, okay?” he said, cutting the tape off her ankles then cutting the wire between her legs. It hit him then. “We can just cut the wires on their chest,” he told his uncle. “They can take them off at the hospital.”
“Right!” he said, sounding relieved.
After they removed all the wires, his uncle said, “I’ll carry the first one to the car.”
“Let’s carry two and you stay with them, and I’ll carry the last one and bring Chaos.”
“What about the ones in the house?” His uncle suddenly remembered.
“We’ll go get them.”
They hurried the women out into the small foyer. “Chaos, follow us to the car.”
“I’m here, I’m here,” she said getting behind Solomon and grabbing his shirt tight.
“That’s it, Beautiful, don’t let go. We’re doing great.”
They carefully made their way out of the sick house, having to step over the doctor. Chaos gave a horrified yelp, like it was the most detestable thing she’d ever done.
Inside the small garage, the uncle said, “Shit, I should’ve pulled it out.”
“Too late now,” Solomon strained. “Chaos, open the door.” She held it open and Solomon carefully worked the lifeless woman in and propped her up at the far end. “Here, give her to me,” he said to his uncle.
He passed the second woman to him and Solomon leaned her on the first, so she didn’t fall over. He backed out and stared at the lifeless, human rag dolls. The sight was horrific.
Solomon turned to Chaos, locking his eyes on hers. “Uncle Joe will stay here while you and I get the last woman. Okay?”
She nodded quickly, ready to get finished no doubt. They raced back and Solomon wanted to shoot the demonic dog barking on and on and on. He lifted the last pitiful sack of bones in his arms and gasped at seeing movement in her belly. Please let this mother and baby survive, God, please.
Solomon got the third woman into the car and shut them in, before they all hurried to the house. “Where is this place under the house, can you show us where it is?”
She began to do that incessant nodding just as his uncle stopped before the steps with the devil dog, straining to get at them, foam all around his mouth. His thick chain was too long to try and go around him.
As though seeing the same problem, Uncle Joe pulled out his gun. “Don’t look,” he muttered.
Solomon quickly blocked Chaos’s line of vision and they both jumped when the gun went off, silencing the dog.
“God damn!” his uncle grit, hurrying up the steps. Inside the psycho’s house, the smell of old people, and smoke hit him. “That way,” Chaos whispered. She kept both hands tucked under her chin, only allowing one trembling finger loose to point the way.
They walked along a hall and she hissed, “Here!”
With that same single finger, she pointed to a door and his uncle opened it. Feeling along the wall, he hit a switch to reveal a rickety set of wooden stairs leading into hell. His uncle paused then looked at Solomon. “Somebody needs to stay up top to watch for any company showing up. You stay with her, I’ll go see what… we’re dealing with.”
Solomon wanted to weep in relief at not having to go down there yet. He needed just a few seconds to get his shit together before facing anything more.
He hurried down the stairs and Solomon’s stomach clenched at hearing shocked mutterings. He wanted so bad to ask Chaos what was down there, just to be prepared. But she couldn’t stand being there, much less tell him. She stood close to the wall, hands balled under her chin in her dirty yellow dress.
Unable to stand still, he said, “Let’s go check the front windows.”
Peeking out the curtain, he looked outside. Everything was eerily still and quiet now. He wasn’t sure where the three legged dog was, maybe it only barked to impress the devil dog.
“BRRRAAAAAAAAAAANG!”
Solomon jumped at the loud ring of a phone. Shit, he realized. The doctor wouldn’t answer.
He hurried to the phone and stared at the hideous black thing sitting on a cluttered desk, wondering what to do. Just as he wondered if there was an answering machine, it clicked on.
“Dr. Menard? This is Sister Mary. The Deacon asked me to call and check up on you. He sent Brother Johnson and Brother Larson to make sure all was okay—”
Solomon ran to the front windows, not waiting to hear the rest, searching as far to the left and right as he could. No lights. No lights on the road that he could see. His heart hammered as he realized. They’d see the doctor dead on the ground if they drove up. They needed to leave. Send police from another state over here to finish the job.
No. They’d just move the victims and never find them then.
Solomon grabbed Chaos’s hand and ran with her to the hall just as uncle Joe came out carrying a naked woman that looked half dead and starved. Solomon whispered, “Master sent two men over to check on the doc.”
“There’s one more down there in a fucking cage, a kid!” his uncle said, sounding like he’d been running. “Go get him! He’s wild and scared, so be careful, he already bit me.”
“Shit,” Solomon said, looking at Chaos. “You staying up here, or coming?”
“Coming, coming, coming” she said, nodding quickly.
Solomon carefully navigated the stairs as quickly as he could and rounded the corner to a dozen or so cages lining the first wall. He covered his mouth and nose from the stench. Rotting things, and not the food kind. He stared at the single cage in the center of the room, like a showcase for God only knew. But judging from the smeared blood on the white bars and other indiscernible things on the floor of it, he didn’t want to ever know.
He looked right and froze. Fuck, fuck, fuck. His stomach slowly clenched as his gaze took in row after row of giant jars crammed with body parts! Small ones! Oh God, some whole fetuses!
“Shhhhh, shhh.”
Solomon spun, finding Chaos kneeling at the boy’s cage. He hurried over, fighting not to take any of the evil air into his lungs while needing to breathe. “Do you remember me? Would
you like to leave from here and never come back?”
At seeing the person in the cage, Solomon wanted to vomit. He looked ten or twelve but he was so skinny he could have been older. Or younger. Large brown eyes, sunken in his head contemplated her.
“I’m going to open the cage,” she whispered. “And you’ll hold my hand and leave with me. Do you remember me?” she asked again.
He nodded then and it seemed like a good sign.
She undid the lock and lifted the lid to the terrifying adult baby bed then held her hand out to him. “Come on. We must hurry,” she said with an odd calm.
The boy put his hand in hers, eyeing Solomon with fear.
“Go ahead of us,” Chaos whispered, her words shaking.
Solomon hurried up the stairs, glancing back every other step to make sure they were right behind him. At the top of the stairs, Uncle Joe was racing back to them. The boy immediately hid behind Chaos.
“He’s a nice man, you don’t have to be scared of him.” She moved her arm to help hide him.
Uncle Joe appeared sick and relieved to see they’d managed to get the boy. “Stay close, let’s hurry.”
At the living room door, Solomon remembered, “What about calling dad?”
“Where’s the phone?” Uncle Joe hurried, looking around.
“Over there,” he pointed. “The desk.”
His uncle raced over and grabbed up the receiver and dialed while Solomon kept an eye on the driveway and road.
His heart nearly jumped out of his chest with his uncle’s dramatic burst, “John!”
He answered!
“We’re stranded on the outskirts of Weston and being hunted by a cult. It’s your brother! Joe, and I have Solomon. Yes, your son. They kidnapped him, I rescued him out of there. I shot a man and we’re leaving his house. It’s called Meat House Rd. Yes! Yes, the doctor! I’m sorry, John,” his uncle said, turning away from them then nodding. “Okay. Okay, you’re right. I know where that is. And if we don’t show up… damn just… we’ll show up. John, we have half dead people we rescued from here. It’s horrific,” he said, his voice almost breaking. “Okay. I gotta go, they’re coming any minute and I’d like to not waste another bullet on these sick bastards!”
His uncle hung up and hurried back to the door, eyes on the window. “He’s meeting us at Crosswell Junction. We’ll figure out where we’re going when we hit the state line.”
They hurried to the car and the boy refused to leave Chaos’s side. “Keep him with you in the front,” Solomon said. “I’ll sit in the back.”
They climbed in and Solomon checked the pulses on the four women, sure they’d all be dead. But somehow, by some insane miracle, they were alive. “Hold on, just hold on we’re leaving now,” he whispered.
“Oh shit,” Uncle Joe muttered with dread.
Solomon jerked his head back to the freaky grill of an antique truck slowly pulling up the driveway. Lights off.
“I don’t think they know we’re in this car,” his uncle whispered. “You got your gun?”
“I got it.” He worked it out of his pocket as the boy started to make irritated sounds.
“Shhhh, shhhh, it’s okay,” Chaos soothed.
“They’re not looking this way,” his uncle barely whispered, eyes on the mirror. “The second they’re far enough away, I’ll start the car and tear out of here. Get ready to shoot as needed.”
“Got it.” Solomon gripped the gun tightly between both hands.
“Ah shit, he’s looking.” Uncle Joe whispered.
“Help!” the other man yelled out.
The man heading their way changed directions. “Now!” Solomon hissed.
Uncle Joe turned the key and the engine wont-wont-wonted then finally turned over. He threw the car in reverse, flung his arm over the seat, and hit the gas.
Solomon heard a thonk and caught sight of one of the men being flung as the car clipped him on their mad dash out.
Uncle Joe went in reverse into the yard and the tires began to spin. Shit, shit, don’t get stuck.
The old Cadillac screamed like a demon and fishtailed its way toward the vehicle in the driveway. Oh shit. The exit was blocked!
“Hold on,” the uncle said, keeping the accelerator to the floor as he aimed for the tiny gap between the end of the truck and salvation. Jesus, they couldn’t make that!
With no other options, Uncle Joe plowed the car through, scraping the end of the truck on the left and hitting the ditch on the right! The violent jolt threw them as the car kept going, then bam, the back tire hit next. “Jesus!” Solomon shouted, fighting to keep the half dead women from being thrown to the fucking floor.
The tires finally hit the pavement with a screeching victory out of hell, and Solomon turned to look back. Shit. “They’re coming!” he said.
In a matter of seconds, the headlights on the front of that creepy truck barreled toward them. Jesus Christ, they’d kill these poor women before they finished saving them.
Uncle Joe raced down the country road at a death-wish speed while Solomon struggled to get the women back upright and their sheet in place.
“Where are we meeting my dad?” Solomon yelled, looking over his shoulder.
“About seven miles north of here.”
“Shit,” Solomon said. “They’re gaining, they’re gaining.”
“I know a short cut.”
Panic hit Solomon. If it was anything like the last shortcut, they could all die! They’d lost their pursuers but they had also lost their ride and could’ve lost their lives. And these women couldn’t handle any more abuse, even at the hands of a vehicle.
“Maybe I can just shoot them,” Solomon said. “I don’t want to chance these women getting hurt on back wood roads with trees sprouting up out of nowhere.”
“Fine,” his uncle said, eyeing the mirrors. “Shoot them sonofabitches.”
“Keep it steady,” Solomon said, hitting the button on the window. He quickly slid up and out the opening, aimed at their windshield and shot.
The truck swerved a little, then continued forward. Solomon let off three more rounds, aiming at the hood of the truck. Please hit something!
The hood flew up and the truck swerved several times before finally hitting a ditch!
“You got em!” Uncle Joe yelled.
Solomon, sat back down in relief, noticing the women’s sheet had fallen off again. He hurried to tuck it back in place while looking behind them at the road. It was empty. For now.
Thank you God.
Chapter Sixteen
Chaos kept looking over her shoulder to check on Solomon. It was hard to not see the half dead people next to him, the ones she’d helped kill. She’d helped keep these people caged up and now she was finally setting them free. Except their bodies were barely alive and everything on the inside was long dead.
The boy clung to her like a savior, not realizing she’d helped kill his innocence. They’d called it treatment. But she didn’t have to ignore the voice in her now. The bad questions were free. Free to examine it all. Only there wasn’t anything to examine, every bad question had already been asked long ago. And now, they were all being answered. All at once. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. All of it had been wrong. Just like the questions had been trying to tell her.
And she had silenced it. She was obedient. Not to what was right, but to what made Master happy. That’s why she’d done it, it wasn’t because she wanted to be good. It was because… she’d wanted to be praised. Accepted. Loved.
She had let them all suffer and die just to have that.
She was much worse than that, she realized. Now that the questions were free, other things were free too. Like her ability to see the truth about herself. She was very vile and wicked. She wished those women weren’t in the car at all just so she could be sitting with Solomon. She escaped the wrong of that by not thinking about where they might be if they weren’t in the car. She didn’t care really where, just cared about being with Solomon. Right then. S
he would probably dump them on the side of the road if she had her wicked way. That’s who she’d become, who she’d turned into. She didn’t really care about anybody except herself. She probably only cared for Solomon because he was nice to her. He said he loved her. She was so willing to believe that. But how could she ever know love? The curse’s tricks had gotten her too. That’s what happens when you abandon your God-given gifts to guard against them. They take you. She got what was coming. A devil’s heart.
Her mind reminded her about her gramma at the order, confirming her thoughts. She hadn’t even given her a thought. That’s how much she cared. Was she alive? Dead? Being tortured? Shrug. Chosen didn’t care. Silence didn’t care. Chaos didn’t care. And Solomon’s “Beautiful” surely didn’t care.
Now they were headed to see Solomon’s real father. No, stepfather. Mr. Kratch. Chaos kept her smile inside about seeing him again. Would he remember her? She was happy to find he was Solomon’s father. No, stepfather, she corrected herself again. Who was Solomon’s real father and mother? That’s what she wondered for the past several days. It made her sad that he didn’t know. Or did he?
They finally made it to the meeting spot. But all Chaos saw was a road. She peeked again over her shoulder at Solomon. She missed him. Wanted to be next to him, feeling his touch while she could. Her body was still counting down. Bad would soon come and this heaven would be over.
“Headlights,” his uncle muttered, eyes on the rearview mirror.
“Would he come from that way?” Solomon wondered, watching the approaching vehicle out the back window.
“Not sure where he was, so I don’t know.” His uncle started the car and put it in drive. “I’m just getting ready to move, in case it’s trouble.”
Chaos slid her eyes to the boy. She didn’t like how he held her hand. It made her feel like a dirty liar. She forced herself to hold his hand, determined to do what was right as often as she knew how. She found that she had to do the opposite of what she felt and thought most of the time.
“It’s him,” his uncle muttered, throwing the car into park and shutting the engine off.