by J. D. Cavan
“The police say that whoever is taking these kids has to be someone the kids trust.” He started to turn the knob. “Not that homeless kids trust anyone. But do you think they know these military people, and that’s how they get them?” The door opened and it was pitch black in the room.
“No, I doubt that,” Charlie said. He looked over his shoulder for a moment before he walked into the room.
“Let me find the light,” Robert said, and just as he clicked it on, it clicked for Charlie. But he got distracted for a moment, because as the room lit up he could see the sad pictures of all the missing kids hanging on the walls. There must have been hundreds of them. Then his realization came back to him and it threw him into a panic.
It wouldn’t be someone they trusted. Robert was right, they don’t trust anyone. It would be someone they all know, that everyone knows, someone incredibly popular and famous!
Charlie tore out of the office and out into the streets. He called Luca and Samantha frantically, without any response, and then Sarah’s phone with the same result. He ran into the street waving his arms, hailed a cab and leapt into it, then gave the driver BKB’s penthouse apartment address.
I can’t believe it was right in front of my face! Charlie chastised himself, then shouted for the cabbie to go faster. He finally got Luca on the phone. He was still in the hotel room, Samantha and Sarah long gone.
“Serial Seven number five,” Charlie uttered quickly into the phone. “It’s BKB.”
“What? Where the heck are you?” Luca asked.
“I took off. I was wrong to leave, but just get to BKB’s penthouse now!” Charlie ended the call and tried to slow his breathing and focus. Now would be a good time to find Samantha’s thoughts. He had never attempted this before, to go this far; usually if he was strong enough to read thoughts, the person was right in front of him. Charlie could hear the city noises, cars and horns blowing, but he let his mind go and sought Samantha out in the world. Like a Google search, he looked for her, for her voice in his head telling him what was happening. But nothing came, no voices or words, no thoughts from her—just a million noises and thoughts from all around him. His head felt like it might split open right there and let his brain fall to the floor of the cab.
He didn’t give up, however, only went deeper into his mind, shutting everything out completely. Then he felt himself disappear just has he had when he’d entered the bear in the woods to kill the Destroyer. It felt like a spike shot through his head, his body convulsed and then he heard Samantha’s voice before he disappeared from himself.
* * *
SAMANTHA WAS IN a Plexiglas room, and Sarah was with her. It seemed at first to be a sound-studio room, but it was empty and they looked distressed. On the other side of the glass room that was looking more and more like a cell, sat BKB, watching them. The room was somewhere in his penthouse apartment, Charlie could tell.
It was silent at first, like watching T.V. with the sound off, but then the sound came on, blaringly loud! Charlie heard Samantha shouting something threatening to BKB, and Sarah was crying. Charlie had no control over his movements in the room, and at times it was like he was inside Samantha’s mind, then back watching from a distance. It was horrible.
“Welcome to my killing room,” BKB announced into the glass. Samantha punched it with all her might and Charlie felt the pain shoot through her hand.
“Awww!” she screamed at him, enraged.
“There’s no way out. Trust me, you two aren’t the first ones to be here.”
“Let us out, please! Why did you put us in here?” Sarah begged, weeping.
“I just told you to check it out and you walked right in,” BKB said in delight. “Everyone does whatever I tell them, and you’d think that’d be enough for me.” He giggled wickedly. Samantha glared at him, pacing the cell like a tiger.
Compartments on the sidewalls of the cell sprang open and something started to appear from the slits. Large, circular serrated blades, began spinning loudly and pushing mechanically at Samantha and Sarah.
“This is the most amazing place. I’m so proud of it. The saws do all the work! Once you’re cut up into little pieces, those other compartments open and little robot arms come out and package you all up! Guess why?” the killer shouted over the screaming blades. Sarah cried in fear and Samantha grabbed her and held her. The saws were nearing them, and Samantha huddled them together in the middle of room, as far as possible from the blades.
“Why do you think I package you up?” he asked again, getting frustrated. Samantha was frantically searching for a way around the blades, but there wasn’t any. They were completely trapped. “Oh, I can see you’re distracted, so I’ll tell you. I wrap you up to send you out to all my wonderful restaurants.” Sarah shouted in horror as the blades pinned them in, inches from cutting them to pieces. “Please, I wouldn’t eat you. They don’t call me Baby Hannibal,” he cackled. “All the people of the city will eat you!” One of the saw-toothed edges tore into Samantha’s arm, spraying blood on the glass. She grunted in pain and rage.
* * *
CHARLIE CAME OUT of his dissociated state in a panic and raced for the elevator. He ran into Luca in the lobby. It was the longest moments of Charlie’s life, waiting in the elevator to reach BKB’s penthouse apartment.
They found the killing room quickly and Luca kicked the door in, ripping it off the hinges. BKB quickly turned around, but before he could even get up from his chair Luca yanked him off it and slammed him to the floor, wrapping a hand around his neck. Charlie grabbed his phone and could see the digital controls. He shut the blades off, one of them stopping an inch short of cutting into the side of Sarah’s neck and surely killing her.
“Don’t move!” Charlie shouted. Samantha and Sarah were holding each other tightly, crammed together in the very center of the room.
“Show us how to reverse the blades and open this cell or I’ll snap your neck,” Luca said.
“Snap away,” BKB said to Luca, pushing his words out. Charlie fumbled with the phone and dropped it, then picked it up quickly.
“Easy Charlie,” Luca said.
“Okay, okay!” Charlie replied, struggling to find a way to get the blades to back away on the digital controls. Stop and start was easy, but there wasn’t anything else indicated. “I don’t see anything,” he muttered to himself, not wanting to panic them even more. Maybe if I hit stop one more time? He hesitated, then pressed stop again. The blades began to spin loudly and Sarah screeched, but they retreated back into the walls, shut off, and the cell door opened. Charlie let out a huge sigh of relief.
“You’re bleeding,” Charlie told Samantha as she threw her arms around him.
“It’s nothing.” She grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped her arm. Luca picked BKB up off his feet and held him in the air, bringing him over toward the cell door. Charlie noticed BKB changing.
“Luca, he’s turning!” Charlie shouted. Just like all the rest of the Serial Seven, BKB’s skin dissolved, revealing a horrific skeletal face and an evil grin. Its arms began flailing grotesquely at an amazing speed, and Luca quickly whipped him toward the door of the cell. Just as it seemed the thing would fly into the killing room and they’d be able to lock it in, it threw it’s arms out and held onto the sides of the doorframe! Luca immediately kicked the monster in the middle of its body, but it still clung tightly. Samantha went to race at the thing, but Charlie grabbed her and held her while Luca threw himself at it football style, trying to slam it into the cell. It released its grip, but Luca went careering into the room with it.
“Get out, Luca!” Charlie hollered as Luca fell to the floor. Luca stood up and faced the BKB zombie that now had moved over to one of the corners of the cell and was breathing rapidly, grimy drool falling from its mouth.
“Shut me in!” Luca called. “I’m gonna rip it apart.”
“No Luca, please,” Samantha said, crying. Charlie had never seen her shed a tear.
“Luca, just take two
steps toward me,” Charlie told him calmly. Luca nodded his head and moved slowly backward, never taking his eyes off BKB. Just as he was through the cell door, it leapt at him. Charlie quickly slammed it shut and the BKB zombie smashed into the thick Plexiglas cell door, hissing and screeching.
Samantha ran at the glass and smashed her fist against it. “Give me that.” She snatched the phone from Charlie.
“Wait, Sam, we have number five captive,” Charlie blurted.
“Let’s try and question it,” Sarah followed.
“Question that thing? With a silver bullet or spike through the skull, maybe!” Luca pointed at the BKB zombie and shook his head.
“What’s the Serial Seven?” Charlie demanded.
“You tell me!” it hissed. It wasn’t even BKB’s voice anymore. It had changed and it sounded eerie, like that of a small child. Charlie felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck.
“He’s not going to tell us shit, and even if he does, it’s all lies!” Samantha argued, pacing the room. “Luca, start the saws. I want to see this scum cut into a million pieces.” Luca nodded his head and tapped on the phone’s controls. The blades started to race loudly and come out of the walls again.
“Hold it,” Charlie called.
“No! I’m not giving this thing a chance. Let’s kill it now,” Luca replied.
“Stop the blades,” Sarah said to Luca. Luca stared at Sarah and then slowly nodded his head, reluctantly shutting them off. The whining sound of the saws ceased and it got quiet again. “How many kids have you killed? How many victims do you have?” Sarah asked, her voice quivering in anger.
The BKB thing stood up straight and glared at Sarah. “I’m not one of those types, the tedious ones who count their victims,” the monster said causally. It was strange and haunting that the screeching thing could also articulate words.
“Why do you do it?” Sarah asked.
“Look at all of you, so corruptible, so easily seduced. What was it? One day and you were all at each other’s throats?” The thing looked at Samantha. “You really thought you’d be famous so much, you couldn’t care less about your so-called friends,” it said in disgust.
“I hate you!” Samantha screamed at the BKB thing, despair and fury in her face.
“And you.” It glared at Charlie. “So jealous of your friend here—girlfriend maybe even, sadly—you couldn’t even be happy for her.” Charlie glanced down at the floor in shame and felt Luca staring at him. “That’s why I do it, to rid the world of you sorry, miserable human creatures! You’re so weak, and we are so strong!”
“We? What are you?” Sarah followed, staring at it in horror. But it didn’t answer.
“Why are you coming?” Charlie asked.
“We have come to settle things,” it blurted, then pointed a sharp, bony finger at Charlie.
“Settle what?” Charlie asked. But the BKB thing just stood from its sitting position on the floor, turned away, and then oddly crouched down in the corner of the room, curling up into a small ball. It buried its skull between its knees. The blades started to spin again, and Charlie glanced over at Luca.
“I’m not controlling this!” Luca put his hands in the air. “It’ll be chopped to pieces in a second.”
He couldn’t see the killer’s face, but Charlie could hear it over the sound of the saws. It was giggling a creepy laughter, and then it sprang up and ran at them, smashing headlong into the Plexiglas.
“Wooh!” Luca shouted as everyone backed away from the glass. The killer’s face had changed even more and now its eyes carried the familiar deep, empty blackness, and an evil frown fell over its bony jaw. The ragged and broken teeth appeared as fangs, drool falling from them. The beautiful pop star was a gruesome zombie. It cackled wickedly and stepped back into the center of the cell as the blades approached. Charlie couldn’t watch. He turned away and walked out of the room, and Sarah followed him.
Charlie waited by the door with Sarah. Neither of them said a word to each other, but Charlie’s head was spinning. He felt sick and exhausted—not getting a minute of sleep the night before was catching up to him. Although the thoughts running inside him were many, one kept cycling back through. We have come to settle things. His heart pounded in his chest. What have they come to settle? he asked himself. What had he done? What was he paying for? He didn’t know, and it was driving him crazy. He heard the door of the killing room open and he snapped out of his thoughts. Samantha and Luca walked out.
“How could you watch that?” Sarah stated more than asked.
“I just wanted to make sure. It’s dead,” Luca reported.
“And I just wanted to watch,” Samantha uttered coldly. Charlie felt a chill go through his body. What was happening to them? What was the Serial Seven doing to them? Is this what they meant by “We all turn”? That we act like them, that we turn on each other? Charlie felt a pit in his stomach.
“I don’t think I can deal with any more evil like this.” Sarah’s voice was shaky.
Luca put his arms around her and Samantha turned away from everyone, walking over to one of the giant penthouse windows and glaring out of it. Charlie went over and tried to take her hand, but she pulled it away. She glanced at him for a moment and her eyes changed, the rage in them giving way to some kind of deep sadness, depression even.
“I know never to get my hopes up—that I’ll be anything more than some girl no one ever wanted,” Samantha said to no one as she returned to staring out the windows. The night had fallen over the city, which lit up brightly below them.
This is what she is afraid of, Charlie thought. Not death, not even the hardship and suffering of life—she’d had plenty of that. It was hope, the possibility of love, or happiness even, that frightened her to death.
Charlie wondered what the Serial Seven might really mean. Maybe it was something to push them past their limits, some kind of challenge about who they are as people. Are they succeeding or failing? he asked himself. It seemed that although they had just survived five of the seven, they were failing. Samantha looked broken and their friendship was shattered.
Charlie honestly didn’t know what the Serial Seven was. That was the truth, but he wasn’t going to let how crushed he felt tell him what to do. He walked over to Samantha again and she tore her eyes from the window and met his. He didn’t turn away from her this time out of sheer intimidation of her indescribable power, but held his eyes on her.
“You mean more to me than anything any model or famous person could—that’s how much more you are,” Charlie proclaimed. He couldn’t believe it had come out of his mouth. He started to feel his eyes swelling with tears. He noticed the pain in her eyes soften. Luca and Sarah walked over.
“Sam, you know who you are for me, and who we are for each other,” Luca said earnestly. Luca had clearly put his jealously aside for Samantha. Charlie realized Luca’s love for her was that pure. He felt a deep respect, one he had not ever felt for anyone.
“I know, Luca,” she replied with a big sigh. “I’m sorry everyone.” No one said another word for a moment.
“Alright, this is getting too emotional!” Luca announced, as everyone chuckled. “Let’s book outta this creepy layer.” Charlie nodded his head toward Luca and they all walked toward the apartment door.
“I want to go far this time, far away from everything,” Samantha stated. She had reached out and to Charlie’s delight, grabbed hold of his hand.
“I have an idea,” Sarah said. She stopped and smiled, like she was remembering something great. “It’s a place we can go that helped me when I really needed it. I think it’s going to be perfect.”
6
SARAH HAD TOLD them that when she’d been in the darkest hours of her life, coming to the Hardy Farm and working the fields and vineyards and with the animals had saved her life. And Charlie could see why. The farm was one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. The rolling hills and sunsets over the trees with vineyards stretching over the landscape fo
r miles on end created a peaceful quality he’d never known.
They had been there for three months and Samantha and Luca seemed to like it there as well. Samantha would take long walks by herself and usually come back looking different, like a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Luca was learning how to drive and fix all the different tractors and farm equipment. He told Charlie he just loved the clear blue skies and the crisp fresh air in his lungs.
Most days Charlie harvested grapes, dug and planted in the fields, fed or tended to the animals, fixed fences or farm buildings around the property, or worked in town at the local markets selling vegetables and other foods they made on the farm. He worked hard and the days were long, but so far it was better than any other job he’d had.
Charlie and Luca shared a room in the main house and Samantha and Sarah lived together in one of the guesthouses on the sprawling property. The pay wasn’t much, but it didn’t matter to Charlie. The farm was special, mostly because of the Hardy family and Brad, the man who ran the farm.
Brad seemed like a serious man to Charlie, but he was also very down to earth and welcoming. Brad’s philosophy was simple: Care for the land and animals and follow the simple rules of the farm, and you can stay as long as you like. Every morning he’d gather everyone together on the front steps of the big main farmhouse and give what Charlie thought seemed like a sermon. He wasn’t a preacher and it wasn’t religious, but it was wise advice each day.
Usually, Brad would start with what needed to get done on the farm that day, and which worker was going to do it. Then he’d finish with some thoughts of his own, things about the environment and how certain cultures or societies related to it. Then he would discuss the Hardy Farm philosophy of people working together, with the environment, to help change the world.