He took another swing near Wesley and charged straight for the women. Robin shuddered.
“Eat the snake, Nicole. I’ll go easy on ya.”
Nicole turned her face away from him.
“Now that just fuckin’ pisses me off.” Jesse walked over to the head still perched on the lamp. “How long were you two married, Der?” He talked to the head. “She always this stupid?” Jesse leaned close and kissed the dead cheek. Then he smiled. “Batter up,” he said quietly.
Robin’s heart sank for Nicole. What must she be feeling watching this madness?
Jesse moved the poker as though it was a baseball bat and swung close to the head and there was a swoosh as the poker sliced through the air.
Swoosh!
“Strike one!” He looked over to Nicole. “Just take a bite, bitch!”
“No,” Nicole whispered.
Jesse grunted.
Swoosh!
Jesse swung hard enough to send the head sailing across the room into the kitchen. “Home run! Jesse wins!” He took a few more swings as he moved around to the back of the women.
Robin turned her head to watch Jesse. Her heart was pounding. She could visualize the poker splitting Nicole’s skull. Instead he smashed a chair leg on Nicole’s chair, sending it over backwards. Nicole was on her back staring up at Jesse. “EAT-THE-SNAKE!” Jesse bellowed.
“No,” Nicole said in a soft, fearless voice.
“You stupid bitch!”
“What are you gonna do, Jes, kill me?” Nicole continued in a soft, serious voice. Robin had never seen her like this. “You took the only man who ever loved me. You can’t hurt me any worse than killing Derrick.”
“Fine,” Jesse said. He swung the poker above his head and smiled.
“Jesse, babe!” Brandi called. “You need to take a look outside, out front at the cars.”
Robin heard a vehicle in the gravel driveway.
“What, Bran? What’s up?” He lowered the fireplace tool and moved away from Rebecca and then moved quickly to the window where Brandi was now standing.
“Hmm, who do you guys know that drives a red import rag top?” Jesse asked. “Talk to me!”
Robin’s heart began to gallop like never before. Her stomach lurched and she began to pray. “No, please God, no!”
“WHO THE FUCK IS THIS!” Jesse roared.
“Looks like a couple about the same age as these fucks,” Brandi said.
“Red Porsche Boxster, I’d say. Late thirties couple. Looks like the bitch is knocked up!”
Robin’s stomach twisted and heaved and was threatening to empty again. She began to pull at the remaining straps on her left wrist and ankles. “Please, God, no!”
“Oh, no,” Wesley whispered.
“Who is this out there, people?” Jesse asked as he looked to his captives. He returned his gaze the window. “Well holy shit-fuck me!”
“That cunt looks like her,” Brandi said. “Like Robin. Only younger and not so fuckin’ ugly.”
“Hmm, now aint this some interesting shit right here?”
Chapter 11
Wesley watched Jesse and Brandi at the window as they conversed about what the next move would be. His head was spinning as to why Robin’s sister had made the drive to the cabin after turning down his invitation only two days previous.
He looked over to Robin who seemed paralyzed by the body parts in her lap. “Robin! Push them off you! You’re okay.”
Robin glared at him. “Why? Why are Jenny and Mike here, Wes? You said they couldn’t make it….”
“I don’t know,” Wesley said as he turned from her to watch Jesse. “She told me they had soccer games for Travis all weekend and couldn’t make it.”
“Look at this asshole!” Jesse shouted. “His wife is out to here,” Jesse gestured with his hands about the size of Jennifer’s belly. “It’s raining like hell and he is making her carry her own suitcase. What the fuck is up with that?” Jesse yanked the revolver from his hip holster, opened, closed, and then spun the chamber to check the ammo. He re-holstered the pistol and marched out the front door.
Wesley had no trouble hearing the events unfold in the parking area. His stomach was twisting. He felt nothing but fear for Jen and Mike.
“Fuck is wrong with you, man?” Jesse barked at Michael. “You make her carry her shit in her condition?”
Wesley knew Jen and Mike were parked near the doorway. He listened.
“What?” Michael’s voice sounded surprised. “She won’t let me carry her stuff. And who the hell are you?”
“I’m your worst fuckin’ nightmare, Mikey!”
“Is this some kind of joke? How the hell do you know who I am?”
“Mike, maybe we should get back in the car.” Jennifer sounded anxious.
“No, no, this is some kind of stupid prank, babe. You know how it is when Tommy and Wes get into the beer together.”
“Wes! Wes—Robin, you guys in there!” Michael called. “We’re way too tired for this shit.”
“Go on inside, Jenny,” Jesse said in a calm voice.
“I-I don’t think so,” Jenny said nervously.
“Jen, let’s go,” Michael said.
“GET inside, Jenny!” Jesse ordered.
“Mike!” Wesley yelled. “Get Jen out of here! Now!”
“RUN!” Robin screamed. “Jenny—Mike—RUN!”
Wesley jolted when Jesse’s revolver erupted. Wesley turned to Robin and saw her horrified face.
“Oh God. Oh God!” Robin struggled against her straps. “Jennifer!”
A terror-filled female scream from outside sent a shiver through Wesley. He strained to see through the window and door hoping for any clue Jennifer and Mike were okay. Then he felt a small sense of relief that Jennifer was still alive.
“Jesus! Michael, please, no!” Jennifer yelled and then began to sob.
Wesley and Robin exchanged glances. Even from across the room Wesley could see Robin’s eyes were terrified, fatigued, and bloodshot.
Jennifer appeared in the doorway. Tears streaked her eye make-up down her cheek, giving her a Goth appearance. Her pregnancy was further along than Wesley had realized. Inches behind Jennifer, Jesse followed with the huge revolver pointed to her skull.
“Oh, Jenny, I’m so sorry….” Robin’s voice was soft and defeated.
“Robbi. What is this?” Jennifer asked. She had both hands around her belly as though the flesh and bones of her fingers could protect her unborn from harm. “I-I think Mike is…is dead…I dunno.” She moved slowly as Jesse directed her to a kitchen chair.
Brandi strapped Jennifer’s ankles to the chair legs and then bound her wrists together in her lap. Jennifer stared at the front door as if she could will her husband to get up and walk in.
“Great job, Wes—Robin,” Jesse said smugly. “You alerted Mike and I had to shoot his dumb ass. That’s two for you, Rob. You’re almost as nasty-bad as me.”
Jennifer sobbed. “No, no, he’s not dead.”
Wesley was grief-stricken for his sister-in-law. He had a sense that Jesse would take a perverse pleasure in torturing a pregnant woman. For a second Wesley didn’t believe the look on Jennifer’s face. She had a slight smile as she gazed toward the main window near the overstuffed reading chair.
Brandi moved to the window and adjusted the curtain to see the parking area. “What the hell? Jes—”
The window shattered and Brandi screamed. Suddenly she disappeared through the broken windowpane.
“What the fuck? Brandi!” Jesse checked his revolver and charged out the front door. There were two thunderous shots and Jesse was shouting. “MIKE! Bring her back, Mike, or I’ll shoot your wife in the belly!”
Wesley heard the powerful Porsche engine roar to life and then two more shots. The engine revved and the revolver boomed twice more. The violent sound of the roadster when it crashed in the south wall shook the entire cabin. Logs and boards splintered and caved onto the vehicle. The airbags popped and Jesse
was yelling.
Michael stumbled out of the demolished Boxster and looked around for his wife. His face was cut and his left shoulder was a mass of dark blood where Jesse had shot him on his arrival at the cabin. In Michael’s right hand was a long bladed hunting knife.
“Where? Michael’s voice croaked. “Where is this guy?”
Wesley wanted to point and then he said, “Behind….”
Jesse swung the fireplace poker high over his head and chopped it quickly and harshly downward to strike Michael across the back of his head. Michael collapsed.
“Brandi? BRAN!” Jesse moved through the rubble toward the passenger side of the Porsche.
When Jesse emerged from the debris he had Brandi in his arms. Wesley saw her struggling to stand on her own.
“I’m fine. Get off of me!” Brandi shrieked. She had a now familiar smirk on her face and she moved quickly and with purpose toward Michael. She stood over his unmoving form.
“Fucking asshole had that damn Rambo knife at my throat!” She flipped out her right leg and kicked Michael’s motionless body between the legs. She paused to catch Jennifer’s gaze and kicked him again. “Could have cut my jugular when the airbag hit me!” She kicked him again.
“Oh!” Jesse laughed. “Good thing Mikey already knocked up the ol’ lady cause I think his nuts is knackered, eh, Bran?”
Wesley could hear music from the Porsche, the engine that was still running, and Jennifer’s sobbing. A chilled breeze was coming through the destroyed south wall.
“What song is that?” Jesse asked. “I remember this—by those Irish assholes—U2, right?” A few seconds then. “What is this fucking song called?” Jesse fumbled fresh bullets into the revolver and then placed the muzzle against Jennifer’s belly. “The song or she gets it. Maybe a 2-for-1 deal?”
The song name was easy for Wesley as he was a lifetime fan of the band. He recognized the eerie keyboards and haunting vocals anywhere. “Come on, take me away,” Wesley whispered.
“Come on, take me home,” Robin said faintly.
Together Wesley and Robin sang quietly, “Home again.”
“What is this fuckin’ song!” Jesse hollered.
Wesley glanced at Robin. She knew the song name as well as he did, but shook her head. “I don’t know….”
“The fuck is this song? Goddamn you all!”
“Walk on by…walk on through,” Wesley said and shook his head.
Jesse stomped across the cabin and out the front door. Outside he screamed. Brandi jogged out the door and began to soothe her husband with a soft voice.
Wesley smiled and sang along, “And if the mountain crumbled. Or disappeared into the sea.”
“You’re crazy,” Jennifer said. “You two are as crazy as him. Could have killed us for that fucking song.”
Wesley looked at Jennifer. “He kills because he enjoys it, Jen. That song was playing the first time me and Robin were together. I’m not gonna let him take it from us. Not now.”
Robin glanced at Wesley, a slight smile on her face. Between calling to Michael, Jennifer told about how the rain had cancelled the soccer tournament and that her six year-old son was with her and Robin’s parents.
“Michael, please—talk to me….” She was crying and then she said, “Oh, my God, he moved!”
“Michael!” Wesley shouted while looking around to see where Jesse and Brandi had disappeared to. Wesley presumed that Jesse was working on his movie website, uploading the latest footage from the past few minutes.
“Shut! Shut the fuck up—Jen—please!” Thomas was awake and struggling to move onto his stomach.
“Tommy! Oh my God!” Rebecca suddenly shifted from her slumped over position. “Are you okay, babe?”
“Fuck oh. Ee shot me sis times….” Tommy glanced at his wife and then collapsed face first to the floor.
“TOMMY! No baby, please….” Rebecca reached for Thomas with her free hand. “Tom-my?”
Watching the interaction between Rebecca and Thomas was painful. A tear spilled from Wesley’s eye as he willed his oldest friend to respond to his wife. He heard movement from the area next to the crumpled vehicle. Michael was on his knees and wrapping a shredded strip of his shirt around his head where the fire poker had opened a gash. He turned his gaze from Wesley and then made his way for the kitchen. Wesley shushed Jennifer.
Michael was picking up speed as he jogged for Jennifer with what looked like a bread knife. He freed Jennifer from her chair and then did the same, freeing Robin, Rebecca, Nicole, and then Wesley from the plastic straps.
“Let’s run for it!” Michael said. “I saw some cabins at the north end of the lake.” When no one moved right away he said with more urgency, “Come on, let’s go!”
“It’s six miles to the cabins over rough and steep trails,” Wesley said.
“I don’t think Jenny can make it,” Robin said in a grim tone. “Besides, Jesse is watching us and will charge in here in a few seconds and shoot us all dead.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you two?” Michael said. “We’ve got to try…there is a fucking head in the kitchen for Christ sakes.”
Nicole collapsed to her knees. “That’s Derrick,” she said in a faint hiss.
“We have tried, Mike,” Robin said. “It’s a trick. Jesse is watching us on video. There’s nowhere to go that he won’t find.”
“I won’t leave without Tommy.”
“Fuck all of you!” Mike turned to Jennifer, nodded, and then moved for his car. He began to toss the boards and logs away from the Porsche.
Wesley shook his head and sat down in the chair. He agreed with Robin; Jesse would be back in a few seconds and the revolver would not be quiet. Robin took the chair next to Wesley. Rebecca and Nicole took their seats as well.
Mike ordered Jennifer to get in the car. She hesitated and Mike screamed at her to move. He guided her into her seat and then took his spot behind the wheel. He selected reverse and floored the throttle.
Wesley caught Robin’s attention and sat with his hands and legs as though they were still bound to the chair. He whispered to the others to do the same. Wesley didn’t believe Jesse and Brandi would both forget their captives were freed; however, he thought it was worth the attempt.
The Porsche’s rear wheels spun and the vehicle remained still. The rubber of the tires was shredding on the smashed lumber of the cabin, filling the room with thick, black smoke and stench. Mike worked the transmission, shifting quickly from reverse to forward and back to reverse as though the roadster was stuck in a snow drift.
Wesley knew Jesse was alerted to Mike’s escape plan. Wesley thought Jesse must be allowing Michael to feel like he was about to get away. Mike jumped out of the car and bellowed at Jennifer to drive.
“Fucking help me, Wes!” Mike screamed as he pushed with all his remaining strength to free the stuck car.
Wesley sat still.
The Porsche began to move slowly and then picked up a bit of speed. Wesley expected Jesse to barge in the front door or through the crumpled wall with the revolver blasting away at Mike and Jennifer.
Mike pushed while Jennifer steered. A second or two before the Porsche was free of the wall there was a second roaring engine and then a blur of motion and a colossal crash.
Jesse was at the wheel of Tommy’s Escalade as he drove it through the open wall and straight into the Porsche’s rear bumper. The momentum of the huge Cadillac carried it up onto the rear deck of the convertible and Wesley cringed as he expected to see his sister-in-law killed under the Escalade.
Jesse stopped in time but not before the front bumper of the Cadillac came to rest on the seats of the Porsche.
“Jenny!” Robin screamed as she bolted from her chair and ran to her sister.
Wesley stood from the chair and moved to help Michael free himself from the debris at the front of the Porsche. Jesse bounced from the Cadillac with his revolver drawn while at the same time Brandi was moving through the front door with the Glock pist
ol out and ready.
“Well, now,” Jesse said as he took a firm grip of Michael’s shirt and yanked him toward the couch. “I surely hope you two idiots have that shit out of your systems.”
Brandi escorted Jennifer from the Porsche. She had a fistful of Jennifer’s blonde curls in one hand and the Glock pistol in the other. Jesse was staring at Wesley, who knew the psycho was dreaming up his next hellish move.
“Wes, Get your dumb ol’ ass over here,” Jesse said with a wicked grin forming on his face. Jesse smiled at Michael and then at Wesley.
“Hit him!” Jesse said to Wesley.
“Huh?” Wesley wasn’t sure where this was going.
“Fuck, Wes. You’ve been a pussy all your goddamn life; now hit this asshole before I shoot him and his fat ass wife.”
“No,” Wesley shook his head.
“Brandi!” Jesse said. His wife understood and clenched her right fist.
Wesley cringed, expecting yet another blow from the woman. Brandi steered Jennifer across the room and then charged up to Michael and reached back as if she was going to punch him. She stopped at the last second and then feigned the punch at Wesley. Again she stopped short and twisted away from the men and then struck a blow into Jennifer’s face that collapsed Jennifer to her knees.
“Do it, Wes!” Jesse’s excitement was growing. He bounced around the room. “Hit this fucking guy. You’ll enjoy it, I promise.”
Wesley shook his head.
“Brandi, my dear.”
Brandi slapped the back of her fist across Jennifer’s face. It made a smack sound that echoed in the cabin. Robin was sobbing.
“Come on, Wes. The cameras are rolling. I know ya can do it. Make me proud!” Jesse picked up a candle and walked to Nicole.
“Nicole,” Jesse held the candle to her mouth as though it was a microphone. “Do you think Wes will do it? Do you think the wussy fucker has it in him to bash this cocky, Porsche-driving asshole in the nose?”
No answer.
Jesse moved to Rebecca and repeated the candle as mic move. “Whatcha say, Beck? Will wussy Wes kay-o this ass fuck or what?”
Wesley had no idea what to do. He knew that if he hit Mike it could set Jesse off in some other crazy direction. If he didn’t strike Mike, Jesse would hurt someone else.
The Fright Factory Page 7