by West, Sam
Fuck it.
Simultaneously, they jumped to their feet. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mike throw a speedy right-hook at Richard’s temple. The blow knocked his head sideways and was so fast he didn’t even have time to cry out.
Maybe it was because their bare feet made no sound on the parquet flooring, or maybe it was just because Sebastian and Harlan were so intent on the job at hand, that they almost made it out the ballroom unnoticed.
It was Sebastian’s wife that noticed their escape.
“Hey! Two are getting away!” she screamed when they were mere seconds from the door.
Molly knew Harlan had a gun, and it spurned her on all the harder. A gun fired and she flinched, convinced for a second that she had been shot. But by some miracle, she was still running.
I haven’t been shot!
She had reached the double doors and she threw herself against them, expecting Mike to be right behind her. Except he wasn’t.
She allowed herself the most fleeting of glances behind her and glimpsed Mike on the ground.
No!
Without further hesitation she pressed onwards. One of the armed men was coming right at her. Not for a second did she lose momentum and he was so surprised to see her he didn’t even have time to raise his rifle. She ran directly into his path with a war cry and he fell backwards with her on top of him. During their tumble to the floor, she managed to twist the gun so the length of it caught him under his chin, snapping his head back.
He didn’t move when she clambered off him and she didn’t hang around to see the damage she had done.
This was the part where she fully expected to die, to be mowed down by the other guards. Instead she saw she was alone. She didn’t stop to question it and hurled herself outside into the now dark night, not even pausing for a second to take the man’s rifle.
By the time Sebastian and Harlan burst through the ballroom doors, she was gone.
15.
“Where the fuck is she?” Sebastian said.
Harlan screeched to a halt behind him, almost knocking him over. The cavernous hallway was empty.
“She can’t be far, probably ran outside, one of the guards will stop her for sure,” Harlan said.
Sebastian wished he shared Harlan’s confidence. This wasn’t supposed to happen, it wasn’t part of the plan. The guests weren’t supposed to escape and they sure as shit weren’t supposed to punch Richard in the face. Everything was spiralling out of control and he didn’t like it one bit.
“Guards!” he roared, but no one came running.
Of course, they were all outside; the new batch of party goers were arriving right about now. He glanced up the stairs; it was a distinct possibility she had run up there. But it was more likely she had legged it outside.
“You look upstairs,” he said to Harlan, taking the rifle out of the unconscious guard’s hands as he didn’t have his own gun. “I’m going outside.”
He burst through the front door, looking round for signs of Molly. The van with the latest batch of people was parked right in front of the door.
“Have you seen a girl run out?” Sebastian growled to one of the guards who was milling around outside with another ten or so men, waiting for Richard’s go-ahead to open the hatch on the back of the van.
“No, Sir.”
“A girl has escaped, how could you stupid fuckers not see her? Get your men together and fucking find her. She’ll be running wild on the grounds somewhere.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The fat driver of the van came over to him scratching his arse. “You don’t wanna check the guests in yet, then?”
“No I fucking don’t, I want the girl found.”
“Ain’t nothing to do with me, I just transport ‘em. Hey, mate, calm down.”
Sebastian pointed the rifle at the fat driver. “Make it to do with you. Find her or you don’t get paid, you stupid fat cunt.”
Sebastian was boiling over with rage, it bubbled in his brain like a vat of boiling oil. Talk about cluster-fuck. The staff had obviously gotten cocky and complacent, a lethal combination.
“And someone please fetch the other men who are preparing dinner in the kitchen. Find that fucking girl!” he bellowed to no man in particular.
The men scattered, jogging off into different directions of the vast grounds. He forced himself to relax. They would find her, how could they not? Even if by some miracle she managed the two mile hike to the perimeter, if she didn’t die of hyperthermia or collapsed from sheer exhaustion, there was still no way she could scale the twenty foot, barbed wire topped wall surrounding the grounds. It was just a matter of time.
It suddenly occurred to him that she hadn’t run off at all, that maybe she was hiding under the van. He crouched down and peered underneath, half expecting to see her cowering there like a frightened animal.
Nothing there. A stupid hunch. Sighing heavily, he went back in.
Inside, he met Harlan coming down the stairs.
“Any luck?” he asked, seeing immediately from his face that it was a futile question.
Harlan shook his head. “No. You?”
“No. Fuck!”
He kicked a nearby gold statue in frustration. Fuck, he really wanted that girl. For him, she had been the whole goddamn point of this fucking party. Oh, the things he had been saving up to do to her… Sebastian was in the blackest of sulks. He had never felt so badly done to in his life. He was like a kid who’d saved the best bit of his dinner until last only to have the plate snatched away at the last second.
He marched back into the ballroom with Harlan hot on his tail. Richard was there, rubbing his head, still seated at the head of the table. The guests were silent and unmoving around him. Apart from the redhead, that is, who lay doubled up on the floor, her mouth dripping red.
“Sebastian. A word,” he said. “Harlan, watch our guests.” Once they were out of ear-shot of the others he grabbed his arm and pulled him close. “What’s the big idea? I don’t have a gun on me, what if the guests had revolted in my weakened state?”
“It’s not my fault the stupid fucking bitch made a break for it.”
“Have they found her?”
“No.”
Richard sucked in an angry breath through his teeth. “Sebastian?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you ever undermine me like that in front of my brother and my guests again.”
“How the hell did I undermine you?”
“By leaving me when I had been punched in the face. Leaving me when you knew I didn’t have a gun.”
Sebastian didn’t know that, and he hardly thought it was important anyway. There was a girl missing, why was Richard whining on like a prick?
“We need to find the girl.”
“She’ll turn up. Christ, Sebastian, she won’t get away, you need to get your priorities straight. We’re going to go back over to our guests and we are going to continue with our games. We will not show weakness in the face of adversity.”
Sebastian had a certain amount of respect for Richard being so much older, but he didn’t see him as in any way superior. In fact, right now Richard seemed more like a fussy old man. A fussy old man who was telling him what to do. And no one told Sebastian what to do.
“You know what, Dick? I don’t think I’m in the party spirit anymore. I think I’m going to call it a night.”
He marched over and aimed the rifle at each of the girls in turn. First his wife, then the blonde, then the redhead doubled over on the ground. All three instantly began whimpering and Sebastian felt better for it.
“Sebastian,” Harlan exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing? You can’t go shooting the guests, where’s the fun in that? This is supposed to be a party.”
That’s when Sebastian accidently trained the rifle on Harlan, seeing as he was talking to him.
“Are you actually pointing a gun at my brother?” Richard asked.
He hadn’t raised his voice, but there was
no mistaking the icy threat behind his words.
Sebastian was getting tired of this. All he wanted was the girl, and the girl wasn’t here. Sebastian always got what he wanted and in a flash of indignant self-pity, he aimed the gun at the blonde’s head and pulled the trigger. She jerked backwards, her head exploding in a fountain of gore. Sebastian liked the way it felt. He liked watching her brains explode. It was a simple pleasure, one of instant gratification and was the perfect vent to his anger.
It felt pretty good so he did it again with the redhead. He doubted she knew what had hit her, that she probably hadn’t even seen the rifle. Her brains splattered the floor all around her headless corpse. She had never looked so good and he had the sudden urge to get on his knees and rut with her.
Then he aimed he nuzzle at his wife’s head. Her hands flew up before her face, as if that would somehow protect her from a bullet.
“Seb! Please, I can show you so much pleasure, I’ll do anything you want me to, I love you…”
“Fuck off.”
The rifle fired and Bethan’s brains decorated the table with lumps of dripping gore.
Harlan got to his feet. “Oh yeah,” he said, rubbing the huge bulge at his crotch. “Mind if I fuck your wife’s neck stump, Sebastian?”
“Not at all.”
Without even looking, he casually pointed the rifle in the direction of the young lad whose name he couldn’t even remember, and fired.
His head too exploded like an overripe watermelon dropped form a great height.
“Where are you going now?” Richard said.
“To find the girl,” he called over his shoulder.
Out of the corner of his eye on his way out the door, he glimpsed Harlan standing over his wife’s body and ramming his huge penis down her neck stump in a bizarre parody of a blowjob. The sight left him numb. All he wanted was the girl, he couldn’t give a shit about anything, or anyone else.
16.
Molly wanted to cry out; her entire body trembled with the effort of clinging to the underside of the van. Sweat stung her eyes and blood trickled from her fingertips making her grip slippery, but still she clung on for grim life.
At least that gym membership is paying off at last, she thought, silently thanking God for all those chin-ups.
It was indeed a fortuitous stroke of luck that the van was parked so close to the château; when she had arrived here she vividly remembered the walk up the drive. Given the short distance to the van, she had immediately dived beneath it without anybody noticing.
Footsteps crunched in the gravel around the vehicle.
They’re going to look under the van any second…
A familiar voice sounded that made her blood curdle;
“Have you seen a girl run out?”
Despite her terror, she clung on all the tighter. There was no way she would let Sebastian get her.
Escape or die trying. I will not let go, I will not let go…
Her body was beginning to tremble violently as Sebastian tore strips off somebody.
“…how could you stupid fuckers not have seen her,” he was shouting.
Molly concentrated all her efforts on holding on as a new male voice quipped something about checking in the other guests.
Oh God, there must be others in the back of the van…
Lots of feet crunched on the gravel around her, and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, praying for the nightmare to be over soon. Sebastian’s voice drew closer, and she heard him sigh. She glanced sideways and a pair of expensive, men’s shoes were right by the van. She couldn’t remember what shoes Sebastian had been wearing, but they had to be his.
She heard him sigh again, louder this time, like he was actually under there with her. She closed her eyes and held her breath. He had to be down on his knees, looking for her beneath the van…
She let out a shaky breath when his footsteps retreated and unable to hang on a second longer, she dropped to the ground with a cry. Luckily for her, Sebastian had already gone back into the house.
Every muscle in her body sung out in protest and she lay on the gravel on her back, knowing she must move but in that moment completely paralysed. If anyone were to spot her now, she was as good as dead. Lady luck remained on her side, for all the guards were busy scouring the grounds for her.
A gun shot rang out from inside the house and she cried out and flinched. Another two followed soon after.
They must be shooting everybody. I guess the party’s over…
Molly rolled out from under the van and got shakily to her feet. Limping badly, she made her way round to the driver’s door.
Yes!
The keys were in the ignition. A moment of indecision rocked her. Should she remain hidden under the van, or just get in and drive?
There would be others like her in the back. Remaining hidden might well save her own skin and be her lift out of here, but it would be as good as murdering the others.
I guess that’s that, then.
Molly climbed into the driver’s seat, turned the key in the ignition, and floored the accelerator.
17.
Sebastian got outside just in time to see the van speed off down the drive.
“You cunt!” he screamed.
He knew full well who was driving and stormed back into the house with fire in his belly.
“Richard!” he shouted as he barged into the ballroom. “She’s taken the god-damn, motherfucking van! We need to lock down the front gates right now!”
Sebastian appeared to have interrupted Harlan’s orgasm; he muttered angrily to himself as he stuffed that obscene, gore splattered cock of his back inside his trousers.
Richard was standing over his dead wife, gently prodding the exposed intestines that joined her to the boy. The boy winced and groaned.
“Richard? Richard! The girl’s getting away.”
Richard turned to face him, his eyes far away and dreamy.
“I’d best shut down the gate, then.”
In that same languid state he walked towards the door. Sebastian didn’t care for this sudden mood change.
“Where are you going?”
“You want me to shut down the gate, don’t you? The control box is in the hallway.” Sebastian and Harlan followed him out the room. “When you get the girl, bring her and the van back to the château. Here, take the keys to my car, it’s parked round the back.”
Sebastian snatched the keys out Richard’s hand and was already out the front door while Richard was still talking. It was going to be okay, there was no way she could drive past the locked gates. He would find her, bring her back and everything would be perfect.
Outside, he noticed he had company. Harlan jogged along next to him and Sebastian threw him the smallest of smiles. He loved his friends, he really did. As long as they stuck together, they were invincible.
18.
The bullets bounced off the van with a metallic ping!
It must be armoured.
Molly ploughed on at thirty miles per hour, the absolute top speed the narrow, gravel road and pitch black would allow, paying little heed to the stray bullets that ricochetted off the sides.
One bullet blasted through the passenger window and windscreen, completely shattering the glass before her. Panicking, she bashed out the jagged shards of glass with her fist.
But at least the men were on foot and the spray of bullets came in short, sharp bursts. They would never catch her, she was home free.
I’m going to make it…
The light from the headlamps illuminated the huge, iron gates up ahead and her heart surged with hope. As soon as the wave of hope hit her, then so did the despair.
The gates are locked. I’m trapped.
Yet another moment of indecision plagued her. Brake or drive faster.
Molly floored it.
She hit the gates at just over thirty miles per hour. If she hadn’t of fastened her seatbelt, she absolutely would have been killed. Instead, the crash vi
olently jolted ever bone in her body. She jerked forwards, her forehead smacking against the steering wheel before her head was snapped back into the soft upholstery at great speed.
Then it all went dark.
19.
Sebastian couldn’t believe the stupid bitch had actually attempted to plough through the gates.
“Wow, that’s gotta hurt,” Harlan said with a smile.
The nose of the van was concertinaed and thin wisps of smoke curled from the engine. Sebastian eased the Porsche up behind the van and killed the engine. Both men swung their long legs out the red Porsche and strolled over to the driver’s side.
“Well? Is she alive?” Harlan asked when Sebastian opened the driver’s door and felt for a pulse at her neck.
For a moment he thought she was dead, and then there it was, the faintest flutter beneath his fingertips.
“Yeah,” he replied with some relief.
The fun wasn’t over yet, then. She looked so beautiful. Only her forehead was bloodied, the rest of her face was unmarked.
“Good. Oh, and Sebastian?”
Sebastian wrenched his gaze off the girl and turned to look at Harlan. His blood ran cold when he saw the gun pointing in his face.
“I’m sorry, but you are going to have to die now.”
“What the fuck?” was all he could think to say.
Harlan shrugged. “Sorry, not my idea, I’ve always kinda liked you. Richard said I must kill you and bring your body back with the girl and the others.”
“Why?”
“Richard says you’ve turned into a liability. You shouldn’t have gone all commando like that on the guests. It wasn’t your place.”
Sebastian’s head reeled with the sudden turn of events. How could Richard do this to him? They were friends, they loved each other like family…
Family. He thought of his dead wife and his dead parents.