by Tim Miller
Oddly enough, the guy didn’t want help, he tried to fight and kept swinging. Rich had to taze him to get him under control. The paramedics were horrified to show up and see him with this guy handcuffed on the ground with no face. The guy died in the hospital a few hours later. To this day, he still sees that faceless man chasing him in his sleep. So these didn’t quite top that. The trouble was, he was afraid to know the story behind these.
“One thing is for sure,” he said. “This wasn’t a crime of passion or random violence. Somebody did some work on these girls. What that work was, I have no fucking idea.”
“The medical examiner just got here. I have three guesses on the causes of death,” Claudia said.
“Yeah, for one of them that’s easy.”
Claudia pointed to the neck on both girls.
“Look at that. Needle marks.”
“You think they were shooting up in their necks?”
“The puncture is too big. And look.” She ran her finger around the wound. “Looks like some kind of adhesive. He put an IV into their necks?” As she spoke, crime scene techs walked around them snapping pictures from various angles.
“You think it’s some back alley doctor? I’ve seen a few of those before.”
“Did they do this shit with cutting off limbs?”
“No. Good point,” Rich said.
The medical examiners bagged up the bodies and took them away.
“I wonder what drugs he gave them. That might tell us something,” Claudia said.
“If we’re lucky it will be something hard to get. That will narrow it down.”
“I’m never lucky.”
They both went back to the car and climbed in. Claudia got behind the driver’s seat. He didn’t mind letting her drive. Some officers gave him shit about letting the girl drive, but she had been his partner for almost a year. Never once had she let him down. At first, he had to admit he was nervous about his first female partner, but in a short time, she proved herself. Now he didn’t even see her as a girl. Well, she was a woman for sure and a very attractive one. But she did her job and did it well, so that was all he could ask for. Hell, he’d had some male partners who were totally worthless over the years. He’d take Claudia over them any day.
They were headed back to the department when his phone rang. He took the call and listened for a few minutes. It was dispatch. Once he finished, he hung up and looked at Claudia.
“Ok. We may have an ID.”
“Already? How?”
“Got a call from the Chesty Chola that one of their girls is missing. Someone saw a guy stuffing a woman in his trunk yesterday.”
“What the fuck?”
“Yeah. In broad daylight. Ballsy asshole.”
“Did they get a plate?”
“Of course not. That fucking club. You know how many strippers go missing from there? A few years ago a family of cannibals grabbed a girl from there too. Not sure why everyone picks that place.”
“Well, it’s so classy,” Claudia said.
“Yeah, if you want a $5.00 blowjob from a toothless chick guess.”
They headed to the club without speaking the rest of the way. Rich thought about the bodies and what kind of killer they might be dealing with. An overwhelming sense of dread came over him the more he thought about it. As they pulled into the parking lot of the Chesty Chola, he started wondering if it wasn’t time to think about retirement.
Chapter 11
Christina Cooper stood in the checkout lane. She was beyond frustrated. The stupid store was nearly packed, but they only had two registers open. Neither of which was an express lane. All she wanted was a few snacks and some toilet paper. Had she known she’d have to wait in line behind some lady with four toddlers and a cart overflowing with groceries, she wouldn’t have bothered. The woman had no control over her kids either.
One of the little shits had tried to grab the soda out of her hand. His mom just stood there and watched as if Christina was the bitch for not handing her shit over to the kid. After what felt like forever, she got checked out and was out the door. At least, she had snacks for work. She was scheduled for a twelve-hour shift at Smarty Mart, a twenty-four-hour convenience store. Most convenience stores in the city closed at eleven due to robberies and such. Not Smarty Mart. They had to be open all night.
Oh well, she made an extra dollar an hour in shift premium. Not that it amounted to much. In the six months, she’d been there she’d never been robbed. There were a few obnoxious drunks who’d stumbled in and raised some hell but nothing too bad. One guy grabbed a pack of beef jerky and took off running. She didn’t even bother chasing him; she just called the cops. No way was she going to risk her life over nine dollars an hour and a three-dollar pack of beef jerky. Soon she arrived at Smarty Mart and headed inside.
There was already a big line of people at the register. Most of them pre-paying for gas, buying beer or both. She didn’t have time to chat with Chet, the clerk on duty. He finished ringing up his last customer, and she switched him out. He simply nodded and headed out the door. She didn’t blame him. Within five minutes she wanted to run out the door. After a few hours, it finally died down. It was almost 10 p.m. She stepped outside to get some fresh air. After going back inside a short, skinny guy came walking in.
The guy stopped and looked at her, looking her up and down.
“Um…hi,” he said.
“Good evening. Can I help you with something?”
“Oh, I needed to pay for some gas.”
She walked behind the counter.
“Ok. How much?”
“How much what?”
“Gas. You said you wanted to pre-pay for gas?”
“Oh! Right! Twenty dollars.” He handed her a twenty and she rang it up. He went outside back to his car as she picked up a magazine and started thumbing through it. After a few minutes, he came back inside.
“Um, excuse me. Can you help me? I’m having trouble getting the pump to work.”
She looked at the pump settings on the counter.
“It shows that it's on?”
“Yes, but nothing is coming out.”
“Which pump are you on?”
“On number four.”
“Yeah. That’s what I got.”
“Can you come and take a look at it?”
“Sir. I can’t fix the pump. You want to switch to a different one?”
“Please. It will only take a second.”
She really didn’t want to go out there and dick around with the gas pump. No one else had complained about it all night. This guy must be a complete tool. She walked out from behind the counter and followed him to the car. Looking at the pump, he stood behind her as she bent down and lifted the nozzle and flipped the lever. Everything was working fine.
“This seems to be working just…” she began, but something struck her over the head. The blow stunned her and sent her wobbling as he grabbed her by the arm and threw her into the trunk. She tried to fight back, but he punched her in the nose. Her eyes watered as her vision blurred. The man had duct tape right there in the trunk, which he used to tape up her hands and feet. He fished through her pockets and dug out her car keys and closed the trunk. Before the car started, she heard him shuffling around and another car door opening and closing before the car started as they began moving. The ride was bumpy for part of the way and lasted almost twenty minutes. Her hands were taped in front of her, and she used them to bang on the trunk.
She had read before that car company put some kind of quick release inside the trunk in case people were locked inside. She looked all over but never found it. It was probably an urban legend. Either that or the guy had disabled it somehow. Finally, they came to a stop, and he came around and opened the trunk. She took a swing at him with both hands, but he swatted at her with a broom handle, hitting her in the nose again. The pain shot through her face as her nose throbbed.
He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the house. The hous
e was small and filthy. There were empty bags of chips and rotten food all over the floor. The only furniture was a filthy couch along the wall with an old TV set sitting across from it. He dragged her into a back room which looked like a makeshift laboratory. When she saw the dead woman lying on the table, she began to scream. The woman was naked, and her head was on weird. Upon a second look, she saw her head didn’t match her body. It was almost too big for the body it was on. That was when she saw the stitches. The head had been sewn onto the body.
“Oh my god! What is this? What are you going to do me? Please?”
“It’ll be fine. Just going to make a few enhancements is all. You’ll do fine. I took one look at you and knew you were perfect.”
“What? Perfect for what?”
He shoved her onto the table and had her sitting down.
“Don’t fight with me or I’ll hit you again. I don’t care how bad your face gets messed up. Now, I need to ask you some questions, and I need you to answer me honestly.”
“Questions about what?”
“Tattoos. Do you have any tattoos?”
“What? Yes? Why?”
“Where?”
“On my shoulder blade. Will you let me go now?”
“Ok. So none on your legs or arms?”
“No! Why?”
“Great. You’re perfect.”
He picked up a syringe and injected something into her arm. He did it so quickly she didn’t even have a chance to react. In seconds, the room felt as if it were moving as a floating feeling took over her body. The man began to lay her flat on the table and removed her clothing. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt like she should be afraid or scream, except she no longer cared.
Chapter 12
Donny carefully stitched the leg into place just above the thigh. This one wasn’t nearly as sloppy as his test run. That was good. Once he got the second leg attached, he moved to the arms. The girl named Christina hadn’t moved hardly at all when he’d removed her limbs. She was very skinny. Maybe the dose was too much. She had an enormous stash of heroin in her car when he looked before leaving the gas station. Maybe she was a dealer or something. He doubted she was a user. Either way, he had enough supply to last him for a while. She seemed to be fine, just on an extended trip from the looks of it and the sounds she was making.
“Hey,” she said. He looked over at her. She was still extremely high. “What are you doing? Where’s my legs?”
“Um, hi. I had to use them. For this lady. Now that you’re calm I can explain. I’m building the perfect woman. There already is one actually. She’s an actress named Candi Murphy. You heard of her?”
“Oh yeah, yeah. She’s on that crime show.”
“Yes! Criminal Brains! My favorite show!”
“Yeah, cool show.”
“Yes! Well, I’ve never wanted to be with anyone more than Candi Murphy. She’s the perfect woman in every way. But she’s a big Hollywood actress. So I’m doing the next best thing. I’m making my very own Candi Murphy. Out of other girls. And you get to be a part of it! Isn’t that exciting?”
“Oh wow, yeah. How cool. So is that who she is?” Christina nodded to the girl on the other table.
“Yep. I just got her legs on. I’ll be putting her arms on next. You donated your limbs to her. Isn’t that amazing?”
“Oh yeah. That’s really cool, man. Hey, is she like dead or asleep or whatever?”
“Oh, she’s not alive just yet. I’ll work on that once I get her together.”
“Hey,” Christina turned her head from her left to her right. “My arms are gone.”
“Yeah. I had to cut them off for my new Candi. Remember?”
“Oh right! Haha.”
Christina’s torso was naked on the table, but she couldn’t feel anything.
“I feel weird. Like my nose itches but I can’t scratch it.”
“Oh, I can take care of that for you.” Donny reached up and scratched her nose. She wrinkled her forehead and giggled. Donny ran his hand over her body, feeling her breasts and rubbing her nipples.
“Your skin, it's so soft.” He ran his hand along her stomach and her side.
“Oh! That tickles!” she giggled. He felt along her right side and to her stump where her recently severed left arm had been. He’d cauterized the stumps after removing the arms, but not as well on the left side. It was still somewhat open and dripping blood. Touching her body had gotten him somewhat aroused. Her body was soft yet firm and breasts full and perky. His cock throbbed in his pants as he massaged it through the cloth before unfastening them and letting it flop out.
“Oh hey, what you gonna do with that?” Christina asked as she giggled.
He took his cock and slid it into the opening in her stump. The blood and tissue made it feel so soft and warm. It was tight too, really tight. The tissue caressed his cock as he slowly worked it in and out. His cock throbbed as he moved slightly faster.
“Wow, that feels weird,” she said. “It kinda tickles. Do I have a pussy there now?”
Donny almost envied her for how high she was. He was feeling rather euphoric at the moment, as well; this felt so good. It felt better than the stripper rubbing her boobs on his crotch. He grew harder inside her stump as he grabbed her by the shoulders, humping the hole in her body even faster, growing harder and harder until he couldn’t hold it any longer, erupting inside her. His load mixed with blood ran out of the hole and onto his cock as he pulled out.
He took a towel and wiped off his blood soaked cock and then wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Man, that was weird. You gonna do the other one?” she asked.
He would have to up the heroin dosages in the future. It was cool having her all mellow like this instead of all the screaming. Maybe it wasn’t the heroin. Maybe she actually appreciated what he was doing. That was always a possibility. Perhaps a mixture of both. Whatever it was, he liked it.
“Uh, maybe later. I have to finish up putting her new arms on. You want to watch me?”
“Sure!”
“Cool!” He turned her table to as slight angle so she wouldn’t have to turn her head as much. From there he went to work and spent the next hour meticulously suturing each arm into place. As he worked, he’d looked over at Christina and noticed she had passed out. He shrugged and finished working until he had both arms sewn into place.
He stood back admiring his work when Christina coughed and then looked around.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
She looked up at the new Candi then down at her body and began screaming. This time, the screams were louder and shriller than any of the other women’s screams. Donny put his bloody hands over his ears, caking blood along his hair and the sides of his head. He cowered, hoping she’d stop, but she only got louder. He had to shut her up. Looking around, he couldn’t find his scalpel. Where had he put it? The bone saw was laying on the table to his left. He grabbed the saw and powered it on.
She screamed over the buzzing noise of the saw until he shoved it into her mouth, severing her jaw in one smooth stroke. Her lower jaw fell away along with part of her tongue, and the screams turned to gurgling sounds as blood bubbled up from the new hole in her face. It was a shame; he kind of liked the girl. But no way could he have that screaming. After a minute, the gurgling turned to gagging as she choked on her own blood. Finally, she went silent and her remaining body lay still. He turned off the saw and sat it down. Looking back at his new Candi, he admired the work he’d done. She looked beautiful. Perfect. It was time to put on some finishing touches.
Chapter 13
Rich and Claudia stood inside the Chesty Chola talking to the manager. His name was Mickey McDougal. Which was odd because the guy looked Hispanic. Most people in San Antonio looked Hispanic, but also had Hispanic sounding names.
“So yeah, Mindy left here I thought around two yesterday. Someone saw a car driving fast out of the parking lot around that same time. So I don’t know what that was about. You
think someone grabbed her? She was one of my top earners, so when she didn’t call or anything, and her car was still here, I got a bit worried.”
“Haven’t there been girls kidnapped from here before? That weird cannibal family several years back grabbed a few of your girls didn’t they?” Claudia asked.
“Hey. I wasn’t here back then, but yeah I guess so. Not sure why these psychos always target us, though. Not like we’re the only strip club in town.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re such a high-class establishment. Either that or your iron-clad security and surveillance system,” Claudia said.
“Hey. I know these cameras out here been busted for years. You got any idea what that could cost to fix?”
“How about having, at least, one security guard in the parking lot.”
“Hey. I need them inside. Look, you want to run this place? You be my guest. There isn’t that much money in this business like their used to be. Hell, I got the TABC breathing down my neck, and then the sheriff’s department wants to do undercover stings to make sure the girls aren’t prostituting. Not that I ever condoned that, but when they did I always got a piece of the action. Paid pretty well. Shit would buy a lot of security cameras.”
TABC was the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, who regulated all establishments that served alcohol. Listening to the guy talk made Claudia want to throw up. She remained professional and held in her disgust.
“Wait a minute,” Rich said. “McDougal. Hey! Are you related to that crazy McDougal family up in Browneye a few years ago? There was a whole ugly massacre up in that town. Turned out, they were behind it all.”
Mickey rolled his eyes.
“No! God no. I regret having taken this name, since I had no there was a band of psycho rednecks out there with it. My real name was Martinez. I was living in L.A. for a few years trying to be an actor. Well if you’re name is Martinez you’re left playing nothing but cholos in Machete part 5 which I didn’t want to do.”