by Ian Dawson
He felt blood pumping from the open wound on his arm; his arm suddenly felt wet and sticky.
James felt himself slowing down. It was getting harder to breathe. His legs gave out. He dropped to the street.
Austin was right behind him. He could sense Austin looming over him. His shadowy figure barely seen in the moonlight. “If that’s the way you feel,” Austin said as he grabbed James by his foot. “Then maybe you’d like to join them.”
Austin dragged James back into the garage. He could feel the rough ground against his skin like a cheese grater. James didn’t want to die. He especially didn’t want to be burned alive. “Okay. Okay. I’ll do it,” he said. Austin dropped his foot and James stood. “Give me the lighter.”
Austin pressed the button that closed the garage door, tossed James the Zippo, then returned to his position in front of the tunnel opening beside James.
James flicked the flame to life and looked down into the hole.
I’m sorry.
James closed his eyes and dropped the lighter.
It happened in a flash.
The trapdoor and the floor exploded into flames.
Daniel screamed in terror. If the flames got anywhere near his body he’d be cooked alive. He dove toward the hole in the side of the shed. He could feel his naked skin scrape against the wood, but that was the least of his problems.
He popped out the other side as if the shed were giving birth to him. In his rush, he hadn’t felt that the duct tape covering his foot was now on fire.
He tried his best put the growing flame out, knowing that if it hit the rest of his gas-soaked skin he was a gonner. At that moment, Colby appeared and dove on top of Daniel’s foot with the beach towel, smothering the flame.
“We learned how to do that from a firefighter at school,” Colby said with a satisfied smile.
“I’m glad you did,” Daniel smiled back, relieved.
Their surroundings were illuminated in flickering bright orange as the shed was quickly consumed by the gasoline-fueled blaze. The heat was intense and Daniel could smell the hairs in his legs, arms, and other areas begin to burn. The duo hurried behind a pile of dirty bricks a few feet away.
“You’re naked,” Colby observed.
Daniel looked down, nodded. “Yes, I am,” he said with a small laugh. “My boxers were soaked in gas. I had to get rid of them.”
“Want to wear my shorts? I still have my underwear on.”
He didn’t want to take anything from this kid. Enough had already been taken. But Daniel also knew that he couldn’t run around naked through the woods. “Are you sure?” he asked.
Colby unbuttoned his shorts and pulled them off. Daniel knew that they would barely fit since the boy was younger than he was, but anything was better than running around outside naked...well, unless you were Kyle.
CHAPTER SIXTY
Daniel realized he and Colby were trapped in the backyard. Thanks to the orange, flickering glow of the flames eating away at the wooden shed, Daniel could see the entire area: chain-link fence all around with no gate or holes as far as he could tell.
He had a feeling Austin and James would be headed toward the shed soon, perhaps to see if either of their victims was now a barbequed corpse. He looked toward the house and knew they only had one option.
Colby clung to him. The young boy was shivering despite the heat from the blaze nearby. “Listen to me, Colby,” Daniel began in a low voice, the smoke filling his nose and throat. “We have to go through the house to get out of here.”
Colby looked up at him. Daniel felt the boy’s grip tighten around his arm.
“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s our only chance. And we’ll only have one shot,” he said as he pointed toward the house. “Through that back door.”
James stood frozen in disbelief at what had just taken place. Austin...no, he had just torched two kids in a matter of seconds with a lighter and two barrels of gasoline. The area surrounding the trapdoor was blackened and charred. He could smell burnt wood, rubber, and still smell the sweet scent of the fuel used to kill two innocent children.
Austin stared down into the smoldering hole; it was as if he was looking into the mouth of Hell, waiting for the Devil to ask him to enter. It made James shudder. He felt his stomach turn over in his gut. It took everything in his power to keep from vomiting again.
“Perfect,” he heard Austin say, breaking the silence. Did he hear that right?
“What?”
Austin turned toward him, smiling. “No victims. No witnesses. No problems.”
“You just killed two kids!”
“No,” Austin said as he pointed at James. “You just killed two kids. My hands are clean.”
James watched as Austin looked back down into the gaping hole. He knew Austin was right. He was just as responsible for their deaths as Austin was. He flicked the flame that caused the blaze that ended two innocent children’s lives. He would get the death penalty for sure.
“We have to see if anything is left of the bodies. Go down in the tunnel and check.”
“Why don’t you do it yourself?” He regretted saying it as soon as it left his mouth. Austin lunged at him, knocking him over the back of the couch and onto the cushion soaked in blood where the hammer once was.
“What did you say? Get down there and look!” Austin spat into James face. Austin stared at him for a second, James afraid of what would happen next. “Freak,” he said. “Now, get down there and look or I’ll do the same thing to you.”
He moved away from James. James pulled his legs off the back of the couch and oriented himself. James picked up a flashlight from Uncle Brock’s workbench and moved toward the hole and looked down inside. Smoke still rose from below, but it looked like the fire was out. He sat on the edge of the hole and began to lower himself down with his arms.
The tunnel was still thick with smoke and gasoline fumes. The wood that supported the sides and roof was charred black like charcoal. He made it to the Torture Room and shined the flashlight inside.
It too had been consumed by the blaze. Its contents charred and burned. He moved to the other side of the workbench. Colby was gone. The cinderblock remained. It looked as if someone had cut through the melted zip-tie.
James moved back into the main tunnel and toward the trapdoor that opened into the shed. He could see the flickering orange and yellow flames eating away at the trapdoor and, he figured, the shed itself.
Now it was time for him to tell Austin the bad news.
James emerged from the hole and turned off the flashlight. “He’s gone. The older one must’ve escaped and found him. We should check the shed for their bodies.”
Austin walked to the back door, opened it.
James’s jaw dropped as he looked out the door and saw the shed now looked like a bonfire. “I guess if either one made it to the shed,” Austin said, “they didn’t last very long.” He motioned with his head for James to follow.
James nodded and prayed that either the bodies would be in the shed, or that one or both boys had escaped.
Colby hated Daniel’s plan. Go into the house? Where those two bad guys were? It was a dumb thing to do. But as Daniel tried to tell him it would be okay, he couldn’t help but trust what the older boy was saying to him. After all, he had rescued him from the tunnel, saved him from the fire, and now was trying to save them once again.
He was just scared.
He and Daniel were hunched down behind a dirty pile of bricks near the chain-link fence. It wasn’t a lot to hide behind, but Daniel promised him it would be good enough for what they needed to do.
“What if they catch us? What if they hurt us again?”
“We just have to be really sneaky about it,” Daniel said. He watched as Daniel looked out over the pile of bricks, waiting.
Colby looked down at Daniel�
��s bad foot. The glow of the fire made Daniel’s bare skin look orange. The bloody duct tape was covered in dirt and he could see that fresh blood was still coming through. He knew that Daniel was his only chance to get out of there alive. He had to be brave.
Daniel slid back down next to him. “Okay, they’re coming,” he whispered. “When they turn their backs toward us, we’ll make a run for the house.”
Colby waited for the signal to go. He had to be brave. Had to be brave. Had to be –
“Come on!” Daniel said as he grabbed Colby’s hand.
Colby ran as fast as he could, trying his best to keep up with Daniel. Even with the hurt foot Daniel was pretty fast.
The back door got closer and closer. They were almost there.
Colby’s skin felt like it was crawling. He turned his head toward the shed.
And saw Austin staring right back at him.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Austin charged after the two boys as they ran for the door that led into the garage. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, a wild, primal scream that hurt his throat.
He couldn’t let them get inside. That wasn’t part of the plan.
Austin charged toward the back door at a full sprint. He slammed into the door with all of his weight. The door shuddered but held fast.
They had thrown the deadbolt.
He slammed his fist against the door.
James came up next to him. “What happened?”
Unable to contain his rage, Austin punched James in the nose. He felt the cartilage give as blood splattered on his knuckles. James dropped to the ground.
“Get up. We have work to do.”
Daniel had remembered to throw the deadbolt on the back door just in time. He jumped back as the door shook. He then heard Austin scream, followed by what must’ve been Austin punching the door.
He and Colby made their way into the house. “We need to lock every door and window in the house.”
“What if someone else is in here?”
Daniel prayed no one else was in the house. That was one more thing he didn’t want to deal with tonight. He looked up at the garage door opener. Could it be turned off? The last thing he wanted was for Austin or James using a garage door opener for easy access back inside.
Then, he saw it: A black cord that extended from the motor of the garage door opener to a plug near the back wall. It had to have been at least ten feet off the ground. Daniel found a small step stool, climbed on top, and yanked the plug. “Come on.”
The two boys entered the house, Daniel closing the door leading from the garage into the kitchen behind them. Blood was smeared all over the kitchen floor. A pot boiled and steamed on the stove, the coils below it bright orange.
Daniel locked and dead-bolted the front door as Colby checked the window facing the front of the house. They hurried down the hallway.
Daniel opened a closed door and was met by a snarling, barking Rottweiler. Colby screamed. Daniel slammed the door shut as fast as he could. “We’ll just leave that room alone.” Colby nodded in agreement.
They checked a room on the far end of the hallway, flicked on the light. The far wall was covered in newspaper clippings about child abductions along with photos of children and their respective abductors. It was chilling.
“I think we found Austin’s room,” Daniel said.
Colby looked at him. “What now?”
Daniel opened the drawers in Austin’s dresser and found a pair of black basketball shorts. He pulled off Colby’s cargo shorts and tossed them back to him, pulling on the basketball shorts that were loose around the waist but with a cinch of the drawstring held fast.
“Let’s go clean ourselves up a little,” Daniel said.
Austin was livid. His prey had locked him out of his own house. James was holding his nose, whimpering like a baby, blood oozing. It was starting to get on Austin’s nerves. “Suck it up, loser,” he said as he tried the window to his room. It held fast.
“What if we go back through the tunnel?” James asked.
“I’m through listening to your stupid ideas. You’re the reason we’re out here in the first place, dumbass.”
Austin moved back to the front of the house. “Yes!” He ran to his uncle’s truck and opened the driver’s side door. He grabbed the garage door opener from the visor and pressed the button. Nothing happened. He pressed it again and again. “Damn it!” He chucked the small black device as far as he could into the darkness of the woods beside the driveway.
He circled the truck, running his hand over the tarp that covered the truck’s bed. The truck’s bed...where his uncle kept his tools.
He opened the tailgate and ripped back the tarp.
His eyes widened with glee.
Daniel and Colby looked themselves over in the bathroom mirror. Daniel’s face was bruised and puffy. He stuck out his tongue and saw the deep gash his teeth had caused when he crash-landed during his first escape attempt in the shed. The skin on his arms and chest was scratched and scraped. A yellowish bruise formed near his ribs and on his elbow.
He looked over Colby’s wounds. He hadn’t noticed them before, but there were dozens of small incisions on the young boy’s back. It was a horrific sight only equaled by the cigarette burns on Colby’s legs. He too had bruises on his face, a black eye, and crusty blood around his nostrils.
Daniel sat on the toilet and quickly unwrapped his wounded foot and pulled off the blood-soaked sock. The gash at the bottom of his foot was attempting to clot, but thick blood still oozed from the wound.
He saw Colby staring at the wound, wide-eyed and ashen. “Colby, I want you to go to the end of the hallway and listen for anything. If you hear something, yell for me, okay?”
“But your foot...”
“I know it looks bad. But trust me, I’m okay. Can you help me out, buddy?”
Colby nodded and walked out of the bathroom.
Daniel felt light-headed, but glad to be seated on the toilet since he was sure if he had been standing when he saw his foot he would have collapsed to the ground.
He opened the cabinets beneath the sink and found a roll of gauze. He opened it and started to wrap his foot.
Colby stood at the end of the hallway watching the front door. The house smelled like cigarette smoke and wet dog. He hoped Daniel would come back soon. He knew that he was only down the hall, but it felt like he was a million miles away.
Either way he was still terrified.
Colby heard a noise outside. It sounded like a motor trying to start. Vroom. Vroom. Vroom. Silence. What was it?
“Daniel?” he said. “I think you should come out here.”
The sound of a chainsaw roaring to life ripped through the silence.
“Daniel!”
Daniel charged out of the bathroom and ran toward Colby. In one motion he picked the young boy and threw him over his shoulder.
The chainsaw hit the front door; it seemed to be screaming as it pierced through the middle of the wood like a hot spoon through ice cream.
Daniel raced past the front door and slid across the slick kitchen tile toward the door leading to the garage as the chainsaw blade spit chunks of wood into the house.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
The strong smell of smoke brought Kyle back to consciousness. The back of his head hurt like crazy. He tried to sit up but the pain in his chest was so intense he fell back to the ground.
What the hell had happened?
He looked up and saw what had hit him in the chest. It was a heavy-duty net filled with bricks. His assailant swung casually on a rope connected to a branch above. A booby trap?
That’s when he saw them: at least four other brick-filled nets were carefully placed in the branches above. Kyle realized that he had just put himself in the middle of a very dangerous game.
He looked over at the shed, now engulfed in flames. His eyes widened and he struggled to get to his feet, his wrist now swollen from his earlier fall.
He knew Daniel had been in the shed, but he prayed he had escaped before it went up in flames. He had to find out for sure if Daniel was alive or not.
He watched as embers from the shed fire floated up into the dry branches above. “That’s not good,” he said to himself.
Kyle sucked in a deep breath, which made him wince from the pain in his chest, and he headed back toward the house.
That’s when he heard it: a chainsaw roared to life and echoed all around him. He knew he was a fool for doing it, knew it went against every instinct his gut was screaming at him, be he had no choice. Kyle ran toward the sound of the chainsaw.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Daniel threw open the door to the garage. “There,” Daniel pointed across the room to a small painted window. After he locked the door behind them, he put Colby down.
Colby looked around the room. “What if we put this in front of the door?” he asked, pointing at the white fridge beside the door.
Daniel came over, the sound of the chainsaw still loud as it cut through the front door. “Let’s do it.”
Daniel and Colby got on the side the fridge opposite the door and pushed with all their might. Daniel yelled out loud as did Colby as the fridge tipped and fell in front of the door. They could hear the contents of the fridge and freezer, spilling, smashing, and popping. With the sound of the chainsaw blaring on the other side of the door, Daniel didn’t worry about Austin hearing the noise.
Daniel hurried across the garage to the painted window and tried to open it; it was sealed tight. “Stand back,” he told Colby. He grabbed his trusty board with the two nails at the end and hit the glass as hard as he could. The glass spider-webbed beneath the paint. He hit it again and it shattered.