Family Night

by Miller, Tim

  He stepped into the room, and shut the door, locking it. He’d shut it hard enough to wake them. Margie sat up in bed.

  “What the fuck Eddie? You’re not supposed to be home till noon,” She said.

  The man in bed with her sat up, looking surprised.

  “Uh, hey man. This isn’t what it looks like,” the man said. Eddie ignored him, just staring at them.

  “You just gonna stand there? Aww, look at you, standing there all butt hurt. This is why I fuck other guys. Because you’re such a pussy. Just go sleep on the couch and shut the door when you leave.”

  The man in bed with her looked at him, then back at Margie.

  “Maybe I should just go,” he said.

  “Fuck that. Just lie back down. He isn’t gonna do shit,” she said as she rolled back over.

  Eddie slipped the mask over his head and began walking toward them. Margie sat back up wide eyed.

  “What the fuck is this? You think you’re gonna scare me now. God, you really are pathetic.”

  “Dude,” the guy said. “You’re freakin me out, man.”

  He paid them both no attention. Eddie was no longer there, only The Mask. He circled around the bed toward the man, holding the hatchet to his side. The guy just watched him as he got closer.

  “Margie, what the fuck is he doing?” The man yelled as The Mask raised the hatchet, slamming it into his forehead. Blood sprayed as the man fell to the side, onto Margie. His eyes were wide open and glazed as he tried to yell, but just made a strange stuttering sound. The Mask withdrew the hatchet and hacked at the man’s head and face several more times until what had been his head was nothing but a mangled piece of meat and bone at the end of his neck.

  Margie began screaming as the man lie partway on her. Chunks of his hair, flesh and skull were in her face and hair. The Mask grabbed her by the hair and dragged her toward him, hanging her head off the end of the bed. He brought the hatchet down straight onto her face just as she was screaming. Her scream stopped and was replaced with a garbled grunt, then a gurgling sound as he hacked away until she was silent.

  He surveyed the room, surprised her screams hadn’t woke the kids. The two bloody bodies on the bed were lying in a heap. You couldn’t even tell they’d ever been human. He stood, using the sheet to wipe off the hatchet. A feeling of peace and relief swept over him. No more sneaking around, no more trying to explain things, and no more having to listen to her constant bitching. The Mask had killed her. He knew with those final blows, the last of Eddie had died as well. Now it was just The Mask.

  Chapter 16

  Julie looked at Ben, who was just hanging there, slumped over. She couldn’t help but feel pity for him, along with guilt. It was her fault he was there. She’d never liked him, and he was always an asshole. Yet when she needed him the most, he came to help. Now he was hanging there near death, blinded and disfigured.

  “Ben?” She said. “Ben? Can you hear me?”

  After a few minutes, Ben slowly lifted his head.

  “Mmhmm” He said, his head moving from side to side, trying to figure out where her voice was coming from.

  “I’m sorry Ben, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

  He let out another grunt and hung his head once again. Across from her, Sarah was looking at her, crying. Julie began wiggling her wrists around, as her weight had been hanging on the tape, she’d felt it stretching. Her hands felt numb, but she kept wiggling her hand, feeling it gradually loosening little by little. They’d only wrapped it around her wrists, so she was able to flex her biceps for leverage.

  Finally, she got her right wrist loose. She reached up and started undoing the tape on her left wrist.

  “Yes Jules!” Sarah cried. “Hurry! Hurry!”

  Julie finished undoing herself and ran over to Sarah. Her arms and shoulders ached, as if she’d just done a thousand pull ups. Her hands and arms were shaking as she worked the tape until Sarah was free. Both of them were still naked and cold, but at that point, they didn’t even notice. They just wanted out of there. Julie ran to the door where the man and his kids had left through. It was a sliding metal door. She grabbed the handle and pulled. It wouldn’t budge.

  “Shit!” She yelled. “It’s locked.”

  “Are you sure?” Sarah asked. “What if we both pull?”

  “It won’t help. They locked it from the outside. We need to find another way out.”

  “Fuck!” Sarah said. “I don’t think there is another way.”

  “There has to be.”

  They walked around the room, feeling along the walls for any doors, cracks or any kind of opening. However they found nothing. Julie pounded and clawed at the walls, but they were solid concrete. Sarah came over to her as she was pounding against the wall, her fists bloodied from hitting the concrete.

  “Hey, don’t do that. We’ll find a way out. There has to be.”

  She looked at Sarah and felt more love for her than she’d thought possible. They had met when she had been in the academy. She had met Sarah through a friend who worked with her. Right away they both knew there was something special there. They started dating shortly after and had never looked back. Though she now felt that had Sarah never met her, Sarah would be safe at home or doing something she loved. Not stuck here, naked in some psycho’s torture chamber.

  “Jules, what are we going to do when he gets back? If we can’t get outta here, and he sees us loose like this?”

  “I know, baby, I know.” They both sat back against the wall. Sarah leaned up against Julie who held her. Sarah reached up and held her as well. She knew when the man returned, they would experience pain like neither of them had ever known. The least they could do was give each other as much comfort in the meantime.

  Chapter 17

  They had both dozed off, but Julie wasn’t sure for how long. She looked around and saw their tormenters hadn’t returned yet.

  “Sarah, wake up!” Julie said. “I have an idea.” Sarah looked up at her and she began to explain.

  “We’ll position ourselves on either side of that door. When they come back, the dad usually comes through first. As soon as he walks through the door, I’ll jump him. Once I have him down, you run. Just blow past the kids and run. Don’t let them zap you with those cattle prods, just get out of here.”

  “What about you?”

  “If I can break away I will. The important thing is to get you out of here. That guy looks like a tiny little bitch. Without his mask and tying people up, he can’t do shit, I guarantee it.”

  “I don’t want to leave you,” Sarah said.

  “Listen to me; you have to do this, ok?” Sarah looked away from her. “Ok?”

  Sarah looked up at her and nodded.

  “Good, we’ll get through this baby.” She kissed Sarah’s blood, dirt and sweat caked forehead. They slowly stood and got into their positions. Sarah took the left side of the door, Julie took the right. They waited for what felt like an eternity, when Julie finally heard footsteps. Her heart rate picked up as she heard the clanging sound on the other side of the door, then watched as it slid open. She had to resist the urge to charge through too soon.

  Sure enough, the man came walking through first, and Julie didn’t hesitate. She dove at him, taking out his legs, knocking him to the ground. She straddled him, grabbing his hooding along the sides of his head, and began slamming his head into the concrete floor. He grunted and cried out as he struggled against her, but she had taken him totally by surprise.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sarah run through, knocking the girl over and running past the boy. She checked the man quickly to see if he had any weapons, which there were none on his person she could find. She slammed his head one more time before she saw the boy coming toward her with the cattle prod. She spun and knocked it out of the boy’s hand and grabbed it off the floor. She gave the boy a jolt with it, then the dad, watching them both flopping and twitching on the floor in those stupid masks might have been comical in o
ther circumstances.

  She stood and ran out of the room through the door. The girl was gone however, but she kept running. There was a small set of steps she ran up, then a hallway. Once down the hallway, she burst through the door and was outside into the heat. The sun was either just going down, or coming up. She couldn’t tell which. She tried to find Sarah, but she wasn’t anywhere in site.

  There was a black van sitting near the building. She ran over hoping the keys were inside, but no such luck. The man probably had them still. She just began running. There was a trail that led to a house then around it. Sarah had probably gone that way too. She took off down the trail, rocks and pebbles cutting into her bare feet. Ignoring the pain, she kept going.

  Up ahead she saw someone running, two people. One was Sarah; the other was the little girl not far behind her. Shit! The girl was going to catch Sarah. She heard an airplane flying overhead, a loud one. Looking up, there was a small, single engine plane flying over as if it were going to land nearby. She looked back down the trail at the scene in front of her. Julie couldn’t tell if she had a cattle prod or not. Julie held on tight to hers and tried to run faster, to try and catch them.

  There was a loud rumbling sound behind her. It was the van. The guy was in the van, headed straight for her and fast. Fuck me! She tried to get to Sarah before the van got to her, but knew they were doomed. The van sped right up to her and a door swung open hitting her in the back. Julie went flying face first into the gravel. Sharp rocks and stones cut into her naked flesh and she felt her nose burst open as it hit the ground. She must have slid for ten feet before coming to a halt.

  She struggled to hold her head up, through the fog in her head, she saw Sarah go down too. She wish he had just ran her over, and hoped he still would. Just turn around, step on the gas and make her a speed bump. End it all now. But she knew that wouldn’t happen. Closing her eyes she heard the van driving back toward her. If she had any strength left, she would have tried to run again, but it hurt to move at all.

  The van stopped somewhere near her and she heard footsteps approaching. In front of her appeared a set of man’s boots. She looked up and saw the man standing over her. He was still wearing the mask and looked much taller than he had earlier. She hoped he would just kill her right there. But he didn’t, he just stared at her through that horrible mask.

  “That,” he said. “Was very stupid.”

  Chapter 18

  The Mask was furious. He as angry at the women, but almost equally angry at himself. He hadn’t checked their binds and that allowed them to get free. Julie had taken him by surprise and she was much stronger than she looked. He knew he wasn’t very strong physically, which is why he made sure he always had the upper hand using any means necessary.

  When she bashed his head against the floor, it almost knocked him out. Had Jeffery not began tugging on his arm, he may have passed out completely. Fortunately he was able to get to the van and catch up to both of them. He’d make sure it doesn’t happen again. Once they were in the van, Brandi duct taped their hands in front of them. For the time being, they were both tired and beaten down past any point of resistance.

  When they got back to the warehouse, he dragged them both out by the hair. Neither of them put up any fight as he walked in, the kids going ahead of him to hold the doors open. He walked faster than either of the women could. When Julie tripped and fell, he yanked on her hair as hard as he could and pulled her back to her feet. She screamed and cried, but he enjoyed inflicting some real pain on her. The plan had been to pace himself but now it was time to inflict some real damage.

  Once back into their room, he flung them both onto the concrete floor, watching them tumble and listening to their grunts and screams.

  “Now ladies, after such an adventure, you must be starving. I try to keep my guests on a high protein diet. Good for energy.” He said as he turned toward Brandi. Brandi stepped into the room with a long, narrow knife and a metal pot.

  “Mister, please. We’re sorry.” Julie said. Sarah lie on the ground sobbing. “We were just scared. We promise we won’t do that again. Please don’t hurt us.”

  “Oh, I’m positive you won’t do it again.” The Mask said as he walked over to Ben who was still hanging there moving his head around as if he was trying to look at what was going on. The Mask approached him with the knife and knelt down with the pan. Reaching up with the knife he began carving of pieces of Ben’s right thigh in large chunks. His cuts were clean and precise, careful not to nick an artery. Ben screamed and jerked his body around as the girls screamed as well.

  The Mask had a towel he used to soak up the blood as he cut, dropping the pieces of meat into the pan. After several minutes, Ben’s thigh looked like a half-eaten drumstick. The pan was filled with bloody pieces of flesh.

  “I must apologize to you ladies,” he said. “I don’t have the time to prepare this the best I usually can. Brandi brought in a small gas grill. The Mask fired the grill up, watching the lava rocks begin to glow. He’d begun laying the meat out across the grill and watching it heat up.

  “Mmmm,” he said. “That smells good, doesn’t it ladies?” He looked at them, and got a kick out of their expressions. They were looking on in both fascination and horror.

  The meat began to sizzle as the fat dripped off sending the smoke and the aroma through the room. After a few minutes, The Mask used the knife to put the cooked meat back into the pan.

  “Here we go ladies. Dinner is served.”

  The women sat there crying.

  “We’re not eating that,” Julie said. “No way.

  “You already ate his tongue. This will taste much better. Besides, I thought you were sorry.”

  He slid his mask up just enough, exposing his mouth and took a bite of one of the pieces, and slid the mask back down.

  “See? It’s good. Don’t knock it till you tried it.” He handed each of them large pieces of the meat. They just sat there looking at each other. “Eat please.” He said, but they just kept crying. Julie threw hers on the floor.

  “Eat!” He shouted, holding the knife just inches from Julie’s face. “Eat, or I will cut up your girlfriend next.”

  Julie picked up the meat and took a bite, chewing slowly.

  “Now that’s a good girl,” The Mask said. He turned toward Sarah. “Now your turn, eat up. Its ok, there’s plenty here.”

  Sarah began eating hers as well. The kids walked over to them, and he handed them each pieces from the pot. They turned away, lifting their masks so they could eat.

  “See? Now isn’t this nice?” The Mask said. “We’re having a nice dinner together, like one big family.”

  He continued handing meat to both women, and they kept eating. Finally the pot was empty, and the meat had all been consumed.

  “There, now that wasn’t so bad was it?” He asked. “It’s good you ate all that. You’ll need your strength because the real pain is about to begin.”

  Chapter 19

  “Ok ladies,” man said. “First thing we need to do, is make sure you don’t run away again.” Sarah sat on the floor looking up at him, her stomach still settling from their meal. It still seemed like a horrible nightmare especially having to eat Ben’s own skin as her only meal. What disturbed her the most was that it didn’t taste half bad. The idea of what it was made her sick to her stomach. Between the flavor and her own hunger, she almost wanted more. Much to her surprise, the meat tasted like pork.

  The two kids were standing alongside their father, the little one holding a bag. Reaching into the bag, the man took out a ball peen hammer.

  “Sarah, this is for you. I’m going to make this interactive. I feel that’s a much better learning environment, don’t you?” He sounded way too jovial for Sarah’s liking.

  She sat there looking up at him, and looking over at Julie who was sitting up, hugging her knees against her body.

  “Now Sarah, this is really simple. What I need you to do is take that hammer, and smash both
of Julie’s feet with it. Not just a couple hits either, but bash them up really good.”

  “What? No! I’m not going to do that!”

  The man looked down, shaking his head.

  “Sarah, do we have to go through this again? I’m actually being quite nice. After what you two pulled. I brought you back here and fed you. I should have skinned you both alive, but no. I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourselves. Now pick up the fucking hammer, and bash her feet in. You don’t want to know the alternative.”

  Sarah picked up the hammer and crawled over to Julie. She looked at Julie, hoping her eyes would give her some guidance as to what to do. She held up the hammer still looking in Julie’s eyes. She could see the surrender and defeat there. Sarah had never seen that look on Julie and it scared her. Julie was always the tough one, the cop, the one to fight her way through everything. Now she saw nothing but sadness and hopelessness.

  “It’s ok,” Julie said. “Do it. You have to.” She said through her sobs.

  “I’m sorry, Jules. I love you.” Sarah said as she held Julie’s right ankle with one hand while swinging the hammer down with the other. She brought it down hard, causing Julie’s foot to crack and crunch with each blow as Julie howled in pain. It killed Sarah inside to hear. After a dozen blows, Julie’s foot looked like a mangled piece of hamburger. It was purple and shaped nothing like a foot, her toes hanging off in every direction. Julie lay there crying and screaming.

  “Good!” The man said. “Now, one more. Just gotta do the other foot.”

  “No,” Sarah said. “Please don’t make me.”

  “I’m sorry. It has to be this way,” he said.

  Sarah turned and grabbed Julie’s other ankle then hammered away as well. Julie kept screaming and howling as her foot crackled and crunched until it was twisted and misshapen. Once she was done, Sarah dropped the hammer and began to cry.