Family Night

by Miller, Tim

  Once he became proficient with it, he’d started showing the kids. They took right to it. Never questioning what they were doing, always taking as much part as he’d let them. They were growing into their own. They were like him. They were lucky. The kids wouldn’t have to deal with the same trials growing up that he’d had to. Not that they won’t have hard times. But they will be stronger, detached, separate from the others, as they should be.

  “How’s the food guys?”

  Jeffrey smiled and gave a thumbs up. Brandi just nodded as she chewed. The Mask was about to take another bite when he heard a noise…a car. It was getting closer and louder. They were tucked away in the middle of nowhere. Why would a car be out here?

  Chapter 28

  Captain Johnson pulled off the road about fifty yards from the house and climbed out. He drew his sidearm and held it to his side as he walked along the tree line. As he got to the house, he saw there was another building behind it. The yard wasn’t well kept at all. By looking at it, you’d think no one had lived there in ages. Grass and weeds were three feet high at least.

  As he got closer, he smelled something. It almost smelled like barbeque, but had a stronger odor to it. He reached the front of the house which was old and most of the windows were boarded up. Other windows had ripped screens hanging off them. He kept up against the side of the house, looked into the windows when he could, but saw nothing. He circled around the back of the house. The back yard wasn’t in any better condition than the front though in the back of the house there was a large barbecue pit and some benches sitting around it.

  Johnson walked over and examined the barbecue pit. He felt the heat coming from it as he approached. Someone had been there recently, like right before he pulled up recently. Meaning, they knew he was there. Near the pit was a large trash barrel. He walked over to the barrel and looked inside. Upon first glance, he dropped to the ground and threw up. His stomach wretched and heaved his lunch onto the grass and then some. He didn’t want to look again, but had to. He knew he had to be sure.

  When he looked again, he confirmed it. Ben’s severed head was looking up at him. Ben’s mouth was hanging open, but the eyes had been gouged out. There were other bones in the barrel that had been picked clean. Johnson wiped his mouth as he looked away.

  “Jesus Christ.”

  Despite more than twenty years in law enforcement, he’d seen just about everything. However after putting together what he’d just seen, this was completely new. He had never run into cannibals before. He had no doubt that’s what he was looking at. That explained the weird smell from the barbecue pit.

  He realized Ben’s remains were in the Barrel, but Julie’s weren’t, which meant she could still be alive. He was willing to bet she was in the other building. Holding his gun at the ready, he walked toward the warehouse. There was still no sign of anyone as he approached. They were probably in the warehouse. Johnson moved quietly through the field until he was just outside the warehouse. The door was closed, but there was no lock on it. Before he went to open it, there was movement out of the corner of his eye.

  Coming out from the side of the building was a small boy. He didn’t look very old, maybe five or six. He looked sad. The boy had brown hair and was wearing a Transformers t-shirt.

  “Son? Are you ok? Are you Jeffrey?” Johnson whispered.

  The boy nodded without saying anything. He had his hands behind his back and kept looking to the ground. Johnson walked over to him and knelt down.

  “Jeffrey, are you hurt?” He asked as he looked the boy up and down. “Where is your dad and your sister? Is your sister ok?”

  Jeffrey nodded again.

  “Where is your dad? Can you help me find him?”

  With his right hand, the boy pointed toward the building. Johnson turned his head where Jeffery pointed and looked back at the boy. Before he could turn his head all the way back, he barely saw the small, but sharp pocket knife Jeffrey jammed into the side of his neck, and then quickly withdrew.

  Johnson grabbed his neck as he felt the warm blood spraying through his fingers. He fell back and looked up at the boy who was staring at him as he was a fly he’d just pulled the wings off of.

  “Why?” Johnson said weakly. “Why did you kill me?”

  Jeffrey just shrugged as Johnson saw two other figures coming out to join him. Johnson never got to see who they were though. He became lightheaded as his vision began to fade. In less than a minute, he was gone.

  Chapter 29

  Julie awoke to the sound of the door slamming open. The pain in her head and feet was mostly numb, throbbing now. Sarah was still cradling her head in her lap, but she tried to sit up as the twisted family of killers came through the doorway. This time, they had someone with them. They were dragging someone in.

  The man dragged the body by the leg and stopped in front of her so she could get a good look at him. It was Captain Johnson. His throat had been cut and his clothes were soaked with blood. How did they get at him, and why? Though she wondered if he’d come close to finding them.

  “Friend of yours?” The man asked. “He came snooping around our home here. I’m not sure how he found us, but it’s no matter. He’s dead now.”

  “There will be more you know,” Julie said, though not believing it herself. “The entire department will be here before long.”

  “Oh, I doubt that. If that were the case, he’d have brought them with him. Instead he was all by himself. That tells me he was on his own. I just thought you’d like to see how close you came to being rescued. But I assure you, you won’t come that close again.”

  Julie was surprised at her lack of tears. She had no other feeling than coldness and death. There were no more tears left.

  “I’d love to stay and chat, but I have some things to take care of. My daughter will stay here and keep you company though. As you’ve seen, she’s quite a hairdresser.”

  The girl gave Julie a thumbs-up sign. Julie figured she was smiling, but couldn’t tell through her mask. The man walked out with the boy as the girl took out a large bowie knife and began cutting Johnson’s clothes off him.

  “You’re a seriously fucked up little kid,” she heard Sarah say.

  “Sarah, shhh! Leave her alone.” Julie said.

  The girl stopped what she was doing and looked at Sarah. She began walking toward them. Julie couldn’t help but panic, after the last time the girl had decided to terrorize her by scalping her. She had no idea why Sarah was taunting her.

  The girl walked up to Sarah and stood over her. She reared back and kicked right at Sarah’s head. This time, Sarah managed to move and grab the girl’s leg, pulled on it as she leaned forward, and grabbed her other leg and leaned into it, tackling the girl flat onto her back. Sarah screamed in pain as she tried to maneuver on her broken knees. Julie looked on helplessly while Sarah and the girl scrambled for the knife, Sarah being on top of the girl.

  She saw Sarah rip the mask off the girl and began punching her in the face. Julie couldn’t see her face. She’d never known Sarah could fight at all, let alone like this. The girl grunted and yelped as she struggled to get Sarah off her, but Sarah was too heavy.

  Julie began to crawl toward them, pulling herself as her broken feet dragged behind her. The knife was just out of both girls’ reach. Julie crawled past them reaching for the knife as all three sets of hands struggled for the knife. Julie finally managed to get her fingers around the handle and pulled it toward her. As she rolled onto her side, the girl still grabbed at the knife and got her hand on Julie’s wrist.

  Julie tried to pull it away as fear seized her, realizing just how weak she had become, this girl almost ripped the knife right from her hands. Julie pulled it away, but the girl was able to get the knife away from her. Sarah was still on top of the girl and began struggling for the knife. Julie reached out in one last effort to get the knife back.

  The girl thrust the knife forward into Julie’s chest. Instantly she felt like someone hit her w
ith a sledge hammer. As the girl pulled the blade out, Julie looked down to see blood squirting from the wound just below her breast. Within seconds, her vision went fuzzy as she rolled onto her back, feeling her body twitch and convulse.

  She knew the knife had nicked her heart, at least enough to kill her, and she was in the process of dying. As her life pumped out of her, she managed to get a few words out.

  “I’m sorry Sarah. I’m so sorry. I love you.” And she was gone.

  Chapter 30

  “No!” Sarah screamed as she watched the knife plunge into Julie’s chest. Julie’s eyes went wide as her breath escaped her. She heard her trying to speak, it sounded like she said “I’m sorry, I love you,” before she died. Instead of sorrow, rage swept over Sarah; pure, raw, unadulterated rage.

  The girl beneath her didn’t look nearly as dangerous without her mask on. She looked like a typical teenage girl, brown hair, brown eyes, probably even a cute smile. But this kid was a raging psychopath. In an instant, Sarah felt no more pain. The pain in her knees and body was gone; there were no aches, no soreness, and no weakness.

  She grabbed at the knife again, and tore it free from the girl’s hand. Holding it up over her head with one hand, the girl’s eyes went wide as she jammed the knife into the girl’s face, through her right eye socket. The girl screamed one of the most horrific sounds Sarah had ever heard.

  “My eye! Oh my God! My eye! You stabbed my eye!”

  “No shit, you little fucking bitch!” Sarah yelled as she pulled the knife out and went for another thrust into the girl’s other eye, totally blinding her. Sarah rolled off the girl and watched her flail around. The adrenaline still surging through her, Sarah stood on her hobbled knees and pulled the girl up by the hair.

  “Time to play you little cunt.”

  “No, don’t hurt me anymore! Please!” The girl started to cry, blood and fluid ran down her face as she tried to hold her hands over where her eyes once were. “I’m just a kid. It’s my dad! He makes us do all this, or he’ll kill us.”

  “Bullshit. You were having a grand old fucking time.” Sarah jabbed the knife into her side, holding onto her by her hair. The girl cried out again. Sarah pulled her up by her hair as high as she could, the girl continued to scream, and clung to her hands, trying to get Sarah to release her grip. In one quick motion, with her other hand, she swiped the knife down across her face, lopping her nose clean off. More blood sprayed from the new opening as the girl continued to scream.

  Sarah threw her to the ground and grabbed her by the hand. She held her right hand to the ground as the girl weakly tried to fight her off. Using the knife, Sarah sawed off each of the girl’s fingers. She cut at the joint, so they separated much easier. As she listened to the girl’s screams, it was as if she were watching herself.

  Never in a million years did Sarah think she’d ever be capable of something like this. But after what had been done to Julie and herself, this little bitch deserved every second of pain she was about to receive.

  Sarah began to cut off the girl’s other fingers as she cried and screamed.

  “God, will you shut the fuck up! For someone who is such a badass killer, you sure cry like a little bitch.” Sarah said.

  “I didn’t want to hurt you lady! My daddy’s gonna kill you. He will gut you like a pig and keep you alive as long as possible through it.”

  “That may be,” Sarah said. “But you won’t be able to see it.”

  Sarah punched the girl in the face, sending her sprawling onto her back. Grabbing the girl by the ankle, she took the knife and severed her Achilles tendon on the back of her leg, causing another round of screaming. While the girl screamed, she severed the other tendon as well. Knowing the girl was alive, but pretty much completely helpless and permanently deformed, she took the knife, stood and hobbled to the door.

  They hadn’t locked it since the girl was here. The idiots figured they were totally helpless. Wouldn’t daddy be in for a big surprise? She slid the door open and carefully stepped out. It was quiet in the corridor. As she slid the door closed, she heard the girl’s screams stop. The room was soundproofed, which suited her just fine.

  She peeked out of the warehouse door, not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the last time. There was no one around at all. It was still daylight, but looked like the sun was starting to go down. The woods were just a dozen or so yards to the right of the warehouse. Instead of trying to stumble down the lane, she headed for the woods.

  Sarah stumbled through the trees and behind some rocks as the pain in her legs began coming back. She was starting to tire as well. Her adrenaline rush from earlier was starting to wear off. From where she was, she could see the house and the warehouse. She settled in behind a large rock. This time she couldn’t run away, she would have to kill them. She knew they would come looking for her. Even if they kill her, she’d make sure to be their last victim.

  Chapter 31

  The Mask cleaned himself and Jeffrey up and changed both of their clothes. He was so proud of the way Jeffrey took out that cop. The boy didn’t hesitate at all, and showed no remorse. He viewed the cop for just what he was, a rodent, a pest that needed exterminated and he took care of it with ease.

  He wondered what was taking Brandi so long. He hoped she hadn’t totally mutilated and killed both girls. She was only supposed to field dress the cop and then hang him up to drain. That should have only taken a few minutes. Once they were dressed, he grabbed Jeffrey and his tools and headed back to the warehouse.

  The field was quiet as they walked through. The Mask focused his attention on the front of the warehouse, expecting to see his daughter come out at any moment. He couldn’t explain it, but he had a bad feeling, something just didn’t seem right. By the time they reached the warehouse, Brandi had not come out. He looked down at Jeffrey, gripped the door and slid it open.

  “Daddy?” He heard Brandi cry. There in the room was the dead cop, Julie also dead, and Brandi sitting covered in blood.

  “Brandi? What happened? Oh my God!” He screamed as he ran over to her. Once he sat with her, he brushed her hair out of her face. Her hair was caked with blood and matted to her skin. He pushed it away and saw her eyes and nose had all been removed. She put her hands up to hug him and he saw her fingers had all been cut off. Looking on the floor around him, he saw Brandi’s severed fingers lying all around them.

  “No! No! No!” He yelled.

  “Can you fix me daddy? Can you fix me? I can’t see! It hurts, that lady hurt me so bad.”

  “We’ll take care of you sweetie, daddy will take good care of you,” he said as he hugged her tight. Jeffery stood in the doorway looking on. The Mask cried for the first time since he could remember. It was Sarah that did this. It had to be. That bitch will pay. She thought she suffered before; she hasn’t even begun to feel what suffering truly is.

  Brandi had always been so tough, so strong. She learned everything he taught her, and carried it all out to perfection. Both of the women were crippled, he had no idea how one of them could get Brandi’s knife away unless she did something careless. This was all his fault. He shouldn’t have left her alone with them. He thought she was ready, but she wasn’t. He realized that too late though.

  “Please help me daddy? Make it stop hurting. It hurts so bad!”

  “I’ll take care of it honey, I’ll take the pain away for you.” He said as he reached down and pulled his hunting knife out of its sheath, holding it down by his side. Holding Brandi for a few more moments, with one quick motion, he thrust the knife into her chest, feeling it penetrate her heart as he thrust it in.

  She collapsed into his lap. He held her head as she twitched and convulsed as one last breath escaped her, and then she was still. The Mask leaned down, still holding her, sobbing uncontrollably. His only daughter was gone, and there was no getting her back. In that moment, he wanted to die himself. He wished he could just cut his own throat. But there was Jeffrey. Jeffrey still needed him.

  H
e took a few minutes to gather himself, wiped his eyes, picked up the knife and stood. Without a word he walked outside of the warehouse to find Sarah and make her pay. Once outside, he surveyed the area. Both her knees were broken so she couldn’t have gotten far. There was no way she went down the long driveway, he’d have seen her. He looked toward the woods and figured she had to go that way.

  He and Jeffrey headed to the woods as he held the knife out in front of him.

  “I know you’re out here you little cunt!” He yelled. “I will find you, and we will cut you to pieces, little by little while you’re still alive! My little girl is dead because of you!”

  He looked through the trees and rocks, listening. He thought he heard a stick break to his right.

  “I can hear you! Come on out and play! You can carve up a little girl! Why not see what you can do with me!” Jeffrey was climbing on some rocks, and when he reached the top he was about seven or eight feet high. Looking around he waved at The Mask. The Mask nodded as Jeffrey pointed. He could apparently see the girl from his vantage point.

  The Mask took soft steps as he worked his way to that direction. He saw another small rock formation several yards away. He figured she had to be behind there. Moving slowly toward the rocks, he held the knife out in front of him at the ready. As he got closer, he slowed his breathing, until he was holding his breath entirely. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he imagined slicing into the girl’s skin, hearing her scream.

  He wanted to remain calm though. She was injured, but she’d managed to get this far. The rocks were right in front of him. He reached out and leaned against the rocks, pressing his back to them. Taking another deep breath, he jumped around the corner swinging the knife out in front him. Though once he reached the other side, there was no one there. He looked back to Jeffrey who was still standing on his perch. Jeffrey just stood there with his usual blank look. That was the worst thing about the kid. He was so hard to read sometimes. He turned to look deeper in the woods, as he turned he barely saw the large rock hurtling toward his face.