“Stay back!”
She then aimed at Back, then Papa, then Door. “Get away from him.”
“Or what, bitch?” Back challenged.
Evie pointed to the ceiling.
“No!” Darion yelled, but it was too late. She fired once to prove she was serious.
“Or I’ll shoot,” she said.
“You can’t, though,” Andrew said, licking the icing off one of the cupcakes.
Evie looked to Darion who frowned. “You only get one bullet.”
Esau cut through the last strip and entered the cell. Evie pointed the gun and fired again and again, but only the sound of metal hitting metal filled the cell.
Esau slowly walked toward her. “You are ripe with sin. But do not fret. I shall eat it out of you.”
Evie backed up until she hit the wall. There would be no escaping the cannibal.
CHAPTER 11
This was not good. Esau was a machine when he was determined, and he seemed pretty damned determined to have Evie. He would love to save her, but he had Papa’s shears and Back’s sickle to worry about.
And both men seemed to want to take their months, if not years, of resentment out in the next five minutes. With any luck, Darion could use that to his advantage.
Papa was the least battle hardened, so it was no surprise when he attacked with a bit too much gusto.
Darion only had to avoid the shears and land the flat of his palm onto Papa’s already broken nose. The old man screamed like Andrew, clutching at his face. So it was a fairly simple thing for Darion to jerk the shears away from Papa.
That backed the rapist off a few steps. The guy was all balls until there was a bit of competition. Still, Back swung that sickle with some precision. But not even Back could wait for Darion to make his move. Instead, he committed to an overhead swing.
Darion waited until the last second, then brought his shears to bear. Not on Back, but on the sickle. The rapist hadn’t been expecting that. He used the “V” of the shears to pin the sickle. Back wasn’t completely cowed, though, as he gave Darion a left hook to the stomach.
Out of the corner of his eye, Darion watched Evie take a swipe at Esau with her metal fragment. He was no Clyde, though. The old man easily danced out of the way, raising the blade from the bayonet.
Back jerked on his sickle, but Darion refused to let up. If anything, he cranked on the shears. The blades were much thicker than Back’s thin sickle. Finally, he was rewarded with a loud crack, and the sickle’s blade broke in half.
He didn’t have time to rejoice, as Papa came at him with Clyde’s spent rifle, using the gun as a club.
Darion spun on his heel, bringing the shears to bear. He clacked them together at neck height. Papa seemed to get the picture, and dropped the rifle.
So maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.
Then Evie screamed, “No!”
* * *
Esau knocked her metal fragment to the floor and brought the bayonet’s blade to her throat.
“Do not worry, child.”
But she was worried. Really worried, looking over to Clyde’s eviscerated body. Yet the guy was still alive, moaning occasionally. To the right, Darion fought his way to her, knocking Door down. But could he get to her in time?
Then Back hit Darion over the head with the handle of his sickle and Darion stumbled forward.
“No,” she sobbed.
Esau kissed her cheek, licking away her tears.
“You will have no time to fret for such things as soon as I begin.”
She tried to push the old man off of her, but he was rock solid. His lean frame was all muscle and sinew.
“Please, no,” Evie begged, but Esau’s hands coursed over her body. “Is this what God would want?”
His hand slid up and down her neck. “Oh, child, do not try to talk to me, of all people, about God’s will. He has gifted me.”
The cannibal went back to licking her tears. How long would he be content with that, though?
* * *
Esau was just warming up. Darion had to end this. Quickly.
Back, luckily, was not in the mood to dawdle, either. He charged Darion with the sharp end of his broken sickle. Darion dropped to the floor, then buried the shears, like a pair of scissors, into Back’s calf. The rapist screamed as Darion yanked the blades out of his leg.
Darion rolled out of the way as the rapist crashed to the ground. Gaining his feet, he launched into his cell, rising behind Esau.
“Just go and eat your spoils, old man.”
He really did not want to get into it with the cannibal.
Esau slowly turned to face Darion. “I will not be denied.”
Darion clasped the shears together and shoved as hard as he could at Esau’s abdomen, but the blades bounced right off. Esau lifted his shirt to show off an old metal breastplate.
“You are not the only one hoarding God’s bounty.”
Dear God, that chest plate was from months ago. The guy had been hiding it until he could use it in such an instance.
It shouldn’t have shocked Darion, but it did. Esau took advantage of that and raised his bayonet blade, coming after him. Unfortunately, he did not have a shield.
* * *
Once Esau wasn’t focused on her, Evie dove for her metal fragment, and once obtained, she popped back up and drove the fragment as deeply into Esau’s neck as she could. Not necessarily to save Darion, but to ultimately save herself. Back was still out there. Along with Door. She needed Darion safe and sound.
Blood spurted out of the wound as Esau tried to grab the fragment. Darion launched into action, kicking Esau in the groin, then once he was down, kicking and kicking and kicking at the old man’s back.
Esau was down. Way down. There was no way he could survive the blood loss and beating.
“He’s dead,” Evie said, grabbing hold of Darion’s arm.
“Do you really want to take that chance?” He asked her.
Um, no she didn’t. Evie didn’t argue as Darion took his shears and buried them up to the handles in Esau’s back.
“Help me,” Darion said, pointing to the body.
Evie backed away.
“What? Do you want to keep him around for a snack or something?” Darion asked.
Before she could help him move the body, she yelled, “Look out!” as Andrew approached the cell.
Darion jerked the shears out of Esau and turned on the youth.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Andrew said, holding his hands out. “I was just bringing you a cupcake.” He nodded to the treat. “The ones with sprinkles.”
Darion accepted the offered cupcakes. Clyde moaned a rattle-y moan. Darion lifted the shears again and went to head out of the cell.
* * *
“No,” Andrew said, feeling very brave in the moment. He’d just lasted another free-for-all without a scratch. Compared to Papa, Back and Door? Andrew had skated.
And he got cupcakes. Score.
As much as he would like to rest on his laurels, he had to do something brave this free-for-all and perhaps get Back off of his back. Pun intended.
“Let me,” Andrew said. Andrew went into Clyde’s cell as Darion and Evie put Esau back in his cell. It was the only way Igor would take the body out.
“Fun time is over, boys. Return to your cells.”
Andrew had better make it quick.
“Three,” that sweet, sweet chime voice said.
He took his pocket knife, raised it above his head and went to stab Clyde between the ribs and end the suffering for all of them. Unfortunately, the blade folded, nicking Andrew’s finger.
“Darn it!” he said as he sucked on the wound.
He aimed at the ribcage again, but the pocket knife bounced off this time.
“He’s fucking eviscerated,” Back teased. “And you still can’t fucking kill him. A new low, Andrew, a new fucking low.”
This was not going the way Andrew imagined. He had imagined finally having his fourth verified kill. Wit
h his previous medical training, Andrew felt along Clyde’s ribcage and found the space between the bony ribs. He made sure the blade was fully out of the case and stabbed.
Finally, the blade made it through, although it was pretty short.
“There!” Andrew crowed in triumph.
Andrew wasn’t quite sure what damage it was doing, but he stabbed again and again.
“Take that!”
He stabbed again. “Ha! Call me a Momma’s boy? Serial killer lite?
“Two,” the chime voice cooed.
He should have enough time for a few more pokes.
“One,” the voice said.
Andrew pushed up and ran out of the cell, heading for his cell. His collar zapped him a little.
“Ouch! Oh, ouch!”
He didn’t care that Back was laughing his ass off. That hurt.
Andrew barely skidded into his cell as it closed and locked.
“Bingo.”
Even with his neck stinging, he loved that chime voice.
* * *
Evie finally allowed herself to feel relief. Clyde was dead. Esau was dead. Back and Door were both injured. And she had cupcakes. All in all, not a bad ending to this day. She turned to find Darion’s shirt clotted with crimson.
“You’re bleeding,” she said, grabbing a handful of cloth strips. “Sit down.”
Darion obeyed as she peeled the stained shirt away from the wound. The slice was long, but thin and fairly shallow. The one thing it was, though, was dirty. That sickle was not just rusty, but encrusted with mud.
How lovely. She cleaned the wound, even though Darion winced at each touch. As she removed the clots, she realized that Darion had taken the slash for her. If she weren’t here, he never would have left his cell without a weapon.
More gently, she cleaned the last of the wound.
“I know that I didn’t kill Back…” Darion said. He moved a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. Such a caring gesture from a serial killer. “But I did wound him.”
Evie looked up into his eyes. Had she noticed the gold flecks in them before, or the curve of his lips? Darion leaned in.
“If anything,” Evie said as she backed away a bit. “I think you should be grateful to me.”
Darion kept leaning in. “If you insist.”
Oh, she wasn’t that easy. Surviving one free-for-all was barely scratching the surface.
She avoided his lips and brought hers to his ear.
“Get me out of here and we’ll talk.”
CHAPTER 12
Jake leaned back on the couch, playing his game. Herbie was on his chest enjoying a julienned piece of carrot.
“It’s all about focus. The mind. The body. And, dare I say, even the soul.”
Herbie just kept chewing. Even though he was a bit of a one trick pony, the hamster was turning out to be nice company. “Herbie, this game is about absolute and complete concentration.”
Therefore, when his phone rang, Jake was unprepared. He jerked upright, dumping poor Herbie onto the couch cushion. The little guy bounced and landed on the floor. With carrot in mouth, the hamster scurried under the couch.
Jake answered the phone. “Braut.”
“Okay,” Brad said. “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.”
Jake got down on his hands and knees, trying to check under the couch. “Damn it, come here, Herbie.”
“What in the hell are you doing?” Brad asked.
“Looking for a hamster.”
“Is that some kind of double entendre?” Brad asked. “Wait, are you having sex again?”
“No,” Jake barked, unable to find Herbie. “What’s the bad news?”
“Sorry,” Brad said, sounding awfully proud of himself. “It is my turn to strut my stuff.” The tech hurried on, building steam as he went. “I linked one man, a Vern Woldham, to an abandoned van purchased two weeks before the third abduction, which was caught on tape by an ATM machine across the street from his insurance agent!” Brad took in a deep, loud breath. “He shoots and he scores!”
“Did you get an address?” Jake asked.
“Check your email, dude,” Brad said. “I Mapquested it and everything.”
Jake rushed over to Evie’s computer and brought up his email account. Sure enough, Brad had done all the heavy lifting for him. They finally had an address for Starvin’ Marvin.
“Wait a minute. What’s the bad news?” Jake asked.
Brad paused for a moment. “I know you are going to tell me that I didn’t look hard enough, but man, this guy only has the one suburban address.”
“There’s got to be another one.”
“Dude, I knew you were going to say that, so I checked everything. Every property tax roll, income tax. Everything. There’s nothing.”
“Keep looking,” Jake said as he terminated the call.
Jake got back down on his hands and knees. “Here hamster, hamster, hamster.” But Herbie did not come when called. Ungrateful pet. “Crap,” Jake said. “This is not going to look good if Evie ever comes home.”
He rose and grabbed his coat off the back of the chair. “Maybe she’ll notice that I did the dishes, though.”
* * *
Evie leaned in as she cleaned a scratch on Darion’s cheek. It also gave her the excuse to brush her breasts against his bare skin. She batted her eyelashes.
“Well?” she asked. It he’d gone out into that free-for-all for her, he must be willing to do this, as well.
Darion looked her up and down and must have found her wanting somehow, as he leaned away from her. “No one’s ever escaped.”
“Not that you know of,” she cooed.
Darion raised his voice loud enough for the entire dungeon to hear. “Has anyone ever escaped?”
The dungeon answered with a unanimous “no.”
Evie felt slightly uncomfortable discussing the topic with all the men focusing on her, but this was too important to give up on. She needed to get out of here, like now.
“You’re trying to tell me that no one has ever gotten past that second door?”
Papa shook his head. “Not in my short time.”
“Oh,” Door said. “People have gotten out…”
Evie waited for him to finish, but Andrew was the one to speak next, in his excited, just-past-teen voice. “Yeah, yeah. Like Lumbar Jack and Boy Toy. They made it out!”
“Then their fucking heads came rolling back in…” the rapist made the action of throwing a bowling ball.
Evie never would have believed it before. But after that free-for-all, with Clyde splayed open like a pig and Esau crumpled in the corner, Evie would believe just about anything could occur in this dungeon.
“But there’s got to be a way,” she insisted. Not because she believed it, but because she had to believe it.
“Oh,” Door said. ”Remember the Corsica brothers?”
Andrew bobbed his head up and down. “They had that whole tag team wrestling angle going for them!”
Back pointed up to the trap door above his head. “If it wasn’t for their fucking double twist backwards flip, we never would have figured out there were swinging blades inside those trap doors.”
“Ugh,” Andrew said. “Then Igor missed a few body parts up there.”
Door pinched his nose. “It stunk for weeks.”
“But—” Evie tried to interrupt the excuses not to try. However, Back overrode her.
“And don’t even think about trying to take Igor down.”
“He’s strapped with enough C-4 to blow us all into our next reincarnation,” Andrew added, quite unnecessarily.
Door agreed. “He’s got a dead man’s switch in his shoe.”
Back chimed in, “If the guy comes off his feet, it is ‘boom.’”
Evie frowned. Since Igor was still alive, clearly he had never gone “boom.”
“And how would you know that?” Evie asked, trying to find some chink in the dungeon’s impenetrable defenses.
Andrew shrugged. “It was before my time.”
“And mine,” Door stated.
All the men looked to Back, who was busy cleaning his own wounds. “What?” he asked, but then settled in to tell the story. “A few weeks after ‘my-shit-doesn’t-stink’ got here, Darion got the bright idea to cover his lock with some stale oatmeal before the mechanism clicked closed.”
The rapist drifted off as he dabbed around his calf.
“And?” Evie promoted.
“It worked. Then he jumped Igor the next time he came in to feed us. Then found, ‘wow-that-is-a-lot-of-explosives.’ Darion followed the wiring down to the shoe, and the rest is history.”
Evie looked down to Darion. So he had been brave and wanting to get out of here at one point. Darion smiled and pointed to a small nick on his neck.
“You missed one.”
Evie carefully cleaned it.
“Oh!” Andrew announced, with cupcake crumbles flying. “Remember the S&M Master?”
Door snorted. “Yeah, he thought he had all the moves. Thought that he could ‘take’ the pain from the collar and ‘use’ it. Whatever.”
“So,” Andrew continued. “Mr. Superior mimics Darion’s move, down to the stale oatmeal, but ties Igor’s foot to the bottom of a bar, keeping it flat while he went to figure out the combo to the outer door. Which he got through.”
‘Then, though, it was fucking BBQ central,” Back finished.
“His collar fried,” Door said. “But fried not only his neck, but his brain, man.”
Andrew pantomimed the action as he spoke. “He was flopping around, seizing for ten minutes before he died.”
“Yeah,” Back said with a chuckle. “That was a fucking great day, no doubt.”
“Then what?” Evie asked.
“Then fucking what? What?”
Evie was kind of over Back’s undiluted aggression. “What happened next?”
“Fucking nothing,” Back said.
“No, no!” Andrew shouted. “Remember, Esau had his hook from Farm Day and snagged S&M guy’s pant cuff and…”
Oh, Evie could imagine what came next.
“Oh yeah,” Door said. “Esau always did like his meat medium well.”
“No,” Evie said. “I meant, what happened to Igor. If he was tied up, how did he get away?”
Don't Read After Dark: Keep the lights on while reading these! (A McCray Horror Collection) Page 8