Circle Jerk

by catt dahman

  Nick didn’t fight but held his hand out and allowed them to cuff him and then lock his hand down. Randy and Carl blocked his view, but he didn’t watch anyway.

  Carl reached down and brought out something that made those who could see gasp. That wasn’t a good sign, and Nick steeled himself, thinking that had his sister or mother been here, maybe some man would stand up and take their places.

  Karma. Maybe karma was a lie. Maybe no one would do something like this unless he were crazy. Nick flinched with self-doubt.

  Come on. Nick wanted them to hurry.

  Carl pinned Nick’s hand with the other fingers pulled aside and brought down a steel hammer as hard as he could on the tip of Nick’s pointer finger. Nick groaned loudly and grit his teeth so hard that a back tooth cracked.

  “All done. Now for your roll.” Carl rolled the dice so Nick could see. “Now that sucks, huh?”

  A seven and a two.

  Nick felt like weeping, but there were three numbers worse, and he was glad he didn’t get those. He didn’t want to imagine how much worse they could be. He struggled to breathe through the pain, but Carl pulled his injured finger aside, making the pain flare brightly again and brought the hammer down on Nick’s middle finger at the tip.

  This time, Nick yelped and fought to stay conscious. He blinked away the dots in his vision, and as it was released, he took his hand back to hold against his chest. It hurt, yes. But Nick also knew it was less damaged than what they could have done and that a large part was shock. Those going after him were bound to have it worse because of sheer panic and fear.

  Ruth wept and couldn’t look at Nick; she was so ashamed that he took her place but also so thankful.

  “Andre? Ready?”

  “Sure. Looking forward to it,” he lied, “hey, let me have Kim’s roll. If it’s a reward, she gets it.”

  “I’m impressed with the chivalry,” said Carl after he had whistled.

  “Well, I intend to die before too much longer, so it’s okay to have a little pain if the dice go that way.” He bravely held his hand out, but it shook. Kim cried and called Carl and Randy choice names, but they only laughed over their shoulders at her. No one had ever been as good to her as Andre was being. She wished he were her dad.

  “For Kimberly,” said Carl as he rolled, “pair of threes.”

  Andre sighed with relief. As bad as the next might be, he was saved that one. Carl took a single stick of gum and tossed it to Kimberly before going on.

  “Gum? One stick? That’s all his effort was worth? You’re all sick. Freaks,” Kimberly said.

  “Baby girl, chew that gum up, and enjoy the hell out of it. It’s yours, and I am glad for you to have it.”

  “You can have it, Andre.”

  “Hell, no. It’s yours. I don’t like gum,” Andre joked, trying to ease his fears.

  Carl rolled.

  A double six. Twelve total.

  Andre’s stomach knotted. Involuntarily. He pulled at his hand, but it was locked tightly. He had volunteered, but this was his roll, and he was going to be dealt something bad. He knew it. It was the top punishment. He prayed aloud and didn’t try to see. He heard Ruth gasp and cry harder, and that wasn’t a good sign. Was it going to be a burn? Something with a knife?

  Carl brought down the ball peen hammer in the center of Andre’s hand, breaking the bones across the top. Three more times the hammer came down, breaking fingers and more bones of Andre’s hand. On the third blow, Andre passed out. One blow would have been terrible, but four were unbelievable. With each of the blows, those watching shivered and cried out with Andre.

  Carl, almost using a gentle touch, removed Andre’s hand and let it fall onto Andre’s chest. “Wow. Bad luck.”

  “Sadist,” Kim called.

  “Well, be glad it wasn’t you,” Randy said, “Lovie, hand?”

  “No.” She held her hand away defiantly. She wasn’t about to have her hand crushed. Her eyes rolled wildly, and she tried to back away, but the bars held her. Randy calmly took the cattle prod and gave her a jolt. Her body went rigid, and she screamed.

  “Stop it,” Jake yelled.

  Carl asked, “Volunteering?”

  Jake was ashamed, but he didn’t respond. He was too scared. What if he got double twelve? Eight blows? There was no way he could take it. He didn’t think he could take more than one blow, never mind the rest. In his mind, he was a coward. That was very new to him because he had always been told he was a hero at work. He was ashamed.

  It took three shocks before Lovie, crying and shaking, held her fingers out; Carl grabbed her fingers and pulled as she tried to pull away. He locked her hand down while she fought. “You’re a fighter,” Carl said with admiration.

  He rolled. A four and a three.

  “Not bad,” Carl said. Almost disappointed, he took a piece of heavy, coarse sandpaper and ran it across the tender back of her hand. She made a bleating noise, more from fear than pain, and then jerked her hand back as soon as she was freed.

  “Are you okay, Lovie?” Ruth asked.

  “Yes. Oh thank, God. Yes.”

  Carl winked, making Lovie feel disgusted.

  Jake wanted to fight, but he didn’t want to be shocked and knew he had no chance. He was faintly jealous that Lovie had gotten such a good roll. Maybe he would get lucky. He did. Despite his sickening worry and fear, he got a three and a two which earned him an entire pack of gum. He held it like one would hold a valuable gift; he ran his fingers over it, inhaled the peppermint scent, and cried with relief.

  “Asshole.”

  “Huh?” Jake didn’t understand why Lovie called him that.

  She didn’t either except that she was angry.

  Ruth could have explained that it was because of the mind games involved and how the games turned them against one another or made them owe each other, but she was too upset to bother.

  “Chew your gum, and stop worshipping it,” Lovie snapped. However, she didn’t refuse the stick of gum he offered her.

  Prissy fought hard to stay away and took several shocks until she fell over and Carl snagged her hand. She wailed before he did anything except lock her hand in the cuff. Only pain kept her from skinning her hand and pulling it loose. She hardly understood the game as upset and terrified as she was.

  “A three and a seven. Ten. Oh, boy. Here we go,” Carl said, his voice filled with excitement. With Prissy screaming already, Carl managed to hold her other fingers away, and with a cleaver, he chopped her thumb away. It took him two times to cut through because he went way up high on the thumb, almost at the joint, and he had not anticipated it would be slightly difficult. Prissy’s screams went high-pitched.

  “That’s worse listening to that than being tortured. Damn,” Skot remarked. Kimberly swatted his foot, making him chuckled manically.

  Andre wondered which hurt more: being cut or being crushed. “It’s the worst when it’s you,” he muttered.

  Carl and Randy waited patiently until Prissy stopped screaming and was only groaning. She passed out at some point.

  “Mike.”

  Mike’s bladder released, causing Randy and Carl to laugh and make jokes. He took one shock and knew he was being foolish since there was no way to avoid or withstand the shocks; they hurt badly. He shook with fear and then shook with relief when he got a four. That was a fairly low roll of the dice, and he was thankful.

  Carl handed Mike one boiled egg that Mike peeled in a flash and ate in three bites. Had he not fought and been shocked, then the whole experience would have been very good for him.

  Unconcerned, Mattie held her hand out, but she was still doped and didn’t understand the game, She just did as Carl demanded. Randy rolled for her and grinned as he showed it was a high number.

  “She doesn’t even understand.” Nick didn’t know why he defended her, but he did.

  “Wanna take her turn, hero?” Carl asked.

  Nick didn’t answer. He took a turn for Ruth. Wasn’t that enough? Jak
e had failed Lovie. Nick couldn’t be expected to take turns for all them, could he? Maybe he should have and for Kim as well if Andre hadn’t. Nick didn’t know. His mind wasn’t able to wrap around the ideas. He figured this was a side part of the torture, the guilt.

  “You can’t save everyone, Nick,” Ruth said softy.

  With an eleven, Mattie received three crushing blows to one of her fingers, breaking it in three places and making her the new screamer of the bunch. Again, the men waited for the basement to go quiet again. They wanted everyone to hear how the game played out.

  “What are you learning?” Ruth asked. “You knew some would fight, some would scream, and some would do unexpected things. What a stupid experiment. If Julia is this ignorant, I don’t see how she ever became a doctor of psychology. It’s very basic.”

  “I’m just the workhorse. I don’t get paid to think,” Randy said.

  “Money well saved ‘cause you aren’t a thinker at all,” Ruth remarked.

  “I think she called me dumb,“ Randy shrugged, “but who is here and who is in a dog cage? Yep. Exactly.”

  Skot held his hand out before he was asked.

  “Brave,” Carl said, “I’m feeling lucky.”

  “Somewhat lucky. You got a six.”

  Skot pretended to be excited, “I love gum. Good for me. Yay.”

  Carl sighed and said, “That’s the end. I could have played this for hours.”

  “Me, too,” Randy agreed, “sure we can’t go a round two?”

  “Welllll….”

  Ruth felt nauseated. No, they couldn’t. No, please no. She could almost feel and smell the panic and horror that all of them felt as they heard that. They’d all fight and get shocked dozens of times and suffer terribly before being cuffed again for a probable worse torture. They thought it was for one round. Some couldn’t take any more pain.

  “We have this good peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cheese crackers; they could win those….” Randy tempted Carl and made everyone in the cages, cringe.

  “How about you get cuffed and roll and let me use the hammer?” Nick asked.

  Carl thought that was funny. He motioned Randy to bring the cart of supplies, he pushed the table, and they took everything away. Everyone heard noises and then footsteps that faded away.

  “Nick, thank you,” Ruth said.

  “It’s okay. I couldn’t do it again. That was….”

  “It’s mental and physical. They are so sadistic. I’m afraid they may come up with far worse games. Right now, they want us alive, and there’s enough of us to keep them busy. I am afraid that when we get to six of us; whatever it is, it will be far worse.”

  “Worse?” Kim squeaked.

  “I doubt we will have many more games that include fingers. And they were bored with the hammer; they’ll want blood again which means cutting as Carl said...hinted…when he talked about the three times body parts were written on paper. I’ve heard about that before. I don’t think we have long until fingers bore them.”

  “Hands will get boring fast,” Nick said.

  “Why do they do this anyway? Julia said it was about….” Lovie paused and went on, “about cannibalism.”

  “Yeah? She wants that, and she got it once, but she likes sadistic games. Face it; Julia lies.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Darlings! How are you? I know I’ve been remiss in allowing Randy and Carl to handle everything, and I feel terrible, but I’m here now,” said Julia as she smiled and walked around the cages and allowed Carl to wheel in another big cart. She was dressed as if on stage in leather pants and a low-cut top. She flipped her hair as she walked.

  For a while, the people in the dog cages had been left alone. It had been at least a day before this appearance, and maybe as many as three days. The lights had gone on and off, weak and strong, and for a while, rock music had blared. Carl or Randy had removed the waste from containers, but no one had been sure whether it was once a day, or it might have been several times a day or less than that. No one was ever positive of the time, and no two agreed about how time much had really passed.

  Food assaulted their senses again, and they could pick out the aroma of chili, of a grilled steak, pickles or something in vinegar, and the sharp tang of onions. There was also a fish scent that bespoke of butter, garlic, and maybe something else. Every single person began drooling.

  “I can tell your love and appreciation for me is high right now.”

  “Not really,” Lovie said, rolling her eyes and glaring.

  “Oh, but it is, and I want you to prove how much you love me,” Julia said. “ I want to see how you will sacrifice for others and how you’ll greedily take whatever food is offered. I want to see human nature.”

  Jake groaned.

  “I’ve brought food; aren’t you thankful?”

  “Who died for it? Did someone else die when you conked him out?”

  Julia went to Jake’s cage. “You recall the rules? Everyone? You have only the one chance, and if you decline, the prize is lost. Please, think fast, and make sure of your choices. Jake, look at Lovie’s hand. See her little bandage where she gave her finger for a prize? Look and listen to my rules.”

  Julia let them recall the event clearly so they understood the situation. Six of the ten had snipped off the last small joint of their pinkies, not a huge loss, but they had been willing to mutilate themselves and suffer the pain for a gift. She told them, “I want the tip of your ring fingers on the right hands. You’ve been willing to share the tip of the pinky. Now give me the next finger…only the tip…a useless bit of flesh. If you have a foot in your cage, I want the little teeny, tiny toe. The whole thing.”

  She waited until they had finished cursing her, begging, and complaining weakly. She knew they would do what she demanded; most would.

  “We’ve been through enough.”

  “Not really, Ruth,” Julia said and shrugged.

  Ruth gulped.

  “But this time, it really isn’t entirely your choice, is it? I mean your hand or foot is there at the mercy of the person in the other cage. You may beg him or refuse, but it’s each one’s choice, isn’t it? What will each of you decide? Will you use the nippers and give me the little token I want?”

  “What’s it for?” Nick asked tiredly. He was sick of games; in fact, they had hurt his soul. They seemed to run his hope down faster than anything else. Pure hunger and being trapped didn’t get to him nearly as much as the games did. His finger still throbbed. He guessed the end was probably shattered.

  Ruth cried, holding her mouth with one hand, trying not to let everyone hear. She didn’t want Julia to soak up her misery and feast on it. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to live anymore, but she hadn’t been able to take her own life yet. There was a balance between wanting to survive and giving up. Unfortunately, the starvation made the lines blur.

  “It’s for my pleasure,” Julia said.

  “Of course, it is,” Nick replied.

  Julia stepped back. “I should begin with Andre. Let’s begin where it will be most interesting. Will you do unto others as you will have them do unto you?” She leaned closer and held out the nippers. In the shadows, the little blade twinkled and ominously reflected light. “One chance. Think it over. And to make it more fun, I will tell you the prize. Andre….”

  “Please don’t….” he groaned as he saw the nippers offered to him. His hand hurt so badly he could barely stand it. There was really no way to set the bones, and they ground together often, setting the blaze going in his nerves. He’d snip off a finger if he had to in order to help Ruth or Kim. He’d do that. He’d do it to live a little longer and to help all of them. He might do it to survive and win the game although he still wanted to give up and go join his long-dead wife, Goldie. Thoughts twisted in his head. Could he offer his own pinky toe? He must have asked aloud because Julia mocked him.

  “So brave. No, Andre, you must remove the tip of Ruth’s finger. For your efforts, you will re
ceive a nice rare steak with onions. It’s beef,” she giggled. She motioned to Carl.

  Carl removed a cloth so Andre and the rest could see the steak, cooked with a nice crust on the outside but oozing pink blood. Savory circles of onions covered it and lay to the side. The scent was incredibly good.

  “Do it,” Ruth said dully. She prepared herself for the cold metal and the pinch and then the sudden, horrible pain that would follow. She would scream and cry. It would be very painful. Somehow, it was better to say yes and get it over with. She gagged and vomited to the side; only water came up.

  Andre looked at Julia and said, “Go to hell. No, even if I wanted to, with my hand this way, I couldn’t. The answer is no.”

  Julia flushed and grinned. She regained her composure, shrugged, and said, “Your loss. Starve. I don’t care how you die, remember? I don’t care at all. I only want to know the order and how you’ll go out. It entertains me. Your chivalry is really impressive, but it’s also very boring and tiresome.”

  Carl went close to Lovie’s cage and showed her the steak, moving his hands to waft the aroma over to the woman. She breathed in the scent. She could taste the aroma, but it just didn’t stop the hunger.

  “Seriously. I don’t care. I don’t care at all. I have my plans. I really honestly want you to do it, Lovie. You need the food,” Andre rallied himself to tell her that.

  “I can’t,” she said softly, but she couldn’t look away from the food.

  “You can,” Julia urged her, “Andre loves taking the pain for the rest. Masochist? No. He’s just a fool.”

  “Sure you can do it. Take the nippers, and get my baby toe. It’s just a toe, Hon. It’s nothing to me, and you should take advantage of this while I’m alive and can help you. Do it. Do it, and make me feel as if I did something grand for someone else,” Andre said.

  “But….”

  “Do it, Lovie,” Ruth said. She watched. She got it. Andre was almost finished, and this was his chance to give to someone else. He wouldn’t do it for just anyone because most didn’t deserve his permission. It was the only way he had to give Lovie a gift. She knew he was finished.