Deconstruction- The Complete series Box Set

by Rashad Freeman

  “Come on now,” Benson grunted. “You get to cutting this pig or I’m gonna start cutting on you. You didn’t wonder what happened to the guy that did this before?”

  I swallowed and reached my free hand out toward the pig’s genitals. I looked at the knife then with a frown grabbed its balls and stabbed the blade into its pale skin.

  “Now put your finger under it so you don’t cut into the intestines,” he ordered. “Slide the knife—” he stopped.

  A gunshot rang out echoed through the air. Benson froze and looked back toward the house. The walkie talkie on his belt crackled then Tucker’s voice fizzled out.

  “It’s happening. Shriver and Dale jumped the gun. Get rid of the new guy and get down here!”

  Benson glared at me and I tightened my fingers around the knife. My heart thumped against my chest and my muscles twitched with anticipation.

  “Well,” he started. “Sorry your stay couldn’t be longer.”

  With that he reached toward his back, for what I could only assume was a gun, but I wasn’t gonna wait and find out. I lunged forward and swung the hooked knife with all my might. The razor-sharp blade swept across his neck, carving a horrendous gash from side to side.

  He froze and every bit of color drained from his face. Blood poured down his neck, soaking the collar of his shirt. Gagging, he gripped the oozing wound and garbled out a few intelligible words before falling face first into the dirt.

  I paused, I’d never killed a man before and something about watching the life leak from his body was surreal. But I didn’t have time for surreal, if I was gonna escape, the time was now.

  I dropped the knife and rushed toward the truck. Jumping inside, I slung it into reverse and backed up, slamming the trailer into the carport.

  “Fuck!” I snarled.

  I pulled forward again then jumped out and started to unhook the trailer. Another gunshot crackled in the sky and I trembled just as Benson’s radio barked again.

  “Benson, what the fuck? We need you here now!”

  I could hear screaming in the background and I feverishly worked to get the trailer off. I stood up and kicked it over and over then with a clunk, it fell to the ground.

  Hurrying, I rushed back to the driver’s seat and stopped. How far would I get with no supplies?

  I looked around and strained my ears for a sign that someone was coming. I could hear yelps and commotion, but it was coming from the back.

  I swallowed then jumped out of the car and ran back to the side of the house. I barreled through the gray door and stopped just inside.

  Shelves of dry food rations and water lined the walls. On the floor, there were boxes filled with pistols and boxes of bullets. It made me think of my gun I’d lost.

  As quickly as I could, I took a few buckets of food to the truck and a carton of water. The voice in my head told me to leave with that, but I ran back inside and grabbed a handgun and tucked it into my waistband.

  Rushing back to the front, I heard a muffled grunt as I passed the green tent that had almost begun to blend in with the landscape. I paused and leaned my head toward it, listening in silence. There were whispers and sounds of labored breathing coming from inside. Curiosity gripped me and I poked my face into the slit between the canvas.

  It was dark, too dark. I took a step in and the curtains closed behind me. My eyes slowly adjusted and figures seemed to materialize out of thin air.

  There were ten women, chained to massive cinder blocks, wearing nothing but bras and panties. Theo had created his own little brothel. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but I hadn’t seen a woman anywhere and now I knew what they were doing with them. The men worked while the women filled their other needs.

  The ground inside of the tent was covered with a patchwork of soiled blankets. The air was foul and moist and left a sticky residue on my skin. I cringed as my mind tried to imagine what horrible things took place in the dark.

  But what could I do? I couldn’t save everyone and the longer I stayed there, the closer death got to me. Every passing minute was time that I needed that I couldn’t get back.

  Frowning, I slowly walked backwards and pushed the curtain to the side. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them, I wanted to help, but I wasn’t a hero. I was just a guy that wanted to live.

  There was nowhere to take them, nowhere to hide them, so I turned around and stepped outside. The curtain clung to my back and a few rays of light slipped in and cut a beam through the tent.

  I glanced over my shoulder and my heart jumped as every detail of their gaunt faces was illuminated. Men were such pathetic creatures. We didn’t create, we only consumed and ruined, leaving broken shells behind.

  For a moment, I scanned from side to side then paused. There was a familiar face in the sea of pained visages, a marker that shined brighter than all others. She’d been beaten and her face was bruised. Her shirt was torn and her jeans were ripped and stained with blood. Her hair was slicked against her forehead and twisted together with mud and gravel, but I was certain….it was Cindy.

  CHAPTER 25

  DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME

  My mind was flooded with thoughts at the sight of her. Hate, love, disgust. The pain I felt was just as real as if someone had been carving into my flesh with Benson’s knife.

  Part of me wanted to run to her, to lift her into my arms and kiss her. I’d failed her. I wasn’t there to protect her. All of this was my fault.

  The other part of me, the bitter, angry part hoped that she hadn’t seen me. I wanted to turn and walk away, to be rid of her for good. I wanted to leave her there with the other women to a fate I couldn’t imagine. She deserved it.

  I pulled myself away and let the curtain fall behind me. I crouched to one knee just right outside, weighing my decision. With a deep breath, I grabbed a handful of dirt and rubbed it between my fingers. This, is what she gets, I told myself.

  For every lie she’d ever told me. For every hollow “I love you.” For all of the times she kissed me, knowing she shared her most intimate moments with a man I’d called my friend. She deserved so much worse.

  It was like fate was punishing her. Like the twisted arms of karma had found her, but wanted to show me first that she’d gotten what she deserved. Who was I to stand in the way of destiny?

  “You can’t,” I mumbled to myself.

  But there was no conviction in my words. My feet wouldn’t leave, but my heart wouldn’t let me go back in there.

  More gunfire crackled and I jumped. I took a deep breath and leaned my head back, staring up into the sky. For reasons I couldn’t explain, I still loved her and there was no way I could leave without her.

  Grunting, I stood up and turned back around. I walked into the tent then crept closer and closer to Cindy, not trying to rouse any suspicion.

  Most of the women weren’t paying any attention. They’d probably been drugged or had been abused so badly they were still in shock. Either way, if they screamed or made any noise, none of us would make it out.

  “Cindy,” I whispered as I knelt next to her. “Cindy, wake up.”

  I shook her arm and brushed my hand across her face. She pushed me away and groaned, but I continued.

  “Cindy, you’ve gotta wake up. We have to go.”

  I pulled her by the arm until the chain around her waist tightened and yanked her back. The sudden snag caused her to finally wake up and she growled in pain.

  I brushed the hair out of her face and she stared me in the eyes and gasped. Trembling, she raised her hands and touched my cheek with her fingers, pressing against my skin as if she thought I might vanish.

  “How are you here?” she mumbled. “Am I dead?”

  “No, you’re not dead. I’m gonna get you out of here.” I smiled at her and kissed her forehead. “Where’s Jake?” I asked for reasons I couldn’t explain.

  “They…they killed him.”

  My first emotion was remorse. Jake had been my friend for years and to hear that he
was no longer alive actually hurt. But deep down I smiled. Some part of me felt his lies and deception had finally caught up with him.

  “How did you find me?”

  I ignored her and looked at the looped chain wrapped around her waist. “The only way to get this off is to shoot it. But when I do somebody is gonna hear it.”

  She nodded that she understood.

  “Can you walk? There’s a truck outside.”

  “Yeah…they didn’t hurt my legs.”

  I frowned. Someday, another day I might ask her what happened, what had been done to her. But now it was too painful. My emotions where tangled like a spider web and not only did I cringe at the thought of what could’ve have happened, I felt guilty that I’d ever thought she could’ve deserved it.

  “What about the rest of them?” Cindy asked.

  I looked around at the other women. Some were no more than teenagers, scared and wide-eyed. They didn’t deserve to be there, but I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t a hero, if anything after all I’d been through, I realized I was a coward.

  But I didn’t want to be a coward anymore. I wanted to stand for something, I wanted to help. I couldn’t continue to just be here. I may not have been a hero, but I’d convinced myself I was a survivor.

  “We take them with us,” I replied. “As far as they want to go.”

  Some of them had been awake, watching and listening to us. Others seemed completely disinterested. A few of them didn’t look like they’d be able to walk alone and I knew they would need help, but one way or the other, I’d get them out.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  One by one I made my way to each of them. I was quiet and many of them looked terrified as I approached, but the promise of freedom from that hell hole was all they needed to hear.

  “We won’t have much time,” I told them. “Once I fire the first shot someone is gonna come running if they’re not already on the way. Stick together.”

  They all nodded with determined looks on their faces. I turned back to Cindy and pulled the chain tight against the block.

  “You ready?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  With a trembling hand, I aimed the pistol. I took a deep breath and braced myself then squeezed the trigger.

  Nothing.

  I jumped and stared at the gun through squinted eyes. Was it even loaded? I hadn’t even thought of the possibility that the gun might not work.

  “The safety,” Cindy whispered.

  I smiled and flipped the small black lever on the side of the gun. Swallowing, I aimed again then fired. The sound was deafening, but a chunk of the block exploded and the chain fell to the ground. Cindy smiled and sucked in a deep breath of freedom.

  Nine more shots and everyone was on their feet. I handed Cindy Benson’s knife then made the universal symbol for keep quiet.

  Moving slowly, I crept toward the curtain and poked my head outside. The coast was clear and I waved for them to follow me.

  “Come on,” I said lowly and stared back at the shadowy, confused faces.

  Turning back around, I stepped outside and looked up just in time to see Tucker flying at me with outstretched arms. One of his hands smooshed into my face, the other hit my shoulder and his momentum sent us sailing back inside.

  I hit the ground hard and the gun slid from my grip. My head bashed into one of the shattered cinder blocks and I blacked out for a split second.

  “You piece of shit!” Tucker roared and began to pummel his fists into my head.

  It took me a moment to realize what was going on, but I wasn’t very skilled at resisting either way. I flailed my hands in his general direction, making it bit harder for him to aim. I even managed to catch him in the face once or twice, but it was ineffective.

  “You’re a dead man!” he shouted as he continued his assault.

  The women in the tent were in a frenzy. I lost sight of Cindy in the mayhem and couldn’t make out any of the faces in the dark. There was a lot of screaming and I thought maybe Tucker had brought more people with him.

  Another punch collided with my forehead and I grabbed his arm and held on for dear life. He yanked away, but as he did I caught a glimpse of Benson’s knife right before it sliced a path down his back.

  Tucker roared in pain. Cindy stepped around him then sliced at his neck, silencing him forever. Blood sprayed everywhere, but I didn’t have time to be squeamish.

  Rolling over, I grabbed the handgun from the ground just as another man barged inside. I aimed at his silhouette and squeezed. The bullet caught him in the stomach and he folded over and fell to the side.

  “Let’s go!” I shouted.

  I looked back and Cindy had mounted Tucker and was slicing at his face in a frenzied rage. His blood dripped down her face and covered her arms like sleeves, but it seemed to only intensify her attack.

  “Cindy,” I called.

  She didn’t let up. I rushed toward her and caught her arm in the air. She paused and looked up at me with death in her eyes.

  “Cindy, he’s dead. We have to go,” I said as calmly as I could.

  I could see the reason coming back to her face. She looked down on her crimson-stained hands then to Tucker’s lifeless body. Dropping the knife, she nodded then slowly pushed herself to stand.

  I tucked the gun into my waistband and grabbed her hand. She leaned on me, blood and all, but it was good to feel her touch again, good to feel needed.

  Beneath all of my anger and resentment, there was a love there. There were years of a bond that I thought could never be so much as threatened. Maybe it was repairable, maybe after all of this, there was a future. As mad as I was, Cindy had my heart, she was my heart.

  Another gunshot outside brought me back to reality and I snapped my head around. We still weren’t safe and the longer we stayed, the more likely we were to end up chained in that backyard. We needed to get moving.

  “Come on,” I said and waved my hand toward the opening.

  With Cindy close by, I stepped through the slit and checked from side to side. Silently, I motioned for the other girls to follow and we headed down the side of the house to the front.

  Cindy stared into the carport as we passed, but didn’t say anything. Benson’s body was laid out on the ground, blood soaked the grass all around him. None of them deserved to live.

  We piled into the truck and Cindy squeezed in next to me. Some of the girls climbed into the bed. Shock had dulled their senses to the point that the cool breeze outside had no effect.

  I could still hear the battle inside, spilling across the house as I put the truck into reverse. The sounds of gunshots rang out and people cried in rage and pain. I imagined the collateral damage and thanked God that I’d made it out. But so many others didn’t and all I could do was mumble an empty prayer under my breath for them.

  I could only do so much and I had a truck full of people depending on me. So, without looking back, I spun the tires and shot off down the road. A cloud of dirt and rocks bloomed in my wake, obscuring the dingy white house that had terrorized so many. We were free and for now, we were alive.

  CHAPTER 26

  RECKLESS DREAMS

  I drove through the night, only stopping once to let them wash up in the restroom of an abandoned diner. As the weather cooled we squeezed the remaining girls into the truck, which alone raised the temperature in the cabin at least five degrees. It wasn’t much, but outside it had to be in the thirties.

  Every now and then we would pass a lone car, another lost wanderer, hoping to survive this. It was odd seeing anyone at all. I come to accept that we were the only ones still alive, even though that wasn’t true. But we’d pass by someone and not even look twice. My senses were dull, jaded by the constant stream of misfortune that seemed to haunt every wrong turn.

  “Thank you, Max,” Heather, one of the rescued woman said.

  She was a sleek, middle-aged woman with alarming, red hair and freckles. She was the headmistress at an all-
girls school back in Bellville. The other women were teachers and some even students. There were no words to comfort or assuage them after the horrors they’d been through.

  “I wish I could’ve come earlier,” I told her. “There’s a shopping plaza off the next exit. I think we can find you all some clothes there.”

  She smiled and wrapped her arm around one of the teenagers. “It’s all just unbelievable. One day I’m helping these girls with college applications, the next day we’re running from tornadoes. And then…then…We were evacuated. They told us we’d be safe. Those thugs killed everyone.”

  “Any idea what you’ll do now? We are heading to Wyoming, there’s a sort of refugee center there… it’s government ran. You can come with us, at least until you figure things out.”

  “I don’t know. It’s a lot to take in. I just…what about their parents, you know? They’ve just been through so much.”

  I nodded. I didn’t know what else to say so I turned my attention to the lonely road. I pulled off of the highway into Lincoln, Nebraska and followed the warped signs to a rundown outlet mall. It had probably been in disarray before the world started dying and now it looked like ground zero for a nuclear attack.

  A few cars were still in the parking lot, but had been burned and smashed into each other. Many of the stores had caved in and the roads around the place were cracked and riddled with wide, deep gashes.

  “I don’t know about this place,” Cindy said lowly.

  She’d been quiet the entire ride until then. I could feel her moving uncomfortably throughout the night against my arm, probably questioning if she’d crossed some imaginary line or at what point I’d fall back into my fit of rage.

  Her betrayal had hurt. There was no way around that, but I was starting to think losing her might hurt even more.

  “That outfitters store at the corner doesn’t look that bad,” I replied.