by Jack Steele
My ears were still ringing from the blast. We had certainly lost the element of surprise. Looking forward there was another corridor which was badly lit by a light that flickered on and off making observation difficult if not impossible. We had no time to lose. I checked that Carl and Cross were ready to continue and we set off down yet another flight of stairs. It was if we were making our way down to hell itself. Then as we turned another corner there it was. A single door wedged open inviting us inside to meet our fate. We had no idea where our backup was but we couldn’t afford to wait especially when a blood curdling scream came from just inside that room.
We drew our weapons and once again Cross demanded we remove his handcuffs but I ignored him for fear of his motives. Carl looked as anxious as I felt as we moved inside, slowly checking every corner for Geb Blood. We had stumbled upon some kind of workshop with wooden benches, lathes and a wide selection of tools. Hammers, saws, drills and knives were all strewn on the worktops in a haphazard fashion. These hadn’t been left behind by workmen when the hospital closed; these had been accumulated more recently.
One thing which did look out of place was an antique wardrobe standing in the far corner of the room. It had the left side door open and what looked like scratch marks etched into the surface. I was about to have a closer look when Carl shouted to me,
‘They are all in here!’
My heart started to beat faster as I saw in an adjoining room, first Graham and then Stella seated on the floor. As I stepped into the room Jez followed behind me and went to help Miranda who was sobbing with relief. Graham’s face turned to horror when he realised who it was.
‘Get away from her!’ he yelled, recalling Jez was the one that had brought him here to this godforsaken place.
‘He is with us now Graham. I will explain later.’ He seemed to calm down with my assurance but then when the light flickered behind me, the terrified look on his face returned. Both Miranda and Stella screamed for Carl’s protection. As I swung around there in the doorway armed with an axe and machete stood Geb Blood and he wore the face of a madman.
Chapter 81
Stella screamed as she saw him step in and head towards her. I fired my gun and he reeled as it hit him in the chest but now he was coming for me. I fired again but my gun jammed. I raised my arm ready to club him with the gun just as Carl bulldozed him to the ground a few feet away from Stella.
They jostled on the ground, each trying to get a grip of the other’s clothing. Geb was still wearing the overalls of a mechanic but it was tight fitting, offering nothing loose to grip hold of. Instead Carl had to try and pin Geb’s arms to his side so that his weapons couldn’t be used.
I needed something to silence the monster and next door there were plenty of useful tools to choose from. As I ran into the workshop I frantically searched the assortment strewn across the benchtop and found a mallet hammer and a hacksaw to remove their chains. There wasn’t anything else suitable so I grabbed these and was about to return when I heard the sound of scraping wood coming from the back of the wardrobe. My heart was thumping as I waited impatiently for the cause. It was a total surprise when out stumbled Jasper looking like he had seen a ghost. All the blood had drained away from his face.
‘Follow me.’ I shouted, hoping he would assist me in the release of our friends but he had other ideas. I couldn’t believe it when he made a run for the exit leaving all of us in danger. Jez summed him up by shouting after him.
‘You’ve sunk so low Peach! Lower than a snake’s belly.’ He gave chase while still handcuffed, leaving me alone in the room.
It was then that I heard more scratching and scraping deep inside the wardrobe. My heart was in my mouth when the most hideous looking hulk of a creature appeared from within it.
There were large welts to his face caused by a Stanley knife blade or something similar. The rough gouges looked like his disfigurement had possibly been self-inflicted. The clothes he wore had brown stains splattered all over them and his hair was matted with dried blood. He turned to look at the struggle in the next room and then slowly looked back at me.
‘This is nice. All the SIU members are here to party.’ He laughed hysterically with both of his hands behind his back. It was clear that he was holding something and when he brought them to the front I saw he had a small axe.
‘I am so glad you could make it because we wouldn’t start without you. I’ve always had this thing about having a certain number before I get all sweaty.’
He spoke so matter of fact about butchering innocent lives that he began to unsettle me in ways that no one had done before. I remembered Mary Pepper repeating the number six over and over. At first I thought she meant 666 which is supposedly the symbol for the devil. We know how evil he is but maybe she was the sixth person abducted and maybe felt responsible in some way for triggering the slaughter.
‘My brother has done me proud by supplying me with a great selection of meats including you, Joe Stone.’ I was lost for words but what he said next shocked me. ‘Stay here with me Joe Stone. Leave them to fight it out. My brother always wins.’
Chapter 82
My gaze was transfixed on Zane Blood who was supposedly dead, killed by his brother, but clearly that wasn’t the case. I really wanted to get back inside to help Carl but as I motioned towards the room he side-stepped and blocked my path. He raised the axe and pointed it at me.
‘Excuse my appearance but he keeps locking me up for my safety behind that thing.’ He pointed to the wardrobe which still seemed out of place. ‘He moved it here from our hovel in the woods to try and remind me of home and keep me safe with the secret door. He would lock me in that room saying… well he lost his tongue years ago when he arrived home to see me chopping up our father.’
So that’s obviously what had caused Geb to suddenly lose his voice.
‘I had to kill our father. He deserved it. The beatings he gave my dear sweet mummy. She wouldn’t harm a fly. So for her, I chopped him up but in doing so his blood got in my mouth and I swallowed it down. Then I couldn’t stop. I got a taste for it you see. That’s why my brother hid mummy even though I said she was safe. He has hidden her somewhere in the woods around our home.’
Zane then turned nasty. He sneered as he took a step towards me. ‘Until now, my sweet brother hadn’t realised I could get out and do what I do best, dissecting patients to improve my skills.’
The manner of his explanation was chilling. The total disregard for human life was the worst I had ever heard. He provoked me into an argument.
‘Then by leaving them to die in excruciating pain, you think that’s ok do you?’’
He laughed at my outburst.
‘If you did your police work you will know the people I chose were down and outs, prostitutes and the dregs of our civilisation. Nobody wants to see them on the streets so I’ve done my bit for society. I’ve always hated those that did me wrong. I had to get recompense. The teachers at our school dumped us both in the lowest class because they couldn’t be bothered to spend time with us. Well I made sure they would regret that.’
Time was pressing and from the corner of my eye Carl seemed to be losing the battle to pin Geb down. I had to catch his brother off guard so I could take him down and end this. I tried a distracting tactic but when I asked him about Geb killing so many people at the brickworks it back-fired. He stared with an evil glare and went ballistic.
‘That was me! I killed them! It’s all me. He is my errand boy fetching and carrying out my plan. I had a whole year to work on getting payback for his sudden disappearance. I saw he was headlines in the papers and they called him ‘The Chameleon’. He didn’t kill anyone. It was all me.’
He waved the axe around as he spat out his words. ‘It was vital that everyone believed Geb was working alone but he worked for me! Then I get to work on making a creation from their vital organs.’
It was another revelation and it appeared that Carl’s theory of Frankenstein at work was not that
wide of the mark. I had to chance a quick look on how he was doing but my heart sank as I saw Geb towered above him. He was about to stamp on Carl’s hand. The machete and axe were by his feet. Once Carl was incapacitated then he could pick up the weapons and murder everyone in that room. For the first time since joining the Strategic Investigation Unit I realised the magnitude of what was happening. We were all in serious danger of not making it out of here alive.
Chapter 83
In my hands were the mallet hammer and a hacksaw. I had received hand to hand combat training at the Academy and now was the time to put it to the test. I dropped the hacksaw to the floor and his eyes followed it falling. I then moved to enter the room next door knowing that Zane would try to block me, so when he glanced up and stepped to the side, I swiftly swung around catching him off balance. Despite him seeing my manoeuvre late and trying to duck out of the way, the mallet connected under his chin sending him crashing to the floor. Any normal person would have been knocked out cold but he shook his head and slowly tried to stand up.
Behind me I could hear Carl shrieking in pain as the bones in his hand was being crushed by Geb Blood. Where were Jasper and Cross when they could help me end this? Was this their plan all along? Lead us all into a trap and escape so they could receive the praise of a nation? I had never been let down by someone so much. It made me so livid that I impulsively charged at Zane. He caught me with the axe across my left forearm but my momentum took him off his feet and we landed on the ground together. Thankfully it severely winded him and as he gasped for air I clubbed his head repeatedly with the hammer until he was out cold.
I only hoped I wasn’t too late to save Carl and the others. Stella and Miranda were shouting at Geb to leave Carl alone as I rushed in and using two hands on the mallet’s handle I jumped up and whacked him on the side of his face. It sent him sprawling over to Miranda who let out a scream as he landed by her legs. He went to grab her and she went into a blind panic shuffling her feet out of the way but occasionally hitting him in the head for good measure.
He tried to get up but I got in another massive swipe and heard his jaw bone crunch as it dislocated in his mouth. He let out a roar as blood splattered all over Miranda’s face. He was down but not out and I was gasping for air. I mustered all that remained of my energy and landed a huge blow to his temple. He rolled onto his front out cold. I quickly looked at Carl who was groaning with the pain of his broken hand but at least he was still alive.
‘Hang in there big buddy, while I free the others.’ I whispered and then staggered outside to pick up the hacksaw. Zane Blood was still out for the count which enabled me to return to the room and start sawing off the shackles one by one. First was Stella’s and she was so relieved that she flung her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. She was shaking with fear and shock, something that I wasn’t used to seeing with her but was totally understandable in the circumstances. She took the saw from me and went to assist Miranda.
I went to check on Graham who looked to have been badly beaten by them. He was cut all over his face and had a black eye and broken nose. He was sobbing with relief more than anything and as I assured him that it was over he thanked me for saving them. There must have been another hacksaw next door that I could use to release him so after checking on Carl I went to look for one. An icy chill ran down my spine when I stepped into the other room. Zane Blood was gone.
Chapter 84
If he’d gone after Jasper and Cross then he should also encounter the second team of the Tactical Response Unit. That would be far too easy so he had probably rushed back into the secret room at the back of his wardrobe either to escape or to retrieve more weapons. I was torn between following him in there and making sure he couldn’t harm any of us or assisting the release of my friends and then pursue him later.
The latter was my option, hoping that the TRU arrived and I could send them in to arrest him. I kept scanning the room for his sudden appearance as I searched and then found another saw on the workbench. Carl was sitting up nursing his hand and Stella was still working on releasing Miranda.
I went over to Graham and crouched down to work on removing his handcuffs. My back was to the door and feeling on edge I shuffled around so I could glance at anything moving in that room but also in a position to saw at the metallic restraints wrapped around the pipe.
The room was so claustrophobic and I felt for the first time in my life the urgency to vacate it. I was conjuring up visions of Zane returning or Geb rising once again. It was time to pull myself together. We were safe I kept reiterating as the chain released Graham’s hands. He thanked me at first but then his face turned to fear as he saw something over my shoulder. Turning swiftly around I realised someone was heading towards us from the other room.
Chapter 85
I made a grab for the mallet hammer by the side of Geb Blood. Now was the time to defend my colleagues behind me. They were my family and there was no way that I was going to allow them to be harmed anymore.
I raised the hammer ready to strike a blow and had to stop myself when I saw it wasn’t Zane at all.
‘They are in here!’ Jez shouted, beckoning the remaining four Tactical Response Unit operatives inside. They were still wearing their goggles and masks having seen what happened to their colleagues. Jasper also entered with them and I aimed a verbal volley at him, I was still seething at his selfish actions. It was Jez who reacted to my rant.
‘If Jasper hadn’t led us to you we would have been lost in those corridors and you could all have died. He saved your lives! It’s one thing to get out of that place but another to have the strength and courage to re-enter and rescue you. The guy is a hero!’
I felt mad at Jasper but if this was true then he had come up trumps when we needed him the most. Deep down though, I wondered if this was actually the case. Cross has a way of manipulating the truth and racking up points which he would likely insist be paid back in full.
‘Have you seen Zane Blood at all out there?’ I asked but got a negative response. So he either avoided them by escaping down another route or he was in the room in front of us. We moved towards the wardrobe and pulled it out of the way to reveal a metal door. It was open with the padlock hanging loosely on the bolt. This may have been his incarceration but looking into the small brightly lit room it revealed a sight that will haunt me forever.
The four operatives went inside and I followed slightly behind them ready for the madman to jump out and attack us all. There was dried blood smeared on the walls and I read the words ‘Retribution’ and ‘Revenge’ in amongst the handprints. Worst of all were the body parts on the floor. Forensics would hopefully identify who these belonged to. At the far end was a bed with the sheets in the shape of a body. The team signalled to each other as they edged nearer, the assault rifles trained on the bed. I anticipated the frantic scene as the lead operative crouched ready to pull off the cover.
He got the nod and slowly dragged it down towards the end of the bed revealing a human body constructed head to toe from a poorly sewn patchwork of skin. It was one of the most frightening things I had ever seen. I turned away and saw one of the Tactical Response Unit operatives outside walking towards the other room. It was then that I realised all of the team were with me and my colleagues were in serious danger.
‘Give me your gun!’ I barked to one of the operatives who had also turned away from the horrendous corpse lying prostrate on the bed. It was clearly Zane’s creation and now he had returned wearing one of the injured TRU’s uniform.
I shouted out to Carl that it was Zane who had entered his room. He wouldn’t spare Graham, Miranda and Stella because he knew that’s what would hurt me the most. As I ran to the doorway three shots rang out in quick succession.
Chapter 86
Carl had his hand on the gun which had shot three holes in the far wall. Cross was trying to wrestle Zane to the ground. Another shot was fired in the struggle and Miranda screamed at the deafening noise. Cross began
to shout obscenities such was the intensity of his hatred for the man.
Stella dodged the melee to sit and wrap her arms around Miranda to comfort her. Graham wanted to follow Stella but each time he tried to get across the room his path was blocked by the violent struggle.
The loaded weapon still posed a major problem so I joined Carl in trying to pull it away from Zane. Graham kept moving into the path of the gun but he had spotted something which we hadn’t. In all the confusion Geb had regained consciousness and was grabbing at Miranda’s ankle. I caught sight of Graham stamping on Geb’s hand which drew a roar of anguish from the brute. Now it was Graham’s turn to risk his own life in order to try and save his friends.
Eventually with one large heave I prised the assault rifle from Zane’s grasp. Now I took aim and shouted for him to surrender. Cross pulled off the maniac’s goggles and helmet while Carl held him tightly around the waist. It appeared that we had the upper hand, especially when the TRU operatives entered the room.
I shouted again for both brothers to surrender but instead of accepting their fate they both had one last trick up their sleeve.
Chapter 87
Zane roared like a wounded animal then head-butted Carl. Simultaneously Geb grabbed his leg and twisted it making him crash to the ground. Zane wrapped his arm around Carl’s neck and began to squeeze the life out of him. I raised my assault rifle and fired a volley of shots into the midriff of both men. The impact sent their bodies twisting and writhing in pain but it still wasn’t enough to stop Zane. It was obvious the brothers were both wearing some kind of body protection. Carl slumped to the floor unconscious.
Zane then lunged for me, barging me against the wall, my head thudding against the hard surface. The room spun as I fell down and hit the ground so hard that a searing pain ran across my left shoulder. I tried to focus on the fight and watched as Zane removed something from his pocket. All I could make out was something glinting in the light as it fell into the hands of his younger brother. The TRU shot the brothers a couple more times but they wouldn’t go down without a fight.