Don't Read After Dark: Keep the lights on while reading these! (A McCray Horror Collection) (16 page)

Under Darion’s hand, Papa struggled to breathe. Then Darion let up and nodded to Andrew. “Give it a try.”

* * *

Andrew took in a long, deep breath. He was pretty sure he was ready for this. If not now, then when?

He stepped up to Papa and pinched his nose closed and covered the older man’s mouth. Still the guy squirmed, knocking Andrew off balance. This was not fair. Papa was tied up and poisoned, and still Andrew couldn’t get the upper hand.

“Lean into it,” Darion instructed.

Andrew tried, to no avail.

“Use your body weight,” Darion said. “Leverage is the key.”

Unfortunately, Darion didn’t seem to understand exactly how little Andrew weighed, even with all of those cupcakes. But still Andrew tried, really pushing into Papa, keeping his hand steady over the man’s mouth and nose.

Finally, Papa slumped. Andrew released his hold. Papa really was dead. Finally, his fifth. Nobody could say he wasn’t a serial killer any more.

“Wow!” Andrew said. “I really do feel empowered.”

Darion smiled warmly. “And as your reward…”

Darion opened a door, and through it a gleam shone. Andrew walked through into the room in awe. Every weapon known to mankind was here, hanging from a circular ring attached to the ceiling.

“This must be where the ‘Zard kept all the weapons,” Andrew breathed out. This was way too cool. There were hay hooks, swords, and even spears hanging from the ceiling.

Evie walked around the weapons, but seemed loath to let go of her metal fragment, even with the plethora of weapons in front of her.

“It’s like a killer’s candy store!” Andrew announced, checking them all out.

“Do you see any guns?” Darion asked.

Andrew shook his head. “He must keep those somewhere else.”

But who cared. He dropped his stupid pocket knife and picked up a large hunting knife. It was serrated and everything. Then he found a broad sword. Who needed a hunting knife when you could have a sword? Then he found a pike. Who needed a sword when you could have a pike? Just as sharp, but a nice long handle to keep you away from the enemy.

Darion grabbed a spear gun and sai. Covering his bases, Andrew supposed.

Andrew struggled to pick up the pike. The thing was super heavy.

“Imagine what I could have done to Papa with this!”

Darion cocked his head. “Yes, but what did we learn?”

Andrew screamed as a pain shot through his side. He looked down to find himself impaled on a hay hook. What? How? Then he glanced over his shoulder to find Back gloating.

“How about, check for a fucking pulse, asshole,” the rapist said, lifting Andrew up by the hay hook.

* * *

Darion walked over as Back hurled Andrew’s body aside. The teen landed with a sickening thud.

“I think that it’s about time for some pillaging,” Back announced, looking ready to make good on his threat.

“Run!” Darion yelled to Evie.

But Evie planted her feet, her metal fragment at the ready.

“You stayed,” Darion said, both surprised and gratified.

“Only because if he gets past you, I’m toast.”

He loved how pragmatic the woman was.

Back showed them a long piece of bloody rebar. “This is what killed Door,” he explained. “And it’s going up your ass, right about now.”

Darion stood between Evie and Back.

“Fucker,” Back spat. “We both know who’s going to win.”

“Really?” Darion said. “You’ve never even come close to beating me.”

“Ah,” Back said. “Now you have a weakness.”

Instead of coming after him, Back charged Evie. Darion threw himself between them and brought his sai up and blocked the initial blow, but Darion couldn’t hold onto the sai. It clattered to the ground. No worries. There was a two-handed sword right there. Darion swung high and hard, hitting the rebar just a few inches up from Back’s hand.

The rebar fell to the ground. Darion tried to take advantage of the situation, but Back quickly grabbed a trident and blocked his blow. Darion’s sword hit Esau’s old chest plate. The sudden jarring motion caused Darion to lose the sword, but he put his hand out and brought back a… spatula.

“Ah, the famed spatula,” Back chuckled. “Your shit luck continues.”

Darion tried to make Back eat those words. He used the spatula to its greatest effect, first with a sharp snap to Back’s face, forcing the rapist away. Then he turned the spatula on its side, using the edge to cut a deep groove in Back’s cheek. But the rapist wasn’t idle.

“I am sick-the-fuck with you!” Back said, then used a new knife to slash downward, cutting deeply into Darion’s arm. He held tight to his spatula. He stood there as defiantly as one could with blood running down your arm and your only weapon a spatula.

* * *

Evie knew Back was coming at her next, with Darion bloodied. She was ready for it. As Back dove forward, Evie slashed with her metal fragment.

“Ha!” Back snorted. “I’ve got Esau’s armor, bitch.”

But Evie pretty much knew that. She hadn’t been aiming at Back’s chest, she’d been aiming at the straps to the armor. Back’s eyes dilated as the strap split and the shield slipped off his chest. The rapist brought his hands down to protect himself.

Darion took advantage of the situation and turned the spatula around and slammed the end of it into Back’s eye.

The rapist howled as he stumbled backward.

Evie rushed forward. “We’ve got to finish him.”

“Yeah,” Darion said, falling to his knees. “I’m going to have to take a rain check on that.”

Evie looked back at Darion and realized he had been injured far worse than they she had thought. His face was drained of color as blood gushed from his wound.

“Fucking cunt whore!” Back raged as he pulled the spatula from his eye.

Evie grabbed Darion by the elbow and pulled him to the door. “Come on!”

Darion was weak and had to lean against her as Back stumbled forward, groping for them.

“You’re getting the full back-door experience now!”

Evie didn’t doubt that, if Back could catch them. Evie was determined to make sure that didn’t happen.

“Hurry,” she encouraged Darion as they raced down the hallway.

* * *

Jake had heard noises and what he’d thought were screams and shouts. There were other people in the warehouse. He was sure of it. But not knowing the layout of the place kind of made it difficult to find them.

There was a door up ahead. Jake was beginning to doubt if he really wanted to go through it. Jake wanted answers, but there was something about this dingy, empty, eerie warehouse that was making him doubt his dedication.

Going outside and maybe getting some backup was sounding more and more appealing. But he needed more than the heebie-jeebies to get a full team out here. So through the door he went.

At first Jake didn’t realize what he’d stumbled onto. The image just wouldn’t pass from his eyes to his frontal cortex.

How could there be so many weapons in one place? So many knives? Swords? And was that a pike? Blood stained the floor, as well. Someone had come in here and used those weapons.

“Okay, this… this is definitely evidence.”

He pulled out his broken phone and checked it again. For a singular moment it sparked to life, then died again.

“The one time I’m proven absolutely, positively right…”

* * *

Evie held Darion up while he, strangely, knocked on the wall. Bright red blood dripped onto the floor.

“Oh God, you’re bleeding again.”

“It’s fine,” Darion insisted, even though his weight was heavy against her.

“You’re gushing!” Evie insisted, trying to get him to go faster, but every few feet, Darion would stop and knock. This was not helping their escape.

“He’s going to hear you,” Evie hissed.

“You mean
heard
, bitch!” Back yelled from somewhere behind them. “I might not be able to see you, whore, but I can fucking smell you.”

Good to know. Evie tried to drag Darion along, but his last knock opened a sliding door, and light poured out into the hallway. Evie didn’t worry about where the doorway had come from, nor where it led. She just pulled Darion inside as the door slid closed again.

It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust. Were there computers, monitors and video feeds all around her? Darion leaned forward on the desk checking one of the feed.

“Damn it,” Darion said. “He’s right behind us.”

On screen, Evie watched Back going down the same hallway they had just come down, pounding on the wall as Darion had done. She could hear the blows through the wall. It was only a matter of time before he found the door, as well.

Darion reached out and pushed a button. On screen, Back arched up as his collar shocked him.

How did Darion know to do that? As a matter of fact, how did Darion know there was a secret panel?

“Oh my God…” Evie said, taking a step away from Darion.

Darion looked down at his arm to see the blood. “Wow, you weren’t kidding,” he said as he looked around for something to cover the wound with.

However, his arm wasn’t what Evie was taking about. “You…You…You…”

She couldn’t put words to the horror coursing through her body.

“Are bleeding to death?” Darion mocked her. “Yes. Help me tie this.”

Darion offered her a piece of cloth, but Evie backed away another step.

“You’ve done all of this…” she breathed out, finding it hard to believe, despite the evidence right in front of her. But there Darion was, working the controls like an expert. “You’re the Wizard!”

Darion just smiled as Evie tried to piece together how all of this could have happened. “But you’ve only been down in the dungeon for three years. Back had been there four.”

Shrugging, Darion explained while he wrapped his arm. “I thought watching would be satisfactory, but quickly I realized that I had to experience the dungeon firsthand.”

“But you… you were shocked,” Evie said. “I saw you shocked. And Igor was unconscious. Who?”

Evie spun around, looking for another accomplice of Darion’s. But it was just the two of them.

Darion pulled a small device from his pocket and hit it. His collar jangled. “Wireless remote control. A ‘Zard’s best friend.”

He then turned back to the control panel and zapped Back a few more times. The rapist finally abandoned knocking on the walls and ran back down the hallway. This couldn’t be true, though. There had to be some mistake.

Evie stepped back and ran into a chair. It had a coat draped over it. As her palm hit the fabric, Evie realized that it was
her
coat. The rest of the realizations were equally painful.

“You were the one in the alley,” Evie stated.

Darion was distracted as he checked the monitors for Back. “Damn, but you put up one hell of a fight. Kudos.”

“How could you?” Evie demanded. “All those people you’ve kidnapped. Me…” Then she realized how much gratitude she’d felt for the man who had beaten her and thrown her into a dungeon filled with serial killers. She felt sick to her stomach. “I can’t believe I almost…Oh God.”

Evie tried to find a trashcan in case her stomach did what it wanted to do. Darion came over to her, but she had the presence of mind to slash with her metal fragment.

“Keep back,” Evie hissed as she maneuvered herself. Darion took the bait, stepping away from the control panel. She dove and hit the button for his collar. It sparked, zapping him. “How do I get out?”

“But I want—”

Evie wasn’t listening to any more of Darion’s words, so she zapped him again. “How?”

Her hand hovered over the button as Darion answered. “Back is still out there…”

“Back may be a psychotic sadistic rapist, but I’ll take that over an egotistical, Machiavellian, megalomaniac like you.”

She could tell by the set of his jaw that he wasn’t going to tell her anything. He was way too used to being the ‘Zard. She found a book and put it on top of Darion’s collar, shocking him continuously as she made for the door.

The last thing she heard from Darion was, “That’s my girl,” as she dashed out the door into the darkness. She hadn’t gotten far when she heard a sound. She spun around with the business end of her metal fragment ready to take on anyone. Then came a sound from the other side.

Maybe going out on her own wasn’t her smartest move. Finally, she exited the dark hallway to find a large warehouse. At least there was some illumination, as moonlight streamed in from the windows. There had to be an exit somewhere.

She wasn’t going to find it any time soon, as Back grabbed her from behind. “Oh yeah,” Back snarled. “My cock is going to—”

“Evie, duck!” an unfamiliar voice shouted from the darkness. She had absolutely no idea who it was, but duck she did. Back had her around the waist, but she bent over just as a shot rang out. The bullet hit Back in the shoulder, releasing his hold.

Evie fell to her knees.

* * *

Jake looked to the woman on the ground. She looked like the pictures of his princess, but her hair was straggly and her eyes looked haunted. He couldn’t be sure. He also wasn’t exactly sure of who he’d shot.

But first things first. “Evelyn?” he asked.

The woman rose, pointing a small metal fragment at him. “Get back,” she warned.

“You’re safe,” Jake tried to reassure her. “I’m Detective Jake Braut.”

“Sure you are,” the woman snorted. “Get out of my way.”

She took a step forward, brandishing her little fragment.

“Damn it, drop it,” Jake said. “Or I’ll be forced to shoot.”

The woman smiled. “Oh, you really are new at this.”

“Hey!” Jake protested as she menaced him. “I’m the good guy!”

The woman launched at him, slashing the air with her tiny blade.

“Evie,” Jake shouted, but she wasn’t slowing down.

He aimed and fired just over her shoulder. The woman stumbled to a stop.

“You had two bullets,” she said, sounding very confused.

“Yes,” Jake said, aiming again. “And I’ve got twenty more where those came from.”

The woman’s demeanor changed completely, as her face clouded over and tears sprung to her eyes. She lowered her weapon as she rushed toward him. Still not certain of her intentions, Jake stayed on high alert. Evie rushed to him, encircling his chest with her arms. She buried her face in his chest.