Necro Files: Two Decades of Extreme Horror (28 page)

“Shit,” Ernest said, “hold him!” The rod kept slipping. Fitting it into the narrow urethra was more difficult than he had anticipated. “Get him hard,” he snapped at Caleb.

“You fuckin’ kidding me?” he yelled.

Finally, it slid inside his urethra. Ernest dropped Nolan’s penis and stood back, panting. Turning to the camera, he said, “Goddamn. Okay. All tubes are in place.”

Ian moved to the edge of the table. There was a small amount of blood on Nolan’s crotch. It terrified Ian … yet somehow it was exhilarating.

“Ready to begin,” Ernest said, grinning. He looked at Caleb and said, “Pick an orifice, any orifice.”

Caleb ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. “You’re seriously disturbed, man.”

He tossed Caleb a pair of heavy-duty work gloves. “We’ll start with the ass. That tube gets hot, so make sure you wear those. Hold the rod tight. Make sure it stays up his ass.”

Caleb nodded.

“It cools pretty fast,” Ernest said. “I considered putting him in water, but that would have been a real pain in the ass. Can you imagine if we’d had to start dragging bottles of water down here? That sink is useless.” Ernest dipped the metal spoon into the simmering molten metal and stirred.

“We should be able to get enough into the tube if we work fast, before he starts flopping around too much. Otherwise it’s just going to spill all over his legs.” He filled the ladle and held it up, steam rising, the smell of the metal stronger now. “We don’t want to get this on us. It’s more than two hundred degrees, so be careful. And work fast. Got it?”

Caleb nodded, getting a better grip on the thick tube protruding from Nolan’s ass. He affixed a large funnel to the end of the tubing. Ian stood off to the side, watching them with a transfixed expression of revulsion and horror.

“When I’m done, pull the tube out fast. Then cover up his asshole with the duct tape. Got it?” Ernest poured the contents of the ladle into the tube. Seconds later the liquid reached its intended destination and Nolan went berserk, flailing against the ropes, his agonized screams muffled against his gag. Moments later, he was still.

“He dead already?” Caleb blurted, pulling the metal rod out of Nolan’s ass, covering it with bandages and tape to keep the liquid from leaking out.

Using the stethoscope from the instrument tray, Ernest listened for a heartbeat. He shook his head. “No, not dead. Strong heartbeat.”

Ian dropped against the wall and buried his face in his hands. “Oh my god,” he croaked. “Oh my god.”

“Get a grip,” Ernest said. “We’re not through.” He removed the gag from Nolan’s mouth, and a trace of spit and vomit trailed away with the cloth.

“Now what?” Ian asked, choking back tears, trying not to cry.

Ernest picked up the smelling salts. “We continue with the experiment. Should we remove the blindfold now?” He didn’t wait for an answer.

“But …” Ian scratched his head and stepped forward. “But then he could identify us.”

The other two exchanged glances before turning back to Ian.

“What did you think was going to happen here?” Ernest asked. “He’s got a metal block up his ass. Did you think he was going to just walk away?”

Ian swallowed and shrugged.

“I told you earlier that this wasn’t going to end well.”

“Yeah, Ernest, but—”

“And you promised! You said you wanted to be part of this, that you would always be one of us. You swore along with Caleb and me, fucking told us we were your brothers!”

“I didn’t know you meant murder!”

Ernest looked at the floor before speaking, using a patronizing voice not unlike his father’s. “I told you this would be difficult. I told you this would end badly. I told you we would be sharing secrets for life. What about all of that didn’t you understand, you fucking idiot? What the fuck did you think I was referring to?”

“Come on, Ian,” Caleb said. “You’ve got to see Nolan for what he is. A non-person, just an asshole getting a free ride. He’s a leech, a guinea pig. He’s a goddamned lab rat.”

Ian looked from Ernest to Caleb and knew they planned to finish. Could he see Nolan as just a giant lab rat? He tried to justify what they were doing to the slab of meat on the butcher block table, hidden away somewhere in a room that reeked of damp, dead wine, a room lit by a naked bulb dangling by a single thin wire. The expressions on the faces of his fellow scientists were feral, somehow evil. They were enjoying this too much and would never need to justify their actions. Ian tried to reason that this was all for posterity, tried to forget that this was how Nolan would spend the last minutes of his pathetic life.

“Okay,” Ian whispered. “I’m with you.” He didn’t know whether or not he really meant it. For now, he did mean it. For now, he would stand with them.

Ernest handed him the notebook and pen. “Good. Let’s get going then. First entry was, say, 6:00 pm. Let’s see …” He played with the webbing between his thumb and index finger. “Level One. Subject gagged and blindfolded. Nipple clamps and insertion of rods and tubes. Slight bleeding. Subject … uncomfortable.

“Level Two. Jot down, like 6:45. Level Two, melted metal enema injected. Subject in extreme pain and passes out. I guess this is where we begin Level Three.”

Glancing at his watch, he said, “Blindfold and gag removed. Subject will be revived and questioned for response. Start Level Three at 7:00 pm.”

Ian wondered what sort of doctor Ernest would become and then remembered his particular fondness for forensic medicine.

Ernest continued his dictation. “About to revive subject.” Then he grinned. “Level Three. Wake the fucker up.”

Caleb waved the salts beneath Nolan’s nose. There was no reaction. He waved them for another few seconds, and then lifted the vial to his own face and sniffed. He jerked back his head and snorted. “Nothing wrong with these!”

“Oh, god,” Ian moaned, peering into Nolan’s face. “What’s wrong with him?”

Ernest rolled his eyes. “Are you serious?” To Caleb he said, “Keep working those salts. See if you can revive him.”

Caleb waved the salts and slapped Nolan’s cheeks.

He continued the dictation. “Level Three. Subject unresponsive. Efforts to revive subject have been unsuccessful. Unsure at this point what—”

Nolan rocked his head away from the salts. His eyes rolled around in their sockets, trying to focus, unable. The whites of his eyes were tinged with pink, distorted Easter eggs.

Ernest leaned over, his mouth by Nolan’s ear. “Can you hear me?”

Nolan moaned.

“Nolan? Come on, man, wake up. We need to know how you feel. For posterity.” Ernest looked up at Ian. “Jot this down: subject unwilling or unable to respond. In great deal of pain.”

Nolan’s eyes focused. He blinked and tried to press himself into the table. Opening his mouth, all that escaped was a belching groan.

“Next level before he passes out again,” Ernest said, moving to the simmering pot.

“Burns …” Nolan groaned. “Help me …”

Ernest said, “This is going to be tricky. Ian, your turn. Grab his dick. Put on the gloves first.”

Ian got into place and did what Ernest instructed.

“Hold it up, as straight as you can. Hold it steady.” He turned back to the pot.

“Wha …” Breathing came as gasping hitches, making speech impossible for Nolan. Tears streamed, dampening the hair along his temples. His eyes were glistening gems, brilliant and dying at the same time, a beautiful comet blazing to oblivion.

Ernest held up an oversized syringe. “Hold him steady. I’m going to inject this.” The rod in the urethra was narrow, much thinner than the needle on the syringe. “Okay, hang on. He’ll thrash around, so hold him. Steady now.”

He stuck the syringe into the tip of the rod. Moments later, the liquid metal traveled the length and filled the inside of Nolan’s penis.

His shrieks reverberated off the cellar walls. He strained against the ropes, as if in the throes of a seizure. A sudden snap followed Nolan’s trailing screams before he passed out.

Ernest tossed the stethoscope to Caleb and traced his fingertips over the damaged flesh and bone of Nolan’s broken leg. “Jesus Christ, that was a hell of a reaction. He broke his own goddamned shinbone.”

Ernest examined the rest of the body. The flesh on the other ankle was torn and bloody, but the rope had held. He secured the broken leg to the table with another length of rope before checking on Nolan’s wrists.

Ian pulled the rod from Nolan’s body. The liquid metal inside his penis had already begun to harden.

“Hold it up,” Ernest said. “If you put it down the liquid will drip out.”

Caleb held up the stethoscope. “He’s still alive.”

Ernest smiled and wiped his brow with his sleeve. “Level Three was a success, I would say.”

“Look at this,” Ian said, pointing to the underside of the penis. “The skin’s burning away over here. But nothing’s leaking out. I think it’s already solid.”

“I can’t believe he’s still alive,” Caleb said, shaking his head. “If it was me, I’d sure want to be dead.”

Ernest glanced at his watch. “Write this: Level Three achieved at 7:20 pm. Subject in agony, yet continues to live. Asked for help. Barely able to speak, yet screamed his head off a minute later. Level Three consisted of pouring liquid metal into his urethra, creating a permanent solid block in his urinary passage.”

He cleared his throat. “Now at … 7:35 pm, we will attempt Level Four. Will see if administering liquid to victim while asleep revives him at all.”

Ian raised his eyebrows. His hands trembled as he wrote the notes, jotting every word, wishing this ordeal was over. He leaned against a wall, exhausted.

Caleb handed him a small bottle of water. “You okay?”

Ian nodded, chugging the water down his parched throat.

“Hey, look at this,” Ernest said. Nolan’s penis—ramrod straight and granite solid—jutted up and rested against his stomach. “Come on, break’s over. Let’s do Level Four.”

He held up two small cylindrical tubes. “Ian, write down whatever I say. Try to capture whatever he says or does. If he wakes up.”

“You have to hold his head back tight, Caleb. If he went nuts before … I don’t have a clue what he might be capable of. These are going up his nose now. If he shakes his head, that shit’s going everywhere. Hold him as tight as you can.”

“Up his nose?” Ian said. “Won’t that kill him? That’ll, like, fry his brains.”

Caleb shook his head. “Why didn’t you get something to hold him still, like Flunitrazepam or something, man?”

“Date-rape drug?”

“Yeah. Like you don’t have access to that shit.”

“Why would I want to use anything that would paralyze him? I want to see his reactions, asshole. I want to see the little fucker squirm.”

“You’re sure taking this little ‘experiment’ personally, don’t you think?” Ian said.

Ernest thought for a moment and chose to ignore this line of questioning. “I’m not sure whether this’ll fry his brains, but in other tests I’ve run, it didn’t kill the subjects right away. They kind of went nuts, but they didn’t die right away.”

“You still talking about small animals, man?” Caleb asked.

Ernest ignored him and instead tilted Nolan’s head back and inserted small metal tubes into each nostril. Nolan’s breathing became whistling gasps, and his mouth popped open to breathe.

“He’s waking up,” Caleb yelled, bending low and holding on tight to Nolan’s head.

Dipping two metal turkey basters into the pot, Ernest filled them with the liquid and rushed back.

Before Ernest even touched him, Nolan responded, crying out and bucking on the table.

Ernest yelled at the camera to be heard above Nolan’s steady stream of guttural and hysterical cries. “Level Four! Pour liquid into nasal passages!”

Nolan fought, spit and sweat and blood flying everywhere, horrible grunts and animal growls erupting from his destroyed body. Placing the tips of the basters into the tubes, Ernest injected the boiling liquid into Nolan’s nasal passages.

Inhuman screams poured out of him, seeming to come from some other level of existence. He strained against the ropes securing his body, fighting and stretching so spastically and furiously that sinewy cords snapped up and down the length of his body.

Blood gushed from deep ruts in his skin. Then he passed out.

Ernest collapsed. “Oh my god,” he panted. “Level Four complete. Did you get all that, Ian?”

Ian’s heart pounded and his head thudded. “I feel sick.”

“We’re almost done. Hang in there.”

“Can’t,” Ian said. “Gonna be sick.”

Ernest said, “We can’t stop now and leave him hanging. We have to put him out of his misery. Take a deep breath. Get a fucking grip, man.”

The three stood around Nolan. His once not-quite-handsome face was now a gnarled and hideous ruin, a distorted parody of his former self. Metal patches stuck to his skin and hair. His cheeks were open sores, oozing pustules of flesh and exposed bone where metal had leaked through. The lining of his nostrils were two solid metal caves. Blood trickled out of the corners of his eyes and mouth.

Ian gently squeezed the nose and felt the soft metal shift beneath his fingers, felt the spongy mass of tissue give beneath his touch. His stomach flipped, and he wished he’d ignored that strange compulsion to touch Nolan.

“Level Five,” Ernest said. “We end this. See what sort of resolve or strength this freak has left.”

Caleb listened to Nolan’s chest with the stethoscope. “His heart’s strong, I guess,” he said, licking his lips, stepping away from the body. “It’s still beating, anyway.”

“I thought he’d be dead by now,” Ernest said, staring off at nothing. “Let’s do this. Final level.”

He grabbed a length of tubing from the tray. “This is flexible, like a garden hose, but it’s metal. Coiling of some sort. I snagged it from the garage, when the mechanic wasn’t looking. Open his mouth.”

“His mouth?” Caleb asked.

“His fucking mouth!” Ernest shrieked.

Caleb tipped Nolan’s head back and pried open his mouth. Ernest fed the tube down his throat.

“Write this down: eight pm. About to attempt Level Five. Tubing has been fed into subject. The tube acts as a sort of trachea. Get ready, guys. This is it.”