Psychoville, page 7
"What?"
"The girl, Carla or whatever. She was the last one left. She got out. She played like she was knocked out and when Ollie unchained her she flipped out and ran off. She came by here and killed these two."
"What the fuck did I tell you? I told you to keep them under fucking control."
"I know."
"You call this under control?"
"No," she was looking down.
"Do you call running through the town with an ax hacking our people up under control?"
"No, all right? I get it. I fucked up."
"You're goddamn right you did."
"Look, I got this ok. I'll find her," she put her hand on his chest and looked up at him. He grabbed her wrist and squeezed.
"I think you've done enough. Where is that guy at? Please tell me he's still chained up."
"He's in the studio with Ollie."
"Ollie who just got fucked up by some girl."
"Hey! What's going on?" Deacon's voice called out from behind Echo. They looked back to see him running up. He was still naked and wielding a boner. He was wearing Ollie's boots, however.
"What the fuck?" the sheriff said.
"Where is Ollie?" Echo asked.
"His eyes are messed up. He gave me his shoes and told me to come and help."
"God dammit Ollie," she said.
The sheriff shook his head as he looked at Echo.
"Get that dumbass back to the cabin and secured. I'll grab Spurlock, and we'll find your stray."
"I wasn't done with her," Echo protested.
"You are now. Now go."
She turned and walked away as Deacon followed. Chester remained with the sheriff, who nodded at him.
"Find Spurlock, send him this way. Tell him we got a runner," the sheriff ordered. Chester nodded and ran off. The sheriff pulled his gun and headed toward the woods behind the Hyatt cabin. It was the thickest area and the darkest part of town at night. It only made sense she ran back there. He wondered if Samson would find her before he got to her. If so, it would be just as well.
Once into the woods, he stood, listened and smelled. Some thought the idea of smelling fear was a myth; the sheriff knew otherwise. Whenever a person was in their fight or flight response, they gave off a distinct odor. He didn't know what you called it and didn't care. It was just fear, plain and simple. He could smell it now. Just ahead of him and to his left. He pointed the gun into the darkness as he crept forward, careful not to make a single sound.
Moving toward the smell, he knew he was getting close. She had to be nearby but wouldn't get far. He took another step when he heard her grunt. In the darkness, he saw her outline swinging something. He ducked just in time to miss the ax. She brought it down and hit him in the middle of the back with the dull end, knocking him flat on his face. Once he was down she took off running.
He cursed himself for letting her get the drop on him, but at least the damage was minimal. She'd just stunned him. As she ran, he could hear the sound of sticks breaking as he aimed his gun into the darkness and fired several shots. The sounds stopped as he listened. Did he hit her? He'd have to run ahead to see for sure. As he ran, he heard footsteps behind him. Big, loud steps moving quickly. He stopped and ducked behind a tree. Now who the hell could this be coming? Maybe it was Spurlock or Samson. Samson would take bigger steps. Spurlock was too small to make such noise.
He waited as the footsteps got closer. He took out his flashlight and shined it in that direction. He hadn't used the light so far so as not to mess up his night vision. With someone coming up from behind him, he wanted to know who it was. No way was it the girl. Sure enough, it was Samson. He was lumbering toward the sheriff carrying his chainsaw.
"Samson, you seen Spurlock?" he asked. But Samson just shook his head. "I shot at her; I may have hit her. If you can find her, she's yours to do what you want."
Samson grunted as he moved ahead, vanishing into the darkness. He turned off the light and followed behind, but only walking this time. With Samson out here, he was sure she would be found and disposed of in no time. He took a few more steps when Samson's chainsaw sounded a few feet ahead of him.
"All right Samson! You find her?" the Sheriff asked. Instead of a reply he caught the outline of Samson in front of him spinning around just before the saw cut both his legs off. It happened so quickly the Sheriff couldn't even react. He dropped his gun as he fell to the ground. His legs fell several feet in front of him as his stumps gushed blood onto the ground. What the fuck?
"Samson! What are you doing? Why?" The Sheriff yelled as he shined the light up at the large beast man who was now standing over him. The chainsaw rumbled at his side as Samson's blank, deformed face stared back.
"What are you doing? My legs! You cut off my legs!"
Samson lifted the saw over his head, revved the engine and then brought it down.
Chapter 20
Carla watched the huge freak cut up the sheriff with his chainsaw. Luckily for her the sheriff’s bullets just missed her by inches. She dropped to the ground when he began shooting which is what saved her. She had looked back when she heard the chainsaw, thinking for sure the freak was coming for her. Instead, he killed his own Sheriff. She had no idea why and honestly didn't care. She got to her feet and kept running, this time going to her right toward another clearing.
The next cabin looked familiar. As she got closer, she saw the old man standing outside looking around. It was Roger. She approached him, dragging the ax behind her. He saw her coming and smiled.
"Well hello there!" he said. "Looks like you made it out ok."
"You motherfucker. You handed us over to them knowing what they'd do. What they were!"
"Yeah. I'm sorry for that. This town has its ways, and an old fart like me can't stop it. I do what I can. Might save a person here or there, but I can't stop the big machine."
"All of my friends are fucking dead!" She picked up the ax and held it in both hands.
"There now, let's not do anything hasty. Why don't you come inside? I'll fix you some coffee."
"Why? So I can wait around in there till one of them comes back for me? So you can just hand me over again?"
"Not at all," he shook his head. "I can get you out of here for good, actually."
"Oh, can you now?"
"You bet. There is a series of tunnels that runs beneath here. You can only access it from some of the cabins. I can get you in through here. You follow it for a couple miles, and it comes out near the highway. Make it there and you're safe. Come on." He turned and went inside.
Carla was skeptical, but she followed him. She had no idea how to get back to the road from where she was. He may not be totally full of shit. She got inside the dimly lit cabin and looked around.
"I'll put some coffee on for ya."
"Fuck the coffee. Get me the fuck out of here," Carla said. She was done being nice to any of these assholes. There was no talking sense to these people either. They only understood one thing, and she could speak it right back.
"Fine. Right, this way." He walked her to the back of the cabin and knelt down, pulling a door open revealing a dark opening in the floor.
"Right through there," he said. "And you'll be out of here."
Something didn't feel right to Carla. For all she knew he was leading her right into a trap. That or if there were a tunnel it led right back to Echo or that crazy deputy. She looked around the cabin before getting into the hole. The place was rather simple. A couple chairs sitting around along with an easy chair. It was what was next to a chair that caught her eye. There were several pairs of women's shoes.
Some looked like slip on shoes, others were tennis shoes but had yellow or pink in them. Not that they couldn't be a guy's, but it wasn't likely.
"Whose shoes are those?" she asked.
"Huh?"
"The shoes, by your chair. Whose are those?"
"Them are just shoes I found in the woods. I suppose they belonged to outsiders that didn't make it. I figured it was the last thing left of them."
"So you just happened to bring them back here and stack them next to your chair. Like some collection."
"Look young lady. I know you been through a lot. But I'm not liking how you're talking to me."
"What's in that hole? What is waiting for me down there?"
"I told you. Just a tunnel."
"Ok. Then you go first."
"What?"
"If there is some rescue tunnel down there, you get in first. You climb in and show me where it goes."
"Now, haha, I'd love to. But I'm way too old to be climbing into some hole and through a bunch of tunnels."
"If it's a bunch of tunnels then you should have nothing to worry about. I'm not getting in there until you do first."
"Then I guess we'll be standing here all night." His voice was getting shaky as he spoke.
She moved toward him holding up the ax.
"We're not standing anywhere. I want to know what you think you're going to do with me." She got closer as Roger took a few steps back.
"Now, now you look here! I brought you into my home! I protected you!"
"You handed us over to those freaks earlier. How many others did you just hand over to their deaths like that? Did you hand over those people whose shoes you're collecting?"
Before he could reply, she stepped forward and used the ax handle to shove him into the hole. He fell in landing on his bottom, all scrunched into the small space. She leaned over and looked down at him.
"So where's the tunnel?" she called down.
"Hey, please help me!"
"Just get out through your tunnel! Funny, I don't see it!"
"Look, ok. There is no tunnel ok?"
"So you were just going to trap me down there? Fuck you."
She closed the lid as Roger screamed from beneath the floor. Once the lid was closed, his screams were barely muffled sounds coming from beneath. She went over to the big chair and slid it over the door. He'd either suffocate or die of dehydration soon. Either way she was done giving a shit. Fuck this town and everyone who lived here. Once the lid was covered, she went through a box in the corner behind where the chair had been. It was full of clothes. Helped people her ass. This motherfucker had been killing as many as the rest of the town and keeping trophies.
She found a pair of women's jeans that fit her well enough and a tank top, and then some shoes. This would make it much easier to move around. Once she was done, she heard something outside. It sounded like people talking. She turned off the light and moved behind the door. Someone was coming. She would be ready.
Chapter 21
Spurlock came out from behind some trees and watched Samson finish cutting up The Sheriff. He felt no emotion whatsoever seeing his father cut to shreds by the large man wielding the chainsaw. It wasn't hard for Spurlock to convince Samson to do it either. Samson wasn't afraid of anyone. Never had been, not since killing his dad. Despite his looking ugly and inability to talk, the guy wasn't as stupid or slow as everyone thought. He just never had much to say and preferred keeping to himself.
Spurlock promised him more freedom to hunt folks. Under the Sheriff, Samson was only allowed to go after ones who got away. Maybe he'd get an occasional reject, but was never allowed in the auctions or considered a member of the town. Spurlock promised him that would change, and Samson jumped on it.
"Good job, Samson," Spurlock said. "You made it look easy."
Samson let out a grunt as he shut the saw off.
"Did you see the girl?"
Samson shook his head no.
"Ok. See if you can find her. She doesn't know these woods. You do. You find her, she's yours to keep."
Samson nodded as he turned and ran into the darkness. Spurlock knelt down over his dad's remains and shined his flashlight down on the body. His arms and legs had been cut into pieces. His head had been split open causing brains to spill out onto the ground. Spurlock smiled in the darkness.
"Not so tough now are you? You didn't think anyone could or would take you out huh? Shows how much you know. You're not that tough at all. I only wish I could have seen your face those final seconds when you knew you were fucked." Spurlock stood and spat on the body as he walked further into the woods trailing Samson. He reached a clearing where Roger's cabin stood. It was likely she ran in there. Roger would always take in strays pretending to help them, only to kill them by stuffing them into little compartments under his cabin and filling them with water or concrete. He was a strange old man. He'd already fucked the girl over earlier. No doubt she was stupid enough to trust him again.
Samson was just ahead headed toward the cabin. Spurlock hung back when he saw someone approaching from the other side. It was Echo. What the fuck was she doing? And why did she have that Deacon asshole with her? At least he finally put some pants on.
"Echo! What the fuck are you doing?" Spurlock called out.
"I'm gonna get this bitch back and finish our movie. Sheriff told me to find her and finish up with her."
"Yeah? Well, there's been a bit of a change."
"Change? What kind of change? Where is the Sheriff and what is that freak doing here?"
"I'm the Sheriff now."
Echo took a step back and laughed. She was incredibly hot, but her smugness made him want to shove his revolver up her snatch and pull the trigger repeatedly. He wondered if it would go through her head.
"You're the sheriff? Oh my God. That is funny as fuck! Look at me! I'm Sheriff Spurlock! Get the fuck out of here."
Spurlock tried to keep from killing her right then and there. He may have some use for her before the night was through. Instead, he took a deep breath.
"He's dead. Samson sawed him to pieces. He's about fifty yards back that way. Well, most of him is."
Echo stood there looking at him trying to see if he was serious.
"Bullshit. Why would Samson do that?"
"Because I told him to. He was tired of being treated like some animal."
Echo finally stopped laughing.
"You're fucking serious."
"No shit I'm serious. I'm running shit now. Which means playtime is over for you and your new boy toy here." He pointed at Deacon. "The girl is in Roger's cabin. I'm almost sure of it. Provided Roger hasn't killed her yet, I told Samson he could have her." As they looked, Samson was approaching the cabin just as the lights inside went off.
"But our movie!" Echo protested.
"I don't give two flying fucks about your sick ass movies. I might just shut that whole deal down. I don't care how much money it makes. It's the one thing that could expose us to the outside. Last thing we need is cops and FBI crawling around here. But we'll talk about that later."
Samson let out a scream as they looked to see him falling down the cabin steps with blood spraying from his thigh. The girl who was now wearing regular clothes went running behind the cabin carrying an ax. She chopped Samson's leg. No telling how badly he was hurt.
"Son of a bitch, get that bitch!" Spurlock yelled as Echo and Deacon took off after her. Spurlock wasn't the fastest runner so he trotted along behind. She was headed right for Linderman's cabin and his weird crew. Looks like none of them would get to finish her off if those guys got a hold of her. They'd turn her into one of their sacrifices. Spurlock had no idea what the hell they were into other than some Cthulhu creature. Whatever it was, it was fucking weird. As long as they kept it to themselves, he couldn't give a shit.
She ran in between a set of cabins belonging to Linderman and his followers. Spurlock stopped and hung back. They might all be asleep. Though if she started knocking on doors things could get really interesting. That was the fun thing about this job. Sometimes he didn't even have to get his hands dirty. He took out a cigar and lit it. A light came on in one of the cabins as the girl ran through with Echo and Deacon trailing behind. Spurlock took a puff and waited for the fun to begin.
Chapter 22
Carla ran between the cabins, though once she was in the large clearing in front of the cabins, she immediately regretted going this way. There was a large pit, but it smelled of smoke, ash and burnt hair and skin. The thing was some kind of fire pit. There were bones lying around it nearby along with strange pieces of artwork illuminated by small lanterns underneath. The art had funny looking symbols and hideous creatures.
A light in one of the cabins came on as she ducked behind the huge pit. There were chains hanging from a contraption just above the pit. She could only imagine what they did with this thing. Then she remembered the weird man in the robe who won Nicole in the "auction." She pushed the thought back as the realization of what happened to her friend hit her.
A woman came out of the cabin looking around. She walked toward the pit, but Carla worked her way around. Soon Echo and Deacon appeared from the cabins and talked to the woman. She could hear them speaking but couldn't make out what they were saying. The woman walked to another cabin and began ringing a huge bell. The steel ball made a Clang! Clang! Against the bell as lights began turning on in every cabin around the circle. Fuck!
Men and women poured out of the cabins including the tall robed man from earlier. She worked her way around the pit and ran into a large propane tank. That must have been how they kept fires in there going. There were also cans of gasoline stacked around the tank. The crowd was working their way around the mini-camp searching for her. It would be a matter of seconds before they found her as a few headed her way.
She grabbed the gas cans and opened each one, knocking them over to let the gas spill out. She crawled under the propane tank and found a nozzle where she cranked it open as far as it would go. One of the platforms with a painting was just behind the propane tank. She stood on her tiptoes to grab the lantern and smashed it against the rocks on the pit. That was enough to ignite the gasoline with a WHOOSH! She hadn't expected it to catch so quickly. She grabbed the ax and ran toward the nearest cabins as several of them ran toward the fire.
She cleared the cabins and dove behind a large rock as the large propane tank exploded behind her. The night sky lit up with the large plume of fire as screams came from the pit area. People were running out from between the cabins engulfed in flames. Carla bashed her knee on one of the rocks as she dove. As much as she wanted to admire watching these assholes burn, she decided to keep moving. She got to her feet and stumbled further into the woods.
