You're Cute When You Scream

Chris took off running back down the hallway once he notified us of the situation. We didn’t have much time to waste.

Ronnie laughed quietly and smiled. “Do you think we’ll really be able to make it this time?”

I bit down gently on my lower lip and stared up into his eyes. “I can only hope so.”

As I turned to exit the room, his fingers brushed against my arm and wrapped around my wrist, pulling me back to him. “I just need one more kiss,” he whispered.

His fingers caressed my cheek before he tilted my chin up toward his face. I leaned forward slowly until our lips finally met. Our lips connected tenderly before his tongue slipped out and ran along my lower lip. I opened my mouth slightly, giving him just enough room to slide inside.

Our tongues wrestled as my body grinded against his, our heads bobbing as the interior-wrestling match ensued. I gasped once he pulled away suddenly with a smirk.

“We can pick up with this after we make it to town.”

“Such a tease,” I said, playfully shaking my head before following him out into the hall.

Katie was waiting near the stairs and naming off things that Chris and Johnny needed to pack. She smiled when she saw me and ran over to my side. “Isn’t this exciting?” she said.

I nodded. “Yeah. You know at first when Val arrived I thought that things were just going to get worse, but maybe she actually came to help.”

“Who is she, anyway?” Chris asked with a duffle bag slung over his left shoulder.

“She was Matt’s girlfriend back in high school. She had a twin sister, and apparently they killed her instead of Val.”

“Were you friends with her?”

I shrugged. “I guess…I mean all of their girlfriends were pretty tight.”

Johnny dropped two bags by Katie’s feet and announced that he grabbed everything she requested. And that was just enough to remind me that I almost forgot to grab something.

“Okay, all I need to do is get the baby,” I announced, hearing Katie and Ronnie follow me to the nursery.

I gently pushed the door open and stepped into the surprisingly peaceful atmosphere. I was about to make my way over to Renee’s crib, but froze in the middle of the room, glancing between the two cribs.

Could I really be heartless enough to leave Branden here with those lunatics? Sure, his father was a monster and he has shown some oddly evil tendencies, even at a week old, but he was still my baby.

“What’s the hold up?” Ronnie inquired.

“I…I’m not sure if I can leave him here,” I said, nodding toward Branden’s crib.

“Wait, didn’t you say that he was a pain in the ass anyway?” Katie said, stepping over to his crib. “I mean, look at what he did to his toy.”

She reached down and picked up one of the stuffed animals whose neck showed points of pressure from where his tiny fingers would squeeze.

I sighed heavily. “I know that may be true, but he’s just a baby. I can’t leave him here…”

Katie turned to face me. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Syn’s the one who impregnated you. He’s not going to care for you, but maybe he will for his child.”

I shook my head in protest. “Sorry, I just couldn’t deal with the guilt,” I replied, grabbing Renee before scooping up her brother and a bag with baby supplies.

He was just a baby after all. How much damage could he do?

We stepped out of the room and found Johnny waiting alone. “Where did Chris go?” Katie asked.

Johnny nodded solemnly toward Shadows’ room.

*Chris’s POV*

I didn’t know what was taking so long in the nursery, but regardless it gave me enough time to remember a grave fact – Randi was dead and her body was still here, in Shadows’ room if I remembered correctly.

I turned toward Johnny and asked which room belonged to Shadows. “Last door on the left,” he said. I thanked him and made my way down the hall, pausing in front of the closed door with my trembling fingers wrapped around the doorknob.

After inhaling deeply, I twisted the handle and was met with the heavy stench of decay. I coughed a couple of times before forcing my way inside the room. Immediately, my eyes locked on the body tangled within a mass of sheets covered in dry blood and other stains.

Her body was almost unrecognizable.

The flesh around her eye sockets melted away. The remainder of her skin was wrinkled and dangling off the stiff bones, accompanied to being out of use for a while now. Her entire body held a strange greenish, pale complexion…almost like her entire body was one bruise.

Several holes covered her body, the blood so crusted that it had turned black within the openings. Her mouth was slightly ajar, displaying rotten teeth and a dried, discolored tongue behind her chapped lips.

But perhaps the most disturbing element on her body was the gaping hole in her throat, framed by tattered flakes of flesh and a view of her shriveled esophagus. I suddenly found it very difficult to swallow as I choked back sobs at the sight of her mangled body.

What kind of person would do this? Of course I knew that Shadows was responsible, but there was no way Randi nor any other normal person deserved this. I crawled onto the bed and reached forward, taking her cold hand into mine.

“I…I know you can’t respond, Randi, but I’m so sorry for letting this happen to you…for taking to long to try and rescue you. Maybe what I regret most…was never getting a chance to tell you the truth. Remember freshman year when you asked me if I had a crush on you? I lied…I told you that I didn’t…but did I ever. I was too scared to ruin our friendship, you know? I’m such a moron,” I whispered, recalling the painful memories of the times we shared together.

“But I’ll try to make up for it. I’ll bring you with us. I’ll give you a proper burial so that bastard can’t harm you anymore.”

With a firm nod of affirmation, I reached forward and delicately lifted her up into my arms. I didn’t care about the horrible smell of death, nor did I care about the sickening feeling of cold slimy flesh touching mine.

I owed this to her.

*Katie’s POV*

I leaned up against the wall near the banister that overlooked the living room below. I couldn’t really hear what that woman, Shadows, and Syn were saying…maybe because I just didn’t really care. My mind was too focused on Zacky’s still body in the corner of the room.

His face was covered in blood and some quickly formed bruises. All for what? For protecting me? For protecting Myra? I’ll be the first to admit that I had always had some small doubts in the back of my mind…some insecurity about whose side he was really on.

But just seeing what he’s endured, what he’s suffered was all the evidence that I needed. How could I abandon him here after all he’s done for me? Tears lined my eyes at the very thought.

“You shouldn’t worry about him,” Johnny said, stepping next to me.

“How can I just ignore it, though? They could kill him!”

Johnny shook his head. “I doubt that would happen. Val’s presence has become too much of a distraction.”

“But how long is that supposed to last?”

He reached forward and placed both of his arms on my shoulders. “Trust me, Katie. He will be able to take care of himself. You’ll see him soon.”

I nodded, though I still didn’t feel too entirely confident in his words. I heard footsteps from behind me and turned to see Chris carrying Randi’s corpse out of the room. Myra and I exchanged sorrowful glances as he made his way toward us.

“We’ll have to grab a shovel on the way out. You guys know that she deserves a proper burial.”

We both solemnly nodded, each having a difficult time taking in the sight of her in his arms like that. “Let’s go,” Ronnie said, leading us to the bedroom window.

Ronnie led the way, stepping into the bedroom, lifting the window and punching his fist through the netted screen. He pulled the remains out of the way so that we could all fit through without any spatial issues.

Johnny went next. Chris passed Randi’s body out, then pushed himself through. I went next so that I could hold Myra’s babies while she made her way out. We all carefully slid down the roofing until we reached the edge just above the porch.

The air was damp and humid as we scaled down one of the wooden columns. I groaned as splinters embedded themselves in my fingers, but ignored the pain.

Once everyone made it onto the ground safely, Johnny ran over to the garage to grab a shovel before we took off into the night, running as fast as our tired, frightened legs would carry us.

*Val’s POV*

I treasured the shocked expressions on Matt and Brian’s faces. Surely, they didn’t see that one coming. Although it doesn’t matter what I say here because the fact of the matter is that I do have two reasons for coming here…though only one of them was actually revealed.

And if they thought me coming to kill Myra was a surprise, then just wait till they hear reason number two.

“Do you plan on staying in this position for the rest of the night? I don’t think your girlfriend will really enjoy that too much,” I smirked, purposely squirming beneath Brian once I felt his boner begin to develop.

He rolled his eyes and stood up, though still kept a foot on my stomach. “How do we know that we can trust you?”

“That’s not my problem. I already told you what I want, and if you don’t accept what I have to say than I’ll just extract my vengeance in my own way.”

“Not if we kill you first,” he grinned with a dark glint in his eyes.

Interestingly enough, Matt has been silent for the past half an hour. I must say I am very pleased with this effect I have on him.

Subtly, I reached down for my back pocket – both because the metal from my pocketknife was digging into my ass and because I needed to get Brian’s foot off of me. I chose to stay quiet after his last comment, just so he thought he was still on top of things here.

But in the flash of a second, I ripped the knife out of my jeans pocket and jabbed it into his leg, just above his bony ankle. He cried out in surprise and agony as he stumbled off of me and onto the floor. Blood leaked out of the incision, collecting in a small puddle around his feet.

“Unfortunately for you,” I sneered, “I’m not as easy as Michelle to kill.”

I was about to attack again, since he was in the perfect position, but a bright light from outside the foyer window caught my attention instead. Since I was standing up and both Matt and Brian were behind the wall in front of the foyer, I knew that I was the only one able to see it. That must be the floodlight from above the garage.

I squinted a little bit so that my vision could be a little clearer. The best that I could see was what appeared to be a bunch of shadows running toward the road. Wait a minute. Don’t tell me that the little posse I sent upstairs was really going to use this as an opportunity to escape.

The words of informing were beginning to form on my lips, but I swallowed them back down. If my theory was correct, then that meant that Myra was out there. A small sting of guilt suddenly entered my bloodstream as I recalled our high school days, before all hell was unleashed.

It was already three in the afternoon, which only gave me about three more hours to get ready before Matt would be here to take me to our junior homecoming dance. I had just finished changing into my dress, a long flowing black silk gown with thin red lace running across parts of the dress.

That year was financially rough on our family, so we didn’t have enough money to get my hair professionally done. Thankfully Myra, Brian’s new girlfriend, volunteered to help; she arrived right after Michelle put the finishing touches on my homemade manicure.

“Oh my God, you look beautiful!” Myra exclaimed, stepping into my bedroom and giving me a hug.

I grinned and thanked her for the compliment. She began curling my hair as we sung along to Nirvana in the background. “So you and Brian are official, huh?”

She nodded. “Yep, he asked me out last Friday, right after the football game. Michelle is okay, right?”

Michelle was Brian’s last girlfriend. She was really sad at first when he broke up with her, but luckily she found her rebound man. “Yeah, she’s doing fine now that she has her new man.”

Once she finished curling my hair, I insisted that we took some quick photos before Matt arrived. Since her and Brian got together long after the homecoming forms were due, she couldn’t go.

“Hmm I think I’ll just take pictures of your or something. I don’t look nearly as good as you do right now,” she laughed.

“Hun, you are beautiful the way you are. Now get your ass over here and take pictures with me!” I replied, tugging on her arm.

One of those pictures ended up in my framed collection of photos on my walls. If anyone were to look at that without knowing anything about us, I could guarantee they would’ve thought that we had been best friends our entire lives.

I mentally slapped myself for letting my actions be so slowed by that pesky memory. Things weren’t the same anymore and neither was she. I blinked a couple times to clear my mind and glanced back out at the window to see that the train of people was out of sight.

I’m not exactly sure how much time has elapsed or how far they made it, but I guess that doesn’t matter. If they escape then that just leaves me here with these chuckleheads. If I want the perfect revenge, then that means that it has to be under the perfect circumstances.

But just to keep things a little spicy, I decided to be selective with my word choice. “Don’t you boys find it to be a little too quiet upstairs? There are supposed to be, what, five people up there?”

Brian and Matt exchanged concerned glances before they took off running up the stairs, leaving me alone with Zacky who seemed to be acting rather differently than I remembered him to be.

I turned so I was facing him and smirked. “So, Zacky, what the hell happened to you?”

*Normal POV*

Sweat ran along the sides of my face as my throat tightened in dehydration and my heartbeat thumped roughly against my babies’ heads. My arms ached from the sudden weight, but I preserved with the rest of the group – not once stopping nor looking back.

Black trees with twitching branches and rustled leaves blended into a massive blur around me. I didn’t know where we were heading; I don’t think any of us knew. All we could do was run into the darkness, if only to distance ourselves from that house.

But even with an incredible amount of adrenaline and determination, we needed to rest eventually, especially since Chris and I were carrying extra baggage. Johnny was the first to stop, standing still in the middle of the path and squinting into the darkness in an attempt to determine exactly where we were.

“If I had to guess,” he breathed, “I would say we’re about three miles away from the house, and two away from the main road.”

In the glint of moonlight overhead, we all exchanged excited, exhausted smiles. “D-do you think we have enough time to bury Randi here?” Chris asked, gently placing her body on the ground.

Johnny glanced around nervously, his expression alone suggesting that he didn’t exactly feel comfortable with stopping for that long. But he caved. “Fine, but we have to make it quick.”

He threw two shovels at Ronnie and Chris, and they began digging into the soft earth immediately.

While they were busy digging, Katie and I crouched down next to Randi’s body. Her hair had grown to be twice as long since I last saw her alive. I pushed some of the length out of her face and smiled sadly. “At least you’ll finally get to rest in peace.”

Katie glanced over at me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I know that I’ve only known you guys for a couple of months, but I miss Randi terribly. I can’t even imagine how hard this must be for you.”

I nodded with tears finally falling. “She died in my arms, you know? I promised myself that I wouldn’t let them hurt you guys. And I failed.”

“It’s not your fault, Myra. None of us can predict what would’ve happened. They’re all insane…and Shadows just snapped.”

“At least she was able to put up a fight before dying,” I smiled, remembering the chunk of Matt’s ear that was severed.

“We’re ready,” Ronnie announced, hopping out of the grave.

Katie and I lifted Randi up and tried to lower her into the grave as carefully as we could. Her body hit the bottom with a thud and a crack. Her fragile bones couldn’t take the brief impact. I wouldn’t dare look down there now – the thought of her disconnected, decayed limbs made me nauseous.

“I think someone should say a…a few words,” I whispered, backing away from the hole.

Chris stepped forward with a stick in hand. He carved her name, birth, and death into the ground as a makeshift grave marker. “Randi, you were my best friend. I’ll never forget all the times we shared…all the times you’d go beat up those bullies for me…” he laughed softly. “You were an amazing person, and I know that your courage and strength will never be forgotten. I hope you’re really partying hard wherever you are, and know that someday…Myra…Katie…Pablo…and I will all be up there with you someday.”

I held onto Katie as we both cried, watching the dirt fly down into the hole as her body slowly began to vanish from sight. Once the hole was filled, we all backed away slowly, not bothering to carry the shovels with us as we returned to the main path.

One thing was for sure, though. At least we all knew that Randi was safe. A large emerald shrub hid her grave. They will never bother her again.

We continued on our path, heading toward what we would assume to be the road. Thankfully, the babies fell asleep, which surely made the trip easier on their fragile bodies.

Eventually we expected to hear the sound of passing cars, but that wasn’t exactly the noise that was filling the air. “What the hell is that?” Ronnie asked.

“It sounds like…running water,” Johnny said.

We followed the sound into a clearing of flat grassy ground. My eyes followed the flat ground over to the source of the sound – a raging waterfall. And just above the waterfall were the Rev and Nikki.

Nikki noticed us right away and crawled over toward us. Unfortunately the Rev wasn’t slow. He reached forward and wrapped his fingers through wet, tangled hair, pulling back until she was forced up to her feet by his side.

“Let her go,” Katie demanded. “It’s over now. We’re away from the house, and you’re outnumbered.”

The Rev snickered. “None of this is over. Not even close. Do you know how easy it would be to throw her over the edge? If I did it once, I’m sure I could do it once more.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I already through some pest over the edge…some Mexican kid.” Oh no…not Pablo, too.

“You bastard!” Chris shouted, prepared to lunge forward.

“Don’t do it, man,” Ronnie advised. “He still has Nikki.”

The Rev smirked, taking in all of our angered and saddened expressions. His icy blue eyes landed on Johnny.

“Look at you short shit. You’ve become just as much of a pansy as Zacky. No…that’s not right. You’re worse than Zacky because you’ve always been a pansy. You’ve never really been one of us…always such a little outcast, till the very end,” he sneered.

Johnny’s shoulders tensed as the words registered in his mind, though there was not very much anger in his eyes as he stepped forward in a nonthreatening stance.

“After all these years, is that what you really think of me? You think I’m an ‘outcast’ just because I didn’t catch the insanity virus?”

He continued stepping forward with his arms outstretched, a noticeable amount of sadness in his voice. “Deep down inside you probably know that I’m right. Just give it a rest, dude. It’s over now. You guys had your fun. Too many people have died…and I can’t stand it anymore.”

The Rev’s face softened slightly as his grip on Nikki’s hair vanished. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Y-you really think there’s still hope for me?”

Johnny nodded, and was about to say something, but was suddenly silenced. The Rev held his left arm extended outward as some arrows flew out from beneath his sleeve. Three arrows hit Johnny with perfect aim, embedding themselves in his chest and abdomen, causing blood to soak through the back of his white t-shirt.

The Rev then moved his arm to show the small crossbow he had been hiding. “You’re such a waste of space,” he sighed, shoving Nikki back onto the ground before reaching for Johnny’s throat. “And you know what we do with space wasters? We throw them away.”

He smirked evilly before throwing Johnny’s body over the edge. From where we were standing, we could see the whole thing happening from the other side of the falls. His body got caught on a twisted branch that extended past the falls.

Blood poured out of his body and blended in with the clear blue water of the falls, sending a consistent streak of crimson down the far right side of the waterfall.

“Johnny,” I whispered, collapsing onto my knees, nearly losing hold of my babies, as tears fell once more. What was the Rev going to accomplish by killing Johnny? He just wanted to help…

Ronnie stepped over and rested his hands on my shoulders. “We really need to get moving. Nikki is with us now. We can’t wait any longer, Myra. We have to get to safety before the sun rises.”

I knew that he was right. But the shock of what had just happened seemed to be slowing down my cognitive responses. I couldn’t even find the right words to say.

Ronnie sighed to himself as he bent down and helped me up to my feet.

“And just where do you think you are going?” the Rev asked. “If you want to see more of my toys, I’ll gladly give you some samples.”

A shrub nearby rustled as the Barry brothers stepped out with large shotguns in their hands.

“Hunting season may not start for a couple more months, but I’m sure we could make an exception now if any of you wanna try and make a run for it.”

Now we were down to five-to-three. And we were cornered.

*Zacky’s POV*

Val continued to stare me down, as I remained silent. Just because she thinks she can walk right into this house and lay down the rules did not mean that I would be a participant in whatever game she thinks she’s playing.

“Aw, come on Zacky. You weren’t ever one of the quiet kids. Why start now?”

“Because it’s none of your business,” I snarled.

“Ouch,” she laughed, placing a hand over her heart. “I sure hope you don’t talk to your girlfriend like that.”

My head snapped in her direction. “How do you know about Katie?” I demanded.

She smirked. “I didn’t, but now I do.”

I was about to reply with some vicious, heated remark, but was stopped once Shadows and Syn stormed back into the room. “They’re gone,” Syn growled, “and they took my son.”

The room stayed silent after that, none of them really knowing what to do, considering it was pitch black outside and we lived in the middle of a fucking forest. The only sound that broke the silence was someone’s phone vibrating.

Syn dug it out of his pocket and scanned the message. “How perfect,” he smirked. “The Rev found them about four miles away…near some waterfall.”

I knew that Katie was with them, and I also knew that when they found the group, they would either kill all of them or drag them back here for torture.

I’m already beaten to hell and back, so it couldn’t hurt to distract them all little longer, just to allow more distance between them. I just don’t give a fuck anymore.

“I can’t let you leave,” I announced, forcing myself to my feet.

Syn and Shadows glanced at me with amused expressions. “And just what do you plan to do about it?”

With a shrug, I lunged forward suddenly, tackling Syn to the ground. I threw a few punches at his face, using as much strength as my motivation would allow. But he was stronger than me.

He easily turned it around so that he was on top of me, only he chose not to punch me immediately. Instead, his eyes scanned the room until they landed on something sticking out of the hall closet.

“Shads, grab some of those scarves from the closet.” Shadows acted on the request and threw a couple of black scarves toward us. Syn grabbed one and gripped the back of my skull before slamming my face into the ground, turning me over so that I was lying down face first.

He pulled my arms behind my back and tied the scarf tightly around my wrists, somehow knotting them to a very tight degree. Then he did the same with my feet before rolling me over.

“If you want to defend those bitches, then I guess we’ll have to treat you like those bitches.”

His fist slammed into my face several times, sending my vision into a twisting spiral of blurry images. My nose began bleeding, trailing down my face and also into my throat when I tried to breathe. He kicked my stomach a couple of times, the tip of his boot meeting my ribcage every single time.

The breath got hitched in the back of my throat as an overwhelming amount of pain racked the side of my body once I heard a couple of cracks. Blood coated Syn’s knuckles as he stared down at me with a look of disgust.

“You know what you need, Zacky? You need to take a breather. You’re too wound up.”

He gripped my throat and carried me through the kitchen and into the laundry room. He maintained his grip with one hand while he used his free hand to throw clothes out of the way. I struggled as he shoved me into the dryer, barely large enough for me to fit into.

He gave me one last smirk before slamming the door shut, submerging me into metallic darkness. Above me, I could hear him turning the knobs. A deep roar blared near my head as the back of the dryer lit up in a fiery orange tint. And then the blades below me started spinning, sending my body spinning around in the increasingly heated air.

Each time the cycle returned to the beginning, I tried to hit the door open with my head, but then the dizziness would start to settle in and disorient my movements. I don’t know how long he put this on for, but it was starting to burn.

The heat seemed to continue to increase, eating away at the tender layers of skin. Not to mention my stomach was tossing and turning. And just as I felt that, a wave of nausea overcame me as vomit flew out of my mouth and then back into my face because of the spinning.

Was this really how he intended to kill me?

*Normal POV*

We all stood still, fearing that a single wrong movement would cause them to fire their guns. Nikki glanced around nervously, almost like she was considering doing something, something we would probably all advise against.

“Is everything alright?” I whispered, knowing that the answer would be no.

“You guys have to get out of here. I’ve taken courses in firearms before, and I can tell you that both of them have the safety on those guns. They won’t be able to fire right away…which gives you about five seconds with my distraction.”

“Are you crazy? I won’t let you become suicidal.”

“I don’t think they’ll kill me. The Rev kept me dangling over that fucking waterfall for at least half an hour. If he didn’t kill me then, he won’t do it now.”

“I still can’t really –.”

“NOW!” she shouted, alerting everyone’s attention.

Ronnie, Chris, and Katie caught onto what was happening and took off running. I hesitantly followed. We only ran a little further away before we hid within a series of bushes below a large tree.

The commotion had woken the babies up, but they remained fairly calm, probably still a little drowsy. I didn’t hear any gunshots, so I could only hope that meant that she was alive.

Although we didn’t hear any gunfire, we did hear a bunch of loud voices and footsteps. Shit, don’t tell me that Syn and Shadows decided to join the party too. “Everyone be quiet,” I whispered, “I think some more people arrived.”

Heavy footsteps echoed across the hollow tree trunks as some of them passed right by our hiding spot. We almost all shared a unanimous sigh of relief until Branden started shrieking at the top of his lungs.

“No…no…shush…shut up!” I whispered harshly, trying to rock him back and forth while Katie stumbled through the diaper bag in search of a pacifier.

“Got it,” she whispered, shoving it into Branden’s mouth.

My heartbeat was about to calm down until I heard a voice from behind me. “Oh no, look at who I found,” she sneered.

She reached down and tightly gripped my arm, forcing me up to my feet. “I know someone who’s dying to see you.”

Val pulled me away from the others, leaving Ronnie, Chris, and Katie behind in the hiding spot. I stared sadly at the bush, forcing myself to feel some sort of relief. Wasn’t that what I wanted? Didn’t I say that I’d do anything to protect them?

If Val wasn’t going to turn them over, then they’d have a chance to escape! I didn’t struggle against her pull, not if that meant they’d live.

“Here you go, Brian,” she said in a sickly sweet voice, shoving me and the babies into his arms.

“Wow, consider me impressed. Was she hiding by herself?”

I glanced over at Val, pleading with my eyes for her to lie. She caught onto my stare and avoided having eye contact with Syn. “Yeah, she was alone. Guess maybe her friends dumped her cause there was no one in sight.”

“Whatever. We’ll get them later. I need to have a word with Myra. Do me a favor and hold these,” he said, ripping my babies from my arms and placing them in an unsuspecting Val’s arms.

He glared at me before dragging me away into a different part of the woods, just a few feet away from everyone else at the falls.

“I bet you think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he sneered, shoving me roughly up against a tree trunk, keeping his fingers wrapped tightly around my upper arms.

“I almost got away from you,” I spat.

He laughed, “I don’t know what it’s going to take to get this through your fucking head, but that’s never going to happen. Now, let’s hear you scream.”

“What the hell?”

He smirked before pulling his fist back and slamming it into the side of my head, causing my skull to snap to the side. One of the gaudy rings on his finger made the hardest contact, busting open the skin and sending a thick stream of blood down the side of my face.

“Hmm not good enough?” he asked.

He moved his target down to my stomach, punching a couple of times in the exact same location, surely ensuring a horrible bruise within the next couple minutes. I coughed as the wind was knocked out of me. I would’ve crumbled to the ground by now had he not been roughly pinning me against the raw tree bark.

He shrugged to himself as he dug through his back pocket before pulling out a black crowbar.

“Here’s where the fun begins.”

He distanced himself from me slightly, lining the crowbar up behind his head like a baseball bat. He swung quickly, knocking into my ribs and breaking skin as he pulled away slowly, allowing the curved, claw edge to dig deep into my flesh.

A small cry of pain left my lips as I began crying. “Almost there.”

He lifted the bar higher and swung into my jaw, completely knocking my body onto the ground. Blood flew out of my mouth as I choked on the bloody teeth trying to fall down my throat.

I coughed a couple of times trying to spit them back up. My jaw felt slack as the extreme numbness of absolute pain settled in. I couldn’t prevent myself from screaming that time, though it came out in more of a slur.

He crouched down so that we were eyelevel and looked at me with lust in his eyes. “Fuck,” he breathed, “you’re so cute when you scream.”

I glared up at him with as much hatred as my eyes could put forth and spat a bloody tooth at his face. He backed away angrily to wipe the blood off his face. He climbed on top of me and crushed my face between his fingers, igniting the pain to unbearable levels.

“You know, it’s really funny. When I found you in New York City, I swore to kill you once and for all. But now I have an entirely different goal. You want to know what it is, Myra? I’m going to make you suffer for an eternity…for the rest of your life. You won’t ever be able to leave me, and you want to know why? Because we’re going to have a fucking wedding.”

He leaned in and forced his lips onto mine, licking at the blood.

But even still, it was his words that made me wish that I was dead.