Date: 2014-04-20 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Horror; Crime
Description: Darren and Jenny are a hard working couple at the end of their rope. Out of money and out of options, they decide drastic measures are needed. They rob a bank when things go horribly wrong. Gunshots are fired and in order to escape, they must kidnap the hapless bank manager. Unfortunately for them, the manager is not what he seems. The kidnapping unleashes a chain of events they could have never imagined in their worst nightmares.

Bloody Bank Heist

Tim Miller

Tim Miller

Bloody Bank Heist

© 2014, Tim Miller
Tim Miller Publishing
San Antonio, TX 78221

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Cover designed from stock image.

Edited by A.P Editing

Thank you to my sweetie Lori for being by my side while I pursue my crazy dream

Reviews of Tim Miller’s work

Mr. Miller knows and embraces his specific audience, and he spoils them with offerings like this one. I highly recommend his works to all EXTREME horror fans, he will not disappoint.

---Heather Omen, Thehorrornation.net

Tim's victims have a believable balance of being tough at the start and succumbing to their fate at the end. It’s scarily realistic...and are what nightmares are made of!

--Gadget Girl Reviews

The descriptiveness laid out on paper is so precise it feels as if you're watching a movie of what you're reading.

--Necro Stein, Texas Terror Entertainment

Chapter 1

June 10, 2013

“Everyone get on the ground! Nobody fucking move!” Darren Smith yelled as he waved the shotgun at the terrified customers. They had no idea who he was of course. He had on a ski mask and black clothing. The bank was on the north side of San Antonio. Darren’s girlfriend, Jenny, was over by the counter handing the bag to one of the cashiers.

“Put the money from each drawer in here!” Jenny yelled. “If I see anyone hit an alarm, you’re fucking dead! Do it!”

One of the terrified tellers, a young girl who couldn’t have been more than twenty-two grabbed the bag and filled it with money. She went down the row emptying each drawer of cash. Darren kept his eyes on the crowd on the floor to make sure no one tried anything. Jenny’s brother, Michael, was parked just down the street in the getaway car. He just got out of prison for robbery. Darren wanted him more hands on in the robbery, but Michael insisted on being the driver.

There was movement out of the corner of his eye. Darren turned to his right and someone was pointing a gun at him. It was an old man with a pistol. Darren ducked just in time as the shot whizzed past his head. The gun made a loud “pop!” It was a small caliber revolver, but he still didn’t want to be shot with it. Without thinking, Darren stood again, aimed and fired at the old man. The guy wasn’t even six feet away as the buckshot struck him in the head. The man’s head exploded, spraying the other hostages with brains, blood and skull. The man’s body collapsed to the floor, with only his bottom teeth and lower jaw left of his head.

“What did you do?” Jenny screamed from behind the counter.

“He shot at me! Just get the money!”

“We weren’t supposed to kill anybody!”

“Just get the money and let’s get the fuck out of here!” Darren yelled.

Sirens were blaring in the distance. They had already been there for two minutes; they were supposed to be out already. It was taking too long. Finally, Jenny hoisted the bag over her shoulder and climbed over the counter. She looked top heavy carrying the large bag of cash with her tiny frame, but she managed it well enough.

“Let’s go.” Jenny said as they backed toward the front door and outside. When they looked in the street, the car was gone. Michael, her brother and their driver had bailed.

“That motherfucker,” Darren said.

“The sirens must have spooked him off,” Jenny said.

“Well he just fucked us both. Come one.”

They ran back inside as he waved the gun at the crowd again.

“Who is the manager? Step forward!” Darren yelled.

They scanned the crowd, but no one responded.

“I’m gonna count to three. If the manager hasn’t come forward, I will shoot someone every three seconds until you do!” He looked around and saw the rest of the customers and employees just stared at each other. “One, two..”

“All right, all right!” a man in a suit yelled. “I’m the manager here. Don’t shoot anyone else, please!” The man was a little pudgy, with dark brown hair with some flecks of gray. He was a little shorter than Darren.

“You’re the manager?” Darren asked.

“Yes sir. I’m Duncan Kincaid, branch manager.”

“Well Duncan, come with us. Where is the back way out of here?”

“Right this way,” Duncan said as he started walking. They followed him through a door that read “Employees only.” Down a hallway and through a back door that led to the parking lot.

“Where is your car Duncan?” Darren asked.

“Right over here.” He walked them over to a white Cadillac CTS.

“Keys?”

Duncan handed Darren the keys. Darren opened the car and threw the money in the back seat. He then popped the trunk and looked at Duncan.

“Ok buddy, in the trunk.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I said so, now get in there.”

“You don’t want to take me hostage. Please! I’m of no use to you,” Duncan protested. Instead Darren struck him in the face with the butt of the shotgun. Blood sprayed from his nose as he toppled backward into the trunk. Darren slammed it shut and looked at Jenny.

“Get in! Let’s get out of here,” he said. The sirens were even louder, maybe less than a minute away.

She ran around the passenger side and climbed in as he got in the driver’s side. He started the car and peeled out of the parking lot.

“Why did you kidnap that guy?” Jenny asked.

“In case we need him, if the cops stop us or something. I don’t know. Why did your asshole brother leave?”

“I don’t know. I can call him.”

“Later,” Darren said as they sped out onto the access road and onto IH-10 headed west. By the time the police reached the bank, they were several miles down the road.

“We’ll need to ditch the car. They’ll be looking for it,” Darren said as he pulled his mask off. Jenny pulled hers off as well, letting her long, blonde hair fall to her shoulders.

They pulled off the highway and onto a small side road. After a few miles, they turned onto a dirt road and down a long lane.

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Jenny asked.

“Yeah, this is the house I was telling you about. I guess we’ll keep the car for now. There’s a garage here we can park it in. We’ll lie low here for a few weeks and then move on.”

“What about that manager guy?”

“I don’t know. We’ll think of something.”

Chapter 2

Three weeks earlier

Darren Smith sat on his knees scrubbing the toilet. It wasn’t his favorite task at work, but one he had to do daily. The porcelain was shining brightly as he stood. One stall down, three more to go. This job was a far cry from his last job as an account executive at an advertising agency. In the current state of the economy, it was all about production and he wasn’t producing, so he was let go.

After being out of work almost a year, he found this job at The Rib Farm. His job was maintenance, but most of what he did was clean. He cleaned tables, floors, toilets, and pretty much everything else in the place. He never imagined that by forty years old, he’d be scrubbing toilets for minimum wage, but there he was. Life sure sucked, and it was sucking for him big time.

The minimum wage job wasn’t nearly enough to cover bills though. It took him a year to find this job. In the meantime, he and his wife Jenny had lost their home and both their cars. Now they shared a 1999 Chevy Cavalier Jenny’s dad bought for them for $1500.00. While he was grateful to have a car, each time he started it, he prayed it got him to work. Jenny still hadn’t found work.

She stayed at home and made jewelry by hand to sell online. Some weeks she made more with that than he did at work, but it was hit or miss. Darren actually envied her. He hated this job. It was a job and it paid, but he loathed going in every day. Some days he almost felt physically ill having to go and do it. It wasn’t that he was against doing work or working hard. He just felt like he could do so much more besides scrub toilets.

“Darren!” a man yelled, it was his shift supervisor, Troy. “Jim wants to see you in his office.”

“Ok,” Darren called back. “I’m almost done.”

“No, he said he wanted to see you now.”

“Ok,” Darren said and stood, dropping the scrub brush into the bucket and pulling his rubber gloves off. Well shit. This couldn’t be good. Jim Runyon was the owner of The Rib Farm. He only stopped in on occasion. He stepped out of the bathroom and headed to Jim’s office. Jim was sitting at his desk doing something on his computer. He was a good sized man, tall and stocky with almost white hair. He looked up when he saw Darren standing there.

“Darren! Come on in boss. Close the door,” Jim said.

Darren swallowed hard as he shut the door and took a seat across from Jim’s desk.

“How you doing Darren? Things going well for you?” Jim asked.

“Going ok I guess. Just working as usual.”

“Ok, good. Darren, I want you to know this isn’t easy. When I hired you here, it was to help you and Jenny out. I’ve known your dad for a long time, and he said you could really use the work. I had hoped it would just get you through until you found something else. But now it’s been six months, and frankly, I just can’t afford to keep you on.”

“I don’t understand. When you hired me you said you were in serious need of help,” Darren said.

“I was at the time. But since then, things have slowed way down here. I just need to cut any help that isn’t essential.”

“I make $7.50 an hour. How is that breaking you? You drive a fucking Escalade and vacation in Italy twice a year.”

“Ok, I’m not going to argue with you about my personal finances. That’s not your business. I’m very sorry.”

“So that’s it then? I’m fired? Just like that?” Darren asked.

“I’m afraid so Darren. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.” Darren stood and walked out. As he walked to the car his cell phone started to ring. He pulled the flip phone out of his pocket. Another sacrifice they’d had to make. No more iPhone, he now had a prepaid flip phone.

“Hello?” he said.

“Darren? Did you pay the electric bill?” Jenny said from the other end.

“I thought you paid it.”

“Fuck. No, I told you to, remember?”

“I don’t remember, why?”

“It’s shut off. I called them, its $700.00 to turn it back on plus a reconnect fee.”

“Goddamn it. I just got fired today,” he said.

“What? Why?”

“Jim says things are slow and he can’t afford to keep me around anymore.”

“That’s such bullshit! That guy has more money than God.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Darren, we don’t have $700.00. We don’t even have a hundred. What do we do? It’s over a hundred degrees outside.”

“I know. We’ll think of something.”

“I don’t know what,” she said as she began crying. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

“I know baby, I know. This isn’t what I planned for us at all. I’ll be home in a bit,” he said as he hung up.

Fuck. What else could go wrong? He couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that swept over him. It didn’t come often, but when it did it was hard to pull out of it. The feeling of hopelessness and despair. When those feelings hit, he felt like Jenny and everyone would be better off without him.

He’d never been suicidal, but the thought of jumping off a building, or eating the barrel of a gun to just put an end to this constant despair sometimes sounded nice. Darren wasn’t superstitious or religious in any way. To him, the only thing that waited after death was sleep. Sleeping was nice. The idea of going to sleep and never waking up, never having to deal with bills, debts, asshole bosses, or any other of life’s hassles sometimes felt appealing. The only thing that stopped him was Jenny. She needed him, and without her, he would have eaten a bullet a long time ago.

He started up the Chevy and began the drive home. There had to be a way. If they only could just get a windfall of some cash. It didn’t have to be a lot. Well it did, but not in the millions. If they could just get their hands on some money and get out of this hole. He had no idea how though. Their credit was shot, so they couldn’t get a loan or credit cards. His dad had already loaned them anything he could. It was up to him to find a way. There had to be a way.

Chapter 3

When Darren got home, Jenny was waiting for him on the couch. He could tell she’d been crying, but she was trying to keep herself composed. Despite the tear stains on her cheeks, she still looked amazing. Her long, red hair was draped over her shoulders. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of his boxers. The white of the tank top brought out the freckles on her fair skin.

He sat down next to her, she buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed for several minutes. He held her tight and stroked her hair. It was hard to ignore the stifling heat. The power had been off less than an hour and it was already like a furnace in their small apartment. No way could they stay there without power.

“I called Michael after I talked to you,” she said leaning back, wiping the tears from her face. “He said we can stay with him for a little while.”

“Michael? Isn’t he in jail?”

“He got out a few months ago. He has a job and his own place. It’s not much, but we can’t stay here,” she said.

“Wasn’t he in for dealing drugs or something?”

“That was one of the charges. He’s clean now. He did ten years. But he’s not like that anymore. He was just with the wrong crowd.”

Darren had met Jenny shortly after Michal’s arrest. He remembered the emotional hell she went through as her brother waited on court dates, visited him in jail, and sending him money until he finally got a plea deal. He ratted out some of the bigger players in his crew and in exchange he was given ten years. It sounds like a lot, but he was facing a lot more. Darren had only met him once, he seemed like a punk, but that was back then. Who knows? Maybe he had changed.

“Okay, I guess we don’t have much choice,” Darren said.

They packed up as much as they could carry and headed to Michael’s. They didn’t say much until they arrived at his place.

They stood next to each other outside Michael’s door as Jenny knocked. Darren towered over her. She was just over five feet tall, while he was six-foot-two. He liked the way she fit in his arms perfectly. It was as if they were made for each other.

“Jen!” Michael said as he opened the door. He was a short, rat-faced guy. His hair was dark, bushy and unkempt. Guess he hadn’t gotten used to grooming since being released. They hugged and exchanged niceties as Michael let them in.

“You remember Darren, right?” Jenny said.

“Oh yeah, of course! Good to see you man!” Michael said as he shook Darren’s hand. “Sorry the place is kinda messy. I just have the one bedroom. You guys can sleep in there and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Oh no, we couldn’t put you out like that,” Jenny protested. It was the polite thing to do, but deep down, Darren wanted to sleep in the bed.

“No, it’s no problem. I’m used to sleeping on hard surfaces. My couch is pretty comfy so I’ll be fine.”

“Well thank you Michael. We appreciate that,” Jenny said. They put their things away and got settled. Once they were settled in, Michael prepared a huge pot of spaghetti. They sat around the living room eating with the TV on in the background.

“So, you lost your job today Darren?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, unfortunately. It was a shitty job, but it paid. Now I don’t know what I’ll do. No one wants to hire a forty year old corporate burnout. What do you do?”

“Oh this and that. Lots of odd jobs, But I try to make what I can where I can. Don’t worry, it’s all legal. I’m not gonna go back to prison,” Michael said.

“Well that’s good to know,” Darren said as he stood. “I think I’m going to get some rest. It’s been a long day. Thanks for letting us crash here Michael. Hopefully we’ll get on our feet soon.”

“Sure man, don’t mention it.”

Darren put his plate in the sink and headed to the bedroom. He used the adjoining bathroom and stepped back out. He undressed and lay down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. The air conditioning felt good. The apartment wasn’t much, but at least it was cool. He sat up and dug through his bag for his water bottle. Once he found it, he took a drink and went to set it on the night stand.

One of Michael’s duffel bags was on the stand. Darren picked it up to set it on the floor, but was shocked at how heavy it was. The bag wasn’t very big, but felt like it had a brick inside. It was Michael’s stuff, so he shouldn’t be going through it, but he noticed the zipper was open anyway. He pulled the bag open and inside saw a semi-automatic handgun. Darren dropped it to the floor and shot back onto the bed on his back.

Why would Michael have a gun? He just got out of prison. For one thing, it was a felony just for Michael to be in possession of a gun, or anywhere near one for that matter. Second, it was there in a bag as if it had been in use recently. Darren started to wonder about Michael’s “odd jobs.” Though maybe he was onto something if he could get away with it. Being a tax paying, law abiding citizen sure wasn’t paying off. His entire life, Darren had done all the “right” things.

He graduated high school, went to college, got a good job and got married. They hadn’t had kids, but that wasn’t his fault. He did all of the things to pursue the American dream, yet there he was, broke and living in his brother in laws shitty apartment. Not what he had planned for his life at all. Maybe it was time to do the wrong thing for a change and see how that pays off. Before he could think much further, his eyes grew heavy as he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 4

June 10, 2013

Darren pulled into the garage and closed the door. They climbed out with their gear and the money. He popped the trunk, to find Duncan curled up in a fetal position and shaking.

“Please! Don’t hurt me!” he cried.

“Shut up, get out of there,” Darren said as he pulled him out by the jacket. “Get inside.”

“You took your masks off? Are you going to kill me?”

“I will if you don’t move your ass! Now go!”

They got inside the house which was empty. He dragged Duncan to the corner and sat him down.

“See if there’s any duct tape or anything to subdue him with,” Darren said.

“Where? I don’t think there’s anything here,” Jenny said.

“Can you just look?”

“Are you sure this place is abandoned? No one is gonna show up by surprise?” Jenny asked.

“I’m positive. I scouted this place for weeks and looked up the property records. The owners live out of state, they haven’t been here in years.”

Jenny started looking through drawers and cabinets as Darren removed his jacket and gloves. He opened the bag of money and looked through it, awestruck by the amount of cash.

“Jesus Christ, that’s a lot of money,” he said.

“You hit us right after our armored car delivery,” Duncan said. “They had just filled all of the teller drawers.”

“Well good timing for us I guess.”

The sound of a car pulling up startled Darren.

“Jen? Who is that?” he called out.

“I don’t know, no one knows about this place.”

Darren grabbed the shotgun and ran to the window, but the car had pulled behind the garage. He pointed the gun toward the back door and pushed it open. As he moved around the back of the house, he heard a car door slam. He pointed the gun at the edge of the garage as footsteps approached. A man came around the corner as Darren pumped the shotgun.

“Jesus Christ!” the man yelled as he jumped. It was Michael.

Darren held the gun in place.

“And where the fuck have you been?” Darren yelled.

“I heard the sirens, so I got out of there. I knew you’d find a way out. Our getaway route would have been sealed off.”

“Bullshit! You fucking hang us out to dry, now you show up for your cut of the money?”

“No! It’s not like that.”

“Who did you tell about this place? Who knows we’re here?”

“No one man! I swear!”

“Darren! Put the gun down!” Jenny yelled from behind him.

“He set us up Jen, I can feel it.”

“No I didn’t! I wouldn’t set up my own sister! What the fuck?” Michael said.

“Look, he just got scared, ok?” Jenny said. “Please, babe, put the gun down.”

Darren looked at her, and slowly lowered the shotgun.

“He doesn’t get a cut of the money,” Darren said.

“I’m the one who planned this whole thing,” Michael argued.

“Look! We can sort it out later. Let’s get inside,” Jenny interrupted.

Darren turned and looked at Jenny.

“Where is the hostage?”

“Oh shit,” Jen said.

“What hostage?” Michael asked, but Darren was already running back into the house.

When he got inside, Duncan was gone. He looked out the window and saw the man lumbering down the dirt road. He hadn’t gotten far. Darren took off after him and caught up to him easily, striking him in the back of the head with the shotgun, sending Duncan sprawling face first.

“Nice try dipshit. Get up,” Darren said. He jerked the man to his feet and dragged him back to the house. Darren was frustrated he had underestimated the little man. Duncan was short, slightly balding and a little pudgy. His face was doughy and clean shaven. Not someone you’d perceive as a threat, or even with the slightest set of balls. Once they got inside, Michael began to lose his shit.

“You took a fucking hostage? Are you nuts?”

“I killed a guy in the bank too. Some old guy took a shot at me. We had to take a hostage after you bailed on us.”

“Jesus fucking Christ! This was supposed to be a quick, in and out robbery. Easy! Not shooting old people and kidnapping people,” Michael noticed Duncan’s nametag. “Jesus, you took the fucking branch manager? They are gonna have everyone looking for us.”

“Why did you come out here? You bailed. Speaking of which, you left before we did. Where exactly have you been? You should have beaten us here,” Darren asked.

Darren dragged Duncan back to the corner and pulled his suit jacket off. He undid the man’s tie.

“Put your hands behind your back,” he ordered. Duncan did as he was told as Darren tied the tie around his wrists, cinching it into a tight knot.

“That’s too tight!” Duncan complained.

“I don’t give a shit,” Darren said, “Now sit.”

Duncan did as he was told and then looked up at Darren.

“Please don’t kill me,” he whimpered.

“Shut the fuck up already,” Darren said and kicked him in the leg.

“Jesus, Darren! You don’t have to be so mean to him!” Jenny yelled.

Darren’s head was starting to hurt. The stress and adrenaline of the day was starting to take its toll. Not to mention everyone bitching. He was surprised by his own roughness since the robbery, but something about robbing a bank and blowing a man’s head off takes a toll on a non-sociopath.

“God!” Darren yelled. “Will everyone just shut the fuck up? I can’t even think straight.”

Darren walked into another room and sat against the wall. He sat the shotgun down and put his hands on top of his head.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” he said.

Jenny walked in and sat next to him and put her arm around him. Michael stood in the doorway looking at the two.

“I fucked it all up,” Darren said. “Like everything else I try to do for us. I fuck it up. It never goes the way it’s supposed to.”

“Oh, honey. It’s not your fault. We still got the money. I’m sorry you had to kill that guy. But we’re almost there. We just need to hang tight for a few days and we’ll be home free,” Jenny said.

“Yeah,” Darren said. “Home free.”

Chapter 5

Two weeks earlier

“Rob a bank? Are you fucking insane? Darren said.

“Just hear him out. Ok?” Jenny pleaded.

“I can’t believe you’re even entertaining any of this.”

“Look,” Michael said. “I learned all about this when I was inside. The problem with most bank robbers is they get greedy. They go into the vault and take way too much time. We will just get the cash drawers. In and out in about two minutes. By the time the cops get there, we’ll be long gone.”

“That simple huh?” Darren asked.

“Yeah. If we hit a few hours after their armored truck delivery, the drawers will be full. We could easily walk out of there with around five hundred grand.”

“You learned about this in jail you said?”

“Yeah, a guy on my cell block, his crew used to knock off banks.”

“And he was in fucking prison. Shouldn’t that tell you something?” Darren said.

“That’s because one of his crew went and bought a new house with the cash the day after the robbery. They caught him and he ratted everyone else out. We’re not that stupid. We’ll get the money, lie low, and then we’ll be set.”

“God, this is insane.”

“Baby, maybe he’s onto something. How much have we busted our asses for years? I’m still paying student loans on my fucking accounting degree and I can’t find a job,” Jenny said. “Besides, how rich are these fucking banks? They keep all of our money, charge us stupid fees; they make billions. The money is insured with the government anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m just thinking that if we get caught. We are looking at twenty or thirty years in prison. Not something I want to do,” Darren said.

“Not if we do it right. This is the right way. Trust me,” Michael said.

Darren got up and walked into the other room and sat on the edge of the bed. Jenny followed him in and sat next to him.

“Did you know he was going to suggest this when he had us move in here?” Darren asked.

“What? No! How could you say that?”

“It just all seems so convenient. We have been here barely a week after our lives continue to unravel. And suddenly he has this perfect plan?”

“Maybe he had it in mind. He said he learned about it in prison,” she said.

“I honestly can’t believe you’d consider this. What if something went wrong? Like one of us getting shot by the cops, or accidentally killing someone?”

“None of that will happen. We’ll be in and out.”

“And you don’t have a problem with robbing and stealing?”

“Not from billionaire assholes. Not when we are starving and near homeless,” she said.

He looked at her and thought about early in their marriage when things had been better. They bought their first house together. It was a nice, three bedroom home with a big yard. They had hoped to have children, but the children never came. Turned out he had a low sperm count. They thought about other methods, but time had slipped away from them. He thought of all the ways he’d failed her through the years. Losing his job, losing their home, not being able to give her children.

On so many levels he felt like a failure. Guys his age he’d gone to college with were all thriving. They all had nice houses, some even had vacation homes. On Facebook they constantly post pictures of all the trips they go on and exciting places they see. Darren was happy when they could eat something other than Ramen or peanut butter.

“Ok,” he said. “We’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. There’s a lot of things we can do with that money. Can finally stop living like animals.”

“We don’t have it that bad,” she said.

“It feels that way sometimes. When we can’t even eat a real meal. I hate that I haven’t taken good care of you.”

She put her hand on his leg.

“You’ve always taken good care of me.”

“You’re parents sure don’t think so. They think I’m a loser.”

“No they don’t.”

“Then why does your dad keep asking when I’m getting a real job? Shit isn’t like it was when he was forty.”

“I know,” she said. “He doesn’t understand it. Just ignore him. I don’t think you’re a loser. I think you’re amazing.”

“I’ll feel more amazing when we are on a beach in Mexico bathing in our own cash.”

“That’ll be nice,” she laughed. “Maybe I can make a bikini out of hundred dollar bills.”

“Fuck the bikini, your ass is gonna be naked,” he said as he tackled her onto the bed. They rolled around and kissed as they undressed each other. It was strange how just a few moments ago he was angry and even depressed. Suddenly the prospect of robbing a bank had him extremely turned on.

Their lovemaking was much rougher than usual. She actually told him to slow down a few times. After they finished, she rested her head on his shoulder while he looked up at the ceiling.

“Well that was different,” she said.

“Yeah. I guess I’m not myself lately.”

“I liked it, just scared me a little. It’s like you were angry.”

“Maybe I am. Maybe this whole bank thing will be good for us. We’ve played it safe for so long. It’s time to just say fuck it and do something insane.”

“That’s what I was thinking. I don’t think we’ll get caught. You’re smarter than most people,” she said. “Most crooks are dumb. Even Michael isn’t the brightest. With you there, everything will stay under control. Just two minutes until our problems are solved.”

“That sounds nice,” he said. “I just hope it’s that simple.”

Chapter 6

June 10, 2013

Duncan shifted around uncomfortably as his captors argued in the other room.

“Look man, get a hold of yourself,” Michael said. “Let’s just kill the stupid hostage and bury him out back.”

“Are you fucking crazy?” Jenny said. “Just kill him in cold blood?”

“You already shot an old man!”

“Yeah! He was shooting at Darren, so he shot back. You’re saying to just go in there and kill this helpless asshole.”

They continued shouting as he twisted his hands around to his right, front pocket. He pressed against the wall for leverage until he could get his hand inside. His fingers pulled at the lining in his pocket until it was in his fingertips. His pocketknife was small, but plenty sharp. These amateurs never bothered to search him. Though the way he presented himself, they had no reason to see him as a threat.

He flipped the knife open and cut through the tie, letting it fall to the floor. They hadn’t stopped arguing in the other room. If he wanted, he could make another run for it, but he had another idea. He leaned forward enough to see into the next room. The three of them were standing around shouting at each other. Mostly over what to do with him, and what their next move should be. They had obviously not thought this whole thing through completely.

The tall one, Darren, was standing with his back to the doorway. He had propped the shotgun against the wall just inside the door. The girl was facing him, and the rat faced guy, Michael, was pacing back and forth along the far side of the room. Duncan carefully reached inside and wrapped his fingers around the shotgun. Once it was in his grip, he slowly pulled it to his chest.

He stood slowly, took a deep breath and ran into the room striking Darren in the back of the head with the butt of the shotgun. Darren crumpled to the ground as Jenny screamed.

“What the fuck?” Michael yelled.

“What the fuck is right,” Duncan said as he pointed the shotgun at the two.

Michael pulled his gun, but Duncan fired a shot into the ceiling. Michael jumped and dropped his pistol as plaster rained down from the ceiling. Duncan swung the shotgun like a baseball bat, blasting Michael in the face. He bounced off the wall before falling face first to the floor.

“Oh my God!” Jenny screamed. “What did you do? We tied you up!”

“Not good enough.” Duncan said.

“Look, we weren’t really gonna hurt you. I’ll get you your car keys. You can just drive out of here ok? You can even have some of the money.”

“I don’t think you’re in any position to make any offers. Throw your gun on the floor, and get my car keys off your boyfriend.”

“He’s my husband,” Jenny corrected.

“Whatever, get them.”

She knelt down and dug the keys out of Darren’s pocket and handed them to Duncan.

“Good, now drag the little guy into the garage.”

“That’s my brother,” she said.

“Whatever. Get his ass in the garage.”

She grabbed Michael’s legs and began dragging him through the house. Once at the door, she got him to the garage and then Duncan walked out dragging Darren. He popped the trunk and leveled the shot gun back at Jenny.

“Ok, put him in the trunk,” he ordered.

“He’s too heavy. I can’t lift him myself.”

“Ok, I guess I’ll just have to shoot him.” He pointed the gun at the back of Michael’s head.

“No! No! Wait! I’ll get him in there,” she said as she threw her hands up.

She grabbed Michael under the arms and lifted him, putting him in the trunk head first, then lifted his legs until he was all the way inside.

“Ok good. Now get in with him.”

“But it’s—“

“Get in!”

She pushed Michael further back into the trunk as she climbed in. Once she was settled in, Duncan dragged Darren over and stuffed him in on top of her. The three fit snuggly but there was just enough room in the large trunk. He closed the trunk and pushed the garage door opener along the wall. Before he left, he went back inside and grabbed the bag of money. He tossed it into the back seat and he climbed into the car, setting the shot gun on the floor of the backseat. He started the car, put it in reverse and backed out of the garage.

As he drove, he turned on the radio and heard news reports about the robbery. There was a search for him and the robbers. He should have taken their car instead of his Cadillac, but in a big city like this, it didn’t stand out all that much.

He made it to his house without incident and pulled into his garage. As he got out of the car, he heard banging and muffled yelling from the trunk. Sounded like the boys were awake. He went inside his house and into the back room, his work area. In one of the cabinets, there was a bottle of chloroform. Before opening it, he put on a respirator. He opened the bottle and poured it onto a towel, saturating it.

Once it was nice and soaked, he balled it up and carried it into the garage and popped the trunk. Jenny began to scream as he tossed the chloroformed towel into the trunk and closed it. As they screamed and pounded, he leaned against the trunk, checking his watch as the screaming and pounding lessened. Finally it was silent. He opened the trunk to see the three of them sound asleep. They looked so peaceful, all cuddled up in the trunk and sleeping like babies. It’s too bad they won’t be so peaceful for long. He hoped they got a good rest.

Chapter 7

One week before

Michael sat as the large Mexican spoke to him. The room was small and stuffy. They left the air conditioning off just to make a point. The two guys standing behind him weren’t much bigger than himself, but both had guns to the back of his head.

“So did you think being inside would erase your debt to me?” the Mexican asked. His name was Carlos Benavides. He was a high ranking Latin King. Michael had gotten mixed up with them before he got locked up.

“It wasn’t my fault I got busted. One of your boys snitched,” Michael said.

“I’m aware of that. But the fact is, you lost $100,000 worth of guns. Now figure that money after ten years with interest. You owe me $300,000.”

“Jesus Christ! I been working on paying you back, but $300,000?”

“I didn’t stutter homie. You been out a few months now and never called me. I was starting to feel abandoned,” Carlos said.

“No man, I was just trying to get things organized. I got a plan though. I think I can get the whole thing. If not, I can get most of it.”

“And what plan is that?”

“It complicated, but it will work.”

“Tell me the plan,” Carlos said.

“Ok. I’m gonna hit this bank. I got people helping me.”

“Who?”

“People.”

“What people?”

“Why you gotta know all this?”

“Because if you’re gonna get me my money back, I want to know how and when. Or my boys here might just have to start cutting off limbs,” Carlos warned.

“Ok, all right. My sister and her husband. They’re broke and desperate. They’ll do anything. I set it up with them.”

“You’re gonna hit a bank with a couple of beginners?”

“They can do it. I been working with them,” Michael said.

“Won’t they want a cut of the money?”

“They think they will get a cut, but I’ll take care of it.”

“And what’re you gonna do?” Carlos asked. “You gonna kill your own family?”

Michael shifted uncomfortably.

“Well? Are you?” Carlos asked again, but Michael just looked at the floor. “That’s what I thought. You ain’t got the balls to do that shit.”

“I’ll get you your money,” Michael insisted.

“I tell you what. You guys do the robbery. Get me my cash. Then you come see me. I’ll send my crew to do the rest. You won’t even have to get your hands dirty.”

Michael sat there still looking at the floor.

“It’s that, or I call and turn The Padre loose on you.”

“The Padre??” Michael said, looking up.

“That’s what I said.”

The Padre was almost a legend on the streets. Some wondered if he even existed. With the stories rolling around about him, Michael hoped that he didn’t. He’d never heard someone threaten to unleash him on anyone. The Padre was short for El Padre de la Muerte, or The Father of Death. He wasn’t just a hit man. Hits were easy and simple. The Padre was called upon for special occasions where just killing a person wasn’t enough.

He was used in sending a message. Usually that message consisted of the loss of limbs and various other body parts before actually being killed. Michael had heard The Padre hacked his own mother to pieces for burning his dinner. No telling what was actually true or not, or if Carlos was bluffing for that matter. Either way, Michael didn’t want to find out.

“No need for that man. I got this. We’ll hit the bank, and I’ll call you. You and your guys can do whatever, but you’ll get your money,” Michael said.

“I know that for sure.”

“Once I pay you, are we done?” Michael asked.

“What do you mean done?”

“I’ve worked for you for a long time. I’ve had this over my head for ten years. Once I pay you, are we even? Can I go do something else?”

“You get me my three-hundred grand, I don’t give a shit what you do. I won’t want to see your goofy ass again.”

“Ok,” Michael said. “Just promise me one thing. When your guys take care of them, they’ll do it painless? I don’t want her to suffer.”

“You have my word. Now get the fuck out of here. You got shit to do. Remember, if I don’t hear from you and that place gets hit, the Padre will be coming for you.”

Michael stood and walked out. Once he was in his car, he looked up into his mirror. He tried not to think too much of the deal he’d just made. He and Jenny had always been close. Even in prison, she wrote to him, went to visit him and sent him whatever gifts he was allowed to receive. But this was business.

Sure, he’d made some mistakes, but nothing that he deserved to be dismembered over. At least for Jenny and Darren, they’d go out easy. He never cared much for Darren anyway. The douchebag always looked at him like he thought he was better. Well, Darren is the loser after all. The guy can’t even keep their electric on. After he got back to the apartment, he found Jenny and Darren were there watching TV.

“Hey,” Jenny said. “You ok? We woke up and you were gone.”

“Yeah. I had to meet with some guys about some shit that happened before I got locked up.”

“You’re not mixing it up with the Kings again are you?” she asked.

“No, no way. That’s actually where I was. They been trying to pull me back in, but I told them I’m done. Time for me to go legit,” Michael said.

“That is awesome. I’m so proud of you.” She stood and hugged him.

“Thanks, after this job, we can all retire and be happy.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “I was nervous at first, but now that we’ve walked through it, I feel really good about this. Everything is going to be just fine.”

Chapter 8

June 10, 2013

Darren woke up with his head pounding and his shoulders screaming in pain. He looked up to see his arms suspended over his head. Both hands were bound together, hanging over a meat hook. His feet dangled off the ground, plus he was naked. He looked around and saw Jenny hanging from a hook a few feet away from him, and Michael next to her.

Across the room there was two other women hanging as well. He wasn’t sure if they were alive or not. They were both incredibly skinny, covered in scars and either dead or unconscious. There was a large metal table in the middle of the room covered in bloodstains.

“What the fuck?” Darren said to no one in particular. “Jen! Are you ok? Jenny!”

Jenny stirred as she began looking around, trying to figure out where she was and finally recognizing Darren.

“Darren! What the fuck is going on? Where are we?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Last thing I knew we were in the house.”

“Shit! That bank manager guy. He got loose and grabbed your shotgun. He knocked you and Michael out and made me help him drag you into his car.”

“You helped him?”

“He had me at fucking shotgun point. Even if I did get away, which I could have, he would have killed you and Michael,” she explained.

“That dude was scared of his own fucking shadow. How’d we end up here?”

“After he knocked you out, he changed. He wasn’t as big a pussy as he was acting. He was pretty sure of himself.”

“So what the fuck is this place?”

A steel door slid open on the far side of the room, and in walked Duncan Kincaid. He had changed out of his suit. He was wearing a set of coveralls and had on a blood stained apron.

“Well hello,” Duncan said. “I see our new guests are awake.”

“What the fuck is this?” Darren yelled.

“Now, there’s no need for shouting. Besides, this room is sound proofed. No one will hear you.”

“Let us out of here you asshole!” Jenny yelled. “Let us out now!” She began to scream at the top of her lungs. The piercing sound stung Darren’s ears. Duncan began screaming right back. Darren thought his head was about to explode. The noise was enough to wake Michael and the other women.

“What’s going on?” Michael asked. “Where are we?”

“Apparently our manager isn’t happy with our taking him,” Darren said.

“I told you not to take a hostage. We should have killed his ass,” Michael said.

“Will all of you shut up? God, it’s amazing you robbed my bank,” Duncan said. “But let me give you folks an idea of what you’re in for.”

He turned and grabbed one of the other women off the hook. He lifted her over his shoulder and lay her on the table. She cried and struggled, but he hooked her restraints to an attachment at the end of the table. He grabbed her feet and then he strapped her ankles down.

“This is Anita. She’s been a guest here for a few weeks. As you can see, I had some fun with her, but I think she’s overstayed her welcome.”  He walked to a large table and flipped the tarp off, revealing several crude looking instruments. Anita screamed once she saw the tools. He grabbed a large meat cleaver from the stand and walked back over to the table. As Anita squirmed around, he grabbed her hair, pulling it away from her neck and pressing her head firmly against the table.

“Now, this can be trickier than it looks in the movies,” he said over her screams.

“Stop that!” Jenny screamed. “Don’t hurt her! Please!”

“If I do this right, it won’t hurt at all,” Duncan said as he swung the cleaver chopping into her neck, but only about halfway. Anita coughed and gurgled as blood sprayed onto Duncan’s apron. He took a few more hacks until her head came free. He held the severed head up by the hair. Anita’s face was permanently frozen into a horrific scream.

“See? In the movies, they always chop it off in one clean swipe. I’ve been doing this a long time. There’s only been a few times I could do that.”

Jenny threw up, much of it splattering onto her bare breasts. Vomit dripped off her chin as she looked up at Darren.

“It’s ok baby,” Darren said. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

“You’re not in the best position to be making such promises,” Duncan said.

“Why are you doing this?” Jenny asked.

“Why?” Duncan said. “Why? Because it’s fun. That’s why. I mean, the blood, the screaming, and the struggling. Where else do you get a thrill like that?”

“You’re fucking sick!” Jenny said.

“Well yeah. That’s what my guidance counselor used to tell me. Oh well. I may be sick, but I’m not the one hanging naked from a meat hook covered in my own vomit.”

He took Anita’s head and walked over to in front of Jenny. He dug through some things against the wall and set up a tripod in front of her. Once it was set up, he took the head and jammed the neck onto the end of the tripod. As he walked away, Jenny saw the severed head staring at her.

“There,” he said. “Now you won’t get lonely.”

He walked back to the table and set the cleaver down. He picked up a couple of knives and began skinning Anita’s body.

“One thing you’ll find,” Duncan said. “I’m not wasteful. Anita did not die in vain. All of her body will be put to good use. You may have noticed the leather seat covers in my Cadillac. I made those. I made my belt, and I can make lots of other cool things.”

“You’re a sick fuck!” Darren said. “I’m going to kill you.”

“I don’t think you will Darren. Now if you’ll excuse me. I’ve got some work to do.” Duncan turned and went back to work on the body. Darren closed his eyes, but he could still hear the squishing sound of her body being cut to pieces.

Chapter 9

June 10th, the morning of the robbery

Michael sat in the car watching his sister and her husband run into the bank. Part of him felt bad for giving them both up to Carlos. Yet he knew what would happen to him if he failed to deliver the money. He looked at his watch. They’d already been in there for a minute.

As he looked toward the bank, he heard sirens in the distance, several of them. Shit! His heart began to race as he looked back to the bank.

“Come on!” he said. “Get out of there.”

He looked at his watch again as the sirens grew louder.

“Fuck it,” he said as he put the car in drive and pulled away. He pulled onto the interstate and headed to the west side of town. The drive only took a few minutes. When he pulled off the highway, he found the side street before pulling up to the run down home. As he got out, he was greeted by two Mexican gangbangers.

“What the fuck you want man?” one of them asked.

“I’m here to see Carlos,” Michael said.

“Who the fuck are you? Carlos don’t take visitors, bitch.”

“If he wants his three hundred grand, he’ll see me.”

“Oh, you’re that dude. Where’s the money?”

“I need to see him,” Michael said. He looked at the other man who was standing there with his arms crossed. He could see the butt of a handgun down the front of his pants.

“Hang on,” the other guy said as he stepped inside. A minute later he came back out. “Come in, he’ll see you.”

Michael walked into the house. It was dirty on the inside and smelled like mildew and burnt toast. He followed the man upstairs and found Carlos sitting in a room getting dressed.

“Man, its early as fuck,” Carlos said. “Where’s my money, gringo?”

“There’s been a problem.”

“The only problem you’re gonna have will be The Padre.”

“No, I was in the getaway car and I heard the cops so I got out of there. They might have made it out. I just couldn’t get caught. We were gonna go hide out at this little house north of town. Between here and Austin, it’s off the beaten path, all abandoned. They might be there now.”

“Or the cops could have busted them. If they got out why ain’t you there getting my money?”

“I wanted you to know what’s going on. I’ll head back out there. You might wanna send some guys behind me. So they can take care of them. Just have them hang back a bit. I’ll signal them when the money is there.”

“Fuck that. I’ll go myself,” Carlos said. “I’ll follow you.”

Michael got back into his car as Carlos and a couple of his men climbed into another vehicle. The two cars drove through the city as Michael led them to the house. Once there, Michael sat at the end of the lane. There was a garage attached, so he couldn’t tell if they made it there or not. They would have had to steal a car since he took the getaway car. He listened to the radio on the way there and it said the police hadn’t caught anyone yet. His sister was smart enough not to go home and they didn’t bring their cell phones.

Carlos pulled up next to him and rolled down the window.

“They there or what?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to go in and see. If they are here, they’d have stolen a car and parked it in the garage.”

“Whatever man. Just go get my money,” Carlos said and rolled the window back up. Michael put the car in gear and started down the long lane. He drove slowly and looked to the house for any movement. It all looked quiet from the outside. The car bounced along the lane as he pulled up next to the garage and parked behind it.

If they were there, he tried to think for a moment how he could come out of this without giving up his sister. He should have gone straight to the house after the robbery, but he panicked. Carlos had guys all over the city. He feared if they caught up to him later, Carlos would really have his head.

One thing Michael was never great at, was thinking on his feet. Throughout his criminal career, he had always been a solider. If something went wrong, it was difficult for him to adjust. That was how he ended up in jail the last time. Planning wasn’t his strong suit. Even for this robbery, it was his idea, but Darren had done most of the actual planning.

So as it stood, Carlos had him by the balls. He had no choice but to follow through for him. He could tip Darren and Jenny off and see if Darren could find a way out of it. But if that backfired, he would be dead anyway. He climbed out of the car and shut the door. As he headed toward the house, he thought about his hope to come out of this with his life and at least a little of the money.

If he could do that, he’d get as far away from San Antonio as possible. Not Mexico, everyone runs there. He’d had enough of Mexican’s and Mexican gang members to last two lifetimes. Maybe he’d go to France. There was nothing there for him, other than it was really far away from Texas. Before he could finish the thought he heard the pumping of a shotgun just around the corner.

Chapter 10

June 10, 2013

Darren struggled against his bindings, trying to swing on the hook to see if something would give. His wrists were raw and bloody. Duncan had used standard police handcuffs to bind them over the hooks with. The strain of his wrists, arms and shoulders supporting all his weight was almost too much for him to bear.

He looked over at Jenny who was staring off into space. The dried vomit was crusted to her chest and her hair was matted to the side of her face. He could barely see Michael behind her. The steel door to the rest of the house was slid halfway open.

“Baby? Baby are you still with me?” he said to Jenny. She looked around before focusing on him.

“Hey. Yeah. I’m here. That girl. Did you see what he did to her?”

“Yes. I did,” Darren said.

“He put all her flesh in a bucket. Now he’s been cooking her. Can you smell it?”

“Yes. I can. Don’t pay attention to it.”

“He left the door cracked on purpose. He’s fucking with us. That sick asshole is in there cooking her like she’s a fucking barbecue!” She was becoming hysterical as she spoke.

“Jenny! Will you shut the fuck up! He can hear you out there!” Michael said.

“Jenny,” Darren said. “Stay calm, ok?”

“He’s gonna eat us. He’s going to chop us to pieces, cook us and eat us, just like he is that girl.”

“No, he’s not. I won’t let that happen.”

“What are you going to do to stop him?” Jenny said. “You’re not exactly in a spot to go kick his ass.”

“Look, guys!” Micheal said. “We’re gonna get out of here. I have a backup plan.”

They both looked at him.

“What backup plan?” Darren asked.

“Ok. Remember before I went to jail? I was sort of mixed up with the Latin Kings?”

“Sort of mixed up?” Jenny said. “You were neck deep in their shit and they hung you out to dry.”

“Yeah, whatever. Well, I still owed them some money. Like a lot.”

“From what?”

“From when I got busted. All the guns that were confiscated. They were worth a lot. So they wanted their money back or they were gonna have me killed.”

“So that’s why you wanted us to do the robbery so badly,” Darren said. “I should have known you little shit. So what, we were gonna do the work and you were going to make off with the money?”

“Umm, not quite. They were gonna take you two out,” Michael said.

“What?” Jenny yelled. “You were going to have us killed? Just to save your own ass?”

“I’m sorry! Ok? They were gonna send this Padre guy after me. He like tortures people and shit. He’d rip me to shreds, literally!”

“What do you think will happen here, asshole?” Darren said. “God you are a piece of work.”

“But look, when I took off after the robbery, I went and told them what happened. They followed me to the house. So the Kings know we are here. They want their money. So they should be coming in any time now.”

“We been hanging here for hours. Besides, if they got their money, you think they are going to rescue us?” Darren said. “They’ll take their cash and run. Even if they did rescue us, we’ll still be broke.”

The steel door slid the rest of the way open as Duncan appeared. This time he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans while carrying a tray with a plate of cooked meat.

“Hey guys!” Duncan said. “I figured you all must be hungry, so I cooked you up a little something.”

As he approached, Darren saw what looked like barbequed brisket on the plate as well as ribs. He wanted to look away, knowing it had belonged to Anita, a girl they would never get to know. But at the same time, it smelled really good. The aroma made his taste buds tingle and stirred a rumbling in his stomach. Duncan cut off a piece and held it up to Darren’s mouth, but he turned his head away.

“Oh come on now. You need to eat something. You know you want to. It smells so good. I added some special seasonings to it and the barbecue sauce is my own recipe.”

Darren moved his head around but Duncan pressed the fork against his mouth. He finally opened as Duncan slid the meat inside. He wanted to spit it out, yet it tasted good. It tasted really good. He chewed it slowly and swallowed. This was wrong. It was wrong to eat people; he wasn’t a cannibal. Yet he was so hungry. Didn’t some plane crash survivors eat each other in order to survive? That’s what he was trying to do. He wanted to survive.

Duncan was holding out another bite of meat. This time, Darren ate it on his own.

“There you go. Tastes good doesn’t it?” he said.

After feeding Darren several more pieces, he moved over to Jenny.

“Darren! How could you eat that?” she said.

“Just eat it Jenny. You need the strength. It’s ok,” Darren assured.

“We’re not fucking cannibals!” she screamed.

“We are today! Just eat! If you want to live, then eat!”

She opened her mouth and took several bites before he moved on to Michael. Michael ate without any coaxing. Duncan fed the other girl in the room, emptying the plate.

“There. That should hold you all for a while. Can’t let word get out that I’m a rude host. You all just hang out here for a while. I have some festivities planned for later,” Duncan said as he walked out and slid the door closed.

“Festivities? I’d hate to see what that consists of,” Darren said.

“I can’t believe we just at a person,” Jenny said.

“Me either,” Darren said. “Just don’t think about it. Plus I’m guessing Michael’s homeboys aren’t coming after all.”

“They’ll be here,” Michael said. “You wait and see."

Chapter 11

June 10, 2013 One hour after the robbery

Carlos sat in the car looking through his binoculars.

“You see anything, man?” Miguel asked from the driver’s seat.

“I see a little house, and that’s about it,” Carlos said.

“They been in there for a while.”

“It’s been maybe ten minutes.”

Carlos looked and he saw a short man in a suit running from the house. Then a man in black caught up to him and dragged him back inside.

“Who the fuck was that?” Carlos asked. “Some dude just came running out of there. I think that was the brother in law that pulled him back inside. They must have taken a hostage.”

“That’s crazy. When we going in?” Miguel asked.

“I want to make sure it’s clear. There’s no way for us to just sneak up. Dumbass Michael has to distract them for us.”

“You think he will do it?”

“If he don’t, his ass is dead,” Carlos said.

“Is that Padre guy real? I keep hearing about him, but Hector said he was just a story.”

“You want to find out?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Miguel said.

They sat and looked out the window for a while longer. A few cars went by, but no movement from the house, until Carlos saw the garage open and a white Cadillac pull out.

“What the fuck is this?” he said.

The Cadillac drove down the lane and onto the road. Carlos could see there was only one guy in the car.

“Who was that guy?” Miguel asked.

“I have no idea. Hit it, we’re going in.”

Miguel floored it and sped down the lane toward the house. He skidded to a stop as Carlos ran out of the car before it had even stopped moving. He had his gun out as Miguel followed behind. Carlos kicked the front door open and stepped inside. The house was empty. They checked each room and out back. All they found was Michael’s car.

“Where the fuck are they?” Miguel asked.

“That little motherfucker,” Carlos said. “I bet they were hiding in that car. They snuck out with that asshole. Go! Get to the car now!”

They ran back to the car and sped down the lane and back down the road. Carlos looked at their speed, seeing they were going almost a hundred miles per hour. Miguel almost lost control going around a few curves, but he held it. Within a few minutes, they had caught up to the Cadillac and followed him onto the highway.

“Stay back a little bit, but don’t lose them.”

They followed the car off the highway and into a nice neighborhood. The houses all looked expensive.

“Shit, we don’t look too out of place here,” Miguel said.

“Just shut up and drive.”

The Cadillac arrived at the house and pulled into the garage as the door closed behind it.

“Should we go in?” Miguel asked.

“Not yet. It’s the middle of the day. We’ll draw too much attention. See?” Carlos said as he pointed to a man across the street mowing his yard. There was also a woman jogging approaching the house.

“Shit. What’re we gonna do?”

“Gotta sit tight man. Maybe wait till it gets dark. But we can’t sit here. Cops will be on us.”

“Should we leave?”

“Nah, just keep moving. Go park down the road a little,” Carlos said.

Miguel had barely pulled away from the curb when a police car approached from the other direction. As they drove past, the police car did a U-turn as it activated its lights.

“Fuck man! What’d we do?” Miguel asked.

“I told you man. Two Mexicans driving this piece of shit in this neighborhood. Just stop.”

Miguel pulled over as the officer approached the driver’s side, Carlos noticed the officer’s hand on his gun.

“How’s it going fellas?” the officer said. He was Hispanic as well, with a buzz haircut.

“Going ok officer,” Carlos said.

“And what might you guys be doing around here? I patrol this area a lot. Never seen you all here before.”

“Nah, we were gonna see his cousin. She just moved, but I think we’re lost,” Carlos said.

“Lost huh?”

“Yes sir,” Miguel said.

“You guys got any ID on you?”

The both handed over their ID’s to the officer. Carlos wasn’t worried about warrants. He’d made sure he was clean, and keeps himself insulated enough to keep himself out of jail. The officer took them and went back to his car. After a few minutes he walked back up and handed the IDs back.

“Here you go guys,” the officer said. “You’re all good. If you want to get back on the highway, just go back out the way you came, and hang a left. You can follow me if you want.”

“Oh ok, ok. Thank you, officer,” Miguel said. “I think we can find it.”

Once the cop left Miguel looked at Carlos.

“Shit, what was that about?”

“Just bullshit. His way of letting us know he sees us and is watching. Let’s get out of here,” Carlos said.

“What about the money?”

“We’ll come back tonight. See if they’re still here. They just robbed a bank, so they won’t be going on any shopping sprees just yet. If the money’s gone, then Michael is dead. Shit, I’ll kill his sister and brother in law and make him watch just to prove a point.”

“I’m glad I don’t owe you money,” Miguel said.

“Better keep it that way too.”

Miguel turned the car around and they drove out of the neighborhood back onto the highway. Carlos gave the house a close look as they rolled by, forming his plan for when they return.

Chapter 12

June 10, 2013

Duncan sat at his table eating some of the stew he’d made. The rest of the meat he placed in the freezer for a later time. His hobby saved him tons on his grocery bill. The stew was salty and a little spicy. He’d added in plenty of carrots, potatoes and onions to round it out and give it plenty of flavor. There was a little bit of the brisket left; he hadn’t taken all of it in to the others. He was saving that for later.

He couldn’t stop thinking of how pretty Jenny was. Something about her reminded him of his first victim. It brought back old memories. As long as he could remember, he’d been curious about human flesh and what it tasted like. When he was a little boy, he’d asked his mother why it was ok to eat animals, but not people. She’d told him to shut up. The curiosity stayed with him though, along with the urge to kill. He was never sure where it came from.

He’d had a good upbringing; his parents were married for forty years. They took him to church and he did well in school. Yet despite all of that, for some reason he had this deep seeded need to cause suffering. He practiced on animals when he was in kindergarten. No one knew about his little experiments. His favorite animals to play with were cats. There were plenty of strays in the area. It just took putting a little food out and waiting for them to come to him.

He started out simple, doing things like shaving their fur. After a while, he started skinning them alive, cutting off limbs and dissecting them. It was hard to always do when they were alive though. Cats were mean little bastards. He even would eat them at times, but never found the taste very satisfying.

His first victim came to him at the age of twelve. She was a girl from his school who resembled Jenny, except much younger of course. Her name was Tracy, or was it Tammy? Either way, he had been in a park, back in the woods performing one of his experiments on a cat. The girl had been picking flowers when she came upon him.

At first, he hadn’t planned on killing her. He just tried to distract her and get her to leave him alone. It was her curiosity that had literally killed her.

“What are you doing?” she had asked.

“Nothing, just leave me alone.”

“Oh my God! Is that blood? What are you doing?” She walked closer and saw the mutilated cat and the blood all over his hands. She began screaming. Duncan had panicked. The screaming would draw the attention of park police and God knows who else. He grabbed her by the hair and jammed the blade of his pocket knife into her throat. The screams turned to gasps as blood sprayed from her neck. He eased her to the ground, stunned at what he had just done.

It took a minute for it to sink in, but he felt no guilt. Looking around, there was no one nearby. He decided to test out his biggest curiosity. He cut the girl up and tasted various parts of her body. First he started with meat on the inside of her thigh, which he found quite good. He tried some of her organs, which he decided might need some preparation. Trying to eat them raw they proved to be too tough and rubbery. He even tried one of her breasts which had still been forming.

Once he was satisfied, he dragged her to the large pond which was nearby and pushed her in. He washed off in the pond and headed home. Duncan had never done drugs or been high, but he imagined that was what he was feeling. The whole way home, he was beaming. His mother thought something was wrong with him. It was almost a year before he killed again. After the second kill, he was hooked.

As he took another bite, his thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. He walked over and looked through the peephole. It was two police officers.

“Hello officers, can I help you?” Duncan said as he opened the door.

“Mr. Kincaide. You’re alive and well it appears,” one of the officers said.

“Why yes, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Your bank was robbed this morning. Several witnesses said you were taken hostage. They escaped in your car.”

“Oh yes they did. Please, come on in,” Duncan stepped aside letting the officers walk by him.

“So what’s going on? You seem rather calm for having been kidnapped by armed gunmen.”

“I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly. I mean, it was all quite surreal. They took my car and drove me almost to Austin then got off on some side road out there. From there they all got out and got into this black van.”

“A van?” the officer said.

“Yes, more like a minivan. I guess it was more of a navy blue than black. But they drove toward Austin and just left me in the back of the car.”

“That’s it? They didn’t hurt you? Did they say anything?”

“They just said they didn’t want to hurt anyone. I know they killed that old man in the bank, but he started shooting at them. We always tell customers not to resist during a robbery. It’s part of our training as well.”

“So what did you do when they left? Did you see their faces?”

“I’m afraid I didn’t. They kept their masks on the whole time. I just sat there for a little bit after they left, I guess I was in shock. Then I just came home. I’ve just been trying to sort it out.”

“Didn’t you think to contact police?” the officer asked.

“I did. I just wanted to gather myself first. Being forced into a car at gunpoint isn’t the most calming thing in the world.”

“Well no, I imagine not. You know it makes you look a little guilty though, as if you were in on it?”

“Yes, I did realize that after I came home. Another reason I hesitated. It’s just all been so hazy today,” Duncan said.

“I guess I can understand that. We’ll need you to come to the station sometime today to make a statement though.”

“Yes, I can definitely do that.”

“Mind if we have a look around? Just to make sure everything is ok?” the officer asked.

“Not at all sir. Make yourselves at home.”

The officers began walking through the house. One of them went into the kitchen.

“Something smells good. Whatcha been cooking?”

“I was starving when I got back. So I made some stew and some brisket. Would you like some? I have plenty.”

Duncan put a few pieces on two plates and handed one to each officer before they could answer. They each tasted the meat as they walked around.

“Hey, this is really good man. You should be a chef,” one of them said.

“Oh thank you, but no. Cooking is just a hobby of mine.”

“Well you’re damn good at it,” he said as they devoured the brisket from their plates.

They wandered through each room, opening doors and looking under furniture. He wasn’t concerned about them finding the others. His kill room was hidden behind a wall panel and soundproof. After a few minutes they came back into the living room.

“Well sorry to bother you Mr. Kincaide. Just try to get to the station sometime today for that statement. It’s just routine. Plus you got the best look at them over anyone,” the officer said.

“Yes, yes, of course.”

“Ok, have a good day. We’ll have to invite you to the next department cookout. Let everyone taste some of your brisket,” he said.

“Oh that would be great. You’re too kind, sir.”

The officer nodded as they both headed out. He closed and locked the door behind them. He realized he was foolish to not have gone to the police after he’d secured the others. He’d gotten too caught up in his work. He walked into his study and felt along the wall, sliding his fingers in between one of the panels, pulling it away to reveal a steel door. Grabbing the handle, he slid the door open and stepped into the room, sliding the door shut behind himself.

The three robbers were still hanging there, staring at him. The other girl was staring at nothing. These robbers weren’t his usual type. Anita and the other girl, Veronica were both undocumented prostitutes. He’d picked them up in the rougher parts of town. That’s how he got most of his victims. No one would notice them, no one would miss them and no one would be looking for them. He’d done it that way for years.

These three robbers would be missed by someone, plus the police looking for them, but they don’t know their identities. He’d thought of turning them into police, or turning in the money. He’d be a big hero and maybe get a promotion with the bank. But that would draw way too much attention. Attention that he didn’t need.

Instead, he’d have some fun with these three. It was obvious they all cared about each other. That should make things much more interesting. It had been awhile since he’d made someone watch a loved one die. If he remembered correctly, it was rather fun. So maybe it was time to let the fun begin.

Chapter 13

June 10, 2013

“Darren,” Michael said. “Darren.”

“What do you want?” Darren yelled. He was no longer in the mood for Michael or his bullshit. If he wasn’t hanging from a meat hook, he’d kill him himself.

“I have to shit!” Michael said.

“What do you want me to do? Wipe your ass?”

“What do I do? I gotta shit bad. It hurts.”

“God Michael. You’re so disgusting,” Jenny said.

“I can’t help it,” Michael said, grunting. “I’m gonna have to shit.”

“Go ahead dumbass,” Darren said.

“Great, I’ll have to smell it, Jenny said.

“We all will,” Darren said as Michael kept grunting. A stream of urine came from his penis as he grunted. Nuggets of shit dropped to the floor, one after the other. When he was done, there was a neat little pile of shit with a puddle of urine next to it.

“You feel better?” Darren asked.

“A little,” Michael said.

“You fucking idiot,” Jenny said.

“Hey, shut the fuck up! I sat here while you kept puking on yourself.”

“You’re the reason we’re in this mess,” she said.

“I’m not the one who kidnapped fucking Hannibal Lecter in there!” Michael argued.

The steel door slid open interrupting their argument.     “Well hello folks,” Duncan said looking at each of them. “Well, well. It looks like someone had an accident.”

“Duncan, look man. I’m sorry we kidnapped you,” Darren said. “Money has just been really tight lately. We just needed a break, so we robbed the bank. We didn’t mean to hurt anyone, and we shouldn’t have kidnapped you.”

Duncan walked over to the table in the corner without looking toward them.

“Well I agree with that last part. You shouldn’t have kidnapped me. I know you didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I on the other hand, do mean to hurt you. I’ll be honest with all of you. I’m going to cause you each a great deal of pain. More pain than you ever knew existed.” He picked up a scalpel off the table and rolled it around in his fingertips.

“So, this pain. It will both be physical and emotional. In the process, you’ll all learn things about yourselves and about each other. Things you never thought possible. In the end, death will be a welcome release. You’ll see death coming and embrace it with open and loving arms. But only when I am ready. Not one minute sooner,” Duncan continued.

“You’re a sick fuck!” Jenny yelled.

“Yes, my mother used to tell me that a lot. Then I ate her.” He walked toward Michael with the scalpel. “Ok, let’s get started, shall we?”

He held the scalpel in front of Michael, waving it in front of his face as Michael wiggled around, literally like a worm on a hook. Duncan took the scalpel and made a long cut down the center of his chest. Michael screamed as he then cut a “Y” incision into the top of his chest.

“This is what it looks like when they do an autopsy you know. From here, the medical examiner peels the skin back.” Duncan pulled the flaps of skin away as Michael kicked and flailed.

“I’m gonna kill you motherfucker!” Michael yelled.

“Let him go! Please!” Jenny screamed.

“Oh, I don’t think you’re killing anyone,” Duncan said as he reached into Michael’s stomach and began pulling out his intestines. Clumps of blood splattered onto the floor as his guts followed behind.

“Oh fuck!” Michael screamed. “Holy fuck that hurts!”

Duncan ignored him as he pulled the small intestine out.

“You know they say the small intestine is around twenty to twenty-five feet long? Can you believe that? This tiny little fellow would have something that long in his body.”

“You fucking sick freak!” Darren yelled.

“I believe you said that already,” Duncan said as he began cutting around Michael’s forehead. “It was common for the Native Americans to take the scalps of their enemies. It was a sign of their victory. Warriors would return from battle with hundreds of scalps from their enemies.” He grabbed Michael’s hair and tore his scalp the rest of the way from his skull. Michael howled and screamed as Duncan walked over to Jenny, holding the bloody scalp in front of her.

“See that? Look at how clean of a cut that is. Don’t think that it is easy either. It took me years to get it that smooth.”

“Leave him alone! Stop hurting him!” Jenny screamed. “Darren! Make him stop!”

Darren looked at her, unsure of what exactly she wanted him to do. He’d been trying to look away so as not to see the horror taking place to his left.

“I told you all I’d hurt you. I just started with him. You should be happy though,” Duncan began. “This is all a surprise for him. At least you get to see what you’re in for.”

“You’re sick! You’re fucking sick!” she screamed.

“I believe we’ve established that. Now where was I?”

Michael was looking around, his face covered in blood. Darren couldn’t even tell if his eyes were open or not. Duncan walked back to his table and picked up a stun gun.

“Now this, I haven’t used in a long time. This is pretty effective at immobilizing an attacker. That or just making someone hurt really bad.” He took the stun gun, pressed against Michael’s testicles and pushed the button. The stun gun buzzed as Michael let out a screaming, gurgling sound as he shook and gyrated, his internal organs shifting about with each movement.

“Be careful Michael,” Duncan said. “You might lose something.”

“Stop, please,” Michael pleaded.

“Oh, I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”

“Padre…” Michael began.

“Who?” Duncan asked.

“Padre? Are you El Padre de la Muerte?”

“I don’t know who that is, but I suppose for now, I am him. At least I am for you that is,” Duncan said as he gave his testicles another jolt from the stun gun. Michael shook and grunted again as Jenny continued to scream. Darren closed his eyes and tried to think of anything that he could to drown out Michael’s screams.

Chapter 14

Somewhere in Mexico

El Padre de la Muerte looked at the man strapped to the table. Even though the man was in his thirties, he was crying and sobbing like a little girl.

“Please? Please Señor. I will double what they are paying you! You know who my father is?”

The Padre knew, but he didn’t care. Every job went this way. Someone begging for their life, begging for mercy and then offering double what he’s being paid. He never went for it though. His reputation was that of a freight train. Once he was set in motion, there was no stopping it. There were no second chances, no recalls or refunds. On a few occasions, he had to kill an employer for trying to interfere. That only happened once.

The Padre picked up the hose attached to an acetylene torch and fired it up. He held the flame inches from the man’s face. The man sobbed as the heat lightly burned the side of his face. Waving the torch around, he moved it down the length of his body down to is ankle. From there, he let the flame burn the man’s ankle. He screamed as The Padre waved it back and forth as if he were airbrushing his leg instead of burning it off.

Flesh turned black and shriveled away as the man screamed and struggled against his restraints. The Padre was thorough, burning the back of his calf all the way up to his knee and back down to the top of his foot. By the time he was done, there was nothing but bone showing. The smell of burning flesh didn’t bother him one bit. He was used to it. The man’s leg looked like a recently eaten drumstick.

He began burning the other leg when the satellite phone behind him began ringing. The Padre tried to ignore it over the man’s screams as he watched the flesh burn away. The phone stopped ringing, then started up again. Turned the torch off and answered the phone.

“Si?” he said. The man on the other end was his handler. The handler gave him instructions for his next job. This one was in Texas. He hadn’t been to the states in years. It sounded complicated, but he didn’t mind a challenge. The handler took all his calls for him. No one spoke to him directly. Once the handler had given him the info, he hung up the phone.

“Please!” the man on the table said. “You’ve hurt me enough, please! Just let me go! I won’t tell anyone!”

The Padre ignored him as he lit the torch again and went back to work on the man’s leg. From there he burned off the man’s arms, burned a hole in his stomach and finished off with his face. By the time he was done, his victim was a charred skeleton with a few chunks of flesh remaining. He put the torch away and undid the restraints.

He pulled the man’s skull away from his body and walked over to the trash can and dumped the brain matter into the trash, and scraped as much as he could with his knife. Once that was done, he walked to the sink and rinsed it off and sat it in a tank filled with maggots. He sat there and watched them go to work. It would take a few days, but they would clean any meat off the skull. Once it was done, he’d add it to his collection. He wasn’t quite sure how many he had at this point, but there were plenty.

After he was finished cleaning up his workshop, he packed up some tools into a bag and headed to his car. It was an indistinct blue Ford Taurus. He put the tools in the trunk and began his drive to Texas. The drive took a few hours but was uneventful. When he was thirty minutes from the border, his handler called to tell him which lane to enter at the border. That Border Patrol agent was in place for them.

The Padre drove to the correct entry point where the agent waved him through. His handler texted him the GPS coordinates of the address where he was needed. It was still a good five or six hour drive. He drove all the way through with only a few stops for gas and food. It was dark once he arrived in the neighborhood where he drove to the coordinates until he was sitting outside Duncan Kincaide’s home. He looked at the home, studying it. He texted his handler.

I’M HERE. HOW MANY?

He sat in the car and watched as a few cars went by. A man came out of the house and wheeled a garbage can to the curb and strolled back inside. It was a little past 10 P.M. The neighborhood was mostly quiet. Dogs barked in the distance and one man jogged past. Quiet neighborhoods were good. But this one was upscale. Which meant neighbors were nosy. Always looking outside, seeing what people were up to.

Doing his job in Mexico was much easier. People disappeared all the time down there and police were easy to pay off. The U.S. was much different, but not impossible. He just had to be a little more creative. That’s what made his job interesting. He waited several minutes for a response from his handler. Finally his phone went off. When he checked the message, it told him everything.

THERE’S THREE OR FOUR OF THEM.

KILL THEM ALL.

Chapter 15

Carlos sat on his couch drinking a beer and watching TV. Despite the few beers he’d already had, he couldn’t stop tapping his fingers. It was already 1 A.M. and there had been no word from The Padre. How long could it take to kill those assholes?

“Shit, we’re gonna have to go over there,” he said to Miguel who was sitting across from him.

“Didn’t that handler guy say not to interfere? Let the guy do his thing, man.”

“Fuck that. As much as I’m paying this cholo, he should have been done with them hours ago.”

“Wasn’t he coming from Mexico? He might not even be there yet,” Miguel said.

“I don’t know. That guy you talked to sounded pretty scary about it. Said don’t interfere and don’t even try to make contact. No one has seen that dude and lived man. And you want to go marching in there while he’s there doing God-knows-what? Why’d you even hire him?”

“I wanted to send a message. Shit. This waiting is killing me. They got a lot of money in there. The news said they got away with over five-hundred thousand dollars. That shit is mine!” Carlos said as he threw his beer against the wall. “I want my fucking money.”

“What the fuck was that?” a voice said from the doorway. Jose was standing in the doorway. “You fuckin’ woke me up!”

“You forget who you’re talking to bitch?” Carlos said.

“I know who I’m talking to. You might be the boss, but I’m not your bitch!” Jose said.

Carlos stood and picked up his gun, pointing it at Jose.

“You think you’re tough bitch? You gonna try and talk shit to me?”

Jose put his hands up and took a step back.

“Hey man. I’m just tired. You banging shit around in here woke me up and I got pissed.”

“Yeah, you got pissed at the wrong dude,” Carlos said.

“Hey Carlos, we all been drinking tonight, how about just letting it go?” Miguel said.

“You stay the fuck out of this!” Carlos yelled as he pointed the gun at Miguel. He spun around and smashed Jose in the face with the butt of the gun. Jose’s nose crunched and blood sprayed from it as he fell straight back, knocked out cold. Carlos wasn’t done, however. In a blind rage he straddled Jose and continued to hit him in the face with the butt of the gun. Each strike made a dull thud! as blood continued to splatter onto Carlos’ face.

After a few minutes, the sound changed to a squishing sound as Jose’s face was literally smashed in. There was only a swollen, bloody lump where his face had been. In his final breaths, a few bloody bubbles gurgled from his mouth. Then he was still. Carlos sat there looking at him and looked over at Miguel who looked horrified. Carlos stood and walked toward the couch.

“Fuck it. We’re going over there. We’re getting my money,” Carlos said.

“We?” Miguel asked.

“Yeah. You heard me. You’re driving. Let’s go.”

Miguel slowly stood and followed Carlos to the car. They climbed in and drove the twenty minutes back to that side of town. As they got closer, he turned off the headlights and parked half a block away from the house. Carlos could see a blue Taurus sitting across the street.

“That piece of shit car, I bet that’s him,” Carlos said.

“Is he in the car?”

“I can’t tell. Why aren’t the cops fucking with him? Shit. We were here two minutes and they were harassing us.”

“I don’t know, man. Maybe they’re scared of him.”

“Fuck that. All that legend bullshit. It’s just shit he made up probably. Its good marketing is what it is.”

“Marketing? What the hell man?” Miguel said.

“Yeah, he totally created his whole legend thing. Get people all scared of him and shit. Then we all want to hire him because we think he’s so ruthless. I used him once before, I wasn’t that impressed. I hired him this time because I know at least he’s professional. He’s not gonna jack my shit like these local assholes would. That’s if he ever does the fucking job.”

Carlos opened the car door and stepped out.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna see if he’s even in his car. If he’s not, then he’s probably in there killing them now. Come on,” Carlos said.

“Shit man. I don’t like this.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you like. Get out of the car and come on.”

Miguel climbed out as they both took out their guns. They walked toward the Taurus, staying in the shadows and avoiding any street lights. Carlos slowly walked up to the passenger side of the Taurus. He looked in the window, but the car was empty.

“No one’s in here,” he said to Miguel.

“That might not even be his car.” Miguel said.

“True. I want to know what he’s doing to them.”

“Jesus. Can’t we just go?”

“We will. Let’s go up to the house. See if we can see anything.”

Carlos ran across the street and around the back of the house. Miguel followed close behind. They crept just below the windows. Carlos found one that didn’t have the blinds drawn. He looked inside, but it was mostly dark. It looked like a laundry room. There was a washer and dryer in the corner and piles of clothes lying around. He listened for any noise, but everything was quiet.

“Mother fucker. That dude isn’t doing shit!” Carlos said just above a whisper.

“Maybe he already killed ‘em all.”

“Then where the fuck is my money?”

“I don’t know, man.” Carlos looked at his phone, but there were no missed calls. The handler was supposed to call him with a location to pick up his cash.

“That’s it,” Carlos said. “We’re going in.”

“This is a bad idea man.”

“Shut the fuck up. Come on.” Carlos stood and walked around the front of the house. Miguel reluctantly followed behind him. He checked each of the windows as he walked around, but they all had the blinds drawn. He finally made it to the front door. Miguel stood on the other side, both with their guns drawn.

“Ok,” Carlos said. “On the count of three, I’m gonna kick the door in.”

Chapter 16

Darren wasn’t sure if he’d fallen asleep or passed out as he felt water on his face. When he stirred awake, Duncan was standing in front of him spraying him with a hose. The cold water stung his face and body. Jenny screamed as she was hit with a blast as well. Darren tried to catch his breath as Duncan sprayed Veronica on the other side of the room, causing her to scream. Darren had thought she may have died. She had been so quiet or passed out for so long.

“Wake up kiddos,” Duncan said. “It’s playtime!”

“What the fucking hell man?” Darren yelled. “You goddamn lunatic.”

“Well yes. I hang people from meat hooks, torment them, and then eat them. Though I guess I could say everyone else was lunatics for not doing the same.”

“If you’re going to kill us, just kill us already,” Darren said.

“Where’s the fun in that? You see, it’s not the act of killing that brings me enjoyment. I mean, it is fun. Don’t get me wrong there. But what truly excites me is the whole experience. The capture, the pain, the screaming, the begging and then finally those sweet final moments as their life slips away. There truly is nothing more intimate. I mean what better way is there to know someone other than to be there with them during their last few moments of existence?”

Darren shook his head. He couldn’t believe how casual the freak talked about it. As if he were discussing a high school science project.

“I will tell you,” Duncan continued. “Every single one of my victims has made a significant contribution to my personal growth as well as provided me with nourishment. For that, I will forever be grateful.”

“Jesus Christ,” Darren said.

“Darren,” Jenny said. She had been hanging there, crying quietly. “I love you Darren.”

“I love you too baby. It’s ok. We are going to be ok,” Darren assured her, though he knew it was a lie. Even if they somehow walked out of there right at that moment, they would never be ok again. The whole bank robbery idea was starting to feel like the worst idea he’d ever considered. Banks get robbed all the time. How often do the robbers abduct a sadistic cannibal? Had to be his luck.

“Ok, it’s time to play a game,” Duncan said. “Darren, I’m going to give you or your wife a chance at freedom.”

“You will huh? What kind of chance is that? Another sick game?” Darren said.

“It’s very simple. I can kill you, and let her walk out of here totally unharmed. Option two, is I can kill her, and let you walk out of here totally unharmed. Option three is that I let you both leave, but I would have to cut the arms off of both of you,” Duncan explained calmly.

“Or you could just let us go now. You can even keep that fucking money,” Darren said.

“No, I’m afraid that isn’t an option. If one of you chooses death, I promise it won’t hurt. It will be a clean death.”

“Aren’t you just Mr. Fucking Nice guy?” Darren mocked.

“Darren?” Jenny said.

“It’s ok Jenny. Kill me. Let her go.”

“No!” Jenny screamed. “Please no. I can’t live without you.”

“Jenny! Look at me,” Darren said as he turned his head to face her. “Look at me.” She finally looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry this all went this way. This was a horrible idea.”

“It’s not your fault,” she said. “I was the one who talked you into it. I should have listened to you. I can’t lose you. Please.”

“You’ll be just fine. He’s going to let you go, you won’t be hurt. You can start a new life. You won’t have me dragging you down. Everything will be ok,” Darren said, but she wouldn’t stop crying. He looked over to Duncan. “I’m ready.”

Duncan walked over to the wall and pushed a button. Darren’s hook began to lower to the ground until his feet were touching. His arms and shoulders relaxed with the much needed relief. He lifted his arms off the hook, but his hands remained handcuffed in front of him.

“Now, if you try anything funny, any resistance at all, I will skin her alive and make you watch,” Duncan warned.

Darren said nothing as Duncan pointed to the metal table. Darren walked over and began to climb onto the table. Duncan undid his handcuffs, and quickly latched his left hand onto one of the manacles on the table. Darren didn’t resist as Duncan secured the other hand, so Darren was lying face down on the table, with his head hanging just off the end.

Darren turned to look at Jenny. She mouthed the words “I love you” to him.

“I love you baby. Don’t look, ok? I don’t want you to see this.”

“I have to,” Jenny said.

“Ok my friend,” Duncan said. “Any final words or proclamations?”

“You can go fuck yourself,” Darren said. “I hope someone skins you alive.”

“Fair enough. Ok, I feel like I should have something profound to say. You know like on ‘Game of Thrones’ when Ned Stark would say that little prayer before lopping someone’s head off?”

He walked over to his work table and picked up the large meat cleaver.

“I don’t even have a cool sword like he does. Maybe I should add that, just for some ceremonial effect,” Duncan said.

“God are you the most annoying murderer in history or what?” Darren said. “Just fucking kill me already.”

“Wow. Didn’t think you’d be that anxious to die, but ok. Hold still.”

Darren had never thought much about death. His parents took him to church some when he was a kid, but he’d never been overly religious. He always just figured when you die, that is it. Though he never expected to die at the age of forty, and so suddenly. No one ever thinks that. He’d always figured he’d live to be a ripe old age and die with his grandchildren by his bedside. Instead, there he was lying face down and naked on a cold metal table in some lunatic’s house of horrors.

One thing that surprised him, he wasn’t as nervous about death as he thought he’d be. He expected as the moment got closer, he would become more frightened, more nervous. He saw some old footage of a man being executed in the electric chair. The guards had to practically drag the guy into the execution chamber. The condemned man was visibly horrified. Maybe it was the exhaustion and the chaos of the last twenty-four hours hadn’t sunk in yet.

Darren kept his head turned slightly so he could see Jenny and took a deep breath. She continued to look at him, their eyes locked. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Duncan swinging the cleaver. Just before the cleaver struck his neck, he heard banging and yelling coming from another part of the house. He wanted to look back and see what it was, but the cleaver struck his neck removing his head cleanly. As Darren’s head fell to the floor, for a few seconds he was able to hear Jenny scream as his head tumbled to the floor. It struck the floor and he got a final look at his bloody stump of a neck before everything went dark.

Chapter 17

Jenny screamed as she watched her husband’s head fall to the floor. Duncan turned around and placed the cleaver back on the table and turned around.

“You asshole!” she screamed. “I’m gonna kill you!” She was almost dizzy from having seen her brother mutilated and then her husband beheaded. Her vision was foggy for a few seconds, as tears filled her eyes. Once it cleared, she wished he would just kill her. The reason they robbed the bank to begin with was to get money so they could live together as a family. Her family was gone now. There was no point in her own survival.

“No you’re not. Besides, I’m a man of my word.” He said as he walked to the wall, and pushed a button lowing her to the ground. She lifted her hands from the hook and without hesitation ran toward his work table and grabbed the meat cleaver. As she held it up, the steel door to the room slid open and two Mexican guys with guns came running into the room. The two lowered their guns and looked around.

“What in the fuck?” the tall bald one said. “What is this shit?”

“Can I help you gentlemen?” Duncan asked.

The short Mexican with the messy hair looked at Darren’s head on the floor and bent over throwing up.

“Is that someone’s fucking head?” the bald one said as he walked around the table, looking over Darren’s headless body. “Holy shit.”

Jenny stood in the corner behind Veronica. She pushed the button on the wall, lowering Veronica to the ground. As soon as she got her hands off the hook, Veronica collapsed to the floor. Jenny helped her up as they backed into the corner. The bald man with the gun looked at the other Mexican who finally finished throwing up.

Duncan looked back and forth between the men.

“I believe you two are trespassing,” Duncan said.

“Shut the fuck up,” the bald one finally said. “I believe you have our money.”

“Money? I don’t have anyone’s money,” Duncan said. “There must be some mistake.”

“Nobody is mistaken shit,” the bald one yelled.

He had his back to Jenny, so she decided to take a chance. She charged at him with the cleaver but swung wildly. The man moved at the last second and she grazed his shoulder.

“Goddamn! You fucking bitch!” the bald one said as he punched her in the face. She dropped the cleaver and stumbled back. He grabbed her arm by the handcuffs and shoved her over the table, bending her over the table. “You wanna play rough you cunt? You wanna play rough?” he yelled as he undid his pants. Jenny screamed and struggled, but he stuck the gun to the back of her head and grabbed her by the hair.

“Don’t move you fucking bitch,” he said. Still holding her hair, he inserted the gun in between her labia. The cold steel made her shudder as she felt the gun sight scraping the inside of her vagina. He slid it in and out of her, as the metal barrel scraped the inside of her with each movement.

As if she hadn’t been humiliated enough already, she had to be raped by this asshole using his gun. It hurt like hell. She tried not to scream, but the pain was too much. She felt tearing in her vagina as he jammed the gun in and out.

He pulled the gun out and inserted his cock into her as he grabbed a handful of her hair and pressed the gun to the back of her head with the other hand. His dick was small, so she barely noticed it, other than the slamming. The man grunted as he drilled in and out of her repeatedly. Jenny could feel the gun in the back of her head.

For the first time as she looked down, she realized she was leaning over Darren’s dead body. There weren’t even words for what she was feeling. Being raped on top of your dead husband wasn’t something many people experienced. She wanted to fight back, kick, bite or scream but she was afraid the gun would go off, but it never did. He finished inside of her, and then threw her to the floor by the hair.

Once she landed, she placed her face in her hands. She hated herself for getting into this mess. Hated herself for letting Darren die, and hated herself for defiling his body in such away. Even though there was no way she could have stopped it, she knew it all traced back to her talking Darren into robbing the bank with her. Had she not forced the issue, they’d be in their shitty little apartment in the sweltering heat eating Cheetos.

The shorter guy had Duncan at gunpoint the whole time. Bald guy pulled his pants up and pointed at Duncan.

“You, over here in the corner with the girls. On the floor, all of you,” he said.

Jenny crawled to the corner and sat next to Veronica. Duncan sat in front of them as the short man stood a few feet away holding the gun at them.

“Where is the money?” the bald one asked.

“I told you, I don’t have any money,” Duncan said.

“Yeah, and you got your own fucked up torture chamber here too.” He looked at the short one. “You keep an eye on them. I’m gonna look for the money,” the bald one said as he stepped out of the room.

Jenny tried to be still as she looked around. She could hear him rifling through the house, tearing it apart looking for the cash. It was almost funny to her, the money had been such a big deal. She felt like their lives couldn’t possibly get any worse, so they had nothing to lose by robbing the bank. She had couldn’t have been more wrong.

The bald one came back into the room, sweating and looking angrier than he had earlier.

“Where is the fucking money?” he screamed at Duncan, placing the gun to the middle of his forehead. Jenny was amazed at how calm Duncan remained, but that was probably typical for a sociopath.

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, there is no money,” Duncan insisted.

The man started going through the room. He looked along the walls and walked over to a set of cupboards in the corner. He knelt down and opened the bigger doors. Inside was the duffel back of cash.

“Hell yeah. This is what I’m talking about,” the bald one said. “Hey Miguel. Kill all of them assholes. Let’s get out of here.”

Before Miguel could respond, the sound of a chainsaw revving up came from the other room.

Chapter 18

The Padre looked out the window toward Duncan Kincaide’s house. He was in the home across the street from Duncan’s. He had tried to sit in his car and keep an eye out, but the nosy neighbor guy kept coming out and asking what he was doing. The Padre tried to act casual and tell him he was just waiting for someone. The guy wouldn’t let it go and threatened to call the police.

Unfortunately for the neighbor, The Padre had to cut his throat and stuff him in his trunk. He went into the guy’s house, but he had a wife and a couple of kids there as well. They were all still asleep, which made it easier for him to slit each of their throats. The kids looked like they were in their early teens. Not that it mattered to him. He’d killed babies before. There were only two instances when he would kill. If he was being paid to, or necessary to complete a job. Once he was on a job, there were no people, only obstacles. These folks had become obstacles.

He left the bodies in their beds as he looked at the home. By the time anyone found them, he would be long gone. It wasn’t always about just going in and killing everyone. He wanted to watch the movement of the house and make sure they didn’t get any surprise visitors. That happened to him a few times and one of those times it almost cost him his life.

When he saw the two men with guns circling the house, he thought they were cops at first. It was dark, but there were streetlights. As he looked closer, he knew they weren’t cops. They looked like gangbangers. Supposedly no one else knew who these guys were or where the money was other than his client. So either these guys were trying to rob this house by coincidence, or his client decided to come and get the money himself. If it was the client, then he would die.

He grabbed his large case and walked out of the house, and carried it with him across the street. He was wearing a black sweatshirt, black fatigues and gloves. Once he reached Duncan’s house, he saw the front door had been kicked in. Looking around inside, the place had been ransacked and there was screaming coming from the back of the house. He followed the noise and stopped just around the corner. There was a foul smell coming from the back room, the smell of death. He’d recognize it anywhere.

He peeked around the corner and behind the study was some kind of hidden room. There was a panel peeled away from the wall and a doorway there with some kind of butcher’s room. He could see meat hooks and heard the gangbangers yelling and some women crying. One of them was screaming about his money. That had to be his client. He had warned them not to interfere. Why did they always have to stick their nose in?

So many would get impatient and try to stop him, or butt into the job themselves. They always died horribly each time, despite all the warnings. Setting the case down, he opened it up and took out his chainsaw. It was a large, industrial sized one. He kept the heavier chain on it, so it could cut through some metal, wood and pretty much anything else.

With one pull, the saw started up and roared through the house. The saw’s motor drowned out any screaming as he stepped into the butcher room. He figured it was appropriate they were all waiting for him there. He revved the engine for effect. As he stepped inside, the two gangbangers were screaming something, but he couldn’t hear them. The short one pointed a gun at him, but The Padre was quick with the large saw and cut his arm off in one swipe. He brought the saw back around and cut him in half, from his left shoulder through his waist.

He spun around as the bald gangbanger came up behind him, but the saw cut right through his abdomen with no difficulty. As his upper body hit the floor, muscle spasms caused his finger to pull the trigger on his gun, firing a shot into the wall. He turned back around to see another man and the girls running out of the room. There was a moment’s hesitation when he saw the headless body lying on the table. It made him wonder what had been going on, but he let the thought pass. The Padre ran after them, got into the study and then living room, but there was no sign.

Until he heard a car start in the garage. He ran to the garage to see the white Cadillac pulling out into the street. His own car was parked across the street, so he ran to it, and tossed the chainsaw into the back seat and took off after the Cadillac.

Chapter 19

Jenny sat in the backseat of the Cadillac with Veronica as Duncan drove through the neighborhood and onto the highway. She had tried to run away from him as they got out of the butcher room, but Duncan had grabbed a machete and cut her arm with it. He grabbed both the girls by their handcuffs and dragged them into the car.

Once on the highway, they raced north. It was still dark and early in the morning, so traffic was at a minimum. Jenny was horrified of being trapped in a speeding car with Duncan, but she was relieved to be away from the chainsaw wielding maniac. The only thing she could figure, was that those men were the thugs Michael had owed his money to. They were headed north toward Austin. Both Jenny and Veronica were still naked.

“Where are we going?” Jenny asked.

“Away from here. Don’t you worry,” Duncan said.

“I thought you were going to let me go!”

“Did you want me to leave you with that lunatic back there?”

She sat quiet and looked out the back window. A pair of headlights was racing toward them, getting closer. At first, she felt excited, thinking it was a police car who had seen them speeding. As it got closer, she realized it wasn’t a police car at all. It was an old Ford Taurus. She had no doubt that the chainsaw guy was driving.

The Taurus pulled up behind them and rammed the Cadillac’s bumper. The girls jolted forward, bouncing off the seat. They both screamed as the Taurus rammed them again. The Cadillac fishtailed as the Taurus pulled up alongside of them. It rammed into the side of them sending the Cadillac to the shoulder, until Duncan could regain control. This time, Duncan went on the offensive, and rammed the side of the Taurus. The other car swerved away before coming back and slamming into them again, this time they almost went into the retaining wall.

Duncan took the next exit onto the access road. Jenny couldn’t tell where they were. There was literally nothing around them. The Taurus followed them but stayed a little further behind. Duncan turned off onto a side road which was much bumpier than the main roads. The Taurus sped up behind them as the Cadillac bounced and jolted the girls around the back seat. Veronica never said a word. She just looked out the window crying the whole drive.

The Taurus was hanging back, no longer trying to ram them. Jenny figured he was just biding his time waiting for them to stop or run out of gas. She couldn’t tell how much gas they had, but knew they couldn’t drive forever.

“Where are we going now?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Just trying to lose him.”

“He’s just going to keep following us. How are you going to lose him?”

For the first time since they captured him, Duncan looked visibly distressed. The fear he showed when they kidnapped him she knew was an act. He hadn’t been scared at all. Once he had them hanging in his death room, he’d never showed any agitation at all. As he was driving though, she could see he was sweating and repeatedly would wipe his face. He was hunched over and gripping the wheel tightly.

Jenny looked at Veronica who was still staring out the window. It was then she decided to take a chance. She launched herself over the seat, grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it to the right. Duncan tried to push her away, but she was lying halfway in the front seat on her stomach. He punched her and shoved her away and she slid back into the back seat.

The taste of blood stung her mouth as her lip had been busted open. Determined not to give up, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, choking him with the small chain. Duncan gagged and gasped as his foot pushed on the accelerator, causing them to speed up.

“What are you doing?” Veronica finally said. “You’re going to kill us all!”

“Grab the wheel!” Jenny said. “Do it!”

Veronica acted as if she hadn’t even heard her.

“We’re going to crash! Stop it!” Veronica screamed.

The car began to swerve as Duncan took his hands off the wheel to struggle against Jenny’s chokehold. They drove onto the shoulder and the wheels caught the edge of a ditch, flipping the car over. The Cadillac rolled onto its roof as it slid in the grass to a stop. Jenny lost her grip on Duncan and hit her head on the roof, sending her into a daze.

She looked around, but saw white streaks and couldn’t focus. Broken glass cut into her back and shoulders as she tried to roll onto her stomach. Duncan was lying halfway out of the car. Veronica was lying halfway on top of Jenny and something was pinning them together. Jenny could hardly move. She heard a car stop and a door open and close.

“Veronica, get off me. You’re smashing my ribs,” she said.

“I can’t. Something is pressing against me.”

Duncan had dragged himself out of the car, and reached back in, grabbing the machete.

“That was really stupid!” he yelled to Jenny. “Why did you do that? You shouldn’t have done that!”

She was able to scoot part way around to see outside. Duncan was standing over the car holding the machete.

“That guy is out there!” she said. “I heard his car.”

“I don’t see him,” Duncan said. “His car is here, but he’s gone.”

Jenny began to worry. She was trapped upside down in a wrecked car with two homicidal maniacs in the area. Maybe they would kill each other, or at the least Duncan will run off and the other guy will chase him. All her fears came rushing back in one instant, however, when the sound of a chainsaw filled the air.

Chapter 20

Duncan looked up to see the man holding the chainsaw coming at him. The man had been hidding behind his car, but he was in full view now. Duncan’s leg was hurt, but he could move around with not much difficulty. He grabbed the machete and stepped away from the car. The man with the chain saw came around the car and looked at Duncan. This was the first time Duncan had a good look at the guy.

The man with the chainsaw was a huge Mexican man who towered over Duncan. The chainsaw looked like something lumberjacks would use. The man had thick, gray hair and a long beard. He lunged at Duncan who jumped out of the way. Duncan kept his eyes on the Mexican’s as the man glared at him, stalking him like a predator stalking his prey. It would just take one good swipe of that chainsaw blade to end it for Duncan. He had seen what the saw had done to the two gangbangers back at the house.

“Who the hell are you?” Duncan asked.

“I’m El Padre de la Muerte, señor.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“It means The Father of Death. That is who I am.”

“So why are you here? What do you have to do with any of this?”

“I was hired to kill you my friend. It is not personal. Just business. I have a reputation to maintain however, so I have to cut you to pieces. Please hold still.”

Duncan couldn’t believe he was actually talking to someone as dysfunctional as himself, if not more. The guy was so casual about it, and telling him to hold still and not to take it personal. As if being killed were some sort of business transaction. Though he had said similar things to his victims over the years.

The Padre charged at him again almost catching him with the blade. Duncan swung the machete as a reflex as the saw came within inches of his head. The machete connected with the saw as sparks flew from the two blades. Duncan jumped back as The Padre made another swing at his head. Duncan leaned back as the saw just missed his face. Part of him wondered if he should just turn and run, but with the pain in his leg, he figured he wouldn’t stand a chance.

Duncan’s back was against his overturned Cadillac when The Padre rushed at him again, he ducked out of the way and rolled to the ground as the saw cut through the car’s chassis. Duncan came up on one knee as The Padre ran at him again, this time Duncan lunged at him, and swung the machete as hard as he could slicing into the side of The Padre’s calf. The Padre fell to one knee as Duncan stood and swung the machete at his head, but The Padre blocked it with the saw and more sparks flew from the two men.

Duncan swung again and The Padre blocked it again. He made one more swing at the Padre’s face. This time as the Padre moved the saw up to block, Duncan kicked him in the chest, sending him toppling to his back. The saw flew out of The Padre’s hands as Duncan immediately went for his face. The Padre’s eyes went wide as the large machete cut into The Padre’s skull. His body twitched and Duncan pulled the blade out. It was lodged, so he had to put his foot on the man’s chin and force it out.

Blood oozed from the opening in his skull. The Padre was still alive, reaching one hand wildly behind him as if he were grabbing for the saw. Duncan swung the blade at his head several more times until his face was nothing but a bloody mess of flesh and tissue. Only one of his eyes could be seen as the other had either fallen out, or was swelled shut behind the mass of blood meat.

Duncan turned to the car, and saw both the girls had somehow gotten out during the struggle. They were running away at about thirty yards away, not too far. The ground out there was hard and rocky, and they were barefoot and probably wounded. They wouldn’t get far as long as a car didn’t stop for them. Duncan ran after them, hopping on his bad foot as he carried the bloody machete at his side.

One of them looked back and saw him, and they both sped up their pace. He kept his same pace, and was still closing some distance. He was maybe ten yards away when Jenny turned and screamed at him.

“Leave us alone! Please! Just let us go!”

“I can’t do that now! You know that,” he said as he got closer.

They were along the shoulder of the road. The sun was just peaking up in the distance, but it was still plenty dark. A car came over the horizon approaching them. Jenny ran into the middle of the road, sprinting toward the car. It was a pickup truck. The man pulled over at the sight of two, bloody and naked girls in the middle of the road and Jenny hopped into the bed of the truck. Duncan pursued as Jenny helped Veronica climb into the truck bed. Duncan ran up and took a swing at them, but the driver had already peeled out and left him standing there.

***

Jenny couldn’t see the driver inside the cab, and didn’t care. As long as he could get her away from this place. As far away as possible. They were going down the road back toward the crash site. She saw the overturned car lying just off the road. Veronica was sitting in the bed of the truck, hugging her knees to her chest. Suddenly Veronica started screaming. Jenny turned around and saw a huge man, whose face was mutilated and covered in blood running toward the truck and waving a chainsaw.

Chapter 21

The man with the mangled face ran just in front of the truck as the driver tried to avoid him, and cut into the cab with the chain saw. The saw became stuck in the metal but the man didn’t let go. He let himself be dragged alongside the truck as he struggled to get the door open. He managed to get it open and he pulled himself inside. Once inside the truck on the passenger side, he was able to get the saw out.

Jenny looked through the rear window in horror as the mangled man sawed right through the driver’s head. The cab filled with blood as the truck jerked hard to the left. Jenny grabbed onto the side as the truck drove nose first into the ditch, slamming to a stop. Jenny bounced hard in the back of the truck and Veronica flew into her. She jumped out of the truck as the large man with the chainsaw began to pursue her.

Veronica struggled getting out of the truck. Jenny looked behind her when she heard Veronica scream as the chainsaw blade burst through her chest. The man picked her up off the ground with the saw and ran the blade through her chest, all the way through her head. Jenny turned to keep running through the field. There was a small barn about a dozen yards away. She ran behind the barn and stopped to listen.

It had grown silent. She didn’t know if he’d turned off the saw, or if he’d left. Though she seriously doubted he’d left. Slowly, she crept to the edge of the barn and looked around the corner. There was no sign of him. Careful to mind her footsteps, she crept to the other side and looked around that corner. Just as she turned her head, the huge man’s mangled face was inches from her. The chainsaw roared to life as he lifted it over his head. She turned and ran back the other way and back toward the road.

Her feet were raw and bloody from running barefoot over the hard, rocky ground but she had gotten a second wind as she picked up speed. She was smaller and faster than the chainsaw guy and she hoped to use that to her advantage. The pickup truck was a short distance away. It was stuck in the ditch, but it wasn’t a large ditch. Since it was still running, she hoped she could back it out and get out of there.

She was quickly approaching the truck, as she tried to ignore the burning in her lungs and legs from all the running. The man with the chainsaw was a good twenty yards or more behind her. She got within fifteen feet of the truck when Duncan appeared from behind the truck holding a shotgun. She dove to the ground, but he wasn’t aiming at her. He was aiming at the chainsaw guy.

Duncan fired, hitting the man in the leg. He stumbled and slowed down, but kept coming. Quickly, Duncan racked another round and fired again. This one hit him dead center. The chainsaw guy flew backward as his feet left him, landing flat on his back. Duncan kept the gun pointed at him as he walked up to the man’s body. He kicked the large man, but there was no movement. Duncan sat the shotgun down, and picked up the chainsaw, revved the engine and cut the man’s head off. Jenny figured this time he wasn’t taking any chances.

She climbed into the truck and pushed the driver’s body out. As she put it in reverse, she stomped on the gas and the engine revved and the wheels spun. The truck however, didn’t move. She put it in drive and accelerated forward, but that didn’t help either. A shotgun blast went off and her driver’s side mirror exploded. She looked up and Duncan was approaching with the shotgun pointed at her. Fuck!

“Get out of the truck, Jenny!” he yelled.

“Fuck you! Just let me go!” she screamed.

“You know I can’t do that. Get out!”

“Then fucking kill me!”

He fired another shot, hitting the door. She jumped at the sound and opened the door, stepping out with her hands up.

“Good girl,” he said. “Now, walk across the street.”

He walked her across the road toward the other guy’s Taurus which was also still running. She was kicking herself for not going for that car instead of the truck. She could have made it easily. As they approached the car,  he had the shotgun pressed to her back.

“Why can’t you just let me go? You promised us. Darren even gave himself up to you. He let you kill him.”

“I know, I know. I fully intended to let you go, I really did. But things have changed now. This chainsaw guy and all this other craziness. It changes everything. I have to leave my home now, and my job. I have to disappear. You think I want to do that?” he said.

“So? I can leave too. I’ll just disappear. I robbed the damn bank. You think I’ll run to the police?”

He stood there as if considering it for a moment, but shook his head.

“I just can’t risk it. Besides, when it comes down to it, I’m a killer. Given the opportunity to kill, I will, every time.”

He leaned into the car and popped the trunk.

“Ok, I know you’ve had several bad car rides today. But I need you to get back into the trunk. In you go.”

“Fuck you. Just shoot me,” she said. At this point, she truly didn’t care anymore. Getting shot to death was about the most appealing thing to her besides being let go, and it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

Duncan smiled and shook his head.

“I like your resiliency. You’re a tough girl. You’re tougher than Darren or Michael.” Before she could reply, he raised the butt of the shotgun and struck her in the face. She toppled into the trunk. He closed the trunk the same time everything went black.

Chapter 22

Jenny bounced around in the trunk as Duncan drove to wherever they were going. She tried to decide what she was going to do. There was no way she’d let him kill her, not now. She had been through too much and survived too much to just lie down and die. Her body was so sore and tired. She ached from head to toe, from hanging on that hook, the running, the fighting, being hit in the face repeatedly. She’d suffered more abuse in the last twenty four hours than she had her whole life.

The car finally stopped and she heard the engine turn off. She waited awhile for the trunk to open, but it didn’t. She felt around for something, anything she could use to surprise him with. This had been that crazy Mexican guy’s car; he had to have something in there. And she was right. There was a crowbar near her feet. She was curled up, but not enough to reach it. Gripping it with her toes she tried to slide it up to her hand. Slowly it inched closer until she could feel it with her fingertips.

She walked her fingertips down the bar until she was able to wrap them around it. It felt good in her hand. The cold, thick steel rested in her palm as she tightened her grip. Finally she heard footsteps just outside the trunk. The key slid into the lock as she placed the crowbar just behind her back, still holding a firm grip. Just as the trunk popped open, she launched herself out, swinging the crowbar and striking the man in the side of the head. He tumbled backward, as she landed on top of him.

“Whoa, easy, easy!” another man yelled pulling her off. She was screaming and flailing as the man picked her up off the ground. “Calm down!” he yelled. “It’s ok! No one is gonna hurt you!”

She looked at the man on the ground who was rubbing the side of his head. It was a cop. The guy holding her was a cop. She stopped flailing and he finally sat her down. The other walked over to her and put a police jacket over her shoulders. It felt good to finally have some kind of clothing on. She pulled it closed around her and held it tight.

“What the hell happened to you?” one of the officer’s asked.

She looked around and realized her surroundings. They were downtown, sitting in the middle of the street. There were pedestrians who had stopped and were looking on. How long had she been stuck in the trunk? The sun was out and shiny warmly.

“That guy, he took me, and my husband. His name is Duncan.”

“Kindcaide. Yes we know. He robbed that bank. Looks like he was a really sick mother fucker. I’m sure you already knew that though. Let’s get you out of here,” the officer said.

He took her to the police station. A secretary had found her some clothes from the lost and found. It was nothing fashionable, but it covered her at least. A short detective came out and sat down with her.

“Hello,” he said. “I’m Detective Ramos. Maybe you can help us piece together what happened? We found Kincaide’s car and searched his house. It was really horrible.”

She told him everything, except for her role in the bank robbery. She said Duncan had kidnapped the three of them and tortured them and how the Mexican gang guys showed up shooting, and then the big guy with the chainsaw, the car chase and everything. Turns out, the police already had their own theory as to what had happened.

They believed Duncan had been laundering money for the cartels, but something went wrong. So he staged the robbery, but was also a serial killer on his own on top of all that. So he took the money and everyone was coming to him to collect. It wasn’t the tidiest theory, but she was happy to only be seen as a victim in all of this. After this experience, she would never think of robbing anyplace ever again.

Once she made her statement, they took her to a local women’s shelter. It took a few days for everything to sink in. The first thing was realizing she was safe. Duncan and the chainsaw wielding lunatic were gone. They never did tell her that guy’s name. Wherever Duncan was, he was on the run and for the time being, wasn’t planning on coming for her.

The harder thing to sink in, was realizing she had lost everything. Her brother was gone, Darren was gone. She didn’t get any of the money from the robbery. Something that was supposed to fix her life ended up ruining it. Good old irony sure liked to stick it in and break it off sometimes. Her parents took her back in at least. Though her dad made it a point to remind her of her own failings. At one point, he even said she’d have been better off without Darren.

It took her about six months to snap out of the haze she had been left in from that day. Once she did, it was like a new awakening. She realized she didn’t have to be powerless or remain the victim. She had done some searching online. The FBI was still looking for Duncan Kinkaide, but the search had grown cold. She had no doubt he’d taken the money and run. There was nothing left keeping her in Texas. Her dad at least bought her a car shortly after the incident. He had hoped she’d use it to find a day job, but that hadn’t happened.

One night, she took all the money she had saved up, packed up a bag and left. She knew she would never be whole again until she killed Duncan Kincaide. He couldn’t be arrested, and no way could he just live out the rest of his life. He had to pay and it had to be her. She wanted to look into his eyes as the life slowly drained out of him. That thought was the only thing since that day that put a smile on her face.

Chapter 23

San Diego, California 18 months later

Duncan Kincaide walked along the beach, feeling the mushy sand between his toes as the water washed over his feet. It had taken him awhile to recover, but he was finally himself again. Though these days no one called him Duncan. They called him lots of things. He kept changing his name, and kept moving. That was the way of things now. It was nice being settled in San Antonio for so long, but that crazy Padre and his gang pals ruined that for him.

Sometimes he would think back to that day. After he killed The Padre, he took the girl back to his place, while she was in the trunk. He’d grabbed the money, and left the car with her in it downtown. By the time the police found her, he was already three states away. He was never sure why he didn’t kill her. He’d fully intended to, otherwise he should have just left her by the road.

A big reason was probably just time. There were several car crashes, dead bodies and body parts strewn about. It didn’t take long for that to draw someone’s attention. Not to mention, that chainsaw had awoken half his neighborhood before they escaped the house. Mrs. Rivera from next door had come over when he was getting the money to ask if he was ok. Of course, he was covered in blood and his clothing was torn up, so she had called the police not long after he left. It took a lot of restraint for him to not kill her, but he figured that would just draw more attention.

He walked back toward the beach house and stepped inside. The screen door slammed behind him as he wiped off his feet and headed into his study. It was sort of a study, though kind of makeshift. He was isolated enough out there, he could cut a few corners. The door squeaked as he opened it and flipped the light on. Once the light came on, the girl on the table tried to scream, but the tape over her mouth just left it a muffled groan.

“Hello my dear. I suppose we can get started. Too bad you couldn’t come on my walk with me. It was very nice out,” he said.

She replied with another attempted scream. Her hands and feet were bound to the table by leather straps he had made himself out of previous victims.

“Well, I guess you can’t talk with that over your mouth. How rude of me.” He tore the tape off as she let out a gasp.

Immediately she began screaming. He covered his ears and waved his hand at her.

“No! No! Stop that! Stop or the tape goes back on!” he yelled over her.

Finally she stopped screaming and began crying.

“Please don’t hurt me,” she said. “Why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything.”

“Oh I know. It’s just one of those things. Why does the lion attack the gazelle? Why does the spider capture the fly? It’s just nature. Nothing more.”

“I have a little boy, he’s five years old. He needs me,” she pleaded.

“I’m sure he’ll manage. Sure, he’ll be sad for a while, but kids are resilient.”

He was so caught up in the conversation with her, he didn’t know about the stun gun until it was jammed into his lower back and activated. He almost bit his tongue as his body stiffened and he collapsed to the ground. No matter how much he tried to move, he was totally paralyzed. Standing over him with her arms crossed and holding the gun was Jenny. She looked different. Her hair was shorter and she was much more cleaned up than the last time he’d seen her. She also looked much bigger. Not fat, but muscular, as if she had been working out. A lot.

“Hello, Duncan. Did you miss me?” Jenny said.

He lifted his head as he tried to sit up, but she stomped on his face with her boot. He saw stars as the blow stunned him. She undid the straps on the table and helped the girl up. Once she was up, Jenny took her jacket off and put it over the girl.

“Run, get out of here. As far and as fast as you can,” Jenny said.

The girl didn’t need to be told twice as she bolted out the door.

“Now why did you have to let her go?” Duncan complained “I had her all primed and ready.”

“Shut the fuck up,” she said as she bent down and grabbed him by the hair. As she pulled him up, she blasted him in the face with her knee. Stunning him once again, this time his nose burst open as it crunched beneath her knee. She placed him on the table, and strapped him down. Once he was strapped down, she took the knife and cut his clothes off him until he was lying there naked.

“You know I have money right?” he said.

“I don’t give a shit about your money,” she answered.

He looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. Part of him had always wondered how he’d meet his end. Living the life he did, with his hobby wasn’t something that one could do forever. It could be possible, but odds were he’d end up dead, in prison or die by lethal injection. Being strapped to his own table by one of his victims was not something he had prepared himself for mentally.

“Now,” Jenny said as she picked a scalpel up off his table. “What would you like to lose first?”

Chapter 24

Jenny enjoyed the sounds of his sobs. At the start, he held it together quite well. No matter what she did to him, he’d grit his teeth and tough it out. It wasn’t long though before she broke him. Even the toughest sociopaths had their breaking point and she had found his. She finally had him crying and begging for mercy, but there would be none.

Over the past year since her ordeal, she had taken some anatomy and pre-med courses online just for this occasion. She had him flat on the table with his chest cut open. Luckily she’d brought her own equipment since his tools were more archaic.

“How did you find me?” he cried.

“I remember you saying you always looked for undocumented prostitutes. I knew that wouldn’t change. I looked up places where bodies were found. Wasn’t too hard to track you here. From there it was just a matter of showing your photo to some people before I found this place. I watched it for a while until I was sure it was you.”

“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” he said.

“Yes you should have. But you didn’t, so you’re fucked.”

His skin was peeled away from his chest and abdomen, held into place by several clamps. His ribs and abdominal organs were all exposed. She could see his heart beating just beneath his ribcage.

“What are you going to do to me?” he asked.

She put down her scalpel and glared at him.

“Seriously? You’re gonna ask me that? Like you don’t fucking know what I’m going to do to you?”

“I have some idea I guess.”

“Let’s put it this way. The pain you’ve felt so far will feel like blowing a load compared to what I’m about to do.”

“I was afraid of that,” he said.

She reached into her bag and took out an ice pick and poked it through his stomach. He let out a scream and grunt as his bowels let loose, unleashing a horrific smell throughout the room.

“My God!” she said putting her forearm over her nose. “You just fucking shit yourself? God you’re a sick fuck. I seem to remember you mocking my brother for doing the same thing.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t help it. That hurt so bad. It just let loose.”

She poked another hole into his stomach, bringing more screams from him. Digging through her bag, she found the large hook. She hooked it around his intestines and pulled them out of his abdominal cavity as he continued screaming. Instead of pulling it all the way out, she used a set of tongs and held it over his face.

“Open wide!” she said.

He pinched his mouth shut as she rubbed the bloody organ over his lips. She cut a piece off the end about an inch long. As he screamed, she stuffed it into his mouth and forced his mouth shut. He struggled against her, but she was stronger. She could feel him gagging, but she wouldn’t let him open his mouth. Finally he was forced to chew and swallow the piece.

“There you go. Wasn’t that tasty?” she said as she let go. He coughed and gagged.

“You fucking bitch!” he yelled.

“What? Don’t like how you taste?”  She said as she draped the intestine over his shoulder. He screamed again as she reached into his abdomen again, fishing around as he screamed and grunted. She felt around until she plucked one of his kidneys, using the scalpel to cut it free.

“Ow! Fuck! Motherfucker!” he screamed.

“Oh shut up Duncan,” Jenny scolded. “Don’t be a pussy.”

“You’re a cunt!” he yelled.

“Seems so strange you’re so upset with me for doing to you what you had done to tons of others.”

“That was different. That was a bonding experience. They were purged of their impurity through pain. We became one though my digestion of their essence.”

“Oh that is such bullshit. You like to fucking kill and torture. I could tell how much fun you were having,” she said as she poked at his stomach again.

Over the next several hours, she poked, prodded or removed several more of his organs and limbs. She had systematically cut off each of his fingers, toes and both his ears. At some point throughout the procedure, Duncan had lost his mind completely. She was partly upset by that. She wanted him to suffer as much as possible. At the end, he was blubbering and rambling incoherently.

She finished him off by cutting off his penis and testicles and shoving them into his mouth. By then he was so far gone, he actually chewed enthusiastically until he bled out. It was funny to watch. He had no idea he was dying while he chewed his own testicles as if they were jawbreakers.  Then the life drained out of him.

Once he was gone, she sat and looked at her work. For the first time in over a year, she felt happy, at peace. She knew the nightmares would finally end and she took comfort knowing she’d saved lives. She peeled off her rubber gloves and picked up her bag, taking it with her outside as she walked to the edge of the beach.

Looking out at the ocean, she removed her bloody clothes and let them fall into a pile in the sand. The last time she had been naked outside, was the day Duncan had taken her. This time, she waded into the water, feeling the waves sweep over her. Blood pooled around her as it washed off her skin. The water was cold, but exhilarating. Once the water was chest deep, she leaned back and just let herself float as she looked up at the sky. Drifting alone in the ocean, she hoped the water would wash the bloodstains off her body and her soul.

The End

A Note from Tim Miller

Hi everyone. Thank you for taking the time to read my book “Hell, Texas.” I truly hope you enjoyed it. Whether you enjoyed it or not, I would like to invite you to take a moment of your time and head to Amazon.com and/or Goodreads.com and write a short review with your thoughts.

Reviews are extremely helpful for authors for a variety of reasons. The most important of which, they give us your immediate feedback. I read all of my reviews, good or bad, and take all the readers’ input into consideration upon improving my next book. Writing isn’t just me telling you a story, but it is you joining me on a journey. So I want to make sure that journey is as much fun for each of you. Thank you all again for allowing me to do what I love.

Your friend,

Tim Miller

Also by Tim Miller

The Hand of God

Revenge of the Three

Dark Exorcist

Blood Slayer

Family Night

Hell Texas

Night of Vengeance

About the Author

Tim began writing at a very young age. As a teenager he would write short stories of horror to entertain himself and his friends. Not knowing at the time this would one day lead to his dream of becoming a published author.

Tim has studied various religions and psychology as evident not only in his earlier religious publications, but also in his later work as an extreme horror author. Tim's true calling began in the horror genre with The Hand of God series.

Although the book still retains religious qualities it is a complete 180 from his earlier writings. His main character is Pastor Charlie who does "God's Work" by murdering those who sin. His four years serving as a U.S. Marine is also apparent in this series, with his realistic descriptions of weapons and tactics Pastor Charlie and various other characters use throughout the books.

He branches out further into the horror genre with the publication of Dark Exorcist. Tim's knowledge of religion still plays a major role in this book, along with his time spent working as a correctional officer.

In Family Night Tim begins his descent into extreme horror. Eddie is loving father with a very dark and sadistic side. Family Night is psychologically terrifying. His description of torture and gore push boundaries other authors would never dare to cross.

He is able to touch every nerve with the reality that this is something that could be happening right now. With similarities to one of Tim's favorite horror movies, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you will find that Eddie and his family are even harder to forget.

Tim currently lives in San Antonio, Texas with his loving wife and children. He enjoys going to Comic and Horror Cons as often as he can.

Tim is also playing the lead role in the upcoming horror film “The Keeper” currently in production.

Above all he loves meeting his fans and talking to them on his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTimMiller and on his Goodreads page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6153491.Tim_Miller

For more information on Tim Miller you can visit his website at http://timmiller.org

Table of Contents

- Reviews of Tim Miller’s work
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- A Note from Tim Miller
- Also by Tim Miller
- About the Author