‘That’s not it,’ Kim insisted. ‘I do want to be one of you. And I can prove it.’
‘Prove it? How?’
Kim continued walking, slowly, up to the table, up to the bloodied and destroyed body of Craig. Everyone, including Ashley, watched her intently. After taking a deep breath, Kim then lowered her head forward to Craig’s opened stomach and opened her mouth.
Jesus, no, Ashley thought to herself, repulsed. Surely there was no way Kim would go through with it.
But she did.
Ashley almost gagged as she watched Kim bury her face into Craig’s insides. She heard a wet squelch, and Kim brought her head back up. Her mouth was smeared with blood, and glistening strings dangled from it. She then began to chew, slowly.
‘How could you?’ Ashley said.
Kim didn’t answer, just continued chewing. The family erupted in laughter.
‘Jesus, Timothy,’ Benjamin said, doubling over in laughter. ‘You really did bring us quite the selection this time. I’ve never seen anything like it.’
‘I don’t know what to say,’ Tim said. ‘I never knew either of them had it in them. Maybe I misjudged them.’
Kim smiled as she chewed. It was a manic sight, and she made her way over to Craig’s head. ‘What’s the best part to eat?’ she asked through a mouthful of meat. ‘The throat looks tasty.’
Ashley had half an idea to race over to Kim and strangle her herself.
Kim leaned in to Craig again, ready to take another bite as the family continued to roar in laughter around her.
Ashley was horrified. After all she’d seen, this sickened her the most, purely because of the betrayal of it all. Her mind was racing with confusion and rage, and it took her a moment to realise Kim was staring directly at her.
Kim’s eyes flicked from Ashley, then to the trap door, then back again, and she gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Ashley realised Kim was signalling to her.
She wanted her to go down there.
But when, and why?
And then it all became clear.
Kim, with her hands still tied together, quickly grabbed what looked like a sharp kitchen knife from the small table next to the slab. She screamed with fury and sprinted towards Benjamin, the knife held out before her. The family, still recovering from their laughing fit, were slow to react, and Kim lunged, thrusting the knife into the man’s throat. Ashley heard a wet squelch as the metal slid easily into the flesh. The blade was of such a length that it penetrated right through and came out of the back of Benjamin’s neck.
Kim quickly sidestepped around him, still holding the knife and twisting the man as she moved, putting Ashley behind her, and her between Ashley and the rest of the family. She pulled the knife free and lunged into Benjamin. They tangled briefly until Kim pushed him backwards into Tim, who caught the older man before he fell. Benjamin brought a hand up to his neck, his eyes wide with shock, and pressed it tight to the puncture wound, trying and stem the blood that gushed and spurted free. It was useless, though, as it pumped rhythmically from between his fingers. Benjamin sank to his knees.
Excitement spread through the rest of the family, the violence like an aphrodisiac to them. Henry whooped and hollered, clapping his hands together.
‘Very clever,’ the mother said, pulling her lips back into something halfway between a smile and a grimace. ‘Not going to do much good, though.’
Kim turned her head slightly, looking back to Ashley.
‘Go,’ she whispered.
‘But—’ Ashley began, but didn’t have the chance to finish. Kim backed up and shoved Ashley, who stumbled. She lost her footing on the edge of the trap door and fell inside. The drop was only a few feet, but she landed painfully on the earthy floor.
She heard commotion above and saw Kim drop the knife down to her before slamming the grate shut. A metallic clang rang out as Ashley tried to catch up with what was happening. Kim pressed herself into the grate and was frantically working her hands as bodies descended on top of her. It took Ashley a moment to understand what she was doing; in her hands, she had the same key Benjamin had used when he opened the grate, and she was now locking it.
Ashley realised she must have taken it when she was wrestling with Benjamin, before shoving him away.
Seemingly all part of a desperate plan.
Frantic yelling rose in volume and intensity from above, a yelling that was overpowered by Kim’s screaming. She was in pain, then Ashley saw why. A blade appeared though her front, just to the side of her stomach. Still her hands worked and Ashley heard a metallic click.
The grate had been successfully locked.
Thick, fat hands wrapped around Kim’s throat, hands that engulfed her neck almost completely, and began to squeeze. Kim’s eyes bulged and her screams were choked off, but that did not slow her down. She thrust an arm through the grate and something fell from her grip, landing close to Ashley.
It was the key.
Ashley looked up at her friend who mouthed the words I’m sorry, before being dragged completely from view.
Screams of pain and agony rang out, along with the frantic, arguing voices of the family. Tim appeared at the grate above her and pressed himself down on to it. He looked furious.
‘Don’t you fucking go anywhere,’ he said. ‘We will gut you, you hear? We will fucking tear you apart.’
Ashley picked up both the key and the knife that Kim had dropped. Kim’s last act had been to save her friend’s life and give her a chance at escape.
Ashley felt a draft to her side and saw she was at the start of some kind of small tunnel, only a few feet in circumference, that cut down into the earth at a steady decline. She didn’t know where it led, and she guessed something would be waiting, but at least it got her away from the horrors above, from this psychopathic family, and maybe gave her a chance at freedom.
And it was all thanks to Kim, a girl she had thought to be a coward and a traitor.
A girl who had sacrificed her own life for Ashley.
Ashley looked back up to the face of the man she once thought she loved.
‘Tim,’ she shouted up, then raised a hand, middle finger extended. ‘Fuck you.’
She then began to crawl onwards as quickly as she could, down the decline of the tunnel, one that grew ever steeper.
Behind her, she could still hear the threats and cursing of Tim as she left him behind.
Chapter 31
The pain was immense, but Kim felt an odd sensation of peace through it all. With her throat crushed, she lay gasping on the floor. The knife that punctured through her had been pulled out, but it had ripped and split things on its way. She felt blood spit out of the gaping holes, front and back, with every breath her dying body took.
It was the kind of pain she had been fearing, the reason she had considered running and leaving her friend behind, all so she could save herself. After the carnage and violence back in the woods and seeing Ashley drive that knife into the woman’s skull, but not killing her, something had broken inside her. If something like that didn’t kill them, then nothing would. It seemed to snuff out all hope of escape, so a new survival instinct took over; compliance.
She stopped resisting and fell in line, submitting herself to these beasts in the hope that they would spare her. She didn’t really believe they would, but what else could she do?
Then, after being lead back on a leash like a dog, she saw what they had done to Craig, and she knew that was to be her fate. Whilst Ashley had shown the kind of fight they needed, Kim had wilted when it had mattered.
The agony she was in, the pain she had been so scared of, was far worse than she had imagined it could be. However, despite that, it still didn’t compare to the shame she felt at her previous actions.
So, when these people had talked about getting Ashley to join them, something that still didn’t make sense to Kim, she had made a decision. She was going to fight hell-for-leather to ensure that at least one of them got out
of here alive. Or, at least give one of them a chance.
And she had succeeded.
Right now, her friend had that chance. It may not have been much, and she could very well still meet a nasty end, but at least she’d given Ashley hope.
And maybe earned her forgiveness as well.
Kim felt Henry step over her, his towering bulk rising up and up. She could see his fat head looking down at her from up high with a scowl as she struggled to suck in pained breaths.
‘What do we do with her?’ he asked. ‘She’s dying. Cold meat is no good.’
The man she had stabbed, Benjamin, was on his feet again, trying to talk, but he could do no more than gargle and spit blood. The crimson liquid still spilled liberally from the vicious wound, and he looked incredibly pale.
Good, thought Kim, proud of her achievement.
‘Forget her,’ the woman said. ‘Kill her and be done with it. We need to get after the other one, and quick.’
Henry smiled. ‘Looks like your time’s up,’ he said. ‘Shame we don’t get a proper meal from you.’
‘Henry,’ his mother snapped, ‘this is no time for playing around. Get on with it. We need you.’
‘Okay, Ma,’ he said defensively, like a temperamental teenager. He then reached down and took hold of Kim’s neck. ‘This is going to hurt,’ he whispered.
And it did.
His mighty hands compressed, crushing Kim’s already mashed throat utterly and completely. She felt a sudden pain as her head was twisted sharply to the side. Something cracked, but death wasn’t instant. Kim was unable to open her mouth to scream and her head wobbled uselessly in his grip.
There was an almighty tug, and she actually felt the vertebrae in her neck pull apart as the skin surrounding it stretched and split.
Kim’s last feeling was of rising into the air as her body lay motionless on the floor below.
‘Get out of the way,’ Ted said, pushing Timothy aside as his brother spat obscenities down into the dark void, but the girl was gone, that much was clear. Ted began working at the grate, digging the long blade of his machete around the edge of it, into the ground, hoping, in vain, he could dig it up. Without the key, he could think of no other way to gain access.
And the only key he was aware of for that grate was down there below them.
Ted was angry. Furious in fact, that his father, who had just given a speech on responsibility and consequences, had so stupidly lost the fucking key. Right now, she was heading farther down there, towards him, and they, with all their power, were actually powerless to stop her. It was the single biggest clusterfuck he had seen from anyone in his family. Ever.
If anyone deserved punishment for their actions, it was his father.
But Ted was also more than a little scared. Sure, his father had fucked up, but it was Ted who had first suggested turning the redhead, and that was the reason the grate had been opened in the first place.
So, would everything be blamed on him?
But just because Father had fucked up, royally fucked up, surely that didn’t make him wrong about the girl. The fight she was showing had to be proof he was right? He hoped the family, and Grandpa, would see it that way too.
Regardless, the chances of the redhead joining them now were effectively finished. She was on her way down to where he lived and, where Grandpa was concerned, there were very specific rules. The chief of which was that no outsider went down there without a member of the family escorting them.
He was quite insistent on that. And he was going to be pissed.
Heads would roll, probably literally.
He prayed it wouldn’t be his own.
No matter how much he tried to dig around the frame of the grate to create an opening that could perhaps pull the whole thing free, it was useless. The earth was just too thick, and the frame was set in too deep.
He needed another way.
He swivelled around, looking for something, anything, that would help. He saw Henry holding the Asian girl’s head. Her jaw moved up and down a couple of times; an automated motor response, a hangover from life. Red tendrils fell from what remained of her neck and, through them, he saw a small length of spine.
The mouth stopped moving.
Henry studied the head, like it was a curiosity, and stared into the girl’s eyes as her life drained away. He then tossed the head carelessly to his side. It bounced once and rolled from Ted’s view.
‘Ted,’ his mother snapped, moving next to him. ‘What are you waiting for? Keep digging. We need to get down there, now.’
But digging was pointless. Father stumbled about, trying to bark out orders, but was unable to speak. He only succeeded in covering the area with his still running blood. If things weren’t so tense and urgent, it might have even been funny.
‘Quiet down, you,’ Mother said to him, a seething anger in her tone. ‘This is all your fucking fault. How could you let one of them get the better of you like that? This has turned into one big fuck up.’
Father tried to say something, but it was useless. He couldn’t speak and Mother wasn’t listening. Ted was more than a little relieved Mother saw things his way, seemingly blaming only one person for all of this.
He looked back to the grate, then to Henry, and an idea formed.
‘Keep going,’ Mother said and slapped him painfully around the head.
‘I’m not getting anywhere,’ he shot back, ‘but there might be another way.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Henry,’ he shouted over to his brother, who walked over to them. ‘Need your help here, buddy. Up for a challenge?’
Henry laughed and clapped his hands. ‘Always,’ he said. ‘What is it?’
‘Need you to test your strength. There’s no digging through this. So, do you think you’d be able to rip it open for us?’
Henry studied the grate, cocking his head to one side. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I think I can do that.’
Ted and his mother moved aside, giving Henry space to work. The giant reached down to the grate and took hold, setting himself and taking a deep breath.
He then heaved and let out a long, strained groan, pulling with everything he had. Small veins formed on his forehead and popped from his neck. He was pulling so hard his whole body was shaking.
‘Careful you don’t shit yourself,’ Timothy said, smiling to himself.
‘Shut up, boy,’ Mother snapped, lashing out at him.
Henry was straining desperately, but Ted heard a small creak from the metal and saw the frame slowly begin to bend.
‘Keep going, brother,’ Ted said, giving encouragement. ‘You’re doing it. You’re actually doing it. It’s starting to give.’
Henry stopped and took a breath, his face beet red and sweating. He smiled and nodded at Ted, then set himself again. He drew in a few quick breaths and heaved once more. Ted again heard the sound of straining metal, louder this time. The thick iron frame bent and twisted in front of his eyes. Henry stopped again to get his breath.
‘That’s a good boy,’ Mother said, rubbing Henry on the arm. ‘Such a strong boy. You’re doing me proud. One more, just one more and you might have it.’
Henry gritted his teeth together, his face a picture of determination. He gave an almighty roar and pulled again.
The lock broke.
Metal splintered with a squeal and the lid swung open, so fast the squatting Henry lost his balance and fell to his back, his legs sticking up in the air like a stuck turtle.
Mother cheered.
‘Well done, Henry’ she said, then pushed at Ted. ‘Move. Get down there, after her.’
‘You hear that, you fucking bitch,’ Timothy yelled loudly into the hole. ‘We’re coming for you now. You’re fucking dead.’
There was a lot of anger in Timothy, more so than usual, but Ted soon figured out why. Only moments ago, he’d been given hope that another member would come in to the family, one that would be ranked beneath him and take over his duties. And
that would give him the chance to move up, and he would finally be able to feed fully.
With Father’s fuck up, all of that hope had been yanked away.
Ted pushed him aside and dropped into the hole. His feet hit the floor and he dove forward onto his stomach and began to crawl forward into the tunnel as quickly as he could. He heard someone else drop in behind him.
The tunnel was small, but easy enough to navigate through. He did wonder if Henry would be able to squeeze his bulk through it, though. His much larger brother hadn’t been down here since he had been turned all those years ago. Henry had been big then, but nothing like what he’d become.
Ted felt a vibration through the ground beneath him and heard a dull, heavy thud. He also heard his giant brother let out an oomf as he hit the floor. Clearly, Henry was going to try his luck.
Ted just hoped he didn’t get stuck in the tunnel, as it was the only way in or out. If he got wedged in good, then they’d have to cut their way through him to get back up.
Something, he supposed, that could be fun.
But first, they had work to do.
That redheaded bitch needed to die.
Chapter 32
Ashley made her way through the tunnel on all fours as quickly as she could. The space was big enough for her, but it was pitch black and the air was starting to thin. The only thing she had to light the way was her phone, the thing that had been almost useless until now. She was using its torch feature, shining a light up ahead, but it had been days since its last charge and, even though it had been used sparsely, the battery was close to dead.
The tunnel itself seemed to be a natural one. It wasn’t a perfect circle, not even close, so she doubted it had been purposefully dug. Clumps of dirt and rock surrounded her, and her palms and knees pressed painfully into stones and rocks as she moved. The decline was steadily increasing, and it had begun to put a strain on her wrists as she used them to stop her body weight from slipping forward. If the slope increased much more she wouldn’t need to crawl, she would simply slide down the tunnel.
The Extreme Horror Collection Page 16
