Tourniquet

by Chuck Buda

  Rebecca had proven to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

  A slut in mother’s clothing is more like it.

  Samantha chuckled. She realized the noise may have been audible enough for Aiden to hear. She shot him a glance but he was still preoccupied with the landscape, looking for signs of Zoe. Or his friends.

  It saddened Samantha that she could never return home.

  Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. Half her family had been slaughtered. Her home, the safe place she had cultivated for almost two decades was now just a crime scene. Something that would be exposed on the local six o’clock news. The type of juicy story that she would shake her head about when she had still been an innocent viewer. She used to wonder how people could devolve to such depths that they would kill another human being.

  Now she was one of those people.

  And now she understood how people could change. Snap. Become something so foreign, so unfathomable. It had been easy. No thoughts. Just reaction to the emotions which took root where love had once dwelt. The void was now filled with pain and remorse. But there was no rewind button. No ability to reverse course. The outcome was etched in blood.

  Aiden spoke to Samantha. She heard a few words about streets they had already been down. Another bit about heading towards the high school. Aiden had come to some kind of conclusion that Zoe would go where she was familiar. Places that would be stepping stones to her freedom. The high school was one place they hadn’t checked yet. It was far enough across town, away from the neighborhoods where he had assumed Zoe would be hiding out or traversing on her way out of town.

  Samantha nodded to reassure Aiden she was paying attention. She drove on auto-pilot in the direction of the school. However, her thoughts returned to home.

  I can never go home.

  Samantha had never realized how important the concept of home was to her. Odd, because she spent so much time caring for the home, creating the safe haven for her family. A place she could be happy. A fifth member of the family in a strange way. Home was more than a location. More than four walls and a roof. It embodied the warmth of their love for one another. It provided more than shelter against the elements. It formed the family’s embrace, their relationship nest. It reflected the support and nurturing of their tight unit.

  And she could never go home again. All she had was memories of the years they had spent together. There could never be another home. Replacing what she had once had would be hollow and disingenuous. She could replace the tapestries and furniture. Not the souls, the love, the comfort.

  Horror lived there now.

  Samantha tried to shake the remaining misery from her brain. She needed to focus again on doing what she had struck out to do.

  Make them pay for what they had done to her daughter. What they had done to her. She couldn’t allow anything to come between her and the mission of payback. Samantha had to see it to the end. She knew she would die tonight. At least she wouldn’t have to think about the home she no longer had. She’d rather die than go back. She’d rather go down in a blaze of glory than rot in a jail cell for her part in the mess she had created. Either way, it all ended tonight. Everything.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  Samantha snapped out of her reverie. “Huh? Yeah. Of course.”

  Aiden stared at her as if he didn’t believe her. Samantha shrugged it off. Aiden’s opinions mattered little in the short time she had left. She was glad he was with her on her mission of self-destruction. But, at some point, Samantha would have to go her own way to complete what she had set out to do.

  Revenge.

  Samantha felt a heat swell in her chest while she envisioned more violence. While it scared her to know she could continue to think such terrible thoughts, it somewhat comforted her to believe in something to carry her forward. Without it, Samantha would collapse like a boneless bag and give up.

  Vengeance.

  It was the closest thing Samantha had to a concept of home at this point.

  Chapter 28

  Aiden searched the landscape as Samantha drove to their next destination.

  The high school.

  He continued his inspection even though his gut signaled him that he was right about Zoe. She was at the high school and he would find her there.

  Flashing lights reflected off the interior of the car. Aiden leaned right to check the side view mirror. It was full of high beams and flashing red and blue lights. Immediately, Aiden’s stomach sunk. He feared they had finally been caught. The police car would pull them over, find out who they were and then they would be cuffed and processed for Leah’s death. Nobody would believe their wild tales of sex romps and cult wannabes gone awry. And it wouldn’t look good for Leah’s mother, who had “run away” with her recently murdered daughter’s love interest.

  Aiden looked at Samantha. The fear in her eyes mirrored his. Samantha began slowing down and pulling over to the right.

  “What are you doing? Punch it. We can’t let it end like this.”

  “I can’t outrun him.” Samantha bit her lower lip with exasperation.

  Aiden started to grab the steering wheel like he could take control of the car’s momentum by direction alone. The console in between the front seats deterred him from stomping his foot on the gas pedal.

  The police car snorted a few obnoxious alerts as it zoomed past them.

  Aiden found himself hyperventilating from nearly being caught. His chest tightened.

  Samantha shoved Aiden’s hand from the wheel. He reacted as if he had been swatted with a wooden spoon. Samantha glared across the seat at Aiden.

  “Sorry.”

  “You really think we can get away tonight? From any of this?”

  Aiden refused to answer Samantha’s question. “Sorry.” He simply apologized again for trying to take control of the vehicle. “Let’s see where he’s going.”

  Aiden pointed forward through the windshield. Samantha sighed and silently pulled back onto the road. She gave the car enough gas to keep up with the police car that had sped past them without following close enough as to appear obvious to the officer. The police car made a sharp turn at the end of the road, traveling in the opposite direction of the high school. Aiden pointed again to indicate he wished Samantha to keep trailing the cops.

  As soon as they made the left turn, Aiden’s eyes were blinded with the flashing lights of several emergency vehicles. There had to be at least six police cars and a few ambulances by Aiden’s quick count.

  And Spencer’s car.

  Aiden gulped audibly and snatched a hold of Samantha’s arm. He squeezed and told her to stop the car. He reached over the dashboard and killed the headlights before Samantha knew what he was doing.

  He stared ahead in disbelief.

  Spencer’s car was crumbled into a police cruiser. One set of paramedics took care of an officer on a stretcher. Two cops stood over the team as they attended to the injured cop. Several other officers stood off to the right. Beneath their feet was a body draped with a sheet in the middle of the road. The last cop to arrive, the one Aiden and Samantha had followed to the scene, approached his brothers in blue. They huddled in discussion with a paramedic from the second ambulance.

  Aiden swallowed hard.

  The realization that everyone had been dropping like flies smacked his consciousness like a wet towel. Leah. Ryan. Spencer. Gone.

  Not to mention Peter and everyone else Zoe had come across tonight.

  Samantha looked to Aiden for an answer. He understood that Samantha had no idea they were looking at Spencer. She probably didn’t know what his car looked like. He thought about explaining it all to her and decided against it. It would take too long and it no longer mattered.

  “Let’s go. But don’t turn on your headlights until we get back to the intersection.”

  Samantha stared at Aiden.

  “Spencer is gone now too.” Aiden felt a catch in his throat. Out of the entire group of friends, Spencer was
the one who he was closest to, if you could really call it that. Regardless, he felt saddened for Spencer’s death. Spencer had been nice to Aiden most times. Nicer than Ryan and Todd.

  Todd.

  Aiden sat up instantly. He knew they had to get to the high school quickly. They had to reach Zoe before Todd and Jordyn did. Because if Zoe killed Todd first, then Aiden’s uphill battle would become a climb up a sheer cliff.

  “She got to Spencer then.” Samantha spoke without taking her eyes from the road.

  “I guess so. We’re running out of friends.”

  Aiden rubbed his eyes with his palms. It felt like he hadn’t slept in weeks even though it had only been about twenty-four hours. His eyes burned, tired from all the searching and crying.

  “You going to tell me where we’re heading or should I just drive in circles all night?”

  “Sorry.” Aiden winced at having to apologize to Samantha again. “Sorry. The high school.”

  “The high school? Why would Zoe go there?”

  Aiden wondered if he should go through his instinctual feelings or stick to the facts. He’d better just focus on what he knew about his friends. And leave the rest for himself.

  “We used to hang out in the parking lot after school. Sometimes we’d even meet up there before classes. It was our little sanctuary at the school. You know, if you needed to get away from the stress of girls or exams, you could always find someone hanging out by the cars. Someone to talk to and laugh with. Take your mind off serious problems.” Aiden suddenly felt as if he was tattling on Leah and his friends.

  Samantha nodded as if she could understand the need to have a safe zone at the school, especially since the kids were stuck there for long hours each day.

  As they neared the road to the school, Aiden and Samantha quieted down. The looming danger which filled the vehicle, felt palpable. Both of them knew the chase was winding down. It was inevitable. The night was getting long. Soon it would be daylight and hiding amongst the shadows wouldn’t be possible. Bodies would be discovered. Detectives would pound the pavement. The news trucks would swarm the town. Neighbors would stand in driveways, gossiping and watching. And they would be rounded up and brought before the cameras to explain their involvement in the largest, deadliest spree in town history.

  Not if I can help it. I gotta get to Zoe fast.

  Aiden began to chew on a fingernail in an attempt to occupy some of his nervous energy. He felt a fresh dump of adrenaline flood his veins when they arrived at the school. The parking lot was empty. Aiden feared he had made a mistake until he quickly realized Zoe was on foot. And so were Todd and Jordyn. He sighed under his breath for needlessly alarming himself. His mind was beginning to play tricks on him. Either stress or exhaustion was infiltrating his body’s reserves.

  “Over there.” Aiden pointed towards the sidewalk lined with trees and little beds of shrubs.

  “That’s where they would hang out.”

  Chapter 29

  Zoe felt Todd pass.

  His body softened within her embrace. She found it funny that he didn’t slowly exhale his last breath like all the movies led people to believe. Todd had expired without a last breath or a choke. One minute he was struggling against her feeding. The next, he was gone.

  That quickly.

  Zoe sat back and rubbed Todd’s blood into her skin, starting with her chin and working her way down her breasts to her abdomen. As she sat back, Zoe noticed a hardness pressing against her rump. Todd had an erection. Zoe giggled. Even in dying, Todd found Zoe more attractive than Jordyn.

  She decided not to waste the gift he had given her.

  Zoe tugged Todd’s shorts down and climbed atop his manhood. She found herself ready for the penetration. All the excitement from getting her way and the killing made it easy for Zoe to enjoy every inch of Todd. He was a bit larger than the rest of the boys.

  Zoe slid up and down, swiveling her hips to her own rhythmic needs.

  She closed her eyes, throwing her head back. The night air was crisp and left subtle goose bumps along her flesh. Zoe reflected on the evening’s events. Each splash of blood, each cry of pain played across her eyelids like a pornographic film. Zoe cooed with ecstasy.

  Zoe envisioned Spencer and Aiden coming for her. Only two more to take care of. Then Zoe would have sole control of The First Cut. She knew she would have it. She just hadn’t understood she would have to slaughter them all to get it. For a brief moment, Zoe had all of them in her control. Somehow, it hadn’t been satisfying enough anyhow. She craved the power, and then, when she had it, it hadn’t been enough. Zoe wanted more. Needed to own everyone.

  The First Cut is just the first step.

  Zoe pictured Aiden on his knees, begging for her mercy. He was too weak to provide any real threat to her conquest. Aiden believed he could stand up to Zoe. In the end, he would fold faster than a set of hotel linens. Zoe could see Aiden sobbing like a baby, crying for her to leave him broken and maimed. But she had no intentions of letting him off that easily.

  Zoe would punish him. She’d make Aiden feel every ounce of pain. She needed to pay him back for attempting to stand up to her with the fake blood. Aiden would have to die slowly. Maybe she would cut off his limbs, drink his blood while he watched, unable to fight back. Just a torso, twitching on the ground as Zoe waved his own arms above her head in a mock fright. She couldn’t wait to see his expression.

  Zoe neared climax.

  Then she would deal with Spencer. He would require far more attention. More care, lest she lose the battle with him. Spencer was equally as powerful. He was intelligent. And his knowledge of the ritualistic spells was deeper than she could grasp. After all, Spencer had been studying and practicing far longer than she had.

  Yet, Zoe felt confident she could take him out. Zoe had built up her strength with each sacrifice. She had absorbed all the blood spirit she could, filling her tank for the epic duel that would catapult her to the top.

  Making her the queen. The overlord.

  Zoe’s pelvis quaked with the oncoming orgasm. She felt Todd’s member flagging slightly between her thighs. She would have to wrap it up before his prick deadened like the rest of his body. Zoe ground her pubis into Todd’s meat. The curling sensations eddied from deep inside her, coiling outward to her limbs like flashes of lightning. She slumped into Todd’s chest, pulling herself down onto him. She felt her nipples tickle his chest. The smell of his blood, pooled around his neck, put her over the edge.

  Zoe twitched and shuddered. She felt a flood of warmth from her vagina. Her eyes rolled back in their sockets, eyelids fluttering with the most powerful orgasm she had ever experienced.

  As she writhed at the pinnacle, Zoe heard the distant engine of a car, nearing her location. It enhanced her sensations, making it even more delicious.

  A flash of headlights rounded the bend and washed over her skin for a brief second. Zoe glanced across the parking lot, watching a vehicle come her way. She didn’t recognize the car. Part of her urged her to flee, in fear it was the police. But she couldn’t fathom why a police squad car would come through the high school lot at this hour.

  It had to be Aiden or Spencer.

  Zoe laughed under her breath. She slid off Todd and crawled behind an ornamental grass. She watched the car close in. It definitely wasn’t Spencer’s little sports car. Zoe grinned. She was glad Spencer hadn’t found her before Aiden. She wanted to save the best for last. Plus, she would need all the help she could get to face off with him. Aiden’s blood would give Zoe the extra juice she needed to make the demons work for her.

  The car approached the tree-lined sidewalk. It stopped and Zoe watched the passenger door swing open. A shadow stepped out. She couldn’t make out any features, but the person’s build appeared to be masculine. She hoped it was Aiden.

  But if this Aiden, then who is driving the car? Could it be Spencer? Would she have to face both of them simultaneously? Zoe felt a twinge of nervousness obliterate the afterglo
w of her recent orgasm.

  The shadow figure walked around the first tree trunk. He circled and stepped up to the sidewalk leading to the school. A few steps later, the shadow figure paused. Zoe watched the person lean to the side, as if they were straining to get a better look.

  “Zoe?”

  It was Aiden. His voice was unmistakable. Zoe stood, revealing her location. She needed Aiden to come after her so she could separate him from whomever had driven him to the school.

  Aiden took a few more steps in her direction. Again, he leaned to one side to distinguish her shape from the shadows of the trees and shrubs.

  “Zoe?”

  She giggled and spat at Aiden. Zoe turned and ran across the schoolyard.

  She heard him shout, “Stop,” as she hurried away. Zoe glanced over her shoulder to see how close he was. Aiden had stopped briefly to see Todd and Jordyn lying in the grass. He resumed his chase. Zoe giggled again. She heard the wheels of the vehicle chirp as it sped off. Zoe would have to keep away from the streets because whoever was driving would try to head her off around the other side of the building.

  Noobs.

  Zoe made her way for the football field. There would be plenty of places to hide and take her stand. The bleachers. The clubhouse. She would make the landscape work to her advantage. She would funnel Aiden and his co-conspirator into her death trap.

  Chapter 30

  She pulled into the high school parking lot. Aiden exhaled a loud breath, like he readied himself for a speech in front of large auditorium. Samantha ignored him, trying to keep the car steady. She had taken the bend into the lot a bit too fast and the car threatened to strike the first set of parking blocks.

  Aiden pointed up the lot toward a long row of landscaping. The manicured sidewalk led to the side entrance of the school. Samantha knew that was the set of doors the older kids that drove to school used. The front doors on the other side of the building were for Freshman and Sophomores as parents dropped off their kids for class.