Tourniquet

by Chuck Buda

  “And what’s that?”

  “You call off the chase and send Spencer. If Spencer kills me, you get what you want. I’ll be dead and you won’t be in trouble for doing it.”

  “And if Spencer fails?”

  Zoe’s voice sunk to a deeper, malicious groove. “Then you might get your wish. Because I’ll be coming back for you, Aiden.”

  He considered her words. Samantha had been leaning in to listen through the outside of the phone. Aiden felt claustrophobic, wishing to shove Samantha out of his space. But he knew he wouldn’t do that to her. Besides, she needed to listen in just in case he muffed Zoe’s instructions.

  “Fine. I’ll send Spencer to you.”

  “And?”

  “And I won’t come with him.”

  Zoe clucked her tongue. “You’re always such a good boy. It’s too bad you defied me before our friends. You could have been my right hand in all this. But you tossed that chance in the garbage when you stood against me.” She paused a moment. “I’m still impressed by your growth, Aiden. But don’t mistake admiration for weakness. I’ll still kill you if we meet again.”

  “You’ll die trying.”

  Aiden felt like a tough guy. He envisioned Clint Eastwood speaking for him. Aiden felt closer to getting Zoe.

  She revealed where she was. Aiden found the supermarket an odd place for her to run to. Regardless, he understood how tricky it would be. Rows and rows of goods. Plenty of hiding spots and potential weapons. He knew it would get bloodier before the end.

  At least he had the specter of Spencer on his side. And he had Samantha. Safety in numbers. Zoe was alone. Two against one (or was it three against one if he included Spencer) were odds he would take any day.

  The line went dead. Aiden didn’t bother stuffing the phone back in his pocket. He tossed it on the dashboard. Aiden wouldn’t need a phone ever again. It was time to end this fight, one way or the other.

  He nodded at Samantha. She repeated the name of the supermarket after overhearing Zoe. She slammed her foot down on the gas and the car chirped around the bend on its way to their final stop.

  Aiden stared at Samantha as she drove. He saw Leah in her features. Aiden missed Leah very much. And with the memory of his only love painfully draped in his mind, Aiden rekindled his determination to hunt down Zoe.

  And kill her.

  Chapter 42

  Zoe brained him.

  The frying pan flattened the stock boy’s face and left a growing puddle of dark fluid along the white floor. His eyes remained open in the same surprised expression he had when he had first discovered her. The only difference was his left eye had turned purple-red with broken blood vessels. And his right eye stared directly to the right as if it were searching for his right ear.

  Zoe lapped at the blood gurgling from the stock boy’s mouth. She held her head against the flow so that her lips would never have to touch his. Zoe figured the stock boy had been a virgin and she didn’t want to give him his first kiss in death.

  She filled up on blood. With a full belly, Zoe let loose a loud belch. She dipped her fingers in the pool of crimson and wrote a sadistic love letter to nobody in particular. Then she used the puddle to draw war paint across her face, arms and torso. Zoe hummed to herself while she recalled the rituals from Jordyn’s backyard. Zoe and Spencer had painted themselves in grotesque imagery in order to serve the demons. The tune Zoe hummed was the forlorn country song the stock boy had been enjoying earlier.

  There was one more body to collect. Zoe turned her attention toward the meat locker. Mr. Butcher man would be sawing away at cow tongue and brisket, unaware that his coworker was slopped along the floor.

  CLEAN UP IN AISLE SIX!

  Zoe giggled and skipped along on her way to the meat locker toward the back of the supermarket. As she went along, Zoe tipped random items off the shelves. The sound of each package thumping to the floor tickled her funny bone. At the end of the aisle, Zoe spun to take inventory of her little mess. Neat little products dotted the row up to the exclamation point of a corpse covered in blood. For the first time since she had taunted Todd and Jordyn, Zoe was having fun again.

  This is the way it’s supposed to be. Me in control. Doing whatever the fuck I want. And having a blast as I do it. Nothing can stop me.

  Zoe clapped her hands and jumped in the air, a sarcastic mimicry of her cheerleading days.

  She walked along the meat counter. The cold packages of red flesh shrink-wrapped were lined neatly in the display case. Zoe poked her finger through the center hole of a package of ground chuck. She wiggled her finger around, ruining the integrity of the meat. Zoe tore through the wrapping and wadded up the meat patty between her hands. She rolled it into a ball and then flung it at the meat locker window. The patty made a loud thud and slowly slid down the glass. The sound startled Mr. Butcher man. He pushed his hair net back so his eyes could focus on the scene. His expression showed complete confusion.

  Zoe laughed and picked at another package. She tore off the wrapping and threw another ball of ground meat at the window. The second thud shook Mr. Butcher man from his perplexed expression. He ran to the door to find out who the hell she was and why she was throwing his hard work against the window.

  Zoe picked up two T-bone steaks. She flung them over the counter, nearly hitting Mr. Butcher man as he left the meat locker. He ducked just in time as the steaks flew past his head. Zoe read the name tag stitched into Mr. Butcher man’s lab coat.

  Jerry.

  “What the hell are you doing? Stop that!” Jerry pointed an angry finger at Zoe while she giggled and rummaged through more packages of beef. “What the... Stewart. Stewart?”

  Zoe rested her hands on her hips. She resisted the urge to make fun of Stewart. The name fit the whistle-nosed geek stock boy. Zoe began climbing on the tall glass counter between her and Jerry. The lobsters and prawns resting on ice looked on with indifference.

  “Stewart ain’t here...Jerry.”

  Jerry glanced around. “Why not? Where is he?”

  Zoe pointed back. “He’s lying around somewhere. Wanna see?”

  Jerry narrowed his eyelids. He took a step in Zoe’s direction and then hesitated. She could tell he was weighing his options. Check on Stewart and get rid of the crazy girl. Or run for his life.

  “Where are your clothes? Are you all hopped up on drugs or something? Get out of the store or I’m calling the cops.” Jerry seemed to decide he would confront Zoe.

  Bad choice, Zoe reasoned.

  Zoe lunged forward, her legs outstretched before her. Jerry’s chest was no match for Zoe’s kick. He flew backwards through the swinging doors, landing hard on the cold floor in the meat locker. Zoe got up and took her time going after Jerry. She glared down at him through the small, dirty windows on the swinging doors. Zoe imitated one of her favorite scenes from the movie Jurassic Park. She huffed two heavy breaths against the small windows like the Raptor had. Then she shoved the doors open. Jerry wriggled backwards along the floor on his elbows. Zoe snatched up the butcher’s knife from the table. She twirled it through her fingers like a baton.

  Jerry pleaded for Zoe to hold on. He said he could get her help. He said drugs made people do things they later regretted. But she had a chance to save herself from lots of trouble.

  Zoe pounced. She slammed the butcher’s knife down into Jerry’s belly. The tearing pffffftttt sound excited Zoe. Jerry clutched at his stomach, groaning. Zoe realized it was too bad Jerry had to go this way. He wasn’t half bad-looking. And he had nice abs. Before they were cleaved in half. She left the butcher’s knife where it rested. She went back to the butcher block, retrieving the filthy bone saw. Jerry whimpered. It annoyed Zoe to listen to him grovel. So she grabbed the roll of shrink-wrap and wound a healthy section of it around and around Jerry’s head. He put up little fight as lots of blood had already poured from his gut. Either his life was on its way out or Jerry had decided it would be quicker to suffocate rather than suffer what Zoe had
intended to do to him.

  Good choice, Zoe reasoned.

  As Jerry’s breath sucked in the shrink-wrap in fits of survival, Zoe used the bone saw to create her greatest piece of art to date.

  Zoe was surprised how hard it was to cut through bone and muscle. However, it hardly slowed her down. She whistled a dipshitty country tune while she worked.

  Chapter 43

  Aiden entered first.

  Samantha held on to the back of Aiden’s belt loop as they worked their way into the supermarket through the back door. When they had first arrived, Aiden had scoped out the store through the front windows. He made sure to keep a low profile so Zoe wouldn’t see him there. The store had appeared calm even though Aiden’s senses warned him otherwise. Zoe had called him from someone’s phone. So, Aiden knew somebody had probably met a grisly fate at Zoe’s hands.

  Finding the store so well-lit at such an hour surprised Aiden. He knew the store wasn’t one of those twenty-four places. He realized an employee must have shown up early to get the store set up for the upcoming business day. Or the midnight janitor had been at work.

  Either option didn’t fare well for whoever it was.

  Aiden and Samantha checked the offices and restroom. He wanted to be thorough so Zoe couldn’t launch a sneak attack. Aiden figured Zoe would be hidden somewhere since she liked to use shock and awe tactics. But Aiden was determined to leave no stones unturned, behind him, as he went. Let the surprise come from the front instead.

  Samantha had argued they should split up and cover more surface area quicker. Aiden had been quick to remind Samantha that dividing and conquering had not been the best strategy all night. Zoe had picked them off one by one and had even managed to kill both Todd and Jordyn at the same time. She almost defeated Aiden and Samantha together too. Better to stick together and use the safety in numbers tactics going forward, he implored.

  Aiden checked the aisles, one at a time. Without knowing how Zoe had done it, Aiden used the same approach of slowly ducking and peeking around end caps to check before moving. When they reached the sauces aisle, Aiden and Samantha froze. They took in the horrific display beneath their feet. A stock boy with a smashed-face and thousand-mile stare greeted them. Samantha squeezed Aiden’s good arm and pointed to a message painted in blood along the floor next to the body.

  SHOULD HAVE EATEN MORE LUCKY CHARMS.

  Aiden found the joke distasteful, especially since a mashed box of corn flakes leaned against the stock boy’s shoe.

  Aiden looked at Samantha, using his eyes to signal they should continue. She nodded quietly, squeezing his arm again in recognition. Aiden traipsed down the aisle, slowly following the trail of spilled goods. Zoe had liked to leave metaphorical bread crumbs for them to follow. Aiden saw no reason to think the items knocked off the shelves were anything but a sign to keep going this way. The trail led to the meat section at the back of the supermarket. Before moving forward, Aiden carefully stood on his toes to peer across the deli counter. A few odd splotches on the window to the meat locker drew his attention.

  Suddenly, Samantha dug her nails into Aiden’s arm. The pain seared through his skin. He wanted to scream out and yell at her to stop hurting him. But his eyes followed her train of sight. He inched closer to the beef display. Aiden’s eyes watered and he tasted the bile which threatened to reverse course up his esophagus.

  A head, frozen in a scream of terror, was wrapped in shrink-wrap and fastened to a white Styrofoam plate. A bright orange sticker with the word, SALE, was plastered to the forehead. Aiden’s vision searched along the other steaks and meats. He found a dripping liver, not fully sealed in shrink-wrap. In the sausage section, ten bloody fingers and a couple of toes were stuffed inside the packaging. The most gruesome present left behind was a full-grown male leg displayed on a butcher block. It was sawed into nearly twenty slices. Next to the slices of flesh was a small plastic container filled with toothpicks and topped with a sign that said, TRY ME!

  Aiden shuddered.

  Zoe had gone much further than he had ever imagined. And his imagination could go pretty far, especially after witnessing the rest of Zoe’s handiwork. Aiden shifted his feet so he could get a wider perspective of back of the store. The trail ended at the deli counter. No breadcrumbs in sight other than the path they have taken to get here. Aiden concentrated his senses. He wanted to see if he felt like he was being watched but no such sensation bubbled to the surface.

  She must be hiding then. Waiting for us, rather than stalking us. Or Spencer. Perhaps Zoe still believed Spencer was on his way. He hoped Zoe hadn’t spied them yet so the element of surprise would still be a tool in their own bag of tricks. Aiden intended to play the Spencer card as long as he could. He knew how important it was to Zoe that she face off against her arch enemy. Without Spencer, Zoe might give up and flee for good.

  Or maybe it would enrage her beyond her means for self-control. It could cause a fatal mistake.

  Aiden brushed the idea aside. Too much time had been wasted already. They had to find Zoe. If she was still in the supermarket, then they were much closer to finding her. They had already covered about half the store.

  Aiden tugged Samantha away from the meat counter. Her eyes lingered along the macabre packages a moment longer before she hurried to stay next to Aiden.

  Holding on to each other, Aiden and Samantha kept ducking and peeking and searching. With only a handful of aisles left to explore, Aiden worried that Zoe had gotten away again. An eerie sensation worked him into believing the trail had gone cold. How could it go cold if Zoe wanted to ensure a showdown with Spencer? Wouldn’t she stay where she said she would be in order to finish the fight? Could she be lying in wait, like a mountain lion stalking its nimble prey. Silent. Stealthy. Hungry.

  It would have been too easy for Zoe to walk away. Zoe never chose the easy way. Everything about Zoe was a fight. A challenge. An opportunity to come out on top over somebody else. She had been that way since grade school. She wouldn’t change now.

  Not when she was so close she could taste the blood.

  Aiden and Samantha rounded the end cap for the frozen section. A long row of freezer doors filled to the brim with pizzas and peas and breakfast sandwiches lined the aisle like a row of stoic sentries.

  Aiden felt the presence before he had time to react.

  He now had confirmation Zoe was still in the supermarket.

  Chapter 44

  She had watched them nearly the entire time.

  Zoe sat poised on the beach chair atop the freezers. Her feet rested upon a Coleman cooler. A beach umbrella, with every color of the rainbow, shaded her face from the lights in the ceiling. Zoe had used the often-overlooked scenery atop the freezers as her camouflage. She had figured that the high ground would provide her an optimal vantage point for stalking her prey. Zoe knew they would be less likely to look up, as they searched for her, than down or behind things.

  Where was Spencer?

  An uneasiness ate away at Zoe’s nerves. She had demanded Aiden bring Spencer directly to her in exchange for sparing his life. But Zoe had yet to spy her arch nemesis. Had he sent Aiden and Samantha ahead as a distraction, to draw her out so he could finish her off? Or had Spencer sneaked in and hidden, instead using Aiden and Samantha to lead Zoe to his trap? Either option left Zoe anxious. She wasn’t thrilled with the open questions. Controlling her environment demanded absolute autonomy of the pawns.

  As Aiden and Samantha neared her hiding spot, Zoe decided to throw caution to the wind. Daylight was fast approaching and Zoe’s advantages dwindled with each passing minute. The only way she could finish her plan at this point would be to take out all three of them.

  This would be the place. The final battle.

  Aiden cautiously approached. Zoe watched his eyes dart in and amongst the frozen packages stacked within the freezers. But mostly, his eyes focused ahead to the end of the aisle. Samantha followed Aiden a half-step behind. She kept her head on a swivel, constantl
y glancing behind the duo. Watching their backs.

  Perfect.

  With both enemies in reach, Zoe made her move.

  Zoe kicked the cooler down on Samantha’s head. Samantha must have heard the movement because she looked up at the very second the cooler smacked her in the face.

  Zoe sprang upon Aiden. His body sprawled to the floor beneath her. Zoe jammed the point of a juice can opener underneath Aiden’s ribs. She felt disappointed when the point barely punctured Aiden’s skin. She had been sure the sharpened end would have more of an impact.

  Aiden screamed.

  Zoe reacted quickly. Now that the can opener hadn’t done its job, she would need to resort to another attack. And Zoe knew Samantha would shake off the surprise soon enough.

  Zoe spun to her feet.

  Samantha came toward her in a full sprint. At the last second, Zoe swung the nearest freezer door open. It stopped Samantha dead in her tracks. However, the glass gave way. Samantha’s momentum carried her through the pane. Thousands of tinkling fragments of glass sprinkled the floor. Samantha shrieked, falling headfirst through the door.

  Zoe smiled as the blood from Samantha’s head sprayed across her chest.

  Aiden had used the deflection to scramble to his feet. He wrapped his arms around Zoe from behind. She swung her head back and connected with Aiden’s nose. Aiden howled and released his hold on Zoe’s torso. Aiden faltered backwards, clutching at his ruined nose.

  Zoe reached for the frame which had captured Samantha, breaking off a large hunk of sharpened glass. She poked the triangular weapon in Aiden’s direction. Each time Zoe swiped the glass in front of her, she noticed the swooshing noise of the air. It excited her. Zoe had always believed those noises in the movies to be canned.