Bad Games- The Complete Series

by Jeff Menapace

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Amy said.

  “If you’d just take your seat, all will be revealed,” Charlie said.

  Amy looked at the empty chair next to her daughter. Then at Carrie. Carrie moaned something into her gag. She was still crying.

  Amy took her seat. Andy immediately went to work behind her, securing both wrists behind her back with duct tape. He paused a moment while doing so to comment on Amy’s ring—a silver band with a silver rose the size of a large molar perched on top.

  “A rose?” he said. “Couldn’t Patrick have given you something a bit more original?”

  “Fuck you,” Amy said.

  Andy chuckled and went back to work. Wrists done, he went to work on her ankles. A final piece of duct tape over Amy’s mouth to silence her.

  “We good?” Charlie said to Andy.

  “We’re good,” Andy replied.

  “Awesome,” Charlie said. “But just to make sure…” He left the room and returned with Mike Childs, wheeling him in on the office chair he was bound to. A large afghan was draped over him up to the neck. If not for his constant moaning, Mike Childs’s complexion, coupled with the cut across his cheek, might have suggested a corpse.

  “This is the guy I was telling you about,” Charlie said to mother and daughter. “The one who wronged me. His name was Mike. Now his name is Peanut. Would you like to see why?” Charlie did not wait for a reply. He whipped off the afghan with a flourish, his free hand gesturing towards Mike’s mangled groin with equal drama. Behold!

  Carrie’s eyes widened in horror. Amy looked away. Mike moaned weakly in protest.

  Charlie patted Mike’s head again. “Peanut here will serve as a good reminder as to how serious we are that you behave, the consequences that may ensue. Oh sure, you two are already sans penises—” Charlie stopped, looked at Andy. “Or is it peni? What’s the plural of penis?”

  Andy laughed. “I think you were right the first time.”

  Charlie nodded. “You two are already sans penises, but I hope Peanut here serves as a damn good deterrent for you to behave. But just in case—” Charlie picked the rifle back up, rammed the barrel into Mike’s mouth, breaking teeth, and then blew the back of Mike’s head off, spraying the white wall red behind him.

  Carrie screamed into her gag. Amy looked away again.

  Charlie kicked the office chair holding Mike over towards Amy, where it rolled to a stop by her feet, Mike’s lifeless head lolling back and then forward with it.

  Charlie slid the bolt on the rifle, expelled the shell, and then slammed the bolt back home, another bullet locked and loaded. He placed the tip of the barrel between Amy’s eyes. “Think I know how to use it now, bitch?”

  45

  Caleb spilled a sip of coffee down his front when his cell phone vibrated on the table. He checked the incoming text.

  Ray: its on. And trust me, you’re going to want to get your ass there ASAP.

  Caleb typed a quick reply.

  Caleb: why ASAP???

  The bubble of three dots indicating that Ray was typing a reply taunted him. They appeared. Stopped. Appeared again. Stopped.

  Ray: They got your mother and sister man. Sending you directions now. Fucking HURRY.

  Caleb leapt from the booth, banging the table, spilling more coffee. He fished out a twenty, threw it on the table, and bolted from the diner.

  46

  “Our only regret,” Charlie said to Amy and Carrie, “is that Caleb isn’t here to join the party. That would have been absolutely perfect. We looked for him, but the guy is a freaking ghost. A Marine, we heard. In retrospect, I suppose it’s a good thing. He might have been a handful.”

  Amy and Carrie exchanged a look.

  “Patrick too,” Charlie added. “How amazing would it have been if we could have gotten him here as well? We did flirt with the idea of digging up his remains and seating them in a chair next to you, but at the end of the day, it was one of those things that looked better on paper. Too risky to go digging up a body in a big graveyard, you know? Would have worked in a movie. Would have been awesome in a movie, but not in real life. Plus all that digging…” He made a face and wiped his brow as though the thought alone exhausted him.

  Andy rolled a three-shelf TV stand before Amy and Carrie. A large flat-screen sat perched on the top shelf. A VCR on the second shelf. Nothing on the bottom shelf. Extension cords snaked their way out the back of the TV and the VCR.

  Andy went to work plugging the cords into the wall behind the stand, then took his place behind Amy and Carrie. He massaged their necks and shoulders, a hand on each. Mother and daughter flinched away from his touch. Charlie appeared amused at his friend’s gesture.

  “All great shows deserve an introduction,” Charlie continued. “Do you remember the old Abbott and Costello films where they would meet a classic movie monster? Andy and I—oh geez, I just realized we never formally introduced ourselves. I’m Charlie Hall—” He took a bow. “And standing behind you there is my good friend Andy Franklin.” Andy rubbed their necks and shoulders again, and they flinched away from his touch again.

  Charlie went on. “As I was saying, Andy and I are big fans of those classic films. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy. Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man…So tonight, Amy and Carrie Lambert, you will have the distinct honor of viewing a special advance screening of what Andy and I have coined The Lambert Family Meet The Fannelli Brothers.”

  The confusion on Amy and Carrie’s faces was evident.

  “I know it doesn’t make much sense,” Charlie said. “But it will. There’s only one little caveat. The movie was never finished. Apparently, there were shooting issues, something about the actors not getting along.”

  Andy laughed.

  “But—” Charlie held up a finger. “All is not lost. With this lost footage we currently have, Andy and I are going to give the world what they’ve been clamoring for all these years. We are actually going to be finishing production of The Lambert Family Meet The Fannelli Brothers here, tonight. Obviously, some rewrites were necessary. You two will be reprising your roles as Amy and Carrie Lambert—I realize you two have aged a bit since, but what can you do—and Andy and I will be playing the parts of Arty and Jim.” Charlie’s face came alive with mocking zeal. “Pretty exciting stuff, dontcha think?”

  Amy and Carrie could only stare back, none of it sinking in.

  “They don’t seem too excited to me,” Andy said behind them.

  “I see that,” Charlie said. “I don’t think they can appreciate just how special it all truly is. Perhaps once the movie starts…”

  “Popcorn?” Andy said.

  Charlie snapped his fingers. “I did promise popcorn, didn’t I?” He left the room and returned with a large plastic bag of yellow popcorn. He tossed it to Andy. Andy untied the bag and dumped its contents over both Amy and Carrie, showering them with popcorn.

  Both Amy and Carrie shook their heads free of any popcorn. Any remaining was in their laps and behind them.

  Charlie smirked, pleased with himself. “Good?” he asked them.

  Amy muttered something into her duct tape that sounded like “fuck you.”

  “That’s gratitude for you,” Andy said.

  Charlie nodded with mock disappointment. Then: “Shall we dim the lights? Is it time?”

  “I’m ready,” Andy said. “How about you guys?” He squeezed their necks and shoulders once again.

  Amy muttered “fuck you” again.

  Charlie hit the lights and pressed play. For the first few minutes, Andy and Charlie kept their eyes on Amy and Carrie exclusively, their reactions to the film far more rewarding than the film itself.

  47

  Caleb hopped on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and blew through the E-ZPass lane, giving zero fucks that he had no E-ZPass. He immediately called Ray the second he had a straight shot for miles.

  “What the fuck do you mean they have
my mom and sister?”

  “It’s just like I said, partner. Hang up the damn phone and get your ass there now.”

  “I am getting my ass there. Can you see them? Can you see what’s going on? Tell me everything.”

  “Like what?”

  “Ray, I’m not going in there blind! I know you’ve got cameras on these guys. How much can you fucking see!”

  “I know the house. I saw them abduct your sister and take her there. I saw your mother show up a little while later. They must have called her, told her they had your sister.”

  “And you’re just telling me this now?!”

  “You’ve seen my cellar, partner. I may have a thousand eyes working for me, but I’ve only got two myself. I caught the tail end and had to rewind to get it all.”

  “Can you see inside the house? Can you see what’s going on?”

  “Nope. Only had a drone covering their movements and now the house. Can’t see inside.”

  “Why my family? Why are these assholes targeting my family?”

  “I really don’t know, partner. Another one of life’s cruel coincidences?”

  “No. No coincidence. There’s something else going on here.”

  “You can figure all that out later, partner. Hang up with me and get there.”

  “And then what? Then what?”

  “I really don’t know. Isn’t this your area of expertise?”

  Expertise. Jack…

  “I need to call Jack Dixon,” Caleb said.

  “Jack is in New York City, partner. By the time he got there…” Ray trailed off, clearly thinking it best not to finish his thought.

  “The police then,” Caleb said.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa—slow down, partner. Remember how you came by this information. I can’t have police poking around my nest after this is over.”

  “Fuck your nest, Ray! This is my family!”

  “Okay, okay, fine. But consider this: Your mother showed up to that house on her own. I spotted no police tail on her. Those boys obviously threatened her with some serious shit if she got the police involved. I’d wager those rules still apply, wouldn’t you? Police aren’t subtle about this kind of shit. They pull up lights flashing, sirens going, kicking down doors all Rambo-like, and that’s all the forewarning those two little assholes will need to put an end to your mom and sis.”

  “Fuck!!!”

  “You can do this, partner. You’re a Marine, for Christ’s sake. They’re a couple of little high school pussies. Go in there and save your family.”

  “My exit’s coming up,” Caleb said. “Gotta hang up and listen to my phone for residential directions.”

  “Call me when it’s over, partner. I know I’ll be hearing from you.”

  Caleb hung up.

  48

  “I see yooou…” Arty’s voice, off camera, narrating the video that is pointed at a couple who is taking their kids to the bathroom at a roadside rest stop.

  Everyone done, the family piles into a silver Highlander to continue their journey. Arty zooming in on the wife, an attractive brunette: “My brother is going to LOVE you.”

  Cut to a POV shot of Arty’s arms placing two plastic dolls into car seats in the back of his white Pontiac, draping and tucking them in with blankets up to the top of their fuzzy heads soon after to complete the ruse. “Got to spend money to make money,” he murmurs.

  Cut to Arty driving, the camera fixed on the empty passenger seat, Arty narrating as he drives.

  “This has some serious potential, friends. My brother and I have recently relocated to hicksville in western Pennsylvania to look after our mother. We recently took over a house, had some fun with the owners, but we’re starting to get that itch again. Jim especially. I’m hoping this turns out to be something special that brightens my brother’s spirits.”

  Cut to a scene of Arty at a gas station as seen through the windshield of his Pontiac. Arty chatting to the very same husband from the rest stop as the two fill their tanks. Arty is smiling, friendly. The husband, tall, broad, dark hair, appears somewhat wary at first, but soon appears friendly enough.

  The husband gestures to his silver Highlander. Arty looks inside the rear window of the SUV. The attractive wife can be seen leaning over the back seat, entertaining her kids. She and Arty lock eyes. The wife looks away first. She seems uneasy by Arty’s fixed gaze on her.

  Arty soon breaks that gaze and returns to the husband, gesturing towards his Pontiac. The husband, hand on his pump, leans his torso to one side and looks through the windshield of Arty’s Pontiac. The husband smiles and nods, clearly unaware that Arty’s “children” are plastic dolls.

  The two continue chatting. Arty soon extends his hand towards the husband. The husband replaces his pump, then takes Arty’s hand and shakes it. The two chat a little longer, Arty then pulling a wad of cash and heading towards the attendant in the glass booth, the husband calling after him, looking conflicted. Arty paying the attendant and then returning to the husband where the two chat a little longer, the husband looking grateful yet still uneasy, especially when Arty reaches out and touches the man’s shoulder, giving his sizeable arm a couple of squeezes. Arty smiling—grinning—as he waves goodbye and returns to his Pontiac.

  Arty slides back into the driver’s seat and begins narrating again after the silent show from the windshield.

  “Guy’s name was Patrick Lambert. Big guy. Played football. Jim and I will have to be careful. But they have two kids, like mine—” Arty gestures towards the plastic dolls in the back seat and laughs. “As Jim and I mentioned in previous tapes, children are IDEAL leverage. Can make the toughest man meek if you play it right.”

  Arty waves goodbye to the family and pulls out of the station.

  Cut to a scene on the side of a deserted road, Arty reaching in back for the plastic dolls. “Come on, boys,” he says, pulling off their blankets and snatching each by the leg.

  Another silent movie through the windshield of Arty walking off the deserted road and up a small hill towards a stretch of woods twenty yards from where he’d parked, the dolls dangling by their ankles in his grip.

  Arriving at the most condensed border of the wooded area, Arty holds the doll in his right hand up to his mouth, kisses him on the bottom, and then punts it deep into the woods. He does the same with the second doll, raising his hands after like a referee confirming a touchdown.

  Arty returns to the Pontiac and opens the driver’s side door but does not enter right away. He stands there for a moment as though contemplating something. He can be heard saying, “Fuck yeah…” before getting back into the driver’s seat and gunning the engine, cranking the wheel hard to the left, the sound of gravel crunching beneath the tires audible as the car fishtails before righting itself.

  Before long, Arty is back on the main road. He can barely contain his glee. “They’re staying at a place called Crescent Lake. On my way now to tell Jim what I found. This…this is going to be a damn good time.”

  Charlie hit pause. Turned on the lights and faced his captive audience. “Didn’t I tell you? How awesome is this?”

  Amy and Carrie stared back, any fire in them replaced with shock and disbelief and, chief of all, heartache. When footage of Patrick first appeared, mother and daughter visibly deflated. Carrie had started to cry. Amy came close herself. Charlie and Andy had all but giggled.

  “Shall we go on?” Charlie said, going for the lights again.

  “Hang on a minute,” Andy said to Charlie. “Can I talk to you outside for a minute?”

  “Why?”

  “Just for a minute,” Andy said.

  “Okay. You girls keep an eye on Peanut while we’re gone, all right?”

  • • •

  “What is it, man?” Charlie asked the second they were alone in the hallway. “We’re missing the fun.”

  “That’s just it,” Andy said. “The fun. This is fun, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it’s fucking awesome. So, let’s get back in
there and—”

  “But this will be the last time. If we follow through with your idea, we’ll never get to do this again. I’ve been watching you, man. You’re freaking incredible at this. A damn natural. Don’t you want to keep on doing it?”

  Charlie looked away in thought. “I am really enjoying myself. And it does feel natural.”

  “Exactly. It’s like your calling, bro. Arty and Jim claimed to have been put on this earth for a reason. Maybe you were too.”

  “What about you?” Charlie immediately asked. “Aren’t you enjoying yourself?”

  “Hell yes, I am.”

  Charlie looked away again, brow scrunched. “We’ve come too far, though. No way can we go through with the tapes plan if we decide to go on the run afterwards. They’ll find us.”

  “Then they find us. What difference does it make if we’re caught tonight or further down the road?”

  “Because tonight it will be on our terms. Turning ourselves in is a big part of our plan. It’s like John Doe at the end of Seven. His masterpiece came to fruition because he turned himself in. He was calling the shots, not them.”

  “All I’m saying is think about it. We’ve got all night. Just think about it.”

  “Fine, I’ll think about—what the hell?” Charlie pulled his phone from his pocket. It was vibrating.

  49

  Caleb killed his headlights and rolled to a stop along the curb outside the address Ray had given him. From the outside, the house was just a house, nestled in the heart of suburbia. As unassuming as unassuming can be. But what did he expect? Something out of a ghost story? Bats flying overhead in the moonlight?

  What he did know was that his mother and sister were inside that unassuming house. Held captive by two ambitious serial killers. For all he knew, they were dead already.