by Aline Riva
He laughed softly at his own mistake.
“Of course you don't remember – you were out cold! My name is Ritchie Gregory Mason Jinx, you can call me Rik. I've got plans for you,” as he spoke excitement shone in his eyes as she struggled in vain to move, to call out for help – she could see it now, this man was insane...
“I've got such plans!” he exclaimed, “ I've got an intimate body piercing ring made of Zestion – I've linked it to my DNA signature, once it's in place I'll be the only man who can ever make you climax. And I'll do it over and over every day! I'll make you so happy, Sin...”
Her eyes widened in horror as he took hold of the sheet and slid it downwards, revealing her naked body. His gaze wandered over her perfectly rounded breasts, then past a slender waist and curved hips as he looked intently at the short fair hair that covered her pubic mound.
“You are perfect in every way,” he said softly, “And you're all mine! I can do what ever I like to you!”
His eyes shone like a kid at Christmas who couldn't wait to tear the wrapping off the presents. Her heart thudded in her chest as she drew in a shaken breath, but weakness prevented her from finding her voice. Jinx ran his hand down her body gently, then he raised it away from her flesh as he noticed bruises were still fading.
“But not yet,” he said kindly, “You're still healing...”
He covered her with the sheet once more then took hold of her hand and stroked the back of it, all the while the crazy gleam was in his eyes and she could do nothing to pull away or cry for help.
“Don't fear me,” he said softly as he carried on stroking her hand, “I'm not a bad man, not really. Not to those I love. Sin... that's a lovely name, to sin, to lead me into temptation...You could lead me anywhere! They say the devil used to be an angel, did you know that? A bit like me, I wasn't always how I am now but I wouldn't change it, Sin... you'll see, you'll understand soon enough, I know you will like my plans for you, trust me, I know what's best for you too.”
Then he leant over her and kissed her cheek.
“By the way,” he announced, “I love you!”
As he drew back he was still holding her hand and Sin could not move as she dragged in a breath, looking up at him in alarm as she finally summoned a fragment of strength and weakly found her voice at last.
“I...don't ...know you!” she whispered, then the effort of speech wiped her out as she slipped back into a deep sleep.
The look of fear he had seen in her eyes meant nothing to him as Jinx held her hand, smiling down at her.
“You're all mine,” he said softly, “All mine, forever, Sin...”
Back at the house what remained of the body of Lola Voss had been taken to cold storage. Zeke had pots simmering and the smell of cooking meat and vegetables filled the air as Mack entered the room.
“Wolf's dead,” he remarked, taking a seat at the table as his hip ached and the ache spread to his back and he suddenly missed his cane, “The body is out on the lawn.”
“I'll fetch it later,” Zeke replied, pausing to lift a lid and stir a pot, “I'm glad he took Wolf out – he wouldn't have fitted in here. Too single minded. No concept of our togetherness.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Mack agreed, “And a liability – he knew too much about us.”
“Ah well, more fresh meat for us!” Zeke remarked.
“Speaking of fresh meat, what do you think of Janey?” Mack wondered.
Zeke turned from the pots.
“She's nice. I wouldn't mind having a go.”
“While she's still breathing?”
“I do like live ones too, you know!”
“Maybe we'll hang on to her,” Mack replied, then he fell silent, lost in thoughts of the conversation he had shared with her as she sat there caged. Then he shared his thoughts.
“I'm trying not to get too fond of any of them, but Janey...there's something about that girl.”
“Can I try her out tomorrow?” Zeke asked.
Mack looked at him in surprise.
“You'd better ask Jinx! Although he's not likely to say no, he found the missing girl and he's quite taken by her. I think he's likely to be in a yes mood for anything.”
Zeke smiled.
“I'd love to break her in!”
Then he stirred the pots again and as the smell of cooked flesh filled the kitchen, Mack chuckled as he thought of the caged prisoners.
“When the food is ready,” he said, “I think it would only be fair to feed the crew of the Amaryllis...it's time Lola was reunited with them, at least, a part of her!”
Then he chuckled and so did Zeke.
“Good idea,” he agreed, “Let's see who has the taste for our way of life, shall we?”
A wicked sparkle came to Mack's eyes as he nodded in agreement, then he chuckled again, picturing the looks on their faces when they found out they were eating a broth made from a member of their own crew... It would be a test. Human flesh was their way of life, their main food source. He didn't doubt who ever failed to eat would be killed by Jinx...
Chapter 5
By the time Jinx returned had from the ship, the sky was streaked with bloody slashes mixed with orange as the sun began to lower to set. The evening was warm and his hopes were high, he had left Sin sleeping peacefully and although she seemed afraid of him, he was sure that could easily be dealt with – he still thought the best move would be to wipe her memory, just to be sure she would accept him.
“Dinner is served!” Mack called out from the steps that led up to the house. He was leaning on his cane again, Jinx noticed right away and felt an instant wave of sympathy for his dearest friend to know the old injuries were playing him up once more. But Mack looked happy tonight, as Jinx went up the steps and joined him in the doorway he found out why as Mack gleefully explained his plan.
“So we get to watch them eat first...Good idea!” Jinx told him, “Let's see who can take it and who can't... it's a good test.”
Then the two men went back into the house and now Mack's pace had quickened despite the need of the cane, as he eagerly awaited the reaction of the survivors of the Amaryllis when they came to understand exactly what was on the menu...
As they walked through the house heading for the place Jinx had named the Cage Room, Mack spoke up again.
“Tyler's not fit to be properly tried out yet, Harvey's not come out of his state of shock either – but Janey's ready. And Zeke asked if he could try her tomorrow.”
Jinx shot him a look of surprise.
“Zeke wants to try her out? Really?”
“I don't blame him, she's quite a compelling person.”
“I'll have to experience that for myself,” Jinx replied, “Okay, I don't see why not. I'll give him the good news, I can imagine the look on his face when I say yes!”
They reached the door that led to the cage room and found it open. Zeke stood there watching as Harvey, who had started to come out of his sense of shock, had propped his friend Tyler, who was clearly still concussed, into a sitting position and was carefully spoon feeding him from a bowl of broth. His own bowl was empty. Jinx looked over to the other cage, where Janey sat with the bowl in her lap, eating quickly as she dipped the spoon in and out of the broth to finish it as quickly as possible. Her eyes darted upward, met with his gaze and then she carried on eating.
“They're enjoying it,” Mack said as a bemused expression came to his face and he leant closer to Jinx and whispered in his ear:
“I told them it was chicken...”
Jinx threw his head back and laughed, then he nudged him with his elbow as he looked downward, keeping his voice low.
“Don't say another word... wait for me to deliver the punchline!”
Jody set down the bowl. Harvey did the same, now Tyler had been fed although his head was throbbing he was coming around well, he was sitting up now, blinking to clear his vision as he glared at his captors having lost none of the urge to fight them, regardless of the consequences.
“Did you enjoy your meal?” asked Jinx.
Harvey nodded, still pale and mildly shaken as the shock wore off, Tyler's gaze was one of pure hatred and Janey, in the other cage nodded keenly.
“Thank you, Mr Jinx,” she said, and Jinx shot her a look of surprise.
“Did I hear a thank you? Someone is trying hard to impress me...”
He slowly paced the length of the room along both cages, turned back again and then faced his prisoners, smiling through the bars as they looked back at him.
“I'm glad you liked supper,” Jinx said, “But I'm really surprised you didn't notice your other crew mate had joined you. I'm talking about Lola Voss. That wasn't chicken.”
Harvey coughed, his eyes wide as he doubled over, turning from Tyler as he vomited hard on to the cage floor. Tyler coughed too,but anger was cancelling out the urge to puke as he looked at Jinx with murder in his eyes.
“I'll kill you all for this!” he yelled, running to the locked door and slamming against the bars, rattling the cage as his rage over flowed.
“You're a dead man, Jinx!”
“I think not,” Jinx replied, and took Mack's rifle, made swift aim and fired three shots into the cage.
The bullets peppered Tyler's body and he jerked with the impact, still holding on to the bars, then he lost grip and fell back hard, his eyes open, his breath gone, bleeding out from a bullet wound to the heart and two to the head.
Harvey stood up, looking down at his best friend, shot to death in a split second, as the shock washed over him again, but somehow, he could function now. He blinked away tears as he looked to Jinx.
“You didn't have to kill him!”he said tearfully.
Then he fell to his knees beside the body and started to sob.
Jinx went over to the cage, drew his hunting knife from its sheath and tossed it inside where it landed on the floor with a clatter.
Harvey looked in bewilderment to the knife, then back at Jinx, who smiled in smug satisfaction.
“You're locked alone in a cage, with a knife and a body,” Jinx stated, “If you want to live, you will carve up your best friend and leave strips of raw flesh on top of the cage ready for Zeke to cook for dinner tomorrow. You have until daybreak. Of course, if you really don't have the balls to do it there's another way out – you could always turn the knife on yourself and opt out of this situation. Your choice, Harvey. Adapt and survive, I strongly advise you to make the right decision.”
Then he exchanged a bemused look with Mack and they left the room and closed the door.
As Janey looked through the bars to a window where the sun was sinking on the horizon, she moved over to the other side of the cage and grabbed at the bars, saying his name sharply.
From his cage where he sat trapped with his best friend's body and a gleaming hunting knife, Harvey turned to her, tears streaking his face.
“I can't do it! He was my best mate!”
“And he wouldn't want you to die!” she said sternly, “We have to get through this, Harvey!”
He shook his head.
“No...I'd rather kill myself than do the shit he asked me to do! I can't cut him up, I can't do it!”
“Harvey,” she said again, keeping her voice low but firm, “Listen to me! If you fight them, they will kill you. If you don't measure up to what they demand, they will kill you. I'm planning to get out of here alive! Mack is a pilot. I think I cant get him on our side, I can persuade him to steal the Galaxy Princess...He said he can't fly any more because he had an accident, he had a head injury – but you're a pilot too, you can help him!”
His tear filled eyes widened in alarm.
“You trust that bastard?”
“No,” Janey replied, “But I'm working on him trusting me! There's a chance here, we have to go along with everything, gain their approval and then as soon as I've got Mack on my side – which I really do think is possible – we can get the fuck out of here, we can go back to earth and tell the authorities about this place! It's the best we can do for ourselves and for Lola and Tyler, don't you see that? There is a chance, but you have to try or it won't work! They've gone off to eat – they're eating Lola tonight and tomorrow it could be one of us! You need to listen to me – there is a way out of this!”
He wiped his eyes.
“I...I learned to fly in a simulator, basic cruisers only...I couldn't fly a massive ship like the Galaxy, she's a different class!”
“Between you and Mack, the pair of you can get that ship in the air!”
Determination burned in her eyes and to see it lent Harvey the much needed strength he needed to try and pull himself together under the worst of circumstances.
“Okay...”he said, still sounding shaken, “I'll try...Oh shit...I can't cut him up...”
He gave another sob, his hand hovering over the handle of the knife as he shook his head.
“This is fucked up. This is so fucked up, I can't cut my best friend like a piece of meat! I can't do it, I can't...”
“You can. You have to.”
He shook his head again.
“Harvey, pick up the knife, slice his flight suit open and cut strips off an arm, slice it like its a Sunday roast, don't think about the reality. This is your life hanging in the balance and maybe mine too! We will never get out of here if we don't play along.”
Harvey's shaking hand reached for the knife, he grabbed it and then his hand shook harder as he turned to the body of his best friend.
“Sorry,” he whispered, then he slit open the flight suit, then as the tip of the blade cut through the fabric with ease, exposing flesh beneath, he blinked away tears.
“You can do this,” he heard Janey say, “Just do it, Harvey! He would have wanted to you to get out of this alive.”
Harvey felt numbness creeping over him again, maybe it was shock all over again or simply his own mind trying to preserve his sanity, but he angled the blade and pressed down, blood ran as the knife slid deep, hitting bone. Then he began to slowly and carefully carve away a chunk of his dead friend's skin, as the knife pared flesh from bone and the bloody sliver ran long and neat, then he focussed on the cut thinking, Slowly, neatly, get this done, just get it done and survive...
At some point after the sun and set and dusk drew towards nightfall, the flesh had been carved, the knife tossed aside and Harvey sat weeping, his flight suit stained with blood where he had wiped his hands then spat on them and wiped them again, but Tyler's blood was still dried in his fingernails. The stench of blood was powerful and like fresh meat, like a blast of stink coming from a butcher's shop on a hot day... he hoped they would move the body before the stink turned really bad. He was past the point of vomiting. Numbness was giving way to crazy thoughts, like, Did he make the grade? Would Jinx like the way he sliced his best friend, would he ask him to try harder, or had he succeeded?
Suddenly another thought hit him and he started to laugh, feeling caught on a line between sanity and lunacy:
If they cooked it, what would it be?
Tyler soup? Tyler roast? Tyler kebab?
“Hold it together!” Janey said sharply, “Don't lose it now, Harvey...”
He turned his head and looked at her, then he looked to the bloody knife and his dead best friend and the blood stained flight suit he had folded over to cover the exposed bone. Then the horror overwhelmed him again as his guts churned at the thought of how he had ate part of Lola Voss, with it came a sweeping cold sensation that knocked the hysteria from him and he crumbled again, drawing his knees to his chest as he sat at the back of the cage and sobbed.
When morning came, the memory of the challenge he had set Harvey was far from his mind as Jinx woke up stiffly on a chair he had fetched from the house so he could sit and watch over Sin for the rest of the night. At some point he had fallen asleep and now a glance out the viewing port that ran along one side of the med bay and showed the view looking toward the house, it was daybreak, the sun was up and the sky was flawless with
not a cloud in sight.
For a moment his gaze wandered across that view to the treeline as he thought of Cora beneath the soil, they had buried her because they had loved her and he still resented the earth for swallowing her, and the worms and the maggots for eating her... Lay her to rest, that was what Mack had said – but placing her in the cold earth made him feel cold, to think of her mouldering, when once she had been so beautiful.
Jinx switched his gaze to the young woman who lay sleeping under the blue light. All visible signs of injury were gone now. He looked to the closed box he had placed next to her bed and felt a shiver of excitement run through his body that made his erection harden. The alien metal was ready, and so was Sin...
He slid the sheet off her body then stood over her, taking in the sight of her, exposed and naked. Then as Jody entered the room he turned to her with eyes darkly dilated with arousal.
“I can't wait to get started!”
“She's ready now,” Jody told him, joining him at her bedside and switching off the blue light.
“I just need to use the bathroom and freshen up,” Jinx replied, “Don't get started without me...I want to watch...everything.”
“How much is everything?” Jody asked him.
His eyes were like dark pools, a light sweat had started the break on his face, dampening hair that part shielded his eyes as he smiled.
“I'll tell you in a minute. I just need to go for a piss before I get too hard. The thought of doing all this stuff to her is driving me wild!”
“I won't get started without you,” she promised and Jinx left, heading for the bathroom.
