by Ian Dawson
Austin suddenly popped into view, followed by James. James was still wearing his sunglasses and Austin had a cigarette dangling from his dry lips.
“Rise and shine, kid,” Austin said with a smile. He swatted the sides of Daniel’s face with his fingertips. “You look confused,” he stated with sarcastic concern. “But don’t worry. You’ll remember what’s going on soon enough.”
Daniel could feel his heart beating faster; he sensed the tingle of sweat as it seeped from his pores.
He tilted his neck downward and saw his hands and feet duct taped together, then connected with another piece of tape making him immobile.
He felt sick to his stomach and hoped he wouldn’t throw up. With the tape around his mouth, if he vomited, he would choke and die. And he wasn’t going to give these two monsters the satisfaction of seeing him die. He was going to fight until the very last minute. True, he was worse off now than he was in the clearing, but deep down he knew he couldn’t give up.
Austin stared at Daniel, taking a drag off of his cigarette and blowing the smoke into Daniel’s face. The offensive cloud made Daniel recoil but there was only so far he could move in his current situation.
Austin grabbed Daniel’s face in his hands and jerked it toward him. Daniel’s face was only a few inches away from his violent captor. All he could see in the older boy’s eyes were pools of soulless darkness. This was not a person you reasoned with or made a deal with. This was a person you ran far away from and hoped to never encounter again. Unfortunately, for Daniel, this wasn’t an option.
“Your room is ready,” Austin announced as if he were the host of some big event. He shoved Daniel back onto the couch. “Bring him,” he ordered James.
James stood over Daniel and lifted him over his shoulder. “Hey, you don’t feel as heavy this time,” he said happily.
Daniel wanted to struggle but his head was spinning and his vision had gone blurry once again. He knew that he must have lost a lot of blood thanks to the cut on his foot. He felt tired and weak, which were two things he didn’t want to be at this point in time.
Daniel’s captors headed outside, carrying him toward a shed. Daniel could smell the overpowering stench of dog poop all around him. Austin opened the shed’s door.
“Here it is,” Austin turned around inside. From where Daniel hung over James’s shoulder, he was able to lift his head and see the empty room had no windows. A thin metal pole was in the far right corner of the shed.
“Toss him in,” Austin said as he exited.
“You want me to do what? Austin, he’s still a kid.”
“He’s ours and we can do what we want with him. Toss him into the shed. Now!”
James did as ordered and chucked Daniel as hard as he could into the shed.
Daniel flew in and fell, falling on his right side and squealing as his head smacked against the back wall. Daniel writhed in pain not only from the fall but also from his arm catching under his weight. A stabbing pain shot up from his elbow and into his shoulder. He rolled onto his back in time to see both monsters looking down at him. Austin was smiling, but James’s body was shaking as he watched.
Daniel saw Austin take in the scene. “I have an idea,” Austin said and he ran back toward the house. Daniel glared at James who only looked at him for a moment before looking away.
Austin returned, his hunting knife in hand. He grabbed Daniel’s wrists and cut the duct tape, ripping it from his bare skin. Had he had a change of heart? Was he letting him go?
Austin dragged him a few steps to the slender pole in the corner of the room. He stooped down and placed one of Daniel’s arms on either side of the metal pole, then pulled out several black zip-ties. He zip-tied Daniel’s wrists to the pole and jiggled them to make sure they held tight, which they did. As he stood, he kicked Daniel in his injured foot and laughed. The pain was almost too much to handle.
“See you later,” Austin said as he turned off the light, grabbed the wooden door and slammed it shut. The whole structure rattled.
Daniel heard what sounded like metal against wood, followed by a muffled Austin saying, “That’ll keep him in there. Come on.”
Daniel shook uncontrollably. He did his best to calm himself, knowing panic right now was not the best idea. He breathed deeply in and out of his nose, the metallic smell of his blood overpowering his nostrils.
He tried to move his right elbow to see if it was broken. It hurt but seemed to be in one piece.
He tried his best to keep thinking about what he would be doing, what he wanted to be doing, but thoughts about his current situation continued to invade his mind like a swarm of angry bees.
He started to wonder about Kyle. Had these two taken him, too? Were they holding him somewhere in this place? Was he still alive? The questions about his best friend kept coming, making him feel more and more panicked.
If only we had stayed at Kyle’s and not gone into the field.
Then his last conversation with his dad popped into his head. Why hadn’t he told his dad that he loved him? What if I never get the chance to tell him again? Daniel felt a lump grow in his throat. His eyes started to sting. He started to breathe faster through his nose.
“No!” he said out loud the best he could through the duct tape. It wasn’t going to end like this. He refused to allow himself to give up or even think that this was the end for him. He was still alive. Still had a chance.
But here he was, locked in a shed in the middle of nowhere.
He could do nothing about it right now. All he could do was wait, and hope that his one possible out, James, would come to his senses.
“You did good,” Austin slapped James on the back, which caused James to jump a little as he sat silently on the couch. “You need to relax. You’re tense. I’ll get you a beer.” He walked toward the fridge and opened it, letting the cold air caress his face as he grabbed two icy cans.
“No, no beer. Austin, I think things have gotten out of control.”
Austin looked at James and smirked. “I’m perfectly in control of things right now.” The smirk quickly vanished as he moved toward James. “No one is going to tell me how to run this operation. Not you. Not these kids. No one. Got it?”
James tried to respond but couldn’t find the words.
“Let’s grab some food,” Austin said, changing the subject. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
James was in no mood to eat. His stomach was in knots, his head hurt, and his throat was dry. He wanted to go home. But he knew Austin would never let him. Not at this point. He had the sudden urge to call his mom. If she showed up, this whole thing would be over quickly. All he had to do was rush inside, lock the door leading to the garage, and make the call on the phone in the kitchen. His one fear was once Austin got to him, he would first kill him, and then the kids.
James already knew that the cops wouldn’t show. Austin had pranked 9-1-1 from his uncle’s phone so many times that the 9-1-1 operators stopped dispatching help. They usually just hung up.
He started to follow Austin into the kitchen through the side door that led out to the garage. For one brief instant, he paused and looked out at the shed that housed Austin’s second prisoner.
Feeling hopeless, James stepped over the threshold and into the house.
CHAPTER FORTY
As Daniel sat in silence, the zip-ties digging into his wrists, he imagined what the two boys had planned for him next. His side and head hurt from being thrown, his jaw and face were still throbbing from the blows he had received earlier in the field. He didn’t even want to think about his foot.
He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim light that filtered through the gaps between the wooden slats that made up the shed.
Austin had linked his arms around what looked like an old tetherball pole. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he could make out only a f
ew items in the small space: an old bookshelf, a bike pump, a flat soccer ball, a rug in the center of the room, and a variety of posters on the walls.
He wished they hadn’t made him take off his clothes. He got that they were trying to humiliate him, but there really was no other reason than that. He prayed that what happened in the clearing in the field earlier wasn’t just the beginning of what Austin had in mind. Was he going to molest him? Was that his plan all along?
Daniel shook off the horrifying thought. He had to come up with an idea. A plan. He had to do something. Nothing good was about to happen, that was for certain. It was up to him to get out of here by any means necessary. But how?
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“What the hell are you going to do with them, Austin?” James asked as Austin took a bite from a piece of chicken as he stood in the kitchen.
Austin turned and glared at him. How dare he ask such a stupid question. “Whatever the hell I want,” he said as he chewed.
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Austin began. “Maybe I want to skin them alive.” He peeled the remaining skin off his piece of chicken for effect. “Yeah! We can practice on Colby, and if that doesn’t work, we can try with the kid in the shed.” He continued eating.
“You want to skin them? Austin. That’s crazy!”
“Uncle Brock’s shown me how to field dress a deer. How hard could it be with a kid? Imagine. The ultimate trophy.” He swung around, pointing the large blade at James. “And you’re going to help me do it.”
“No. I can’t.”
“Okay. I understand.” He waited a second, put down his piece of chicken on the counter, then lunged at James, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the wall. He knew exactly how to get James to work with him, even when he tried to refuse. He placed the tip of the blade against the soft skin under his jaw right against the jugular vein. “But understand this, James. If you don’t help me, I’ll skin you alive first!” Bits of chewed chicken flew from Austin’s mouth and landed on James’s face.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll help you,” James relented.
Austin stepped back, patted James hard on the face with his hand.
“I knew you’d see it my way. Now, we have to prep their skin so it’s easy to work with.” Austin thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “Got it!”
James watched from a safe distance as Austin hurried around the house. The side of his face stung from where Austin has smacked him. He felt the skin under his chin with his fingers. They were met by the sticky wetness of blood where Austin had stuck him with the knife’s point a second time.
When Austin finally returned from down the hallway, he carried a large silver kettle in his hands. “Don’t know why my uncle had this in his closet,” he said to James, smiling. It was a smile James was always wary of. It meant that Austin had had an idea that someone or something would eventually come to regret.
James watched in silence as Austin slammed the kettle on the stove with a metallic clang. He brushed past James and walked casually out the front door. What’s he doing? James thought as Austin dragged the green garden hose into the house from outside and handed it to James.
“Put this in the kettle while I turn on the water,” Austin ordered.
James hesitated as he looked at the hose. Damp pieces of wood chips, grass, and dirt rubbed off on the hand holding the normally innocent item.
“James. Kettle. Hose. Now.”
James crossed over to the stove and placed the hose in the kettle as Austin ran outside into the front yard. James could hear the squeak of the spigot, then the incoming rush of water as it traveled through the hose and spit out of the open end.
Austin came back inside and snatched the hose from James.
“What are you doing?” James asked. He stared into the large metal pot, mesmerized as the water swirled around and made its way to the top.
“We’ve got to make their skin easier to cut into, right? I figure boiling hot water and pouring it over them should do the trick.” Austin smiled and turned back to the kettle. “Not too much, though,” he commented. “Don’t want to make it too heavy.”
James realized what Austin had just said and looked at him. “You’re going to spill boiling water on them and skin them.” James was having a hard time processing what Austin was setting in motion. “If you’re going to do this you’re at least going to kill them first, right?”
Austin put a crimp in the hose, cutting off the water, and glanced at James. “Now, where would be the fun in that?” Austin said with a smirk. “If they’re dead when it happens, they can’t scream and suffer, can they?” He turned on the front burner and watched it closely as the coils heated. “Oh, no. I want those two good and alive when this happens. Especially that bigger kid for all the crap he’s put us through.”
“What about your uncle?” James asked. Was it too late to try and reason with Austin? He had to try.
“What about him?” Austin asked, a little irritated. He let the water fill the large kettle halfway, crimped the hose once more, then headed out the front door to turn off the water. James followed.
“I thought you wanted to show your uncle your special trophies. Don’t you want the kids in one piece for your uncle to see?”
Austin paused and considered what James had said. He twisted the spigot valve until the water shut off, tossed the hose on the ground, and returned to the kitchen. James was close on his heels, but not too close. He didn’t want to take the risk of running into Austin if he stopped suddenly.
The coils glowed orange under the kettle; Austin switched off the burner. “You’ve got a point, Jimmy,” Austin smiled. He placed his hand on James’s shoulder and squeezed a little too tight. “But when the time comes,” Austin said with a low growl, “I want you to pour the water on Colby. Just so you can feel like you’re really a part of this.”
James hated being called Jimmy. It made him sound like a little kid. Austin called him that only when he wanted to put James in his place. For some reason, James always did what was asked of him. But this? He didn’t want to be a murderer. He didn’t want to take the blame for another one of Austin’s crazy ideas.
He followed Austin from the kitchen to the living room sofa. Austin turned on the TV and flipped through the channels while James simmered in his seat, thinking how easy it would be to wait until Austin fell asleep and then help the kids escape.
“Hey,” Austin said, tearing James out of his daze. “Why don’t you go get the kid’s bike? Don’t want it lying around to be found later.”
“His bike?” James said.
“Yeah,” Austin said, leaning toward James. “Because someone’s gonna come looking for him, and I don’t want that bike to point to us. Besides, you look like you need some air.”
“Gee, I appreciate your concern,” James said sarcastically.
“I want you back here in fifteen minutes. Any longer and I’ll just kill Colby because no one was here to keep me company.” Austin smiled toward him. The look gave James a chill that ran up and down his spine.
He stood and headed toward the door. James could hear Austin humming a happy tune. James closed the front door behind him and stood on the welcome mat for a few seconds. His mind was numb, his body fatigued, and he had no way to save either kid without Austin’s keys.
Austin had a point about the bike. Their bikes were there, too, but no one would be searching for theirs. He could run to a nearby house for help, but would the police show up before the fifteen minutes were up? Would Austin really kill Colby if James was late? He knew even if he didn’t go and get the bike and went for help, Austin would know. He’d want to see the bike for himself as proof.
Out of options, James forced his legs to move forward. The clock was ticking, and now Colby’s life was in his hands. And James was losing the grip on his own sanity with e
very tick of the clock.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Kyle arrived at the corner of Shasta View Drive and Rancho Road. As he braked to a stop, be put his right foot on the sidewalk to keep his balance. He could see the headlights of an oncoming car as it quickly sped past him and down Rancho Road.
He had been looking for any sign that Daniel may be around for half an hour. He thought about heading back to the field, but his previous investigation had led nowhere. He looked out across Rancho Road one last time, then turned toward the well-lit Shasta View. He pedaled across the sidewalk slowly, still hoping for some clue or idea about where Daniel could be.
Something across the street caught his eye. It was a flash of light, almost like a reflection. He looked both ways and pedaled across the street to the opposite curb.
Kyle saw something covered by brush and a fallen tree near the sidewalk. Was it a bike tire? He dismounted from his bike and went in for a closer look.
He lifted a few of the branches off and saw it: Daniel’s Batman bike. It was on top of two other bikes, but it was definitely Daniel’s.
Now what? He finally had some clue as to what was going on. Daniel’s bike was with two other bikes he had never seen, which meant that Daniel must be with at least two other people. Judging by the size of their bikes, they were bigger and possibly stronger. Had they grabbed him and taken him somewhere? A sinking feeling overtook Kyle as he stared down at the pile of bikes.
Suddenly, Kyle felt a surge of energy, a burst of adrenaline giving him new life and hope as he mapped out what to do next.
From inside the adjacent woods he heard the rustling of weeds and bushes; he could hear someone hitting trees and kicking rocks. The person approaching was talking to himself, and his voice was getting easier to understand the closer he got.
“James, go get the bike,” Kyle heard the voice say. “James carry the body. James be my slave. God, I’m sick of this crap.”
