by Tim Miller
"Buddy, I don't think that's Peter in there. Let's get out of here," Katie said.
John had taken a few steps backward before he turned to run. He barely made it a few steps when the masked man hurled the knife at him. The knife hit him in the back of the thigh, knocking him to the ground. Buddy, Kate, and Dawn were already racing for the car when they looked behind them and saw John face down on the ground with the masked man closing in.
"John!" Dawn screamed. John got back to his feet and began to hobble toward them just as the masked man came up behind him, grabbed him by the hair and lifted him off the ground.
Chapter 4
John kicked and struggled as Buddy, Katie, and Dawn watched helplessly as the masked man lifted him off the ground. He wrapped an arm around John's chin while ripping out a handful of hair. Flesh began tearing away from John's skull as he screamed and thrashed. It took less than a minute for the man to rip the hair and flesh clean from John's skull and toss it aside. John shrieked and cried as the man threw him to the ground flat on his back.
John lay there and tried to scoot away as the man knelt down and punched John in the stomach. John doubled forward as the man dug his fingers into John's stomach, using his nails to tear and rip at the flesh as John screamed and kicked. The man soon had John's abdomen torn wide open and began pulling John's intestines out.
He pulled them out until they were in a long, bloody, greasy heap on the ground. John was now crying and moaning as the man flipped him over, and used John's guts to hogtie him by his hands and feet. The last measure was wrapping a length around John's neck and pulling it tight. John gagged and strained as he struggled against his insides. His eyes and tongue bugged out of his head as the masked man now headed for the remaining group.
"Fuck! Get to the car!" Buddy said as they ran toward the Expedition. He'd left the keys in the visor thankfully. They piled into the car as he closed and locked the doors. He grabbed the key and put it in the ignition, but the engine it just made a clicking sound as he turned the keys.
"Fuck! What the fuck?!" he screamed as he turned the key again but it still just made a clicking sound.
"Hurry up!" Katie yelled, "Start this piece of shit! He's coming!"
"I'm trying, it won't start!"
He tried again but nothing.
"Hurry!" Katie screamed again. "What the fuck is wrong?"
"It won't start! He must have tampered with it! Shit!"
"What do we do? He's getting closer!" Dawn screamed.
"Where is he?"
Dawn looked out the window, but the man was gone.
"Well?"
"I don't see him."
"He's fucking out there somewhere. He didn't just disappear."
"I don't know," Dawn said. "Maybe he gave up and left."
Katie looked around through the back window.
"I don't see him either."
Buddy sat behind the wheel and looked around when the glass shattered to his right. He turned to see the masked man had busted out the passenger side window, grabbed Dawn by the hair, and was now raking her face across the broken glass along the edges. She screamed as he dragged her face back and forth before losing his grip. She looked up and turned to Buddy, grabbing his arm; her face was a looked like shredded ribbons. Her eyes began to swell shut, and the chunks of flesh jiggled while hanging off her face.
"Help me! Please help!" She clung to his arm as she screamed. Buddy grabbed her arm and tried to hold her as the killer reached in and pulled her by the hair again. There was so much blood on her arms, making them slippery. Buddy just couldn't hold on, and she was soon out of his grip. The masked man pulled her out of the car, opened the door as he stuck her head in the car door and slammed it.
She screamed as he repeatedly opened and closed the door on her head. She let out one final scream as her skull finally gave way and flattened as brains and tissue spilled out onto the passenger seat. Her body slumped to the side as Buddy opened his door.
"Katie! Get out! Run!"
Instead, Katie tried to hit the man with a tire iron she'd found in the back seat. Buddy got out and started running, but saw the man grab the tire iron from Katie's hand and smash her in the face with it. He then pulled her out of the car and threw her over his shoulder. Buddy stopped running as he watched the killer carrying her like she was a sack of potatoes.
He walked around to the front of the car and threw her to the ground as he ripped her shirt off. Buddy stood and watched as the man took out a knife, bent down as he squeezed Katie's breasts and starting with the left, began slicing off her tits. Katie screamed as Buddy ran toward the camp and picked up a loose two by four. He ran at the killer who know had her left breast sliced completely off and started on her right one.
Buddy hit the man in the head with the two by four as hard as he could, splitting it in half, but the man just looked at him as he pulled and sliced the last tendril of skin connecting the tit to the body. Blood oozed from the two large holes in her chest as the man began to chisel at her eye with the knife. She screamed and cried as Buddy ran around the back of the Expedition, looking for anything that could stop this guy. He didn't know if he could save Katie or even himself at this point, but he had to try.
There was something sticking out of a tree a few feet behind the car. He ran up to it, and it was an ax. A full sized ax stuck in a tree as if someone began to chop it down and gave up halfway through. He had no idea where it came from but grabbed it and ran around the front of the car. This time, he found Katie staring up lifelessly at the sky as the man had her abdomen cut open and was pulling her guts out one length at a time. They weren't kidding about him being the Gut Ripper. The killer looked up at Buddy just as Buddy managed to take one solid swing with the ax. The ax connected, slicing off the killer's head in a single blow.
The killer's head rolled away as his body slumped to the ground as blood sprayed from his stump. Buddy reared back again, in shock that he actually connected the blow; it took him a minute to register the killer was now dead. He looked at Katie's body and shook his head as he looked away, hugging the ax to himself he sat down staring at the ground.
What was going to be a normal camping trip, in less than a few hours, turned into a massacre of his friends. He'd just killed a man, even though he didn't feel a bit of remorse about it. The man was a brutal murderer and deserved what he got. Now he had to figure out a way to call for help and get the hell out of here. Though moments later he heard the sound of an engine approaching.
When it came into view, it was a black van speeding toward him. Thank God. Maybe they were here to help. Maybe one of his friends called for help before they died. He still hadn't found Peter or Susan, but he was certain they were dead as well. The van pulled up just a few feet in front of him, and the door slid open. There was a beautiful black-haired woman standing just inside the van door. She almost didn't seem real at first. Buddy looked around before he spoke.
"Thank God. This guy, he killed my friends. I need help. We need the police."
Instead of responding, the girl picked up what looked like a gun and fired it at him. Only did he realize it wasn’t a gun when two long cables with sharp prongs struck him as electricity coursed through his body; fuck, it’s a Taser. His body went tense as he fell to the ground, unable to move. Just as the current stopped, a man stood over him and placed a hood over Buddy's face. Buddy felt someone lift him up, place him in the van and then closed the door. The last thing Buddy remembered was the sound of the van's engine.
Chapter 5
Buddy awoke and tried looking around, but there was something over his head; some kind of sack or pillow case. All he could tell was wherever he was, it was dark, and there was a light source coming from his left. His arms were tied behind his back to a chair, and his feet were bound to the legs. Panic began to swell up in his stomach, but he forced it down. Who was that woman? His mind rewound through the last series of events. Watching John get his hair ripped out of his head, Dawn's face bei
ng shredded by the glass, and then his dear Katie being brutally ripped apart. He pushed the thought away as quickly as it had surfaced.
Footsteps sounded nearby as he struggled against his bindings.
"Hello? Who is there?" he called out with panic practically bleeding from his pores. "What's going on? Are you going to kill me? Who was the mask guy? Was that the Gut Ripper? Hello?!"
There was no reply as the footsteps stopped. He sat there quietly trying not to overthink the situation when the footsteps returned. This time, the person pulled the sack off his head and sat down across from him. It was the woman he'd seen earlier by the van.
Her black hair was pulled back as she glared at him. In the low light, he could see her skin was light brown, and her deep brown eyes looked like black coals staring back at him. She was wearing a black sweater and black utility pants.
"Who are you? What's going on?"
"Shut up," she said.
"You with that killer? You a friend of his?"
"You don't listen very well do you," she said. She had a slight accent, but he couldn't place it.
"My name is Pavarti," she said. I am with the Order of the Blade.
"What the hell is that?"
"Shut the fuck up and I'll tell you. Or, I can put the hood back on. One more word and it goes on and I leave you here."
"Ok, ok. I'll be quiet."
"You killed the man known as The Gut Ripper. I get it; he attacked you and your friends, so you killed him in self-defense. We here at the order protect the legend of the Ripper. We are the reason it continues."
"What? How?"
"There is a simple reason as to why his origin goes back sixty years or more, but he is still killing. He is not just one man. He's been many men. You killed him. Which means you get to be the next Gut Ripper."
Buddy sat there and took this all in. None of it made any sense.
"So I killed the Gut Ripper, so now I have to be the Gut Ripper. Is that what you're telling me?"
"Correct."
"So what about the guy I killed? Who was that?"
"He was a man who had killed the Ripper many years ago. He acted as the Ripper for a long time until you killed him."
"Why? Why would you keep this going? Why would you want him to live on? He's a fucking murderer! Did you see what he did to my friends? To my girlfriend?"
Pavarti stood and walked over to a bag and opened it. She removed the severed head of the man he'd killed earlier. The head was still wearing the mask. She sat the head on a table as its lifeless eyes stared at him.
"What in the fuck?" Buddy said.
"You will wear this mask soon."
"The hell I will!"
She rolled her eyes as if she'd had this discussion countless times before.
"Everyone says that. No one wants to be a killer. Everyone says they won't do it. Everyone does in the end. Everyone dons the mask, becomes the Gut Ripper and craves the killing. Fear not, this will be your fate as well."
"What makes you so sure?"
"You will soon figure out how hopeless your situation is."
She stood and stepped away. For the first time, Buddy looked around to see where he was. It was some kind of cave. The air was thick and humid. The only light source was a single lantern hanging on the wall. Once she stood, a group of men came walking in. Several were wearing normal clothing. One was wearing a uniform of some kind.
"These are some of the members of the Order. One of them is Charles Mitchell. He's the head ranger at Conner's Grove. He and the others help clean up bodies and keep weapons and traps available so you can do your job.
"Why the fuck would you people do this? This makes no fucking sense!"
"It's hard to explain, and I doubt you'll get it in your current state anyway."
"Try me. Why would you want to keep this supposed legend, this grotesque murderer alive? Why make people dress like this troll to kill? My friends are all dead. He ripped them to fucking shreds." The reality of what all had happened was starting to sink in. Buddy became overwhelmed and choked back tears as he remembered Katie lying there with her breasts cut off. "Why? Why would you do this? Why would you make me do this?"
"In a nutshell, balance. And that is all I'll say about it for now. I take it you're not ready to take on this role."
"Fuck you."
She shook her head.
"I figured as much. You're not the first to refuse. Soon you'll embrace it. We'll keep you here until you are ready. Once you are ready, we'll teach you everything you need to know. You'll go through our diet and conditioning program, and you'll learn to kill with precision while inflicting great pain and suffering. You will learn to crave and thrive off blood and killing; it will become your passion and desire. Eventually, Buddy Hansen will no longer exist. You will just be the Gut Ripper." She looked at one of the men standing behind her. "Take him to his cell."
"Should I feed him?" the man asked.
"Not yet. Let him think about it. After a few days with no food, he'll come around."
Chapter 6
Benjamin Huber sat on the porch smoking his last joint. He was going to save it for later, but his girlfriend, Lisa Costello had been getting on his nerves all day. For the past month, she’d been obsessed with taking a trip to Conner's Grove. She wanted to go hiking and check out the caverns there. They'd only moved to Texas a few months before, and this was on her must see list. So there they were getting ready to head out.
Fortunately, Ben had talked some of their friends into going along with them. Marc Hoffnagle and his girl, Sophie Hall, and then Jason Limberg and his girlfriend Sally Ray. Girlfriend might be a strong word for Sally, however. They'd only been dating for a few weeks. Jason had a tendency to get attached to a girl immediately after having sex with her. Maybe he was an old school romantic, but he'd been shit on by more than his share of chicks.
Not that Ben felt sorry for him. He'd told him over and over sometimes ass was just ass. Not to Jason. Every piece of ass was filled with rainbows and glitter covered unicorns as far as he was concerned. At least until he found out the girl couldn't give two shits about him. Sally had so far been different. She seemed to actually like Jason, but Ben wasn't convinced.
"Ben! Have you seen my…what are you doing?" Lisa asked as she came outside.
"What does it look like?"
"Did you smoke that whole fucking bag of weed you bought?"
"Well, not all at once."
"Jesus Christ, Ben. You fucking bought that shit two days ago."
"So?"
"So, I'd have liked some of it. God." She turned and went back inside.
"I'm sorry. Hey, what were you looking for anyway?"
"Nothing your wasted ass could help me find. Just go finish your fucking joint."
He went back outside as Marc and Sophie pulled up. Ben secretly had the hots for Sophie. She was way too hot for Marc. He and Marc had been friends since high school. He’d met Sophie in college. Marc was always a computer nerd, which ended up being his field. Sophie was a volleyball player and sorority girl. Ben figured she could see Marc was on his way to making a lot of money and decided to latch on quick. Lisa told him he was too cynical.
Marc was short and even when he tried to comb or style his hair it always looked messy. He used to wear thick glasses until getting Lasik a few years ago. Sophie was tall, blonde and didn't have an ounce of fat on her anywhere. She climbed out of the car and smiled at Ben. He smiled back, but he always smiled when stoned, so it wasn't all that sincere.
"Hey Ben!" Sophie said. "You guys excited?"
"Hey Sophie, Lisa is, more than I am. I don't think she's talking to me right now anyway."
"You smoked all the weed again, didn't you?"
"Not like we had that much to start with."
"Dude," Marc began. "I don't know how you stay upright most of the time."
"Jesus. You guys make me sound like some fucking crackhead. I just like to smoke pot once in a while. Ok? Fuck! This an in
tervention or some shit?"
Marc put his hand up in surrender.
"Hey, ok man, shit. Just fucking with you. Where is everyone else?"
"Lisa is inside, Jason and Sally aren't here yet."
"Well shit. When did you guys want to leave?"
"As soon as they get here," Lisa said as she came outside. "You guys got your stuff ready?"
"Yeah, we taking your truck?"
"Yeah, I cleaned the Suburban out last night."
"Works for me," Marc walked to the car as Ben followed him. They both pulled bags out and loaded them into the large SUV as the girls went inside.
"She'll calm down," Marc said. "She always does."
"Yeah I know. I just don't get why she wanted to go. Did you hear about last weekend up there?"
"No. What?"
"I found it online. Like six campers disappeared."
"You serious?" Marc grabbed a large bag and tossed it into the back of the Suburban. "Maybe it was the Gut Ripper!"
"Yeah, that's what one blog said. This guy has a whole website about the Gut Ripper. He's got all these cases listed, and he tries to connect the dots."
"Weren't there any bodies? I thought the Gut Ripper actually ripped people's guts out."
"Yeah, he says with modern crime fighting technology the Gut Ripper started cleaning up after himself. He only kills at Conner's Grove, though."
"What do you think?" Marc asked.
"If I thought there was really a Gut Ripper I wouldn't be going. It's just some goofy urban legend anyway. Might make a good movie. It’s pretty creepy when you read about it."
"So where do you think those campers went?"
"Hard to say. Maybe they said fuck it and went to California. Who the hell knows? Maybe it's all made up."
Another car pulled up as they finished loading bags. It was Jason and Sally. The girls came out of the house as the car came to a stop.
"It's about time!" Lisa said. "I'm ready to get out of here. You guys ever been up there?"
