by catt dahman
“Just like that? We can go?”
“Well, drugged and released so you can’t lead anyone back to me. I’ve given you enough to think about. It’s time the games begin. The lights will go off and come on randomly. I know some will wish to do the deeds in the dark, and others won’t care.”
“One question?”
“Yes, Mike?”
“Why did you decide to do this?”
Julia chuckled. She was totally honest as she answered, “I have more money than I know what to do with. I have an insatiable curiosity about human nature, and, I really, really hate people.”
Chapter Six
“Is this some kind of stupid joke?” Skot asked. They were alone again.
“How can you think that?” Ruth grabbed her pee cup and used it, taking only a little toilet paper. It was almost impossible to angle it with her leg stretched out, but she managed with only a few drops landing on the metal floor. Her other leg ached from straining her muscles to find the right angle to support herself on one bent leg and because she was weak with hunger. She set the container outside the bars where she was supposed to place it.
Until she did that, she could hardly think beyond her aching bladder. It was a wonderful feeling to finally pee. How mundane and basic was that?
She opened the rest of her packet and examined it by feeling everything.
There were sharp garden snips, the kind for clipping roses. She knew what those were for, and she shivered. The other was odd. It was a bottle, and she carefully removed the top and sniffed and then tested it with her finger. It was spicy hot sauce. That turned her stomach. She told everyone what she had, relaying the information, as bad as it was, but the third thing, she said was a eating utensil, alluding it was a spoon or fork, but it was a butter knife.
As she listened to them, she began to rub the blade on the metal to sharpen it.
After Skot heard she had hot sauce and clippers, he went quiet, so she asked Andre what he had in his packet, knowing he, like her, might hold back and not tell everything.
“I think they do like mind games. I think what they give us will make choices more difficult but actions more easily taken. I can’t read in the dark, but I can guess. I have a vial of what I think is Novocain or the like. I have a lovely sharp needle, and I have one of those elastic bands that will cut off blood supply. How interesting to give me a dilemma.”
“What do you mean?” Lovie asked.
“I could give it to Kim and ask her to use it on my hand when or if she partakes, so I don’t feel it or bleed out. She could go along with that or use it for her own hand if Nick partakes. Yes? Or I could use it for you, Ruth, and save your suffering if I chose to eat your foot.”
It sounded as if Mattie vomited.
“Interesting,” Andre said, “they may be monsters, but they are sick and brilliant.” His voice caught. Quietly, he sobbed. It was his time to mourn his situation. He was a strong man, but he had to let out the emotions, the abysmal terror and trepidation.
For a little while, they didn’t speak as Andre had his break down.
“Damn,” Kim said, “okay, what I have is really weird. I have a big box of menstrual pads.” Her voice shook.
“Well, you might have a period, or one of us will, and you could share or trade,” Ruth said.
Jake told them, “If it would help stop bleeding and clot something on you or on someone else, then they might help.”
“If I went for Andre or if I might want it for my own when Nick tries, I mean when Nick...please don’t eat my hand and arm, please….” Kim began crying again. Her voice was pitiful. She was terrified of Nick.
“I won’t hurt you,” Nick said. He felt bad that she was so afraid of him.
“Shhh, come on. What else is there? Sounds as if each gets a few strange things,” Mike asked, ”let’s try to be positive.”
“There is a tiny metal box that rattles as if something is in it, but it won’t open. The last thing is a biscuit.”
“Give me half,” Vinnie yelled.
Nick leaned over and said, “Don’t wait. Don’t hide it and think about it until you’re crazy. Don’t do anything but eat it.”
“She could trade it,” Ruth suggested.
“Well, if you trust people to pass it around. I wouldn’t,” Nick said.
“Me either,” Jake said, “maybe a few I would trust, but I’m next to one who is cool.”
“Thanks,” Lovie said, “Nick, what do you have?”
He unwrapped his packet; he had waited. “Weird. I have a .38 bullet, I have a straight razor, I have one of those tight rubber tube things like Andre, and I have one pack of gum. Smells like peppermint.”
“Why’d you get four things?”
“I don’t know, Skot.”
“Well, maybe Ruth, Andre, and Kim really got four and didn’t tell.”
“Shut up.”
“Well, did you?”
Kim exploded, “Okay, I got some butter, too, for the biscuit. There! I hid the butter. Screw you, Skot. I hid the damned butter and didn’t tell. So what?”
“Shows you hide things is all,” Skot said, “women, you’re all sneaky liars.”
Ruth and Andre said nothing.
“Anyone else?
“Extra toilet paper,” Ruth said randomly.
“Yeah, me, too.” Andre said. He knew they didn’t sound convincing, but that was too bad.
Skot chuckled.
It was Terri’s turn. “I gots some of that shit in a bottle I smelled and tasted. It makes ya not puke when you get barfy. I have a big roll of gauze; then, I got a spoon. Seems I could make it into a knife with some work and….” She hesitated. She didn’t have to tell anything, right? But she did tell, “And a big, fat butane lighter.” She flicked it. The glow was pleasant but fleeting.
Owen spoke almost in a whisper. He had touched his items over and over, wondering about them. “I have top quality ear plugs. Once in my ears, I can’t hear anything. I have some cards in an envelope, writing on the outside, a pocket knife…Swiss with the gadgets, and a shaker of salt.”
“Salt? That’s sick. It’s like Ruth getting hot sauce. It’s what do you call it: a slap in the face, isn’t it? It’s a rude way to hint at what she wants us to do,” Kim said. “Salt? What kind of a freak gives people salt?”
“How do you know there is writing?” Nick asked Owen.
“I saw the writing just now when Terri lit her lighter.”
“How strange. Terri, flick the light so he can see what is written?” Nick asked.
She did, and Owen read quickly. The light went out again.
“What did it say?
“Nothing. Not to open it.” Owen didn’t say exactly what the words said, but Terri saw there were a lot of words. It said, “Do not open until you have given up hope and require a reason to take your own life.”
“Mattie?”
“I’m not telling you assholes a damn thing. Leave me alone. That’s alls you needs to knows.” She hid her package of a very large, sharp knife, a vial of something she wasn’t sure about, a needle, and a another vial that she tested and found to be cocaine: a lot of it. She didn’t trust the people with her. While it sounded as if they were all in a bad position, she didn’t quite believe that anyone expected her to eat another person or to be eaten; that was almost laughable.
She did think it was a horrible kidnapping and that their captors were playing very sick mind games by suggesting cannibalism. To lock them away and tell them stories like that was evil. Hitting her, them, with the icy cold water bursts was torture, but stories and water didn’t mean death or something worse. It was a game. A terrible game. But Mattie wasn’t that stupid and knew that no one was going to do all this just to kill fourteen of them.
In Mattie’s mind, she always wondered about the others. She had been vocal: screaming and showing her panic, but some sure did seem calm in her view. It made her more nervous and made her feel itchy, wondering if they could be a part of
this. For now, she would keep her information to herself.
Mike sighed. He felt a little put off by being between two women who were so angry that they couldn’t work with the others. He hoped Mattie would behave because getting the side-spray of the ice water was very miserable, painful, and shocking when they were hit with the stream, and later, it was freezing cold and horrible; he sat shivering.
He felt a rush of anger at Mattie for causing him to be punished along with her. Selfish. He was so cold.
“We’ll leave you alone, but alone may be a worse fate,” Mike snapped. “I have paracord, tin foil, and a small knife. Weird, huh? I wonder if this is random or according to each of us or if location matters?” He didn’t mention the lighter fluid in a tiny squirt can he had. He showed most of his cards, so to speak. Keeping a secret might benefit him later although he didn’t see how. He didn’t understand this game.
He did know that by keeping secrets, they were already playing the game, though.
He turned and said, “Carina? What did you get? Anything interesting?”
“Interesting would be a way to get out of here. We’re all going to die right here. Merde.”
“Why do you think that? Murder is a big deal, so what I think is they like to play games and scare people. The game is all about scaring us and seeing who falls apart. No way are they going to let it go to anyone’s dying,” said Lovie. She could understand being kidnapped and mentally tortured, but when it came to cannibalism, she thought that was a lot of silliness and an attempt by Julia to scare them. It worked.
“That’s what I think,” Mattie called, “ and a bunch of bullshit-hoo-doo-mind games.”
Lovie went on, “Right. They are going to terrify us and then….”
“Let us go?” Nick asked, “but this set up is way too elaborate. Would anyone do all this just to scare someone? It’s hard core. They went to a lot of effort to let people go after they cry enough. I think we can assume this is exactly what Julia said it was. It’s an experiment, and did all of you hear what she said were the terms?”
“You don’t know that.”
“I don’t know, but it’s what she said. And it makes sense. I don’t think she’s lying to us. I think it’s exactly as she said it was,” Nick explained, “if this were a simple set up, sure. Look at how much effort and planning went into this. And money. And it’s a lot of work. They were willing to kidnap fourteen people and set this up for us, so why would they just want to scare us and then let us go?”
“You’re scaring me now,” Nick sighed and told Lovie, “I’m sorry. I just think if we are in denial, we’ll die here. Sick shit happens. You hear about things on the news, and it’s always about someone else and somewhere else. This time it’s us, and it’s here. Julia means everything she said. I feel it.”
“I do, too, “ Jake admitted sullenly.
“I’m starving,” Mike lamented. It made everything worse and made what Julia said feel true. “I agree, Nick. She’s serious.”
“So? What’cha saying? You hungry? You done been feeling up my hand to go and eat it?” Mattie asked. “Asshole cannibal chink.”
“Hey, Skot is enough, without your saying that shit,” Jake said.
Mike ground his teeth and responded, “I was just saying something all of us feel, which was stupid, now that I think about it. People can survive a while without food, actually.”
For a long time, everyone was quiet, thinking about what they were told. A few rattled the bars of the cages several times, maybe checking for weaknesses, but most dozed or sat deep in thought, wondering how they could get out and what their families were doing and envisioning a rescue. They hoped a rescue team would come in and save them, but while it was nice to talk about that and imagine a team coming in with guns blazing, it didn’t happen, and as time passed, it became illusive to dream of that happening.
“Yo, Lorie, gimme your lighter. I see ya flicking it.”
“It’s Lovie. And no.”
“Come on,” Vinnie badgered her, “for a second. I got a candle here and want to look around some.”
“Give me the candle, and I can light it and hand it back,” she countered.
“Nah, Look, I’ll hand you something of mine, see, and I want the lighter for just a few seconds. I’ll give it back. You got my hand in there with ya, so don’t that empire some trust?”
“Inspire,” Ruth offered.
“You got’s a smart mouth, Ruth. Lovie? For a second? Here…feel. Take these….”
She felt at the bars. Unsure what it was, she ran her fingers over the objects and tried to think. Curious, she traded the lighter for whatever he was holding out to her. “Hurry. I have a knife, and I will stab your hand if you screw me over,” Lovie warned him. She didn’t have a knife, but he didn’t know what she did have. She hoped her bluff worked.
Vinnie lit his candle, and the faint glow made a huge difference in the gloom. He grinned manically.
Lovie looked at what he had traded her and grimaced. How useless the trade was as she saw that he had handed her nothing more than a pair of cheap, flip flop sandals. She tossed them beside the small teddy bear that she had gotten; she must have been given the junk that was left over because nothing she had was of any value.
Carina yelped, “How’d you get a gun? You’re in on this, pendejo?”
“Gun?” Nick called.
Everyone spoke at once.
Vinnie knew he should have hidden it better and mentally kicked himself. He knew he wasn’t the smartest guy on earth, but one thing he did have was street smarts, and he was bold as hell. Having big balls was the only thing that got him ahead in life. The bitch was crazy if she thought he was giving back the lighter. She was stupid.
The Mexican bitch was busting her gums now, telling on him. He tried to think of how to get out of this. “I got the gun, but it ain’t got no bullets.”
“I have a bullet if it’s a .38,” Nick yelled, “hand the gun off cage to cage to cage to me.”
Vinnie chuckled, “What? You dumb shit. You send me the bullet. You only got the one?”
“Send it over.”
“Send your bullet over.”
“No way, I’m a deputy. Gimme the gun,” Nick yelled, furious now.
“Nope. Suck it, buddy. And you mind your own business,” Vinnie told Carina.
“He has the gun and a knife, the candle, your lighter, and a…what is that? Crackers?” Carina asked.
“Hand me my lighter.”
Vinnie flipped Lovie an obscene gesture and laughed. In the candlelight, he saw Carina’s stash and cut his eyes over, figuring how to reach it. It was close enough and if he moved fast, he could grab her stuff, and there was nothing she could do. After all, she was some dumb broad, and he was a survivor. He could figure out what to do to get out of this, and she couldn’t.
Screw the cop, too, Vinnie thought. Not giving him the gun would cost the bastard. Vinnie grabbed for Carina’s stash, yanking back a small Bible and a pack of moist towelettes. The little hack saw clanged against the bars and fell.
Carina reacted and reached the saw, slamming it against Vinnie’s hand, “You thief. You pendejo. Give that back.”
Vinnie chuckled. He noticed Lovie didn’t stab him; he had known she was bluffing.
Mike spoke, “Vinnie, hey, why upset things more? Why are you stealing stuff? You have a gun.”
“Yeah, but yo, the asshole won’t give me my bullet.”
“My bullet,” Nick responded. Given the chance, he would go right to Vinnie and beat the hell out of the man. Other than the one time he was fast on his trigger, he didn’t tend towards violence, and he let the law be the law, but Vinnie bothered him. What kind of man stole from trapped, scared women and refused to let a law officer have the damned gun? Nick was trained, and there was a chance this was their way out. He sat, furious and determined that given the chance, he would knock the hell out of Vinnie.
Vinnie blew out the candle. He patted Carina’s leg as a
warning to shut up.
Jake lit a cigarette, part of his stash and said, “You know what I got? A bag of fried worms. Yeah. Worms. They’re rich in protein, so I guess I’ll eat them, but worms. That’s sick.”
No one answered. Some would gladly eat the worms.
They sat quietly for a long time, thinking.
And then the blue light went on.
Chapter Seven
Julia’s voice could be heard, but she wasn’t visible. She was somewhere to the side in the shadows and above them. Maybe she was on the stairs. Carl didn’t speak, but he walked around the outside of the cages slowly. He glared at each of the trapped victims as if he hadn’t just seen them earlier when he filled their containers with water.
“I feel some of you don’t believe everything I’ve said. I suppose I could sit and wait and hope that all of you catch on eventually, but that might take a week as dense as you are. Did I pick the stupidest people on earth? It’s been two days and nothing?”
“Probably. Let us go and get a better group,” Ruth muttered.
“Two? Two days?” Mike asked. He thought it had been an hour.
Jake felt the same about the time that had slipped away.
“Ruth, do you believe this is serious?” Julia asked.
Ruth sighed, “When you knocked us out and kidnapped us, yeah, it became serious. As far as what you have said, Julia, we’re very hungry. You know that. I think it’s hard to believe what you are suggesting that we do to survive starvation.”
“I agree,” Lovie said.
“You’re so analytical, Ruth, and Lovie, you’re just dense,” Julia said. Her voice echoed in the room. I have spoken to each of you. Skot and Carina, you both were simply fodder and worked perfectly because you are such stereotypes. And then we have Jake who felt so guilty about the babies and children that instead of celebrating that he saved others, he whined about the ones who died. Jake, your depression was delicious.”
