Gripping Thrillers

by Iain Rob Wright

  The man looked at Damien in surprise, and then shock. “Hey!” he shouted. “It’s you!”

  “No shit,” said Damien and then smacked the man square in the jaw with the axe handle.

  Everyone in the office stopped what they were doing and stared at Damien. Apparently his escape from the house had gone unnoticed as they were all terribly shocked to see him.

  They’re not used to having to face one of their victims. I’m not just a name on a betting form any more.

  Damien realised that they really had been planning to leave him to bleed to death in the house. More fool them for not checking that the job was done.

  Nobody made a move for Damien. They were merely office workers and he was a bloody, half-insane mess. They weren’t about to take the risk in being the company hero. What someone did do, however, was trip an alarm.

  The siren began wailing throughout the entire building. It seemed to incite the office workers as they all started to filter out through side doors and stairwells. Damien ignored them and headed for the exit he had been seeking from the beginning.

  He started to jog and then sprint as he entered a carpeted hallway. It was like being in the head office of any ordinary firm. It was furnished and homely.

  A door on Damien’s left made him skid on his heels. He stepped back and peered through the glass pane on the door. Two people stood inside the room. One of them was a stumpy little man with a balding head and bookish spectacles. The other one was Danni.

  Damien needed to escape this place before the security guards arrived. They would be planning to bury Damien on the spot or perhaps just leave him to burn when they started the fires. But, seeing as his chances for survival were so low anyway, Damien decided to change his priorities. He couldn’t resist the opportunity that had just presented itself.

  This place was built for revenge. Maybe it’s about time that I got some of my own.

  Damien turned the handle and kicked open the door. Danni and the stumpy man spun around in fright. They had both been staring at a computer screen with their backs to the door. Damien wasn’t sure but it had looked like a video call with someone, but as soon as he entered the room, the window on the screen closed.

  The sound of footsteps thudded down the hallway outside. Damien locked the door and hoped it bought him some time.

  Danni was the first one to speak. “Damien! What the hell are you doing here?”

  Damien suddenly went dizzy, but he fought it and hoped it didn’t show. Whether it was the booze or his injuries, he did not know. He let the axe swing menacingly by his side as he spoke. “We promised to go out and get a drink, remember?”

  Danni backed up against the computer desk. The stumpy man stood in front of her and put a hand up. “Now look here, young man, none of this was personal. If you stay calm, I’m sure that we can work something out.”

  “You’ll have to excuse me,” said Damien, “but who in the blue hell are you?”

  The man cleared his throat and seemed to think. “I-I’m just a technician. I just look after the computers.”

  Damien smiled. “Guess this has nothing to do with you, then?”

  The man smiled and nodded.

  “Except,” said Damien. “That you look after the computers at a building that tortures and murders people.”

  “Now look here!”

  “No! You look here, you fat little weasel. One more word out of your maggoty lips and I chop ’em off. You get me?”

  The man shut up.

  Danni was still cowering up against the desk. Damien looked at her and grinned wide. He imagined he resembled some sort of deranged lunatic. The feeling was good.

  He took a step towards her, draping the axe casually over his shoulder. “Oh now, what to do with you, my sweet sweet darling.”

  “Damien, just calm down. You sound like a mad man.”

  “The alternative is being a dead man, so I’m fine with having a couple screws loose. Besides, who would blame me?”

  Somebody bashed a fist against the door and yelled something. It was one of the security guards outside in the hallway. Danni made a run for the door, grabbing at the handle.

  Damien swung the axe at her head, but buried it in the wall only inches away. “SIT. THE. FUCK. DOWN!”

  Danni backed away from the door and took a seat on a nearby swivel chair.

  “Please, let us go,” said the stumpy man.

  Damien sniffed. “I just have a few questions first. You understand how it is, first day in the office and all. Let’s think of it as an orientation.”

  “So ask your stupid questions, then,” said Danni. There was a look of insolence in her eyes. She did not enjoy being on the bad end of this exchange.

  I hope the irony isn’t lost on her.

  “Well, firstly I want to know where we are. How far to the nearest civilisation?”

  The stumpy man answered. “We’re on the Isle of Mull. There’s nowhere for miles and the only way to reach the mainland is by ferry.

  Damien sighed. I’m screwed.

  He pointed the axe at the stumpy man. “Then I need to use a phone.”

  “No can do. When the alarm was tripped, all outside communication was locked down. The whole place is designed to make sure you don’t get out of here alive. The only mistake was assuming you were already dead. We should have kept our eye on the cameras.”

  “You were watching me? I thought you were just a technician.”

  The man’s eyes widened slightly and he nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes, I am. I was working on the camera feeds when they left you to bleed to death in the kitchen. I-I can’t believe you survived.”

  “I’ve survived a lot over the past ten days, so why quit now?”

  Danni sniggered. She was lounging in the swivel chair now with her hands on the armrest. She seemed quite amused by it all. “You’re a dead man,” she said. “You’ll never get out of this place alive.”

  The banging on the door increased and several faces appeared at the glass window pane. More security guards.

  Damien sniggered back at Danni. “I wouldn’t be finding it so funny if I were you. I may be screwed, but that just means I have no more fucks left to give.”

  Damien swung the axe without warning and brought it down on Danni’s left hand which was braced against the armrest. She bellowed in agony.

  Blood sprayed into the air.

  Damien kicked Danni’s severed hand aside as she dropped to her knees and wailed like a cat on a bonfire.

  Damien stared down at her without pity. “Guess we’re even.”

  The stumpy man slid up against the wall and looked like he was about to piss himself. There were tears forming in his eyes and his lower lip quivered.

  Damien lunged at the man and grabbed him by his sweat-stained shirt collar. “You’re coming with me,” he said. “Time for the guided tour.”

  33

  When the door opened, Damien came out behind the stumpy man. The sharp edge of the axe was pressed up against the man’s windpipe and Damien was ready to slice it open at a moment’s notice.

  The half-dozen security guards had evacuated the office floor and they were now the only ones left. Damien kept them at bay by drawing a little blood with the axe.

  The stumpy man bleated. “P-please, help me! He’s insane.”

  Damien grinned. “You better bloody believe I am. I am one bloke you do not want to test right now.”

  The security guards kept their distance but maintained pace with Damien as he backed down the corridor with his hostage.

  “How do I get out of here?” Damien asked the stumpy man.

  “I-I don’t know.”

  He drew the axe along the man’s throat and drew a little more blood. “Guess again.”

  “The…the corridor on the right. Take the corridor coming up on your right. It leads to the car park outside.”

  “This goddamn place has a car park? I bet it has vending machines and water coolers too. You people are sick.” />
  “We provide justice,” he said. “A…a service.”

  Damien took the corridor on his right. The guards pursued him cautiously. “You sound pretty passionate to the cause for a lowly technician.”

  “W-we all believe in what we do. It is a just cause.”

  “Except that I’m innocent of the crimes you allege of me. I wonder how many other mistakes were made with previous contestants. I hear you’ve been doing this a while. How many innocent people have you killed in that time?”

  “None of them were innocent. And who gave you that information?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “B-because I am worried who else you’ve managed to hurt in your escape.”

  Damien was nearing the end of the corridor. “The only person you need to be worrying about right now is yourself. Now, which way do I go?”

  The stumpy man pointed his trembling finger. “That door, there. It leads outside.”

  Damien backed up against the door and shoved it open. It led to a small waiting area lit by the growing light of dawn. Everything outside the windows was dark blue, heralding the imminent arrival of the sun.

  “What will I find out there?”

  “Staff vehicles. That’s all.”

  “That’s all I need.”

  Damien kicked out and slammed the door he had come through closed. It hit one of the guards and sent the group of them back into the corridor. Damien used the brief advantage to slip out of the reception room and out onto the hard concrete outside.

  It felt surreal to finally be out of the facility, away from the house. He felt like a caged sparrow suddenly being released. But he also knew that he was far from free.

  The guards flooded out behind Damien and began ordering him to give himself up. Instead, Damien searched around for another option. Up ahead was a long bus, perhaps the one that had brought him there to begin with. It was full of people who looked all ready to set off.

  “Who are all those people?” Damien asked his hostage while pointing at the bus.

  “The benefactors.”

  “You mean the people who paid for us all to be here?”

  “They just wanted to see justice served.”

  “So you gave them a front row seat?”

  Damien thought about all the videos he had seen; all of the broken and damaged people looking for a way to ease their pain. As much anger as he felt, it was not directed at the people on the bus. They were victims, too, and could perhaps be excused for their bad judgement. They were not the cause of all this. They were being used no differently to the housemates. Their pain was being used as a way to profiteer. The people responsible were the ones who had turned suffering into a business.

  “Where are they heading?” Damien asked.

  “The ferry.”

  “Then I hope they go back to their lives and manage to find some peace, because this shit is over.”

  “Sir, I need you to release Mr Hammond and put down the axe,” said one of the guards.

  Damien smirked. “Mr Hammond, huh? Nice to put a name with the face.”

  “I’m just a technician,” he said. “Let me go.”

  “But we’re just getting to know each other.”

  “What would your friend, Harry, think about all of this, Damien? He would never condone you taking a man hostage, or cutting off a woman’s hand.”

  “Danni is a lot of things, but a woman isn’t one of them, and if you mention Harry’s name again I’ll cut you.”

  “Just let go of me and we can work something out, son. You can take the prize money and go and help your friend.”

  Damien hesitated for a second as something became clear. “You’re not a technician are you? You know too much about me.”

  The stumpy man used Damien’s lapse in concentration to drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes and escape his grasp.

  The guards were on Damien immediately. An elbow caught him in the chin and made him see stars. He tried to hold onto the axe, but before he knew it, it had already dropped to the ground as half a dozen bodies piled on top of him.

  If it were not for the whiskey dulling his senses, Damien would have probably lost consciousness; especially when his skull hit the pavement with a clonk!

  “Get him up!” said the stumpy man who Damien now knew was The Landlord.

  The guards dragged Damien up off the ground and held him in front of their boss.

  “You really should have bled to death.” He sneered. “It would have been easier on you.”

  Damien spat a mouthful of blood. “Piss off!”

  The stumpy man wound up a punch and landed it against Damien’s ribs. The air rushed out of him.

  Two hundred yards away the bus full of ‘benefactors’ departed for the docks. Damien wished he were with them.

  Least I got some payback against Danni. If nothing else, there’s that.

  “How on earth did you get into this?” Damien said. “How do you sleep at night?”

  The Landlord smirked. “How do you think I got into this? Money. As for how well I sleep, well, let’s just say I’ve never been one for sleeping anyway. It’s overrated.”

  “So, what now? You kill me in cold blood? You got the stones for it, you fat fuck?”

  “I never get my hands dirty. I just give my word and things get done. Allow me to demonstrate.”

  The Landlord leant in to one of his guards and whispered something. The guard nodded and then headed off. While that was happening, the other guards moved Damien further away from the building. The Landlord followed them.

  Two minutes later the facility blew up.

  The force of the blast was like a gale force wind. The flames lit up the dawn sky and plumes of smoke twirled in the air like billowy dancers. The air filled with ash and debris.

  Damien choked and spluttered. “Jesus! Weren’t your people in there?”

  The Landlord shrugged. “A few. All of my permanent staff are out of the way. Those left inside were expendable. Better just to part ways with them. New project, new staff. That’s the way we do things around here.”

  Damien huffed. “Beats severance pay, I guess.”

  The Landlord waved a hand dismissively. “Take him somewhere private. Bury the body.”

  A guard grabbed Damien from either side and dragged him along the concrete. They steered him towards a patch of scrubland at the edge of the car park. The sun lay on the horizon ahead.

  “So you couldn’t just get a job at a supermarket like everybody else,” Damien said as the two men dragged him by his arms.

  “Shut up,” said the guard on his left.

  “No, seriously. Why do this?”

  “Because it pays better than working at a supermarket.”

  Damien’s feet left the concrete as it gave way to mud and grass. He knew there were only seconds left until the two men killed him.

  But he wasn’t out of ideas yet.

  For the last few yards, Damien had gone limp and weak, acting as if he were already a beaten man. The guards either side of him held on to him tightly. Too tightly.

  Suddenly, Damien sprung backwards on his heels and broke free of the men’s grasp. Immediately they spun around and came after him.

  Damien was ready with the chef’s knife hidden behind his belt. He slid it out and pointed it forward. The nearest guard ran right into it.

  Damien pushed the knife deeper into the guard’s belly and pulled him into a tight hug, using the man’s body as a shield against his colleague. Then Damien pushed the wounded guard backwards and sent him colliding into his friend.

  The two guards fell to the floor, one bleeding on top of the other. Damien swung his leg and kicked the uninjured man in the face, cleaning his clock and knocking him cold. The other guard bled out on top of him.

  Damien knelt down and wiped the bloody knife against the dead guard’s jumper. Then he stood up, turned around, and stared back at the flaming remains of the facility.

  With the sun behind him, Dami
en was hidden in shadow. He used that fact to his advantage as he studied his surroundings. There were still a few handfuls of personnel loitering around the area, but most were getting into a fleet of black Range Rovers and driving away, completing their mass exodus. The Landlord was amongst them, talking on a phone and ordering people around.

  Damien cut a wide arc, heading as close to the flaming remains of the facility as he could stand. The very air itself was heated and it was like walking through a sauna. Hopefully the constant shifting of the fires would mask his own movement, but he kept low and moved quickly.

  Once he made it over to the nearest Range Rover, Damien crouched down beside one of the large 21” rims. He peered around the back of the vehicle and watched as more personnel departed. As each one left, Damien’s odds increased.

  They’re making the mistake of assuming I’m dead again. They really need to get better at this.

  Somebody was coming.

  Damien looked left and right and saw nowhere to go that would not leave him exposed. He reached up and grabbed at the handle of the Range Rover’s rear passenger door. It was unlocked.

  He pulled the door ajar and slid inside the vehicle, squeezing down into the spacious foot well and making sure he was out of sight. Then he hooked his trainer inside the door’s armrest and pulled it shut again.

  Two seconds later, the driver’s door opened and a body jumped behind the wheel. The vehicle rocked back and forth on its springs and then settled.

  The front passenger door opened and somebody had brief conversation with whoever was in driver’s seat. They spoke about ‘cases’ and the driver said to ‘leave them with me.’

  Then the engine grumbled to life.

  Then the Range Rover started moving.

  Lying in the foot well, Damien had a seductive desire to go to sleep. He had been through so much and his body was wrecked and his mind was begging for downtime. What he wanted more than anything else in the world right now was a soft bed someplace safe.

  But not just yet.

  Damien sprang up from the foot well and sat up on the back seat. He quickly leant forward and placed his knife against the driver’s throat. When he saw it was The Landlord, he could not believe his luck.