Overkill

Sixteen

Sarah woke up to screaming. Attempting to open her eyes caused her to squeeze them shut trying to block out the pain. Her consciousness was clearing, allowing her to feel every ounce of pain she has endured. Her head pounded so bad she wanted to close her eyes and feel nothing again.

Wanting to feel the back of her head, she tried raising her arm. Unable to, she looked down to see her arms bound to the arms of a chair, hands covered in blood. Her clothes were removed, she was sitting in only her bra and underwear. Flashbacks rushed through her mind causing panic to rise. Slowing her breathing, she began taking in her surroundings.

The room she was tied up in looked like a utility room in a basement, most likely the basement of the house they were in. Looking down at herself, she attempted to take in her injuries. Her hands tied to the arms of the chair were covered in dried blood with some thick blood still seeping from the slices in her arms. Looking down at her bare legs, she noticed more lacerations and bruising already forming under her skin. Glancing over at the wooden work bench, she found the tools used on her. A hammer, which must have been used over her head; an x-acto knife, which seems to be what is used for the slicing and possible the removal of chunks of skin; she also noticed pliers and an iron bar with a blow torch next to it.

Fighting through the severe pounding in her head, she leaned as far as she could forward to get a glance at the full table. There was also a carving knife, that's what is used to remove slices of skin so cleanly, she also noticed a wood-burning tool, and a pistol. She needed to get to that gun.

The screaming returned, catching her attention. Looking to her side, through the door way of the room she was tied up in, she could see Scott tied down to a table. Mark was standing in front of him with a knife.

"Sending me with her sealed her fate, Chief. You're the one that signed her death certificate." The way he spoke, he almost sounded bitter. "All you had to do was stay out of the way. If you'd have just left her alone and stayed with Jenny, she'd still be working in the investigation room, not finding the key evidence she needed to piece anything together."

Scott grunted, followed by another scream of pain shooting fear into Sarah. She couldn't lose Scott, not again. Sarah began searching the room, looking for anything that could be used to get her out of the ropes. She wasn't going to lose Scott again.

"You see," Mark continued, "It was so easy to go in and grab certain evidence bags or pictures when her back was turned. She never even questioned me, never suspected that I could be the killer."

"Is that why you tried getting close to her?" Scott struggled to talk, choking on blood.

"Actually, I was captivated by her the second I set my eyes on her. Her eyes... her beauty is like no one I've ever seen," staring off into the distance in a day dream, "and I almost had her. She would have been mine eventually, all she needed was someone to give her a reason to get over you," he growled, raising his hand and plunging the knife down. Scott cried out again, louder this time.

Sarah was wiggling her wrists, twisting and turning them until she couldn't twist them anymore. Pushing against the wood to arch her wrist, she began applying pressure within the ropes that bound her. After a bit of fighting and rope burn, the rope was stretched enough on one of her wrists that she was able to fight to pull her arm out of it. Quickly untying her other wrist, she removed the rope around her torso, legs, and ankles. Slowly getting to her feet, her entire body wanted to give out. Her bones ached, her vision became blurry again as the dizziness set back in, blood began dripping from her head, down into her face. The lacerations in her skin broke open and blood flowed freely down her body. Knowing she was going to stumble, she leaned against the table for balance to quiet her movements.