Survive the Night

17

They began the cooking process immediately, while the body was still fresh. Kevin, Winston, and Geo (because in their feeble state, it took all the three of them) carried Mike's body downstairs into the kitchen, while Ashley and Sasha trudged numbly behind. The girls had the flushed look of recent tears on their faces, holding hands and chewing the nails of their free hand like bubble gum. It was evident, though they didn't say it, that they were relieved Michael had been chosen instead of one of the other boys. Sasha now considered herself 'emotionally entangled' with Winston, feelings that conflicted with logic if dealt outside the parameters of this house. In it, however, the conflict between them gave her something to live for, or even just something to distract her. Ashley was just glad Kevin hadn't been chosen; she had a newfound respect for him that she never thought was possible. And though she'd lost faith herself, she wanted desperately for him to press on, to have enough strength to find Victoria. If she's even alive, Ashley thought.

They used a fresh stored tablecloth and hung Mike's body upside down on the chandelier in the kitchen; they had to push the dining table out of the way first. Next, they placed a relatively large tub used for washing under him. Kevin turned to the girls, who were standing idly by the door.

"No way you two can stomach this, I'm telling you now. We can call you when it's ready."

The girls looked at each other, communicated something wordlessly with their eyes, and looked back at Kevin. "We'll be just in the hall," Ashley said.

When they left, Kevin found a sharp steak knife in one of the cabinets and retrieved it.

"What do we do first?" Geo asked.

Kevin knew the process from his days at his uncle's farm. The property was close to Ashmore, as a matter of fact, about a hundred yards away in Whitlock's very same park. Every November and December, he would stay over at his uncle's place and help him cook the pigs for the townspeople on their Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year's Eve festivals. Kevin knew the process for pigs and lambs and cows, and took the same precautions with Mike, with a few alterations that just made sense to him.

He started by approaching, then grabbing, Mike's hair and holding his head back. He made a clean incision from ear to ear, moving beneath the jaw. The neck was already cut from earlier, so it was slightly easier.

The blood came rushing out before Kevin had even reached half of his neck. For a few minutes, they waited while all the blood was drained and contained in the tub beneath. In the end, there was almost six liters of dark red blood in the tub. They all held in the urge to vomit, but their hearts were hammering away in their chests and they felt sick inside. Geo and Winston dumped the tub outside, in the backyard of the house. It was so heavy that some of it splashed over their legs. They kicked back, cursing.

When they came back inside, Kevin had already moved the table back alone. And had dropped Mike's body from the chandelier.

"I'm going to need you to find me a hacksaw," Kevin said.

"A hacksaw?" Geo said.

"Yeah. Was there a toolbox in the backyard porch?"

"No."

"I know where we might find one," Winston said. "The renovation crew was working mostly upstairs. I remember seeing some tools in my bathroom. I'm pretty sure there was a saw. Not a hacksaw, but still."

"That's okay. Can you go get it?"

Winston nodded and went. To their relief, the saw was in the bathtub like Winston said, and when he brought it down, they continued their work.

Next was beheading. Kevin used his knife first to cut deeper into the neck, slicing through muscle and ligaments, until he reached the spine. That's where the saw came to use. They washed it first-because there was some dry paint caked over the sharp edges-then Kevin began sawing rabidly at the bone. The chafing of the saw on bone sounded like wood. They tried their hardest to forget that this was a friend of theirs. Now, it was only an animal. And they were hunters feeding.