Love at Death's Door [COMPLETE]

Chapter 10

The moment was cathartic for Edward and Tatiana. After hours of brutal psychological and physical torture, the pair had finally been allowed a moment to cry and be raw with both themselves and one another. But as relieving as the brief respite was, both the man and woman knew that it couldn't last.

"We have to get out of here," Edward said, eyeing the torniquet he had applied to Tatiana's severely injured arm. "You need a doctor, that thing can't stay on you for too long."

"Yeah, no kidding," Tatiana agreed. She was still speaking through a combination of intense pain from both the grisly wound itself, and the tightness of the wrap that was pinching the skin around it. "But how are we going to find the exit, anyway?"

"Actually, I realized something after we fell into the freezer before. You and I were kidnapped just a few hours ago, right? It was about seven P.M. at the time for me."

"About eight for me," Tatiana added.

"Right, and it's been hours since then. So, it must be after midnight by now, probably three or four A.M., which means we couldn't have been taken too far away from Haysfield at all."

"Right, I mean, according to the news, all this guy's victims keep turning up on the outskirts of town, too. Well, the ones he doesn't keep as trophies in his freezer, I guess..."

"Exactly," said Edward. "I think I know exactly where we are. There's an old, derelict meat processing plant just on the outside of town. They shut it down a few years ago and moved to another location closer to the inside of town. I think this guy has been using the old plant as his own personal murder funhouse."

"So, let me get this straight. This guy is called the 'Haysfield Butcher', and he's using a meat processing plant as his hideout, and the cops haven't put two and two together?"

"No one ever said the police were worth a damn..." Edward chuckled.

"Ain't that the truth," Tatiana agreed. "Anyway, good thinking. Least we know where we are now."

"Yeah, if we get out of here, we wouldn't be too far from the road. I'm sure we could flag someone down and get help and a ride back to town from there."

"Sounds like a plan, but you know that bastard isn't going to just let us walk out of here," said Tatiana. She looked down at her wrapped stump, her expression making it clear that she would be unable to speak of the Butcher without reliving that horrific moment in the freezer ever again.

"Yeah, but he's badly hurt," Edward said, his lips bent upward in a smirk. He made no attempt to hide how proud of himself he was for running the Butcher through with a machete.

"Yeah, like me."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that if I'm still going, he's still going. No way that asshole is going down that easily. Also, look." Tatiana motioned to the upper corner of the room. A camera jutted from the wall, its invisible cone of sight pointing at the two. "That thing moved a second ago."

"So, you think he's watching us again?"

"I know he is. In fact, why take my word for it?" Tatiana slowly stood, directing her attention into the camera's lens. "Enjoying the show, asshole?"

The crackling of a speaker gave way to deep, controlled laughter.

"Not as much as I enjoyed sawing your hand off, Tatiana," the Butcher replied. His voice was more subdued than before, and his cadence was slow and uneven.