Mastim's Curse

Chapter 36

Suzie has a death grip on my arm and is as ridged as a statue.

I bring my face close to hers. "Suzie, look at me." I have to pull her face away from the direction of the horrid sounds. "We're going make it out of here. And know that we know where one of the bad guys is, we can avoid him. If we're careful we can avoid the others too."

"Sh... sure," she stammers. She's shivering all over.

I hug her tightly. "We're going to make it! Trust me."

Her face is white as a sheet. "Right... We're going to make it."

I pull away turn to face the darkness ahead of us. "Ok, now let's get moving." I step forward and wait for Suzie to move. After a moment, she squeezes my hand and comes next to me. Abruptly, a new light comes to life at the other end of the room. That's when we find out, to our extreme dismay, that we are not alone. Suzie's mouth opens but nothing comes out as her nails dig deep into my arm.

There, at the far end of the room, stands a thin man with sun browned skin, holding a large hunting knife. He waves for us to come toward him with a wide grin on his pockmarked face. "Come on girls. It's time to play."

That son of a bitch has been listening to us the whole time. He should have jumped us when we weren't paying attention. Now he's lost that edge.

With the new lighting, we can see the rest of the room which has been painted with an odd mixture of splattered paint and graffiti. Halfway between us and the bounty hunter is a small table with a baseball bat lying on it. I resist the urge to make a dash to it because that seems be exactly what the man with the big knife wants me to do. With a deep breath, I force myself to hold still while I think this over. Why would he want me to have a bat? No... He can't want that. He must want me to think I'm going to have a bat. It's got to be a trap.

I look closely for any sign of things not being right. Besides the table and bat, along the back side of the room are two wooden doors. Hopefully, one of them leads to the way out of here. There's nothing obviously out of place. This guy looks like he's lived the harder side of life, and there's no doubt in my mind that he knows how to use that knife. Right now, he seems intent on hanging back and waiting to see if I make a go for the bat. That makes no sense to me. First he doesn't attack us when the light is off, and now he's giving me a chance to get the bat. What's up with that? Whatever... This jerk wants to play? Fine, the darkness is begging to fill me with fire and it's time to let it out to play.

I stand straight and stretch out my arms. The distant screams, the blood and gore that covers me... all this has been feeding that dark part of me, teasing it... and know I can finally let it out. The blood-curding yell that rends the air this time comes from me as I am filled with an overpowering lust to kill.

The thin man's grin is replaced with deep furrows in his brow and he makes a nervous glance at the straw covered ground in front of me. The straw... Why did they cover the floor with it? What is it hiding? I slide my foot carefully forward while keeping an eye fixed firmly on the man who no longer looks happy. Sliding one foot after the other, I slowly inch my way until my left foot hits something hard with a clank of metal. Still carful to keep the increasingly upset man in view, I kneel down to examine what's under the straw. Tender inspection with my free hand finds jagged metal, and after pulling away more straw, a very nasty looking bear trap is exposed. That explains a lot. We were never meant to make it to the bat.

"That almost worked," I call out with a malevolent grin.

"Fuck you," spits the thin man. He crouches like a cat about to pounce.

Keeping myself ready for any move he makes, I continue to examine the trap which is held in place with a large metal stake. This will make a nice addition to my weaponry. First, I drop the rock I've been carrying in my fist on the trigger to spring the trap, and it slams shut with a frightening crash of metal teeth. Then I rip the trap's stake out of the ground and stand back up to get a good look at it. Yes. This will do nicely. Warping the chain around my left hand and letting the trap dangle down like a battle mace feels good.

"There are probably more of these so slide your feet as we cross," I say to Suzie.

She shakes her head. "No... Let's stay here, were safe here with the traps between him and us."

"That's not an option. We have to get out of here before time's up." I stand right in front of her with my hand on her shoulder. "We're going to cross this room, and then I'm going to kill that man standing in our way. Do not slow me down."

She looks up into my dark, flaming eyes and the fear fades from her face. With a nod, I know she's ready.

I hand the rock to Suzie and begin a slow, steady advance across the straw floor, sliding my feet as we go. As we move forward, I slowly swing the bear trap to get a feel for its weight and balance. We push aside three more traps along the way, and when we reach the bat, I pick that up also. With the trap in my left hand and the bat in my right, I advance with full confidence and intent to kill this man.

He seems unnerved. Maybe the sight of a known killer, covered in blood and gore, advancing toward him with a weapon in each hand is too much for the bounty hunter who backs up to the door to his left. I can smell his fear and it draws me like a wolf to a fleeing lamb. We continue our carful approach, and we're almost to him when he swears and turns to open the door in an attempt to flee. I lung forward as much as my chain to Suzie will permit, swinging the trap in an arc that brings it down on the man's head. The trap crashes on him hard and his scream joins the others that sing a deadly song on the night air.

The blow is enough that he drops the hunting knife and staggers to one knee. I start to swing the bat, but Suzie is keeping her distance, I can't bring it into play without hurting her. Before he can recover, I release the trap and pick up the discarded knife. Suzie looks away as I sink the blade deep into his back. His blood mingles with the rest that covers me as he yells and twists around in an attempt to defend himself. I pull back quickly to get out of his reach and he falls onto his back. Taking advantage of the opening he provides, I jump on top of him, dragging Suzie with me. He flails wildly at my arm to try and keep the blade from finding his flesh again. A mixture of pleading and terror emanates from his face as his hands hold back my arm with the blade hovering just inches over his chest.

However, the dark fire that engulfs me feels no pity and my lust to kill can only be satisfied with the soul of this man who thought to stand in my way. And so, my upper body slams onto the hilt of the blade like a hammer, again and again, causing it to descend into his heaving chest an inch at a time despite his panicked effort to hold it back. Then, with a final cough of blood and mucus, his face relaxes and he lies still.

I sit back to collect myself, still shivering with the ecstasy of taking a life. God, I wish it didn't feel so good. I take deep breaths to calm my beating heart because this is only the start of what may be a very long evening.

Suzie is staring at me, her face ashen with shock. I feel sorry for her. She's probably never seen a man killed before, especially not like this. "It had to be done," I say.

"I guess so," She looks over at the dead man. "But... maybe we could have just followed him. You know... to see the way out."

Crap! Mentally, I slap myself and look up at the celling shaking my head is disgust. "Sorry, I don't always think straight when I'm... like that."

"I can tell," she says softly. "It's ok. He did show us the right door to take."

"Yes. He did." I get up and wipe the blood off my hands onto the wall in the shape of an 'M'. This is their house, it's their game, but this is how I play.