The Storm

Part 4

Ayla was the first to wake. It was a noise that brought  her back to consciousness. The noise started out low-pitched and loud before escalating to a very high pitched ringing. The sound rang over and over. Ayla's head felt like it was going to explode. She made a move to cover her ear but to no avail. Her hands we bound behind her back. She groaned as she sat herself up from the couch. The room was pitch black again. That noise. It was the sirens. There was a tornado close. Ayla panicked and tried to jump to her feet only to be roughly pushed back down.

"Nobody told you to get up" A gruff voice barked over the high-pitched siren.

"We need to go to the basement!" Ayla yelled back at him in defiance.

"We will do whatever the fuck we think we need to do. Next time you open that pretty little mouth, I will cut out your tongue. Do you understand?"

Ayla sucked both of her lips into her mouth and didn't make another sound.

"What do you think Jack?" One of them men had asked.

"If you want to have any fun with them we probably need to go to the basement just in case... Or we could just kill them and go home. I prefer the second choice myself..."

"No! Damn it! I said we were going to have fun, I damn well meant it. Grab your bitch, I'll grab mine. To the basement!" Jeff laughed as he scooped Riley's limp body up off the floor. He roughly threw her over his shoulder once more. Jack looked down at Ayla.

"Come on." He commanded. Ayla didn't move as quickly as he had wanted her to so he quickly reached down and grabbed her arm pulling her up off the couch as if she was a rag doll. He held a tight grip on her arm as he pulled her along with him as they both followed Jeff over to the basement door and down the stairs. Jeff dropped Riley on the floor like a sack of potatoes. Ayla opened her mouth to protest. To tell him to be careful with her, but found it in her best interest to say nothing. Jack finally let go of her arm and shoved her forward. She, being the clumsy fool that she was, tripped over Riley's limp body. Her chin made contact with the cold concrete first as the rest of her body slid across the floor behind her. Ayla's chin instantly started to burn. She winced as she tried to sit herself upright without using her hands. Suddenly the tiny basement lit up. Ayla found the source quickly. Jeff had found an old lantern that Ayla never even knew was there.

"Hoooo! First blood! Jack, you beast, wait for me!" Jeff howled as his eyes made contact with Ayla's chin. Ayla's eye's went wide. She desperately tried to wipe her chin on her Pikachu jammies. She looked back over to the masked man. His whole body went rigid. He sat on the bottom step just staring at her. His chest started to rise and fall quicker than what Ayla had noticed earlier. Ayla quickly turned her attention away from him. She tried to turn her back to him. She didn't like the feeling that was radiating from the man named Jack.

The room exploded with music. Ayla looked up only to see Jeff fiddling with another item she never knew they owned. An old radio. "I couldn't stand the sound of that damn siren any longer." Jeff mumbled through the song. Ayla quickly averted her eyes from him. She didn't want any attention from him at all. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her scrapped up chin on them. She closed her eyes and thought to herself. How long was this going to last? Were they going to kill them? Of course they were. People don't just break into people's houses, tie them up, throw them in the basement, and leave. That's not how this works. Ayla couldn't stop the tear that fell from her eye. She wasn't granted time for more. Her cheeks were being squeezed roughly by a gloved hand. He pulled her face and made her look at him. She made a sort of whimper that as muffled by the hand. She was glad that he didn't seem to hear it. She didn't want to give Jack the satisfaction of knowing how sacred she really was.

Jack studied the woman's face for what seemed like an awkward eternity before he slowly took his free hand and slid his mask off of his face. Ayla's eyes widened. This man, or rather this thing, had no eyes. Ayla pulled back and away from him. "Y-your eyes..." was all she managed to say.

This made Jeff howl with laughter again. "He ain't called Eyeless Jack for nothing!"

Eyeless Jack's mouth pulled into a frown as he shuffled closer to the scared woman. He grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled the woman into his chest before moving up her head to her hair grabbing her bun in his fist with a vice-like grip. He smiled at her revealing his pearly white pointed teeth that contrasted highly against his gray skin. He titled Ayla's head back and moved in closer to her chin. His tongue darted out and ran up along her scrape making her wince and try to pull away. Jack's grip tightened on the woman's hair as he pulled his tongue back into his mouth savoring the taste of the coppery blood. His head fell slightly to Ayla's shoulder. Even over the music she heard him inhale the scent from the blood that was on her clothes. He pulled away and let go of the woman. Standing, he turned to Jeff who was enthralled by watching the whole thing.

"I don't think I can wait." Jack mumbled as he walked rigidly back to the bottom step and took his seat, causing Jeff to smile madly.