Mastim's Curse

Chapter 45

Our eyes meet and the helpless look of her face melts my heart. These bastards better not lay a hand on her or I'll kill them. When they lead her to the whipping post and chain her to it, my heart drops out of my chest. Her eyes are still on mine as dark drips of mascara run down her face. The black tears drop on her otherwise beautiful dress and cleavage making a pattern of despair.

Bryan moves back to his previous position. "Its' time to bring out our special guest, and the remaining member of your team. Someone that is very dear to your heart."

Dear to my heart? It better not be someone dear to my heart! The sound of another approaching vehicle announces the arrival of a cage being towed into view. The world fades away except for the vision of my Dad being driven toward me with his wrists chained to the bars of the cage.

When he sees me, concern sweeps across his face and he calls out. "Nicole! Are you ok?"

My arm reaches through the bars. "Dad, what are you doing here?" His cage is brought near mine but just out of reach. The harsh reality that he's a captive here in this sick, deranged place hits me so hard that I let the darkness come forth unchecked and uncontrolled. It consumes me, and I'm transformed into a demon devoid of fear, pain, and basic human principles. With a scream of pure rage, I attack the bars of my cage with such ferocity that even the armed guards back away from me as they hastily raise their guns. The bars groan and begin to move under my inhuman assault.

***

The Dead Horse Cantina was a trap of course. I suspected as much going in, but it was the only lead I had. When Krieger gave me the option to drink a shot for a chance to see Nicole, I took it. Even with only one in three chances in my favor, it was still the best chance I had. After drinking it, as I was quickly losing consciousness, Krieger walked over to sit at my table. He smiled like a kid and told me in a whisper that the secret to gambling was to always stack the odds in your favor while appearing otherwise. He said all three shot glasses were laced with sedative. I never had a chance.

Now, I'm here locked to this cage, watching Nicole radiate darkness like an inferno out of hell. She's gone way beyond anything I thought possible. My father's fits of rage pale in comparison. Astonished, I can't even imagine what she has become. I broke the twist ties they used to bind me at first, so now they have steel handcuffs holding my wrists to the cage bars. There's no hope of breaking those, but I again try anyway, only managing to deepen the bloody cuts on my wrists.

Bryan runs to my cage. "Tell your daughter to calm down or they'll have to shoot her!"

There are at least ten men with guns pointed at her. "Nicole, stop it!" From the look of them, the guards are about to shoot. "Please stop Nicole! If you die, I'm going to go berserk and then they'll have to kill me too. But if you stop, there's a chance we can both make it out of here alive." I'm not sure that's true, but I can't bear watching her gunned down like this.

I see the darkness recede, and after a few deep breaths, she seems to become herself again. I look into her mad face. "Nicole, whatever they do, don't try to help me. I want you to take the easiest way out and stay safe."

"Dad... You don't know about me. That I..." She looks up at the sky for a moment and then when she faces me again, I see it in the aura that surrounds her... dark flames. "Dad, you shouldn't worry about me... You should pray for them." She motions toward the people standing around us. "I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill them all."

For a long moment, we look into each other's eyes and I realize she's right. She is different than the rest of the family. It's the difference like being a lion tamer or being a lion. While our family has struggled to tame their gifts, Nicole is one with her power. She's a lion, and not a common lion. She's a dark, terrible predator. There isn't time to ponder the implications of that before Bryan starts talking into the camera again.

"Wow, that Nicolette is something isn't she? I don't know about these other guys, but I was a little afraid she might actually break out of that cage, as impossible as that seems." He wipes the sweat off his forehead with a paper towel before continuing. "So... now that we have the whole team together, let me explain more about this very special event. And then we're going to open up our site so the voting can begin. As we explained in the pre-game show, our viewers can vote as many times as they wish for their desired outcome on either wheel for a minimal fee. Whatever outcome gets the most votes will be administered to one member of Nicole's team. Here's the twist. We're going to give her dad a chance to prove himself even more than he already has. He may accept the outcome himself, or he can pick one of his teammates to receive it. It's all up to Mr. Mastim. It's his choice."

I'm starting to have a serious hate for Krieger and his fucking games. So far, my rescue attempt isn't going very well. I need to find a way to turn that around... fast.

"Let me explain again how this is going to work. This first wheel lists possible..." He looks around as if thinking of what to call them. "Unpleasantries... As you can see, they include; combat, branding, electric shock, whipping, poisonous snake bite, and even a chance for a pass if our viewers feel inclined to help out our heroes. Although, with the kind of people watching this, I wouldn't count on it."

The man with the thick gloves pulls the cover off a transparent, plastic box to review a small rattlesnake with a kind of greenish color to it. The snake curls up and puts on a show by making a loud rattling sound that has terrified so many people unlucky enough to stumble upon them in the wild.

Bryan cringes. "Wow, that snake could really ruin your day. By the way, I'm told this is a Mojave rattlesnake, which is the most lethal of rattlesnakes here in North America. So it's a good thing we have plenty of antivenom handy in our medical supplies." One of the workers hands Bryan a blue plastic box with a red cross on it. He opens it to show the two syringes it contains. "Nicolette, so that you can see how compassionate our sponsors are, they're going to give your team a chance to win these antivenom shots. All you have to do is accept the results of all five spins voluntary and complete them successfully."

He moves back to his original spot and places his hand on the wheel listing various body parts. "This wheel is to add some random spice to our event by picking where the consequence shown on the other wheel will be applied. Let's hope face doesn't come up too often or this is going to get very messy." Bryan gives a fake shudder.