Night of Vengeance (5 page)

Chapter 12

     Randy sped through the streets in the Corvette, laughing maniacally as he ran over anyone or anything in his way. He had no idea who these hooligans were who had raided his town, but unlike everyone else, he felt happy for it. He had never felt this alive. For the first time in his life, there was no one to answer to, no one to push him around. He was the one with the power tonight and he planned to use it.

     There was one place Elaine might be. He drove the Corvette through downtown and toward the strip mall. There was smoke and chaos all over the place, but she might be around. The nail salon was a small store at the strip mall and looked mostly untouched. Chances are no one even noticed it. He stopped the Corvette a few feet in front of it and climbed out. There was a sporting goods store a few stores down with the windows busted out. It had probably been picked clean, but he stepped inside anyway.

     There were a few people rummaging around. He looked through the piles of merchandise strewn about. After sifting through some broken glass and shelving where some display cases used to be, he found a large hunting knife. He kept digging but there was nothing interesting. There
were large double doors in the back of the store. He walked through there into the storage area. It was dark and cooler there as he saw stacks of boxes, many of which had been ripped open.

     As he looked through some of the boxes, footsteps sounded behind him right before someone began yelling. He spun around to see a kid charging toward him with what looked like a hatchet over his head. Randy ducked and instead of moving, lunged at the kid, thrusting the knife into his chest before the boy could swing the hatchet. He pulled the knife out quickly as he stepped to the side. The boy collapsed to the ground in an instant as blood sprayed from the wound.

     Randy knelt down and saw the boy looked no older than fourteen or fifteen. Lying next to him was his weapon which wasn’t a hatchet at all. It was a tomahawk. Randy had seen them in magazines, but never used one. H picked it up and found it to be heavy, but light enough to swing. The blade was super sharp on one end, with a sharpened spike on the other. He took the knife and placed it in its sheath and fixed it to his belt.

     With his new weapons, he walked back outside. He knew he should have felt something for having killed that kid, but he didn’t. The boy was charging at him with a fucking tomahawk, intent on killing him. All he did was defend himself. Just outside the store, he looked around the parking lot and saw much of the same chaos that was happening around the rest of the town. He leisurely walked to the nail salon and saw the lights were all off. As he tried to door, it wouldn’t budge. Locked.

     He pressed his face against the glass and saw no movement. It was hard for him to believe this time in the evening, no one would be there. Taking the tomahawk, he reared back and slammed the spike end into the glass door. It cracked in a large spider web pattern with the first blow. After two more blows, it shattered completely. He reached in, unlocked the door, and pulled it open. As he stepped inside, he instantly heard sobbing coming from the back. As he walked to the back of the salon, he noticed the rest of the place had been untouched. They must have run and hid the instant everything started.

     There was a door to a storage closet in the back. He went to open it, but that was locked as well. Jesus Christ.
He took the tomahawk and pounded the blade against the hinges. The door swung open as the second hinge flew off. Inside the closet there was a group of almost a dozen women crammed inside. Several were Asian while the rest were white, most likely the customers. They were crying, some with their hands tightly over their mouths. Except for one.

     “Randy?” Elaine said as she stood. “What are you doing here? What is going on?”

     He wasn’t happy to see her alive, except for the fact that he could now finish her himself, in his time.

     “Where are the kids?”
he asked. Their children, Dustin and Katelynn were six and nine years old. They had likely been with Elaine when this all started.

     “I—I don’t know,” she said as she began crying. “They were playing outside on the sidewalk when we heard the first explosion. I looked out and didn’t see them, then we all ran in here and hid.”

     “So you made sure you saved yourself. God you are such a fucking cunt.”

     “Randy! How can you say that! I looked out and they were gone! They probably died in the first explosion.”

     “I’m sure you looked real hard for them.”

     “Why are you covered in blood? Have you seen Skip? He’s not answering his phone.”

     “Yeah, I saw him. He won’t be answering his phone anymore I’m afraid.”

     “What? What did you do?”

     “As you may have noticed, things tonight are different. I plan to make the most of it.”

     Without any warning, he swung the tomahawk at one of the Asian women sitting on the floor in front of him, striking her
in the top of the head. Blood sprayed from her head as she twitched and convulsed, even causing the tomahawk to shake in his hand. He went to pull it out, but it was lodged too deep. The rest of the women, Elaine included began screaming. The sound made his head hurt. He put his foot on the girl’s face and pushed against it as he pulled the tomahawk free from her skull.

    
When it popped free, her body slumped backward. He walked through the closet swinging the tomahawk at each of them, killing them one by one. Blood sprayed as the screaming eventually died down. One woman tried to run toward the door. Randy caught up to her easily and hacked at her head dozens of times until it was nothing but a soupy pile of bones, blood and brains. He finished off the others easily. Most of them he cut their throats, though the tomahawk was so sharp, a few he took their heads clean off. By the time he was finished, it was just him and Elaine.

     They were both covered head to toe in blood as he dragged her out of the closet. She was sobbing quietly and shaking. She didn’t want to move at first, but he poked her in the side with the spike end of the tomahawk and she began walking. He took her to the main part of the salon and sat her in one of the chairs.

     “Oh now, don’t cry my dear. It’s time for your pedicure!”

Chapter 13

     Briggs struggled against his own handcuffs during the bumpy ride. Colt had cuffed him and threw him in the back of the pickup truck. He even wrapped him in a canvas tarp to complicate things. He was sure they were headed back into town, but to where he had no clue. Had he been a real cop, he would have known much sooner Colt was about to be released and kept track of his whereabouts the moment he set foot outside of prison.

     Police work had never interested Briggs, not in the slightest. He’d wanted to be mayor just like his dad
, but didn’t have the knack for politics and bullshit the way his father had. After losing the mayoral race several years ago he was offered the Sheriff’s position in exchange for never running for mayor anytime in the future. The job was easy enough, paid well and had good benefits. As the town’s Sheriff, he was free to do pretty much whatever he wanted and let the real cops in his department do the dirty work.

     That was until tonight. Colt had returned and brought hell with him. All that over a twenty year old beef with a dead guy to boot. Seemed like overkill.
He hoped he could talk some sense into Colt before things got out of hand. Well things were out of hand, but that was just the town. If he got hurt, that would be way out of control. The truck rumbled to a stop finally and he heard the driver’s door open and close. Colt ripped the tarp off Briggs who found himself once again staring at the scariest man he’d ever seen.

     “You awake sunshine?” Colt said.

     “Not like I could sleep on that ride. What do you think you’re doing Colt? Aren’t you on parole? You don’t want me to call your PO do you?” Briggs said. Though as he spoke, he wasn’t sure how he was helping his own cause. He looked around for the first time and saw he was in a warehouse, but wasn’t sure where exactly.

     “Oh, I’ll take good care of myself, you don’t worry about me boss
,” Colt said as he heaved him out of the truck and to his feet. Colt was only a few inches taller than Briggs, but was much stronger. He dragged Briggs to a large chain with a hook on the end. Colt took Briggs’ cuffed hands and draped them over the hook.

     “Colt, what are you doin’? You don’t want to do anything crazy
,” Briggs protested as Colt pulled on the other end of the large chain, lifting Briggs off the ground. His arms were suspended over his head until his feet were about a foot off the ground. Briggs let out a grunt as he tried to adjust himself.

     “Jesus Colt! This hurts like hell! Why you gonna take this out on me? I never did nothin’ to you! I can’t help it what my daddy done! I was just a kid man!” Briggs didn’t know where it came from, but he began crying at the realization he was probably going to die before morning, and not in a nice way.

     “The sins of the father my friend. I know you understand that.” Colt took a large hunting knife from his jacket and began cutting Brigg’s shirt off.

     “Oh come on! Why you gotta do that! Just kill me if you’re gonna kill me already.”

     “Will you shut up and have some dignity? I saw a girl being raped by four men before I came after you, she didn’t act like as much of a bitch as you are now. Control yourself.”

     “You are one sick fucker you know that? You get fucked in the ass too much in prison? Or was sucking dick more your thing?”

     Colt grabbed Briggs by the hair and pulled his head back as he jammed the knife against his mouth. Blood poured from his lip as Colt applied pressure to the blade.

     “One more word and I’ll cut out your fucking tongue, then your eyes. Then I’ll strip you naked and turn you loose downtown. How long do you suppose you’d last with no tongue or eyes?”

     Briggs just nodded and whimpered as Colt stared at him. It was then for the first time Briggs realized the level of hate within Colt. Briggs has hated people before, not to the level he was looking at in Colt’s face. Colt slowly pulled the knife away and finished cutting Briggs’ shirt away.

     “I’m sorry man. This is just a bit crazy tonight, you gotta admit
,” Briggs said.

     “The night is young Sheriff. We’ll get to know each other real well before morning.”

     “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing Colt. I mean, we coulda just had a drink if you wanted to get to know me.”

     “
Yes. But there is one big difference.”

     “What’s that?” Briggs asked.

     “We’ll both be dead by morning.”

     With that, Briggs felt pure, raw fear seize him to the point he literally shit his own pants. He never wanted to die and the whole time Colt had grabbed him, he’d been thinking of and fearing his own death. With Colts’ own words just now, he realized Colt never planned on walking out of there after bringing this circus of death and madness to town. Colt was going to die and knew it
, which brought Briggs’ back to the fear that had overtaken him. If Colt didn’t care about his own death, what exactly did he have planned for Briggs?

Chapter 14

     Chad sat quietly in the back of the pickup as the men watched him and Melissa. Melissa was curled up in a blanket staring up at the sky. Each of the men looked like a reject from “The Sons of Anarchy.” They wore denim jackets, some had long hair, some were bald, and they all had beards and tattoos.

     “Where are we going?” Chad asked. Surprisingly he wasn’t all that rattled by the whole scene at the restaurant. He should have been after giving up his girlfriend to be gang raped, and then watching dozens of people he knew burned alive. Yet he felt nothing. His moral compass had never pointed due north, but he was starting to wonder if it even functioned.

     “Shut the fuck up slick,” one of the men said. Chad didn’t need to be told twice. As they drove through downtown, he saw buildings on fire, dead bodies in the streets, cars wrecked. There were a group of teenagers beating up on an older couple right in a front yard. He recognized the kids and had seen them around town. It looked like even the townsfolk were getting in on the action. He was about to wonder where the police were when he saw a police cruiser by the road, with the windows and lights smashed on it, and a dead deputy lying in the road.

     They drove several more minutes just outside town to an old warehouse. Chad had driven past it a few times. It hadn’t been used in years. As they pulled inside, he saw another man standing in front of a truck. The truck’s headlights were on, illuminating the man in the warehouse and another man hanging from a chain. Chad recognized that man, it was Sheriff Briggs. The other man turned to face them. It was the scary guy from the gas station. Shit.

     The truck pulled to a stop and the men jumped out. The scary guy came walking toward them.

     “Well what do we have here?”
he asked.

     “Oh, a couple a souvenirs from the barbecue place. The girl is a fine piece of ass. This douchebag is her boyfriend. He served her up to us like a plate of brisket. Real star this one!”
the burly man said.

     “Nice, Clay. I’ve met this one. He’s not as tough as he thinks after all. Where’s Joe?”

     “I have no idea. Haven’t seen him since earlier. What are you gonna do with the Sheriff?” Clay asked.

     “Gonna have some fun with him.
Why’d you bring these two?”

     “The girl’s pussy is like a tight piece of silk. Gonna fuck her as much as I can. The guy, I dunno. He’s kind of a bitch, figured he can tell us where folks might be hiding, things are stashed, fun shit like that.”

     Colt looked in the back of the truck at Melissa.

     “That girl isn’t looking so hot,” Colt said.

     “She’ll be fine. She was a real champ. Fucked every guy at the restaurant.”

     “Nice. Well you kids have fun. I got work to do here.”

     “Need any help?” Clay asked.

     “Nah, Briggs and I need some alone time.”

     “Suit yourself brother. Ok guys! Let’s go!” Clay shouted. “I’ll ride in back this time.” And jumped in. The rest of the men climbed in as the truck pulled out of the warehouse. Chad sat by watching as Clay went over to Melissa and pulled the blanket off her.

     “What’re you doing?” Chad asked.

     “Gonna get more of this, dumbass. What’s it look like?”

     “Don’t you think she’s had enough?”

     “I’ll decide when she’s had enough fuckface. Now shut up. You’re cock blockin’ me,” Clay said as he began fucking Melissa as she lie motionless against the cab. Chad looked as the other men looked on. Some of them had their dicks in their hands, jerking off. Jesus, these guys had no restraint. They pulled up to an apartment complex on the south side of town. It was relatively untouched compared to the rest of the town. There were people running around, burning things in the streets and people fighting, but nothing too crazy.

     “Let’s go tough guy,” Clay said as he grabbed Chad. “Time to break your cherry.”

     “What?” Chad asked.

     Clay dragged him over to the apartment building and walked around looking in the windows.

     “Here we go,” Clay said. “You wanna be a tough guy kid?”

     “No, I mean, I don’t…”

     “Oh come on. At the restaurant you were trying to act like one of the guys. Well, I’ll let you prove it.”

     “Prove it how?” Chad asked. Clay just looked at him and kicked in the door to the apartment. A woman on the couch screamed. There was a girl with her, she looked to be thirteen
or fourteen who was curled up against her.

     “Good evening ladies!” Clay shouted. “Sorry to disrupt your evening, but this little fella needs to borrow you both for a little bit.” Clay turned to Chad and smiled. “Here you go slick. First thing, I need you to kill the kid.”

     “No! Please!” the woman screamed as the girl cried.

     “What?” Chad said. “I won’t do that!” He wasn’t sure why Clay wanted him to do this. He wanted to survive whatever holocaust his town was suffering tonight, but didn’t want to hurt anyone, even though he basically had helped destroy Melissa. Clay pulled out a gun and jammed the butt into his stomach.

     “Come on. Don’t be a pussy.”

     “I can’t.”

     “Ok, you can shoot the kid, or I’ll shoot you in the nuts. Which is it?”

     Chad looked at him, and then looked at the woman and her daughter. They were both looking at him, their eyes pleading with him to save them from Clay. He took the gun and looked at it as he felt its weight in his hand. He’d only ever fired a gun once, and that was a .22 rifle on his uncle’s ranch years ago. This was a semi-automatic hand gun. Placing his hand around the grip, he looked at Clay who nodded at him and looked back at the girls.

     As he looked at their faces, he pointed the gun at the daughter who pinched her eyes shut. It suddenly occurred to Chad that he could shoot Clay. All he had to do was turn the gun on Clay and pull the trigger and this nightmare would be over. Or would it? Clay’s men were still outside and no doubt they wouldn’t be too thrilled with him killing their boss. They’d skin him alive for sure.

     “No, please! Don’t do this!”
the woman cried. “Shoot me instead! Please! Not my little girl!”

     The gun shook in Chad’s hand as he pointed it toward the mom who closed her eyes. She began praying as he held the gun on her. He looked back at Clay who shook his head, and nodded toward the daughter. It had to be the kid. Chad took a deep breath and looked back at the mom, and in one motion swung the gun back to the daughter and pulled the trigger. The shot sounded like a bomb went off in the small apartment as the pistol kicked in his hand. The back of the little girl’s head exploded as the bullet pierced her forehead. Blood sprayed along the wall and couch as the girl’
s body collapsed onto the couch.

     “Noooo!!!!!”
the mom shrieked. “Oh my god! My baby! No! No! No!” She was now sobbing uncontrollably as Chad lowered the gun and looked at Clay who patted him on the shoulder.

     “Can we go now?” Chad asked.

     “Hell no! That’s just the first part champ! Nice shot by the way. But you’re just getting started.”