Night of Vengeance (8 page)

Chapter 21

     Colt had to admit, he was impressed. Briggs was tougher than he’d thought, but in the end it wasn’t enough. He looked at Briggs’ broken and bloody body hanging from the hook. There was nothing but a big hole where his face had been and he had more skin on the floor than on his body. He’d held up much longer than Colt had expected, but he finally broke. At the end, he was talking nonsense, which Colt found rather funny.

     He walked over to the table and sat the bloody knife down. There was a stairway in the corner of the warehouse. Colt walked up the stairs and through the outer door onto the roof. From the rooftop he could see the fires burning around town. He stood looking at the destruction, admiring it. Though he was somewhat disappointed he wasn’t feeling near the satisfaction he’d thought he would. For twenty years he dreamed of killing Brigg’s dad, until he died, then wanted to kill Briggs himself and burn the town to the ground.

     Yet after all of that, he still felt dead inside. Though he wasn’t sure what he had expected. Everything had gone smoother than he had planned. He figured for sure the state police would have come in by now and killed him and Joe’s men, but there was no sign of them.
He climbed back down and headed to his truck. He’d wasted enough time in the warehouse. It was time to see what was happening in town up close. Clay had been gone quite a while.

     He pulled out of the warehouse and drove through town. Joe’s men were running around, looting whatever was left. There was no sign of Joe, no telling what he was up to.
There was no sign of Clay either. What he did find was a pile of dead guys, all of whom were Joe’s men. He stopped the truck and climbed out. He recognized the jackets most of them wore. They weren’t a motorcycle club, but they dressed like it. He wasn’t sure what their angle was, other than they were effective, usually.

     As he examined the bodies, there were at least a dozen of them. All had been shot at fairly close range. One had his head blown clean off. Another was missing his jacket.
None of them were Clay at least. Colt shook his head. They must have gotten careless somehow. He knew they would lose men. No way you can go out and create the hell they did and not get something back. He climbed back into the truck and kept driving.

     There was an apartment complex near the southern part of town. He pulled in there and still no sign of Clay. There were plenty of dead bodies but all were civilians and a few more of Joe’s men.
There was a scream from behind his truck. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw a man screaming and climbing in back. There was another man chasing him. Colt got out and walked behind the truck.

     “Who the fuck are you?”
he asked the man.

     “Please! He’s trying to kill me, get us out of here! He’ll kill us both!”
the man pleaded. The pursuer caught up to them and was holding a revolver.

     “Back away, my beef isn’t with you, it’s with him
,” the man said.

     “That’s where your wrong my friend. Once he climbed into my truck, your beef became with me
,” Colt said.

     The man with the gun looked Colt up and down and suddenly became less sure of himself. Colt could tell this was some civilian trying to take advantage of the night he created. He wasn’t a killer. Colt took a few steps toward the man who raised the gun at Colt’s face.

     “I’ll shoot you! I mean it!” the man said.

     Without a response, Colt drew his gun from his jacket and shot the man in the forehead. He collapsed at Colt’s feet. As he looked in the back of the truck, the other man was curled up in the fetal position with his hands over his ears.

     “Hey, he’s dead,” Colt said.

     The man looked up, leaning out over the truck bed at the other man’s body.

     “Oh, thank God!” he said.

     “You’re dead too
,” Colt said and shot him in the face. He was already so covered in blood he didn’t even notice the blood that had sprayed on him from those two. He pulled the man’s body out of the truck and let it drop onto the ground. He climbed back in and drove out of the parking lot. A big part of him wished he hadn’t wasted so much time with Briggs. He’d missed most of the fun around town.

     He drove back through town toward the warehouse. About a half mile before the warehouse, there was a vehicle on fire. That hadn’t been there before. He stopped and got out to get a closer look. As he approached he recognized it right away. It was Clay’s truck, engulfed in flames. He ran as close as the heat would allow.

     “Clay!” he shouted. “Clay!” But there was no reply. He could see the figure of someone inside the cab, but he knew it was his brother. Somehow he’d just missed him. If he’d only stayed at the warehouse, he could have saved him. Whoever did this, they had to be pretty badass themselves. Clay was the second toughest guy he knew. He got back in his truck and headed back to the warehouse anxious to see what or who he’d find there.

Chapter 22

     Chad continued fucking the woman’s body long after she stopped breathing. Her chest and stomach had been ripped wide open and both her breasts had been cut off as well. Earlier Chad played with each of them, sucking on the nipples while holding the severed breasts in his hands. Despite being covered in blood, he was still turned on. He’d already gotten off several times but figured he’d go for one more.

     Clay looked on through his new mask. As Chad had been fucking her dead body, Clay had cut her face off and peeled it away from her skull. He wore the bloody skin mask and laughed as Chad shot his load inside the woman one last time.

     “Jesus Christ dude, you fucked her up good!” Clay said.

     Chad climbed off the woman and pulled his pants on. He ignored the blood on his legs and groin.

     “Yeah, I guess I did.”

     “Maybe you’re not such a pussy after all
,” Clay said, still wearing the woman’s face.

     “Dude, can you take that off, it looks creepy as hell.”

     “Sure does! Besides, you just cut her to pieces, but you think this is creepy?”

     “Just looks weird I guess
,” Chad said.

     “Whatever,” Clay pulled it off his head. “Let’s get out of here. I’m itchin’ to
hit some of your girl’s pussy again.”

     They walked outside and back to the truck.

     “Where the fuck did she go?” Chad asked.

     “She couldn’t have gotten far. She was butt ass naked.”

     Chad walked around the truck and looked at the parking lot, but saw no sign of her.

     “Shit, we have to find her,” Chad said. “She’ll get killed if she’s out wandering around.”

     “I bet someone else grabbed her. Came nosing around here and saw that fine piece of ass back there all crying and helpless. Hell yeah. She’s probably in one of these apartments getting torn up. Nothing we can do about it now. Let’s get going.”

     They climbed into the truck and headed back into town.

     “Where’s the rest of the guys?” Chad asked.

     “Aw probably out fuckin’ shit up. It’s what they do man. Like you just did.”

     As they drove a few more blocks, they rolled past almost a dozen dead bodies in the street. Clay stopped and they got out.

     “Shit, these are all our guys
,” Clay said. “Someone took them all out. Fuck me.”

     “They were his guys you mean. What do you think happened?”

     “They’ve all been shot. I don’t know. On a night like this, I guess it was bound to happen. Some of their pants are around their ankles. Maybe they were fucking some bitch and someone snuck up on them. I dunno. Let’s get out of here.”

     They got back into the truck and headed back through town. Things were eerily quiet as they rolled through downtown. Chad was impressed by the burning buildings and dead bodies lying everywhere. It looked like something off of TV.
On a street just ahead of them, another truck pulled in front of them. The truck was driving erratically and almost hit them as it pulled out.

     “Holy shit. Who are these guys?” Clay asked.

     The truck in front of them slammed on its brakes and sped in reverse, slamming into Chad and Clay’s truck.

     “What the fuck?” Chad yelled as Clay jumped out. Before Clay could close the door, a man got out of the other truck, pointing a gun at him.

     “Get back in the vehicle buddy.” The man said.

     Clay put his hand
s in the air and eased back toward the truck.

     “Easy there pal. No reason to get stupid. You don’t know who you’re fucking with
,” Clay warned, but the man fired a shot, hitting the open door. Clay jumped and climbed back inside the truck. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ man! You the one who killed all my guys back there?”

     “No, I am
,” a girl’s voice said from the passenger side. Chad had been so preoccupied watching Clay, he didn’t notice Melissa walking up to his side of the truck. In just a few hours, she looked totally different than the last time he’d seen her.

     “Melissa? What the fuck? What are you doing? What’s going on?” Chad asked.

     “Hi baby,” she said, pointing a gun at his head. “Did you miss me?”

Chapter 23

     Randy couldn’t believe he let two girls get the drop on him. Either way, they didn’t seem out to hurt him, at least not right at the moment. They had him drive back toward town. From what he could gather, they didn’t have any major plan. The tomahawk was still at his side. He could easily have swung it around at the girl next to him, Amy. She wasn’t even paying that much attention to him. The other girl behind him though, Melissa, she’d blow his head off for sure.

     Both girls were very young, like late teens or early twenties. They looked familiar, so he was sure he had seen them around town at some point. He wondered if they were animals like the thugs that came into town, or if they were like him; normal, everyday people who got sucked into the night’s events. They were probably the latter.

     “Shit, look over there
,” Melissa said. “There’s another car. That looks like the one Chad and that scuzzy asshole were in earlier.”

     Randy looked a block over and could see the headlights.

     “Head up to that corner and head them off. Come on!” she said as she jammed the gun into is ear.

     “You know, the bullet will still blow my head off. It doesn’t have to be two inches into my ear canal
,” Randy protested.

     “Shut the fuck up and drive.”

     “What did this guy do to you anyway?” Randy asked.

     “None of your fucking business
,” Melissa said.

     “They raped us. Or had others rape us. Repeatedly
,” Amy said.

     “Shut up! You didn’t have to tell him
,” Melissa yelled.

     “I don’t think he’s like them. He’s like us. He’s just trying to survive
,” Amy said.

     “She’s right,” Randy said. “I was a car salesman this morning.
I got fired this afternoon. Everyone treated me like shit. Once things started tonight, I decided that was going to end. Now those people are dead and I’m not.”

     “Whatever. Turn up here!” Melissa said.

     Randy turned left at the next intersection and sped to the next block. He saw the other truck approaching and accelerated in order to beat them, which he did and peeled out onto the next road with a hard right turn.

     “Holy shit! You drive like a fucking lunatic!” Melissa said.

     “I tend to do that when I have a gun in my ear.”

     He looked in the rearview mirror and could see two men in the truck behind him.

     “Ok,” Melissa said. Stop them now.”

     “How?”

     “I don’t give a shit. That’s them! I want you to stop them.”

     Randy slammed on the
brakes as they came screeching to a halt. The sudden stop caused Melissa to fly face first into the front seat. As she hit, the gun flew out of her hand and landed in Randy’s lap. He held the gun with one hand and put the truck in reverse, ramming the other truck until both were at a stop. Once they were stopped. Randy picked up the gun and looked at Melissa.

     “So would you like me to help you?”
he asked.

     “We don’t need your help. I have another gun you know.”

     “Yes, but I have this one and can shoot you faster than you can pull your other gun. Or you can let me help you. I’m not the one who raped you.”

     “He’s right,” Amy said. “It would be good to have another gun out there.”

     “I guess,” Melissa said. “I’ll keep an eye on you though. Try anything stupid and I’ll blow your nuts off.”

     “Fair enough
,” Randy said and opened the door. Melissa slid across the seat and jumped out the passenger side.

     As he walked to the other truck, the driver’s door opened and some stocky guy who looked like a mountain man stepped out. Randy pointed the gun at him.

     “Get back in the vehicle!” Randy yelled. The guy tried to argue, but he fired a warning shot into the truck’s door. The man quickly climbed back inside and closed it. As he got to the front of the vehicle, he saw both men were covered in blood. Though Randy was also, there was something about these two that clearly didn’t seem right. The other guy looked like a kid. On the other said of the truck, Melissa walked up and said something to him. They obviously knew each other as the kid looked like he’d seen a ghost.

     “Melissa! Hey! Thank God you’re ok!”
the younger guy said. She cracked him in the nose with the butt of her gun and blood sprayed all over the inside of the truck’s cab. She opened the door and pulled him out.

     “Dang girl,” the hairy guy said. “Where’d you get all tough all a sudden?”

     “You shut the fuck up! You’re not running shit anymore. I am,” Melissa said as Amy came walking toward her with a roll of duct tape that must have been in Randy’s truck.

     “Tape his ass up good,” Melissa said. “We’ll take him with us.”

     Randy kept the hairy guy covered at gun point as Amy wrapped duct tape around the other guy’s head, arms and legs. The guy sounded like he was crying as she taped him up.

     “So you gonna let me go?”
the hairy guy asked.

     “Are you fucking crazy? You’re a goddamn animal. After what you did to me, and all those people at the restaurant? You’re about to die a horrible, painful death asshole
,” she said.

     “Hey, come on. It was all in fun. Besides, admit it, you liked it.”

     Melissa shot him in the thigh.

     “Ow! Fuck! You fucking bitch!”
he yelled as she fired two more shots, all in the legs.

     “Light up the gas tank Randy,” she said.

     Randy looked in the back of the truck and found some old rags. He dug in the man’s jacket and found a cigarette lighter.

     “I’m gonna cut your heart out and eat it
, you cocksucker,” the man said to Randy.

     “I kind of doubt that
,” Randy said as he walked to the back and stuffed the rags into the truck’s gas tank. He lit the end of the rag and backed away. Melissa and Amy dragged the other guy back toward their truck. Randy ran over and helped them lift the guy into the bed of their truck and then they climbed back inside. Randy put the truck in gear and drove away. Before they were thirty feet away, the truck behind them burst into flames. Randy could hear the hairy man screaming as he burned alive.

     “Have fun with that, motherfucker
,” Melissa said looking behind her. She was smiling as she watched it burn.

     “So who is this guy?” Randy asked.

     “His name is Chad. He was my boyfriend, until he handed me over to those assholes to be raped. So we’re about to go through a really bad breakup.”