Safe Haven, page 10
"Come on, I'll show you," he said, turning off the shower and stepping out.
"Can't it wait?" asked Juliet, Fry's excitement sending a wave of electrical impulses through her that demanded satisfaction.
"When you see it, you'll be glad we didn't," he replied, dousing his hairy body with a towel before throwing on a bath robe.
Juliet's shoulders sank. She nearly always acted on impulse, when she couldn't, it felt like she was betraying her body. She stepped out of the shower cubicle with a pout and flung on her own robe. "This better be worth it," she said, only half joking.
Fry smiled as he led her out of the bathroom and down the stairs. They walked along the hall and into the kitchen. A painted wooden door with a rickety handle squeaked out of its frame as Fry turned the key and pulled. Light flooded into the entrance, but darkness lay beyond. He picked up a lantern and flicked the switch casting illumination on their surroundings. Juliet shut the door behind them, closing the rest of the world out of their secret place.
As they descended the stone steps, Juliet could hear a continuous suffering wail. Her teeth bore in an enthralled smile, and she felt compelled to reach out and lovingly caress Fry's shoulder. They reached the bottom of the steps and creaked open a more flimsy, panelled door, bearing the rotting signs of age and damp. As it swung open, the sound became more pronounced. As the two entered the small room, Juliet let out an excited giggle and clapped her hands like a child at a surprise birthday party.
Lorelei was spread eagle against the damp plaster of the cellar wall. Her hands and feet were tied with rope and secured to thick galvanised steel staples like the kind you would find on industrial padlocks. The staples had been secured through the plaster and to the stone beyond. She was naked and her normally perfectly styled black hair hung limp over her bowed face. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Fry had left several lanterns and candles burning which lit up the room enough to illuminate the centrepiece which was a jardinière he had brought down from the living room. Before a spider plant had decorated the antique piece of pottery, but now The Don's head stared straight towards his captive daughter. His blank eyes and protruding tongue were morbid reminders of the horrifying moment she had found out her father was no more.
Lorelei looked up, sensing the presence of someone else in the room. Strands of damp black hair stuck to her face as tears had glued them into position. Thick saliva muffled her words as she struggled to come to grips with the reality of her situation. "Daddy," she cried again like a lost child in a field of strangers.
"Daddy," Juliet mocked her and then aggressively pulled Fry around.
She grasped tight hold of the hair on the back of his head, tearing a few strands loose in her vice like grip, then pulled his head towards her. She stuck her tongue in his mouth like an animal marking its territory and pulled his waist into her. Then she released him with the same quick impulse. She shuddered. All her senses alive at once.
"Baby, you've outdone yourself this time," she said as she walked over to The Don's head. She bent down to look at it and gently smoothed his comb over back into place. "I don't think I've ever seen you looking better," she said and pushed her lips up to the cold skin of The Don's forehead.
Lorelei screamed. "Leave him alone!" as if further damage could be done, but that just made Juliet all the more giddy with the prospect of playing with her new toys. She stood up and placed her hand on the Don's head, brushing his thin hair again and again as if she was stroking a favourite pet.
"Oh Lorelei," said Juliet looking towards the pathetic young woman. "I'm not going to do anything to your daddy. Anything that has gone before is just water under the bridge now. Me and your daddy are going to be best friends," she said breaking into the widest grin yet.
Lorelei had done bad things in her time. Wicked things. She had lived a more debauched life than her father in some ways, but this was something else. This was an insanity she had never come across before—an evil that turned her blood stone cold. She wanted to scream and shout and threaten, but she realised, that's what these monsters wanted. They wanted to put a sound to her fear and suffering, so she put her head down and quietly sobbed.
***
"How long before we head back?" shouted Jules over the sound of the engine.
They had travelled three miles south of the city on the A9. The pace had been slow, and Mike had frequently had to stop to make sure the bike kept within a tantalising reach of the horde of RAMs following them.
"I want to make sure we lead them well out of the city just in case our lot ran into any problems," he called back over his shoulder.
Jules had eased her grip a little as she gradually became used to the feel and movement of the bike beneath her. She dared to look back over her shoulder and then wished she hadn't. The nearest RAMs were no more than forty metres away. Their snarling faces as angry as ever, no sign of tiring, no hint that they would give up the chase. She placed her head on Mike's warm back and closed her eyes tight. She hardly knew the man she was with, but at least he was a man. Warm blood ran through his veins, a heart beat within him, and if the worst happened and they did not make it back then at least she would die with one of her own kind rather than alone at the hand of the devil's beasts.
***
"Daddy got called away on business, but I thought that would give the two of us time to really get to know each other," said Juliet as she returned to the cellar. She walked up to The Don's head and stood behind it.
Lorelei reluctantly looked up. The candles and lanterns still burned strong. She saw that Juliet had now changed into a pair of black leather trousers and a revealing low cut t-shirt. It occurred to Lorelei that she had seen them before and as the sad fuzziness began to lift, she suddenly realised from where. They were her clothes. She lurched angrily, and Juliet cocked her head back and laughed at the sight of the tied woman clumsily trying to reach her.
Lorelei fumed at first, but then something registered. Her right hand had moved forward ever so slightly. She turned and looked at her bound wrist. The knot was still tight, but the thick staple had edged out of the wall a little. She quickly turned her head back and noticed Juliet was still laughing in her self congratulatory manner.
"You like?" Juliet asked, gesturing to her clothing. "Who knew we'd be the same size?" she said, smiling viciously at her captive. "Y'know Lorelei, you have just been the biggest pain in my arse since the day I ever heard your damned name. Every time you've had the opportunity to bring my man down, you've done it and for that, I am going to make you suffer like you never even dreamed was possible you fucking bitch.”
The smile left her face with her last two words and a snarl appeared heralding the revealing of the true face behind the mask.
"What do you think, daddy, should we make her suffer?" Juliet asked, animatedly bending down to look at The Don's severed head. She stayed there a second and then grabbed hold of the head aggressively. "It's polite to answer when someone asks you a question," said Juliet.
She unclasped her fingers, making the head rock unsteadily on the jardinière and walked over to the old fashioned workbench. She took down a screwdriver with a long blade and walked back over to the Don. She looked up at Lorelei who stared out from behind her black matted hair.
"Maybe daddy needs his ears cleaning. What do you think?" asked Juliet, cocking her head to the side like a curious dog.
"Leave him alone," whispered Lorelei.
"What was that?" asked Juliet, getting an almost sexual satisfaction from knowing that she had finally drawn Lorelei into her sick little game.
"I said leave him alone, you insane, fucking bitch!" Lorelei screamed, jerking hard against her restraints and feeling her right hand gain a little more freedom.
Juliet frowned and adopted a mock indignant posture, putting one hand on her hip and pointing at Lorelei with the screwdriver. "You're a guest in this house young lady, and I won't put up with that kind of language from you." She took her hand off her hip and put it on The Don's head. "Just for that, I'm going to clean his ears out whether you like it or not," she said placing the blade of the screwdriver in The Don's right ear.
She paused for a second to make sure she had Lorelei's full attention and then began to push. Her face and eyes flashed and contorted with pleasure as the blade worked through the dead tissue in The Don's skull.
Lorelei screamed aggressively towards her, but that just made the experience more exciting, more fulfilling. She looked down to see the screwdriver advance millimetre by millimetre, then she looked up to see Lorelei writhing and crying. Once the gory blade appeared at the other side and Lorelei's cries turned to nothing more than weak sobs, Juliet heard her own breathing and realised just how sensual the whole experience had been for her. She wanted more. She had to have more.
"You sick, fucking bitch, I hope you fucking burn in hell," croaked Lorelei, battling the tears that mourned the vile treatment of her dead father.
"Oh, Lorelei. This is hell, darling. And you don't see me burning do you?" she bore her teeth in a cruel smile and sauntered across to the wall where her captive was held.
Lorelei had her head down again, her suffering sobs and whimpers doing nothing but fuelling Juliet's sadistic satisfaction. Juliet almost lovingly caressed Lorelei's matted hair out of her face and round the back of her ears. Then she gently brushed away the young woman's tears with the tips of her thumbs and lovingly stroked her cheeks before moving her talon like hands down Lorelei's neck, over her shoulders and down the sides of her naked body. Juliet closed her head towards Lorelei's face and breathed deeply, consuming her scent like a wolf sniffing for prey in the cold night air. She moved her nose up to Lorelei's ear then kissed it gently before bringing her head back round to face her.
"Stop crying, sweetheart," she urged, cupping both her hands around her captive's cheeks. "I don't want you to use all your tears up before Fry gets home. We're all going to have so much fun together." Her dark eyes glimmered in the flickering light of the candles, flashing menacingly.
She had broken the girl in a matter of minutes. Sometimes the fun was in the breaking, sometimes the fun was in what came after. Juliet sensed there was a lot more fun to be had with this one. She closed her eyes and pushed her lips against Lorelei's.
Lorelei could feel the smile breaking on Juliet's face as her captor's kiss of celebration stabbed her senses. She knew it was now or never. Lorelei tugged her arm with all her strength and with a scraping charge, her restraint came loose. She grabbed a fistful of Juliet's hair whose surprise rendered her frozen for a split second. Lorelei used the time to summon every last ounce of primal, survival instinct she had and opened her mouth wide before lunging at Juliet's cheek, sinking her teeth hard into the soft skin. She bit down with all the force she could muster and immediately fresh screams filled the air, but this time, they did not belong to Lorelei.
Lorelei whipped her head back spitefully taking with it Juliet's cheek. She relaxed her hand and Juliet staggered back, disbelievingly. Her scream sounded funny as the sound escaped not only her mouth, but the hole in the side of her face. She saw the huge chunk of flesh hanging out of Lorelei's bloody smiling mouth, but still could not believe it, and she reached up to touch where her cheek was only to feel her own teeth. She continued to scream, but now the scream brought forth tears as well. Lorelei spat hard and the lump of flesh slapped into Juliet's face, the symbolism more than the weight of it knocking her off her feet.
Lorelei quickly got to work on untying her other hand and then her feet while Juliet, still in a state of agonised shock, tried holding the torn flesh up to her cheek to see if it would magically fit back into place. Her tormented cries gave Lorelei no satisfaction, she was a lot of things, but a sadist was not one of them. She finished untying her feet and skirted around Juliet whose eyes now shone with the light of a different kind of insanity. She remained on the floor while her former captive walked over to the head of her dead father. She swiftly withdrew the screwdriver, turned angrily, and remembering the suffering the bitch on the floor had subjected her to just moments before, she sunk the blade into Juliet's temple. The cries and groans ended instantly as Juliet's body collapsed.
Lorelei stood there looking down, her nakedness forgotten for the time being. This was the first person she had ever killed. It gave her no sense of pleasure, nor did she feel regret. They were two animals in a struggle; a fight to the death, one of them had to die and Lorelei was just grateful she had won. She rolled her tongue round summoning all the saliva she could and spat the bloody residue onto the floor.
There was no more time to reminisce or to justify. Fry could be back at any time. She needed to flee. If Fry had seized power, there was no one in the town she could trust. Lorelei had enjoyed privilege, she had enjoyed a string of men who had vowed their loyalty to her and her father, but she knew that was only as long as the two of them had power and position. Her only hope now was to get out of Loch Uig, get far away. She bent down and pulled off the t-shirt Juliet was wearing. It brushed against the wet blood on her face and head. Lorelei put it on, curling her nose at the warm, sticky dampness against her skin. She crouched back down and removed the leather trousers leaving Juliet lying there covered in nothing but a pair of white panties and a lot of red blood. She stood up and turned around. Her eyes fixed on the head of her father. She knew there was nothing she could do for him now. She knew it was just flesh and bone.
"Bye, daddy," she said, sounding more like a frightened little girl than a grown woman. "I love you."
Lorelei made her way up the stairs and into the house.
CHAPTER NINE
"An engine!" someone shouted.
Emma immediately grabbed her shotgun and looked around for Lucy, but she was nowhere to be seen. The mutterings from the village and depot people came to a sudden halt in anticipation of hearing the same sound. It wasn't long before the noise reached Emma's ears, and she headed towards the front vehicle ready to confront whatever came their way. She felt a presence and noticed Lucy marching beside her, pulling her Glock out as she walked.
The noise got louder until the front of the Home and Garden Depot van could be seen trundling around the corner. Both women let out sighs of relief as they lowered their weapons. Emma glanced at Lucy again, the pair breathed out and smiled.
Before the transit had come to a full stop, Beth opened the passenger door and headed straight towards Emma.
"We were getting worried," said Emma.
"It looks like the raiders took any central supplies of fuel, but some of the farm vehicles we found off the beaten track still had red diesel in their tanks. It took us a while to siphon it, but I think we've got enough to get everybody home and more besides."
Emma, still with the shotgun in one hand gave her a firm hug with the other.
"That's fantastic Beth," she said. The others dismounted from the transit and got warm greetings from the rest of their group.
Andy did not take part in the celebrations. After all, most of their present predicament was down to him. In a matter of hours, the weight of his guilt had turned him from a macho man to a humble fool.
"They're not back yet?" he said.
Emma's fury had been almost as powerful as Mike's when the incident with the rat trap had first occurred, but she felt difficulty maintaining it as Andy now stood before her like a lost child. She didn't answer for a moment, questioning whether her feeling sorry for Andy was a betrayal to her brother, then she gave way and just shook her head.
Beth rubbed Emma's upper arm and shoulder compassionately. "This is Mike we're talking about. He knows what he's doing, Emma. They might have had to take a different route back, or they might be just lying low for a while, but if anybody knows how to handle himself out there it's him."
"And Jules is tough," said Andy, feeling the guilt of Emma's pain. "Jules looked out for all of us, all this time." He swallowed hard, trying to force back tears. "She'll be back. They both will."
He turned and walked away, hoping the women hadn't noticed the quiver in his voice.
Beth and Emma looked at each other. "He will be back, Emma," said Beth again. “There isn't a doubt in my mind.” Beth looked over Emma's shoulder to see jerricans of diesel being poured into the vehicles.
Emma turned slowly, looking at the assortment of scared, confused and blank faces. She looked towards the vehicles being refuelled.
"And what then," she said quietly.
"Then we go back and rebuild."
"Until it happens again?"
"What are you saying, Emma?" asked Beth, pulling her around so they faced each other.
"How long will we survive? How long can we survive like this?"
Beth looked around nervously, hoping nobody was listening. She guided Emma away to one side of the road.
"You need to stop this Emma," Beth said in a calm but firm voice. "Everybody's looking to you and Lucy. You need to be strong."
Emma let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry Beth. It's just a bit overwhelming sometimes."
"Everybody's looking to you, but that's not the same as having to do everything yourself. Look, when we get back, we'll take stock. We'll get organised and when Shaw and the others return, we'll look at drawing up defence plans."
Emma smiled bitterly, "Shaw's got quite a fan club hasn't he?"
Beth looked puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
The bitterness vanished as Emma realised she was taking out her annoyance on the wrong person.
"Nothing. Never mind," she said shaking her head. She put her hand on Beth's forearm and squeezed gently. "You're right Beth, thanks," she said, pausing a second to make sure the puzzlement lifted from her friend's face. "C'mon, let's get this show on the road."
