Without law 9, p.10
Without Law 9, page 10
“What the fuck is wrong with him?” Anna asked seriously. “You think he ate the brains like Paige said?”
“Probably.” I shrugged. “He sounds like a lunatic.”
“Even if you kill me,” the man said, and he darted across the window again. “The feast will never die!”
“Why the hell does he keep doing that,” Anna pondered aloud.
“I’m tired of this,” I said and I raised my fist to give Bailey the signal.
“The feast, the feast, the feast,” the man sang and laughed, and he moved to dart past the window again, but this time Bailey’s rifle cracked and the singing stopped.
“Jesus,” Anna breathed. “That guy was seriously fucked up.”
“That’s eight,” I said and I stood up and walked to the backyard.
Paige and Bailey met us by the wood pile, and I looked to see Bailey making her way down the hill.
“What the hell was wrong with that guy?” Tara asked with wide eyes.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head.
“I think he ate the brain,” Anna said.
“That’s possible,” Paige said. “Especially if he ate more than one. I know the incubation period for the disease is typically at least a year, but maybe if they ate a lot it caused the disease to speed up.”
“Gross,” Tara said with a grimace.
“You really think that could happen?” Bailey asked Paige.
“I don’t know,” Paige said. “He could have had other psychological problems. Maybe he was in need of medicine or something.”
“I was hoping he might give us more information on who else was around here,” I said.
“Instead he just gave us crazy ass rantings,” Tara said.
“Hey,” Bailey said as she joined the group. “We all good?”
“We’re all good,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, Bails,” Paige said with a smile. “You took out most of them.”
“I just had a good angle for it,” Bailey said.
“You did a good job,” I told the blonde and I put my hand on her shoulder.
“Thanks,” Bailey said with a blush.
“Should we go inside and check out the damages?” Anna asked.
“I think that’s a good idea,” I said. “But remember we don’t know what we’re about to walk into, so just keep your cool.”
“What if that lady with the locket is still in there?” Bailey asked with a frown.
“We’ll find her if that’s the case,” I assured the pretty blonde.
“Here,” Paige said, and she reached into her pack and pulled out five bandanas. “I brought these for us.”
“Good call,” I told the brunette as I took the bandana and tied it around my nose and mouth.
I led the girls into the house through the back door, and though I was sure there weren’t any other people in there, I kept my pistol at the ready.
“Oh, my God,” Tara said as we entered the house. “It stinks even through the bandana.”
“It’s not pleasant,” I agreed.
The house smelled like death, decay, and shit.
We found ourselves in the kitchen first, and it was obvious this is where they had been doing their butchering. The floor, counters, and even the cabinets were covered in blood.
“Look,” Bailey said, and she pointed upward to some blood splatters on the ceiling.
“Can blood even go that far?” Tara asked incredulously.
“No,” Paige said. “These ceilings are high, it’s most likely that’s from flinging the knife.”
“Sounds brutal,” Anna said.
“It probably was to get blood all the way up there,” Paige said.
The floor was sticky as we walked through the kitchen toward the living room, I knew that was where the fireplace was. I hoped that the kitchen was the most disarray they had caused, though I didn’t get my hopes up.
The hallway was filled with bloody footprints, but I ignored them and headed to the living room. Just as we entered a worse smell hit us, and I was shocked at what we saw.
There were bones everywhere, human skulls with bits of flesh still attached to them, and other skulls that looked like they had been used as bowls. The smell of burnt and rotten flesh hit my nose even through the bandana, and I felt myself inadvertently gag at the stench.
“Fuck,” Tara moaned, ran out the front door, and threw up.
“I’ll go check on her,” I told the other girls. Each of their faces was filled with disgust, and I figured they probably wanted a break from this too. “Actually, let’s all go.”
“Thank God,” Anna said, and she rushed out the door with Bailey and Paige in tow.
“Hey, Tara,” I said as we walked outside.
The platinum blonde was leaning over the railing of the porch, and it seemed she had just vomited into Marla’s flowerbed.
“Ugh,” Tara groaned in lieu of a response.
“Are you okay?” Bailey asked, and she gently placed a hand on Tara’s back.
“I’m a pussy,” Tara said quietly, and she spit off the porch and wiped her mouth.
“No, you’re not,” Bailey said quickly. “We all wanted to barf in there.”
“Ugh,” Tara groaned. “Don’t say barf.”
“Sorry,” Bailey said, and she rubbed the platinum blonde’s back.
“You know,” I said. “I never understood why being a pussy was a bad thing.”
“He’s right,” Paige said. “Vaginas are super strong.”
“That’s true,” Anna added. “They have babies and stretch out and still go back to normal.”
“That’s true,” Tara said. “I guess I’m just a weakling then.”
“Tara,” I said and I grabbed her chin to make her face me. “Nobody thinks you’re weak.”
“But nobody else threw up,” the platinum blonde protested.
“Not yet,” I chuckled. “I almost hurled back there when I saw those skulls.”
“You did?” Tara asked seriously.
“Me too,” Bailey said with a nod. “I almost puked in the kitchen.”
“Yup,” Anna agreed.
“Me three,” Paige said.
“Whatever,” Tara said with narrowed eyes at the brunette. “You’re, like, trained for this.”
“No,” Paige chuckled. “I’m partially trained for medical work, but I don’t think anybody is trained for that.”
“I’m not even trained for that,” I laughed. “That is some seriously fucked up shit.”
“Thanks,” Tara said with a soft smile.
“Here,” Paige said, and she handed the platinum blonde a water bottle from her backpack.
“Thanks,” Tara said, and she took the water and took a small drink. “God, it’s crazy in there.”
“They must have been eating the brains,” Paige said.
“It looked like they were using the skulls as bowls,” Anna said with a grimace.
“Why not just use Marla’s bowls in the cupboard?” Tara laughed.
“Brain eating logic,” Anna chuckled.
“I didn’t see anybody alive though,” Bailey said with a frown.
“We haven’t searched the whole place,” I said. “But I didn’t see anybody either.”
“We were too late,” Bailey said.
“They could have been gone for hours,” Paige said. “That struggle could have happened last night.”
“It would make sense for them to hunt at night,” I agreed.
“Really?” Anna asked. “I would think there wouldn’t be anybody out at night.”
“Not many,” I said. “But it’s easier to take down someone when they’re alone. It’s a bigger risk of not getting anything, but also a greater reward to not have to fight off a large group.”
“Jesus,” the redhead breathed.
“That means there’s definitely other people around here, though,” Tara said.
“Right,” I agreed. “That will be our next mission. We need to find whoever is around here and scope them out.”
“Should we finish looking through the house?” Anna asked.
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “If there’s a chance that lady is still in there I don’t want to leave her.”
“Alright,” I said and I turned to Tara. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”
“I’m going,” Tara said, and she stood up straight.
“Okay,” I chuckled. “But if things get too bad for any of you, just let me know.”
“Agreed,” the platinum blonde said. “Now let’s do this.”
I led my team back into the house. We searched the downstairs bedroom first, but only found filthy blankets and clothes. The dining room table was laid out with bones and some of them had been sharpened into weapons, I figured this was where they had been trying to fashion their own gear.
“They had knives,” Anna said.
“And some of them even had guns,” Bailey added.
“Right,” the redhead said. “Why would they need weapons from bones?”
“Maybe they didn’t have any ammo,” Paige said. “They just had the guns as a deterrent.”
“That’s likely,” I said.
“There’s a bathroom over there,” Anna said.
“Let’s check it out,” I said and I walked to the door. The stench that came through was terrible, and I was almost scared to open it.
I reached out, turned the handle, and pushed the door open.
“Fuck,” Paige groaned.
“Oh, my God,” Anna added.
The girls all backed away gagging, and I felt myself gag as well. These assholes had turned the bathtub into their latrine and it was full to the brim.
I reached for the door and closed it quickly.
“Holy hell,” Tara breathed.
All the girls were doubled over as if they were about to vomit, and I felt it myself. The smell and sight of that was far too much to bear.
“Let’s get upstairs,” I suggested.
“Gladly,” Anna said.
“I’d take the skulls over that any day,” Tara said.
We made our way to the staircase to find that it was covered in bloody footprints like the rest of the house.
“You would think they would have at least killed people outside,” Tara said.
“Tara!” Paige hissed.
“What?” the platinum blonde asked. “They made a huge mess. Just because you’re a cannibal doesn’t mean you have to be a slob.”
“She’s right,” I said. “Why kill them inside?”
“Maybe it was too cold outside?” Bailey suggested.
“Killing someone doesn’t take long though,” Paige said.
“I bet it was that creeper in the attic,” Anna said. “He probably wanted the house covered in blood.”
“I think that’s probably right,” I said.
We reached the top of the stairs, and I scanned the area quickly. The hallway had more bloody footprints, and there were some clothes littered about, but it was cleaner up here than it had been downstairs.
“You all take a look in the bedrooms,” I said. “I’m going to check out the attic.”
“Have fun with that,” Tara said. “That guy probably has a jar of winkies up there or something.”
“Did you just say winkies?” Anna laughed.
“Yeah,” Tara said.
“Just checking,” Anna said with a shake of her head.
The girls fanned out and headed into the bedrooms while I made my way up the small pull out stairs that led to the attic.
The window let in the natural light and the room seemed calm as I made my way in. The crazed man laid on the floor, his face a mess from the bullet he had taken earlier. I scanned the floor first and found more blood and bone weapons, but nothing too ridiculous.
I had just begun to think that Tara was wrong about the winkies when I looked up the walls.
They were covered in human faces. These crazy motherfuckers had actually skinned the faces of their victims and nailed them to the walls.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten. Then I slowly headed downstairs and pushed the stairs up behind me.
“You okay?” Bailey asked.
“What’s up there?” Anna asked.
“You don’t want to know,” I said. “Did you find anything in the bedrooms?”
“No,” Paige said. “Just more bones and dirty clothes.”
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s get going.”
“Okay,” Bailey said with a frown. “But are you alright?”
“I’m okay,” I assured the blonde.
I led the girls outside and back toward the woods behind the Millers’ house. The sun moved across the sky as we walked, and I knew we would get back just before dark. I couldn’t shake the image of those skulls out of my head, and I was quiet as we walked.
“Alright,” Tara said after a while. “I can’t take this anymore.”
“She’s right,” Anna said. “Tav, you have to talk to us.”
“Ladies,” I said as I turned around to face them. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Obviously there is,” Tara said with a hand on her hip.
“I don’t want to upset you,” I said.
“We can handle it,” Paige said. “Now tell us.”
“Alright,” I sighed. “They skinned their victims faces and hung them on the wall in the attic.”
“Ew,” Tara said with a grimace.
“What the fuck,” Anna breathed.
“That’s horrible,” Bailey said with a frown.
“That takes some serious precision,” Paige said.
“Paige!” Anna hissed.
“What?” Paige said with a shrug. “I just mean that they had to have worked really hard to do that. But why? What’s the point?”
“I don’t think there was a point to any of it,” I said in a low voice.
“Well, we put an end to it,” Anna said. “That’s all that matters.”
“I know,” I said with a soft smile.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Bailey said, and she gently touched my arm.
“It’s alright,” I assured her and I pulled her in for a hug.
“Hey,” Tara said. “I want some of that.”
“Me too,” Paige said.
“Me three,” Anna added.
The girls all surrounded me for a group hug and I smiled to myself as I breathed in the sweet scent of them. It was a much welcome relief after what we had seen that day.
“I have a question,” Bailey said after the group hug had ended.
“What’s up?” Anna asked.
“How are we going to tell the Millers what happened in their home?” the blonde asked with a frown.
“That’s a good point,” Paige said softly. “They’re going to be devastated.”
“Maybe we just say it wasn’t that bad,” Anna suggested. “We already volunteered to clean it up before they get back.”
“Ugh,” Tara said with a shiver. “Just the thought of going back in there gives me the creeps.”
“We can’t just lie to them,” Bailey said.
“I think they deserve to know the truth,” I said.
“If it was my home, I’d just burn the fucking place down,” Tara chimed in.
“I don’t think I would be able to think of it as my home anymore,”Bailey said.
“I don’t want to do that to the Millers,” I said. “But I also don’t want them to not have a choice in the matter. We’ll clean it up for them if that’s what they want.”
“Alright,” Bailey agreed with a soft smile.
“How on earth are we going to clean that place up?” Anna asked.
“Rolly has cleaning products,” Bailey said.
“We’ll need all the cleaning products in the world,” Tara said with a shudder.
“We’ll need a lot,” I said. “But we’re a team, we’ll figure it out. The Millers deserve to come back to a clean home, if that’s what they choose.”
“You’re right,” Tara said softly. “They’re nice people.”
“They are,” I agreed. “It’s unfortunate this happened to their house.”
“I hate that bad things keep happening to good people,” Bailey said gently.
“So do I,” I said with a small smile at the blonde hippie. “But that’s life. We can’t change it, but we can make it better.”
We continued our walk back home in silence, but this time it was a mutual silence that nobody cared to break. The birds in the trees chirped lightly as the sun set around us and twilight set in. We were near the school when I heard something headed toward us.
Winchester appeared in a matter of seconds and he ran straight to Bailey and jumped up to put his legs on her waist.
“Hey, boy,” Bailey laughed. “It looks like you’re feeling better.”
“Winchester!” I heard Rolly call through the trees. “Come here, boy!”
“We got him!” I yelled.
“Tav?” Rolly asked. “Is that you?”
“Yeah!” I hollered back. “We’ll be right there.”
We made our way through the tree line and found Rolly at the edge of the forest.
“Hey, old timer,” I greeted him.
“Hey,” Rolly said, and he took a long look at each of us. “You all look like you’ve seen a ghost. Did things not go as planned?”
“The threat has been eliminated,” I said. “But the Millers house is in a state of disarray.”
“Oh, no,” Rolly said with a frown. “We’ll get it cleaned up for them.”
“Right,” I agreed. “I’m going to talk to them and let them know what’s going on. Then they’ll have a choice on what to do.”
“That makes sense.” Rolly nodded.
“You don’t have to help clean up,” I told him. “We can do it if that’s what they want.”
“Nonsense,” Rolly said with a wave of his hand. “I’m going to help.”
“Alright,” I told him. “But you won’t like what you see.”
“I suspect I won’t,” Rolly chuckled. “But the Millers have always been kind, they deserve to have a clean home.”
“That’s exactly what I said,” I told the old man with a smile.
“I think Marla made you all a special dinner,” Rolly said.
“She didn’t have to do that,” I said.
