The Remedy Read online

  The killer in the bear mask had almost reached the top of a rising hill and was about to vanish over its crest. They would have to hurry if they didn’t want to lose him and Rob. Leigh supposed they could always retreat to the cabin if that were to happen, but would they be capable of finding their way back at this point? Leigh wondered how Rob was keeping up his pursuit so well, blind as they were to the unstable ground.

  “We’re almost there,” Sam said, hoisting her up over a slippery, moss-covered mound. “Just dig your feet in and don’t let go.”

  Leigh did as Sam suggested, jamming her toes into the moist ground. It wasn’t easy to maintain her balance with one hand gripping Sam and the other holding the tranquilizer gun, but he was able to pull her up with one strong tug.

  “Thanks,” she whispered. She could just barely see his eyes reflecting the dim moonlight above.

  Sam returned her gaze, seemingly hypnotized. But just as she started to feel a spark of something again, Sam jerked his head to the left.

  “Look!” he said, pointing downhill.

  A cabin, far more dilapidated than the one they had come from, sat at the bottom of the knoll. Its roof was missing shingles, and its walls were blackened from wood rot. Though the structure looked like it would collapse at any second, the warm, orange light coming from the dirty windows proved it was still inhabited.

  Leigh spotted the cabin just in time to see the man in the bear mask enter the front door, and a moment later, Rob emerge from behind a tree. He sprinted forward and disappeared behind a corner of the house.

  “Did you see him?” Leigh whispered, pointing in Rob’s direction. “He’s getting way too close to that place. He’s going to get caught for sure.”

  Sam squinted, peering between the trunks of the pair of ash trees that concealed them. “Yeah,” he said tensely. “All right, I’ll go get Rob. You wait here.”

  Leigh flinched with surprise. “Wait, what?”

  “Don’t worry,” Sam reassured. “I’ll keep my distance from the windows.”

  “But Rob might not listen to you!” Leigh strained to keep her voice quiet.

  Sam brushed away her hand. “I’ll make him listen, okay? I’m not sending you near that house. So don’t move!”

  Before Leigh could argue, Sam was gone, heading down the knoll to the cabin. “Shit!” she whispered as she watched Sam scurry around the side of the house like a secret agent. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten their only weapon: the tranquilizer gun.

  Jesus, is all this really happening?

  Leigh pressed her hand against the trunk of a tree to support herself as the world began to spin. Fighting back nausea, she took a long, slow breath and closed her eyes.

  Just then, the man in the bear mask came sprinting out the door, tripping on his own two feet. Terror gripped Leigh’s heart.

  He’s heading right for me!

  But then, a much smaller man came bursting out the cabin, yelling at the top of his lungs.

  “Who said you could touch this!?” He screamed at the bear man, who cowered at his feet.

  The smaller man gripped a pink backpack. Even from a distance, Leigh could make out the fuzzy-haired troll keychain dangling from the pack’s front pouch zipper.

  Her bones turned to ice.

  That’s Alex’s.

  “What’d I tell you before?” The smaller man shook the backpack as he shouted. “The one in the cellar is mine! You hear?”

  The bear mask frantically nodded.

  “Good.” The man holding the pack spat a mouthful of saliva behind him. “Now go inside and help Ma make supper.”

  The bear man crawled timidly to his feet and shuffled by his partner, who kicked him as he passed and then followed him inside. Leigh had a new piece of horrifying knowledge to keep her company.

  These maniacs had captured Alex and were keeping her in the cellar. Even if Sam returned this instant with Rob in tow, they couldn’t just walk away. Where was Sam, anyway?

  Maybe he and Rob were just hiding out, waiting for the right moment to escape undetected. While that seemed likely, it still didn’t help Alex any. But maybe they were already sneaking Alex out of the basement. Maybe they’d already freed her from her restraints and were about to reunite with Leigh and get away.

  Leigh’s surge of optimism collapsed when she noticed the storm shelter doors at the side of the cabin. They were shut. From this vantage point, she could see both the front door and the large cellar doors, and neither were open. Wherever Sam and Rob were, they certainly weren’t helping Alex.

  And I’m just standing here.

  Without letting another doubt enter her consciousness, Leigh began to carefully tread down the knoll toward the cabin. The voices inside Leigh’s mind screamed at her, What are you doing? Go back! Go back! But she ignored them. Adrenaline was her only copilot now, pumping through her bloodstream and pushing her forward, one determined step at a time.

  If they see me, I’ll run. I’ll run and lead them away so my friends can make a break for it. Rob and Sam will follow. They’ll help me. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

  Leigh reached the doors and lifted the latch to the cellar as quietly as she could. Thankfully, the rust-caked hinges didn’t squeak when she opened the wooden door and rested it on the ground. She glanced up at the four-panel window above her, but the grime covering the glass made it impossible to see anything inside. However, that also meant that the men inside couldn’t see her, either. Reassured, Leigh descended the stone stairs into the basement.

  A single flickering lantern hung from a wooden beam on the ceiling. The psychopaths clearly came and went from the basement frequently enough to not bother extinguishing the light. Leigh would have to hurry if she wanted to make it out undetected.

  Easier said than done.

  The clutter in the cellar was that of a hoarder. Miscellaneous items were scattered in every nook and cranny, and the only items that seemed to have a designated place were the hunting tools hanging on the walls, and the various cutting instruments arranged neatly on a nearby table. Leigh looked around at the other stuff in the room.

  A crate of wallets.

  A box of cell phones.

  A mason jar of rings and earrings.

  Shoes. Sunglasses. Hats.

  It was like a thrift store run by the local butcher.

  But Alex was nowhere in sight.

  The floorboards squeaked as feet shuffled overhead, accompanied by the muffled voices of the cabin’s inhabitants. Leigh mustered just enough courage to whisper a shaky, barely audible call.

  “Alex? Are you in here?” There was no reply. Leigh could feel the weight of tears collecting in the corner of her eyes. “C’mon girl, answer me.”

  Something wet and slick brought Leigh’s foot shooting out in front of her. She clenched her teeth and her arms shot out to the sides, desperately trying to maintain her balance. In her desperate maneuver to stay upright, Leigh’s hand collided loudly with the swinging, squeaky lantern.

  Leigh reached to still the swinging lantern and held her breath as she listened to the men above her. When their voices didn’t rise or stop in mid-sentence, Leigh slowly released the air she was holding and lowered her gaze from the ceiling.

  In front of her was Marshall’s mutilated body sprawled across a table, his blood darkening the wood surface.

  Leigh slammed a hand to her mouth in order to conceal the scream threatening to breach her lips.

  If not for the shell necklace and clothes that still adorned what was left of his body, Leigh might’ve not even known this was her college friend; his head had been completely severed and removed. All that remained was a blood-covered torso, both arms and legs reduced to bleeding stumps. A red-stained cleaver wedged into the table’s side told Leigh the whole story.

  Marshall had been sectioned and quartered like grade-A beef.

  So which part is the brisket?

  If not for her hand still clamped to her mouth, the cellar would’ve
erupted with Leigh’s maniacal giggle. She realized she had to preserve her sanity. Just back away and pretend the chopped-up body isn’t really her friend, just a piece of uncooked meat. Just like one of those hanging hunks that Sylvester Stallone trained with in the Rocky movies.

  Leigh had taken just four steps backward when she bumped into something that swayed with her collision.

  The object kicked her in the back of the knee.

  Turning on toes still slick with blood, Leigh spun around.

  Alex hung from a meat hook suspended from the ceiling, and a rope connecting her wrists like handcuffs had been slung over the hook. A burlap sack had been placed over her head, but the long strings of blond hair peeking out from the bottom were a dead giveaway.

  “Alex!” Leigh whispered as she grabbed the top of the bag and pulled. It was indeed her friend. Alex seemed barely conscious, her head hanging limply. A dirty rag had been jammed in her mouth. Her captors had removed her shirt and bra, leaving her topless.

  As gently as she could, Leigh gripped the rag, pulling it from between her friend’s lips until it finally came out. “Alex? Can you hear me?” Leigh shook her shoulder. “Come on, wake up!”

  Leigh held Alex’s chin and shook her head vigorously. Luckily, the motion proved enough to rouse her.

  The instant Alex’s eyes fluttered open, Leigh spotted the muscles in her jaw widening, in preparation for an ear-piercing scream. Leigh slammed her hand over Alex’s mouth.

  “Shh!” Leigh brought a finger of her other hand to her mouth. “Alex, it’s me. It’s Leigh. I’m going to take my hand from your mouth but you can’t scream. Okay?”

  Tears leaked from the corners of Alex’s squeezed-shut eyes as she nodded. Leigh slowly moved her palm away from the other girl, who began taking in short gasps.

  “Leigh…” Alex moaned, her eyes barely able to roll up and meet Leigh’s. Leigh grimaced at how weak her friend sounded and silently prayed she’d be able to walk out of here without too much help.

  “Yeah, it’s me,” Leigh reassured her while trying to undo the knots that bound her to the hook. “It’s okay now. I’m gonna get you down and we’ll get out of here.”

  The knots proved far too tight for Leigh’s trembling fingers to untie, so she instead braced Alex around the waist and raised her until the rope lifted from the hook. After carefully placing Alex on her feet and making sure she could support herself, Leigh reluctantly went back to the butcher’s block to retrieve the cleaver stuck in its side.

  It’s just a piece of meat.

  It took some twisting and a hard pull, but Leigh was able to remove the cleaver without looking directly at her roommate’s mutilated boyfriend. She’d have to try to prevent Alex from seeing the mess lest a blood-curdling scream be the end of them both. Leigh turned the lantern away from the table and toward the shivering girl, leaving Marshall’s remains shrouded in shadow.

  The sharp edge of the cleaver sliced cleanly through the rope and succeeded in freeing Alex’s wrists. Leigh grabbed a dirty old wool blanket.

  “Here,” she said, throwing the blanket over Alex’s shoulders. “Now hold my hand and be as quiet as you can, okay? We’re not going to run. If we run they’ll hear us.”

  Alex nodded. Leigh cradled her close, guarding her face from the gruesome remains of Marshall as they passed. Alex trembled in her arms, dangerously close to collapsing, but somehow managed to maintain her footing as they shuffled toward the exit. After a few shaky steps, Marshall was behind them and the hard part was over. All they had to do now was climb the four or five stairs to the cellar door, and they’d be free of this nightmarish place.

  Something upstairs hit the floor with a loud clang, shaking the ceiling above them.

  “Hold on,” Leigh whispered, stopping her friend from going any further.

  “Dammit, Grizzly!” the man shouted. “Look at the mess you’ve made now!”

  There was an indecipherable groaning noise in reply, but what the man said next froze the blood in Leigh’s veins.

  “I don’t care. Just clean it up. I’m going to go downstairs to visit my special friend.”

  Leigh grabbed Alex’s shoulders and made her friend look her directly in the eyes.

  “Alex, listen to me. I want you to go up those stairs and stay as low as you can. You got me? Stay really, really low.”

  Alex was shaking so badly now she was almost convulsing. “Leigh,” she mumbled. “I can’t.”

  “Yes you can!” Leigh shook her hard. “It’s just a few steps. And once you hit the trees, you start running. Run and don’t stop. Understand? Do not stop running. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Alex inhaled to mutter another protest, but Leigh was already pushing her toward the door.

  “Go!” she whispered, grabbing the bottom of her own shirt and pulling it over her head. The next moment, Leigh saw her friend already climbing the storm door steps.

  Above her, the door leading from the kitchen to the basement steps swung open.

  “That better be all fixed up by the time I get back up here!” The final scolding bought Leigh just enough time to snap off her bra and throw both it and her shirt underneath the butcher’s table. The bundle of clothes had landed in a puddle of congealing blood, but she refused to think about that as she grabbed the burlap sack that had covered Alex’s face.

  The steps leading down from upstairs creaked under the man’s weight as he began his descent.

  Pulling the sack over her own head, Leigh tried her best to conceal any strands of her dark hair that risked sticking out the bottom. Just as the sack came over her eyes, she spotted a pair of dirty work boots touch down on the final steps of the staircase.

  Her sight completely obscured, Leigh shot her hands upward and, on tiptoes, felt for the hook.

  It wasn’t there.

  Please God. Please…

  Something hard and cold grazed her fingertips. She’d found it. Leigh immediately sprang up and gripped the thick hook with both hands, suspending herself above the ground. Just as her feet had left the floor, she heard:

  “There she is.”

  There was no way to know if the dim light of the single lantern would reveal the fact that the man’s captive was no longer bound by the wrists. Leigh’s heart slammed against the inside of her chest, pounding harder than it ever had before. She was surprised she hadn’t gone into cardiac arrest.

  Youth, however, was on her side, and she was going to use all her strength to kick the man square in the balls once he came close enough. But there was no way this ruse was going to work for long. Even if Leigh had succeeded in hiding all of her dark hair, her breasts were noticeably smaller than Alex’s. And considering she’d found Alex nearly naked, Leigh had the sickening suspicion that this man was very familiar with Alex’s body.

  “Did you miss me?” the man asked as he crept closer. Leigh fought to control her breathing under the mask to feign unconsciousness.

  The man was mere inches away now, but still not close enough for Leigh to land a solid blow. And even with Marshall’s slaughtered corpse rotting just a few feet away, she could smell this man’s stench.

  The rubber soles of his work boots made an abrupt scuff on the basement’s dirt floor. Through the sack, Leigh could feel the man staring at her, stopped in his tracks by his own puzzlement.

  “Huh,” he mumbled, and Leigh knew exactly what he was examining. Her lesser bust had given her away just as she had predicted, which meant it was time for her foot to meet the family jewels.

  Leigh bit her lip.

  Wake up time, you fuck.

  “I think we gotta feed you some more, girl!”

  She remained motionless.

  “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I like my bitches skinny, but you’re starting to thin out in the one place where I like a woman to have some weight.”

  If his hand hadn’t found her breast so quickly, Leigh would’ve flinched at the man’s touch. Before she knew it, the man was kneading her right
breast, flicking her stiff nipple between his fingers.

  “Ooh, look at you. You like that, don’t you?”

  Leigh squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the violation. She clenched the hook above her and tried to focus on the fact that her guise was working. As long as he didn’t remove the burlap sack…

  A disgusted groan uncontrollably escaped her mouth when the man’s tongue traced a circle around her areola.

  Oh shit…

  “I knew you were awake,” the man said, before returning his mouth to her nipple. Even though he sucked painfully hard, sometimes biting her nipple with his teeth, Leigh knew she could take it if she just concentrated on something else.

  Think about something else.

  Be somewhere else.

  It was easier thought than done. She attempted to focus on keeping her grip on the hook above her, directing all her attention to the cold metal in her tight grasp. She concentrated on the grooves of the scratches in its surface, the flaky rust between her fingers, her own sweat…

  But she couldn’t escape hard, agonizing reality when the man’s hand began to slide from her breast to the center of her stomach, and didn’t stop there. His hand continued downward, sliding across her perspiration, its fingertips reaching the button of her pants.

  No.

  This she could not take.

  This rapist’s crotch was about to be hit by the force of a rocket launch.

  Another loud crash rattled the ceiling above them.

  “What the fuck?” the man shouted, removing both his hands and his mouth from Leigh’s body. “What’d you do now?”

  The man put his face right up next to the sack.

  “I’ll be back soon.”

  He quickly turned and marched away, footsteps shaking the stairs as he returned to the kitchen. The moment Leigh heard the door slam shut, she released her cramped fingers from the hook and fell to the basement floor. She yanked the bag from her head just in time to avoid vomiting inside of it. She puked as quietly as she could through the violent heaving racking her body,

  When her gagging had finally subsided, Leigh retrieved her shirt from underneath the butcher’s table. It was damp with blood, but it offered welcome concealment.