“I got hungry,” Robyn shrugged.
Carly screamed as she knelt down by the body, tears already falling from her eyes. “Ricky! What have you done to him? You’ve killed him!”
“That was the idea,” said Mika, formulating a plan with Robyn.
Carly stroked Ricky’s head gently – a pointless act in itself, but she thought he might still be able to feel it. She stared up at the couple through eyes blurred with tears, and screamed.
The graveyard shift.
When all the nutters come out to play.
Good job it wasn’t a full moon.
One lone security guard in a huge, partially abandoned warehouse…
God, that sounded like the beginning to some cheesy horror flick. They all started like that – some white bloke on his own, easy prey. Actually, David Lander wasn’t on his own. Physically he was, there was no-one else in the building, but most of the ground floor corridors were monitored by 24 hours surveillance cameras. No-one got in or out without it being picked up by the cameras, and there was usually another guard in a little hut to work the barrier in the car park. He often wondered why the company didn’t employ more security staff, but the cameras picked up most of the slack. Just to make extra sure that the cameras hadn’t missed anything, David did a quick patrol of the halls every half hour. After these half hourly sweeps, he usually settled down at his desk to read his sci-fi novel, or to watch one of the old black and white movies on his portable TV. Tonight, however he was engrossed in his game of Tetris on his Gameboy, which he was playing with the sound turned up as high as it would go to keep himself awake.. He usually plied himself with hot coffee to do that, but he hadn’t got the correct change for the machine. “Stupid thing! Let me a get a high score or I’ll put you in the crusher.”
“First sign of insanity that, Dave.” He had been concentrating so hard on his game that he’d not even noticed the tall, lean shadow pass before him. “Talking to yourself.”
“Oh… uh… uh, hi Mr Jordan-Smyth.” David turned the console off and put it on the shelf next to his empty pizza box. “I didn’t see you there.”
“Evidently.” Mr Jordan-Smyth reached a long arm over the desk and felt for the big, brown signing in book. He caught sight of the discarded Pizza Express box and open cola can. “Tut tut. Not sup-“
“I know I’m not supposed to eat on duty but I missed dinner and I was absolutely starving. You won’t report me will you?” He couldn’t afford to lose his job or to take a pay cut.
“Course I won’t. Don’t suppose there’s anything left, is there? So did I.”
“’Fraid not. It was only a small one.” He looked down to make sure the assistant manager was writing on the correct page. “I think they’ve got chips and sausages cooking in the cafeteria, though.”
“Have you tasted some of the crap they serve up there? I’d rather starve to death.” He started to sign his name in the book, desperately trying to hide the gun he carried for protection. Gareth Jordan-Smyth wasn’t proud of having to fetch a gun to work every morning, and he blamed this necessity on the violence of the nation. It didn’t make him feel any better to know that it only held one bullet at the moment – it would still be one more notch on the gun crime tally; one more life lost. But, he couldn’t risk going to work without some kind of protection. Not now he worked here… “Bet the kids are missing you.”
“Yeah. It’s my last night though, so I should see more of ‘em soon.” Working two jobs every day meant that he didn’t get to see his family as much as he’d like. With a wife and two kids to support, he’d had to take on a daytime job to boost his income, but this meant he never got to read his children bedtime stories, or do the school run. But, David was moving back to evenings next week which meant he would be home by midnight – too late to get them to bed, but early enough to take them to school. “I’m supposed to be meeting a new security guard in the morning.”
Gareth took the electronic swipe card that was held out to him and wiped the dust from the black magnetic strip. Before David could buzz him through into the maze of corridors, he had to check that he had signed in correctly. With the sensitive information contained within these walls, it could never be allowed to let someone through without the proper checks. Gareth was headed to the Crash Room where he would have to pass many other identification tests before he could gain entry. Everything in this building was guarded tightly and impassably. The Crash Room was home to information that almost no-one got to see. Only three people had authorised access to that room and the information.
David would never work again if he let someone through without ID. No-one could ever know what was in that room.
He was about to pick up his Gameboy again and restart his game when he saw a second shadow pass before him. A long, black coat was all he saw at first, before the stranger took off the baseball cap that was hiding his face. “Shit, you scared me.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” He split his face in a wide grin which showed a mouth of slightly tobacco-stained teeth, and two spaces where teeth had been punched out in a fight. He had a large scar around his eye, and a face framed by very closely shaved black hair. “I’m Johnny Cox. Your new recruit.”
David raised his eyebrows in surprise – he hadn’t expected to meet him until the morning. “Sign in and come round the desk.” While Johnny was filling the book in, David quietly reached behind him and locked the door to the office. He put the keys back in his pocket, trying not to let them rattle too much, and leant back in his chair. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the rookie guard but… actually, it was that he didn’t trust him. But, David didn’t want to take any chances until he had been here a while and knew the rules. Johnny hopped over the desk and sat down in one of the chairs. Maybe he was just really keen to get on the job, but David found his energy slightly unsettling. He didn’t trust this guy. “Ever heard of the Crash Room?”
“Nope!”
“Keep it that way.” David balled up his fists and rubbed his eyes with them. “They keep loads of top secret info in that place. People are always trying to get in there but under no circumstances must you let them know what’s in there. That’s why we’re always carrying.”
“Guns.” He liked guns; guns gave him power; power gave him respect.
“Two handguns.” David slapped his belt where he kept his pistols holstered. “One on either side for quick draw. Always fully loaded. Four live, two blanks in each.”
“Four and two, got it. Anything else.?”
“If you see anyone that looks even a little bit suspicious, don’t hesitate to pull a gun.” That really only worked in theory, David had only used his gun twice, always preferring to give someone a good talking to rather than get involved in a shoot-out. “They’re there to be used.”
After explaining the rules of entry and how to keep an eye on all the cameras, David sent Johnny off to get his uniform from stock and did a final check of the corridors before he went home. It was nearly six in the morning and it would take him an hour or more to get home. More employees would start work soon and another security guard would show Johnny what to do. There was just something about that guy that David didn’t like. Johnny seemed a little too comfortable working with guns – trigger happy, some might say.
It hadn’t taken Carly long to realise that the murdering couple were taking her and her dead boyfriend to the docks. The smell of dead fish was raw and assaulted her nostrils. The fishermen were out on their boats trying to get their fish for the market and were sailing around, pulling up nets of trapped fish every so often. The fish had to be gutted when they were brought in, and Carly was glad she wouldn’t be around to witness that event.
“What should we do with the body?” asked Robyn, who was dragging it along behind her like a toy dog on a leash. “We can’t just leave it here.”
“You’re right,” agreed Mika. This kind of straigh
t forward speech wasn’t exactly normal for Robyn; she was usually told what to do. “It’d be bad for us if it was found.”
“Strip it, weight it, dump it. No-one will ever know.” Robyn was bored of him now, and wanted to get rid of the body as soon as she could. It seemed much easier just to leave the body where it was but, come the morning, it would be found. They couldn’t risk that. Besides, Robyn was enjoying listening to Carly’s pathetic cries and pleas for release.
“Please,” the blonde woman sobbed. “You can do what you want to me but leave Ricky alone now.”
“He’s dead,” snarled Mika, annoyed by her pitiful moaning. Roughly, he grabbed her by the hair and tossed her to the ground by the side of a large trawler. “I don’t think he’ll feel anything.” To prove his point, he drove a booted foot into the stomach of the body that Robyn held out in front of her. “Got it?”
“Haven’t you people ever heard of rest in peace?”
“Oh, we’ve heard of it.” Mika strode over to her and kicked her hard in the stomach. The woman screamed in pain and Robyn giggled in child-like delight. “But, we prefer rest in pieces.” Mika took a silver penknife from his pocket, flicked it open, and proceeded to gouge chunks of flesh from the body and scattered them around the docks. Carly looked away until Robyn held her head still so she had no other choice but to look on. Hopefully, with so much of the flesh torn away from the body, no-one would notice the telltale signs of how Ricky had really been killed. Mika shoved a few large heavy stones under Ricky’s clothing and buttoned his shirt over them. Robyn got up and looked at Mika for permission to complete the disposal. She kissed the cold, clammy forehead as she gripped him by the shirt, and threw him into the sea, again, with almost no effort at all.
Robyn was stronger than most of her kind and used this advantage to it’s full potential. She jumped up and landed halfway up a ship’s walkway, where she sat down and innocently twirled her hair between her fingers. Watching Mika just standing and looking at the girl was fun. There wasn’t the blood and the crying that she loved so, but she knew that Carly was in just as much torment. Robyn could hear the young woman crying beneath her, but was distracted by the sound of Mika’s hand striking skin. She looked down and saw Carly clutching one hand to the side of her face. Carly shrunk back into the wooden board under the walkway as Mika advanced on her, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Ohhhhh!” Robyn moaned and put one hand up to cover her eyes. In her daze, she forgot where she was sitting, and fell to the ground on her back. She didn’t feel the impact or notice that she had fell. “Oh, it burns. It burns.”
Mika left his victim where she was now cowering in the corner and flashed over to her side. “What is it, love? What burns? Tell me, and I’ll kill it.”
“The light. It’s coming… and it burns us all to death.”
It was no use trying to get her to explain herself when she was like this. Mika looked up to the sky, which was just beginning to lighten at the promise of the dawn. “Okay, baby. Let’s get you home.” He swept her up in strong arms and glanced down at her limp form. He reached under the walkway and grabbed Carly by the shoulder, destroying her plan to do a runner when they had gone. “Don’t worry, blondie. I haven’t forgotten about you. You’re important.”
A few minutes later, Carly was locked in a room downstairs while Robyn rested in the bedroom. Robyn had changed into one of the long, black dresses she was more used to and was watching Mika pacing the room. He was impatient. “What’s wrong, Mika?” she drawled. “Have I done something?”
“No, my sweet. You haven’t done a thing.” Mika sat on the bed next to her and stroked her bare arms with his fingertips. “I just want to find out about this plan.”
“It will come. In time.” She looked up at him with a spark in her eyes. “Soon.”
“Let’s go torture it out of her then.”
“Wait. Just for a little while.” Not until she gave up hope – that wouldn’t be much fun. “Give and take.”
God, Mika hated it when she talked in riddles. But, he knew better than not to trust her, she always knew what she was doing even… if it didn’t seem like it. “Can you try to make even a little sense?” he growled, leaping off the bed and starting to pace the room again.
Robyn mewed like a cat and curled herself into the tightest ball possible. She didn’t like it when Mika was nasty to her.
“I’m sorry, baby. I know you can’t help it.” He felt Robyn coming up behind him and pulled her close, watching the skirt of her dress swishing through the air behind her. “We’ll dance under the stars again, my little bird.” Robyn laughed her infectious giggle as Mika lifted her off the ground and twirled her around the room. Mika would do anything to keep her happy. Robyn reached into his pocket and got his penknife. She opened it and hungrily smelt the fleshy residue along the blade. It was no longer fresh enough to hold her interest for long, and she let it drop to the floor as she headed to the door. Mika followed her downstairs and opened the door to the room at the back where Carly was chained up.
Robyn and Mika stood in front of her and looked on as she strained against her restraints and grimaced as the skin on her wrists became red raw. A fire burnt in a fireplace in the corner, which held only a few trinkets that Robyn had acquired and a baseball cap and shades that Mika owned. Mika took a key from the shelf and held it just out of her reach. “Looking for this?” It was the key to her chains.
“As it happens, yes.” Carly shifted her position and stretched out, even though she knew it was pointless.
“Uh uh uh.” Mika stepped back and closed his hand around the key. “Not yet.” Robyn took the key from him and dangled it right in front of her face. When Carly brought her arm up to make a grab for it, Robyn moved it back and snapped her teeth in her face. “We haven’t had our fun with you yet.”
“What are you gonna do to me? And why have you gotta keep me all chained up? I mean, I’m not exactly going anywhere, am I?”
Robyn walked up behind her and Carly turned her head to the side, so she didn’t have to meet her gaze. “Just a taste?” she purred to Mika. Robyn made a long cut across the top of her shoulder and licked off the blood that squeezed out. “Mmm. This one has power. Knowledge. I can taste it.”
Carly gritted her teeth against the sting of the cut, but involuntarily tensed her muscles against any more assault. Hot, salty tears lay, undried, on her cheeks, but she held her head up, defiantly. “What do you want?”
Robyn and Mika looked at each other in slight disbelief that she hadn’t figured it out yet. “Information. On the plan,” Mika told her.
“What plan?” Robyn cupped Carly’s cheek with one hand and wiped away the tears with her thumb. “I don’t know anything about a plan.” Carly found that she couldn’t look away from Robyn and realized that her cool touch was comforting and gentle. She sobbed out loud as Robyn took her hand away. “What’re you gonna do when they find the body?”
“They won’t.” Robyn sounded quite confident about that, and Carly stared at her curiously. “They’ll just find parts of it.” Mika chuckled and wrapped an arm around Robyn’s shoulders. They shared this obsession with torture and torment. Robyn walked over to the fire and grabbed two red hot pokers and tossed one over to Mika.
“You can do so much with these things,” Mika muttered. “I just don’t know what to do first.” Before he moved, Robyn closed her hand around the end of the poker and screamed in pure ecstasy as it burnt into her hand. Smoke rose up from her fingers and the room, once again, filled with the tangy smell of burning flesh.
“This is your idea of a good time? I’m thinking a few decades of therapy.”
“Shut up!” growled Robyn, and lashed out with the poker, creating a large red wound on her side. “Victims don’t speak.”
“V-v-victim?” Carly had stopped pulling against her chains, now realising that she wouldn’t get free fro
m them. “Are you gonna kill me?”
Robyn left the room to get something Mika had thought of and slid through the open doorway with a sly smile on her face. Mika smiled at Carly, idly tapping the end of the poker on the floor just under her feet. “Eventually.” Robyn crept up behind her and stretched a length of black material between her eyes. “You should have screamed for me. But, you will.” Quickly, she tied the rag around her mouth to make a gag, and returned to Mika’s side. “Why won’t she scream?”
Mika grabbed her by the arm and turned her around to face him. “We’ve got to make her.” He dropped to his knees and pulled Robyn down to him, placing both hands on her shoulders. “Do you remember anything about this plan, love?”
Robyn got that far away look in her eyes and stared into the fire. “The flame… it dies.”
“Yeah, I know the fire will go out. But the plan, Robyn. What’s the plan?” He shook her as her eyes began to roll back in their sockets.
Her face split in a thin smile. “I don’t know. She does.” She leapt to her feet and tightened her grasp on the fire poker. With the poker mere centimetres away from Carly’s chest, Robyn stopped and looked at her. Carly’s eyes were wide with fright, and her cheeks were red with crying. “Maybe we shouldn’t have killed him, Mika. Maybe we should have made him watch.”
The heat already being given off by the metal instrument was unbearable to Carly, and she vainly tried to pull her body out of range. Robyn dragged the tip of it over her ribs and pushed it right through her left shoulder. She screamed in sudden pain, which soon dulled into a burning ache, while her two captors just laughed and held each other.
“See how happy you made my baby?” grinned the dark-haired man.
“She screams so pretty. Shall I make you scream some more?”
“No!” Carly yelled over the top of the gag. Blood was pouring from the wound in her shoulder, and she could see the couple staring at it as it stained her top.