The Burying Place

'Leave my family alone. They're not part of this.'

'You weren't a part of my game, but you put yourself in the middle of it. You can't stop playing now.'

'You are done,' she shouted, taking a step toward him. 'You are dead:

He read the violence in her face. 'It's a powerful feeling, isn't it? To hate so much you want to kill. That's when you know you're really alive.' 'This ends right now,' she said.

'I'll sweeten the deal for you, Kasey. Kill her, and I'll let you go.'

'What?'

'I'll let you go,' he told her. 'Game over.'

'You're a fucking liar.'

'I'm not lying.'

The joist felt slippery in Kasey's hand. 'You'll never let me go. I've seen you.'

'But you're not going to turn me in, are you? You wouldn't take that chance. Come on, Kasey, what's another death on your conscience? I'm giving you a chance to walk away.'

'Kasey.' It was Maggie's voice, interrupting him sharply. 'Kasey, look at me. Don't listen to him. Don't believe him.'

Maggie's eyes were calm and focused, as if she were talking Kasey down off a high ledge.

'This guy is pathetic,' Maggie went on, her voice growing loud and sarcastic. 'He's a joke. Look at him. Acne Face here probably had dates laughing at him in high school, and now he's taking it out on women everywhere. Or maybe Mommy liked to dress him up in her lingerie. Which was it, Nie-Man? Nie-Man, isn't that like German for 'not a man'? Wow, the shrinks'll have a field day with that one.'

'Maggie,' Kasey murmured.

Nieman didn't move or say a word, but Kasey saw his muscles quiver as his body knotted up in rage. His smile froze on his face and turned ugly.

'So what's your story, Nie-Man?' Maggie asked. 'What turned you into such a miserable excuse for a human life, huh? Did Aunt Penny like to take you into the closet when you were a boy and play with your little wee-wee? Did you grow up on a farm and spend too much time fucking the pigs and goats?'

Nieman's eyes never left Kasey's face. 'Kill her, Kasey,' he said calmly. 'Kill her right now, and you are free.'

'The whole school thing, what's that about?' Maggie persisted, buzzing around his brain like a mosquito. 'Was it a teacher? Did one of your teachers introduce your ass to the end of a broom handle? Or was it the other kids? Did they make the girls watch? Did they laugh at you? Poor, pitiful little Nie-Man.'

'Kill her, Kasey,' he growled. 'Do it right now, or I'll torture both of you in ways you can't even imagine. Do you hear me? Do you think I won't do it?'

Kasey recoiled as he shouted at her, but she understood. Maggie was trying to give her a split second to get to him. One moment of distraction. One chance to attack. And it was working.

'So what's the deal? Are you just an impotent piece of shit, Nie-Man? Can't get your tiny noodle off your balls? You blame women because all you've got is a floppy inch of licorice between your legs? Maybe next time you should pick a name like Harry No-Dick, huh? That's a good name for you.'

Kasey could see it in his eyes. So could Maggie. She had scored a direct hit. Nieman blinked faster, and his blood rage bubbled toward a boil.

'Drop your pants, No-Dick. Go on, do it. Give us a last laugh.'

'Shut the fuck up! Shut up! Shut up!'

Nieman stormed toward Maggie with his right hand clenched into a fist and his arm cocked for a back- handed blow across her face. The barrel of the gun followed his body. His head turned. One split second.

Kasey leaped. He wrenched back and fired as he saw her coming, but he wasn't fast enough. The gun went off with a flash and roar, burning past her ear, and before he could fire again, she hurtled the joist down on to his wrist. The heft of the metal snapped the joint with a loud crack. He howled in agony, and the gun tumbled to the floor.

Kasey reared back to swing again, aiming at his head this time, but he grabbed her shoulders and toppled them both off their feet. They landed hard amid the glass and debris. The flashlight spun away but stayed lit, casting a tunnel of light across their bodies. Before she could twist free, she felt him on top of her, leaning into her throat with his thick forearm. He loomed above her, his eyes black and intense. Seeing his eyes, she took her index finger and jabbed a sharp nail directly into the moist center of his pupil. He screamed, loosening his grip and covering his face with his hand. She hammered a fist into the center of his throat, and then again, slamming the side of his head and rolling him off her.

In the triangle of light, she saw the gun among the rubble on the floor and threw herself toward it. He kicked as he felt her move, and his boot connected with her skull, dizzying her and spinning her on to her back. He jumped and landed on her chest and drove the side of her head into the floor, where the broken glass sliced her cheek and lips. Before he could grab her skull again, she clutched his other hand and twisted his broken wrist. He let go with a screech of pain, and she wriggled backwards.

Her hands scrabbled on the floor for the gun but couldn't find it. He crawled toward her, and she skittered away from him, bumping against something cold and wet. She wrapped her hand around it, and her fingers sank into dead, decaying flesh. She was among the bodies, drowning in the smell. She kept backing up, using the row of corpses to block him from her, but he came forward, climbing from his knees, towering above her. His right eye was squeezed shut. His left hand dangled at an odd angle. But he was standing, and she was on her back.

Kasey reached the wall and couldn't go any further. He threw aside the chairs, grotesquely tumbling two bodies to the ground and scattering rats. Their eyes met. He smiled and came for her. As he landed, his body crushed her with his weight, forcing the air from her chest in a rush. His good hand locked around her throat like the jaws of a dog and choked off her windpipe. Kasey clawed at his fingers and pummeled his head and body with her fists, but he hung on.

Blood pounded in her ears. Her open mouth sucked for air and found none. She pawed the ground, hunting for a weapon. When she found a shard of glass, she scored his skin in streaks, but the blood and pain didn't dislodge him. His hand was a clamp, crushing the cartilage of her neck.

'You lose, Kasey,' he hissed.

Maggie screamed at her. 'On your left! Kasey, on your left!'

Her left arm swept the floor in a twitching, up-and-down motion. Blood vessels popped like firecrackers on her face.

'Higher!'

Kasey reached backward until her shoulder almost separated. That was when she felt it. Her fingers closed over a jagged block of heavy concrete. She clutched the stone like a baseball and hefted it off the floor. Her arms swayed with the weight, and she nearly lost her grip.

'Yes! Do it! Hit him!'

She took an unwieldy swing and missed. Her fingers grew numb. The brick tottered in her hand. Drunkenly, she swung again, down into the back of his head, and this time she heard the block land with a fierce, satisfying crack as it broke bone.

His hand loosened from her throat. She felt him crumple and become dead weight, unconscious as he lay on her body. Lines of blood trickled through his hair and on to her face. With a heavy thrust, she flipped his body over and staggered to her feet. The world spun. She coughed, gasping for air.

'Kasey!' Maggie shouted. 'Are you OK?'

Kasey stumbled toward the flashlight. She bent down and picked it up, and the beam of light danced crazily in her hand as she steadied herself. She scanned the floor and located Maggie's gun, and she retrieved it and held it tightly in her other hand. She took a tentative step toward the wall and cast the light down on his body.

'Is he dead?' Maggie asked.

Kasey watched Nieman in the light. A dark pool grew under his skull, but she could see his chest rise and fall. She hadn't hit him hard enough to kill him. The nightmare wasn't over yet. He groaned, and his limbs moved. Blood bubbled from his mouth. His eyes fluttered as he began to wake up.

'Quick, help me get free,' Maggie urged her.