Sara felt herself grow very cold. Martin had walked into the room.
Lester squinted at the knife like he didn’t know how it got there. Then he looked at Martin.
“Subject 33 killed the Joe pet. So Lester killed Subject 33.”
“Dammit, Lester, you can always get a new pet. Plincer’s going to be pissed at you.”
Martin knelt down, felt Paulie’s neck. Though Sara thought nothing could shock her any more, Martin’s callous disregard for his brother’s death made him even more horrible.
“He’s still alive. Help me get him to the lab.”
They each grabbed a leg, and dragged Paulie across the bloody floor, out the door.
Sara waited. She needed to figure out what to do next. She still had four kids left. The three in the cells, and Georgia, wherever she was being held. But those cells were solid. She would need tools to get in. A saw, or a pry bar.
There was a drill in Martin’s room, on his tool bench.
Sara slowly slid out from underneath the bed, avoiding the blood on the floor and refusing to look in Laneesha’s direction. She was halfway to the door when she realized what a cop-out that was. Taking a deep break, she forced herself to face the cabinet.
“I’m sorry,” Sara whispered, feeling the words stick in her throat. “I know you believed we go someplace, after we die. If you’re right, and you can hear me, I’m making you a promise. If…no…
Sara closed her eyes but could still picture the ruined, bloody thing before her.
“I also promise, even if I die trying, to get every one of those fuckers who did this.”
Sara snuck out into the antechamber, and then peeked around the corner before committing to the hallway. Once she deemed it clear she moved quickly, on the balls of her feet, pausing by Martin’s doorway. She heard voices, from the spiral staircase ahead of her.
“…sick of dragging this heavy bastard. The wheelchair is in my room. I’ll go get it.”
Sara hurried into his room, frantically looking for a hiding place. It was too well lit in here to hide under the bed. But there wasn’t anyplace else. Except…
She gaped at the trunk, her legs feeling weak. The alternative was facing Martin with the utility knife—which had too small a blade to do any serious damage. Plus Martin attended the same judo class as she did. Sara had more experience, but he was stronger and outweighed her by sixty pounds. She silently cursed herself for making him take classes with her.
His footsteps reverberated through the stone corridor, getting closer.
Utility knife clenched in a death-grip, Sara cautiously lifted the trunk lid.
She climbed in anyway, forcing herself to squat down, the pain in her leg making her wince.
But she couldn’t get herself to close the lid.
Martin’s footsteps drew closer, practically outside the room.
Sara eased the lid down, watching her light get smaller until it was a thick line… a thinner line… just a speck…
And then the darkness.
It assaulted her like a freezing wind, making her want to scream while also taking her breath away. A minute ago, a second ago, she’d been empowered, a woman on a mission. But the dark reduced her to jelly. She wasn’t even sure if she could keep hold of the utility knife.
Sara strained to hear outside the trunk. Was Martin in the room yet? What was he doing? Would he notice the lock on the trunk was broken? What if he opened the lid? Would she even be able to defend herself?
Then there was a huge banging noise and the trunk shook and Sara screamed and dropped the knife, the darkness swallowing it, and her.
Martin slapped the top of the trunk and was rewarded with a cry of absolute terror from the woman he exchanged vows with.
“You okay in there, honey? I don’t want you thinking I’ve forgotten about you.”
He went to the wheelchair, parked next to the tool bench. It had shackles on it, and was useful for moving people around. An elevator would have been more useful, but Lester was pretty strong and there weren’t many people he couldn’t lift by himself.
Subject 33, however, had to weigh three hundred and fifty pounds. He’d really let himself go since Plincer locked him in that room, years ago. Martin made a mental note to bring him a Nordic Track or something on his next visit. If the fat bastard pulled through.
He wheeled the chair to the doorway and then abruptly stopped.
Something was wrong. He felt it.
Martin turned around, scanning the room. Work bench. Dresser. Peg board. Bed. Trunk.
Martin walked over, bending at the waist to pick up the object on the floor.
“Trying to get away? You naughty girl.”
Chereese’s tanned hide was lying in a pile, like a dropped leather jacket. Martin had put all of his skins away, but somehow had overlooked her. He lifted her up, brushing a piece of rock salt out of her hair, and reverently put her back in the dresser.
Then Martin left the room. He had to walk backwards down the stairs, lest the wheelchair get away from him. Lester hadn’t waited, and had pulled Subject 33 by himself halfway across the cell area. Martin rolled up to him, and they hefted the fat man into the chair.
The lab was on the other side of the cells, through a doorway and at the end of the hall, between Plincer’s bedroom and the kitchen. As expected, the doctor was in the lab, fussing with some test tubes.
“Goodness, what has happened?”
Martin frowned. “He and Lester had a disagreement. So Lester stabbed him in the back.”
Plincer came over, peering close. “So how did he get so fat?”
“Eating too much and lack of exercise.”
Subject 33 groaned.
“Oh dear, we don’t want this one waking up on us. Hold him down.”
Lester placed his hands on Subject 33’s shoulders and leaned on him. Martin stared at Doctor Plincer, clucking like a mother hen while he searched his cabinets for some succinocholine, and wondered how a man so brilliant could be such a space cadet at the same time.
The doctor found the bottle and filled a syringe. By now Subject 33’s eyes were open. He stared up at Lester, projecting hate. Lester projected hate right back. Plincer gave the fat man a shot in the thigh.
“Okay, let’s try to get him up on the table. Face down.”
The three of them heaved, sweated, grunted, and strained, and eventually managed to beach the whale on the stainless steel operating table.
“We’ve got a knife wound four inches right of the L2 vertebra.” Plincer placed his ear to Subject 33’s back. “There’s a pneumothorax. How long was the knife?”
Lester held his fingers apart.
“Possible liver puncture as well. Did you do all of these other cuts as well?” Plincer spread out his hands, indicating the dozens of slices on the fat man’s body.
“Subject 33 was like that when Lester stabbed him.”
“Self-inflicted? Fascinating.” Plincer peered over his glasses at Lester. “You weren’t trying to kill him, were you?”
“Not right away,” Lester said.
