The two women were each secured to the end of a three-foot length of chain that came off either end of the plank, which gave them just enough mobility to reach an orange Home Depot five-gallon bucket that, by the smell of the room, was serving as a latrine. John let the rifle hang loosely from the sling and raised his hands, palms facing out.
“Ladies, we are not the bad guys,” John confirmed as he studied the padlocks. Both locking mechanisms were small Master Locks that unlocked with a little key. “Jared, go get Nancy and Mr. No Gun, and while you’re out there, check our friend for keys—likely a little brass one. If he doesn’t have keys, send those two to check our other friend, and you come back here.”
Jared was barely able to tear his eyes from the tragic scene in the room as he wordlessly turned and fled the house of horrors. He didn’t realize it until he cleared the front door and took a huge breath of fresh air, but he’d been holding his breath inside after he’d entered the dungeon. As he walked towards the corpse, Jared waved the two men over. Barry seemed to pretty much be back to normal after his fainting episode, which Jared elected not to address at the moment.
“What’s going on?” Barry asked as the two reached Jared’s side.
“Two girls inside,” he said as he again held his breath and fished through the dead man’s pockets, wishing he had a pair of gloves and vowing to try to find some in the future for situations like this.
“Alive?” Devon asked, dread written across his face.
“They’re alive, but you two might want to wait out here,” Jared said, looking at Barry just a second longer than he intended.
“What are you saying, man?” Barry whined defensively.
Jared found a ring of keys and drew them out of the man’s grimy pocket. He hung his head and sighed for a moment, knowing when John saw Barry, he’d certainly insult the man in front of the women, and frankly, Jared yearned for a little peace. The world was bad enough without adding internal conflict to it.
“I don’t care, but John’s in there with them,” Jared said as a way of giving Barry a warning that he could take or ignore.
Jared stood and began walking back to the house. Barry hesitated, then followed, as did Devon. Back inside the dungeon room, John was kneeling next to the girls, inspecting the locks, as Jared traipsed through the shattered doorway. Jared handed the key ring to John, who quickly found the right key and released the girls. Both girls stared at one another for a second, then glanced at the door. Both Jared and John moved to the side, giving the girls unfettered access to flee the room if they chose to do so.
Before either girl made a move, Barry and Devon appeared in the doorway, causing both girls to shrink back against the very wall they’d been tethered to just a moment before. The blonde actually fell to the floor, cowering at the sight of two additional men. John waved them off as he pushed at Jared, guiding him toward the door.
“Wait out front, guys. Let’s all wait out front,” John soothed softly.
As Jared exited the room and John reached the room’s threshold, he stopped and looked back at the two plainly wrecked human beings.
“Hey, we ain’t those two other dudes, ladies. In fact, they are—not with us any longer. They’re dead. They won’t be after you.” He smiled warmly in an attempt to quell their fears. “I’m going out front to wait till you two feel comfortable coming out, and then we can talk. You can let me know what you want. If you want to leave, that’s fine. If you want or need some help and a place to go, well, then we can talk about that too. When you come out front, though, be prepared because one of the guys is lying dead right there. I don’t want you to be alarmed. I confirmed he was dead. This isn’t like the movies where someone is almost dead but gets up and starts going after people. He is no longer capable of wreaking havoc on you or anyone else.”
As John turned to leave, the brunette called out, “Don’t go,” stopping John dead in his tracks.
Chapter 12
Outside, Barry pointed at the dead biker. “We should get that thing out of sight before they come out.”
Jared shook his head. “No way, man, that’s a threat they’ve had to deal with, so seeing it in that condition will put their minds at ease. If they hear he’s dead but don’t see his body, I bet they’ll always be looking over their shoulders. Leave him right there.”
Barry wasn’t about to move a dead body with his bare hands, so he relented. A few seconds later, John came out the front door with both women in tow. Both women shielded their eyes from the sun as they looked around the front of the little compound. Simultaneously, their eyes locked on the dead body at the gate. Both women just stood gawking at the grisly sight until slowly the brunette turned to John.
“Who did it?” she whispered through trembling lips.
John drew a sharp breath, his mouth agape, brows nearly touching his hairline at the blunt question he’d just been asked. There was a human, his head mostly in tatters with a great deal of his brain housing group decorating the ground in the immediate area around the front gate. Now this woman was asking who’d done it like they were all ten-year-old boys standing around a broken window, being grilled by the school principal.
“John did it, and he did it for
