All eyes were upon her as she swallowed, and delved into her pocket, and held up a long, pale brown stick.
Neil winced and began to thrash wildly, screeching and begging.
Watching him squeal was like taking a hit of pure ecstasy.
In one swift movement, Stella walked around to Neil’s backside, and with a grimace, quickly parted his buttocks and slid the thick girth of the dog treat into his stinking arse hole. Neil screamed like he’d been shot. Stella punched him hard in the back before shoving the dog treat further up into the despicable man’s anus.
“Shut the fuck up,” she yelled, her voice so hard and so hard that it even made Ronnie flinch.
Clearing her throat, Stella stood back. She produced another dog treat from her pocket, then waved it up in the air whilst whistling. “Thumper! Oh, Thumper!” she trilled with delight before tossing the treat into the dusty space beneath where Neil’s body hung.
As if she had always been the dog’s trainer, he obediently sat up and charged enthusiastically towards the dog treat, which he gobbled up quickly, then pause as his nostrils flexed.
Neil screamed again, kicking out his legs, hitting the dog on its muzzle in the process.
Thumper, apparently, did not like this.
Immediately, the pleasant, mild-mannered dog that had sat so faithfully beside Stella just moments ago burst into action. He snarled, flecks of spit erupting from his snapping jaws and blood red gums, clearly antagonised. After a few short moments of biting air, the dog finally caught a thick chunk of the flesh on Neil’s buttocks, sharpened teeth sinking into the muscle.
“FUCK!” screamed Neil, his face flushing red as the dog tore the first layer of tissue from his backside.
“NO!” he cried out as the dog continued to attack, clearly enjoying the taste of his meat.
Stella smiled, relishing the gore. A sigh of satisfaction escaped her lips as she savoured the blood-soaked scene unfolding, the pure joy of watching her attacker be literally eaten alive by an angry pitbull. Bliss.
Ronnie stepped towards his daughter and touched her arm.
“I’m sorry this had to happen to you,” he whispered.
She didn’t reply.
Simply shrugged and didn’t meet his eye.
“Stella- what do you want to do about the others?” Lloyd asked, calling out over the sea of sobbing, horrified bodies that still lay in front of him.
Her eyes remained fixed tightly on Neil.
“Dad said it’s a party, right? Well, let’s just enjoy it. Kill the motherfuckers however you want. Make it as bloody, nasty… and slow, as slow possible.”
Chapter Forty-one
Spring, 2000
One morning, after a long, fitful night of broken sleep, the door to the windowless room creaked open. Minnie startled upright and instinctively held onto the bulge of her belly. As if right on schedule, she felt another intense tightening in her abdomen. Not painful, just intense. She reached out and grabbed Ronnie’s hand, squeezing his clammy palm into hers. This had become a sort of ritual that the pair did, each time one of them was about to be whisked away into a deeper ebb of hell.
This time, as she had suspected, it was her.
That morning, it was Steve who came in. He didn’t grab her or drag her; instead just stood by the doorway and beckoned her into the darkness with one stubby finger. She obeyed, without question, hauling her heavy body to her feet and waddling over to him as quickly as she could. As she went, she heard Ronnie murmur quietly behind her, stirring in his sleep.
Once outside the room, and after he’d locked it up, Steve eyed Minnie’s belly cautiously, then looked her up and down.
“You’re not going to…” he trailed off, unsure of the correct terminology. “…not in my new car…” he mustered, vaguely waving his hand in disgusted gesture.
Minnie shook her head.
Not if she could help it.
In silence, Steve guided her through the usual routine that had it been hardwired into her brain. Brisk, cold shower. Pills. Vodka. Car. Daylight. Unbearably heavy, swirling sensation in the back of her skull as black spots swam in front of her, and her eyes kept zoning in and out of focus. Cold air on her skin as the car door was pulled open, and she was bundled out of the vehicle like a sack of potatoes. Led blindly for a few paces, then into a building that smelled musty and unfamiliar. A low, quiet exchange between Steve and another man. Presumably discussing the fee. The price of her pain and humiliation.
As she continued through the usual motions, she began trying to escape her body for the ordeal- to dissociate herself for the imminent suffering that would soon follow.
But, this time, she couldn’t.
It felt like she was treading water as she felt a large, dry-skinned hand taking hold of her wrist and gently pulling her along. As she put one foot in front of the other, a blinding pain suddenly ripped through her core, leaving her feeling as though her insides were being torn out. Her vision kept sputtering out and blurring, as though she were watching a crackly, poor-quality video cassette, but no matter what, she was still there. Still feeling it all. Spongy fabric beneath her; the warm tug on her arm; the intense wave ploughing through her abdomen.
“What the fuck, Steve?”
A drowning cat being dragged out of water; Minnie’s eyes suddenly fluttered open- the flabbergasted snap of an unfamiliar man bringing her into consciousness. Her mouth fell open as she felt a warm puddle spread beneath her, fluid dripping down her legs and onto the carpet of the small living room.
“Oh Jesus,” Steve grumbled, more in annoyance than shock. He rubbed his forehead and shot Minnie an angry glare, “for fuck’s sake. Come on,” he leaned forward and roughly gripped onto her forearm.
The man beside him, an older, Asian man with slicked black hair, batted him away. “Where are you taking her? To a hospital?”
“What? What the hell do you care? Look, do you want her or
