by "Splatter" Joe Solmo

                The drive back to his house wasn’t very exciting. The woman didn’t wake up until he tried to pull her out of the back seat. Now Robert had a struggle on his hands! She kicked at him, the best she could having her ankles bound with duct tape, hitting him mid-thigh with a two footed attack in three inch heels.

                He reeled back out of the car door, and she tried to escape, but the tape stopped her from getting any kind of real movement going. He recovered too quickly, and struck her on the face. “Calm the fuck down!” he yelled at her. She mumbled something in response, but he couldn’t understand her under the tape. Soon enough he would remove it, once he was down in the killing room.

                Robert gripped her ankles and yanked. She slid part of the way out of the car. “We have two ways to do this,” he said. “You can walk, or I can drag you, but either way we are going to the basement.”

                Her eyes grew huge at his statement. It still seemed so surreal, but with that statement it really started to sink in. This lunatic was going to do bad things to her. He already kidnapped her, was he going to rape or murder? The hair on the back of her neck stood up as the reality of the situation sunk in. She stopped fighting him and let him lead her to the door at the back of the garage. Instead of struggling she used that time to get a good look at her surroundings. It might be a matter of life and death, she thought.

                “Down,” Robert commanded her, pointing to the stairway leading down. It looked dark down there and the creepiness factor increased ten-fold. She hesitated for just a second before he pushed her from behind. She staggered a step forward. Fearing a larger push that would send her down the stairs she took an unsure step down.

                As she descended she heard the hum of fluorescent lights as they came to life, giving her some much needed light. She almost moaned at the welcomed illumination. At least that was until she saw what the light revealed. At the bottom of the stairs there was a mysterious red stain. “It has to be blood, it had to be,” she mumbled.

                “Head for the room,” he said and pushed her between the shoulder blades. The stain looked moist. Was it fresh? Suddenly she got uncontrollable chills. Shivering, she entered the room he had mentioned and a whole new level of horror over took her.

                Robert stepped in behind her, grabbing her bound wrists. He led her to one of the mattresses lining the wall and shackled one hand in place before cutting the duct tape from her other hand with a scalpel. As he locked in her second hand he noticed the tears streaming down her face. He placed his own mere inches from her.

                “There is no reason to cry. Death isn’t something to cry about. It simply is. It’s a force of nature. It’s like the rain, or wind. You wouldn’t cry for the wind, would you?” he asked her cocking his head sideways. She winced and shook her head no.

                “That’s a good girl,” he said and smiled. The sobbing became uncontrollable at this point, and his smile faded into disappointment. He licked the tear off of her cheek, above the duct tape. “I can taste your fear. You need to let go. We have no control over nature, you know,” he said.

                She looked up at him then. “Such pretty eyes,” he said and bit hard into her cheek flesh that was pushed up from the tight tape around her mouth. She tried to scream. The searing pain was so unexpected. He moved so fast. “So much life in them,” he said as he wiped the blood from his lips. “This should be interesting.”

                Robert stood then and headed for the shelves on the opposite side of the room. He hummed as he took inventory of what he had. There were so many choices. He giggled with a euphoric glee at the endless possibilities. For the moment the woman didn’t exist to him, she was just another object in the room. Her humanity was masked by his mind calculating the possibilities. She was just another tool in the arsenal to entertain him.

                It wasn’t until the woman’s sobs began to register that he realized he had an audience.  He turned and walked towards her. He noticed she was looking at his crotch. He looked down and was surprised to find himself fully erect.

                “You have a dirty mind. Is that all a woman is? Sex crazed liars?” he asked her as he crouched down in front of her. He pulled a pocket knife out and held the blade inches from her face, the woman flinched.  “Heh,” he said and grunted with contempt at her. He slid the knife down her cheek across the duct tape. He pressed a little harder into the soft flesh under her chin, just enough to draw blood and put a scare into her. That would take her mind off of his cock.

                With a quick thrust the sharp blade cut through the tape that wrapped around her head. He yanked it hard, ripping hair from her head. She screamed in pain. He balked at her, and the loudness of her screams.

                “Do you have a name?” he asked her in a voice that sent a chill down her spine.

                “S…S…Sue,” she said between sobs.

                “Sussudio? You were named after the god damn Phil Collins song?” he said and stood in front of her. “Poor baby.”

                “What?” she said confused. He realized she probably wasn’t old enough to know who Phil Collins was. He envied her. 

                “It’s not important, Sue,” he said. “Let me tell you how this is going to work. You see, you are very special to me. I have been planning this a long time but there was one piece missing. That was you, and now you’re here, delivered to me.”

                “You kidnapped me! You Psycho!” she yelled.

                “Now now, if you’re going to start name calling I will put some fresh tape over that lying mouth of yours,” he said in a calm voice. Sue shuddered at the tone, almost robotic. The lack of emotion in both his voice and his eyes when he spoke scared her.

                “What do you want from me?” she asked trying to choke back sobs.

                “I want to kill you. Slowly. I want to see the life leave your eyes. Those peepers of yours are so full of light, a spark most people don’t have,” he said still in the monotone.

                “Kill me? Why? What have I done to you?” she asked.

                “You’re a woman, isn’t that enough? Everyone I ever met was a liar and a whore,” he said and kicked her in the ribs. It was so sudden she didn’t have time to cower.

                “What about your mother, I am sure she took care of you, right?” she said clutching her sides.

                “Oh my mother, let me tell you about her,” he said and turned from her. She tried to break free from the manacles but they were too strong.

                “You want to meet her?” he said and bent down to grab something on the shelf under the stainless steel table in the center of the room.  Sue was horrified when he stood holding a head in his hands. The skin was tightly wrapped around the bone. It looked mummified, she thought.

                “That’s your mother?” she asked.

                “In the flesh, so to speak. At least what’s left of her,” he said. “The rest have been disposed of…I kept this part to remind myself how woman really are.” He lowered the skull down in front of Sue. She looked on terrified. The eye sockets had gouges around them. Like fingernails dug into them. “Admiring my handiwork? I did that while she was still alive. I wanted her to know that I saw her betrayal first, before it killed me inside. Fitting, no?” he asked.

                Sue cringed. Still the man showed no emotion. Even talking about something that obviously bothered him. She couldn’t tell what was going on inside his head. It was so unnerving. “Why? Wh-What did she do?” she asked.

                “What did she do? The same thing all women do. They lie and they deceive. They tell us we are special and that no one can come between us. Then they spread their legs for a man and suddenly you are number two. Woman is a plague. It needs to be irradiated. There is no doubt of this at all. Can’t you see it, being on that side of this?” he asked. The last sentence showing a hint of curiosity.

                “I’m no part of this! You’re crazy. I’ve never had kids!” she exclaimed.

                “But you will, someday, and the cycle will continue. We all know it, that’s what women do, procreate. Why are you trying to hide it? You see, the lies begin,” he said and carried his mother away. Sue was grateful for that small miracle. It gave her a few seconds to try to think of a way out of this.

                “Don’t you have someone special?” she asked, lowering her voice into a more sultry tone. “Is there no one special in your life?”

                “No one. I don’t need people. I have a mission,” he said as he returned to the shelf of tools. “The less people that know, the less opposition I have.”

                “But to go through life without companionship? That’s crazy,” she said.

                “Don’t be throwing that C word around, that’s the second time you used it. I have heard that my whole life and I don’t much care for it,” he said picking up a large saw and twisting it in the light before setting it back down and moving on to another tool.

                “I think you just have met the wrong women. I think you just need a good girl. My friend Jane would be perfect. If you let me call her, I can invite her over,” she said.

                “I don’t think so,” he said and picked up a rubber chicken. “Now how did this get here?”

                “Have you taken the time to get to know another woman? I understand your mom was a piece of shit, but it doesn’t mean all women are,” she said.

                “You will not say things about my mother!” he yelled at her and threw the tool in his hand. Lucky for her the impact with the table changed its trajectory. It skidded on the floor and came to a stop a few inches from her foot.

                “I’m sorry. I just thought you didn’t like her. She didn’t seem to treat you well. You deserved better,” she said.

                “Careful. You have been warned,” he said and picked up a pair of forceps. He shrugged and stuck them in his pocket for later.

                “All I am saying is give women a chance. I would never lie. Give me a chance. Maybe we could get to know each other,” she said and tried to straighten out her leg. The scalpel wasn’t that far away. Her eyes locked on his back, keeping his movements in view.

                “Get to know me? You have barely scratched the surface so far and you are terrified. Do you really think I could confide in you? Tell you my darkest secrets. I think not, Sussudio,” he paused for a second. “Although I have already given you a pet name, like lovers do.” He started to turn towards her.

                She drew her legs in quick, the scalpel was closer now. She dare not look at it to draw his attention. “You want to be lovers?” she asked, purposely letting her skirt ride up her thigh. “Do you think I am pretty?”

                Robert walked closer to her, slowly. It took almost thirty seconds for him to cross the room. The entire time he didn’t say a word, just cocked his head like a dog and stared at her body. She watched his expressions for any sign of what he was feeling. He stopped in front of her, his feet just out of reach of her.

                The scalpel was less than a foot from him. She had to fight herself not to look. She hoped the clinical fluorescent light wouldn’t glare off the smooth metal and attract his attention. “Do you like what you see? You can touch me. If you want. Have you touched a woman before?” she said.  Robert stood there in a trance for a moment longer.

                “No, you are not a woman. You are a thing.  A dirty thing to be disposed of,” he said shaking his head, as if to clear it. “Tonight is a night to kill. There is no other way,” he said and turned from her without another glance. She quickly drew the scalpel towards her as she swore under her breath.

               
                “You cannot tempt me, succubus. For I have been shown the path. Through my mother’s transgressions I have learned what is expected of me. Many, in this land of heathens wouldn’t understand. I must work under the cover of night,” he said lifting the ballpeen hammer from the shelf. It shone in the light, freshly cleaned.

                “What new level of insanity is this,” Sue mumbled under her breath. She was pretty sure he couldn’t hear her from that distance.  She pulled her legs under her to get the scalpel out of view. She had to hop to conceal it under her bottom.

                Robert returned with the hammer in hand. He held it out to her. “Such a simple tool. The hammer,” he said. “Elegant really. The smooth lines of the wooden handle, and the hardened metal weighing down the business end. It really is the perfect weapon, just ask my mother,” he said. “She didn’t even wake up from the first strike. It took several. Mom was always a deep sleeper. Her lover though, he awoke,” Robert explained.

                “I had another idea for him. A quick slash across his throat silenced any complaints. He didn’t deserve to live long enough to see my power. To know me in my glory. My mission was too important,” he explained.

                “What happened to your mother?” Sue asked.

                “I tied her down,” he began, in that monotone voice. I tied her to the bed, her lover bleeding out next to her. It didn’t take long for him to go still. I placed my hand over her mouth, so that she couldn’t spout anymore lies. Once I had a good grip I popped the ballpeen end of the hammer into her left eye, it popped. I scooped it out. I remember her screams, muffled by my hand. She tried to bite me,” he said.

                “Holy shit,” Sue exclaimed.

                “I know. How dare she? Right?” he said. “I decided to muffle her another way. I used the knife to sever my mother’s infatuation with this man. I took his genitals and shoved them down her throat. I crammed them in so far she started to choke. That’s when I began to panic. I didn’t want her to die yet. I must admit I lost my composure then. I reached down and plucked her other eye with my bare hand, now free from holding her mouth. This time I felt the pop, the release of fluid. My hand was suddenly wet and sticky. I wiped it on her sheets. The screams quieted then,” Robert explained.

                They both turned their head at the sound of a thump from the stairway. A small amount of hope began to appear. Maybe someone is coming to rescue me, she thought. For just a second she thought she saw emotion in his eyes, a flicker of fear.

                “It’s time to put some tape back on,” Robert said and grabbed a roll off the shelf. He returned to her and wrapped it around her mouth and head two times. Another thump came from upstairs. She thought she heard someone knocking. She watched as he made his way out of the room, closing the thick door behind him. Sue kicked the scalpel towards the door, it got caught in the jam, preventing the door from closing. She could hear the man make his way up the stairs.

                She fought the manacles again, but to no avail. The chains were too strong for her. After a few seconds she gave up and sat back against the wall that held her. She tried hard not to break down into tears again, she had to remain strong.

                Once she caught her breath she could hear muffled voices. One of them she could make out as her abductor’s baritone, the other sounded like a woman. If only she could hear what they were saying! She tried to lift herself up to get her head near her hands. Maybe if she could pull the duct tape away she could scream and get the woman’s attention, she thought.

                Sue heard the voices get louder as she tried to reposition. She couldn’t quite get the right angle to make a difference with the duct tape. She held her breath for a second, listening to the voices. The conversation had grown angrier, she could almost make out the words.

                A loud bang rang out from outside the room. Sue wondered if it was a gunshot, she had never heard one before. Did this psycho shoot the woman, or the other way around? There was silence for a few seconds and then she heard him. He let out a wail that made her cringe, it was so full of sadness.

                The wail lasted nearly 20 seconds as it rose in intensity and only stopped when Robert ran out of breath. “Why did she make me do that!” he said. “Why?”

                Sue heard the stomping of footsteps as he came back down the stairs. “I didn’t mean to do it,” he said and then pushed the door open. He looked down and saw the scalpel there. He picked it up and looked at Sue. “You heard?”

                “Heard what?” she mumbled through the tape.

                “She made me do it. I didn’t want to,” he said wiping his eyes with his sleeve. He put the scalpel on the metal table. It might as well been a mile away, she thought.

“Why did she make me do it? All she had to do was leave!” he said and ran his fingers through his short brown hair. He gripped a bunch of it in his hand and yanked. Sue could hear the follicles rip from his head.

Robert looked at his handful of hair with more curiosity than anything else. After a second he let out a little giggle and sprinkled the hair down over Sue. “It’s a parade, Sue,” he said with a smile, no longer in the foul, erratic mood. He whistled Silver Bells as he left the room.

                As soon as he left she wriggled as much as she could. If only she could get out. She couldn’t even get into a kneeling position. Her hands were beginning to tingle now from the blood drain and elevated position.

                A few minutes later the door slammed open, the heavy door crashing into the wall. Sue was so surprised she jumped, well as much as her bonds would allow. The metal shackles dug into her wrists and she winced. She shook the hair that had fallen on her face from her eyes so she could see what was going on.

                A moment later Robert entered the room, dragging a body. Sue started to cry when she saw the blue uniform of the state police. Her hope left her. She watched him drag the police woman’s body across the floor and around the far side of the table.

                “Looks like the Inn is filling up, girls,” he said to the mural on the wall. He raised the woman up onto the table. Suddenly he looked at Sue, as if just remembering she was there. “I didn’t forget about you,” he said and walked over to the door and closed it. Once the heavy door was secured he removed her duct tape.

                “I got us a playmate,” he said clutching his side. Sue noticed his shirt had a red stain on it. Did the policewoman shoot him? She had assumed he had shot her, but it looked like he was wounded. Maybe there is hope, she thought.

                “In case you’re wondering, she is still alive. I just knocked her out cold. A lot easier than it looks, honestly. She did get a lucky shot in though, the bitch!” he said and lifted his hand to look at his wound. The blood loss was significant.

                “It’s not too late,” Sue said.

                “Quiet you,” he said as he cut the police woman’s clothes off of her with a pair of stainless steel scissors. It was methodical, like a coroner. She watched him finish and dispose of her clothes in a metal bin. He lit a match and threw it in the can, than strapped the naked policewoman to the table.

                Robert walked over to the stainless steel sink and wet a rag. He pulled his shirt off and started to dab at the gunshot in his abdomen. Sue watched him, hoping it hurt worse than it looked. Once the wound was clean Robert placed the cop’s gun on the shelf next to his other tools. He picked up a power drill and pulled the trigger. The high-pitched whine filled the silent room.

                “This will teach you, bitch,” he said and rammed the spinning bit into the policewoman’s abdomen. “Now you feel like I do!” he said. The woman woke up and started to scream. Her body contorted as much as was possible under her restraints.

                Sue watched the woman’s muscles tighten and flex under her skin. The screams were unbearable. What sue wouldn’t give to be able to use her hands to block it out. She felt selfish in that moment. Worried more about what she was going through, that the woman with a drill in the gut. She wanted to cry, but there was nothing left inside of her. She shuddered at the coldness growing within her.

                Robert pulled the drill out of the woman, and licked the drill as it stopped spinning. The woman’s screams calmed to loud moaning now.

“You did it now, you sick fuck. You kidnapped a police officer. You aren’t getting away this time,” the naked woman said in between pained gasps. Sue watched as the woman’s blood, ran off the side of the table and dripped down to the floor.

Robert pushed the drill back into the woman, screaming into her face. He wiggled the drill around in extreme angles, digging into her insides. This time it lasted only a few seconds. Sue couldn’t take it anymore and yelled out. “Shut up!”

Robert put the drill down and laughed as he made his way over to her. “Whoa oh oh, look at you Sussudio. You’re turning as cold blooded as I am. Is this woman’s screams bothering you?” he asked.

“I...I don’t want to hear her be tortured, please,” she responded.

“Don’t worry. She won’t be around much longer,” he said and coughed. He used his shirt to wipe blood from his lips before returning to the table.

“What are you going to do?” Sue said.

“Mrs. Wells, is that you?” the woman on the table said, straining to turn her head towards Sue.

“Yes, it’s me,” Sue replied.

“We are getting way to friendly, here,” Robert said and gave Sue a stern look, like a parent to a child, as if saying, you know better, Sue.

He walked back over to the police woman on the table. From where Sue was all she could see was the woman’s chest rising and falling erratically. He reached out his hands and put them on the cop’s throat. “I’m sorry, but Sue says you need to be quiet,” he said and started to squeeze.

“Don’t you dare put this shit on me!” Sue screamed as she saw the woman’s body jerk as she struggled for air.  Sue listened to the sounds of the woman choking. It was a terrible, wrong sound. She was surprised how long the woman struggled.

“Almost there now, you’re growing weaker. I can feel it,” Robert said to the woman under him. “Look at me,” he said. “LOOK AT ME!” Robert pushed harder on her neck. “Let me see your eyes,” he said and let go of her throat with one hand to hold open her eyelids.

A moment later it grew silent as she stopped struggling. Robert let go of her neck and smiled, with a look of wonder on his face. “Yes!” he said. “I saw it.”

Sue realized her mouth was open when she tasted her tears running into it. She closed her lips and looked at Robert. The look of elation on his face looked wrong, it was odd to see him with an expression on his face. He started to come around the table towards her.

“I saw it,” he said as he stumbled into the table in a moment of weakness. “I saw the life leave her. It was the greatest thing. I took it out of her,” he said and stood in front of her. “That is always the best part,” Robert finished.

“Are you going to do that to me?” she asked.

“Not right away. I should save you for a while,” Robert said and teetered on his feet. “I need a drink,” he said and headed for the cabinet next to the mural. He pulled out a bottle of scotch and opened it, pouring a quarter of it down his throat.

He turned back around and admired his handiwork before walking to the sink to rinse out his shirt once again. He dabbed at his wound and looked at the cloth. He reached for the duct tape and wrapped it around the cloth covering his wound.

Sue could tell he didn’t look well, his face was pale and it looked to her that he had broken out in sweats. “Please, just let me go,” Sue said. “Before it’s too late.” Robert looked at her like she was crazy.

“You belong to me now, Sussudio. You’re mine,” he said and picked up a butcher knife from the table. He began to work his way back towards her, his steps growing more unsure as he grew closer. “

“Please,” she said, trying one last plea before he attacked her. He took a step towards her and stopped, swaying on his feet. He looked down at her with a confused look on his face. He hovered there for a few seconds before falling backwards, smacking his head on the edge of the table. Sue watched as his breathing slowed.

“You get it. It’s your turn,” Officer Grady said to his partner. “I got the last one.”

“The last one was only a domestic dispute, not a missing cop,” Reynolds said back as he entered the garage of the house where they found Maria’s car. Her partner said she had followed up on a lead on the way home from work a week ago. There was a car parked in the garage with the back seat lined with plastic. This had to be the right place.

They entered the house and searched it room by room, but couldn’t find any trace of the missing cop. They tore the small house apart looking. It wasn’t until after searching the whole place and heading out that they found the hidden door in the garage, by pure accident.  

“Now it’s your turn,” Reynolds said.

“Bullshit, we are on the same call still,” Grady replied.

“That’s not how it works. You know the Chief is coming, right,” Reynolds said. Grady didn’t move, and just stood at the entrance to the dark staircase below. With a loud sigh, Reynolds turned on his flashlight and took the first step down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs the found a large door built into an interior wall.

“What did we find,” Chief Madison said as he climbed out of his SUV. “Did we find her?” he asked the first officer he saw.

“Yes,” Grady said. “But you’re not going to like it.”

“Show me,” the Chief said. They led him down the stairs into the room they had found. The room with the bodies. The Chief covered his mouth with a kerchief he had carried since his beat cop days. He looked at the body on the table with the gaping wound on the table. He knew Maria personally, she went to high school with his son, Brian.

“Is this out guy?” he said as he crouched next to the man lying on the floor.

“Has to be, chief. He matches the description,” Grady said.

“And that would make her?” Chief said looking at the body on the mattress, chained to the wall.

“The missing girl, Sue Wells. Looks like she died from lack of food and water. Poor thing has been trapped down here with two corpses,” Reynolds said.

back to Extreme Horror