Preview of "HIGH SCHOOL REUNION."

As the group of three begins to walk towards the Communications lab the first thing they notice is that all the lights inside the room are on.  However, before they get one step into the room Jules stops them again in the same spot she was standing when she first heard that strange sound.  She grips Stanley’s arm and Stanley stops to turned and find Jules pointing up the hallway.  Jules shrivelled quivering hand and index finger motion for Stanley to look in the same direction and he does.  Stanley can see what she is pointing at and immediately his heart begins to race.  Stanley grabs the forward moving Vincent by the back of his coat and whispers, “Vincent, look!”  Vincent had to take a step back and he follows Jules quivering hand as well.  Vincent can see it.  So far down the front hallway of the school the three of them could see the tall, slender form of a woman slowly walking as though incredibly drunk.  She is walking towards them.

 

            Vincent, Jules and Stanley walk to the center of the hall and now they can all hear the sound the woman’s high heels slowly clapping the white tile floor.  The woman was so far from them that the detail of her appearance is a complete mystery, but due to the cut out of herself she makes against her background, Vincent and the others guess that she was wearing a sort of tight sweater and a mini-skirt.  She looks really tall, almost eye to eye with Stanley.  The slow clip-clopping sound of her heels echoeds across the hall.

“Others are going to hear her.” Vincent says giving little detail as to what he means.  Vincent takes the two desk legs he’s holding and claps the two of them together.  In his right hand is a weapon now twice as powerful as the one his new-found comrades have.  The woman down the hall stops dead in her tracks and appears to be mesmerized by something.

            Vincent, Jules and Stanley could not see her eyes, but they all know what she is looking at.  They could hear the faint sound of a cold drawl of breath come from the dark casm where the woman’s face should be.  Suddenly she begins to run towards the three of them at full speed.  The clip-clopping of her heels grows louder and faster as she approaches.   This is like watching a runway model run the length of the stage with murderous intent.  At half the distance she was before from them it would appear as though her arms are outstretched in front of her.   Vincent holds the two desk legs like he’s Babe Ruth.  No one takes their eyes off of the running woman.  At a quarter of the distance away, Stanley wonders if he’ll recognize this person as well.  The woman’s heels disappear from view for a second.  She has reached the three stairs.  There is a drop of three feet in the hallway.  It is a sort of marker for where the old school was and the addition is.  The tall woman takes to the three steps at full speed and then just a quickly falls flat on her face.  She falls so fast and so suddenly that the sound of her head hitting the ground was a lot like throwing a frozen watermelon on the ground.

            The woman lay a ways not far from where the threesome stands.  Vincent is half –amused at what he just saw and motions for his shocked compatriots to follow him towards her.  Slowly they pass the main entrance of the school and then the offices and now they stand over the motionless woman.  Vincent examines her while she lay still and face down.  She is taller then Vincent is.  She is indeed, wearing a skirt and dirtied brown and red sweater.  There are runs in her panty hose as well and a thick and rank black and brown substance that could only mean loss of bowel control.   One of her black high heels rests broken on the ground just behind her.  Looks like Cinderella lost her balance leaving the ball.  There is a lot of blood surrounding her curly red hair.  Judging from the upward direction the blood appears to have sprayed, it looks as though the woman forehead split open right through her skull.  Vincent kneels down to the woman and Jules takes several steps back.  Stanley stands silent and once again appears uncomfortable.  Vincent places his desk legs on the ground and rolls the woman onto her back.  Their thoughts were correct.  A large mass of hair, skin and skull remain in the circle of blood and the woman’s brain sat like a victim of a car crash might rest half out a windshield.  Vincent could let her rest now on her back and he looks into her face.  Stanley can’t help but want to know so he stares at her half-a-face as well.  Her nose is broken, her teeth smashed, crusted blood glazes her jaw and purple blood is oozing from the fist sized opening on her forehead.  There’s a large rip in the center of her chest and wide and deep cut between her breasts.  In her left arm there is also a large chunk of her bicep missing as though she had been bitten there as well.  A once fairly attractive older woman now turned into a bloody mess.  Her eyes are wide open like examining those who are examining her.  Stanley needs not another moment to recognize her.  He had a feeling he knew who she was back when she stood at the other end of the hall.  However, Stanley did not want to admit it.  If she could be dead along with Wayne and the leg Wayne was holding then what hope was there for anyone else he had known.

“That’s Mrs. Nielson.” Stanley said painfully. 

“Teacher?” Vincent ventured.

“Cosmetology.”

“You took cosmetology?” Vincent chuckles to lighten the mood.

“No!” Stanley says a little too loudly.

“Quiet!” Jules calls from her hiding place behind Stanley.

“I just know that she’s the Cosmetology teacher cause…I kind of had a…you know.  Lets go back.”

“Wait!  Kind of had a what?” Vincent taunts.

Stanley says nothing.

“A crush.” Vincent ventures once again and for the first time since they met, Stanley sees Vincent smile. “You crushing on your teacher, boy?” Vincent shed his Italian accent and spoke in a mock Southern accent, “We don’t take kindly to student/teacher relations round here!”

Stanley and Jules almost laugh after not looking at Ms. Neilson for a while.

“Well look at her,” Stanley gestures to Ms. Neilson’s entire body the way a game-show model would emphasize the beauty of a king-size bed.

Vincent however, refers to her from only the neck up.  “She looks pretty gross to me.”

“I mean before she came down with the sickness.” Stanley says as though that should be obvious. “She was the school MILF.  Every guy in the school had a crush on her.”

“I guess.  I could see that.” Vincent half-heartedly agreed.

Looking just behind where the woman fell there are three descending stairs that the woman clearly and unsuccessfully tried to ascend.

“Looks like the crazy bitch couldn’t get up three little stairs in those shoes.” Vincent deduced before calling to the dead woman, “Don’t wear ‘em till you learn to work ‘em bitch!”

At that moment is when Jules, Stanley and Vincent realize where they are standing.  On the other side of the wall to their right is the South Gym.  From inside the gym they can all hear the sound of movement and echoes of raspy breath.  

"Can we leave now?"  Jules begins to back away from Ms. Neilson. 

"And go where?" Vincent taunts.

A knock on the other side of the gym door answers his question, anywhere but here. 

The knocking sound continues now at both doors to either side of where the three survivors stand.

"Lets go!" Vincent concedes as he stands from over top of Ms. Neilson.  Vincent looks down at Ms. Neilson to discover that as he stands over her her eyes are following his every move.   

Chapter 25: Last Man Standing

           The three henchmen continued to eat the flesh from the bones on Walter’s arms legs and ribs.  Albert seems to be examining what was left of Walter’s head.  Walter’s lower jaw was crushed completely.  The upper portion of his head sort of popped off when Albert pushed it in.  Walter is very dead, but one of his eyes remains open, blood shot and seemingly staring right into Albert black visage.  Albert takes his left index finger and thumb and pushes them into Walter’s eye sockets as though fitting his hand into the perfect bowling ball.  Albert stands and takes the top portion of Walter’s head with him.

            A sound can be heard from somewhere on the second floor of this warehouse.  Albert can somehow sense the vibrations.  Albert can’t smell or see anything.  If his tongue was still there he wouldn’t be able to taste anything either.  Somehow Albert can still hear.  Out in the hallway Albert begins to move towards the sounds.  Direction is the only interpretation he can make.  At the balcony over looking the rest of the warehouse Albert stops for a moment, turns left and continues towards Mel’s office.  Albert is still wearing a steel chair arm tied to his right arm, and the top of Walter’s head on his left hand.  The vibrations grow more and more.

* * * * *

            “THIS IS NOT YOUR CITY ANYMORE,” The Commissioner screamed into the phone.  “IT BELONGS TO THEM.”  

            “What the hell are you talking about?” Mel threateningly enquired to panic-stricken voice on the other end of Albert’s cellphone.

            “We’ve been… judged.”  The Commissioner whimpered and then the line went dead.  NO SIGNAL

            Mel could hear an explosion in the distance followed by the frightened screams of an old man coming from one of the rooms just down the balcony and around the corner from where he is now.  Not fazed by the scream a little boy he heard earlier, this old man however sounded very unsettling.  That coupled with what the commissioner had had the balls to say made Mel made him feel uneasy.

            As Mel got up from his chair he could hear the tiny footsteps of someone hurrying across the warehouse floor.  Mel stepped out onto the balcony over looking the floor level of the large warehouse.  At the sight of what was left Mel’s skin turned white.  There was blood everywhere but it didn’t belong to the girl or her boy.  Mel knew this because he was watching that very girl search the pockets of a headless corpse while her son stood by.  Mel was more shocked at the sight of the headless corpse.  Despite the fact that Joe’s suit was similar in style and color to everyone else’s Mel somehow new that he was looking at the dead body of his only heir. 

            “Joe?” Mel whimpered aloud.  Where is everybody?

            A clanging sound from down the hall does not stop Mel.  He goes back into his office grabs his 9mm gun and gets back to the balcony.  But now there are two people on the balcony.  With every intention of shooting the girl and her son from above Mel steps with purpose until he sees him.  Albert is standing on the balcony as well.  The girl and her son are gone.  At the sight of Albert standing in front of the only exit there is, Mel is gripped by a feeling he hasn’t felt since… forever, fear.

            Dear God!  What is happening here.

            Mel was standing there when Albert was killed.  Fuck!  I gave the order.  But now Albert stands overlooking the balcony as well.  Dead and somehow alive at the same time.  How can this be?  What the hell is going on here?  Mel slowly steps back through the door of his office.  He shuts the door and locks it.  Stepping backwards towards his desk Mel’s eyes shrink on the frightening sight.  A shadow slowly passes behind the faded windows and stops at the door.  Mel takes aim at the head of the shadow and fires.

BANG!

            The shot goes through the glass and just pass the head of Albert.  Albert doesn’t move.  Mel aims again, this time using the little sight of his 9mm and fires again.

BANG!  Ting!

            The bullet hits its mark.  The shot goes through glass and straight towards the centre of Albert’s forehead.  Mel lowers his smoking gun.  The glass window shatters and falls to reveal Albert’s new form to Mel.  Albert stumbles back and forth like a college student the day after St. Patrick’s Day.  Then Albert falls forward taking out the wooden door and colliding on top of it on to the office floor.  Mel stands over Albert feeling slightly victorious and very confused.  But then Mel sees what Albert had brought with him.  In Albert’s left hand is the top portion of Walter’s head.  Mel drops his gun beside Albert’s head.

* * * * *

            Behind the wheel of Joe’s car the mother managed to calm her son down.  Andy couldn’t stop rubbing his right eye.  It felt like the spoon was still there.  The mother turned the car out of the former industrial area towards the city.  She was hurt a little but her son needs to get his eye checked. 

Then it hits her like a ton of bricks. 

What happened back there?  The logic and reason that she has grown up and known all her years has become a lie.  In this life she has known many things to be false except one thing: Death.  But now that is untrue as well.  What’s next?  She cries behind the wheel, but tries to compose herself for her son’s sake.  Foolishly she thinks to herself, I need to get Andy to a Hospital.

* * * * *

            A tear swells in Mel’s right eye as the room starts to spin.  The loss of Mel’s power and influence is beginning to sink in.  He sits back behind his desk and begins to mourn his empire.  There suddenly in the doorway are Albert’s other fallen comrades.  The former Casper, Wolf and Raptor all with mouths hanging open and flesh on their breath. 

            “Oh, fuck me!” Mel says aloud.  They’re all dead men for as far as appearances go.

            Mel stands to give it one last shot.  He races around his desk to get his gun.  But another dead man stops him.  Albert rises to his feet and towers before Mel.  Mel stares in disbelief and loses control of his bodily functions.  Mel retreats backwards towards his desk chair and sits down.  His lower lip quivers as he let out a frightened squeal like that of a pig being gutted alive.

            “Fuck me!”  Mel says aloud, “I s-suppose your g-g-going to… kill me, r-r-right Al?”  The question is not answered by anyone in the room.  The sight of Albert’s dismembered face and subsequent silence sends a chill like a jug of ice water down Melvin’s back.  The voice of the panic-stricken Commissioner, This city belongs to them, plays in Mel’s head.

            Mel looks at the other three former employee’s.

            This city belongs to them, Echoes of truth.

Mel looks at the head dangling from Albert’s left hand and instantly begins to sob like a baby.

“D-d-d-daddy?”  Mel cries towards the head.

Albert does not react to Mel’s sudden fit of mourning.  Mel looks up at Albert.

“You limey fucker,” Mel stands one step from Albert with anger burning through tearful eyes, “I’m g-g-going... to... f-fuck... fucking kill you!”

In one last foolish effort Mel tries to dive over the desk towards the gun.  But Casper and Wolf each grab one of his wrists and Albert pins him to the desk by his shoulders.  The diamonds cut into his stomach.  With his feet still on the ground but his body pressed against the desk Mel watches in horror as Casper moves his mouth towards Mel’s left wrist and Wolf takes a bite out of his right wrist.

“No!  FUCK, NOOOAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!, Mel screams in agony so loud it sends a rash down his throat.  The cartilage and bone breaks apart with every bite and twist that is made.  Finally the two henchmen pull Mel’s hands right off almost at the same time.

The pain of having both hands severed at the wrist causes Mel’s legs to go weak.  Casper and Wolf both stand and continue to eat the flesh off of their hand sandwich’s while Raptor looks on and groans to their victory.  Albert brings his head down towards the back of Mel’s head, but Mel slumps down on his knees behind the desk.  Both the bloody wrist stumps rest a top the desk and Mel hangs his head down between his arms.  Albert steps around the desk and looks down towards his old boss.  The chair has been pushed back to the wall shelf behind the desk.  A man slumped on the floor, both hands severed…

“Oh God, just kill me.” Mel cries.

Albert kneels down and takes Mel into his arms in a reverse bear-hug.  Just as he had to Joe, Albert pins Mel’s head to his chest and bites down with his upper jaw.  Albert’s teeth sink into the left side of Mel’s head while Albert pushes down on Mel’s shoulders with one hand.  Mel grits his teeth so tight that they break and four of them going flying out of his mouth.  Mel’s head separates completely from his body.  The body quakes and jitters for a moment and then falls dead to the floor.

Albert stands with Mel’s head in his mouth.  He shakes his left hand and Walters head falls by the neck of Mel’s body.  Albert lifts his head and Mel’s head falls under the desk.  There is no noise.  No rhythms to indicate there is anything more to be done in this warehouse.

Slowly Albert and other three henchmen wander out of the warehouse.  An explosion is heard in the distance.  It came from the city again.  The other three groan and Albert begins to walk towards the city, the direction the explosion sound came from.  It is late afternoon.  The four henchmen will reach the city of South Lake Gardens by nightfall.  By then the city will belong to them.  It won’t be long before the rest of the world does too.

THE END

Note From The Author II

Well that brings the story of Jawless to a close... almost.  If you've been paying attention then you know that there is one more person still alive in the warehouse.  I will post the closing chapter very soon.  I"m hoping that you are wondering where Jawless and the other three are headed after the close of this story.

Don't worry Jawless' story is not over.

I will also post a teaser chapter from Book 3 of the I, Undead universe.

The plan is to pique interest in the series with this story as the lightning rod.  There is also a graphic novel version of a short opening scenario in the works (props to L.E.)

I don't want to give away too much though, but it'll be worth the wait.

Thank you for reading, take care and stay Undead!

Chapter 24: Salvation From a Deadman

Now the mother is running back towards the center of the warehouse with her son Andy hand in hand and right beside her.  As they get closer to the bloody mess surrounding the table the mother slows to a walk.

“Close your eyes sweetheart.” She says to Andy, “Just follow me.”

She walks towards the headless corpse lying near the mangled steel chair and the various splashes of blood, bone and flesh.  She kneels down over the body and lets go of Andy’s hand while saying, “Keep you eyes closed honey.” 

The mother sticks her hands in the left pants pocket of the headless gunman.  Nothing.  She leans further over the body and sticks her left hand in the right pants pocket.  She grips a steel ring with her index finger and pulls.  The clanging sound of little steel objects smacking against each other is a beautiful sound.   The mother happily examines the headless gunman’s keys and gives a, “Thank God,” at the sight of one key with the side profile of a galloping horse engraved on it.

            The mother stands and grasps Andy’s hand.  They walk a short distance and she says, “You can open your eyes honey, but don’t look back, okay.  Don’t you dare look back behind us.”

“Okay…(sniff)…mom.” Andy finally says while opening is eyes.

Andy’s vision is blurry.  He blinks several times and whips his eyes with the sleeve of his blue pajamas.  The corner of his right eye has stopped bleeding but still stings.  The sensation reminds Andy of what could have been.

“Don’t look back sweetheart.  Mommy’s got you.” She says trying to sooth her child.  She knows what’s coming.  Andy is so young.

            As soon as they are outside the warehouse the mother picks up her son and embraces him.  Andy loses it.  He cries aloud over her shoulder.  Holding his mother so tight with a mixture of relief and fear Andy’s soft, sweet, five-year-old-voice sobs.

“I thought he was going to kill me mommy.  He was trying to kill me.”

Andy’s cries over her shoulder bring the mother back to that place where humans know they are human by how they feel.  The mother lets out her own tears.

“I know honey,” she says soft and warmly.  “But, he is gone now.  He can’t hurt you.  The boogieman is dead.”

“I was so scared mommy.  I thought they hurt you too.  Did they hurt you mom?”  Andy sobs. 

“They didn’t hurt me sweetie, I promise.  They tried but the big one with the black hood saved me.”

“He said he would.” Andy cries.

She is taken a back by Andy’s statement.

When?  She thinks.

But the mother considers how traumatizing the last day has been for her son.  Instead of enquiring about any encounter Andy may have had with the big man they called Albert, she just holds her son tighter.  With all that she has been through her son, Andy is going to have nightmares about a greasy, fat, old man holding a spoon.  What could she possibly say to him now?

She switches to holding Andy in a way that he can see her eyes.

“Andy?” She asks.  Are you okay?

“I’m so scared mom.”  Andy says wiping the tears from his eyes.

“You don’t need to be afraid.  I am going to protect you honey.  I’ll always be here to protect you.”

Chapter 23: Mother Vs. Walter

It is now, as Walter is lost, frightened and astonished in the eyes of Joe’s severed head that he finally notices the loud clatter of many footsteps running up the stairs from the warehouse below.  The sight of Joe’s head must have distressed Walter somewhat cause his eyes are beginning to tear.  Behind the foggy glass surrounding the room Walter watches as a slim dark silhouette runs for dear life followed closely by a much larger and slower shadow. 

The mother passes the window she had broken with Joe’s head and looks in as she passes.  She could see Walter for less then a half a second. 

You fucker!  She thinks to herself as she sprints left around a corner

The mother knows which room her son is in.  The slim shadow gets some time and distance from the larger shadow that pursues her.  She turns another corner outside the room and bursts through the door of the old staffroom. The mother stops dead in her tracks at the sight of Walter standing opposite of her with a table much like the one downstairs between them. This table, however, has a rabid severed head clicking its’ teeth on it.  She stands still for only half a second, blood-covered, ripped-white-shirt-wearing, skinny, young, blonde woman.  She is looking for her son Andy, but she is not alone for long.

            With the exception of Andy whom is still frightened on the floor, everybody is moving at the same time.  The mother rounds to her left around the table towards her son holding the knife in a threatening manner and not taking her eyes of Walter.  Anger pumps adrenaline through her veins and feeds the fury that has been built up in her over the last day.  She is so close to the finish line, deep breath.  Walter returns her stare and walks to his left around the opposite side of the table towards the door.  Walter clearly believes that somehow the mother escaped and has been chased into a corner by his allies.  Walter is somewhat comforted by his assumption.  At the sight of the mother wearing a white tank-top and long skirt now covered in blood, Walter begins to chuckle.

“Been twenty-eight days already?”  He laughs.

The mother makes a “fuck you, you’re not funny” smirk at Walter as she now stands a few feet from her son.  Walter fails to notice that he now has his back to the door she had come in through. Albert and the others pour into the room so quickly that they knock Walter over and land on top of him like he has the football.

            Before Andy could see anything his mother picks him up and lifts him through the open hole she made in the window.  As she cuts her hands carelessly trying to get through the window as quickly as possible, she hears Walter say his last words.

“What the hell you guys?  I think you sprained my-AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!”  Reid bites down hard into the back of Walter’s neck while holding down both of his arms. 

Albert gets up and grabs Walter by either side of his head.  Albert pushes down on the back of Walter’s head with his left hand and begins to sloppy-punch Walter in the back of the head with his right hand.  From the pressure and punching sensation Walter is feeling, which breaks his nose against the floor, it is as though Albert is trying to crush his skull like a cantaloupe.  The steel chair-arm clangs on the floor with every slam Albert’s gives with his hand.  David and Tala each grabbed one of Walter’s legs.  They bite into them first and then pull the two legs right off, almost in unison.  The sensation of pain causes Walter’s eyes to widen as he stares directly at dust particles on the floor.   Albert stops punching Walter for a moment and brings his teeth down into the back of Walter’s head.  Having no bottom row of teeth to bite down with, the loosened flesh is of no use to Albert.  He lifts his head up while moaning.  Walter only need endure this for two more seconds. 

Albert presses both hands down onto the back of Walter’s head.  Under the crushing force of Albert’s entire upper body, Walter’s skull cracks sending sharp fragments of bone through every inch of his brain.  Albert lets out a moan as if satisfied to have his hands submerged in the blood, brain and boney mess that used to be Walter’s head.

           

            The mother looks back through the open window at the popping sound of Walter’s head being crushed like a watermelon.

            “Yeeesh! She says.  He’s dead…  Sick fucker!

Chapter 22: The Four Henchmen

Under the table in the center of the warehouse, soaked in her sweat and the blood of almost everyman in the room, the mother thought hard and fast of what she could do to save her son.  She tried not to think of what Walter was doing to Andy, she needs to save him.  Albert is closest to the Tala and the driver is walking around the table to meet the last gunman’s other side.  Tala pumps the handle on the shotgun again, but does not get a chance to choose who he is going to shoot.  The mother reaches up from under the table and pulls the barrel of the gun down on top of the table.

KA-BOOM!

The shot hit nothing but the cold steel table that earlier looked like a display from a surgical catalogue for coroners.

“YOU BITC-Ack!”  The last gunman didn’t get to finish his sentence. 

The mother let her hand off the barrel of the shotgun and wrapped both her hands around his ankles.  With all her strength, the mother pulls the pair Gucci shoes and matching black slacks towards her.  In less than a heartbeat Tala is knocked out cold by the hard cement floor.  The shotgun is resting now on the floor.  Tala is approached from both sides, Albert on his left and David on his right.  The two men once known as Jawbreaker and Casper knelt down on either side of the unconscious Wolf as if giving worship to their next meal.  David lifts the gunman’s black shirt and bites down into his stomach.  Then David digs his hands into the hole he made and tears the skins back like he is parting a pair of curtains.  Tala awakens quickly from his short slumber and tries to wail in pain, but Albert places his entire right hand into his mouth.  The Mother looks away but the sounds of what’s happening tell an equally gruesome tale.  Tala’s eyes go blood shot rapidly until both eyes look as black as eight-balls.  His jaw cracks as it unhinges from his jaw.  Albert’s arm quivers for a second and then with a violent jolt his right arm goes flying back and Tala’s head comes off the ground for a second.  Albert throws a bloody mass of flesh on the ground behind him. 

The mother looks back at the three men and instantly gasps in horror.  Tala’s tongue along with other unknown pieces of his insides now lay on the floor behind Albert.  Albert is still over Tala’s head trying to feed his open neck wound yet again.  David’s face has disappeared into Tala’s stomach.  The mother sits frightened under the table in front of both of Tala’s twitching feet.  She knows it could not be long before Albert and the David discover her sitting there.  If for some reason they were willing to cannibalize their former friend, than what would they do to her?

What is happening here?  She thinks

            Something small and shiny makes its presents known to the mother through the corner of her eye.  She turns her head towards Reid’s mutilated body and there at his feet lays the knife that she used on him.  Carefully she reaches towards the knife and happens on yet another horrific sight.  As her right hand grasps the handle of the bloodied blade, the mother watches as Reid raises his entire upper body off the ground like Dracula.  She stifles her scream and backs away back under the table.  Reid is seated on his butt on the floor not moving.   Reid’s dark-black complexion is creepily, contrasted by foggy-white eyes.  His white eyes are just staring at her.  Albert and David may not see her, but Reid does.  The wound on Reid’s neck stopped bleeding but is still very disgusting.  His mouth is just hanging open like he is shocked to see the mom moving away from him.  The mother inches silently out from the other end of the table towards the head and headless body of Joe.  She can hear movement behind her. 

            Ewww!  This is so digusting!  She thinks

The mother grabs the head of Joe by his thick black hair.  At first, she tries to grip it like she would a dead mouse; two fingers pinching a bit of hair lightly.  But Joe’s head is too heavy.  She grabs a hand full of hair.  The thought of what she is about to do freaks her out.

            Oh my God!  This is insane!

The mother stands holding a knife in her left hand and Joe’s head in her right.  What has become of Mel’s henchmen feeds between her and the stairs.  Albert and David feeding on the Tala and Reid is still seated on his ass watching her as if hypnotized by her presence… or daring her to move.  The mother takes a wide journey to walk towards the stairs that Mel, Walter and her son, Andy were last seen ascending.  She can’t hear anything from the upper level as she walks backwards towards the stairs.  The stairs are still quite a ways from her even though she has put considerable distance between herself and her bloodied attackers.  She turns her back on Albert and the others and continues towards the stairs.  The mother is much closer to the upper floor now and can see nothing through the oxidized glass windows that line the entire upper level.  A nashing sound coming from her right hand causes her to stop from fear againShe takes a look back at the crew that had brought her here. 

          OH SHIT!

All four of the men are standing straight up.  With the exception of Albert whom can’t see from under his black hood, but somehow still knows his way around, they are all staring straight at her. 

            Albert stands in front of the other three.  Albert’s appearance is more threatening then ever.  His black trench coat is shredded with bloodied bullet holes.  His white undershirt is now red.  The black hood Albert is wearing stops anyone from seeing what his eyes look like.  The hood ends just under his nose and above his upper lip, which has retracted to expose his blood red upper row of teeth.  The chair arm still tied to his right arm dangles like a hook. 

David stands behind Albert at his left side.  His jaw is broken off and his mouth hangs open much like Tala’s does due to his suffering a similar attack at the hand of Albert.  It is clear that David can use his jaw but his tongue is also missing.   Reid stands beside Tala’s right side.  Reid’s has a large rip in his neck.  His neck wound is a lot like Albert’s, except Albert’s neck is thicker and Reid still has his lower jaw even though it’s broken.   Tala stands slightly behind Albert’s right side.  He has had his jaw broken by Albert as well.  What makes him stand apart from the rest though is the huge hole in his stomach made effortlessly by David.  From under Tala’s shirt every organ below his heart hangs in front of his pants like wind chimes.  It would appear that what ever they are now, they have no use for their bodies’ organs.

At her distance away from them, the mother can hear the four men all make a sort of lifeless cold drawl of breath.  Sounds like a good breeze hitting a rusted and far-from-in-tune pipe organ.  She looks down at the head in her left hand.  Startled she drops the head to the floor as she realizes that it is alive.

What in the fuck!  What the fuck!  What the fuck!  She thinks. 

The moment the head had impacted the floor, the four men started to walk towards her.  She picks the head back up.  The head of the Joe starts snarling and making nasty biting sounds with its’ mouth.  The mother turns as she can hear her son screaming for mercy.

“Andy?!?!?!” She frightfully whispers.

She turns her head back towards the open warehouse and her heart pounds upon her stomach at the sight of the four men running towards her.  She turns to run, but as she does she decides to put the head in her left hand to good use.  Just like how she used to teach kids when she was in high school.  She swings the head around in a big circle twice before releasing it to the air.  The head sails through the warehouse up towards the window on the second floor.  The mother could hear the head crash through a window just as she reached the base of the steps.  She takes a quick look to her right to see that Albert and the others are so close to her that all they need to do is hope she’ll extend her arm towards them.  The mother holds up the dress from catching under her feet and takes the steps two at a time.  In a flash she has reached the top.   The clattering sound of sole on steel tells her that Albert is right behind her and the David, Reid and Tala are right behind him. 

Chapter 21: Preying On Innocence

Since bringing Andy up to one of the old rooms for some “privacy,” Walter at first did nothing more than verbally abuse the child.  A blessing by comparison, but to Walter, verbal abuse is like foreplay.  The room they are in looks like it used to be a staff room of some kind.  It is very large and overlooks the rest of the warehouse through several rectangular windows that line the entire room.  In fact, if Walter was interested he could look down and see what the three gunmen are doing to Andy’s mother.  Or he would see something else entirely.  But that doesn’t interest Walter.  Since bringing Andy into the room Walter has clubbed his kneecaps with a small stick of wood and smacked him several times in the face.

            “You remind me of me when I was your age Andy,” Walter states.  “Except for the brown hair.  I was a skinny little runt too.”

            Andy didn’t know where this was going and he didn’t care.  Fear kind of takes away ones willingness to figure things out.

            “See this spoon Andy?”  Walter gestures from standing across the room, “It doesn’t know what cereal feels like”

Andy sits with his knees in his chest and sobs at the thought of what that could mean.  Now Andy could figure that out.

“Nice pajama’s Andy, hope they don’t stain,” Walter teases as turns away towards a sink and cleans the spoon with a towel.

“So!  Think the boys will leave anything left of your mother?  Mother!  You know I had a mother once.  She wanted to have me committed after what I did to the cute little kitten she bought me.  You see, Daddy was trying to train me to follow in his footsteps.  Mommy didn’t like that.  She tried to nurture the softer side of me.”

Walter turns around and looks at Andy.  Andy’s face is tucked into his arms.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you Andy.”

Andy doesn’t look or move.

“LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

Andy’s head shot up so fast he hit his head on the wall behind him.

“Ow!” Andy says rubbing the back of his dome.

“Careful, Andy!  You should really respect your elders.  There are lessons we can teach the generations to come.  And the lesson I leave for your generation is…”

Walter crosses the floor and bends down holding the spoon at Andy’s face.  Walters grabs Andy by his hair and pins his head to the wall.

“… Some people don’t have a softer side.  In fact, I feed off of the hope of you people.  I was on death row, you know?  But people cried that I was misunderstood. There is still hope for me.  Well!  This is what I’m doing with hope… with innocence.  I’m going to take this spoon and dig out your face with all the sympathy my bitch of a mother gave to me.  As I sent her sailing off the balcony of a hotel in Vegas I breathed in her screams.  Screams like sweet music.  Oh, how I have tried to recreate that perfect soundtrack.  Scream for me Andy!”

A shotgun blast echo’s from behind Andy.

Walter lets go of Andy, stands up and back a few steps.

“Geez!  I don’t know why, but that scared the crap out of me.” Walter confesses. “Sounds like your mom just got her left tit blown off.”

* * * * *

Melvin Maroni sits in a very elegant and newly finished office.  He looks up from the diamonds on his desk at the sound of the shotgun blast.

            “Done fucking her already boys?” Mel says to himself. “It’s only been five minutes.”

            Mel goes back to jewels on his desk.

            “Fucking minute men!”

* * * * *

            Andy gives a look of wonderment and fear from the blast.  Walter lets a look of puzzlement slip. 

Albert’s already dead.  What could they be shooting at?  There is only the mom…  Walter thinks.

Another loud shotgun blast is heard.

“Oh, there goes the right one.”  Walters laughs again.

Andy continues to cry and cowards against the wall overlooking the warehouse, Still, Andy is hugging his knees against his chest.  Walter stands over Andy holding the spoon in about as threatening a manner as one could hold a spoon.  Walter kneels back down on his left leg and grabs Andy by his sweaty hair.  Walter holds the spoon close to Andy’s left eye.  Andy’s head jerks left and right, with fearful force but does not move enough to avoid what’s coming.  Andy needs a miracle.  Another shotgun blast is heard but Walter doesn’t even acknowledge it at all.

“Now this is going to happen Andy whether you want it to or not.” Walter says in a cold low voice that is less and less like his usually old man tone.

The scoop of the spoon is so close to Andy’s terrified left eye that Walter is smiling evil upon the reflection of the spoon that now appears across Andy’s eyeball.  The edge of the spoon presses slowly and painfully in that small space to the left side of Andy’s left eyeball.  Andy’s hands grab Walters forearm and he tries to stop the spoon.  His fingers dig into Walters skin but Walter doesn’t slow at all.  Andy bites his bottom lip and lets out moan of overwhelming discomfort.  Andy tries desperately to keep himself from screaming.  Walter pushes the spoon between Andy’s right eye and its’ socket. 

            “Come on Andy.  SCREAM FOR MEEEEE!” 

Walter twists the spoon a little but just enough to send a surge of pain coursing though Andy’s little mind.  Andy can’t hold it back anymore.

            “eeeeeEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Andy’s painful song echoes into all corners of the building.

            Walter takes his hand off the spoon and just stares at Andy.  Little Andy has a single tear of blood coming out from underneath the spoon.  The spoon rests on its’ side protruding from the right side of Andy’s right eye.

            “Please stop!  Please stop!  I didn’t do anything.”  Andy finally speaks to Walter, “Uhh!  I want my mommy!”

            “Your mommy?” Walters says putting his hand on the spoon, “Your mom is dead.  And that was so good that we’re just getting started.”

            “NO!  PLEASE!”  Andy screams aloud again.

Just a moment before Walter was about to press the spoon into Andy’s skull, something happens that stops him yet again.  There’s the sound of a lot of glass breaking and Walter’s head, shoulder and back are showered with broken glass.  Something thuds onto the table behind him and stops.  Walter pulls the spoon out of Andy’s face.  Andy has small fragments of glass in his hair too, but the spoon is now a few inches away.  Walter is so distracted by this strange happening that he stands straight up to assess the change in his surroundings.  Before Walter’s knee’s aligned his legs in the upright position he could see what came crashing through the window over his head.  It is a human head.  A human head much like the one that belonged to Tony.  Walter remembers happily tossing that head about the air in a small apartment just one day ago.  But this head had it’s back to Walter and it did not belong to Tony.  Walter could tell as he approached the table that the head did not belong to Albert either, the only person, Walter thought, that was dead in the building.  Albert’s head is shaved and this head has shaggy black hair.  Much like the head gunman, Joe.

            Walter places his right hand on the side of the head and spins it like a record almost exactly 180 degrees until the lifeless eyes were looking into his.  The face of Joe is staring at Walter.  Walter jumps back from the severed head on the table, because what is stranger than a head flying through a window and landing on a table is having that head try to bite you.  The lifeless head of Joe on its’ side is looking at Walter with so much hatred in its’ eyes. 

            “What in the?” Walter says aloud, “What the hell happened down there?”