Page 110 of Caged
Isignal to Gabi to start running. The morning is brisk with the onset of fall. If Dornell is lucky, snow won’t start falling in earnest until after Thanksgiving. Autumnal mustard and crimson leaves blanket the trail, filling the crisp air with an earthy sweet smell.
Barrett breezes past the row of trees we’ve hidden behind lost in his music and completely unaware that he’s no longer the apex predator ruling these woods.
It’s me, motherfucker. I’m the predator now.
I sprint to fall in line behind Barrett’s long strides with Gabi at my rear, syringe at the ready. I picked this stretch of the trail specifically for its secluded bend, far enough from the trailhead to be empty of any hikers. Most stop once they get to the waterfalls, since that is the main attraction of this hike and venturing beyond becomes risky the further you get into the woods. Well, those hikers would be right. Not Barrett, though. I’ve clocked him running this trail every morning for the last twoweeks. Same time, same place. Predictably dumb and perfectly primed for a bear attack.
I pick up my pace, now close enough to show up in Barrett’s peripheral vision. He glances sideways, suddenly realizing he has company, but I’m faster. I spear the needle into his upper shoulder and push.
“What the fuck,” he shouts, but the sedative works instantly, and Barrett tumbles to his knees before falling face-first into the dirt. I hear Gabi’s sneakers skid to a halt behind me as I remove the syringe and turn Barrett onto his back. His eyes are glassy but he’s still conscious.
I wish I was inside his head right now, taking in the sight of two people dressed in all black, wearing black balaclavas and Purge masks that say “GOD” across the forehead. Terror shines through the whites of his eyes, and even though he can’t see my face, I grin.
I crouch down next to him as Gabi rips off a piece of duct tape as I instructed her to do and hands it to me.
“Barrett,” I tease, sounding like the devil reincarnated with the use of the voice changer. “How brave of you to go running here. There are bears around these woods, you know?” I tsk as I duct tape his mouth closed. Gabi makes quick work of his legs and wrists, binding each set of appendages together with zip ties.
“Guess what?” I ask, leaning down next to his ear. “I’m the bear.” I pull back, wishing his face could make an expression. He can’t move of course, but the fear in his eyes gives him away.
“Oh, and what do we have here? Bear traps!” I exclaim with a manic sort of joy. Gabi hands me one of the circular metal teeth traps. “How fitting, because I hear you like to bite.”
I get to work setting the bear traps and tag Gabi in, because I don’t want to monopolize the fun. Barrett begins to moan his discomfort, and we’ve got sixty seconds before the sedative completely wears off.
“Where’s Kasey?” Gabi growls. Barrett gives a slight shake of his head, pretending that he doesn’t know. “Hard way, then?”
Barrett squeals like a pig, his face turns beet red and veins bulge from his neck. The first bear trap snaps into place around Barrett’s calf and shin. I can’t imagine the pain, or can I?
“Let’s try again,” Gabi coaxes as she rips the duct tape off his mouth like she was born to do this. “Where’s Kasey’s body?”
“I don’t… know… what,” Barrett grins out through the pain.
“Next trap,” Gabi instructs without hesitation, and I grin like a fiend under my mask, becausedamn!Color me impressed because Gabi’s a fucking natural.My step-cousins would love her. This time, I snap one around his bicep. The trees ring with the sound of his strangled screams.
“You know where this last one goes, right?” Gabi taunts. Barrett lifts his neck, a clear indication that the sedative has almost entirely worn off, and we’re out of time. It’s too bad he can’t see the unhinged smile on my face as I crouch near his groin, pointing down at his dick, but alas.
“No, no, please, please, I don’t know anything!” he begs.
“But you do, Barrett. We saw you leave with her body,” I say. It’s an educated guess, but I’m confident I’m right.
“Fine, fine,” he pants. Blood seeps out from the appendages where the teeth of the metal traps have sunk into his skin.
“The footbridge,” Barrett grunts.
“Which one?” I push, pulling down his running shorts, and gross, as expected, his shriveled cock is barely of average size. Yet another small-dicked, mediocre man who couldn’t stomach the truth of his inadequacy in the real world, so he joined Sigma.Say goodbye to your pencil dick, Barrett.
“Please no, please no,” he pants, looking down at me again.
“The Sackett footbridge over the lake,” he relinquishes.
“You helped them?” Gabi interjects, going off script, but it’s fine.
“She was already dea…”
A scream so loud it makes the birds take flight rips from Barrett’s lungs as the last of the three bear traps snaps around his dick and balls. Gabi quickly replaces the duct tape, muffling his cries. Tears stream from Barrett’s eyes as the metal-toothed vice ensnares his now purple and bleeding organs. We should add another piece of duct tape to his mouth, but I’d taken the time to write “Kasey’s Killer” with my left hand earlier this morning, and it’d be such a shame to cover up that truth.
53
KIEREN
