Jeff Strand - Single White Psychopath Seeks Same

Daniel came on out, holding a flamethrower. I got the hell out of the way as he let loose with a burst of flame that sent Bernard to his fiery demise. The machete had served me well up to this point, but it wasn’t going to be much of a match for a flamethrower, so I ran.

I passed several interesting props as I fled, including a full-sized guillotine, a dentist’s chair, an iron maiden in the shape of Homer Simpson, and a bubble gum machine filled with eyes, noses, and ears. I ducked behind a bullet-hole riddled baby crib with a tentacle protruding from it.

As Daniel came my way, I saw that he’d ditched the flamethrower in favor of a lawn edger, a lawn edger more appropriate for Jack’s yard after the giant beanstalk sprouted, but a lawn edger nevertheless. I shoved the carriage at him, catching him off guard, and wove through some piles of boring old lumber.

I heard the door open. Was it Roger, Charlotte, or Josie?

“Is he in here?” a voice demanded. Josie.

“He’s back here!” Daniel replied. “You cover the left; I’ll cover the right.”

I’d reached the end of the room, which contained a small pit, maybe eight feet deep, the bottom covered with mud. Six feet above this pit, hanging from a crane, was the most wicked-looking instrument of shredding I’d ever seen in my life…and I’d seen plenty of those things. It was essentially a wrecking ball adorned with drills, spikes, circular blades, pinchers, knives, corkscrews, and too many other things to count. It was overkill the likes of which I’d never witnessed.

“You like that?” asked Daniel. “I’ll be happy to give you a demonstration!”

I hurried across the edge of the pit. A shot rang out and a porcelain doll head shattered before I could tell for sure if it had vampire fangs. I couldn’t see Josie, but she could certainly see me.

Daniel pulled a handle on the crane. With a loud whirr, all of the drills, blades, and pinchers on the wrecking ball came to life. I made a mental note to avoid falling into the pit if at all possible.

I climbed behind a catapult with a large boulder in the cup, but it clearly wasn’t going to provide sufficient cover. Another shot splintered the wood right in front of my face, and I scrambled away from it behind another pile of lumber.

Josie came into view, limping. Behind her was a full-size dressing mirror with a cute picture of Satan drawn in lipstick, and a cardboard box that looked filled with handy weapons. At least, there were quite a few sharp edges poking out of the top.

“I just killed your friends,” Josie informed me. “You know, all you would’ve had to do is chop up one lousy person in the operating room and we would’ve continued believing you were the Headhunter. How does it feel to be so stupid?”

I had nothing to say to that. I didn’t know whether to believe her about Roger and Charlotte or not.

I could see Daniel circling in front of the catapult, his lawn edger ready for action. I picked up some pieces of broken lumber and tossed them over the pile, hoping to hit Josie through blind luck, or else get her to waste a bullet like I had with the scorpion. I didn’t get either result.

I was going to be trapped very quickly, so I scooted out from behind the lumber pile and back behind the catapult again. Daniel’s edger was immediately thrust toward my face, but I batted it back with my machete. With my other hand, I began to turn the winding wheel. If I could somehow get on top of the boulder, I might be able to catapult myself to safety. Yeah, I’d probably crash-land in a barrel of red-hot coals, but my options were limited.

Another shot splintered against the wood. There was no possible way I was getting on top of that catapult. My only hope was that Josie was standing right where the boulder would land. Daniel’s bullet hitting the machete had been a pretty nice miracle, and maybe I could squeeze in a second one.

I pulled the release cord. At least I hoped that’s what that thing was. It could very well be the let-the-rock-drop-on-whoever-is-underneath-it cord.

The arm of the catapult flew forward, heaving the boulder about fifteen feet across the room, sailing well over Josie’s head. It struck the top of the Satan mirror, causing the bottom to swing forward and send the box of weapons airborne. Lots of silver things flew through the air. Josie spun around and was treated to a half-dozen of them smacking into her, including the circular saw blade that took a cue from the Headhunter’s decapitating scimitar.

Daniel gaped in horror as his wife dropped to the ground in three places.

He let out a wail of grief and fury. I quite honestly couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sorrow for the guy, though that in no way stopped me from rushing out from behind the catapult and rushing at him while he stared at Josie’s remains.

I swung the machete back and forth, as fast and hard as I could. Daniel tried to parry with the edger, but my swings came too furiously, and he continued to steal glances at Josie. With one particularly intense blow I knocked the edger out of his hand. He continued backing away.

This was over. Now.

He looked over his shoulder and saw that he was dangerously close to the pit. But before he could move out of the way, I tackled him, hoping to knock him right over the edge.

Daniel kept his footing, grabbed a handful of my hair, and yanked. Then he drove his other fist into my throat. I tried to gasp for air, but I couldn’t breathe, and I felt Daniel spinning us, moving me closest to the pit.

I could feel my bare feet start to slip. I still couldn’t breathe. Daniel threw another punch at my throat, but I blocked it, grabbed hold of his wrist, and squeezed tightly, trying to dig my fingernails into his skin.

My heels slipped over the side of the pit.

I continued to struggle in vain for oxygen. My left foot dangled in mid-air.

Then, using every last bit of strength I possessed, I forced Daniel’s wrist up into the air as high as I could. Right into one of the twirling corkscrews on the wrecking ball.

Before he could even finish his scream, I pushed myself out of the way, and then slammed my elbow into his back.

Daniel pitched forward and fell into the pit, landing face-first in the mud.

He got up and trudged through the mud, screaming in fury. I was able to suck in the faintest breath as I staggered toward the crane.

Daniel put his hands on the edge of the pit and began to pull himself out.

I pulled down the second lever on the crane.

The wrecking ball began to lower.

“You son of a bitch!” Daniel shrieked, frantically trying to climb out in time. But the wrecking ball lowered quickly, and within seconds Daniel had to pull away to avoid it.

“You’re dead!” he screamed. “You’ll never get out of here! Never!”

And then the wrecking ball hid him from sight.

I walked away quickly, not wanting to hear the gruesome sound as Daniel Rankin met his doom.

IT TOOK about fifteen minutes of very annoying calling back and forth to guide both Roger and Charlotte to the exit of the maze. Josie had been fibbing about killing them, but I think she learned her lesson.

It didn’t take long to find an exit to the warehouse, though it did involve crawling up a spooky dark tunnel with some sort of unidentified insect life present, as well as a possible shrew or two. At the end we emerged from a trapdoor into the garage.

“Let me have your card key,” said Roger. “I’m going to check on the prisoners.”

“I’ll see if I can find a phone,” Charlotte offered.

“I’m just going to sit here for a few days,” I said, handing Roger my pass card, and then grabbing a lawn chair from the corner and unfolding it. “Bring me food and water every once in a while, will you?”