Chapter 57
Conclusion
Leo threw the cat mug at the monster before she could attack, missing her head by inches. Reaching into his pack, his hand touched a heavy iron pipe. Pulling it out, he stood up. He backed away and kicked his chair in her direction. This turned out to be a mistake. She dropped the syringe, picked up the chair and threw it back at him, hard. He turned and tucked his head and arms into his body as the chair slammed into his back and bounced away, to smash against the kitchen wall.
He pushed himself up and attacked, taking hold of his iron pipe and swinging it at the creature's legs.
She dodged the pipe, and, with shocking speed, swung at him with an open hand. Expecting the swing, he dodged, moving away and to the side.
With her other arm, she grabbed the steaming teakettle and threw it at him.
He ducked, backing into the table as he did so. The tea kettle slammed into the wall behind him.
The monster kicked his legs, sending him crashing to the floor under the table. He swung at her legs with his pipe while crawling backwards, using the table for shelter. She pushed the table to the side and kicked him again. He dodged, trying to get up while swinging at the creature's legs. He slipped on the water from the thrown tea kettle and fell to the floor a second time. With inhuman speed, she grabbed the pipe and yanked it from his hand. He kicked the monster's knee from his place on the floor, making her grunt. He should have grabbed the ice pick. Dammit.
The monster stepped forward and swung the pipe at his head, connecting with brutal force. He went down.
This fight was not going well...
Leo woke up to a high-pitched giggle. Still in the kitchen, he couldn't have been out for long.
“Yum yum yum. Yum yum yum.” The monster chanted, grabbing his feet and dragging him across the floor. His arm and body caught on a table leg, slowing her down. The syringe she'd attempted to use on him was inches from his left hand. He palmed the syringe in his hand, praying the creature hadn't noticed.
“It's wrong to eat children, yes it is, but they taste so good.” She pulled harder. The table caught on Leo's arm and traveled a short distance with a screech before releasing him. “Yum yum yum. Yum yum yum.” She pulled him out of the kitchen and down a hallway.
His head hurt less than it should have. The levels he'd gained by getting punched in the head and face must be paying off. That was something.
A door opened. She dragged him down darkened stairs. Afflicted had better night vision than humans. One more thing to be concerned about.
Bump, bump, bump. His already aching head bounced off each step. One, two, three, four... fifteen, he groaned silently, still pretending to be unconscious as she dragged him into the cold dark cellar.
He could smell meat and repressed a shudder. The creature had dragged him into its meat locker.
She giggled again. “Yum yum yum. Yum yum yum,” she chanted in a singsong voice. “Don't want to butcher children, but they taste so good.”
Two facts went through his mind: Many drugs affected Afflicted much like they did humans, and Afflicted have two large veins on each side of their legs. He'd killed enough of them in his previous life to gain a general grasp of their anatomy. They also had fewer nerve endings in their skin and extremities, allowing them to shrug off wounds that would debilitate a normal human.
Leo heard a quiet yowl from a very unhappy cat.
“Sparkles!” the monster hissed. “You can't hide forever. I will find you!”
Leo heard a scrabbling noise as the cat ran from its cellar hiding place and shot up the stairs, escaping into the rest of the house. Leo used the distraction of poor Sparkles to carefully take hold of the small syringe, and jab the needle into the side of her leg, right above the ankle. He pushed the plunger down, hopefully injecting the drug into its leg vein, where it would, hopefully, put it to sleep. Or at least slow it down.
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“Please be a strong medication that works on Afflicted,” he prayed silently.
Not noticing what Leo had done, the monster wrapped his ankles in twine, then effortlessly picked him up, using the twine around his ankles to hang him on a hook that had been fastened onto the cellar wall.
She pulled off his jacket, dropping it to the floor nearby next to some dark rust-colored spots.
She was going to slit his throat and butcher him. There was even a drain in the cellar floor below him to get rid of the blood. Fuck.
Hanging upside down, the blood rushed to his head. All he could think about was the sound of grinding steel as the creature sharpened her butcher knife. If he was going to do something, it would have to be now.
He reached up for the knife in his back pocket.
“Ah ah ah,” the monster smiled, a real smile showing all her sharp teeth, waving a finger back and forth. “I know you're conscious, little boy.” She giggled. “That's just fine. The meat is always best fresh. Yum yum yum. Down my tummy, here it comes.”
“Do you feel bad?” Leo asked. “About being a child-eating monster?”
“Woman's got to eat,” she giggled. “Didn't want to eat my grandkids. No, no, I didn't, but I'm so hungry.”
“You ate your own grandkids?” he asked, trying to keep the thing talking.
“Didn't want to, but hungry, everyone wondering where they went.” She giggled. “Yum yum yum, down my tummy, here it comes.” Then she let out a large yawn and passed out in front of him, falling face-first onto the drainboard.
He grabbed the knife in his back pocket and frantically reached up grabbing the meat hook with one hand and cutting at the twine around his ankles with the other. When he finished freeing himself, he pushed off with his legs so he flipped over backward, landing on his feet as quietly as possible.
The monster was still passed out on the drainboard next to the sink, butcher knife still in hand.
The large chest freezer in the back had a big padlock with a key in it. He unlocked the freezer as quietly as humanly possible and pulled open the lid. What he saw inside made him shudder. This creature was definitely responsible for the missing children.
Before he could think about how stupid his plan was, he gently pulled the butcher knife out of the creature's hand. Tucking the knife into his belt, he grabbed the monster. Light for her size, but very heavy when you're a twelve-year-old boy with a hurt back and head injury.
He could have tried to slit the monster's throat with the butcher knife, but her blood would get everywhere. This way was much neater. Assuming it worked, of course.
The monster moaned, and her hand twitched. He held very still until she stopped moving. He continued, dragging her slowly over to the freezer. When he got there, he leaned her against the freezer, picked her up by her feet, and, with a great effort, dumped her inside the freezer and slammed the lid closed.
The cold of the freezer woke her instantly. With a scream, she slammed against the lid, forcing her hand through the gap between the lid and the freezer. The partially closed latch was all that stopped her from getting free. Panicking, Leo lashed out at the hand with the butcher knife, cutting and stabbing the creature's hand while he pushed down on the freezer lid, fighting to close it. The latch bounced open. Leo screamed and stabbed at the creature, somehow getting the freezer closed again and the latch shut. He put the padlock through the latch and locked it. After that, he sat on the freezer and waited.
The force of her blows put dents in the freezer. Leo wondered if she would escape.
Afflicted would suffocate at least fast as a human and they were susceptible to cold. He felt pounding beneath him for several minutes. Then quiet.
Leo didn't dare get off the freezer until he got an announcement from Imp, over an hour later.
“Congratulations! You have killed the child-eating monster,” Imp said.”You have leveled up again in getting punched in the head, and you've gained 48 Demon Tears. Due to the unusual and dangerous nature of this quest, you've also gained a special bonus. You may add one level of rarity to whatever character class you choose. Common will become Uncommon, Uncommon--Rare, Rare—Epic. Epic—Legendary, and Legendary—Ultra Legendary.”
That was something.
Leo groaned. The adrenaline left his body; he felt dizzy, head pounding, his face and back grinding aches.
“Imp, why?” Despair slammed into him. That woman had most likely been a sweet old lady with grandkids, living with her cats. Then she took Bio-Blessed to help with her age and health issues. And she'd changed. So much pointless suffering. Why? “Imp, why are the aliens doing this?”
“I'm sorry, Leo, I do not have that information.”
“What information do you have? Your aliens bring so much misery to an already miserable world. Why?”
“As I have explained before, Leo, I'm Imp, for Implant Interface, not an alien, and I know little more than you do. There will be a game and it's imperative you get a good character class to survive. If you do well in the game, you will even win valuable prizes.”
“If the aliens see this as a game, there has to be a way to win. How do you win?”
“I do not...” Leo finished along with Imp. “have that information.”
Silence.
“So you know nothing about the game or the prizes.”
“That is correct.”
“Hint?”
“I do not give out hints, Leo, nor will any of the thousands of existing Imps.”
Leo continued sitting on the freezer. “There wouldn't be any quest to dispose of dead bodies, would there?”