Around two dozen miles from the nearest town stood a small house nestled amongst a sea of waving grass, it sat with a forested expanse to its back with the vastness of the surrounding land keeping it hidden away from prying eyes. This was a place rarely witnessed by those who didn’t call it home. The ill tended fields surrounding it on all sides were befitting of its archaic nature, its walls looked almost wrinkled, with the flaking paint giving it a look more akin to weather worn skin.

The family who called this their home had lived there since the turn of the nineteenth century. Three generations had come and gone inside those walls with each burying itself further into solitude. They had lived mainly off of the land, keeping human interaction down to the bare minimum, with those who knew of their existence seeing them as little more than eccentrics, and they took no shame in the label, they used it like a shield and it had allowed their more private actions go on unheeded,

The grass swayed in the wake of the breeze, its blades scratching past each other being the only sound to break the silence, the soft rustle moved across the field as if it were chasing the wind. This tranquillity was finally broken when a truck slowly rumbled its way to the foot of the house. In keeping with the houses aesthetic it was suitably worn down, over the years its red paint had grown pale, flaking around spots of brown and orange rust that over the years had crept up from its wheel arches.

With the truck coming to a stop, the driver’s side door swung open with a sharp metallic screech, after the driver had dropped down into the soft dirt he took a second to gaze up towards the sky and take in a deep breath. Barry had always taken pleasure in simple beauty of a clear blue sky, and coupled with a deep lungful of fresh air the allure of its placid serenity could easily arrest his attention for hours at a time. Still, he knew he had a long day and night ahead of him, so breaking his long stare with a quick blink he turned his attention back to his truck. Stepping around to the passenger side door he pulled it open and reached inside then with a hard pull he dragged a young woman out from the foot well and watched as she fell against the ground with a hard thump.

As Barry stood over her he took a moment to take in her fearful visage as she whimpered softly into the dirt. His eyes slowly moved across the curvatures of her body before settling on her hands bound behind her, he noted how they seemed rougher than most women’s, he wondered for a second what she did out in the world, he knew that rough hands tended to be indicative of hard labor and though she had a soft face her body looked taut with lean muscle, almost like an athlete. It seemed strange when he remembered how easy she had been to catch. She hadn’t had much fight in her; still he knew fear could make the strongest person crumple like paper so he gave it little mind. Bending down he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet, they locked eyes for a moment when she began to shake as he grabbed her shoulder to keep her steady, his grip tightened as he felt her soft skin tremble against his fingertips. The pain of anticipation often had such a reaction and he had always enjoyed the trembling, he held her for a few more seconds as he soaked in the feeling, then releasing his grip he again grabbed a hold of her hair and pulled her into the house. The door creaked closed behind them and once again the soft rustle of swaying grass filled the air and nothing else moved besides the silently drifting clouds over head.

Eve had taken and awkward tumble out of the truck and her shoulder throbbed as she struggled to keep pace with Barry, hunched over as she was with his hands still tightly gripping her hair it proved difficult to avoid the sharp tugging as she failed to match his hurried speed. She caught brief glimpses of her surrounding, browns and deep reds blurred past as her eyes were met with the rot and decay that had consumed each room, once white walls had over the years taken on a pale yellow tinge and the floorboards beneath her feet were caked in layers of filth; it was as she had expected, her present company hadn’t been likely to keep a cleanly home. She struggled against her captor’s grip as she was dragged up a flight of stairs, a few second later they reached the top of the staircase and rounded a corner and she found herself once again tumbling awkwardly as she fell into the grime ridden floorboards as she was thrown against one of the doors lining the upstairs hallway, it had given way easily and after crashing into the room she took a second to shake off the fall before she struggled to her feet.

The room had the same decrepit lacquer as the rest of the house, its walls stained the same pale yellow as those she had passed on the ground floor, then she saw the  deep brown stains streaked in arcing lines flecked with groupings of spattered spots. Eve knew that when blood dries its vibrant colour fades quickly, and with the rack unevenly screwed to the wall at her left laden with power tools, knives, pliers and even long shards of broken glass, it wasn’t hard to puzzle out where the stains had come from.

Turning to the back of the room she saw a steel framed chair bolted to the floor against the back wall, but unlike everything else in the room it appeared unblemished, the shine of its frame stood a stark contrast to the muddy browns and faded yellow of its surroundings.

Barry stepped forwards and Eve felt his finger worm their way over her scalp before he gripped a fistful of her hair, again she struggled against his grip as he dragged her over to the chair. Her hands were cut free from behind her back before she was forced into the chair as her wrists were secured to the arm rests, she felt zip ties pinch against her skin as he pulled them tight. Gripping her fingers tight around the cold steel armrests she watched as he stepped back to look her over, slowly he dragged a set of deep sunken eyes up and down her body, then with a deep breath of satisfaction he turned and left the room.

Eve used the break to focus her breathing and settle the rapid beat of her heart. As she grounded herself in the brief moment of respite she heard voices followed by hurried footsteps from the hallway. The door swung back open with a loud crack as it bounced back of the wall barely clinging to its hinges as Barry stepped back into the room accompanied by two others as he splayed out his arm in a show of self-congratulation, proudly presenting her as his trophy.

To Eve the three of them looked almost interchangeable, all of them sported the same unkempt hair, unwashed coveralls and what appeared to be hunting boots, though they were too caked in mud for her to be certain; clearly the three of them were products of their environment.

 Barry turned to his companions and smiled, although the brown and yellow shades of grime that caked his teeth made it appear more like a streaked stain across his face, “She was broken down a few miles back,” his words were laced with a loud breathy rasp, like two sheets of sandpaper scraping past each other. Dropping his smile he turned back to Eve, “Davis and Pate caught one like you a few months back, had a guy with her, they lasted nearly two full days, he went out before her as it happens.”

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Davis’s took a step forward, “She looks soft,” he said as his gaze meandered over her lips. His voice sounded a little smoother but it shared Barry’s rasp.

The room dropped into silence for a few minutes as Eve felt their eyes all over her, keeping her view fixed to floorboards she did her best to ignore their lecherous glares.

Pate broke the silence as he spoke out over Barry’s shoulder, “They’re all soft.”

Eve looked up from the floorboards to take in his face as his voice rang out in her ears, unlike the other two it had a soft delicate quality, almost like a child, as such it was the most unsettling of the three.

Barry Turned back to them, “Ok, so now you’ve seen her, give me some time.”

Pate nodded as he and Davis turned and left the room with Davis pulling the door gently closed behind him as he stepped out.

Barry drummed his fingers against his waistband as again he took in the sight of her, “I’ve always liked looking at you people.”

She met his gaze as her bottom lip slowly began to tremble. He cracked another smile as he let his excitement settle a touch. Fear while being one of the most potent of feelings took such little effort to evoke, especially in these people, to him they were all much of the same, the pleading, the crying and the whimpering, it never changed, they all had different voices but they all screamed the same, but over the years he had never tired of it, it was always so elating. 

Eve shifted nervously, her vision blurred as tears began to swell in her eyes, “Please.” She began.

He sighed; a look of disappointment tore through his smile, “Why don’t you say something different? It’s always the same, it’s please or no and don’t.”

“Please let me go.”

His face dropped as he gritted his teeth, “There you go again… you know what’s happening here, and still the only thing you can think to say is let me go, look around you, do you think I let anyone go.”

Eve’s eyes moved to the walls, glancing back across the stains as tears trickled in zig zags down her cheeks.

Barry moved towards her placing his hand under her chin as he jerked her head up to face him, “Look at me, do you think begging has ever worked, do you think screaming has ever worked,” he felt his excitement peak as he let his eyes follow one of her tears as it snaked its way down her face.

Closing her eyes for a few seconds she let her thoughts sink away and as her emotion faded she readied herself for the next few minutes. Centering her hate helped to temper her rage, bringing it to focus before she let it out with the same brutal precision of a sledgehammer slamming against a railway spike. Barry’s painfully tired attempts to illicit her fearful tears had clearly worked in the past, but to her the sloppy way his lips flapped as he spat out his words only seemed comical, the dead air around her that he had no doubt attempted to fill with perceived dread had only brought forth a sense of overbearing impatience, she had sat through his murderous spiel and through crocodile tears she had dangled the carrot of anticipatory pleasure in front of his cold dead eyes and now she was going to reel it in, “Ok enough,” all of the pantomime fear had left her voice as she blinked her tears away, “You know what I find constantly surprising about you people.”

 He tilted his head slightly as confusion wracked his brain, “What?”

“Your lack of imagination.”

His face screwed up with bewilderment as he pondered her words.

Eve took a little pleasure in the confusion rolling over his face, “Hey, look at me,” she called out, “Have you ever seen a ghost?” as the words left her mouth the sound of windows shattering emanated throughout the house. She shot him a small smile as he turned away and pulled the door open. 

“What’s going on down there?” he called to his brothers, a few seconds passed with no response, gripped with concern he moved into the hallway and called out again “Pate, Davis what’s happening down there?” a few more seconds passed and still nothing, moving to the staircase he called out again, “What’s going on down there?”

Relief and frustration came at once as Pate called back, “There’s nothing down here just a few broken windows.”

With a grimace he called back, “When I ask you a question, give me a damned answer, don’t be making me call out three times.” he turned and headed back into the room where he found himself a little stunned; she was gone, the chair was empty. Incredulous his eyes darted around from wall to wall as his fingers drummed furiously against his waistband, his lack of comprehension muddied his thoughts as his confusion reached its apex.

In the corner to his back Eve stepped around from behind the door, as he turned towards her he caught a brief glimpse of her face as her foot came down on his knee, the crunching sound of snapping bone filled the room as his knee cap ruptured from the impact and his leg cracked thirty degrees in the wrong direction, before a scream had escaped his mouth he felt the crack of cold iron across his jaw as Eve swung a six-pound lug wrench into his face, she felt the tremors of impact rattle her forearm up to the elbow as teeth and bone were shattered in kind.

As he stumbled backwards a surge of excruciating pain lanced through his leg as his knee buckled under his own weight and splintered bone tore through cartilage and skin alike. He attempted a gurgled scream through his broken and bloody jaw as he slammed into the ground. His vision began to fade into black as intense nausea warped his senses, with the room spinning and his focus fading in and out as bright lights danced in front of his eyes, the taste of copper filled his mouth as he began choking on his own blood. With loose shards of broken teeth stabbing at his tongue he began to splutter violently.

Eve dropped down on top of him as she slammed the wrench deep into his throat. She watched his eyes bulge as the wrench buried itself in his face, then twisting it down further the scraping Squeal of his broken teeth dragging across its metal surface filled her ears, blood bubbled its way out the corners of his mouth as he let out a frantic garbled breath, finally Eve tore the wrench away and dropped it to the ground.

Straightening her back she took in a deep breath as she looked down to her would be aggressor with utter contempt, “How does it feel?”

He spluttered again as blood and broken teeth filled is throat, Eve stood and took a step back to look down at her wrists, thin purple bruises ran across her skin where she had twisted free of the cable ties, glancing back to him she said, “Say hi to Mr. Healey for me.”

The man’s arms waved limply in the air as he feebly attempted to defend himself, she kicked them away and brought her foot down hard on his face, then again and again, over and over until She felt his skull crack under her heel, then stumbling backwards she slumped into the chair. After catching her breath she glanced over at the rack decorated with all the devices he would have undoubtedly used to slowly tear her open, “Not today.”