Tom Gets Purged
In his green silk pajamas Tom found himself pacing outside of his father's study once more, it was 8 o'clock and an hour into the Purge.
In the main room he knew that his sister Elsie was doing what she always did during the Purge, watch the live feeds coming in from all over the United States from the start of the Purge to the very end non-stop, no sleep and only the bare minimum of bathroom breaks required.
Tom reached the closed and nearly knocked before sighing and letting his hand fall back.
But before he could turn back around and walk away, Angier called out, "Come in Tom."
Tom just grunted but walked in, "How'd you know I was there?"
"Because you always come in here every hour, on the hour like clockwork every Purge." was his father's flippant answer.
"Oh, right."
"And now you ask me if there's been anything on the security feeds," Angier continued with a slight smirk, "And I reply, just like every year that there hasn't been anything major around the manor. At least not yet."
Tom accepted the patronizing with good grace, "Gee, am I getting that predictable?"
His father just laughed, "Yup, just like your old man."
Both Sloane men then chuckled at that reminder of their mutual genetic link before Angier turned lazily in his swivel chair back towards the monitors and spotted something.
"Hey," Angier commented and pointed toward the screen, "Looks like the Landon's had their Purge Party after all."
Tom then looked at the screen his father had indicated, sure enough the Crewe Neck's most infamous social climbing couple, Andrew and Michele Landon were leading another couple around a corner quietly, wearing fancy dress and armed with guns and machetes slung on their backs.
"And I thought they said they'd just have a quiet evening at home, watching the live feed." Tom couldn't resist saying.
His father laughed ruefully, "An old trick to lure out the unsuspecting into leaving their homes to try and Purge, and wind up being Purged themselves."
Tom began to nod, but a series of flashes from the screens caused him to stop.
"What the...?!"
On the screen the Landon's and their unknown friends were now taking heavy fire from somewhere in the distance, Angier felt his hands flying on the keyboard, trying to get one of the cameras realigned to get a better shot.
During this, both of the Landon's friends were taken down, the man was still while the woman was screaming and trying to crawl while bleeding out, effectively dead already.
"...Got it." Angier said as one of the screens revealed the unknown assailants.
"Oh crap!" Tom groaned just as a bullet lodged itself right into the middle of Andrew Landon's forehead, causing him to drop like a sack of potatoes.
"What's going on?" Kay Sloane's voice groaned with exhaustion as she slipped into the room in her bathrobe, she woke up quickly once she saw what was on her home's security feed.
Michele Landon meanwhile hadn't noticed her husband's death, her face twisted in a steely gaze as she tried to take out at least one of the shooters, but was felted for her trouble.
Due to the lack of illumination it had been difficult to discern who the attackers were, but Tom had gotten the impression of some sort of truck and multiple people involved.
Michele Landon was now laying on the street, gasping for breath, a pool of blood slowly forming around her.
Into the light stepped two figures in dark clothes and ski masks, the taller and clearly male figure was hold a semi-automatic and had aimed it right at the only living Landon left.
The other however lowered it's weapon just long enough to remove the mask to reveal the face of a beautiful girl with jet black hair, pierced ears, ice blue eyes, and ruby red lips that were twisted into a mockery of a grin.
"Jane!" Tom gasped in recognition.
"Huh?" Angier grunted at his son, his eyes never leaving the screen.
"You know that girl?" Kay asked in a hush.
"Yeah," Tom answered quickly as the figures moved in closer to their victim, "That was the local girl that I dated, remember?"
"Oh, right." Kay replied with a slight flush, her classism tended to make her lose track of all the little people she had ever met.
Michele Landon seemed to say something defiant, it was impossible to know for sure due to a lack of audio, however Jane and her companion both laughed and sneered further.
"What are they doing?" Kay asked as the two seemed to move a part.
A second later they were joined by three other figures, two slender and one big and muscular, they were armed to the teeth with several guns and knives on their belts, the two slender ones were armed with shotguns and the big guy had a huge sword slung on his back along with an actual machine gun.
"Where the hell did they get all that weaponry?!" Tom asked aloud as something in his brain began to scream at him that he knew every single one of them. Somehow.
They all pointed their guns at Michele Landon and fired at the same time.
"Oh God!" Kay Sloane screamed out while Angier seemed to visibly steel himself from doing the same.
Tom however was silent, transfixed and staring at the unmasked girl on the screen, his face blank but his mind racing at a million miles per minute.
Then, like she somehow knew he was watching, Jane turned her head up, looking right into the nearest camera mounted on the Sloane Manor's main gate.
Tom sucked in a very deep breath, his bowels beginning to churn with dread.
Jane then smiled and gave the camera a polite wave.
Tom began to shake.
She then blew it a big kiss and tapped one of the guys on the shoulder, he seemed to go "Oh!" and slapped his head before they all walked away into the night.
Tom let out a big gasp of air.
"...Well," Angier drawled nervously, "That was certainty something."
Kay let out a squawk that was otherwise unintelligible.
Tom felt himself sag into the nearest available chair with sweet relief.
"It's ok," He thought to himself, "It's going to be ok, they're gone now. That's all that matters."
Then there was a strange click that came from the computer screen on Angier's desk.
"What was that?" Angier asked himself aloud at the sudden sound.
There was a moment of complete silence, and then there was another click that was repeated over and over again as all of the screens in the room began to scramble and distort, as Angier began to protest to his tech and Kay began demanding answers every electronic device in the house seemed to go haywire simultaneously.
In the distance Tom could hear his sister yelling at the TV, his parents complaints also seemed equally distant as his focus had fallen on the indicators of the manor's security systems.
They were all off-line.
"Dad?" Tom began to speak up just as another grinding sound attracted all of their attentions.
It was a sound they heard twice a year, once when the reinforced steel security shutters went down to seal the house up for the Purge, and another when they came back up once the Purge was over.
It was still only a couple of hours into the Purge, and yet the shutters were now rising.
"Oh fuck!" Angier gasped just as the sound of shattered glass and Elsie's screams reached their ears.
"Get back behind me!" Angier yelled, throwing himself in front of his wife and heir, Kay was wordlessly going for the security vault where they had stored some weapons for a 'just in case' event.
The event had already happened, and it had been years since Kay had even held a gun, much less used one.
As Kay handed her husband one of them, she had no idea what the types were, and her son another they heard the sound of coarse male laughter.
"Oh we found the Sloane girl Janie, can we play with her?" one of the guys was heard before he began to laugh-cough.
"Trent?!" Tom thought in mute horror, his memory flashing the image from the security feed, his brain putting faces to the unidentified figures.
It only took him a millisecond to realize who they were and what this was about.
Without a sound, Tom began to move for the door.
By instinct his mother grabbed him, jarring him in mid-motion.
"What are you doing?!" She mouthed as quietly as she could.
"They're here for me." Tom stated flatly, "This is about me."
A second later there was the sound of a girl saying, "Go ahead, there's another fish I want to play with."
Then there was a cheer followed by a thud and a scream and an excited voice (maybe Max) yelling, "Shut up bitch and get ready to take it!"
As footfalls could be heard headed their way, Tom heard Jesse's distinct drawl, "Yeah man, get her head up so the camera can see her face, man."
Angier gripped his gun even more tightly and began to step towards the door as quietly as he could.
There were indistinct voices, the sound of things being broken, someone asking where the hiding spots might be.
Jane's voice rang out a bit, "Oh, Master Thom-assss! Come out and plaaaay-aaa!"
Then something, maybe a vase, was thrown against a wall, something else was shattered, Elsie's screams reached them again before fading to a whimper.
The sounds were now closer, much closer.
Step.
Step.
Crunch.
Step.
Crunch.
Step.
Step.
Crunch.
Step.
Step.
Steeeeppppp...
Then, nothing.
Angier took as big and quiet a breath as he could and held his weapon at the ready, all three of them were now staring at the doorknob in mute terror.
They stared at it, wondering how close the invaders were.
Angier swallowed and began to reach for the knob, then he began to turn it very quietly.
He opened the door as little as required, he spotted a hallway mirror still intact and looked into it and saw in the corner a hint of a reflection showing the right side of the hallway.
There was nothing showing movement of any sort.
Feeling a bit better, Angier moved into a defensive posture, making sure that he could still use the gun and opened the door a bit more to slip out and begin to defend-.
The instant he stepped out, glancing to his left to check rather than his right, a single shot rang out and Angier Sloane's head seemed to explode upon impact.
Tom was frozen to the spot, deafened but aware of his mother's screams, his gun dangling loosely in his hand as his father's body slumped to the ground.
"Found the fuckers!" Nick cheered happily in the distance.
"I get Kay then," Trent drawled.
That got Kay Sloane's attention, she stopped screaming and by primordial instinct was able to cock her gun and began to aim it.
A tall lanky figure in dark clothes stepped onto the body of Angier Sloane, in view of the door.
Before he could react Kay Sloane pulled the trigger, hitting him square in the chest, unknowingly roaring as she began firing over and over again, pumping out lead like a tried and true warrior, Trent's form falling forward and hitting the ground.
Tom began to react to this, but a hint of a shadow caught his eye, distracting him.
He had just enough time to see Jane Lane in a crouching position a bit to her brother's side before she opened fire, hitting his mother square in the left kneecap.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" His mother screamed at ear-splitting levels as she hit the ground, clutching her ruined leg as if that would fix it.
Tom began to aim at her, but he was simply too slow and much too late.
Jane had him dead to right at that point.
"Drop it." She told him flatly.
As his logic demanded that he hold onto that gun for dear life, Tom's lizard brain made him do the opposite.
Jane grunted darkly, "What the fuck did I ever see in you?"
Tom's only response was to piss himself.
A cough-laugh from the ground caught their attention and Trent Lane got up slowly.
"Remind me to thank Daria and that Todd guy for the Kevlar." he drawled as he stood up, pulling out a long hunting knife.
He then glared at Kay Sloane, "I was just going to use you for sex and keep you alive in our basement, for next year. Now I'll save the sex for your corpse."
Kay tried to reach her fallen weapon, but Trent was younger, faster, and not as inhibited by being shot in Kevlar as Kay was with a ruined knee.
Trent pinned her down with half-recalled wrestling moves and began to work on her with that knife.
Tom had tried to run to stop him, but Jane shot him twice in the side, breaking some ribs and sending him down to the ground.
"Nice try Rich Boy." Jane snarled as she kicked his prone form around, her steel-toed boots cracking his ribs up even further than she just had, she then shot him in the left shoulder, just to hear him scream.
Her lips were twisted into a Cheshire Cat grin, "Yesss Tom, scream for Daria, scream for the mini-cam, scream for me!"
She then shot him in the stomach twice more, rupturing his intestines and parts of his stomach in the process, then she shot at his crotch, turing his manhood into a bloody ruin.
Jane was aware that she was laughing as she drew out her own knife and snarled, "Time to make you pretty!"
She took her time, using the blade on his face, Tom's eyes were going in and out of awareness as she first gave him a Glasgow smile and then made some random slashes on his face, making him look like a jagged rag doll.
Jane then looked into Tom's sea green eyes and growled, "Pathetic! You're already dying on me." she sighed, "You just can't stay in the game for the long haul, can you Mister Sloane? Oh well... I guess I'll have to call this short."
She then shimmied down a bit and held the knife high above her head and with great theatrical care gave a big bellow and plunged it deep into Tom's heart, silencing it forever.
He jerked about beneath her, letting his bowels go in manner of the dead, and was then still.
"Ha!" Jane barked, "Even rich people's shit stinks."
Trent chuckle-coughed from nearby, "Duh Janie, it's only the money that gives people like this any worth."
Jane rose up and looked down at her handy work for a moment and stated, "Apparently the money couldn't buy these people some common sense."
"Sounds about right," Trent drawled as he indicated towards Kay Sloane, wordlessly Jane began to help him sling her corpse over his shoulders, "So you think the guys will give me a few hours to play with my new friend here?"
Jane just laughed as they walked out of the Sloane's study, "The night is still young Trent, you'll be lucky to have thirty minutes with the old culture vulture before we move on to the next target."
"And who's that?"
Jane shrugged as they heard some more of Elsie Sloane's whimpers as they got closer to the main room, "Dunno, anyone we find out tonight."
Trent smiled darkly, "Sounds good to me."
Jane couldn't resist adding, "And next year Daria will be with us, and maybe her guys Todd and Earl too."
Trent laugh-coughed, jiggling Kay's body a bit, "Now that sounds good to me."
As they entered the main room, now with Nick manning the camera as Jesse had his fun, and Max using the Sloane's antique French furniture as a toilet, Jane couldn't resist one more word-in edge wise at the effectively dead Sloane Clan.
"I guess the money couldn't buy you out of the Purge, huh?" she sneered, making sure that her mini-cam picked it up.
It was the perfect conclusion, and the night was still young.
And Jane had some more negative emotion that needed to be Purged.
FIN