Chapter Twenty-Five: An Uncaged Animal
Danny came to with a start. He fought to free himself from the depths of his nightmare the way a drowning man fights to break the surface of the water. He awoke in much the same manner: gasping, damp and trembling. Danny placed his face in his hands and waited for the shakes to subside.
He could not recall the entirety of his dream for which he was endlessly grateful. Only bits and pieces remained. Danny remembered darkness and fear and shapeless, shadowy creatures pursuing him through a twisted jungle of concrete. It was unusual, he thought, to have a dream so closely mirror reality.
Not that anything my imagination can come up with can hold a candle to what's really running around this city. Danny used his forearm to scrub cold sweat from off his face and glanced at his watch. Shit.
It seemed the five minute break he had called for had turned into an hour-and-forty-five minute break. He didn't blame the others for falling into as deep a sleep as he had. Exhaustion had become as much of a foe to them as the walking dead or the other creatures roaming the streets. They were all running on fumes.
He craned his neck around and saw the rest of his tired troupe slumbering about him. Michelle lay stretched out on the sofa beside him, her bad ankle propped up beneath a cushion as she lay on her back with her hands folded across her stomach. Tommy lay on the floor across from her, camera clutched in one hand and his jacket balled up under his head to serve as a makeshift pillow. Like any good soldier, Lieutenant Briggs had also chosen to bunk on the floor, the rim of his helmet pulled down over his eyes.
Danny turned his eyes to the other side of the room – and leapt to his feet when he noticed the absence there. Hargreaves, Sarah and Homer were all gone. Drake was gone. No one else remained in the study room save for Sheesh who stood asleep on his feet, propped up in the doorway.
Oh no.
"Everybody up." The marshal commander began kicking boots and shaking shoulders to rouse the others. "Wake up! Wake up!"
With the others grumbling groggily and wiping sleep out of their eyes, Danny tore against the room and grabbed Sheesh by the vest. He gave the man a vicious shake and the deputy blinked blearily.
"Hey, what's…what's going…" Sheesh's eyes suddenly shot wide as he noticed just who was trying to get his attention. "Oh, uh, hey Boss. What's up? I mean, I wasn't sleeping. What?"
"Goddamn it, Sheesh," Danny sighed. "Listen to me very carefully. Have you seen where Drake went? He's missing. So are the two doctors and Hargreaves."
"Missing?" Alarm flared in the man's eyes as he glanced over Danny's shoulders, making a quick scan of the room. "Oh. Oh shit. N-no. I…I haven't seen any of them."
Danny peered deep into his deputy's eyes and tightened his hold on his vest. "Is that because you fell asleep immediately after I put you on guard duty?"
"I mean," Sheesh cast a sheepish glance at the floor and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, "not immediately. There was a good three to five minutes where I was watching this place like a hawk but then…" He looked back at Danny, his face full of shame and regret. "I'm so sorry, Boss. I just…I was so damn tired. I just rested my head against the doorjamb for a second and the fucking Sandman must have ambushed me."
Danny sighed, defeated and let go of Sheesh's vest. He reached up and squeezed the man's shoulders reassuringly. "It's all right. I don't blame you for being tired. We're all out of gas. What's important now is that we find them and we find them fast."
"Christ," Briggs grunted, working the kinks out of his neck as he approached. "I haven't slept like that since I was in Iraq. Want to tell me where the hell everyone else went to?"
"That's kind of the issue," Danny replied. "They were gone when we woke up."
"How'd they get past –" He fixed Sheesh with a suspicious glare. "You feel asleep didn't you?"
"To be fair," the deputy answered, "we all fell asleep."
"We weren't all supposed to be keeping watch," Briggs growled, stepping forward. "You could have gotten us all killed!"
Danny held out a hand to ward off the Ranger. "Back off, lieutenant. Sheesh knows he fucked up. You wailing on him isn't going to help us find the others any faster."
"If anything happens to them, it's on your head," Briggs snarled at Sheesh as he stepped past the man and out into the main room.
"Danny I –"
"It's all right. I'm sure they didn't go far. They probably just went to stretch their legs while they waited for the rest of us to come out of our comas."
Saying the words out loud made Danny realize how flimsy his explanation sounded. There was no way anyone was going for a casual stroll around a creepy, abandoned library with undead monsters lurking in every shadow. Flimsy or not, it still beat entertaining any of the alternatives for what might have happened to the rest of their group.
Please, please, don't let my cat-nap have gotten them all killed.
With Michelle and Tommy in tow, Danny and Sheesh stepped out of the study room behind Briggs. Sunlight streamed in through a large window set in the east wall but the power had gone out long ago and much of the room was lost in shadow. Silence hung in the air as thick as fog.
"Doctor Waxer!" Briggs bellowed making them all jump. "Doctor Shields!" His voice echoed back eerily but no answer came.
"Drake!" Danny roared, cupping his hands around his mouth to project his shout further. "Drake where the hell are you?"
Danny's voice came bouncing back as if being mocked by a ghostly parrot: "Drake-ake-ake…where the hell are you-are you-are you?
Michelle stepped up beside him. "You don't think he…"
He cut her off with a shake of his head. "No, I don't. What would it gain him to kill them? He's a killer but he's not a psychopath…if that makes any sense."
"He was bitten."
Danny shook his head again. "If he had turned then we would all be dead already." He sighed. "It doesn't mean he didn't try something though. This could all be part of some ploy for him to try and give us the slip."
Another flimsy explanation but it was all Danny had.
"They would have to be nuts to leave this floor and start poking around just for fun" he said.
"Maybe something made them take off?" Tommy offered with a raised eyebrow. "Something we might not want to run into ourselves?"
"I doubt it," Briggs grunted. "Exhausted as we all were, I really don't think we would have slept through an attack by any of the…things we've seen in this place. Which means…"
"They might have been taken by something," Danny finished the Ranger's thought for him. "Or rather someone. Someone who could control them, keep them quiet, pull them away without waking up the rest of us."
"I'd say the hitman in the orange jumpsuit is prime suspect number one for that scenario," Briggs said with a scowl which he turned on Sheesh. "The hitman that you decided didn't warrant keeping an eye on."
Sheesh flushed and looked away but Danny shook his head.
"You said it yourself, Briggs. He's a hitman. He kills people, he doesn't kidnap them. Besides, skilled as Drake is, he's still only one man. I don't think he could haul off Sarah, Homer and Hargreaves against their will all at the same time. I'm not even sure he could haul off Hargreaves against his will. That man looks like he eats a bucket of nails each morning and he's been following the two doctors around like their own personal guard dog."
"At least someone believes in keeping guard," Briggs muttered with another sidelong look at Sheesh but Danny ignored him.
"This is getting us nowhere," he sighed. "If we split up, we'll be able to search this place twice as fast. Sheesh, you're with me. We'll search the north side. Briggs, take Michelle and Tommy and see if you can find anything on the south side. We'll be in shouting distance the entire time so if you find something…shout."
Tommy looked like he was about to protest at being strong-armed into the search party but Briggs gave him a shove to get him moving and the photographer kept his thoughts to himself. Michelle gave Danny another glance as if to say be careful before following after the pair. He grabbed hold of Sheesh and started off in the other direction.
"I really screwed the pooch on this one, didn't I Boss?" The deputy asked as they paced across the worn carpet.
"We'll find them, Sheesh. You can kick your own ass around once we do. Right now, I need you focused on finding out where they got to."
Danny followed his own advice and swept the room with his eyes but clues were hard to come by. Long wooden reading tables stood empty and covered in dust. Carts stood piled high with books that likely would never find their way back to the sections they had been borrowed from. Shelves filled with volumes lined the room and towered over its inhabitants, standing dark and still.
Danny led the way into the stacks where the shadows were thicker as the tall shelves blocked out the light coming in through the window. He switched on his flashlight – and froze. The beam knifed through the darkness and illuminated a crimson patch on the faded blue carpet running between two of the shelves.
"There's blood here," he said to Sheesh and stepped closer to the stain.
The patch was a little larger than the size of a quarter. Leading away from it were smaller red dots staggered in an uneven line leading towards a pile of books. Danny's light highlighted titles that contained several scientific terms he figured he'd need a Rosetta stone to decipher but he was able to pick out the word "genetics" on most of the spines. He studied the mess and wondered if it was something a panicked librarian had abandoned when things had started to go to shit in Raccoon City or if it was a sign of a more recent struggle. The blood trial led past the pile of books and up a short staircase to a door that led into another wing of the building.
"Something went down here," Sheesh muttered.
Danny knelt and pressed his fingers into the crimsons stains. They came away wet.
"It's fresh," he said. "It's still warm. This couldn't have happened more than ten or fifteen minutes ago."
Encouraging…if not for the fact this blood could only have come from a very select group of people.
"Hey, did you guys find something?" Danny glanced up to find Tommy approaching on their six. "There's squat on the other side of the library and Briggs wanted me to come find you while –"
"Go get, Briggs," Danny said abruptly. "Get him and Michelle now. There's a blood trail here. It leads into the other wing of the library. Tell him to follow it to us."
"You aren'tgoing to wait?"
Danny shook his head. "If this blood belongs to the others then we need to find them as soon as possible. Go get them. Now, Tommy!"
The man scurried off and Drake nodded to Sheesh. "Let's move."
*****PAGE BREAK*****
Drake regained consciousness just as he was unceremoniously being hurled into what appeared to be a reception desk. He caught a blur of its wooden surface and then his shoulder was crashing into it. He let out a grunt of pain that was muffled by his duct tape gag and then slumped to the ground. The impact toppled a cup holding pens, pencils, rulers and other odds and ends. They poured down over the side of the desk like a waterfall of office supplies. The trio of kidnappers laughed.
Doing what he could to shake off the haze and headache the gun-whipping had left him with, Drake hauled himself up to a seated position and looked around. He was in windowless room filled with tables that were lined with computers and other machines that he assumed were microfiche readers. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed a sign dangling above the reception desk that read ARCHIVES. He could picture the dutiful librarians and research assistants who would have been scurrying back and forth behind the desk during saner times helping high school students and local historians alike with their projects. Drake found it hard to believe there had been saner times in Raccoon City.
Something else behind the reception desk caught his eye. A directory was posted on the wall behind it. A bright red circle with the caption YOU ARE HERE stood out in a section marked off on the third floor of the library. Drake felt a small measure of relief flow through him. Their captors had only carried them off one floor up from where they had been. Danny and the others were directly below them.
Not that we have any way of signaling them. Drake squeezed his hand and felt the dull ache there. He hoped his injury had left an obvious trail for the marshal and his companions to not only find but follow. Provided they woke up in time, of course.
"Ollie!" Drake looked up to see it was the guy decked out in all the camouflage who had spoken. "He's coming around!"
At first, Drake thought it was him the man was referring to but then he noticed it was Hargreaves who had become the center of attention. The security guard was blinking his eyes open as Camo held him up by the collar of his shirt while keeping his pistol pressed against the back of his skull. Drake noticed the grips of his pistols sticking out of the man's waistband, pressing into the flesh of his considerable belly. Beside him, Camo's friend in the filthy denim jacket watched Homer and Sarah who knelt side by side with their hands taped in front of them. Their eyes were wide, wild and frightened. They were all gathered about twenty feet away from where Drake had been tossed away like an afterthought.
They don't care about me, he realized as Ollie paced over to Hargreaves, cradling the man's M4 across his chest now, his own hunting rifle slung over one shoulder. It was always the three of them they wanted. What the hell is going on here? What kind of history do they have?
Drake's question was quickly answered as Ollie buried a boot in Hargreaves' stomach and spat "Those were some good friends of mine you killed, you son of a bitch." He delivered another kick to the Umbrella guard's gut, doubling him over. "I knew those boys damn near my whole life and you shot them dead for what? The guns in that shop? They weren't even yours, you piece of shit!"
Hargreaves muttered something unintelligible as Camo yanked him back up onto his knees. "You got to something to say, motherfucker?" Ollie inquired, ripping the duct tape from his hostage's mouth in a vicious swipe.
"I was trying to say…" Hargreaves panted, face red and contorted with pain, "…fuck you. Fuck your friends too."
For one impossibly long moment Ollie just stared at Hargreaves. He looked into his eyes, his own unblinking, and slowly his face split into a grin. The grin became a hideous expression that was half sneer and half smile and Ollie began to laugh. He chuckled loud and high and chillingly. Then he stopped, threw down Hargreaves' M4 and went to work on the man with his fists.
He threw lefts and rights, jabs and crosses. Camo kept him in place and Ollie worked the guard like a speed bag. He pummeled his face, the sharp smack of skin and bone colliding filling the room and making Drake wince. Sarah wept as she watched the man who had served as her protector for more than two days being savaged. Homer tried to rise to his feet but was quickly wrestled back to his knees by Denim Jacket.
Drake knew Ollie was on a mission and that mission was murder. He would beat Hargreaves to death if someone didn't stop him. Drake eyed the M4 laying discarded at Ollie's feet but knew the odds of him being able to reach the weapon without getting himself or one of the others shot were somewhere between zilch and nada. Even if he was able to reach the gun he wouldn't be able to wield it with his hands bound behind his back the way they were.
As Ollie hurled curses along with punches, Drake rocked onto his side and tried to pull his arms down underneath his ass so he could wiggle them out in front of him at least. He stopped the effort almost immediately when he turned and noticed an object glittering in the threads of the carpet. It was the long, thin blade of a letter opener. Drake rolled over and palmed it as discreetly as he could.
"Stop it!" Denim Jacket bellowed and Drake feared he had been discovered but looked up to see it was Homer the man was addressing. The scientists writhed against his captor's grip. "Quit squirming!"
All the fuss caught Ollie's attention who paused with a fist raised above his head and turned in the direction of the doctor. He pulled himself off Hargreaves and walked over to where Homer wriggled and squirmed. Blood dripped from fists that were swollen and raw. Hargreaves' face was a puffy, red mess but his chest continued to rise and fall.
Hang in there. Drake flipped the blade around and started to saw at the tape wrapped around his wrists. The blade was dull but he knew he could count on his good friend friction to do the work. He just needed a few minutes.
"You got something smart on your mind too, asshole?" Ollie asked Homer, ripping away the duct tape covering his lips.
"Stop!" Homer gasped. "You're going to kill him! Look, I'm sorry about your friends but you stormed in on us. We were defending ourselves. We saw all the stuff you had in your truck. We knew you were looting and saw the guns you were carrying. We thought if we didn't shoot first we would get shot!"
"We wouldn't have shot you," Ollie replied with a sick smile. "Well, probably not at first anyway. Not when you had something to trade." He turned his eyes to Sarah, still wearing that ugly grin and licked a pair of cracked lips. "You know, I was going to kill your pal over there first for what he did to my buddies and then have my way with you, sweetheart, but now I think it might be more fun if everybody got to watch that."
Ollie grabbed a handful of Sarah's hair and wrenched her to her feet. Tears streaming down her face she let out a scream that was strangled by the duct tape gag as she was thrown into the middle of the room.
Drake sawed at his bonds faster, feeling his heart hammering against his ribs. His pulse was racing, not with fear but rage. Ollie intended to rape Sarah simply because he was a man, she was a woman and he felt like it. He thought that entitled him to violate her. He thought that gave him the right to do it.
Drake watched Sarah roll across the ground and suddenly found himself back in his apartment, staring down at Jessica's cold, dead body on the kitchen floor. Charms and Cue Ball stood over her lifeless figure. They had thought they were entitled too. They thought they had a right to take her life.
You have no right. The words repeated over and over again in his mind as he hacked and sawed at the tape. He could feel it starting to give way but not enough for him to break free. You have no right. You have no right. You have no right!
Sarah swatted and kicked at Ollie as he stood over her but he only laughed and drove a knee into her stomach as he sat down on top of her. Growling like a beast, he grasped her wrists in one of his fists and pinned them above her head.
"Whoooo-weeee!" He squealed gleefully. "We're going to get to know each other real well, girl."
You have no right! You have no right! You have no right!
"Get…off…her," Hargreaves mumbled through a mouthful of blood. He tried to struggle to his feet but Camo stomped on the back of his knee and sent him tumbling back to the floor.
"Sit still!" He admonished the battered guard then looked to where Ollie struggled with Sarah. "I get dibs on second, Ollie! I get the next turn."
You have no right! You have no right! You have no right!
Drake chopped away with the letter opener. The tape tore open wider.
"Don't worry boys," Ollie laughed, a thin sheen of sweat breaking out across his forehead as Sarah fought beneath his weight. "There's plenty to go around. She might be small but she's got plenty of energy."
"Leave her alone, you bastard!" Homer screamed. "Get off of her! I'll kill you if you touch her!"
In his large round glasses, lab coat and sweater vest Homer Shields looked like a high school chemistry teacher which is probably what surprised Denim Jacket the most when the portly man suddenly exploded to his feet, roaring with anger. The researcher whirled and clocked his guard with a vicious two-handed smash. Denim Jacket lost his footing and fell onto his ass as Homer charged and wrapped his arms around Ollie, knocking the man off his partner.
Drake watched in awe as the two men rolled across the floor in a tangle of arms and legs. Homer made a grab for the man's hunting rifle, slapping it off his shoulder as they tussled on the ground. Ollie bellowed and grabbed for the weapon as the two men regained their feet. A gunshot as loud as a thunderclap split the air and then silence fell again.
Homer and Ollie stood facing each other. The rifle was stretched out between them, each man gripping the weapon. Ollie had one hand wrapped around the trigger guard; Homer held the barrel. The scientist looked down as a bloody flower bloomed against his rib cage, its petals spreading wet and red across the fabric of his shirt. He staggered backwards two steps and collapsed.
Sarah lurched upright, her jaws opening with a scream so powerful it tore the tape from her mouth. "HOMER!"
Ollie stared down at the man he had just shot as if only realizing then that he had been the one to pull the trigger. "Well shit," he grunted. "What did you make me do that for?"
Drake looked from Homer to Ollie with a gaze that was at once both burning and frigid.
You had no right.
He felt the tape around his wrists give way.
*****PAGE BREAK*****
Danny and Sheesh stopped stock-still as the shot echoed through the corridor. They had followed the blood trail out of the second floor wing, up a winding set of stairs and into a hallway on the third floor where the line of crimson breadcrumbs had petered out and vanished. They had just reached a fork in the hall and were debating which way to go when the gunshot split the tense silence with the force of a sledgehammer.
The two men traded a glance then raced off in the direction of the sound.
Don't be too late. Don't be too late. Don't be too late. Danny's chanted over and over again in his mind as if he could will away whatever new madness and horror they were about to step into. A sidelong glance and Sheesh and he could see the same anguish on his deputy's face. If anything bad happened to the others, he knew Sheesh would hold himself personally responsible.
The two men reached the end of the hallway that branched off to the right and skidded to a halt in front of a pair of double-doors. The sign above them read RESEARCH/ARCHIVES.Danny peered cautiously through the windows set into the doors and felt his heart skip two or three beats in a row. He didn't know what he had expected to find but it hadn't been this.
Lying in the middle of a room filled with tables topped by cold, dark computer monitors was Doctor Homer Shields. He lay on his back hands clutching his side. Blood streamed between them. Standing over the scientist was a newcomer with long, greasy hair and a wild look in his eye. He gripped a .308 hunting rifle in one long-fingered hand. The other was tangled up in Sarah's pale blonde hair.
She knelt at his feet, struggling to reach her wounded partner's side. There was duct tape wrapped around her wrists and slapped across her mouth. Tears and snot ran down her face as she squirmed in the rifleman's grip, her eyes locked on Homer's prone body.
Off to the side, Danny saw Hargreaves was similarly restrained with duct tape and fighting to get to his feet. This proved difficult for the guard as a bulky man in a camo hat and jacket continued to wrestle him back down onto his knees. Not far from them was a third stranger who wore a denim jacket covered in a thick film of dirt. He held a pistol in one hand and used the other to rub his jaw. He appeared to be arguing with the man holding onto Sarah but the heavy doors dulled their voices to a low, indecipherable rumble.
Danny took all this in in less than a second.
Jesus. They were taken after all. Right out from under our noses.
He glanced back the way he and Sheesh had come as raised voices began to drift towards his ears. They belonged to Briggs and Michelle. Clearly they had heard the shots to and come running but Danny knew he didn't have the luxury of waiting for back-up to arrive. Homer was hurt, the others were in trouble. The seconds it took Briggs and Michelle to reach them could mean the difference between life and death.
Danny reached out, tried the door handle and found it unlocked. Cleary the trio of kidnappers weren't worried about anyone interrupting them. Good. That gave them an advantage.
"We go now," Danny whispered to Sheesh. "We've got surprise on our side. If they want to surrender, great, if not then be careful what you're shooting at."
Sheesh noted gamely, eagerly, and pressed the stock of his M4 up against his shoulder. Danny looked at his deputy and for the first time in two days finally felt like things made sense. This was what they did. They stormed rooms and took down bad guys. This was his element. Exhaling slowly, Danny threw the door open and raced in bringing his weapon up.
"Drops your guns!" He roared as he and Sheesh spread out so they were both able to cover all the threats in the room. "Drop them now!"
Surprise flashed across the faces of the three strangers, sudden and bright, then it faded just as quickly and their features hardened. Danny knew they were not about to follow the advice he had just given them.
Goddamn it.
"Don't do it!" He screamed.
The kidnappers ignored him.
The one in the denim jacket swung his pistol in Danny's direction but the marshal already his sights centered on the man's chest. He squeezed the trigger of his M4 as fast as his finger could work it and he added three more stains to the man's filthy jacket. The rounds punched through the left breast pocket. The .223 rounds penetrated his target's heart and shredded it like a piece of paper in a shredder. The man's eyes rolled back in his head as he toppled backwards, dead before he ever hit the floor.
Commotion to Danny's left drew his attention and he saw the kidnapper decked out in all the camo trying to bring his gun to bear on Sheesh. A shot rang out and pieces of plaster came raining down as Hargreaves forced the man's arm upward, spoiling his shot and sending the bullet into the ceiling.
"Motherfucker!" Camo shrieked as the guard regained his feet and slammed him into one of the tables.
The kidnapper struck him sharply across the side of the face with the butt of his handgun and Hargreaves staggered away. He took aim at the guard as the man fought to stay upright and pressed his finger to the trigger. Unfortunately for him, Sheesh was faster. The deputy squeezed off four shots: two struck the kidnapper in the shoulder, the other pair punched through the side of his head. Blood and brain misting through the air, Camo fell across one of the desks and knocked one of the computer monitors to the floor.
"Get back!" The rifleman squealed in a high, piercing voice, hauling Sarah in front of him as a human shield. "Get back or I'll cut her throat like a fucking pig!"
The man had abandoned his rifle and produced a large hunting knife from somewhere. He held the blade beneath Sarah's neck. She locked eyes with Danny, her gaze frantic and frightened. Behind the two of them, Danny could see Drake kneeling with his hands tied behind his back. The rifleman had been blocking his view of the hitman before.
"Let her go!" Danny replied, trying to get a clear shot but the bastard was constantly jerking Sarah this way and that, keeping her head just in front of his, ruining any chance of a clean kill shot. "There's nowhere for you to go!"
As if to prove his point, Briggs and Michelle chose that moment to come bursting into the archives room. It took them only a moment to survey the violence that had exploded in the room before taking aim at the man holding Sarah hostage. Hargreaves was back in the fight now too having retrieved one of the kidnapper's handguns. The kidnapper took a few steps back, trying to retreat away from all the guns pointed in his direction but there was no exit to be found.
"Listen to me," Danny said, "I don't know who you are and I don't care who you are. Let my friend there go and you can walk away."
"Fuck you," the man snarled from over Sarah's shoulder, his face coated in a sweat. "You think I'm going to believe that?"
"The only thing you need to believe is that you are outnumbered and outgunned. If you hurt her, we'll kill you. Believe that."
C'mon, asshole. Move your head two inches in either direction so I can put an extra hole in it.
"Fuck you," the kidnapper snarled again, tightening his hold on Sarah's head. She let out a muffled cry. "Take another step and I'll bleed her out."
"Do it and you're dead," Danny warned.
The man laughed then. It was high and hideous. It was the laughter of a man who had become estranged with his sanity a long time ago.
"Whooooo-weeeee!" His grin twisted his face into something inhuman. "Look around man, we're all fucking dead!"
Movement behind the man caught Danny's eye. He raised an eyebrow as he saw Drake rise to his feet, the hands that had been bound behind his back swung out to his sides. Something flashed in his right hand.
*****PAGE BREAK*****
Drake heard the gunshots but to his ears they sounded distant, as if they were coming from outside the room rather than within it. He watched Ollie's friends fall, bloody and lifeless, but he felt removed from that too, as if he were watching the men die from behind a pane of one-way glass. The only presence that seemed real to him was Ollie's itself.
He looked at the man shielding himself with Sarah without seeing either of them. He saw Charms with his hands wrapped around Jessica's throat. He saw Cue Ball beating her with a baseball bat before his friend choked the life out of her. He saw Freddy McShay watching the both of them as they stole the life of the woman he loved. He saw McShay smile as he looked on.
The letter open tore through the duct tape around his wrists and Drake rose to his feet. Danny and the others had Ollie surrounded now, pointing weapons their way as they yelled at him and he yelled back. Drake could make out none of what they were saying. Blood thundered in his ears, pulsed through his veins at a violent pace. Something hammered painfully against his ribcage but Drake knew it was not his heart. There was a beast inside him, one that demanded to be freed.
He paced across the carpet, approaching Ollie from behind. The man was too focused on the arsenal of weapons staring him in the face to pay any attention to his exposed flank. Drake tightened his grip on the letter opener. The animal inside him roared to be released.
Ollie fought to keep Sarah's face between his and that of the guns pointed in his direction. Moments ago, he had been prepared to rape and assault her as if she were an object that had been engineered for his twisted desires. Now, he cowered behind her.
The beast inside Drake growled with anger and disgust and it took him a moment to realize the sound was coming from his own throat.
He saw the blade of a hunting knife glittering in Ollie's hand against Sarah's neck; he saw Charms' meaty palms wrapped around Jessica's with crushing strength. He saw Cue Ball and Freddy McShay smile. He heard them laugh.
They all think they have a right to do whatever they want; to take whatever they want.
But they didn't.
Drake reached out and wrapped a hand around the wrist of the hand Ollie held his knife in. He dug his fingertips into the pressure point there and heard Ollie squeal. The blade fell from the man's hand and Drake wrenched him around, away from Sarah. Surprise and fear exploded in the man's dark, beady eyes. The animal inside Drake howled and threw itself against the gate holding it in check.
"You have no right," Drake whispered harshly and buried the letter opener up to the hilt in the man's gut.
The fear and surprise in Ollie's eyes was shattered by pain and the sight made the beast within Drake howl in triumph. His rage became an uncaged animal and Ollie was the first thing in its path. He thrust the letter opener into the man's stomach again and growled, "You have no right."
He pulled the blade free and drove it up higher, between Ollie's ribs this time. Blood spurted from the wound, splashing his hands and forearms. He stabbed him again. Crimson fluid washed over the front of his shirt. He jammed the blade into the man's chest now. A spray of red splashed his face but Drake didn't notice. The beast was free now and it wanted blood.
"You have no right!" He screamed the words with every thrust of the letter opener. "You have no right!"
Drake punched holes in Ollie's chest and stomach with startling speed. The letter opener was a blur in his hands. He lost all sense of time, absorbed in this act of vengeance, of justice. He lost himself in feeding the beast. He could have been stabbing the man for seconds, minutes, hours or days. He had no idea and he didn't much care. Each time the blade burst skin and skidded along bone it felt right.
Finally, the letter opener became too bent and slick with blood to hold. Drake let it fall to the floor and found himself staring into the pale, waxy face of a corpse. Ollie was a red mess. His torso looked as if he had been savaged by a tiger or some other jungle cat. He let out a soft, rattling hiss and collapsed onto his face.
Drake stumbled back and sagged to the ground. He was covered in sweat and blood. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he devoured oxygen. The room spun around him for a dizzying second then resolved into form again.
He watched as Sheesh freed Sarah from her bonds and the young woman scuttled across the carpet to her partner. There were tears in her eyes as she screamed Homer's name and shook his shoulders. He didn't rise. Drake knew he never would. After a moment, Sarah pressed her face against his chest and wept.
Drake looked up to see Danny standing over him. The marshal looked down at him, soaked in blood, sweat and gore, and there was something frightened dancing in his eyes. Drake thought Danny looked as if he were seeing him for the first time.
Maybe he is.
"Do you understand now, Danny?" Drake asked, panting. "Do you get it?"
Danny said nothing. Drake said nothing. For a long time no one said anything. For a long time there was no sound but Sarah's weeping.