Now, you were wondering about the studying I had done, yes? Each of my victims I have a part of. Something to remind me of them. I love them you realize. I love them with the passion that a composer loves music, a connoisseur loves his food. They are my diatribe, my selfishness, my mutation; I am evolution in action, the survival of the fittest the natural selection, the predator minority to the herd mind.
One encounter I wish to speak of took a more challenging stance. Above all, this game I play is a challenge, the rules and the scenarios are flexible yet tantamount. To break the rules or to stray beyond their boundaries is to invite disaster and bring about an untimely end to the grand exercise.
It was August, the hunger grew stronger every hour, and often my gaze would bring discomforted looks from those whom I was staring at. I would become lost in my imaginings of the fun we could have, and the expression on my face betrayed intention. It was time to fulfill those needs or risk both sanity and sanctity of freedom.
For the first time I considered using firearms as a control mechanism, people are like dogs, show them a big enough stick and they will lie at you feet whining. I discarded the idea, as I had no desire or knowledge of such weapons, my skill lies in other fields of human endeavor, particularly medicine and biochemistry. I drove late in the evening, on a clear and crisp August night, to a place where lovers go to grope and sweat against each other in the back of their vehicles. Voicing claims of passion, while their selfish genes seek to impregnate and continue their own eternal cycle of existence.
I waited for four hours parked back from others overlooking the city, back in the shadows, just another darkened car in the evening still. The time came at 12:45 AM one car remained and it rocked rhythmically the bestial grunts and soft sounds that came from within told me that the occupant's attention was ... elsewhere. The Predator within rose up and struck silent and swift. It was over in moments, I used some form of sedative within twin syringes; the dose was a little large as I had more to do with them before they awoke. One is easy to control, two could be more taxing. But they were taken by surprise, and it was over before they could even separate their bodies from each other's embrace.
I took their car, not wishing to be seen carrying two bodies across the road to my transport. 45 minutes later we were in place. I had worked hard spent several weekends hammering and remodeling my basement. It was deep and it had always been that way. Now it was separated into two sections, one was my control room, with video and sound systems, and the other was what I had come to refer to as the Play Room, separated by a concrete block wall, with a steel door and two-way mirror. I set everything up, placed my guests in their positions and returned to the control room. I waited for a further 20 minutes, idly testing my sound and video equipment.
Everything was in perfect order.
I paused for a moment and allowed myself to view the surroundings from the victim's perspective. Awakening into a brightly lit room with a larger mirror in the opposite wall, near you and restrained in the same chair and nylon rope arrangement as you are is your partner, also awakening to realization. The shock would be the first thing to capture on film I decided. I took a moment to zoom the first camera in on the male's face, still slack and sedated. The second camera at the other end of the mirror I focused on the female.
They would find themselves seated on simple yet sturdy wooden stools each at the end of a seesaw type of beam, pivoted in the middle, yet balanced with counterweights so that they were level. Some 24 inches below the bottom of their naked feet was a steel door like that on a garage. A small electric motor was set up on the central pivot of the beam, controlled of course by myself in the next room. Why they were there would become clear to them shortly after they awoke from their drug induced sleep.
I went back to my musings on the impressions they would have upon regaining consciousness. After the initial and I'm sure instinctive struggle to break free, the questions would start. At first seek those responsible for your imprisonment, demand to be freed, check that the other was unharmed, and reassure each other that all would be well, then struggle some more, finally realize that there is no escape.
Only then would they be ready for the choice that had to be made. It occurred very much like that, he awoke first, then while he was shouting at the blank and silent walls she stirred and screamed upon waking. The tapes had been running now for 87 seconds, I calmly checked each camera, made some slight adjustments to zoom and focus. The footage was excellent, the emotion real and very raw.
I seated myself at the control console, the two monitors showed me the cameras view and I could also watch directly through the glass in front of me. Everything I had constructed over the last months was available to any person from electronics and hardware stores, builder's supplies and home improvement stores. Truly the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Each component on its own was could arouse no suspicion when purchased, even by tracing the links of sales, even a complete list of everything I had purchased would have aroused no suspicion. That was the joy of my desecration; humanity had supplied me with all I needed to steal two of its precious jewels. I flicked the intercom switch and my calm voice broke through the cloud of hysteria that was filling the room beyond the glass.
"Good evening," I said.
The response was predictable; both froze for a moment, then she started crying and wailing, while he shouted at the mirror, terror fueling his frustrated rage. I waited for him to run out of breath and words, and for she to collapse into soft sobs. He turned his head to the young woman at the other end of the seesaw like beam. He called her by her name, made promises that she would be unharmed; he would protect her and get her home safely. This was the moment I had been waiting for, I pressed the button that activated the electric motor and it whirred into life. The door under their feet slowly ground its way back, revealing a hemispherical pit exactly 7 feet deep and 6 feet across, separated in the middle where the pivot of the seesaw beam was mounted by a concrete block dividing wall flush with the floor. The effect they had was seeing the ground open up beneath their feet. The pit had originally been dug for a spa pool, though the pool itself was never fitted.
I watched the reaction closely.
It was puzzlement, there were no fierce creatures waiting to leap up and snap at their toes, no crawling insects no gleaming blades thrusting up hungry for their blood. Instead they saw a white powder floor, I knew the powder layer was exactly 6 inches deep, I also knew that it was Calcium Carbonate, which shortly would be flooded with water and the resulting solution would be Calcium Hydroxide, more commonly known as Quick Lime.
The fascinating properties of an alkaline solution like Quick Lime as opposed to an acid such as NaSO4 (Sulfuric Acid) is the effect it has on protein strands. If human flesh is exposed to sulfuric acid or most other acids, flushing with water will prevent any damage. A caustic solution like calcium hydroxide will eat the flesh from the bones regardless. It was in fact how I had disposed of the remains of all my special guests. The other useful thing was at some later date I would simply add sand to the mix and create a cement pad on my concrete floor with the remains permanently entombed. A clean and effective way of cleaning up after I had grown bored with the game.
Now came the fun part.
"Do you love each other?" I asked in my calm and detached voice.
The responded affirmatively, she looked up for the first time, her breath still catching on the barbs of her panic. Their invisible captor was talking to them; this was a sense of reality they could clutch, a possible avenue of salvation.
"Yes. Yes we do." he said, his voice quiet and tense.
"Tell me about your relationship, how you met." I breathed out slowly, for no reason at all, as I spoke, each word clear and clipped, totally in control.
"What d-do you m-mean?" she whimpered. I bridled, having no desire to repeat myself, fortunately he was together enough to grasp my meaning.
"We met in college. She is a history major; I'm doing anthropology. We met at a volleyball tournament. Uh... about six months ago. I guess we have been together since that weekend." He spoke quickly, trying to sound relaxed and conversational, I briefly wondered if he had studied any psychology. He trailed off into silence. The room was quiet except for the ragged breathing of the girl.
"Is your love true?" My excitement at how the game was progressing was barely held in check, I took a moment, detaching my voice from my emotions.
"True love..?" The male looked at her again; the video camera caught the warmth in his gaze, the soft smile he gave her. Reassuring platitudes that were a false mask worn by the lustful and the disposable.
"Yes, it is true love," He spoke while smiling into her eyes, distancing himself from the reality of the situation, I was about to bring it back to his full and undivided attention.
"Let's test that claim, shall we?"
He looked to the mirror, his eyes flicking, what did I mean? Oh you'll find out soon enough. The question hung in the air before him. She began whimpering again, begging me to let them go, claiming innocence, and claiming immunity from my wrath. I ignored her, he had stated that their love was true, and I was going to test it. Now anything they said or did that did not relate directly to the decision they would soon have to make was irrelevant data, and could be ignored. I moved over the control panel, hands like five legged spiders dancing over buttons and switches, the third camera suspended over the diorama was activated, and zoomed in to frame the scene. The valves were opened and the pit below their feet began to fill with water.
The reaction of calcium carbonate with water is impressive and the key to its causticity, the water oxidizes the calcium carbonate and in that state it does its magic on proteins such as human body tissues. An interesting side effect of the reaction of water and carbonate is it gives off a great deal of heat. The reaction is exothermic; this I believe was the main reason for the emotional reaction of the two suspended over the pit that had become a very hot and apparently boiling vat of milky liquid. They both began screaming the heat that reached out and touched them must have been close to scalding.
I waited till they had calmed down, she to shuddering sobs and he seemed to be praying, repeating over and over again "just let us go please just let us go" I smiled at that. It is the final tribute of the victim when they worship you. All faith and belief systems are replaced and they put you in your own pantheon. When you hold the power of life and death over someone, they in effect make you God.
"One of you is going to die." I left that hanging for a moment in the stunned silence. "You will decide which one will die and which one will live. This is the test of your love."
I sat back and watched their reaction.
He exploded in a rage. She just went totally pale, almost fainting, her form sagging against the nylon bonds. "You are fucking crazy!" His voice cracked and his skin tore as he strained against the ropes.
"Decide." I was so calm and in total control. "Who will sacrifice themselves for love?" The heat from the pit was not the only thing making him sweat. The terror in his eyes was gratifying. I checked the second monitor, raising an eyebrow as I saw her eyes were totally blank, without emotion.
I will not bore you with the tirade that filled the next three minutes, it is on tape, but his language was uncouth, his emotions were primal, his threats merely tedious.
Eventually he turned his head as she spoke softly. "Let him live," she said, her eyes still blank, her head cocked slightly as if she were listening to a far off sound.
This was interesting.
His reaction was shock. "No!" he cried.
I squeezed my hands together; this was the ultimate demonstration of humanity's primordial genes. Altruism would be shown to be a false virtue here today, of this I was sure. Now was the time to sit back and observe. They would make the rules of the game to suit them now. I was merely required to watch and enjoy the duel of souls. Perhaps even then deep inside their minds they knew the game was lost, and I had already won.
He called her by name again, speaking softly, she responded now, as a dreamer awakening from a deep sleep. "Don't listen to him," he whispered. "He is crazy; don't listen to what he is saying."
I smiled. Yes, I am crazy but I should be listened to, especially when I hold lives in my hands. "Do not mock me." I breathed into the intercom, and toggled the switch on the electric motor that squatted in the center of the beam their seats were attached to. With a soft powered purr the wire rope extended, lowering his stool on a thin cable into the still boiling pool. I allowed his naked feet to hang mere inches above the seething murk. My view through the "window" was somewhat obscured, I did not realize I had miscalculated the distance until the noise started. I waited for a few moments before I toggled the switch again. The electric motor whirred, raising his end of the beam to a level position. It was hard to tell at the time, which had screamed louder, the female or the male. Within seconds of his immersion his shrieks had become as high pitched and feminine as hers.
I have seen footage of victims of the rampant bacterial infection Narcotizing Fasciiatis, the so-called "Flesh Eating Bug." The effects were similar in this instance, though more comparable to burn victims. He had been lowered to a point just above his toes, in the time he had screamed so loudly the flesh had been burned from his feet, and the residual chemical still corroded his flesh. The microphones picked up her hysterical sobs punctuated by soft plopping sounds as the exposed ligaments of his feet dissolved and small bones dropped away into the pool. The smell must have been intense. The female was nearly catatonic in her hysteria.
It was not until later when I was editing the tapes that I could make out that she was saying, "Please stop. Please stop," repeatedly.
I activated the switch that closed the cover of the pool, and stood up. After rechecking that my gloves and head covering were secure. I unlocked the dividing door and stepped into the playroom. She was sitting still, her eyes tightly shut, he was limp and in deep shock. I didn't want the game to end this soon, so I had come prepared. Stepping behind her, she showed no reaction to my presence. I gave some thought to just where her mind had gone to at that time. I wondered if I would recognize the place. Taking a moment to pull a cord switch on the extractor fan mounted high on the wall I moved in front of them, my back to the mirror. His eyes slowly came into focus. His breathing was still rapid and shallow.
"I... am going... to kill you," he managed.
"No." I replied. "But I am not going to kill you either."
Now confusion welled up the expression filling his face like a bruise. "You need to understand," I continued. "I am merely an observer in this experiment. It is the two of you who will decide which one lives and which one dies."