Shattered
The Endings
WARNING: This chapter will be very graphic and violent. Please do NOT read if you are easily upset of offended by unpleasant things. There is a short summary of what goes on under the Author's Notes at the end of the chapter. Please skip the chapter if you are easily disturbed.
Hitomi saw the door open. It was a quick motion, assisted by the animalistic wind, hungry for prey. Her keys dropped to the doorstep below, their ringing noise drowned out by a clap of thunder. Her eyes widened, her heart sped up, and everything around her seemed to slow. Inside, a paunchy man stared back at her. His eyes were small, hidden under rolls of skin sagging down his face. His arm reached for her, slowly to her. She tried to move away, but it was as if her entire body was attached to the mat beneath her feet. His thick arm flashed across her face and fastened on her own arm, roughly heaving her inside her home. He smiled a fat smile at her.
"Yo, Spike, we got another one."
More men! Two were laughing near the hallway, holding bottles of beer in their hands. Hitomi could easily see their guns, one dangling from each belt. Her eyes, wide with fear, darted around the room. Her heart flew into her throat and her mouth opened, releasing an inhuman scream as she saw her family – her sweet little brother, her loving mother, her jovial father – tied up together on the couch, blood trickling from her father's head.
"Dammit, girl, shaddup!" The fat man swung his arm again and knocked her down. Spike laughed and wandered over to her huddled body.
"You're a stupid bitch, ain't ya? Ya scared? Huh?" Hitomi winced, tears stinging her eyes as she felt the man's beer dribbling through her hair.
The white walls around her were dark, a single light glowing in the office at the end of the hallway. The floor was scuffed, mud-caked and disgusting. Blood was mixed into the filth on the floor. A fourth man walked out of the office.
Each man was wearing black leather. Every single one had a gun somewhere in sight of Hitomi, many of them probably hiding other weapons. Two wore long black jackets and high cowboy-esque boots. The large one that had pulled Hitomi in was dressed in a billowing black shirt and jeans that were too tight for his body. Spike, the supposed leader of this ragtag bunch, wore a short bomber jacket and a fake smile.
"So, girl, ya know who we are?" he asked, the corner of his lips tugging upward. The four men turned around, showing the elaborate decoration on the back of the jackets. It was a three-pronged claw, each ending in a shiny, sharp point. Blood formed a puddle beneath the sewn picture, a single claw dripping with it. Hitomi's shivered, shaking her head back and forth as quickly as she could manage.
"No!" she croaked out. The four men looked at her, intrigued.
"No, what, girl?" the fat one asked.
"I haven't done anything to you! I've never been bad! I always did what they asked!"
Spike frowned. "You know REP, girl?"
Hitomi was choking on her sobs, terrified. The storm outside was still screeching. "I work at Fast Mart!" she managed. The concerned look on Spike's face faded away, and he began to laugh.
"Fast Mart, eh? Well, ain't that a pity! Boys, she works at Fast Mart, can't do anythin' bad to her now!" The whole group, as if on cue, laughed along with their fearless leader. The idea that this small girl, cowering before them, thought she could make any difference in what they were planning was absurd. "Timmy, tie her."
The fat man lifted her up and lashed a long piece of rope around her midsection, cutting into her arms. Hitomi squeaked an "ow" and the man snickered, shaking his head. Somewhere in the house a window was shattered.
"Damn John! If you ain't more quiet, the whole world's gonna be on our asses!" Spike shouted. A muffled "sorry!" rolled from the house and Hitomi stared at Timmy with big, tearful eyes as he forced her to sit down again. She risked another look at her family and saw her younger brother sobbing, trying to hold the tears in or cry silently. Her heart broke.
"Now, see girl, we weren't gonna kill anyone today. But, this storm is so bad? It needs some blood or somethin'. We're religious folk, we unnerstand all that. You have such a nice house, we jest decided to meander in here, check it out. And kill for this storm, if we was so inclined. And, look! You and your family – you came here jest for us! So kind of ya," Timmy told her, bobbing his head to each word. Hitomi whimpered.
"Start with the whiny one," Spike ordered. Timmy stood and walked away from Hitomi, lifting a gun from his coat pocket, different from the one hanging off his belt. He tugged a rag from his jeans and began to carefully caress the gun.
"I hate it when these things git dirty," he muttered. Spike shot him a rude look and Timmy shoved the cloth back into his pocket. "Sorry, sir."
The gun was shining in the dim light from the office. Hitomi felt fear welling up. No! I promised Yukari I would be her maid of honor, I have to go to college still! I didn't get to tell my parents that Yukari's getting married. I bought a cookie for my brother! Oh, where did that cookie go?! I have to give him the cookie! I can't die!
Timmy neatly leveled the gun's sights on her head. "Bye, little girl. Don't worry – your family will join you real soon." His finger rested on the trigger. Hitomi stared at him, her racing heart betraying her fear. All she could think of was the cookie in her back pocket. The cookie for her little brother. The little boy crying silently on the couch. I'm going to die, she realized suddenly.
"NO!" her father yelled, pushing himself off the couch in front of Hitomi's rigid body. "You won't kill my daughter!"
Spike sighed and snatched Timmy's gun from him. He shot Hitomi's father once in the leg. He screamed in pain, doubling over. Hitomi's head swam at the sight of the blood seeping from the small wound.
"Listen, old man. First off, you'll git your turn. Just wait. Second, we already went over this with you. You can't protect them. In fact, you'll die first. So they can all see their precious father die," he snarled, shooting him in his other leg. Hitomi's mother gave a mangled cry, tumbling off the couch after him. Her brother was kicked to the side, his face buried in the cushions, unable to see the unfolding events.
"Oh, God! Don't kill him, please don't kill him!" she screamed, her hair mussed with her on blood. Spike looked annoyed.
"You're next, lady. Shut up. Timmy, shut her up." The burly man turned to the sobbing woman; her body wracked with grief and punched her. There was a cracking noise and she moaned in pain, trying to touch her broken nose. "Now, you stay there and watch your husband here die for bein' a hero. Goodbye hero," Spike smiled, enjoying the pain wrought on the older man's face.
The second man who had been standing off to the side leaned down and slapped the first wound from the bullet. Hitomi's father howled a strangled, animal-like cry. The blood-covered hand of the man touched Hitomi's face with the lightest of caresses.
"What the hell are you doing, Tad?" Spike snarled, lowering the gun an inch. Tad just smiled.
Hitomi could feel the bile in her throat as the frightening man, his toothy smile painful to see, spread her father's blood across her cheeks, over her eyes, and onto her lips. "You like this, girl? Or can you not even stand your father's own blood??" Hitomi cried out, pulling away from him.
"Fine," Tad said, pulling his own hidden gun. Hitomi's father looked up at him, tiredly.
"No, please… please spare… them…" his mouth was filled with blood, blood leaking from his leg wounds. Tad smirked.
"Girl doesn't like her own father's blood," he said, and shot the shivering man in the heart.
Hitomi's mother screamed and lunged desperately towards her husband's body. Tad kicked the dead man obligingly at her. "How could you, you animals?!" she demanded.
Tad's eyes narrowed. "We ain't animals, lady, we're just appeasing the storm." Spike stormed over to the woman and hauled her violently to her feet.
"Listen, you. You may think that his death was painful and worthless, but yours? Yours is gonna be worse." He lifted the gun in his hand upward and pressed it into her open mouth. Hitomi's mother's eyes widened and she gagged. "Yeah, that's it, bitch. Try to survive this." He pushed the barrel of the gun deeper, ignoring the painful tears and blood leaking from the corners of her mouth.
"Stop! Leave her alone, please, leave her alone! Take anything, the whole house, just, please, don't hurt my mom!" Hitomi shouted. Her brother's face was still buried in the couch cushions, but she could hear him sobbing and see his little body shaking.
"You want me to stop, whiny girl? Fine. You killed her!" Spike's finger squeezed the trigger. Hitomi's eyes shut and she felt the warm splatter of blood across her body at the sound of the report from the gun. Her tears stained the red decorations on her clothing.
"Hey, Spike, who's next?" the large Timmy asked. "I wanna kill 'em!"
Spike rolled his eyes in disgust at Timmy's request. "Kill the blubbery one on the couch, I can't stand him crying." Hitomi's eyes opened, the blood burning her eyes; her mother's blood, her father's blood. The entire scene was surreal. The rocking storm outside her home, her two parent's bodies laying before her, the brawny man moving slowly towards her weeping brother, buried among the couch pillows – none of this could be real, could be happening. And yet, it was too true to be a simple dream.
"Ngggh!" was all her brother managed as he was swept off the couch and into Timmy's arms. Hitomi struggled against the ropes that were binding her, pulling and tugging with everything she possessed.
"You still crying, boy? Oh well. You know what that means?" Her little brother shook his head slowly, terrified. The tears continued to fall, sliding down his nose and cheeks as he shivered in fear. "That means Spike is unhappy. And I always like Spike cheerful."
"Ah…." her brother started, trying to pull away as Timmy's arms tightened on his own. The man lifted the small boy up into the air, high above the floor, and dropped him. The little child landed on his back, yelping in pain.
"Look at you! Makin' more noise!" The heavy boot of the man came crashing down his left leg. Hitomi could hear the sharp snap of the bones and screamed. One of the unidentified men kicked her in the back of the head, sending her crashing into a pool of blood on the wooden floor. Lightening snaked outside, the rain pounding in rhythm with her heartbeat.
Her little brother was no longer screaming, just shaking from fear and pain, unable to formulate the noises to express the emotions within his tiny body.
"Nighty night, boy," Timmy said and lifted a long, shiny knife from his belt. Hitomi tried to leap towards them, tried to rip away the rope, but was trapped when the boot from the man behind her pinned her body onto the floor.
"You ain't going nowhere girl," he murmured, hunching over and twisting her neck towards Timmy and her brother. "But you're sure as hell gonna watch." Hitomi gurgled a "no, please…" but wasn't understood or wasn't heard, for the man above her made no indication of hearing her.
The long, curved knife flashed in the lightening from the windows and began to arch towards her squirming brother. Hitomi's mouth opened in a desperate attempt to stop the world, stop everything, the cookie flashing again through her mind. Her brother's scream and the sound of his ripping flesh as the weapon tore into his stomach; his legs; his throat, and then his silence, brought bile to her throat.
Hitomi couldn't help it. She threw up, her stomach convulsing with horror. The man holding her down leaps away to avoid the mess. Hitomi moaned, her face covered in blood and bile. Her whimpers brought Tad's attention to her.
"Damn little boy died too fast. Maybe you'll last longer, eh?" He ripped the knife from Timmy's hand and started towards her. She shrank away, dragging her skin across the smooth wood, trying to speak, to scream, to escape. Spike caught her behind the arms and shoved her back down.
"Give me the knife, Tad."
The other man tossed the weapon to Spike, who caught it with ease. He sliced the ropes off Hitomi's arms and dug his boot into her neck to keep her against the ground.
"I've been thinkin', girl. You whine so much. And there ain't much of a punishment for that around here. So, we're gonna let you live. Show you that REP ain't so bad after all. Yes, but, of course, we're gonna leave you a little present so you can always remember how you got your family killed and you lived to tell, whiny girl," he smiled, a sick, slow grin.
"Timmy, get your ass over here and hold the bitch down."
Timmy rushed to assist Spike, holding Hitomi in a prone position, her stomach pressed against the floorboards. She wouldn't have fought anyway, the images of her bother's death was searing too painfully in her mind.
Spike slashed off the back of her shirt, tossing it away. Her soft back was exposed. Hitomi's mind struggled to take control of her body, to move, to scream, to do something before she was murdered too.
Spike took the knife and pressed it against Hitomi's skin. The moment it pierced her flesh, Hitomi's back arched, her neck lifted, and a horrible sound wrenched itself from somewhere deep within her body. Shock showed on Timmy's face, but he held her down. Spike continued carving, digging, sculpting, calmly ignoring her ungodly noises.
Forever passed and returned while she lay there, sobbing, the knife slicing her back into shreds. The scorching aches issuing from her skin took over her mind and body and left her useless, unable to do anything but scream. Her scream became continuous, it had a mind of its own, twisting out the windows, fighting away the storm, angrily beating against the people that held her down, destroyed her and her family. It crawled upward, coiling like a serpent. Timmy was leaning from her, trying to get away from the noises, but each time he strayed too far, Spike would snap at him.
Finally, the knife lifted and Spike kicked her onto the body of her mother. Hitomi's scream changed in pitch, turning into horror and anguish. She threw up again as she scuttled backwards. Tad caught her by the hair and held a mirror to her back, reflecting it off the one in the front hallway. It was hard to see, but Hitomi could make out the three-pronged claw etched in her skin, blood dripping slowly from the wound.
"Have fun with your new tattoo, girl," Tad snapped, and threw her close by the bodies the REP had piled up. Hitomi lay on the floor and sobbed. Spike waved to her.
"Goodbye, thanks for all the goodies," he spat and kicked the door open. An unwary or vindictive member trod over her back, over the newly formed wound and laughed as her animalistic scream returned, tearing out of her lungs and filling the house. Tears soaked the floor below her, and the scream was interrupted with hiccupping sobs. Tad laughed and kicked her side once more before vanishing out the door. The other REP members soon followed and Hitomi was left alone, broken, shattered, on the floor, her family dead. Gone…
Her clothing was drenched in blood, her eyes shaded by the red. Her house was no longer her home. And she could only think of the cookie, the one she decorated herself, that must be crushed by now, in her back pocket. The one that was for her brother… the boy lying dead before her.
The scream rose again, more vicious, angry, thrashing to escape.
***
Author's Notes: I hope you only read that if you could stomach it. Please review, if you feel so inclined, and give me any feedback possible. This was the first truly violent thing I've written, and I'm curious to see the reaction from it. Thank you.
E-mail me if you would like to be notified each time the story is updated at catwinner@earthlink.net.
Summary:
Hitomi arrives home and is yanked inside by a strange person, who quickly identifies himself as a member of the REP. Her family is tied up on the couch. There are several men in the house, robbing it. They choose to kill her family to "feed" the storm outside. Her father is killed first as he begs for Hitomi's life to be spared. He is shot once in each leg, and again in the head. Hitomi is smeared with her father's blood just before he dies by a REP member. Her mother is killed next because of the complaints she puts forth at seeing her husband die. She is choked on the gun of the leader, then shot (while the gun is still in her mouth.) Her brother is next. He is stabbed in the stomach several times, then in the throat. He dies very quickly. Hitomi is held down by the REP and their insignia is cut into her back by the leader. (Three-pronged claw) She screams like a banshee, an unearthly, horrifying scream. The REP leave her in her own blood and bile, making off with many of her precious possessions, her family in a pile beside her. End of chapter.
Angel-wings-131: Yes, the world is indeed against her, isn't it? Don't worry, happy ending is in store. In a long while. But it is coming!
ReddAlice: Thanks, I hope this was decently "fast" in coming out. Let me know how you like it!
PurpleSmurf: What flattering comments! I hope this new chapter is up to par with your expectations. :)