Hey everyone. I'm so sorry I took a month to update. But my exams came in the way, and they just ended yesterday. And also, the last two chapters were a little bad, so I hope the next few make up for it. Also, this chapter might have a teensy bit more 'colourful' language then most of them.

Chapter 9... Between Darkness And Despair

1 PM

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere…

"Liv, I got someone for dinner!" Screamed Papa, as he pointed to an old wooden chair with the tip of the gun, indicating that he wanted Dean to sit there. Dean looked around the house, old, peeled off wallpaper, everything either in shades of brown or gray, but still different from the Benders house. He reluctantly sat on the creaky chair, and looked around him. The walls had splatters of blood, hashes here and there. It made him uneasy, deep down he knew he was fucked. Through an open door walked inside an obese woman, smiling the same toothless smile worn by her husband.

She smiled at Papa and said, "Well well, Papa, looks like you fetched us a good one for tonight. My name's Laverne by the way, city boy." She looked at Dean and walked over and pulled at his cheeks. Her long and yellow fingernails scratched his skin, and he tried moving back, but stopped when he noticed Papa getting furious at his movements. Slowly, another person popped his head through the doorway and looked at Dean. It was a teenage boy and he had long straight hair that covered his eyes. He looked the most civilized of the three, or at least Dean thought so, seeing as when he did smile, he had all his teeth.

"Umm, I like this one," he said, as he walked inside the room, and Dean rolled his eyes in despair. He went forward and patted Dean's hair, and then pulled his hand back and proclaimed, "They're all hard. I like them hard. Can we keep this one Papa, please?" Papa raised an eyebrow and said, "Keep him? Last time we kept someone you bit the motherfucker's cock off!" At that Dean quickly stepped up, and backed away towards another open door, on the opposite side of the room. The boy didn't seem to care, and continued pleading, "Come on Papa, please? I promise I won't ruin him. He could get us more from the roads. With his city boy looks and all." He passed a glance at Dean and grinned, and Dean didn't know whether he was relieved that the boy was saving his life, or scared by the fact that the boy had a fetish to bite male body parts.

Papa then looked at the boy and said, "Fine. Rufus, take him out!" Dean didn't know what had happened. But suddenly, he felt a sharp hit to the back of his head, and then suddenly, everything went black.

In the house…

"We're going upstairs," said Leah. She looked at Audric and Cripps, and then back at Sam. "We're running out of time. And we need to find a key to get out of here. The only way we can do that is to stick together. God knows what kind of sick twisted gadgets that son of a bitch has hidden around here, and if we wanna stay alive, we've got to keep our eyes open. So let's go."

As the four of them slowly ascended upstairs, one by one, to make sure the stairs didn't break, different thoughts flourished through their heads. Some of fear, some of hope, some of excitement. They reached up, and Sam looked around. There were four doors; three at the end of the left side of the hallway, and one at the end of the right side. "Well," said Cripps, "Which one?"

They all thought it through and then pointed in different directions. Leah shook her head and said, "Alright. This is not going to work. Who am I kidding? Basil, you coming with me. Sam, take the kid. We'll take the room on the right; you can take any one from the left. If you get a nail through your hand, just scream." Audric grinned, but Sam thought it was pretty inappropriate.

As they walked in opposite directions, Cripps looked at Leah and said, "Why do you try to hide your insecurity through those sarcastic comments?" Leah rolled her eyes and said, "What are you? Some kind of shrink?" Cripps just laughed as they reached the door. Leah tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge. "Should we kick it?" Asked Leah, looking at Cripps, seemingly unnerved, "Cause the last time Sam tried that, he got a nail in his hand."

Cripps thought about it for a moment and said, "I think we'll be able to handle a nail." Leah looked doubtful now and said, "Fine, but if something flies out of that room, I'm using you as a human shield." Cripps smiled, she found Leah quite funny, and it helped her think less about being trapped in the house. Leah braced herself, and kicked the door, and it flew open quite easily and nothing came out at them.

She heaved a sigh of relief, but looked the room wide eyed. It was completely empty. Completely clean. A few fluorescent lights illuminated it, and the only thing in the room was an envelope hanging from a hook, right in the middle of the ceiling. Leah looked back at Cripps and said, "Sam has a nail in his hand, Audric has a burnt hand, and I love my hands waay too much, so darling, I think you're the one getting the envelope."

Anyways, thats all. I hope you liked it. Again, sorry for the delay. Please review..