STAGE FOUR - FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS
An inability to perceive a new use for an object previously associated with some other purpose.
Power. It was a magical, whimsical thing that filled one with strength, confidence, and perseverance; overwhelming emotions for someone who'd never felt true power before. Caroline was one such person. Superiority washed over her, bathing her with its goodness and light, as she gazed down at Johnny strapped to a metal chair in the middle of a cave in the Badlands of Utah. She stood above him, hand on one hip, Mac and Long Hair flanking her, and she felt a sudden urge to literally step on Johnny. Because if it were possible to do so, now would be the perfect time and place, as he moaned and wailed in pain, bloody head lolling back and forth, hands clenching into fists and then relaxing and clenching again. This was true power, she knew. Although unable to remember each and every time Johnny had made her cry or bleed or caused discoloration to her otherwise unblemished skin, he was still getting what he deserved. Caroline watched with an arched brow as the thick rivulets of blood slid down his face and stained his clothes, and suddenly, she wanted to taste it. She wanted to lick the life force from her ex-lover's face. He'd made her taste her blood on many occasions – now it was his turn.
"Caroline," Johnny whispered, feigning defeat, but Caroline wasn't falling for it this time. Of course, he didn't need to know that. "Caroline, please ..."
"Yes, dear?" she taunted, bending over and leaning forward, closer and closer, until their noses were mere centimeters apart. She could smell the copper scent then, overpowering the unnoticed stench of stale urine. Was it coming from the cave or had Johnny pissed himself? Oh boy, she hoped it was the latter.
"Help me," Johnny whimpered, opening his eyes long enough to make contact with Caroline's. There was a time not too long ago when she would have been so terrified of him that she would have helped to save him; she would have cleaned his wounds and nursed him back to health and they would have continued with their lives the way they used to be. But things had changed.
Caroline's eyes left Johnny's to again assess the bloody fluid decorating the sweaty skin on his face. She couldn't help herself anymore. Closing the space between them as she set her hands on her knees for balance, her tongue gracefully swept out of her mouth and along Johnny's left cheek where she tasted the distinct copper of the blood, the salt of the sweat and tears, and she swallowed with a satisfied moan, eyes closed, perfect euphoria spreading through her veins.
"Caroline," Johnny whispered again, desperation coloring his hoarse voice, and Caroline pulled back a bit to look at him. The sight of him sent her stomach roiling. He'd had such control over her in the past, though those memories weren't exactly clear anymore, and here he was, death imminent, and he was taking the coward's way out by crying like a little girl and beseeching like a homeless man on a corner with a cup in his hand for spare change. He was a disgusting, sorry excuse for a human being. And suddenly the exhilaration was gone, replaced with revulsion.
"What, Johnny?" she snapped. "What?"
Without warning, the injured man lurched forward, baring his blood-stained teeth, and chomped in an attempt to bite whatever piece of Caroline's face he could get between his jaws. Caroline jerked back, but had it not been for Mac, who smacked the palm of his hand into Johnny's own face, propelling him and his chair backward, she might have lost her nose. Johnny landed cruelly on the dirty, dust-filled ground of the remote cavern where his life would surely end, Mac's incredibly strong hand constricting around his throat. Caroline watched the scene unfold without moving, without blinking, frozen in place, seemingly frozen in time. Whether he meant to or not, Mac had saved her from what likely would have been a nasty wound that eventually festered from infection – she hadn't seen a hospital in hundreds of miles on she and Johnny's "road trip," so she doubted she'd have received any sort of medical attention.
"Now, now," Mac breathed, crouching over Johnny, their faces so close. Caroline wondered if Mac was now challenging Johnny to try and bite him. "That wasn't very nice." He looked over his shoulder, first meeting Caroline's eyes, then turning his attention to Long Hair. "Hand me that."
Caroline watched confused as Mac's friend grabbed something rusty and mean-looking from the chaos on the table nearby, an understanding clear between them. When Mac wrapped his fingers around the item, Caroline realized what it was: a pair of pliers. Flaking rust and what had to be years of filth and bacteria sprinkled down to the ground as Mac's grip loosened and tightened, loosened and tightened, on the tool. He dug his knee into Johnny's chest, stuck the heel of his hand on to Johnny's forehead, arm straight and applying constant pressure, and he stuck the pliers against his victim's mouth, easily bypassing his lips. The tool came into contact with the enamel of Johnny's perfect teeth, scraping sweetly, and Caroline watched with pleasure as her abuser's eyes widened with terror and he began to scream while trying to keep his teeth clenched shut.
"Didn't your mommy teach you any manners?" Mac mocked angrily, hand sliding down Johnny's face to his nose where he plugged the man's nostrils to get Johnny to consequently open his mouth so he could get a hold of a tooth, any tooth.
Realizing this was her moment to act and join in, Caroline fell onto Johnny's chest, digging her knee into his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of his lungs and crushing his diaphragm. Her eyes were glassy and wide, as she'd never been present during such torture or even willfully watched a movie focused on killing, but she never once looked away. Biting her lip hungrily, she itched for her turn to cause the agonizing screams from her now-ex-boyfriend, she wanted to be the reason behind the tears falling from his bloodshot eyes. But when she glanced up at Mac's face, the murderous glint in his wide eyes gave her all the satisfaction she needed in that moment.
Most of his teeth now on the ground of a cave somewhere in Utah, Johnny nodded miserably when asked if he would behave from now on. Caroline was nearly unable to control the overpowering excitement and happiness those extracted teeth tossed haphazardly in the dirt created within her. She'd never felt so damn alive in her life.
"Not so pretty anymore, are you?" Caroline quietly asked, her nose mere centimeters from Johnny's, eyes searching his face, pausing on his vermillion mouth to smile.
"Caroline," Johnny wept, and their eyes met. "Please? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry ..."
Slowly, Caroline got to her feet, gaze never leaving Johnny as she inspected him for the usual tell tale signs of lying she'd gotten to know over the years; there were none – just his pathetic broken body tied to a chair, lying on the ground, covered in blood and shame. She couldn't shake the curiosity, though. Not that she cared much, but was his apology sincere, or was he simply trying to get out of here alive? Probably the latter, she thought. If only there was a way to tell, as the knowledge of causing Johnny to apologize to her would be greater than anything in the world.
Mac slid the toe of his boot beneath the back of the chair and lifted and then kicked, setting Johnny back in an upright position. The suddenness sent his stomach roiling and he vomited all over himself and the ground, just missing Caroline's sneakers.
"I'm sorry," Johnny continued apologizing, shaking his head before finally letting it droop, his chin meeting his chest. "I'm sorry ..."
Rage boiled in Caroline's veins quickly, and she hated him all over again. With no thinking involved, her hand clenched into a tight, white-knuckle fist and she punched him square in the jaw. A couple more teeth flew across the space, chased by bright red blood, and Caroline shook the pain from her now aching hand.
"Fuck you, Johnny!" she fumed, pacing back and forth like a caged animal, violent eyes locked on her victim, promising she would pounce at any moment but he would never see it coming. "You don't get to be sorry. Do you hear me? Out of the fucking question!" Mac passed behind her, palm of his hand smacking her ass as he went, encouraging her to continue her rant. Grinning, failing at ignoring the butterflies crashing around in her stomach, she glanced back at Mac, the smile letting him know they'd met in the middle, they were on the same page, at the same level, in the same space. They were the same.
Johnny could only nod at this point. Blood poured from the empty holes in his mouth where his teeth used to be, and Caroline had broken the skin on his cheekbone with her raging assault, which was now bleeding as well. But New Caroline wasn't quite finished just yet. Although she knew these injuries would surely not kill Johnny in the long run, she wasn't able to convince herself that her entire life with this man up to this point had properly been vindicated.
"I'm going to kill you," she told him earnestly, nodding. "You know that, right?"
And then it happened. He'd been sobbing and crying a bit, but this time he began to utterly weep. Apologies covered in snot and tears gushed out as he coughed, spit, coughed again. Caroline's brows rose, shocked, and a hearty round of guffawing overcame her. She couldn't control her giggles, though she made no attempt at hiding them.
"Oh, Johnny!" Caroline shouted, cradling her aching abdomen that was a direct result of the sudden laughing. Though, just as quickly as she'd begun to laugh, her face dropped, expressionless, and the hearty chuckling ceased. "Scary, isn't it?" She nodded as if responding to her own question. "Yeah," she whispered, now plainly having a conversation with herself. "Except you don't know true fear, do you?" Her eyes cut to the victim in the chair. "I don't think you do."
Johnny nodded feebly, mumbling unintelligibly, though everyone understood what he meant; yes, he did know what true fear was because he was experiencing it right now. He'd been beaten to a bloody, toothless pulp, never mind the car wreck (surely it wasn't an accident), and now here he sat in limbo, having no idea whether or not he would survive the night. Whether or not Caroline would allow him to survive.
"Well, let's show him!" Mac exclaimed, and suddenly he was coming at Johnny, a knife Caroline hadn't seen until now raised in the air, poised for attack.
"Wait!" Caroline yelled, grabbing his wrist, the blade barely missing her hand. Mac's demented eyes fixed their attention on Caroline, and for a moment she felt as though he didn't even recognize her as he prepared to embed the blade into her chest. "Just hold on," she said soothingly, touching his face with her other hand, trying to calm him down, make him remember her, remind him they were on the same team now. "I want it to last, remember?" she said intimately, eyes searching Mac's filthy face, a face that New Caroline couldn't stop herself from staring at. Their noses were within an inch of one another, and Mac lewdly licked his lips - there was no question what was on his mind. And now, all of a sudden, it was on Caroline's mind, too.
Caroline threw her arms around Mac's neck without abandon, crushing her lips to his brutally, and he responded instantaneously, though his arms did not embrace her. Instead, the hand with the knife pressed against the back of her head, the knuckle of his thumb digging into her skull as he tried to lick the back of her neck through her mouth. His kisses - if they could be called that - were ravenous; his lips were rough and uncoordinated, his tongue thrusting and rolling against hers, and there was his hand on her ass again, squeezing, pinching, confirming ownership.
And then ... it was complete. Caroline's transition from Old Caroline to New Caroline was finished. Old, cracked memories were still present within her mind, only she disregarded them as someone else's memories. Any residual feelings, good or bad, that she held toward Johnny were now insignificant; Johnny did not matter to her anymore, he simply was there. All she cared about, all she saw, was Mac.
Mac grabbed her face, blade cold against her cheek, and he pushed her lips away from his enough to look her in the eye. The salacious glint in his unbalanced eyes was not lost on his fresh new counterpart, and Caroline's tongue snaked out to moisten her dried lips. They both wanted more than just the recent sloppy kiss, that was apparent, but Mac glanced sideways at Johnny when their victim coughed up quite a bit of blood all over himself.
"What do you wanna do with him?" he asked New Caroline. It was the first time since they'd met earlier in the day that he'd spoken to her somewhat civially in spite of the growing discomfort in his pants. Caroline knew it was only a means to an end; he wanted her to finish with Johnny so he could have her all to himself.
But Caroline saw only Mac. She hung on his every word, gazed longingly into his eyes, and would do his bidding no matter what it was ... no matter what the cost. She couldn't comprehend a reason to keep Johnny alive anymore. He'd served his purpose, and now Caroline was finished.
Almost.
The cheshire grin that split her lips drew Mac's attention immediately. The two were aligned, Caroline and Mac. The universe had succeeded in keeping them apart for as long as was possible, but they'd found each other eventually, and nothing would tear them apart short of the knife in Mac's hand. Mac's charged eyes descended from Caroline's lips to her chest, lingering for a moment at the transparency the rain had caused on her white shirt before continuing downward. The pad of his index finger swiped along her skin just below her belly button where the shirt didn't cover and then he noticed her fingers unbuttoning her shorts.
"Get out," Mac ordered Long Hair, attention fixed on the woman standing before him about to bear her treasures.
"Fuck you, Mac," Long Hair replied, offended. Pissed off because he couldn't stay or due to the lack of respect Mac was giving him, he raised his middle finger to drive the point home.
"Get the fuck out!" Mac screamed, holding the knife to his friend's throat.
Long Hair removed himself from the situation, likely realizing it was in his best interest not to argue with a man wielding a knife, no matter how much bigger he was than Mac, leaving his comrade alone with the only woman he'd ever known to willfully (and excitedly, no less) offer her body to him. Mac was well known for taking what he wanted from women and then disposing of them somewhere in the desert, but this time was different, that much was obvious.
Although Caroline's shorts were undone by now, Mac had never learned patience, so he gripped the knife, pulled the bottom of her shirt away from her belly, and sliced up the fabric, ripping it to shreds and yanking it from her body. Caroline giggled and bit her bottom lip, having no qualms with losing the shirt, nor did she mind when Mac cut her bra off either, tossing it behind him. Forgotten. A moan escaped Caroline's lips as Mac latched onto her breast, kissing, sucking, biting, and she glanced out of the corner of her eye at Johnny, pleased to find him watching.
"We haven't even fucked yet, and he's already better than you," she hissed, chuckling. Returning her attention to Mac, her hand on the back of his neck, she asked, "Can we cut him up a little?" When Mac's eyes raised, Caroline continued, "I like to watch him bleed."
Mac bit her nipple, eliciting a soft mewl from his new possession, and for the first time in his tumultuous life, he relented one of his weapons to a female. She wasn't putting on a show for him, he knew that from the look in her eyes because he saw the very same look every time he stood in front of a mirror. Caroline seemed just a surprised when he put the item into her hand, but a smile crept onto her lips. The blade itself was disgusting, covered in grime and filth, much like everything else in the arcane cave, but her thumb glided along the surface, an expression of reverance coloring her face. Then she turned to Johnny.
Johnny's eyes widened upon realizing what was in his ex-girlfriend's hand, and his body twitched as he tried removing himself from the restraints around his wrists and ankles. He began to beg again, pleading with Caroline not to hurt him, to just let him go and he wouldn't tell anyone what had happened or where she was located. Caroline may have enjoyed the role reversal between them, but she'd grown tired of his whining
"Shut ... your mouth," she ordered, touching the tip of the blade to Johnny's vermillion lips.
Caroline was bent over at the waist, naked breasts swinging as she threatened her hostage, and Mac's pupils swelled. He positioned himself behind Caroline and hurriedly removed her shorts and thong - he lingered a bit at her underwear, fingers sliding between the strap of the thong and the soft skin of her hip, unused to females granting him this access without putting up a fight. Once she was completely nude, tanned skin still a bit damp from the rain, Mac shoved her forward with a hand between her shoulder blades, made quick work of his clothes, and then they became one with a hard thrust of Mac's hips.
Caroline's jaw dropped at the sudden penetration, the slight pain, and the consequential gratification that quickly followed. Her eyes met Johnny's and there was no jealousy lurking in the bloodshot pools, only terror and confusion as to why all of this was happening. Caroline placed her hands on the back of the chair, above and behind Johnny's shoulders, for leverage, just as Mac pounded into her again and again and again. Her entire body jarred with the force of his pumping and she cried out like she never had with Johnny. The moment the orgasm overwhelmed her, she let out a beastly howl, baring her pearly white teeth (which were probably the cleanest thing in this cave, considering), and instinctively, her hand gripped the handle of the knife, lifted, and brought the blade down, burying it into the meat of Johnny's left shoulder. His screams matched Caroline's by volume, but his was much more terrifying, and it didn't end with frenzied, sated laughter.
Several moments passed before Mac's turn came. Without warning, he removed himself from Caroline, shoved her out of his way, and proceeded to finish himself off, ejaculating all over their victim. Johnny was a blubbering mess by now, sobbing and hiccuping, shaking his head and mumbling to himself that he couldn't believe this was happening to him. He even prayed to a god he hadn't previously believed in, asking for forgiveness for his past transgressions, especially those against Caroline. But it was too little, too late, and they all knew it.
"Finish it," Mac ordered after the both of them had redressed and were again standing before Johnny, gazing down upon him, reminding him of his new place in the world.
Caroline's grin was wolfish and she took a step forward. Her hand squeezed the handle of the knife again, only this time, she yanked it out. Ignorant of Johnny's blood-curdling screams, she marvled at the red liquid dripping from the blade, turning the weapon this way and that way. She thought she'd never seen anything so beautiful. Except for Mac's eyes. Those were the two most wonderful objects and colors she'd ever had the pleasure of looking at.
With the tip of the knife scratching along Johnny's neck, Caroline strolled around, stopping directly behind him. Her dazzling eyes met Mac's, and for one long moment - how long, neither knew - they simply looked at each other. Mac was clearly not the most attractive man in the world, but to her he was People's Sexiest Man Alive, and well, she hadn't heard many complaints about her physical appearance in the past.
"Do it," Mac ordered. Caroline stood behind Johnny, grip on the knife white-knuckle tight. She seemed determined, but apprehensive. Mac came up behind her, wrapping his own fingers around hers so that they were both grasping the weapon and he maneuvered it to the front of Johnny's neck. The couple could feel Johnny's Adam's apple as he swallowed a ball of pure trepidation.
Caroline turned her head and leaned back a bit, her lips brushing Mac's dirty cheek. "Show me how," she whispered seductively.
Together, their grasp on the handle tightened. Together, they began to pull toward them, through Johnny's throat. Together, finding it a more difficult task than expected, their hands moved back and forth, left to right, sawing across the tender flesh until blood spilled. Together, they felt at peace, claiming their first life as one. Together, their hands were caked in crimson liquid, and Mac took possession of the knife, wiping the blade off on Johnny's shirt.
Caroline inhaled deeply, Mac's solid body behind her supporting her weight, and she turned to look at him again. "Now I wanna have fun," she stated.
Mac smirked. If she wanted fun, fun she would have.