"Winter is evil and mad. It delivers a stinging, cold memory of summer's immense heat. Only this time it's much worse."

A crash from the upstairs room kept us still. Then, a woman exploded through the padlocked door and tripped to the ground. She quickly got to her feet and began to run, but Tracy had her knife raised and charging.

"You bitch! Stay in your room!" Tracy shouted. Just as she was racing up the steps towards the woman, I had my pistol out and aimed at her back. I fired as she pulled back to swing. The woman screamed as Tracy tumbled backwards down the stairs, the knife clattering after her.

Then Steve ran out of the room holding a pistol. "You!" he pointed it to the woman, "You killed my wife!"

I knew where this was going, but I didn't have time to shoot. Jason did.

His rifle fired from the doorway and hit Steve in the side. Steve wobbled, and slipped over the railing to the first floor with a loud thud.

The woman stared at us, scared out of her mind. She had straight black hair, pulled into a ponytail behind her. Her skin was tan, and she wore a tight, long sleeved, blue and yellow plaid shirt. A nice pair of jeans hugged her legs. In my book, she was about as pretty as Ashley was. Unfortunately, she had a thin gash on her right cheek.

"Uh, good evening," I started slowly approaching her.

She backed up the stairs, not saying a word.

I reached up for my hat, but it wasn't there. It sat on the coat rack. I looked to Jason, and he tossed it to me. I guess my hat was part of my act.

"We're not with these people, and we're not raiders. We're travelers from…" I had to think to remember, "Red-Rock."

She shook her head, like she had no idea what that place was.

"Alright, who are you?" I asked cautiously.

She looked at each of our faces. "Jenny…I travel too."

I put my arms out with my hands palm up, "Good, then what do you say we get the hell out of here?"

Jason walked in front of me and put a hand up, "Now wait, we just cleared this house. Why not stay here?"

I looked at Tracy and Steve's dead bodies. "Good point, it is warm in here."

"The kid…" Ashley said.

"That's true. The kid is still here," Jason confirmed.

Jenny started walking down the stairs, "The kid is robotic. He does housework."

I walked to the base of the steps, looking up at his room. "In that case, Jason, Ashley, take care of him."

Jason chambered another round in the rifle and they trudged up to the room.

"My brother and sister, they're in that room," Jenny pointed to the padlocked door.

"Double time, guys," I said to them. I turned back to Jenny and held out and open hand.

"I think I can trust you…what about me?" I asked. She hesitated, and then gently placed her hand in mine, and we went back up. I cocked the hammer back on my .357 as we neared the blackened room. The light over the table had been turned off.

"What happened to the light?" I asked. A gunshot sounded from inside the kid's room.

Jenny spoke whispers into my ear, "I broke it trying to escape, but along the wall was a set of switches."

As we walked in, an overwhelming rotting stench hit me. I had to hold my breath for a minute while I felt around the wall for a switch. My hand searched around, and finally bumped into something. It was the switches, with the first switch up. I moved to the second and third switch, and flipped them on.

The lights took a moment, but they flicked on, cut out, and then stayed back on. I thought the stench was bad, but the visuals were way worse. The table was covered in blood, and everything else was splattered. There were various tools around the floor, bloody and broken, the walls were bloody, and the floors were stained.

"My god, what the hell happened in here?" I asked without taking my eyes off the surroundings.

Jenny squeezed my hand tight, and I heard her whimpering. "He…killed and ate people."

My stomach churned at the thought. My gaze slowly drifted to a white door with bloody hand prints on it.

"Are they in there?"

She covered her mouth, "I think so. We were tied up, blind folded, and our mouths duck taped. First thing I did once I got the rope undone from my hands was take off the blind fold. I wanted to scream so badly, I had to rip off the tape."

I shook my head in disgust as we approached the door. How could they pretend to be so nice…how did I almost eat human flesh sandwiches?

A small, sliver of white light poured under the door. It had no handle, so I gently pushed it open. I stopped short of entering, and pushed Jenny back out of the room. There was a man and a woman sitting against the wall with their necks cut open.

"What?" she asked.

I looked into her eyes and shook my head. I started to tug her out of the room, but she broke free and ran inside. I chased after her, and bumped into her inside the room. She just stared for a moment, and her legs began to wobble. I caught her before she fell, and carried her out of the room. She soaked my shirt with her tears as she sobbed hysterically.

Jason was standing in the hallway, talking to Ashley.

"He was gone, I don't know!" she said.

I stopped in my tracks, still holding Jenny. "Who was gone?"

"Steve, his body isn't there!" Ashley explained. I looked over the railing to see that Steve was in fact gone.

"How the fuck did you not see him get up?" I asked infuriated.

Ashley was about to answer, and I pushed Jenny into her arms. I leaped over the railing, crashing onto the sofa below.

"Wait! Josh! Where are you going?" Jason called after me.

I backpedaled and pointed to him, "Stay here!"

I ran into the kitchen, and saw the open window. I jumped up and swung my legs through it, crashing onto the snowy ground outside. I could see the footprints and blood trail leading into the woods. I began sprinting through the snowflakes, the moon still lighting the forest. After about 20 yards I spotted him, clutching his side and limping away.

I charged after him, and he turned around to see me coming.

"No! Stay back!" he shouted. He turned to shoot me, but I pounced onto his back and pulled him into the snow. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I flipped him over to face me.

"N-no, please-"

I punched him in the face so hard it broke his nose. "Shut the fuck up! You disgust me!" I punched again, this time into his right eye. His head jerked back, and he slowly brought his hands up to defend himself.

"I killed your wife, and your kid. You gonna' eat them too?" I grab his wrist and began pushing it back, using my other hand to hold his arm in place. It cracked and he shouted.

"OH, Jesus!" he cried.

I backhanded his face, and began to unsheathe my knife, "He won't be answering your calls tonight, you're going to hell…"

I showed him the knife, and it flashed in the moonlight. "How do I go about skinning a human? Do I start here?" I jabbed the knife into his bullet wound and twisted it.

He jerked around, screaming in pain.

"Do you like hearing people scream? I love it!" I replied jabbing a new hole into his side. "I'm giving you a choice, either I keep stabbing until the sun rises, or you can shoot your worthless self!"

I pulled out my .357, grabbed his hands, and turned the barrel to his forehead. I placed his hands around the gun handle.

"End it! You fucking shoot yourself!" I ordered. I twisted his thumb to the trigger. He tried to fight back by pushing it my way, but it was useless.

"You coward! I bet everybody you killed would've loved this opportunity!" I shouted. "Oh, your wife would have!"

The man was crying and shifted around.

"Alright, here we go motherfucker!" I held the gun in place with one hand, and began to stab away at the man's leg. After about seven stabs, he pulled the trigger.

I took the gun, sheathed my knife, stood up, and turned around to face the others.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 9 coming soon!

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- Legkicker