Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4
Chapter 10: Hunter Sawyer
Michelle felt like she had her head bashed into the cement and was dragged half a yard until someone thought it would be funny to pour liquor on her burning face. Basically, her head hurt and her face was stinging painfully. She almost didn't dare to move or utter a sound but since she was in half of a delusion daze she could not help herself.
"Well looky here." she felt her spine stiffen as she recalled that voice, one of the few voices that were permanently burned into her mind. "She's a waking up."
She suddenly felt nails smash into her old wounds on her hands, it hurt when he first put those scars there and it was multiplied to have them opened in the same manner again. She screamed loudly, earning herself the back of Tex's hand.
"Shut up bitch!" he growled with no humor like he teased with the very first time. "I ought to put a nail in your head for stealing my baby!"
By this time Michelle's brain was fully able to comprehend her situation, now noting that it was not just her hands that were nails but her forearms and her ankles completely twisted past broken. Now the pain was even more so intensified and with every scream and whimper she made she earned a slap.
Tex was finding nothing to dampen his anger, the two who took everything he loved so dearly were now bound in the kitchen and going to die once he found Hunter. Actually, he knew where Hunter was but he wouldn't risk losing her when she was already so close. As much as it bothered him, he planned on using Hunter's love for Michelle and Benny against her for his own gain.
Once Tex finished his work with Michelle, growing increasingly annoyed with her sobs, he went over to Benny who was sprawled out on the island with his arms tied on pulleys. The dark skinned man was still out cold, Tex made sure of that.
Kathryn peered through the window, how badly she wanted to scream as the two people she loved were either being tortured or about to be. She wasn't so sure she could save them, Benny maybe but Michelle was so badly injured that it was almost a certainty that she'd die of her wounds.
Still, Kathryn would risk it for them; she'd rather let them die escaping this hellhole than in it. However, there was no easy why to get to them and Kathryn would know that for a fact. So how was she going to free them, if she couldn't get in there without being seen?
The other Sawyers started to gather in the kitchen, they spat insults at the two who were always her role models. The cursed them for killing that woman Lacie, taking Hunter, and for killing Tink. Hunter. Kathryn knew that something had to be up because the Sawyers knew Benny and Michelle and while she had already figured out that they have encountered each other before she could not make sense of who Hunter was. Was she really Tex's daughter? They said Hunter was taken, if she was Hunter did that mean that Benny and Michelle took her away from the Sawyers? She had so many questions and she wanted answers.
Taking in a deep breath, Kathryn took the only chance she had to even get close to Benny or Michelle and to learn what was really going on. She walked right into the Sawyer house on her own accord.
Karen watched in horror as her best friend walked into the Sawyer household, what in the hell was wrong with her? Was she crazy? Perhaps there was no other way, seeing how the Sawyers were. But that didn't make it any less confusing and terrifying. Still, with Kathryn inside stalling Karen could easily get into the truck. She knew that they always kept the keys in the ignition, she learned that when they got a hold of her not that long ago.
This was definitely an eventful evening and once she got home to her strict and overbearing father, she was going to be begging him to let her live with him forever. She truly would rather deal with her father poking into her business than deal with the possibility of this happening again.
Kathryn slowly walked into the kitchen, her heart was pounding in her chest and her head was bowed out of fear. What was she thinking?! Walking right back in to a slaughterhouse? She was out of her mind! Still, what was done was forever done. She was standing before them all, head down and afraid of being killed.
"Welcome back Hunter." she heard Tex greet her, there was no evidence that he was angry or exactly joyful. To be honest, she felt she deserved the partial glares she received from the remaining Sawyers. "Take a seat Hunter."
Kathryn's head turned toward the chair that Tex told her to take, it was the exact one she was had sat in a few moments ago and she refused to to take the seat. Baby, who was perhaps the most angry at her younger cousin, stomped toward Kathryn and tried to grab her forearm. Kathryn was, for some odd reason, growing furious with the whole situation and when she saw that Baby was about to touch her she grabbed the blonde's wrist to stop her.
"Baby!" Mama scolded though the sound of fear was surprisingly evident in the mechanical voice. The dark, almost psychotic glare the blonde received from the brunette was frightening and almost unnatural for her, the look was too exact to be mistaken for anything else. Even Michelle, despite already knowing the truth, could not deny nor question that Kathryn was a Sawyer.
Kathryn did not care how odd it was for her to be angry, she merely growled, "With all the shit I've been put through tonight, orders from any of you are not going to be followed."
They all looked at her with shock, her Sawyer side was showing for once ad it was quite a fearful sight. Her once innocent chocolate eyes were darker and hateful, filled with confusion, distraught, and anger. She had seen death tonight and death did not treat its viewers lightly.
"Why do you keep calling me Hunter?" She asked, dropping Baby's now bruised wrist. "Why did you attack my classmates and murder some of us? Who the hell are you people and why can't you leave us alone?"
they were also taken by surprise as she questioned them, they knew she wanted to free Michelle and Benny but they figured she would at least try to play an act to save them. No, she wanted to know what was really going on and while they had planned on telling her the truth like Tex had not even an hour ago this was all too surprising.
"I told you Hunter." Tex answered, hardly noticing that Benny was awakening and tugging at his restraints. "You are my daughter." He looked down at Michelle, who had her head down in fear and shame.
Before Kathryn could reject that again, Michelle forcibly cried, "I'm sorry for not telling you Kathryn! I'm so sorry!"
Kathryn turned her attention to the crying woman she had always admired so dearly. Her tears caused Kathryn's anger to snap and dissolve into worry but she knew she could not rush over to the woman she cared for. Instead, she was forced to ask from a distance. "What are you apologizing for Michelle?"
"I should have told you long ago, Melissa refuse to let us tell you!" she sobbed, everyone could hear the pain her lungs were in from the sharp intakes of her irregular breathing. "You are a Sawyer! We took you from them when you were still a wee baby!"
Kathryn felt her stomach acids rise and lump up in her throat. No, no this can't be! She thought, she could not be a Sawyer, she could not be sired from a family of cannibalistic murderers. "W-What?"
"You heard her!" Baby growled, cradling her injured wrist protectively. "You're one of us."
Kathryn stumbled back a bit, this was not what she expected. She had her suspicions but she felt it was impossible for her to ever be related. After all, she was always assured that Brandon and Melissa were her parents when she was little and realized she looked nothing like her parents. To hear this from the very person who told her otherwise years ago was upsetting, shocking, what could describe this exactly for what it was?
"I-I.." her eyes started to water a bit, though Kathryn made sure that no tears fell as she did not wish for her supposed family to see her cry. "How?"
"Your mother and I met during one of my various trips around Texas." Tex shrugged, not caring that they were being distracted. "She was a runaway and on the streets when I found her, said she was running away from a forced marriage between her and some boy."
"Lacie..." Kathryn remembered the name very well, after all she was the only thing any of them really spoke about at this point.
"I really liked her, she was pretty and tall, so I took her to my motel and took care of her for a while." He looked up at the ceiling and grinned, "Once she regain her true figure, I realized what a beauty I had found and I refused to let anyone else have her. So, I asked her to runaway with me; I told her how we lived far away from civilization and that no one would find her so she agreed."
Something now nagged at her, Lacie was a runaway and that sparked a memory. "What was her...last name?"
"She first told me it was Sky," Tex shrugged again, not seeing the importance of the trivial detail, "but eventually she told me it was Grant."
That fused together what Kathryn was missing, her mother was Lacie Grant the daughter of James Grant who was a rich trucker and a client of Brandon's. She remembered how when she was a child and with Brandon at the office whenever the Grants came over to discuss matters of importance that seemed trivial to her. Mrs. Grant always said she reminded her of Lacie.
"Now then," Mama said after Kathryn clicked together some puzzle pieces. "I say that now she is aware of the truth and accepted it, we have no need for them." she pointed to Benny and Michelle. "Kill 'em."
Kathryn could barely realize what Mama had said, despite it being so clear and unmistakeable, when Junior rammed his chainsaw into Michelle's chest. Just like with Chris, Kathryn could only watch in horror as someone she loved was killed with remorse. She didn't vomit this time but she did finally see that even if she was a Sawyer she would not be one them in the same sense. Kathryn, still possessing her knife, slashed at the very first person within her range which was Baby.
"Baby!" Zeke cried, though he did not race to his older sister out of fear of being attacked by his own kin.
Kathryn then attacked Mama, stabbing her knife into the woman's chest before kicking her toward Tex and Junior to stall them. "Benny!" She raced over to Benny, while the brothers mourned for their mother and attempted to save her, and cut him from his prison.
"Come on let's go!" Benny, was quick as he hopped off the table and hurried outside with Kathryn following. "What do we do now?"
Karen, who had realized that regardless of their escape the Sawyers would kill more people, had taken some jugs of gasoline she had found and spilled it all along the front of the house as much as she could before packing some the trip home and hiding in the truck. When Benny and Kathryn ran out of the house, Karen revved up the truck and drove next to her friend, "Get in!"
"Karen!" Kathryn jumped into the truck as did Benny. "Let's go!"
"One last thing!" Karen grinned wickedly, lifting a lighter she found she called to the Sawyer, "Fuck you bastards!" She flung the lighter toward the house, quickly setting it ablaze as they drove off.
Kathryn was amazed that her friend had even thought of that, for once Karen's brilliance had shown and unfortunately they could not celebrate that.
"Shit.." Benny moaned painfully.
"Benny?" Kathryn finally took a good look at Benny when he let her asses his injuries, she now realized how badly Tex damaged the man's organs with his ruthless beatings. "You're going to be okay Benny."
Benny shook his head, "Not without a doctor, you know that Kat." his voice spoke of the pain he was feeling, the suffering but also relief. "I'm sorry we never told you."
Kathryn smiled down at Benny, she would never blame him or Michelle for what was the past. "Don't worry about that, just...hold on okay?"
Benny offered Kathryn a smiled and chuckled, "No Kat, I can't hold on. This had to happen, it's my time Kat."
Kathryn shook her head violently, she refused to let him say that. "No Benny, you can't leave me. Not after this!"
"Listen to me Kat," he reached out and touched her face, his touch was like that of a ghost. Nonexistent but still there. "I got away from them once and as much as I'd like to again, I can't. They planned on Michelle and I being so badly beaten that we'd die no matter what...I want you to hold on and finish them off for good."
"Benny?"
Brandon and Melissa tried to calm the frantic teenagers down, however due to the fact that they never dealt with a misbehaving child they were not doing a good job. Many of the girls were crying about, making so much noise that even the dead were annoyed with them while the boys grumbled about how this was messed up and fucking sick. A few mourned for the loss of Chris and Timmy, despite the many assurances that they were saved everyone knew that the two were dead. The only ones who were fine were Leo and Nick and they had about had it with their classmates.
"Will you all just shut the fuck up!" Nick shouted at the top of his lungs, shocking everyone. Nick was not quiet, goodness no, but he never raised his voice like that. "You know, fucking common sense would say that making all this fucking noise would get us killed!"
Everyone fell silent after those words fell from his mouth, it was true they all knew that the noises they were making was unwise but the shock and disbelief of their situation was just overwhelming.
"Now then," Leo sighed, actually feeling bad for ever looking down on the card nerd. "we can't leave with just the jeep and Kathryn's at the house, we just have to wait until something happens okay?"
Just as he said that, a loud explosion was seen from the distance. Everyone jumped back, even though they were nowhere near the explosion it was just a mere urge to do so.
"What was that?" someone asked, "Was that the house?"
"Did the house blow up?" another person asked, the sound of relief in his voice. "Serves them right!"
Leo and Nick exchanged glances, they feared for the well being of Kathryn and Karen. What if they were still in the house? What if they got killed?
The unspoken worry between them was understood and they immediately climbed into the jeep. They ignored any questions about what they were doing and where they were going, all that mattered was that the girls were safe and alive.
Leo revved up the jeep and drove it toward the burning Sawyer house. He and Nick did not see their friends try to run after them nor did they hear their pleas for them to return.
"What if..."Nick finally asked as they drove onto the road where their buses laid abandoned and the house of cannibalistic killers only down the ways.
"Don't think that way." Leo grunted, he did not want to even entertain the idea of Kathryn being dead. Especially when he promised himself to let her know about his crush on her once they got out of this. "They're both alive, I know they are."
Nick pressed his lips into a thin grim line, he wanted to agree with Leo as he also bared a crush on one of the girls but even though he did not face a Sawyer he knew that death was a more probable outcome. Michelle and Benny were lucky last time and now with two girls in tow (one being the daughter of a Sawyer.) they were bound to fail. If they didn't then they were amazing but Nick didn't dare hope.
"What exactly are we looking for?" he asked, wanting to know what he needed to look for.
Leo didn't answer right away like Nick would have wanted, "I don't know but anything would be nice."
Nick sighed but nodded in agreement, anything of the girls would be nice. Just something that said they were either dead or alive would be nice.
Kathryn forced Karen to stop the truck as she mourned the loss of Michelle and Benny. Karen at first refused, wanting to get away from the Sawyers despite her brilliant idea to burn them alive. However, once she realized that Benny was gone and Kathryn was a sobbing mess she pulled over when she felt it was safe to stop.
"Why, why, why?!" the brunette sobbed, banging her fists into the dashboard of the truck. "Why?!"
"Kathryn..." Karen grabbed her friend and hugged her tightly, she may not know the pain her friend was suffering but she did know that it had to stop. "Kathryn please, we're not safe yet."
Kathryn shook her head, mumbling nonsense of how she shouldn't have left him and what not. Karen had never seen her friend so broken before, it was like Kathryn's spirit was shattered into unrecognizable pieces.
"Kat, please..." she whispered softly, tightening her hug. "Please come back to me Kat."
Kathryn cried for a mere moment longer before recollecting herself, gather her lost strength before thanking Karen for not outright telling her to shut up. "Let's get to the others."
Karen smiled and nodded, "Let's." She was about to start the truck when a pair of head lights appeared before them. "Who the hell?"
Kathryn gasped in recognition of the jeep. "That's Benny and Michelle's jeep!" Hopping out of the truck she hollered and waved her arms in the air, "Hey!"
Leo stomped on the brakes as he and Nick spotted the truck, at first he thought it was the Sawyers but when Kathryn jumped out of the truck, calling them, he almost followed her action. He turned off the jeep and raced out to her, Nick following closely behind. "Kathryn!"
Kathryn let of a half sob half sigh of relief as she raced into the arms of Leo. She jumped onto him, clutching onto him as if she was hanging on for dear life. She barely registered the fact that Karen had done the same to Nick.
"Thank goodness you're here!" Leo whispered, "After the explosion, we thought-"
"Explosion?" Kathryn pulled away and stared at him in confusion, "What explosion?"
"There was a huge explosion over this way," Nick explain, letting Karen plant her feet on the ground. "We came to see if you two got caught in it."
Kathryn looked at Karen, it was obvious that the blonde did not intend on blowing up the Sawyers but then again, they had a gas stove that was on when Kathryn was last in there. But it should have blown up when the house really caught fire.
"You don't think..." Karen asked, they both had a theory as to why the house did not explode earlier but they did not want to entertain it.
"The fire did start outside the house..." Kathryn trailed off her thought as her eyes suddenly widened. Benny told her finish them off, meaning her knew that at least one had to live from the fire. "We need to go back to house." Kathryn pushed herself off of Leo and she and Karen, who followed her, tried to get back into the truck.
"What?" Leo grabbed Kathryn's arm and stopped her in her tracks. "What do you mean you gotta go back?"
"We need to make sure they're dead." she said quickly, jerking out of his grip, "Please Leo, if we just leave, others will die."
Leo and Nick exchanged glances, as much as neither wanted to go they knew Kathryn was right and letting they Sawyer live was unacceptable. "Fine, we'll follow you in the jeep."
"Wait," Nick said before letting the girls go together in the truck, "just in case, since we still have the axe and crow bar, how about I go with Karen and Kathryn goes with Leo?"
They girls did not see a problem with that and accepted the offer, leading to Kathryn being alone with her crush in the jeep that belonged to the late Benny and Michelle.
"You okay?" Leo asked as he followed the truck, "You seem tense."
Kathryn nodded, "It's just...Benny and Michelle... this is their jeep and they're...dead.."
Leo tensed but to be honest he kind of saw that coming. Benny said they'd probably die here this time around and hopefully they'd take the Sawyers with them.
"Yeah, Benny told us that they expected to die here tonight..." Leo admitted softly, "He told us...some other things too."
"Really?" Kathryn asked softly, "Like what?"
Leo shook his head, ignoring her question. "Are you sure this is the right way?"
"I'm not driving the truck." she answered, looking toward the truck that was being driven by her best friend, "And don't try to change the subject. What else did he tell you?"
Leo hesitated, he did not what to tell her about her heritage as he was last told that she was unaware of it. Sure, he figured that Benny told her with his dying breath but Leo would rather not bring it up. "Kat-"
"If it's about me being a Sawyer then I already know." She grumbled, "They killed Michelle after they had her tell me!"
We are at the end, well not really. But we are one chapter away from the end! I am so happy! Although I went back and reread it from the beginning and I feel so sad. Endings ten to make me depressed and I don't know why. Either way, until next time!