"Turn 'round nice and slow fella."
Murdoch couldn't tell which brothers voice it was. Their accents had sounded identical to him. Once he partially regained his wits, he did as the man commanded and came face to face with the business end of a familiar looking rifle. Murdoch managed to tear his eyes away for a moment to see a smug looking Marvin holding the weapon. Lidia was off to the side of him, eyes downcast. She sneaked a look at Murdoch for a moment. It was hard to tell in the dim lighting but he could have sworn that she gave him an apologetic look.
"What's going on here?" Murdoch half whispered.
"Don't you worry 'bout that mister."
An idea struck him then. Maybe this was all simply a silly misunderstanding.
"Look," he said more normally, "we aren't Martians. We fell out of a hot air balloon. Something in the storm must have torn through the balloon's lining and then we crashed. There was no spaceship or anything extraterrestrial like that. We're perfectly human."
Marvin just laughed at that. "Uh huh, mister."
Was that really all this was about? Then why on earth did Lidia lie to him? And why wasn't she trying to reason with Marvin now?
Murdoch heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching in the utter stillness of the area.
"What in tarnation you doin' Marvin?" said Frank as he appeared through the gloom.
"I'm not lettin' him get away!" shouted Marvin.
Frank made a disturbing growling sound, like he was an angry dog. "You're the biggest idjit I ever done had the misfortune of knowin'." he said quietly, almost waspishly. "What did we just agree on?"
"I don't care!" screamed Marvin.
Frank walked over to his brother and slapped him across the face with such force that he staggered mightily. Luckily Marvin's finger hadn't been on the trigger or he might have accidentally pulled it right then. While he was still reeling from the blow, Frank yanked the gun out of his hands.
"Thank you very much," said Murdoch, beginning to gain a little sense of ease. "I believe that this has all been just one big misunderstanding. You see-"
Frank appeared to have not heard him for he continued talking to Marvin like he hadn't.
"Explain yerself," he said calmly.
"We need him!" Marvin whined. "It's been so darn long since the last one."
"I thought we done agreed he was off limits?" said Frank. "Do you want them po-lease coming here?"
As they talked, Murdoch became increasingly unsettled. If they simply wanted to rob them, they would have done so by now. He didn't really think this was the case though because they didn't have any money on them anyways. So if not robbery, then what?
"Them coppers wouldn't have known what the hell happened to 'em!"
"You can't possibly know that, you damn moron!"
Now the blood drained from his face again. Could they possibly be talking about…murdering them? But if so, for what purpose?
He didn't want to stick around to find out, so he began slinking away quietly while the brothers were distracted.
He had almost made it out of sight when he heard one of them exclaim, "He's gettin' away!"
Murdoch sprinted towards the shack that Julia resided in. He had to get to her and get out of there, he just had to!
A gunshot rang out loud and clear, the dirt beside him exploding. Another shot whizzed through the air right beside his skull and lodged in the side of one of the shacks.
It was then that something occurred to him. Why wasn't anyone coming out to see what all the fuss was about? Then it hit him. He could have smacked himself for not noticing it earlier. He hadn't seen anyone else in the town since he had gotten there! Was it just the four of them? What did they do to the rest of the townsfolk?
Then all thought was erased from his mind as a blinding pain erupted in his right arm.
"You got him!" someone hollered, he assumed Marvin.
Trying to ignore the agony coursing through his limb, he trudged onwards, momentum severely slowed. Before he could go much further though, Mama stepped out of the shadows pointing the second rifle at him. That made him stop dead in his tracks. So he just stood there holding his arm and feeling extremely foolish about the predicament he now found himself in.
Footsteps pounded up the path behind him and he was now surrounded from both sides.
"Lock him up boys and then fix that arm of his Lidia," said Mama authoritatively. "We don't want it gettin' infected and have to chop it off." She gave Murdoch a devilish grin and said, "At least not yet. We needa use up the other one first. She not long from this world anyways. I think there enough meat on her bones to keep us happy for a while."
Murdoch stared at her in horror and then puked on the ground in front of him. These people were cannibals! Then a miasma of thoughts whirled through his head, seemingly all at once. What kind of food had he just eaten? Was it their previous victim? How could he be so unlucky as to wind up here? Was God still punishing him for his previous sin? He couldn't believe anyone deserved such a miserable end. Least of all him. And Julia. How could he possibly rescue her now?
Forgive me dearest.
"Well, let's get goin' mister," said Frank. "And don't look so darn sad, you should consider it an honour to be our dinner guest."
All three of them laughed, except for Lidia. She was still holding the lantern and looking anywhere but at Murdoch. He couldn't help but wonder what her deal was. Why was she helping these monsters?
The brothers marched him back towards Lidia's place, if indeed it was even hers. When they arrived, they led him into the basement. Frank pointed towards a large rusty pole with his gun and told him to stand with his back to it. Then Marvin pulled his arms behind him and around the other side of the pole and secured them there with something. He assumed handcuffs by the feel of them. It was then that he felt so sick and exhausted that he had to sit down, so he slid down the pole.
"That's right fella," said Frank. "Might as well get comfortable here. You gonna be here awhile."
The brothers laughed again and then left him alone with Lidia. It was pitch black down there except for the small amount of light coming from the lamp behind him. He couldn't see her tending to his wound but he could sure feel it.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked downtrodden.
There was no response.
"What's wrong with you Lidia? Why are you helping these monsters?"
Still silence.
"How many others have you helped slaughter? You're just as bad as them!"
That last remark got her attention and she said quietly, "You don't understand. I don't have a choice."
Then she ripped out the bullet and he gasped as his wound began to throb nastily.
After he recovered enough from that shock he said, "What do you mean? Of course you have a choice!"
He couldn't be sure but he thought she had begun to cry, though she was doing her best to stifle the sound.
As she cleaned and bandaged his wound she whispered, "Everything was fine here until my father died. I didn't tell you this before but he was sort of the law keeper here, as well as a healer. You see, he used to be a ranger. That's why he liked remote, quiet areas like this, where he could just be alone with his thoughts. We moved here after his mother passed away and left him this place. Anyways, after he died, from a heart attack, nothing sinister, thank God, something strange just happened to some of the folks here. It was like now that there was no one here to keep them in line, it didn't matter how they behaved. It started with small things, like not being as polite to others as they used to be. Things gradually got worse, until one day, some folks got into a duel over some cockamamie thing and a man was shot dead. It was like a switch had been flipped, because shortly after that, all hell broke loose and there was gun fire everywhere! The town had gone completely and utterly mad! I ran for cover while the carnage took place. Soon the only people left standing were Mama and her boys. There were so many bodies though. I had never seen anything like it before. Instead of burying them like I thought they would, they decided that they wouldn't let such good meat go to waste. They started eating people! I tried to get away at that point, to get help from the nearest town. Unfortunately, they caught me and told me that if I tried to run away again, they'd eat me alive, slowly and painfully. They said they didn't want to do that because I could be useful to them, which is why they haven't done away with me yet. Now they chain me up every night just to help dissuade me from doing something foolish."
Murdoch was speechless. He had never heard of anything so bizarre and revolting in his life. Had these people suffered from an extreme form of cabin fever? Or had they been infected with something that made them insane? Was Lidia simply the only one who had been immune? Then again, was anything she had just told him even real? Or was she just trying to get his sympathies for some unknown reason?
"Say something please," she begged in the darkness.
"I-I don't know what to say," he responded.
"Call me Satan! Call me monster. At least tell me I'm a coward. I know I am. I just couldn't bring myself to fight back. I was too afraid of what would happen." She started sobbing now and despite everything, he felt sorry for her.
"Let me help you," he said desperately. "I can help you stop them and then you'll be safe and you can leave this place forever. You just have to untie me."
"I c-can't," she moaned. "I j-just can't!"
"Yes you can Lidia! I'll make a phone call and get constables in from the nearby town to help us. Then you can tie me back up again. They'll never know what you did!"
She snorted at that. "There's no phone here! Do you really think they'd let me keep it?"
Even though his spirits had sunken like a heavy stone at that news, he said as calmly as he could, for he was afraid that he was about to lose her, "We can take them together. Two against three isn't such bad odds. We'd stand a fighting chance then! We can do-"
"What the devil you doin' down there Lidia? You must be finished by now! If you're thinking of tryin' somethin', you gonna be sorry girl!"
That was the nail in my coffin. She's not going to help me now.
And sure enough, he could her scrambling to her feet and then like a flash of lightning, saw her scurrying up the stairs. She turned around at the top and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." Then she disappeared from view and he felt like the world had ended.
Julia, he thought, and then wept bitterly.
Eventually he came to his senses and began thinking of ways to escape. The shackles were far too tight to allow for any wriggling room. He was totally and absolutely stuck to the spot. Standing up again, he leaned forward, applying as much pressure as he could to the chain link in between the cuffs. He had a feeling before he even attempted it that it would be futile for others before him must have done the same. Sure enough, nothing happened. He tried again, this time with a sharper movement, hoping more momentum might help. And this time something did happened, though it wasn't what he wanted to. All he accomplished was cutting a bit into his wrists. He could feel the blood trickling down to his elbows.
If only he could see something, then maybe he could find something to free himself with. Since there was no chance of that happening, he'd just have to make do with what was available to him. And luckily for him, his ingenuity knew no bounds.
He started thinking about the time he came into contact with Houdini. How had that magician managed to escape so easily from seemingly impossible odds? What had his secret been? Murdoch wracked his brain, trying to discover the illusionists techniques based on everything he had seen him do. He knew Houdini had been double jointed and was capable of dislocating his arms and maybe even his legs at will. He knew Houdini must also have had superior knowledge of the inner workings of all kinds of locks. He must have known exactly where the weak points were.
Murdoch had no such luxury. He couldn't even see the locking mechanism that now enslaved him. So he'd have to focus his efforts on dislocation. Thinking for awhile about the possible ways in which he could accomplish this, he eventually came to an unavoidable conclusion. He'd have to break one his thumbs. But once he did, that hand would become less than useless. So how was he going to rescue Julia? Or even handle a rifle if he managed to get his hands on one?
Trying his best not to be overwhelmed by these depressing thoughts, he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. Taking his left hand in his right, he searched for the exact point where he would make the break. Then he did. The pain was exquisite but no worse than anything else he had suffered from that day. He muffled his groan as much as possible by biting down on his lip. It worked fairly well except that he bit his lip harder than he intended to and it started to bleed profusely. However, that was the least of his concerns at the moment. At least he hadn't alerted them to his prison break. That was of course, assuming they were still up above him and not back at their own residence.
After the agony had subsided enough, he was able to easily slip his left hand out of the shackles. Because of the way he had been attached to the pole, he was now free! It would have been the epitome of stupidity to break his remaining hand, just to get the handcuffs completely off. So he left it dangling there and cautiously made his way up the stairs.