He hoped greatly that the door here was not locked. Otherwise, everything he had just suffered would be for naught. Turning the handle as slowly as he could, he was delighted to find that it wasn't. Opening the door the tiniest of cracks, he peered out into the living room area. He could discern no movement or sound of any kind. So he continued opening the door in small increments, so that he could remain undetected if anyone happened to be nearby.

Creeping through the darkened house, he wanted to avoid bumping into anything and at the same time, tried to find something to use as a weapon. He figured his best bet would be in the kitchen. Rather than grabbing a knife (for no matter how horrible these people were, he still preferred to avoid killing them if he could), he opted for a heavy looking frying pan.

As he reached for it, he heard a gasp behind him and he spun around rapidly, ready for anything. It was Lidia. She stared at him like he was a ghost.

"How did you-"

"Never mind that Lidia," he whispered. "Will you help me now? If we work together, we can end this nightmare once and for all. Don't you want that?"

Lidia continued to gaze at him in a horrified manner but then nodded, almost imperceptibly in the relative gloom.

"You should arm yourself as well then Lidia. Find something you'll feel comfortable wielding."

Apparently she had no qualms about severely injuring them because she picked out the biggest knife in the drawer. Murdoch was a little uneasy about this as she was an unpredictable element. She could easily chicken out and turn on him instead. It was too late to do anything about that now. The fact was, he needed her help. Without it, he didn't stand a snowballs hell in chance at overwhelming all three of them.

Silently praying that everything would be okay, Murdoch began tiptoeing towards the back entrance, but Lidia stopped him.

"We should just stay here," she said. "One of them usually comes to tie me up around now."

While Murdoch didn't want to waste any precious time, he also thought their odds much better if they took the deviants out one by one.

"Fine," he said. "I'll wait five minutes but that's it."

Lidia led Murdoch across the house to where her bedroom was. He grimaced as he saw the chains used to prevent her from escaping each night. They glimmered evilly in the blackness of the room. He hoped to God that no liberties had been taken with her.

Poor, poor child. No one should be forced to endure what she has.

Within seconds he had formulated a plan. He explained it to Lidia as quickly as possible and then hid himself in the shadows.

"Oh Lidia," called the odious voice of one of the brothers. "It's time to get tucked in. You best be ready by the time I get there."

Marvin entered the room carrying a lantern, his face ghoulish in the reflected light. Lidia lay on the bed, ready to be trapped once again.

"Good girl," cooed Marvin. "You know your place."

When he was busy with the shackles, Murdoch snuck up behind him and struck him in the head. He collapsed with a resounding thud.

One down, two to go.

Lidia gave him a dumbfounded look, like she couldn't believe how easy it had been to take him out. Then it turned to shame, for she knew in her heart that she could have stopped them earlier, if only she had been braver.

"What's done is done, Lidia. There's no point worrying about past mistakes now. We need to focus on the present."

She nodded and then helped Murdoch undress Marvin as quickly as possible. His clothing stunk to high heaven but there was nothing he could do about it. This was no time for modesty so she helped him undress as well and then redress in Marvin's clothing. Once finished, they heaved Marvin onto the bed so that he could be chained in Lidia's stead and to prevent any unwanted situations later. Time was of the essence now as they surely would be starting to get suspicious about how long it was taking Marvin to complete his task. So Murdoch grabbed the lantern and headed out the front entrance, Lidia stealthily keeping her distance.

Before he went too far, he crouched down to pick up a hand full of dirt and rubbed it all over his face and mussed up his hair as well.

"You the slowest idjit I ever done met," said Frank as Murdoch entered the shack.

Mama was nowhere to be seen, though Julia was still by the fire, sweating profusely and looking the worse for wear.

"You forget how to talk too?" said Frank mockingly. "If you was any dumber, you be dead."

Murdoch made a non-committal grunt and then entered further into the room, bidding his time until he was close enough to attack.

"Ah, don't tell me I hurt your feelings?" Frank said laughing. "I thought you was too dumb to have any." He must have taken a closer look at Murdoch because he said, "Hey wait a minute, your-"

It was now or never. If he didn't make his move soon, all would be lost. He threw the lantern at a bewildered Frank and then immediately advanced on him, drawing the frying pan from his belt as he did so. By the time Frank had caught the lamp, Murdoch was on him. First Murdoch hit him in the stomach and when he doubled over, he thumped him on the head. Frank groaned and crumpled to the ground like his brother, the lantern falling out of his hands but not shattering from the impact.

"That's enough!" screamed Mama from behind him.

Murdoch whirled around, ready for anything. But he wasn't prepared for this, never that. Mama stood by Julia, with one foot over her neck. If she wanted to, she could snap it like a twig.

"How dare you come into my home and attack my boy! What'd you do to Marvin?"

When he didn't answer, she put pressure on Julia's neck. Her breathing became laboured and Murdoch winced at the sight.

"I assure you, he's perfectly all right."

Mama snorted at that and said, "Why should I trust you? You'd say anythin' right now so I'd stop this!"

He cursed Lidia for not helping him out like she was supposed to. Since he couldn't stand idly by, he moved towards Mama.

With that she put even more pressure on her delicate airway. Julia awoke, eyes bulging out of her sockets, gasping for air and clawing feebly at Mama's foot.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you mister!" screamed Mama. "Not if you want her purdy head to stay on!"

Murdoch backed off and Mama released the pressure slightly on Julia's neck.

"What do you want me to do?" pleaded Murdoch.

"I want you to die!"

"Okay," he said slowly, "how about this. How about you let her go and then I'll leave right now."

"You just bring them coppers here if I let you do that!"

Running out of options, he frantically said, "You must have known that you couldn't keep this up forever! You were bound to get caught at some point! It's pointless to fight fate any longer! Stop while you still have your life!"

Mama laughed manically at that. Then she gave him an evil grin and raised her foot up high. Murdoch screamed and then charged at her, knowing even before he did so that he wouldn't make it in time.

Right before impact, Julia managed to roll out of the way enough to avoid getting crushed. Mama's foot went right through the floorboards and got stuck there. Before she could attempt to dislodge it, Murdoch threw the pan at her head and she too fell over unconscious.

Thank God it's finally over.

He went over to Julia who was viewing the whole scene in utter disbelief.

"Julia?"

Her eyes readjusted on him and she burst into tears.

"Oh William!" she exclaimed as she flung her arms around his neck.

He embraced her the best that he could with his one functioning hand.

"I'm so sorry," he said mournfully. "I should have protected you better."

"Nonsense, William. What could you possibly have done differently?"

Lidia came into the room at that moment and Murdoch turned on her angrily.

"I'm very disappointed in you Lidia! You were supposed to help me out! Why didn't you?"

It was then that he noticed her expression and the rifle by her side.

"Lidia, you don't want to do this! Why are you doing this?"

"Because you'll turn me in too!" she yelled. "And I don't want to be hung!"

Murdoch shook his head in disgust. "I would have spoken to the judge on your behalf! I would have helped you! You must have known that! And besides which, what do you think's going to happen once I'm dispatched? Do you really think you're going to get away with this?"

He saw a flicker of doubt cross her eye but she didn't say anything.

"You have all the power here Lidia! You can still do the right thing!"

"It's too late for that!" she screamed.

Before anyone had time to think, she whipped out the gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet found its target, right smack between Murdoch's eyes.

The next second he awoke face first in the mud.