Lucky 17
Original Idea by: Scraps
Characters created by: Katie Rice
Chapter 3: Pilgrimage
[*]
Today was the day! The car's all packed up with snacks and my essentials, such as my shaving kit, a few spare tools from my workshop, spare clothing, my laptop, and a few books just in case. All my bills have been paid and everything set for my week-long vacation at Camp Weedonwantcha. As I put my cooler of food into the car, I felt my pocket vibrate as my phone went off. I pulled it out and saw that it was a phone call from my mom. I quickly slid to the right and answered the call.
"Hi Mom!" I said with a cheery tone.
"Hi sweetie." Mom replied in a calming tone. "How are you doing at school? Are you making any friends?"
"I'm great and so is the class!" I replied excitedly. "In fact, I'm going on a camping trip with some classmates in class. I'm just about to get in the car right now."
"Really?" Mom asked with surprise. "Are these classmates from your computer building class?"
"CNC class mom." I corrected. "Yeah, everyone's so nice there and I've made a couple friends already, hence the camping trip."
"That's wonderful!" Mom said extatically. "So, who's driving and where are you going?"
"I'm gonna drive." I replied. "The other three guys will pay gas and we're going to a camp resort in Wisconsin."
"That's wonderful John." Mom replied with another ecstatic tone. "Make sure to bring a shaving kit and go slow, and make sure that they pay their share of the gas fair."
"I know Ma." I replied with a jokingly exhausted tone. "It's gonna be fun, trust me."
"I'm just so proud of you John." Mom said with glee. "You're on our own and now you're starting a new life of your own. I'm happy to see you're doing so well."
"As am I Ma." I replied as I looked to my watch. "Well I gotta get going if I'm to beat traffic. Tell dad and bro I said hi and that I love them."
"I will." Mom replied. "I love you."
"I love you too Ma." I said warmly. "Take care."
As I hung up and put my phone away, I got into my car, turned it on and took a deep breath. As I looked at the clock, which read 10:37 A.M It was still dawning on me that in a few hours, I would be out of this town and in the wild. That just now, the man who talked with his mother with such empathy and compassion would kill a child with no remorse. It dawned on me that there was a chance that my family could find about this…and then what would happen? What would they think of me? How would they react?
As I considered this thought, I then remembered about little 17. She had no family, or at least any that cared about her. Despite her apparent friends, she was alone in the world. She may be happy now, but what about when she would grow up? What would happen then? Perhaps this is fate's way of saving her from a life of homelessness, drugs, prostitution? To save her from being the sex slave of a gangbanger, or being a faceless corpse in the gutter? Perhaps I am the Holden Caulfield of the modern era and this is my way of saving this child from losing her innocence?
Or perhaps I'm overthinking things? Yeah, I'm probably overthinking things
As I banish these thoughts from my head, I load up the directions to Camp Weedonwantcha onto my GPS and pulled out of the drive way. As I drove down the street and onto the highway, I turned on the radio and switched it to 107.3 FM. As the voice of Childish Gambino filled the car, I opened the window and felt the wind on my face.
"Camp Weedonwantcha, here I come!"
[*]
Six hours later
[*]
After driving through the forest for what felt like an eternity, I found the cabin that the EHC provided for me. When those guys said that they hid it from public view, they weren't kidding. If my car lights hadn't reflected on one of the windows, I would've never found it. As I got out of the car, I looked around at my new digs. The cabin was a moderately large one-story cabin built by the side of a large hill. The vegetation that covers it allows the building to blend with the landscape, allowing me to conduct my hunt and later activities nearly unannounced. As I approached the cabin I saw a small silver knob on the ground next to the door. As I pressed on it with my foot. My attention was drawn to the creaking of a large door opening next to the cabin. It appeared that there was also a garage for my car as well, large enough to fit my car inside and keep it hidden from any intruders.
"Wow…" I scoffed. "These EHS people think of everything."
As I park my car inside the garage. I step outside and approached the door again. Using the key given to me by Martin, I unlocked the door and entered the cabin, quickly locking the door behind me as I did so.
The smell of old wood filled my nostrils as soon as I entered the doorway. There was a faint smell of mildew as well, probably coming from the basement. As I switched on the light nearby the door, I looked around at my home away from home. It was a moderate cabin. The floor was a neat varnished wood and the walls were egg colored. The cabin itself consisted of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. The living room consisted of a dark mocha couch, a black leather ottoman, a wooden coffee table and a basic TV, which had a DVD player and Wi-fi adapter sitting right underneath it. The kitchen consisted of a small fridge already packed with food, a dishwasher and a gas stove. There were cupboards filled with cups, dishes and a drawer for silverware. The Bathroom had a toilet (for obvious reasons), a standing shower, and a small sink. Finally, the bedroom consisted of a twin bed with cream colored sheets, a black wood nightstand next to the bed that had a lamp and an alarm clock, and a desk in front of the bed that had an electrical outlet below it, allowing me to hook up my laptop should I need it.
"Perhaps the EHC should change their profession to the "Elite Homemakers Club"." I said to myself, laughing with strain at my horrible joke, followed by an exhausted sigh. Perhaps that would be their reason enough for them to kill me…bad comedy.
As I walked to and from the car to unpack my essentials, I studied the layout of the cabin some more. From the living room, one can walk straight to the northwest of the doorway to the kitchen and then east from the kitchen, one can walk straight down the hallway to the bedroom, halfway down the hallway, there is a door on the right that leads to the bathroom. When you reach the door to the bedroom, if one turns counter clockwise until they are northwest from the doorway, then they can see another door. After unpacking the final load of my essentials, I went to this door and opened it, looking down at the flight of stairs that were behind it. The smell of mildew was more pungent now than ever, as I predicted and I knew that this was the basement that was provided with the cabin. As I leaned forward and clicked the light switch on the left side of the stairway wall. I took my first steps down into the musty underworld beneath me.
The walls and floor were a dark grey concrete color and shown signs of erosion and cracking. There were several large wooden beams that were used to support the cabin above. As I walked around the basement. It was quite empty…save for the door at the other end.
"So many doors." I said to myself. "Is this really necessary?"
As I approached the door, I noticed that unlike the other doors, which were a basic wood, this door was a black metal and appeared to be enforced. The door also appeared to have two sliding bolt locks on the top and bottom of the door. There was also a classic keyhole right below the door handle. It seemed that this door was designed to make sure that whatever was behind it could not get out. Then it dawned upon me why this was needed.
"Of course!" I said as I lightly conked my head with a scoff. "Why have I come here?"
As I looked around, I saw a small brass key hanging by a nail next to the door. As I took the key and used it to open the door, the door heavy opened with a loud groan as I pull it open.
As I entered the room, I looked around (again) at my surroundings. This room consisted of two small rooms. The room that I was standing in was where all the action would happen. In the center of the room was a small metal table with several limb restraints attached to it. The subject would be strapped onto the table before anything would happen. Next to this table, to the west of the door, there was a large red tool cabinet with a chainsaw sitting on top of it. Each of the drawers had a variety of tools such as knives, tools, hammers, guns, and even the welding torch in the bottommost cabinet.
As I put the tools away and looked up to the chainsaw. I felt my breaths hasten as I lifted the huge tool off the cabinet and pulled the cord. After several chokes, I finally got the beast to start. Hearing the wining of the saw and feeling the vibration of the engine in my hands. I shuttered at the thought of using it and felt my pants tighten. I then turned off the toy and put it back on the cabinet to move on to the rest of the basement.
My attention was then drawn to another cabinet to the east of the door. This was a metal cabinet, but taller and grey in color. As I opened the cabinet, there was a large variety of boxes and bottles, both large and small. Confused, I noticed and small laminated paper on the inside of the left door to the cabinet. As I read the paper, I noticed that these boxes and bottles were a bunch of foreign drugs and medications that were apparently illegal and sold on the black market. For example, a small green bottle from Russia treat and prevent shock and a large box of single-use syringes from the Korea slow the heartrate to prevent blood loss. Why these were illegal I don't know, but for now they would be helping me with my patient when it came time to operate. Next to this cabinet was a large chest freezer that was filled with blood packs, all of which are labeled "Type O Negative".
I then noticed a small chamber next to the cabinet. This chamber consisted of what seemed to be a drainage system complete with a pair of shackles hanging above a large drain. There was also a large hose attached to a faucet as well as a large metal pole which had a rubber enema bag with a tube and nozzle attached to it. I gave a look of unpleasantness at the enema bag.
"That's disgusting." I said as I held the nozzle in my hand. I then noticed the large box the the words "SANITATION EQUIPMENT" on the wall and then I looked at the drain. "But it's always good to clean your meat before eating it I guess."
As I returned to the main chamber, I noticed that on the wall, south of the door to the dungeon, I noticed that there was a simple metal chair and behind it there was a costume on the wall. It was a black leather apron with a hide undershirt and hide pants. There were also a pair of leather gloves, sturdy slip proof boots, a rubber haircap and smudge proof goggles provided as well. As I approached the costume and examined the leather pouches and bags on the front of the apron. I again inhaled sharply with anticipation. I then quickly looked to my watch, which read 7:13 PM, and sighed in disappointment. As I looked back up to the costume, I stroked it gently.
"Soon my friend." I said as I brushed the costume. "Soon you won't be dry any longer."
I walked out of the basement and up to the main floor of the cabin. After taking a hot shower in the bathroom and changing into my P. J's, I went into the kitchen and made myself a chicken sandwich with mayo and cheese. I then sat in front of the television and flipped through the channels until I found a decent movie. I never saw the 1927 classic Metopolis, but I see how it inspired the 2001 version. I watched as the illustrious Rotwang unleashed his creation, a metal woman, before the masses of Metropolis.
"She is the most perfect and most obedient tool which mankind ever possessed!" Exclaimed Rotwang. "Tonight, you will see her succeed before the upper ten thousand. You will see her dance..."
As I watched the metal woman burn to "death" upon the steak, my mind returned to the thoughts of Seventeen, and given everything in my current possession, I was ready to hunt tomorrow. I did consider the thought of hunting her tonight in opposition of tomorrow, but then I reassured myself that I would need a sharp mind for the hunt.
"Besides…" I thought to myself as I turned off the television and put my dishes away. "Where's the fun in that?"
As I walked into my bedroom, I looked at the clock, which read 9:43 P.M, and then set the alarm for 6:30 AM. As I shut off the lights and curled into bed, I sighed with excitement for tomorrow, was going to be a…interesting day.
"Tomorrow" I said to myself, as I drifted into slumber. "Tomorrow you will see her dance."
[*]