Chapter 8 – The Good Doctor
The central district felt oddly deserted as they walked slowly along the sidewalk of Sittarad Central Expressway back towards the docks and the rooms they called home. Most of the office space in the buildings were empty and available for rent, several were derelict and abandoned, black marks against an evening sky changing to a pinkish hue.
"Didn't know what to do with myself," Revy said finally. "I've had a killer headache all day so I went back home and guess what? Had a bag full of pain-killers by the bed, and they're all fucking gone. Now how did that happen? So I waved down a tuk-tuk and went looking for you."
So, Rock thought, you never lie – just leave out parts you don't like. He kept his eyes focused forward towards the bay. The harbor lights, strings of yellow and red light had just turned on and shimmered on the water.
Revy's unexpected appearance had shocked him, a haggard and worn complexion at odds with the feverish vitality of last night, the eyes dull. But what could he say that wouldn't set off the inevitable woe is me, tragic heroine act Revy could summon up as a defense? Her self serving, pathetic shield against taking responsibility for her actions?
"I was expected to go out at night with my superiors when I worked at Asahi Industries," said Rock without explanation. "I had a good reputation for... discretion. That was about all I had, someone who could be dumped on, who could be relied upon in the worst situations. Not too much different from now in a way"
"So, what does this have to do with anything?" said Revy suspiciously, her eyes flicking over. She pulled a crumpled package out of her pocket and fumbled for the last cigarette.
"There was a time when it got out of hand," explained Rock. "I was told to keep an eye on this one executive who had come up from Fukuoka, that's in the south of Japan, for a business meeting. We spent all night drinking as is expected, but then he insisted on going to the Kabukicho District, it's a red light district. Of course, I was expected to go with him."
Revy lit the cigarette. Her untied shoelaces made a little snapping noise against the boots with each stride she took.
"I waited in the lobby of the pink salon for four hours," Rock said with bitter remembrance. "The sun was coming up when all hell broke loose. Mr. Upper Salary man had loaded himself up on speed and bought himself a roomful of girls. We have a word for it in Japan, it's called fukujoshi."
Revy shrugged. She scratched her forearms.
"It means fucking yourself to death," said Rock uncommon crudity. "He took so much speed his heart blew out during the private little orgy he was having to celebrate his promotion. After that incident, I was a candidate for a business trip to the South China Seas. I needed to disappear from work. Wasn't a big stretch to take it even further when you kidnapped me."
They stopped at the curb at the crosswalk. Revy reached out and slowly grasped Rock's tie and pulled him over to her side.
"What a cute story, cry me a river Rock," she paused. "If you're trying to piss me off, you're succeeding. Be a shame if you can't load up your bullets in my gun anymore..."
"Revy!" interrupted Rock, he had lost what little patience he had, "You know as well as I do they get the girls hooked on yaba in the whorehouses and salons. That way they can make them work without a break, and if they burn out and die, it's no one's worry – there's always plenty of new flesh. I flushed your pills."
"You dirty bastard," she hissed, lurching up against him. "Where the fuck do you get off telling me how to live my life? What do you care? As long as you got me following you around doing your dirty work, it don't matter how much I smoke, how much I drink, who I fucking kill. I fuckin' do what I want! I always loaded up on yaba for missions, fuck, so does Dutch. It's the only way we can keep our edge."
"You're not on a goddamn job," bellowed Rock, his voice echoing between the buildings. He got in her face then, "This last month you've been gulping down those pills like you're the Bloodhound yourself. And it's going to drop you straight in the ground if you don't stop..."
"I CAN'T SLEEP!" Revy screamed, her face contorting into an unrecognizable mask. Her spittle sprayed his face, she was so close. She clawed at him. "I WON'T SLEEP! I CAN'T HANDLE THE FUCKING DREAMS ANYMORE!"
She pushed him away violently.
"It's always the same goddamn dream," she said, her voice cracking. Her eyes were large and wide. "Oh it changes, but I fuck up, I... go too far... Dutch warned me about it... and there's nowhere to go... I can't get out of the city... it's a trap... Chang fucks me every which way and then shows me the door... Eda won't give me the time of day... I can't find you or Benny... and all my friends from long ago... Tony, Sad Eyes, Jasmin... they died... they're all fucking torn apart and being shoveled up like refuse for the garbage pickup... so I freeze... and they get me..."
"Who gets you Revy," said Rock apalled and in absolute disbelief. He had seen Revy rattled before, but never had the facade cracked this wide open. "Who is it?
"Anego. It's Balalaika. Her men get me. All those men who love and adore her like some bitch goddess from hell. There's no one there for me though, and they fucking string me up on the bridge. And everyone's watches, it's a big fuckin' laugh riot as you all watch me shit and kick my life away cause Anego won't even let them do the hanging right... I gotta die hard and slow, and no one... no one lifts a finger..."
Rock looked away, giving her a few minutes to compose herself. The Russian sergeant's words echoed in his mind and sent a chill down his spine , "there is always the bridge..." Rock had never given the noose there much thought, but it was apparently not an empty threat for those who broke the rules of the city.
Revy stared up into the sky, her eyes dark and hollow. She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out Sawyer's gift. "And it don't matter who you are, when it's time you go down. Just like that. I'm already dead, Rock. I won't make thirty. But, but... it's starting to get to me... why won't the sun shine for me?"
Rock opened his mouth, but what came out was not what he intended. Instead, all he said was, "Watsup."
They both looked over as the maroon and white cruiser with the TNPD logo came to a screeching halt beside them. The window rolled down and a figure leaned out, forearm resting on the door.
"Mr. Okajima, isn't it?" said Chief Watsup. The mirrored sunglasses hid the watchful eyes. "And I see you're with your shadow. For a moment there we thought you were soliciting a prostitute."
Rock laughed easily, though he was far too aware of Revy standing silently behind him with her head turned away and the hands hanging loosely by her sides. "No, I just finished up some work for the Bougainvillea Trading Company." That would be enough of a hint for the Chief to not pursue the matter further. "How's the golf handicap these days?"
"I'm a regular Tiger Woods," grunted the Chief shifting his bulk. "Levy, Two-hands! What do you know about all these under-aged hookers running about town dressed up like you? We've been told to round them all up, so don't get alarmed if my men harass you a lot in the next few days.
The Chief laughed and slapped the flat of his hand against the car door. "Hell, we might even bring you in for a strip search and interrogation just for old time's sake. Haw!"
"If there's anything else we can be of assistance, please let us know," said Rock firmly. He made a point of stepping in between Revy and the police car. In Revy's current emotional state, there was no telling what could happen.
"Move along," said the Chief leaning back in his seat. "We can't have Two-hands walking around in public. Get her back down to the docks. The good people don't need to be upset. Have a night."
He waved as the cruiser pulled away from the curb.
"Revy," said Rock turning. The next thing he knew she was leaning up against him for support, her thighs pressed up against his and her head sagging on his chest. He pressed his hand against her forehead, "Revy, you're burning up. You're sick. You need a doctor"
"I can't fall asleep," mumbled Revy. "Don't let me sleep Rock. Did you hear what that dumbfuck cop said? They're looking for me – they're looking for me and Jasmin... I mean that Russian cripple. I told you, they need to get out of the city before it's too late. In my dreams no one lifts a finger, no one helps. We have to... we have to..."
"The Russian gir'ls name is Gaavrila Kazakhova," said Rock. "Boris said we should start with Dr. Chiet. But they can wait, we need to take care of you first."
Revy looked up slowly. She blinked. "You just said I needed to see a doctor."
The hair noose slipped from her hand and fell unnoticed to the curb. The evening sky was blood red.
---
Lachada Street only became active at twilight, the neon signs lit up the sidewalks in a garish multicolored hue, the early night crowd appearing and congregating outside such spots as the Goof Fest or the G Spot, newly re-opened. The heavy pulse of Metallica and other heavy metal music thundered from the club entrances. In the alleyways and unlit spots, groups of hard men lurked, only sinking into the deeper shadows when a solitary police cruiser made a habitual pass down the street.
Rock avoided looking back at Revy who lagged an uncharacteristic step behind. He thought of sharks who could literally smell fear, sense the distress of prey by the erratic motions of a wounded animal. He felt the unwanted scrutiny of hunters upon them who sensed something amiss, sensed weakness where none had been before. The image of a wounded tigress taken down by hyenas, a shrill screaming in the night...
The screaming was a siren. The distraction was a young Japanese girl who stumbled out into the road and was overtaken by police officers. They wrestled her to the curbside while the unsympathetic onlookers watched.
"Tasukete kudasai!" the girl wailed as she was dragged to the waiting police car. "Watashi no name Ayame Tanaka desu! Tasukete kudasai!"
"Don't look," Revy muttered in an attempt at awareness as she drew even with Rock at the crosswalk. He had stopped to watch with horrified sympathy. "Not our problem. Keep walking." She pushed him forward.
"How long have you been awake, when did this all start?" Rock blurted out, distracted.
Revy shrugged wearily, scratched at the bandage on her arm. "I dunno, five days or so. Before that I went almost a whole week before I crashed. You can only get so tired...if you hadn't flushed the pills..."
They crossed the street. Rock allowed himself a glance back. No one followed as they moved silently down a poorly lit side road away from the red-light district into a quiet ramshackle residential area, a few sparse blocks on the slope above the warehouses that stringed the bay.
"This way," said Rock gesturing and turned down a nondescript side road flanked by apartment houses hiding their dinginess in the gathering darkness. They came to a stop outside a small fenced in lot with a modernized Thai bungalow. There was only a faint glimmer of light from inside the shuttered window. "Boris said we needed to go in the back and ring the bell. This Doctor Chiet runs an underground clinic for the Mafiya and the Triads that goes unreported to the authorities."
"Why'd you look, Rock? I told you not to look? " Revy burst out wildly, scratching harder at her arms. "Heroin! Maybe I've been going at this all wrong. Hear that's stuff like kissin' creation."
Rock gritted his teeth but said nothing. He pushed open the rusted metal gate with a creak. It took only a moment to step up on the small back porch and press the doorbell..
Silence, except for Revy's increasingly incoherent muttering. Rock shifted uneasily and pressed the button, then he held it down. The shrill buzz from within was audible.
He leaned forward as he heard the floor creak behind the door, then it opened a crack. A worried eye peered around the lock chain and examined them.
" Bougainvillea business," said Rock. "We need to talk ..."
The door slammed, a lock clicked. Rock frowned and turned to Revy. "Looks like the doctor's not up for house calls."
"Outta the way!" Revy lurched up on the porch and threw herself at the door. She bounced off, regained her balance and threw herself at the door again. On the second attempt, to Rock's surprise the flimsy door splintered on impact and Revy went sprawling head over heels with a yelp.
Rock took a chance and followed quickly, into the short hallway, stepping over the splintered wreckage and the cursing Revy. Just inside there was a small poorly lit kitchen area with a table. The three occupants stood around the table in surprised poses staring at the intruders.
"You broke my door!" the man gasped, fumbling for an inhaler. The young boy who stood next to him hissed and with a sudden movement unsheathed a heavy machete from the sheath strapped to his back. A girl, indeed the girl who looked too much like a younger version of Revy, sidled towards the doorway to the living room.
"You're not going anywhere girlie," snarled Revy coming to her feet, the Berettas drawn and covering. "Twice in two days, boy – still think you're faster than a gun?"
"There's no need for alarm Dr. Chiet," Rock said into the tense atmosphere. "I apologize for the entrance, but in the future I would recommend not closing the door on us. Do you mind if I sit? Revy?"
Rock made a show of pulling the chair slowly away from the table, he adjusted his tie carefully before seating himself with his hand folded in his lap. As the minute dragged on the boy lowered the machete slowly, though he kept his unblinking gaze fixed on Revy. Revy sneered in return, but holstered the guns. She moved past the counter and leaned up against an open spot on the opposite wall and looked away.
"Who do you think you are? You're not the Russians," wheezed the man painfully. He was small of stature and bald, of Vietnamese origin. "How dare you..."
"I represent the Bougainvillea Trading Company in a way," said Rock, clearing his throat. "I'm sure you and your young guests have some knowledge of what I speak of Dr. Chiet? A hundred thousand in American dollars that was unfortunately misplaced? "
"Fuck! FUCK! YOU FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER!" howled Revy, spinning about. "Look at the fucking pictures on the wall! He's a fucking sick ass stereo pedophile! Rock move! He's fucking dead!"
"Wait!" screamed Dr. Chiet with a look of shock on his face. He stumbled back from the table. "What are you talking about?"
Rock sprang to his feet as Revy stormed forward. The boy sprang forward, swinging the machete, but Revy ducked under the blow and slammed an open palm under the boy's jaw. The boy rose up and fell backwards over the table. The girl shrieked and stumbled away.
"Revy stop!" shouted Rock. She wasn't listening. She grabbed Chiet by the front of his shirt and dragged him over to the wall she had been leaning up against moments before. With berserker strength she thrust the doctor up against the wall, the barrel of a Beretta digging into Chiet's side.
"Look at them, it's the last fuckin' thing you'll ever see," she snarled. She gestured at the rows of polaroids carefully thumbtacked into the wall. "How slow do you want it to be?"
"Every child there is one I've saved from this city," gasped the doctor painfully. "Saved them from monsters like you who choose not to do a damn thing to help. Are you so far gone you can't recognize a real smile, a true look of joy? What do you see?"
Revy froze. Rock stepped over to the wall and looked carefully with Revy at the arranged montage. Each picture showed a girl or a boy either alone or standing with Chiet. On the bottom of almost all the photos were scrawled words of thanks and gratitude.
"I can't save them all but I try," explained the doctor. "There's nothing here in this city, no charities, no aid agencies, nothing. Misery upon untold misery, prey for the criminals, the perverts, the sex tourists. Do you know how many I've buried and wept for? No one cares, no one but me and the Russian girl and it's a war we're losing."
Rock placed his hand on Revy's shoulder, she jerked away from his touch but released the doctor. "Revy, let me take care of this," Rock said gently. " It's what you asked of me. Why don't you step outside on the porch and get a smoke? I won't be long and then we'll get you taken care of, okay.
Revy stepped back. Her hands shook as she holstered the guns. But before she could turn for the door the girl stood up and pointed at Revy. She suddenly spoke in a trembling voice brimming with hatred.
"Mr. Jackpot, he said men would love me if I look like you. They didn't. They hurt me, they hit me. Look, they burnt me," Niken pulled up the black tanktop with no concern for modesty showed a row of ugly scabbed wounds on her breasts. "And the bad men wouldn't be hunting us down if you hadn't shown up and killed everybody the day before. I didn't know the bag had money. Tak guna, nyusahkan kiteorang je! I hope you die and go to hell!"
"Already there," Revy said looking away. She stepped out the door.
---
"We need to be quick about this," said Rock. His thoughts were on the broken woman waiting for him outside. Niken helped the dazed Parang to a chair.
"It was the Wo Triad then? They must have leaned on the police," said Dr. Chiet rapidly. "Gaavrila arranged through me a pickup from a charity in Pattaya – they sent a van down. That bastard Watsup and his men must have stopped the van, roughed up the social workers and taken all the children away."
"The Wo Triad will want to make an example," said Rock frowning. "I've met Lee Kwan and he's not the type of man who would be satisfied with the money being merely returned. There was too much loss of face involved."
"Then what to do?" said Dr. Chiet. The man was near to crying in frustration. He sat down abruptly and leaned back in the chair on the back two metal legs. "From what Parang and Niken had told me tonight, Gaavrila and close to thirty others are holed up in an abandoned warehouse down on the waterfront, near where the Buddhist temple used to be, too afraid to even go out. The police are bad enough, but what if the Triad has put out a bounty?"
"The warehouse by the hell garden?" said Rock surprised. And then he smiled. "There's a way out. We can take them all on the Black Lagoon. We're less than 400 meters down the beach road from that building."
Dr. Chiet's mouth dropped. "You would do that?"
"For a price," said Rock dryly. He adjusted his tie. "I think for half of that 100 thousand we can make a special night-time cruise for as many children as we can pack on the boat and no one the wiser. I'm sorry about the price, but my co-workers aren't ones for charity, and, well, I am a villain in training."
"Done!" said Chiet slamming the palm of his hand against the table top. Niken bit her lip and looked at the floor
Something mechanical and malevolent coughed and snarled to life in a rising roar from just outside the front door. Rock started to his feet, at the all too familiar and dreadful sound he had hoped never to hear again.
"What, what is that?" faltered the doctor.
---
Splinters of wood flew outwards as a slim bar of metal edged with rotating mechanical teeth burst through the front door, moving in a senseless pattern and leaving random gashes in the door before it collapsed. The fallen entrance revealed the dull glint of the moon silhouetting a petite female with a ghastly complexion.
Stepping over the splintered door, her eyes wandered wearily along the dimly lit living room and down the short hallway that lead to the kitchen, immediately spotting Dr. Chiet with the children... and Rock. They fumbled around a bit as they looked back at her with shocked expressions. She took slow, heavy steps towards the group.
"Ghost woman!" Niken shrieked. Rock cursed inwardly as he and the others made their way towards the back door. Damn it, what was Sawyer the Cleaner doing here?
Niken dashed towards the back door, forgetting about the cruel gun girl that was presumably guarding the exit. Chiet, Rock and Parang stopped in their tracks and gasped as they noticed a shadowed figure appear in the doorway. It wasn't Revy.
"Stop, Niken, stop! Come back!" Parang yelled. Her eyes narrowed to a teary squint, Niken neglected to acknowledge the boy's command. She continued to run until she bumped into the figure waiting there and fell back upon impact. Niken looked up and saw a sickly looking man with an eye patch. He held a lasso in one hand while the other hand was behind his back.
"Hello there," he chuckled with a crooked smile. He took out a bowie knife and swiped at Niken. She jerked herself to the side and screamed, the tip of the blade grazing her cheek. Her mind frantic, she scrambled back into the kitchen.
Keeping mind of the chainsaw wielding cleaner gradually making her way towards them, Rock was perplexed. Who was that guy?
"So this is where the doctor is! Good job, cousin Fred-Fred!" the man shouted. Rock's confusion grew. Cousin? Fred-Fred?
Upon hearing the word "doctor," everyone who was cornered, especially Chiet, knew the attackers were there for him.
"Pegi belakang aku! Cepat!" Parang growled as he turned towards the man holding the bowie knife. With the machete he took an overhead swing at the man, but the sickly foe dodged the attack by moving to the side at the last second. The man smirked, kicking Parang in the face and sent the boy reeling down the short hall and back into the kitchen, still gripping the machete. Blood leaking from his nose, Parang shakily got back to his feet.
By now, Sawyer was in the kitchen, and thus was much closer to the group than the male with the bowie knife who was now lingering by the back door, watching the event with a perverse smile. The only labeled warrior of the group, Parang now boldly rushed towards the chainsaw wielding woman with his machete raised overhead and made a slashing motion for her side. There was a dull "clunk" as Sawyer easily blocked the motion with the flat side of the guide bar.
Unnoticed by all, Niken crawled past the combatants into the living room. Instead of making for the front entry, the frantic girl instead slipped out of sight between a half opened door that led to the basement.
Before Parang could try another maneuver, Rock yanked him by the back of his shirt and pushed the boy behind him to join Chiet.
"Don't be so foolish!" Rock said. He cautiously looked at Sawyer's face. Strange. There was a slight notion of shock as he noticed that the ghost woman's normally cold, dispassionate eyes were filled with an upsetting mix of wrath and melancholy. Stranger yet, she just stood in place while the whirring teeth of her chainsaw continued to rotate instead of cutting into everyone.
"C'mon, Fred-Fred," the sickly man drawled, "Just cut through everythin' and get me the doctor. Stop fuckin' around."
The ghost woman winced. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want anything to do with this. But she knew she didn't have a choice.
Frustrated and distraught, Sawyer raised her chainsaw and thrust it towards Rock. There was a clang followed by metallic grinding as Rock quickly grabbed one of the chairs, using the metal legs as a shield. Sparks flew from the friction. Sawyer's eyes narrowed.
She wasn't in the mood to savor nor prolong the situation. The metallic grinding came to a halt as she drew the chainsaw back and swung it around and below the chair. Rock quickly stepped away, trying to avoid the hungry blades. He grunted aloud as the teeth momentarily bit at the skin of his thigh. The contact only left a wound that was just a centimeter or two deep, certainly not enough to dismember, but definitely caused enough pain to let Rock know he had been cut.
"Damn, Fred-Fred, what the hell was that?" A loud bang followed afterwards, the glasses and dishes in the rack on the counter shattering. The shot had missed Sawyer by a foot or two. The young cleaner jumped back from the shock. The man now held his sawed-off shotgun. Sawyer warily looked at him, she knew he had missed on purpose, and she knew that couldn't do much about it. A chainsaw wasn't a match against a sawed-off shotgun.
Taking note of the awkward interaction between the two attackers as their attention was momentarily focused on each other and not the group, Chiet looked back at Rock and Parang.
"The bedroom! Get out of here, now!" They didn't need to be told twice. They fell back towards the entrance to Chiet's bedroom on the opposite side of the kitchen. Parang guided Rock towards the bathroom in the back to escape out the window. The man with the eye patch quickly moved to stop them from escaping but Chiet boldly blocked his way.
"You leave them alone," demanded Chiet with a light quiver in his voice, "You both came here for a doctor, for me, right? Well, I am here. Who are you? What do you want?"
The man with the eye patch seethed with a smirk.
"Gunny Tom, at yer service. I have a couple a' questions to ask you."
--
Rock and Parang were outside, running away from Chiet's residence through the narrow gaps between the houses. Rock gasped as the sharp stinging in his thigh caused by Sawyer's chainsaw slightly hindered him.
That strange man; Sawyer's cousin... He had come in through the back door, the entrance that Revy was supposed to guard. If Sawyer's cousin entered through that way, then that meant Revy had not been on the porch. Rock, the kids and Dr. Chiet had been left to fend for themselves back there, Revy had not heard the commotion or had been unable to assist. As Rock followed Parang down towards the docks and the warehouses, he could only ask himself one heart-stopping question:
Was Revy dead?
--
Niken's common sense and logic had been lost to adrenaline and fear. Her heart was still pounding, but her mind had become clear, more aware of her surroundings and where she currently was. The basement was the worst possible choice, there was no exit. It was all too late for any other action so she squeezed behind the clutter formed from extra mattresses, bookcases, medical textbooks and newspapers stored in the basement. She was boxed into a cubicle-like structure and had a newspaper covering her head. It blended into the surrounding clutter. No one would know she was there unless they scrupulously tore the basement to shreds.
Niken shook in the darkness of the basement and curled into a ball, mentally muttering to herself. Bandage Man... Vampire Twins... Ghost Woman... Demon Man...
This truly was an evil city. She was afraid of darkness and afraid of small spaces, but the knowledge that the attackers were still outside scared her even more and kept her in place. Fear of being killed overrode claustrophobia for now. She couldn't move from her hiding place. Not until she was sure it was safe.
"Talk, goddamn it!" The sound of a fist meeting someone's face was heard and someone tumbled down the concrete steps of the basement. A lone light bulb dangling from the ceiling dully lit the room as someone hit the light switch, but due to her current position, Niken still couldn't see anything.
Dr. Chiet was sprawled on the patch of ground that was clear of clutter, deep bruises adorning his face as blood leaked from his mouth and nose. He wheezed heavily, his vision clouded by the swells of his black eyes.
Gunny Tom came down the steps with a snarl and spat on Dr. Chiet.
"Stubborn bastard, ain't ya?" Gunny Tom looked up and saw a series of thick pipes along the ceiling. He smiled wickedly.
Gunny Tom proceeded to tie Chiet's feet together with his lasso and dragged the helpless doctor across the floor. The cruel Texan stepped onto a pile of tattered textbooks to reach one of the pipes.
As Gunny Tom finished with hanging Dr. Chiet upside down, he looked over the doctor's battered body and at the door leading to the basement.
"Get down here where I can keep an eye on ya, Fred-Fred."
Sawyer padded softly down the steps, her chainsaw silent, a deep sense of depression and turmoil in her eyes. Noticing Gunny Tom brandishing his bowie knife and waving it from side to side to taunt Dr. Chiet, Sawyer sat on the final step and neatly laid her chainsaw at her feet, her legs huddled to her chest as her hands rested on her knees, the bottom half of her face hiding behind them. With a soft exhale, Sawyer looked off to the side, distant. She knew what was going to take place.
"To make things interestin'," Gunny Tom sneered, "I'm gonna ask you a question, and for every time you don't give me the answer I want, I'm gonna cut you." Dr. Chiet groaned, his vision moving between blurriness and clarity as his body slowly spun around. He saw Sawyer in the distance. The Cleaner's eyes were sorrowful, yet somehow detached from the situation at hand. Gunny Tom noticed where Chiet's attention was and spun the doctor around once more so Chiet was facing Gunny Tom.
"Don't mind Fred-Fred. She won't cut you. She never did like doin' anything with the family. Whenever we brought a guest to the ranch, she always went up in the attic to go off in her own little world." Gunnar's tone bordered on annoyance and mocking. A bright shine on the bowie knife, Gunny Tom smirked as he lowered himself to look into Chiet's beaten face.
"Now tell me, where are the kids? You gotta know, I saw all those damn cute photos you got tacked to the wall up there."
Dr. Chiet spat at Gunny Tom. The demonic man wiped off the mix of saliva and blood.
"That's gonna cost ya." With one swift movement, Gunny Tom cut off Dr. Chiet's thumb and index finger.
As an agonizing cry tore at the doctor's throat, Niken placed a hand over her mouth to silence a whimper that would reveal her hiding place. She couldn't see anything, but she knew very well that Dr. Chiet was being hurt by the attackers she had run away from. Tears began to form in her eyes as a sound much like that of a thick liquid dripping to the floor reached her ears. She knew then that Chiet was bleeding.
Gunny Tom continued with the interrogation, but to no avail. Chiet remained silent, refusing to give up the location of the children. With every act of defiance came another horrid cry from the doctor as Gunny Tom added to the pile of fingers in the growing pool of blood below.
Gunny Tom held the blade dangerously close to Chiet's eyes.
"You don't have any more fingers. Are ya gonna tell me where the kids are or do ya wanna lose more things that you were born with more than one of?" Gunny Tom's voice had a hint of a quiver, his blood quickly beginning to boil.
"You fool," Chiet murmured, now fading in and out of consciousness due to the immense pain and the blood rushing to his head, "I won't tell you anything."
There was a horrible scream as the knife was thrust into Chiet's right eye, gouging it out of the socket and then tossing it to the floor. Before the scream could die down, Gunnar stabbed Chiet's left eye and it instantly followed the fate of the eye before it.
Screams, cries, and the knowledge of a family member being the cause aforementioned sounds. Sawyer sighed, her eyes were now closed as her chin rested on top of her knees in an attempt to tune out the noise. The homestead, a place she thought she had left so long ago, had followed her back to the city.
Small droplets of blood leaked from between Niken's fingers as she bit her lip. After much questioning and an angry string of profanities by what she thought was the demon man, she heard a sound like a thick piece of meat being punctured, followed shortly by the combination of Dr. Chiet's screaming and the sound of flesh being sliced.
Gunny Tom began to laugh in a derisive manner as he butchered Chiet alive. There was a sharp snap or a sudden crunch as he used his hands to pry at the ribs. The pool of blood below splashed lightly as more fluid and more parts were added. It was only a matter of time until the screaming ceased and the vile frenzy ended abruptly. Chiet's mutilated body lightly swung back and forth as Gunny Tom observed what he had done. His hands drenched in blood, Gunny Tom licked the blade of his bloodied bowie knife before putting it back in its sheath. He then reached up and loosened the rope around the dead doctor's feet. The corpse hit the ground with a heavy thud.
After untying the rope from the thick pipe above, Gunny Tom walked over to where his cousin sat.
Sawyer's eyes were still closed and she was still curled into a ball, now gripping her chainsaw tightly in an attempt to find solace away from the memories of her past at the homestead. Sawyer only managed to crack her eyes open by an iota before Gunnar hissed and kicked her in the shins.
"Get the hell up, Fred-Fred!" Shaken from her trance, the Cleaner lifted one of her hands off of her chainsaw and rubbed the spot that Gunnar had kicked, dark blue eyes contorted in pain.
"C'mon, we don't got all night. Move your ass." Gunny Tom lifted Sawyer by the collar of her shirt and roughly pushed her towards the stairs. Sawyer grudgingly trudged up the steps as Gunny Tom took his sawed-off shotgun out of its custom holster and pressed it into her back in an act of "motivation."
"Make yourself useful and track down some other leads..." The voice and footsteps eventually faded away. Niken stayed in her hiding place for a good minute or two before peering over the clutter of her hiding place and directly at the door, making sure not to let her eyes trail to the patch of ground that Chiet's body was likely to be lying. No hunters in sight. She slowly emerged from her hiding place and crawled on all fours cautiously, careful not to make a sound. She huddled as close to the sides of the basement as possible and kept her eyes transfixed on the wall, slowly making her way towards the stairs.
Dr. Chiet? What had they done to Dr. Chiet?
No, no. She wouldn't let herself to look at his body. Just keep staring at the wall, just keep crawling. Don't look, jangan tengok, jangan tengok!
Of course she looked.
There in a pool of his own blood and body parts lay Dr. Chiet, hands nothing more than stubs, mouth parted with two gaping holes where his eyes once were. There was an enormous gash from his collar to the bottom of his gut, stripped and gutted of all of his vital organs, ribcage split open to the point of revealing his spine.
--
Walking away, Sawyer and Gunny Tom had only gained a distance of a couple of feet from the dead doctor's residence. They heard a blood curdling scream come from inside the building. Getting a dimwitted gawk on his face, Gunny Tom cackled.
"Hot damn! Sounds like that brat I cut! Let's go back, Fred-Fred!" He ran back into the house. Sawyer held her head down miserably and followed him back in.
--
Tears streamed down Niken's face and she sobbed, coughing slightly as vomit leaked from between the gaps of the fingers she held over her mouth. Trembling violently to the point of being unable to walk upright, she used her arms to back herself away from Chiet's mutilated corpse, struggling to crawl backwards up the steps. Zoned out, the girl continued to move backwards and felt her back hit someone's legs. Niken looked up and saw the demon man with the eye patch. She screamed once more and tried to stand and run away, but Gunny Tom grabbed her with a bloody hand by the back of her shirt and lifted her off of the ground. He walked back into the front hallway and threw her into a corner.
"Well, what do we got here?" Gunny Tom grinned as he waved his bowie knife back and forth, "You were here all along? I never would'a known if you hadn't stopped to admire my work." Niken's eyes bulged as she saw Sawyer the Cleaner appear behind Gunny Tom's shoulder, with the chainsaw in hand
"Tak! jangan! Tolonglah jangan bunuh aku! Ampun! Aku tak nak mati tolonglah jangan bunuh aku! Tolonglah!" she wailed.
Gunny Tom shook his head, his one eye narrowing to a squint "Don't understand a goddamn word she's yammering. Wasted our time coming back." He raised the knife while Sawyer sighed hopelessly.
Niken remembered the question the demon had kept asking Dr. Chiet in the basement.
"Please don't kill me!" Niken pleaded desperately, remembering to use English. "I'll tell you where the other children are! On the water front! A warehouse by the hell garden! There! You find them all there! You can kill them all! Just, please, let me go!" As Niken continued to struggle and plead for her life, Gunny Tom's eye lit up. A warehouse by a hell garden? He had no knowledge of the location, but he had a good bet that his cousin Fred-Fred did. He smiled grimly.
Sawyer's reaction differed. That girl must have screamed because she saw the butchered body in the basement, and she somehow knew that Gunny Tom was looking for the other street children. The melancholy left Sawyer's eyes and was replaced with a complete sense of disgust. That kid saw what Gunny Tom had done to Dr. Chiet and she was just going to submit her own kind to the same fate? That gutless, repulsive, little traitor...
With a snarl, Sawyer yanked the ripcord on her chainsaw and the teeth roared to life. That treacherous child didn't deserve to live.
Niken screamed again as she saw the Cleaner rush towards her with her chainsaw. Luckily for the young girl, Gunny Tom grabbed a handful of Sawyer's hair and pulled her back.
"Hey, hey, hey! Fred-Fred! What the hell are you doin'?" He tightened his grip, a silent way of telling Sawyer to stop and to remind her who the "boss" of the situation was. The Cleaner grudgingly complied and lowered her chainsaw. Gunny Tom released Sawyer and then grabbed Niken by the arm.
"A warehouse by the waterfront?"
"Y-yes," Niken nodded. Gunny Tom got face-to-face with the young girl and licked his lips.
"Well, then you better lead the way."
"B-but I –"
"Shut your pie hole. I ain't lettin' ya go. I wanna make sure you ain't bullshittin' me, so yer comin' along with me and Fred-Fred for the trip. Now come on." He shoved Niken forward and she stumbled to regain her balance. Running away crossed her mind, but she remembered that the man had a sawed-off shotgun and knew she didn't stand a chance. Not wanting to try their patience, Niken fearfully looked back at her captors and nodded nervously.
As Niken led the way, Gunny Tom had a smug look as Sawyer trailed behind.
"You China girls might not be too bright, but at least you're good for somethin'."
Sawyer was still quite sour about her current situation, but she found herself privately amused at Gunny Tom's statement. She remembered earlier when that man from the Lagoon Company – Rock, was it? – had run away with the other child, probably to the warehouse where all the children were. If there was one thing she was certain of, wherever Rock was present, Two-Hands wouldn't be too far behind.
Sawyer kept this to herself. She knew Gunny Tom was more or less using her as a hunting dog of sorts, but that didn't mean she was obligated to tell her decrepit cousin of every detail she acknowledged on this hunt, especially when she was aware that Gunnar himself didn't know about them. She saw no point in illuminating the jackass.
Besides, Sawyer was more concerned with figuring a way out of this accursed hunt for herself.