Hey everyone, Paradigm of Writing here with a new chapter of Pluto Vacation, #10: Apple of His Eye. I'm not gonna lie, I love this saying, "Apple of Her Eye" or "Apple of His Eye", go and learn the saying and then come back lol. It's one that makes sense with this story. Hard to believe that I'm ten chapters into this story, so long ago I started with one measly chapter that had an evil killer that we still don't know the identity of, but oh well, there's always a lie / story behind my motives. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
3:15 AM, Husen Family Resort, Location Unknown, Denver, Colorado, December 20th, 2015
If Samus Adderage had her arms free, she would've gladly ripped the face off of Freak, the asshole who felt competent to mess up their not so perfect vacation because he apparently could. She could, if given the chance, also kick him in the crotch with a heeled foot. Nothing wrong with wanting to get revenge back on the people who hurt you. The blonde had been locked up in a room, something she could at least make out with little trouble. Bound to a chair by some rough rope, there'd be no hope of getting free, after an hour of attempted rescuing of her own self, she realized, Samus Adderage would be going nowhere.
His hot breath on her neck, the way nails raked down her back. Before she had fully fallen asleep due to the injection of who knows what the fuck what in, Samus could feel his hands over her. Freak literally acted like a freak, a creeper to take advantage of beautiful girls while knocked out... that's why she wanted to rip his face off. Had she felt something protruding and penetrating from the backside... she would've ripped him a new one.
"Psst..." a voice whispered from afar. Samus winced, waking up groggily and slowly, her head hurting excessively. "Samus Adderage, do you even hear me?"
The blonde currently tied to the chair glanced over, or at least the best way she could, at the new speaker to see another blonde staring at her from down below through a barred wall. She opened her eyes wide. "Sheik!" she hissed.
Sheik Boeing gritted her teeth at the acknowledgement of her name being yelled aloud, the blonde looking over her shoulders skittishly. She looked... she looked terrible. Hair done shittily, darken circles under her eyes, blood caking her face, tears staining her cheeks. What happened to her? "Samus..." she whispered again. "Get over here!"
Samus rolled her eyes. "Do I look like in any shape or form to move myself over there?"
"Quit your whining, just shut the fuck up and scoot the chair to where I am. Now! I'm trying to help you."
The girl tied in the chair blinked. Where had this fierceness come from? Very... unladylike. Surely Sheik had to have been replaced by some demon of some sort. Not her most favorite dabble of knowledge. Samus sighed to herself, trying to spin the chair around to face a desk. She propelled her feet to the wooden structure and then kicked off of it, the chair flying back so her back slammed into the metal bars.
"Fuck!" she cried out. The reverberations of the chair slamming into the wall plus her yell made Sheik lose her shit, eyes dancing frantically around the walls.
"You need to be more careful," Sheik chastised. "We could have been royally screwed right there, and you know it. What if someone heard you and came back to finish off a job. I couldn't live with that, watching you get hurt." she dropped her voice low at that, looking down at the ground.
"Well, I'm here," Samus snapped. "Untie me, now."
Sheik's hands masterfully went to work at the knots keeping her friend's hands bound, and once those were snapped off, Samus leaped from the chair rather unexpectedly, and when safe from the wooden prison, she took a steel rod lying on the ground and bashed the chair to pieces. Sheik watched in amusement rather than astonishment at the brutal violence that took place- seemed rather comical personally, to someone who went through chasing their boyfriend out in the open wilderness and perhaps worse, when at the end of it all, Marth could be dead and she wouldn't even know how.
The blonde who had been set free crouched low so she could meet eye-to-eye with her rescuer.
"Thank you so much for finding me... you don't know how relieved I am." she exhaled.
"Are you okay? Please don't tell me he hurt you," A nod. "You're okay. Good to hear." Sheik's eyes flared up before relaxing, knowing no harm came to her friend that she could tell from face value just by looking at her.
Samus got a full fledged look of the blonde, who seemed worse for wear. "Holy shit... Sheik, what happened to you? Blood, ice, tears... did someone hurt you?"
The other girl's eyes set softly in the distance, a locked jaw confirming some dark secret. "Not me, exactly."
"What do you mean?"
"Marth."
"And?" Samus prodded.
Sheik's ruby eyes turned straight to anger, though there was a hint of resentment and cold fear plastered through them as well. "He and I were having some alone time to ourselves out in the guest cabin, Robin had left earlier in the evening. We were chatting... and someone, or something, broke in and took Marth. Took my darling right from my arms. Had to chase this apparent kidnapper, this... motherfucker who ruined my day, to get my boyfriend back. I finally- Samus you don't even know... I finally reached him. Hurt, scathed, but alive and breathing. Till he disappeared from me again, dropped down into some elevator shaft I couldn't see the bottom of. I lost Marth! The fucker who took him taunted me, and no way in hell would I let this bastard run away with someone I cared about. Saw blonde hair before falling into the same pit as Marth. Got lost in a tunnel... found you. I've been trying to wake you for the past fifteen minutes, to my unsuccessful luck." she ran through the proceedings of the entire night.
Samus's bright crystalline eyes widened, a hand flying to her mouth. "So- so it was true..."
The other girl, far more confused at this point than upset, frowned. "What- what is?"
"Something I saw when I got attacked-"
"Attacked?" Sheik let out a yelp.
"A guy named Freak invaded the lodge and chased after me. I couldn't find you, or Kuro, or Lucas... or anyone for that matter."
"Someone on the mountain is trying to kill us all, Sam. A dude who knows our weaknesses and has tracked us to the very pits of destruction. You should see what I found down here in this tunnel."
"I'd- I'd rather not." Samus made a face.
"Switches turning the lights in the lodge on and off... all these clown and scarecrow dummies with painted on faces that looked strikingly close to ours... oh the horror..." Sheik put her face in her hands. "I had to look away."
"This person trying to kill us all... that's the dude I told you about." the blonde trapped in the room licked her lips fearfully.
"Is that why-"
"Exactly."
"Go on then."
"He locked me in the screening room, Sheik. Freak did. Showed me these videos... our friends were in them. Kuro had been impaled on a spike... Lucas getting crushed by a fallen building. Robin got stabbed in the neck with a knife, Red roasted by a flamethrower. Marth being ripped away from the cabin like you said... all of it was true. That's why we haven't seen them since we've gotten here and split up! They're all dead Sheik!" Samus cried.
Sheik didn't want to put two and two together immediately, her features crossing and branching to another thought. "Did you see Link in the montage?"
The other girl frowned, taken slightly aback. "No. Why?"
"I told you Samus! When I fell down into this hall, the killer stood over me. He had blonde hair! Link is Freak, Sam! He has to be! Lucas is the only blonde besides us and you told me he had been in the video of everyone's... deaths," she swallowed at this, Sheik did, face pale. "There's no other explanation. Zelda and Link have been killing us all from the moment we split up. It's why the stupid skank got into an argument with me in the first place! So this divide could happen..."
"Are you sure... that seems a bit too rash." Samus bit her bottom lip.
That's when Sheik noticed what her friend was clothed in. "Sam... are you in a towel?"
The blonde looked down, not noticing herself that the white robe still somehow stayed wrapped around her at the shoulders, although it certainly didn't live the disgusting takeaway that took place, dirt, grime, filth, blood, and shards of glass littering the soft cotton. Her cheeks burned sheepishly. "Yeah. Got surprised while taking a bath. Not the best outfit to fight serial killers in."
Sheik couldn't help but laugh. "Duly noted."
"So... with this conspiracy theory you have, you gonna help me get out of this or are we going to sit here till we get hurt again?" Samus asked, a bit of rudeness poking through her tone.
Her friend's eyes darkened. "Right. I would've helped you out, but there's a door on my side that I cannot get open. Locked and jammed shut- all the good stuff. Could you possibly get it open from the other way? I bet your door connects to it." Sheik shrugged.
"I don't see why it wouldn't hurt. Sure. Give me... give me a moment."
Samus backed up from the grate, going to the only entrance to the room that held her captive. A backpack so ironically and helpfully sat on the wooden table she had pushed herself off of, and next to that, a flashlight. She rolled her eyes. "How helpful this would've been... no?"
Throwing the backpack over her shoulder, and holding the flashlight in her left hand, Samus shuddered. Eerily reminded her of old times, one not passed more than a few hours ago where the same old towel kept her going down a basement into a nightmarish world ruled over by a killer in a mask known as Freak. One nice bruise splotched itself at her knees, where she had tripped and fell. She clucked a tongue. Failure occurred then. Fuck.
The blonde wrenched open the door from her room, stuck at a two-way hallway. A metal door on the right which she couldn't open even if she tried, and a wooden door on the left, nothing blocking it from being traveled through. Samus frowned. "You would've thought that whomever designed this would have learned better construction and security guidelines..." she muttered to herself.
Opening that door, she stepped into a wider room with shelves lined up with multiple objects of many shapes and sizes. Samus's heart flew into her throat when her eyes glanced over a pistol, midnight black, perhaps fully loaded. Another door had Sheik's incessant knocking, one of impatience and rapping, always from her did a beat exist. Samus unlocked the door, allowing her other blonde friend entrance.
When they saw each other, immediately the two girls flung into a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe!" Sheik stuttered out.
"No kidding. I- I'm sorry about Marth."
Sheik's eyes clouded. "I'm sorry about a lot of things too. Can't help them sometimes, you know. Perhaps- perhaps I shouldn't have run after him. Maybe we'd be better off." Her voice cracked, hard and rough, smooth limestone breaking with a single karate chop.
"Don't say that."
"It seemed to me I was too late to even do a thing."
"You weren't too late to save me."
"Lucky chance," Sheik bit back. She nodded her head. "Is there anything in that backpack? Clearly I don't expect you to fumble around here still in a towel. Naked won't work either, thank you very much."
"No problem." Samus laughed.
The blonde went behind the door to change, seeing as there were some jeans, a bra, a white t-shirt, and a simple jacket to do her well. She shrugged. "Better than nothing I guess." Once done changing, the newly made athlete, gymnastics trainer, running away from psychopathic serial killer Samus Adderage smiled to let people know she was ready to take on the world.
"Anything you noted out of the ordinary?" Sheik asked.
"A metal door I couldn't get open. Have no idea what could be on the other side?"
The girls couldn't meet each others eyes. "Freak himself?"
"If so, we need to be prepared to well... to fight."
"Put this thing to bed?"
Samus nodded. "Exactly my thinking."
Sheik growled low in her throat. "The things I'd like to do to him."
"The things we'll refrain from unless it is truly our evil vigilante on the other side of that door."
"I have my fists to protect myself. What do you have?"
"Nothing."
Sheik eyed the pistol on the counter. "Want to use the gun?"
"No firearms. Thank you. Never even touched one. Bow and arrow? Yes. Mechanical weapon with bullets? Never even let my fingers graze the magazine. Probably hurt someone else than the intended."
"That's the issue with these things." The pistol got picked up, shaken about. One of the girls made a face, disgust and relief mixed into two.
"There a problem?" Samus frowned.
"Clip is empty. Has no usage anyways." Sheik wrinkled her nose, disappointment evident in her face.
"What should I use?"
"How about the pipe leaning against the wall?"
"Hmm?" Samus turned to face the wall from the door she had come through. A rusty lead pipe at about three feet long lay against it, seemingly not having been touched in thousands of years given its decrepit look. Better to bash someone's brains in then to see their organs splattered out all alongside the carpet with crimson stained leaflets pouring out. Pole it was then. She grabbed it, sizing it up.
"Good?"
"Good." she accentuated.
"Like you said," Sheik spoke, stepping forward, "Let's put this thing to bed, shall we?"
The two girls walked forward, linking arms. The rusty pipe felt strange yet comforting in Samus's arms, Sheik's ruby gaze examining every crevice, every little spot she could find to bash in with her fists, feet, and even skull to take a dramatic turn. Nothing would get the best of her twice in one day, for sure as fuck not. Both were back in the original hallway of decisions, the looming metal door abrasive and taunting in front of them.
A voice could be heard crying from the other side. "Peach... I had to choose myself! Perhaps he bluffed... yeah, he bluffed! Look at me!"
Sheik frowned, eyes dangerously narrowing. "Is- is that crying I hear?"
"Sounded like Luigi," Samus whispered. "Come on. Help me get this open."
The two grunted heavily, slamming all of their body weight into it. One rumble did nothing, the next caused both to fly into it at a thousand miles an hour before crashing into the open room, both blonde girls piled atop each other in a heated mess of pipe, fist, and flesh. When the dust settled, the two girls got to their feet and took in their new surroundings.
Luigi and Peach stood a few yards away from them, open mouthed and open eyed in shock, chained to separate boards of wood facing each other. The terrified boy clad in green had a gun similar to the same pistol found in the shop clutched in his hands, pointing it under his jaw. A nasty blue and black bruise painted his chin, blood oozing out. The blonde chained across from him had a very weak voice, screaming and yelling at him to stop. To stop hurting her. Hands weren't even touching her. Where did this terrified state come from? Who bound them up like this?
Peach noticed the girls first, tears threatening to spill down her face. "Samus..." She didn't even notice Sheik existed. Her diamond eyes were wide, chest rising and falling heavily. "Luigi! She's alive. Sammy is alive!"
"Please help us!" he croaked out, wanting to drop the gun from his grasp.
Samus and Sheik locked eyes, vaulting forward to their friends sides. Sheik rummaged in a drawer for a key, Samus finding it on the floor equidistant between the two boards. "Got it!" she cried, leaping for it and immediately rushing to Luigi's aid. She fumbled inexpertly with the lock chaining his left wrist and right foot to the board, and once she got him free, Luigi collapsed into his arms, sobbing a great mess, pleading at her hair.
"Oh my god Samus... thank you so much... thank you for everything. You don't know..." he babbled on. Samus tossed the key at Sheik who then helped Peach free, a somewhat same result occurring in her arms next.
The two girls scooted closer to each other so Luigi and Peach could hug it out and sob together. "What the fuck did Freak put them through?" Sheik whispered to Samus. The blonde could only shrug at her companion.
A low rumble came from behind them, and the four twirled and or looked at the commotion. Freak stood in the midst of it all, laughing, hands poised perfectly with a knife in his hands. "My... my... looks like my toys got free. Fun time, now?"
Peach stepped up boldly. "No! You get away from us, you fucking monster!"
Luigi bravely strode up, pointing the barrel of the pistol he still had in his hands at the serial killer's head. "I hope this hurts, far worse than anything you could derive to us!" He fired three shots, pointe blank. The rocketing deafening roar of the gun caused Samus to clutch her ears, Sheik taking her pole, ready to advance on him the second trouble appeared.
The three bullets struck Freak in the shoulders, but it was as if the bullets hit a mountain and couldn't pierce through, hitting him with the force of a Mach truck, the speed of a train, and then stopping dead to clatter to the floor. Freak stood there and laughed some more, apparent by the shock and horror plastering on the four's faces. "Oh, you're still silly, my Luigi Russo."
The boy who fired the shots looked at the gun in surprise. "What the fuck?"
"I mean... haven't you heard of blanks before, child?"
Sheik's head lit up like a light bulb. Luigi seemed to have shot himself in the jaw, and got a bruise with bleeding, but not death because the bullets were blanks! They didn't hurt! That's how Freak could take three in one go and not even be affected.
"You think for one second we're going to-" Samus started, voice in a low growl.
Freak held up a hand. Diplomatic relations here? Bullshit. Far from it. "Allow me, firstly, my friends."
Friends? What in the human holy fuck was this guy going on about...
The serial killer reached up for his mask and took it off. Peach nearly fainted on the spot. Revealed to the four friends was the dark haired, amber eyed, grinning face of Kuro Husen, someone supposed to be... somewhat dead.
And there we are guys! Chapter 10! Apple of His Eye! Originally this was going to be a tad bit longer with two scenes, but I've decided it'd be best to keep those scenes for the next chapter that'll take me a few days to write as I've got a lot planned. We have one more chapter left with the main story and then our epilogue, which I'm also proud to do as we'll have two new characters introduced for the very end... which may or may not allude to a possible sequel, hmm? So, thanks for reading this one guys, sorry it isn't as long as the chapters before it- but the next two certainly will be 6k+ and I won't stop writing either chapter till I do. I've got nine days before the end of the contest, the update is somewhere in the middle of that down the road and in between. So, yeah... surprise? Kuro's alive! But wait! We saw him die didn't we? Guess not. Surprise, motherfuckers! Anywhom, thanks for reading, and please review! Let me know what you thought, it'll mean so much. Have an amazing day guys!
~ Paradigm