(AN) Hello and welcome to the next chapter of Revenge; hope you all enjoy.
In the last chapter, David and Amy are cornered at Trencher's Farm by Bobby Hedden and his gang, and in this chapter, we'll get properly introduced to these other characters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Straw Dogs; all characters and locations are owned by their respective owners.
Chapter Three
David and Amy held each other as Bobby and the others approached; nervous looks on their faces.
"Bobby!" cried David nervously, "I haven't seen you in years!"
"Oh, look at that, he recognises me guys," snarked Bobby; a wicked grin on his face, "You two destroyed my family's life!"
"We didn't mean for that to happen," argued Amy, "Your father, uncle and the others tried to kill us and Niles; it was self-defence."
"It was murder!" spat Bobby angrily, "Your husband should have let them kill the freak, but no, you had to try and act like a hero!"
"Your dad accidentally killed Major Scott!" retorted David, "Me and Amy saw and he decided to kill us; I had no choice."
"And who are your friends?" asked Amy.
"Relatives of the innocent people you murdered." replied Bobby.
"Susan Mirren," said the older woman before running over and kicking David in the groin, "I believe you knew my late husband: Chris Cawsey. He was a wonderful man, and you Mr Sumner, beat him to death with a fireplace poker!"
"Your husband tried to kill my husband with jet injectors!" retorted Amy, "He was a psychopath who stole my pants and murdered my cat!"
"That mangy feline was eating my husband's precious rats!" spat Susan, "You should've kept that thing under control!"
Amy almost launched herself at Susan, but David held her back.
"Now, come on guys and gals, we don't want trouble." said David nervously.
"You already started it!" seethed Bobby before pointing to the younger woman, "This is Harriet Scutt; Norman's daughter; Mark Newman; Phil Riddaway's cousin and somebody you should remember, Mrs Sumner: Eliot Venner; Charlie's brother."
"Eliot, I barely recognised you," said a surprised Amy, "And let me guess, you think all your relatives were saints."
"They simply wanted justice for what that freak did." stated Mark darkly.
"They had no evidence!" retorted Amy.
"And your relatives were not saints!" barked David, "Mark, your cousin tried to kill me, Harriet, your dad was hitting on my wife, he raped her the day before the siege, then he tried to rape her again during said siege. And Eliot, your brother was the one who killed Scutt!"
"You're lying!" snapped Harriet angrily, "Everybody's tried telling me that Mr Venner murdered my father, but I don't believe it! And my father was not a rapist!"
"You don't believe this, do you?" asked Eliot to Amy.
"Of course I do!" retorted the blonde hotly, "Charlie shot Scutt dead right in front of me. I'm not surprised you're still defending your brother, Eliot: you never believed me when I told you Charlie was abusing me. You want to know what your so-called saint of a brother did: he kept hitting on me; then the day before the siege, he came to the house when I was alone and raped me, then he reluctantly allowed Scutt to rape me!"
"See what I mean: delusional," chuckled Bobby darkly, "Thankfully, you two don't need to start begging for your lives, not yet anyway."
"What are you going to do?" asked David nervously as the group advanced on him and Amy.
"We're going to make you and your family suffer," stated Bobby firmly, "We're going to destroy your family just like how you destroyed mine."
And with that, Bobby punched David in the face, sending him to the ground and causing Amy to yelp in alarm.
"You stay away from us!" cried a horrified Amy.
Harriet made to slap Amy, but suddenly stopped as a car could be heard approaching the farmhouse.
"Who on Earth is that!" cried a bewildered Susan.
Another car rolled up to the farmhouse. Karen and Brian hopped out and ran towards the group.
"HEY; WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! shouted a horrified Karen.
Bobby and the rest of his gang ran off.
"Oh my god, are you two all right!" asked a panicky Karen as she ran towards her parents.
"Karen, how did you get here?" asked Amy shakily.
"I was worried about you," answered the other blonde, "So I asked Louise and she said you came up here."
"I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen." added Brian.
"W-well, we're fine, dear." assured David, though he was still shaking.
"You're not fine," replied Karen, "We saw those people terrorising you, and you're shaking: who were they?"
"Relatives of the villagers involved in the siege," answered Karen's mum, "They believe that we murdered their relatives and now they want revenge."
"Well, let's get back to the house," suggested Brian as he looked up at the farmhouse, "This place gives me the creeps."
The others nodded in agreement.
Karen, Brian, David and Amy were staying with Scott and Rose at Gina and Luke's house. The two families were currently gathered in the living room, drinking cups of tea. David and Amy recounted the events up at Trencher's Farm.
"I always knew Bobby and those lot were trouble, but this takes the cake," remarked Luke before turning to David and Amy, "They've been going on for years about how you two are murderers that destroyed their families. From what I've gathered, Bobby's dad had to have his foot amputated, then Bobby's mum left his dad and moved away with his younger brother and sister, then his dad died in jail a few years later. Bobby's sister Emma returned to the village when his mum passed away a few years ago. Bertie, his brother, passed away a few years before that."
"And he blames us for all that?" said a stunned Amy.
"It seems so," answered Gina, "Though from what I can gather, it seems that that Tom Hedden person brought it all on himself."
"Mom, is there more to this story that you're not telling us?" asked Karen gently, "I noticed that a few of the men in that photo seemed to be staring right at you; made my skin crawl."
Amy's hands shook slightly as she placed her cup on the living room table. David rested his hand gently on her shoulder.
"You don't have to tell them right now." said the former maths professor gently.
"N-no, I think it's time they learned the truth." replied the elderly woman.
Her husband nodded in understanding.
"Well you see, Charlie Venner, one of the men hired to fix the garage roof, was my ex boyfriend," began Amy, "I'm convinced he only offered to help because he knew I was staying at the farmhouse. Charlie never accepted that me and him were over, so he kept hitting on me; mostly staring at me along with Scutt and Cawsey. Me and David later discovered that Cawsey had stolen a pair of my pants and was the one responsible for strangling my pet cat and hanging her in mine and David's bedroom closet."
"Did you confront them about all this?" asked Karen curiously.
"Your mom wanted me to, but I was too intimidated by them," replied David, a hint of guilt in his voice, "I was so upset by the bullying that I buried myself in writing my book and stopped paying attention to your mother … then one day, because I was desperate to prove my masculinity, I accepted an offer by the men to go on a hunting trip … biggest mistake of my life."
"You couldn't have known what would happen; I've told you that for years." said Amy, gently resting her hand on her husband's hand.
"I know." muttered David guiltily.
"What happened?" asked Karen.
"Your dad's so-called new friends abandoned him in a field," informed Amy, "They returned to Trencher's Farm. I was alone in the house when Charlie came to the door and asked if he could come in, so I let him in, thinking I could get a confession about my cat out of him by getting him a bit tipsy. Unfortunately, before I could get him to have a drink, Charlie started kissing me, I told him to leave, but he kissed me again, so I yelled at him to get out and slapped him."
"Respect!" exclaimed Brian and Luke in unison.
"Charlie got angry," continued Amy quietly, "I tried to get away, but he overpowered me, tore my dressing gown off while kissing me and then he pushed me on to the sofa … he then kissed me before ripping open my shirt and r-raping me."
Everybody looked at Amy with horrified expressions. Karen clapped her hands to her mouth.
"A-and initially, I struggled and kept telling him no repeatedly," said Amy, "Eventually, I just pretended to enjoy it so that Charlie wouldn't hurt me. Eventually, Scutt came in and I thought he was going to rescue me from Charlie, but instead, Charlie got off of me, rolled me on to my front and held me down, which … allowed Scutt to rape me."
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" whispered a horrified Karen.
"Your mom never told me what happened at first," explained David, "She was so ashamed that she'd allowed it to happen. She acted cold and withdrawn and I thought she was mad at me for not asking about the cat. She eventually told me not long after the siege, and I felt terrible; still do if I'm being honest."
"So, is that the real reason you became a therapist?" asked Rose to Amy.
"Yes," answered her grandmother, "I didn't want anybody to feel alone like I did. Telling your grandad was one of the best things I've ever done in my life. He and Louise Hood are the only other living people who know about what happened that day. I never told anybody else because back then, it was even harder for a woman to be believed, especially when both rapists are dead."
"So now the relatives of this Charlie and the other villagers want revenge," said Luke, "Are they delusional?"
"It's like they're utterly convinced that we killed those men on purpose," explained David, "It was self-defence, Charlie was the one who killed Scutt and as far as most people are concerned, Tom destroyed his own family when he resorted to trying to kill me, Amy and Niles."
"We need to call the police on these guys." suggested Scott.
"That's probably a good idea," agreed Karen before turning to her parents, "We can't just let these people threaten you and everyone else."
"Karen's right." agreed Amy.
A bit later on, David, Amy, Karen and Brian went to the police station. They were currently sitting in an interview room with a middle-aged, bald police officer with dark skin. They had just finished explaining what had happened.
"Okay, we'll talk to them, but we can't really do anything right now." informed the officer.
"What!" cried Karen in annoyance, "But they threatened my whole family and one of them punched my dad; who the fuck threatens a pair of pensioners!"
"Karen please," said David before turning to the officer before chuckling nervously, "Please forgive my daughter; she gets a bit overexcited, but she does have a point."
"And I share her concerns, Mr Sumner, but until they actually escalate and until there's evidence, there's not much we can do I'm afraid." informed the officer.
"We understand." interjected Amy as her daughter opened her mouth.
David and Amy got to their feet and steered an annoyed looking Karen out of the room.
"S-so what do we do, just wait for these guys to do something?" questioned Karen hotly as the trio exited the police station.
"Well, hopefully it won't come to that." assured David.
"And we can't allow this to ruin Rose's wedding," stated Amy as they all stopped and she stood in front of her daughter, "Look, I know me and your dad eventually moved away from here, but after finding my cat hanging in the closet and after the rape, I did consider trying to talk your dad into heading back to the states, but I didn't because I decided that I wasn't going to let those men scare us away. It was only after nearly being murdered in our own home that we decided to leave."
"And remember, after the wedding, we're heading back to Blackwater and Scott and Rose will go on their honeymoon." assured David.
Karen took a few deep, calming breaths. "Okay." she said calmly.
Later on at night, David woke up and was surprised to find himself in his and Amy's bedroom at Trencher's Farm. The elderly man got out of bed and cried in horror at the sight of Amy's lifeless body. "Oh God!" he uttered in horror, "Amy!"
"You see what happens when you try to stop justice, Mr Sumner!" sneered a sinister voice.
David turned around and saw Scutt advancing on him with a knife; a bullet wound gleaming on his chest.
"N-no, this is just a dream; you died!" cried David in horror as he backed away from an advancing Scutt.
David raced down the stairs and into the living room, where he yelled in horror at the sight of Charlie, Tom, Chris and Phil standing there: Charlie's neck was broken; Chris was battered and bruised; Tom had a bloody foot and a gunshot wound glistened on Phil's chest.
"No, get away from me!" begged a terrified David as the men advanced on him.
The former maths professor tripped and fell on to his back. The men surrounded the elderly man and as one, they began punching and kicking him.
"NO!" shouted David in horror as he sat up in bed and clutched at his chest, he then got his breathing under control and reached for his glasses. After putting them on, the elderly man heaved a sigh of relief as he realised he was in one of the rooms at the Wakely Arms that he and Amy had rented.
"David, are you alright?" whispered a concerned Amy as she sat up in bed and looked at her husband with concerned eyes.
"Yeah; just a nightmare," muttered David in a terrified whisper, "I'm starting to think that coming back here was a bad idea."
"Well, we're here now and as I said, we won't allow those thugs to ruin Rose and Scott's special day." said the blonde firmly.
"Yeah, I know," replied David, "You know, there's one thing I never talked to you about."
"What's that?" asked Amy curiously.
"The thing that made me realise that I'd gone too far during the siege," explained the elderly man, "It wasn't killing Cawsey; it was the look in your eyes after I killed Charlie. I didn't like what I saw or what I'd become, but then when Phil attacked me, I forced you to use Tom's gun on him."
"Hey, you didn't force me to do anything," assured the elderly woman firmly, "I only hesitated because I didn't want to kill anybody, but if I hadn't shot Phil, he would've killed you. However, I felt the same way you did; horrified at my self even though I knew I had no choice, and yes, as I've said before, I didn't like what you became that night."
"I still wish I hadn't started that fight with Charlie," informed the maths expert, "But I was terrified that after he shot Scutt, he'd turn the gun on either me or you, so I reacted on impulse."
"I understand." replied his wife.
"Let's just pray that nobody will have to resort to violence again." said David.
The elderly couple then cuddled up to each other before falling asleep.
(AN) And that concludes this chapter of Revenge; hope you all enjoyed.
That last scene was done because I decided to expand on a couple of things brought up in Aftermath.
In the next chapter, Bobby and co enact their revenge plan, but you'll have to wait and find out exactly what they do.
Until then, this is TimeLordMaster108 signing out.