Listen in the Dark, It's More Fun That Way!
Weekly Spooky
Weekly Spooky
Your Source for Terror Tales Every Wednesday!
Choose your favorite podcast player
Apple Podcasts Spotify Spreaker Audible Castro RSS Feed
June 6, 2026

Mad Science Body Horror Stories: Experiments, Mutations, Monsters & Flesh-Ripping Terror

Mad Science Body Horror Stories: Experiments, Mutations, Monsters & Flesh-Ripping Terror
Apple Podcasts Spotify Spreaker Audible Castro RSS Feed
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify Spreaker podcast player icon Spreaker Spreaker Audible podcast player icon Audible Audible Castro podcast player icon Castro Castro RSS Feed podcast player icon RSS Feed RSS Feed

Horror fiction anthology featuring mad science, body horror mutations, and medical terror. When human experiments go catastrophically wrong, an asylum doctor transforms into something impossible, a toxic disaster spawns flesh-ripping nightmares, and secret bioweapons become monsters. Four gruesome tales of scientific failure and corporeal dread, expertly narrated with cinematic ambiance for fans of creature horror, horror legends, and dark pulp storytelling.

These four tales crawl through the places where the human body stops being safe: an asylum doctor transformed into something impossible, a toxic disaster that unleashes prehistoric predators, a mountain crime scene overrun by man-eating feral hogs, and a warehouse hiding a family secret made of scars, blood, and teeth.

Inside this episode:
• I Used to Be a Doctor in an Insane Asylum. My Patient Destroyed My World. — by Michael Kelso
A psychiatrist working with the most violent patients imaginable loses everything when one of them escapes… but death is only the beginning. After a brutal attack, the doctor awakens as something no longer fully human, becoming an electrical ghost obsessed with revenge.
• Night of the Tyrants — by David O’Hanlon
A criminal nightmare in Fortune, Missouri turns prehistoric when a toxic disaster reveals what a nearby “chemical depot” has really been hiding. Drug dealers, killers, explosions, and rampaging dinosaurs collide in a savage body-horror creature feature.
• Hog Wild — by David O’Hanlon
A botched murder trip leaves criminals stranded in the woods, suspended in a wrecked car above a feeding frenzy of feral hogs. As the bodies fall and the pigs gather below, survival becomes a bloody, brutal fight against nature’s ugliest appetite.
• Warehouse of Blood — by Shane Migliavacca
A late-night reporter follows a missing-person lead into a family-owned warehouse and finds something much worse than a scoop. Behind the locked doors waits a scarred, hidden, half-forgotten monster who wants to play with his new “dolly.”
If you love mad scientist horror, body horror stories, monster horror podcasts, creepy experiments, mutant creatures, revenge from beyond death, and gory pulp horror, this compilation is packed with the kind of nasty surprises that make you check your pulse just to make sure your body still belongs to you.

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!


🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:06.599
Welcome back, my spookys. Tonight we're cracking open the kind

2
00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:14.400
of stories that smell like ozone, antiseptic gasoline, and old blood.

3
00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:20.079
These are tales of bodies that don't stay bodies, of

4
00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:25.039
science that stops asking permission, of monsters that were never

5
00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:30.160
supposed to get loose, and of people discovering far too

6
00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:37.240
late that nature has teeth, secrets have claws, and revenge

7
00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:42.719
comes home, humming through the walls like a live wire.

8
00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:48.520
Somewhere tonight, a doctor learns that death is not the

9
00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:53.640
end of the experiment. Somewhere else, something ancient and hungry

10
00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:57.320
tears its way out of a place that was never

11
00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:01.840
really a chemical plant. In the dark, the woods begin

12
00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:07.200
to squeal and snort and feed, and behind locked doors

13
00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:12.640
in a warehouse where the rich bury their sins, something lonely,

14
00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:19.120
broken and bloodstain wants to play. So keep your hands

15
00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:23.519
inside the vehicle, do not tap on the glass, and

16
00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:27.959
whatever you do, don't assume the thing screaming in the

17
00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:33.560
dark is human, Because Tonight is all about mad science,

18
00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:38.599
body horror, and the terrible little question. Every monster story

19
00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:44.879
eventually asks what happens when the thing we may starts

20
00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:49.760
making choices? Of its own, and make sure you're subscribed

21
00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:54.200
on your favorite podcast app because every Wednesday there's a

22
00:01:54.239 --> 00:02:03.000
brand new scary story. Now let's begin. I used to

23
00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:06.959
be a doctor in an insane asylum. My patient destroyed

24
00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:13.159
my world by Michael Kelso this story needs to be told.

25
00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:17.800
Those who have suffered must understand why it's not as

26
00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:20.479
simple as some have made it to be, which is

27
00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:25.319
why it needs to come from the person most responsible. Me.

28
00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:30.360
It began when I was least expecting it. But then

29
00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:40.080
don't things always seem to happen that way? I'm telling you, Doc,

30
00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:45.080
people just don't understand, Frederick said, while rocking back and

31
00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:49.759
forth in the chair. What exactly don't they understand? I said,

32
00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:53.759
trying to look more relaxed than I felt. There's just

33
00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:59.120
something that takes over. You can't stop it. Impulse control?

34
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:04.240
What's that mean? Frederick said, struggling against his straight jacket,

35
00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:08.080
trying to get comfortable. It means that when you want

36
00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:11.639
to do something, you try your hardest not to. It

37
00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:14.560
means you try to control or suppress the urge to

38
00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:19.240
do things you know are bad. Frederick's mouth alled open.

39
00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:23.319
He narrowed his eyes in confusion. Why would I want

40
00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:28.680
to do that. I suppressed the urge to sigh, because

41
00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:33.520
that's what people do, I said. They think about doing

42
00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:37.360
bad things, but then they control themselves and don't do

43
00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:41.719
them because those things are wrong and could hurt other people.

44
00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:48.639
Hurting people is wrong, he said, Yes, Frederick, hurting people

45
00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:51.759
is wrong. He shook his head as if he were

46
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.360
trying to shake away a fly that was annoying him.

47
00:03:55.240 --> 00:04:00.960
Why why is hurting people wrong? No? Why are you

48
00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:06.159
telling me this? I don't understand. You're saying I'm bad,

49
00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:09.479
he said, trying to raise from his chair. You're saying

50
00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.280
I didn't need to hurt those people, that I'm a

51
00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:15.680
bad person. I got up from my chair and started

52
00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:19.519
backing toward the heavy metal door. I'm not bad, he

53
00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:23.040
yelled at me. You're bad. I knocked on the door

54
00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:25.839
and the orderly opened it. As Frederick got to his feet,

55
00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:28.959
I slipped through the door as it slammed shut from

56
00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:33.680
the impact of his body hitting into it. Bad, bad, bad,

57
00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:37.040
he screamed. Bad. Dah dah dah da da da da

58
00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:40.199
da dah dud Spit flew from his mouth, landing on

59
00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:43.759
the small observation window with metal grates embedded in it.

60
00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:49.519
You okay, doc, the orderly said, startling me. Yes, I'm fine,

61
00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:52.879
thank you. I turned and walked down the white hallway,

62
00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:56.399
hoping the orderly wouldn't notice the quickness in my step.

63
00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:59.879
I ignored the sound of Frederick beating on the door.

64
00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:04.560
I ignored all the sounds I heard. I just wanted

65
00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:07.720
to get away. It was a long walk to my

66
00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:11.680
office through many security gates. At each one, the nurse

67
00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:14.800
buzzed me through and gave me an acknowledging look that

68
00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:18.199
used to be a smile. I suppose this place gets

69
00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:23.279
to everyone eventually. I finally reached my office, closed and

70
00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:26.519
locked the door behind me, and collapsed into my chair.

71
00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:30.879
I breathed out a sigh of relief at reaching relative safety.

72
00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:34.160
I turned and looked out my window to the beautiful

73
00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:38.399
flowers blooming on the trees in the courtyard. I looked

74
00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:42.199
up at the tree stretching toward the sky. I remember

75
00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:45.920
when they planted those. I turned back to my center,

76
00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.319
my means of solace, the only thing that mattered in

77
00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:53.680
this cruel, unfair world. I picked up the picture of

78
00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:58.040
my lovely wife and smiled. She was the one who

79
00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.439
kept me sane all these years. She kept me seeing

80
00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:06.360
the best in people, or at least trying. Sometimes there

81
00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:11.759
was no good to see, especially in my patience. It

82
00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:14.240
takes a special kind of doctor to care for the

83
00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:17.720
mental needs of those who have done heinous things that

84
00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.560
are so bad they don't even bother sending them to prison.

85
00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.920
They send them to me. I'm like the dumpster for

86
00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.240
the dregs of society. Just drop them in the asylum

87
00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.639
and forget about them. I kissed my wife and set

88
00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:34.560
her back on the bare desk, then turned on my

89
00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:39.199
computer and added notes from today's session. There was never

90
00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:43.160
a recommendation for release. Once patients came here. The only

91
00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.920
way they left was in a body bag. There was

92
00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:49.879
no curing them, only trying to make them docile until

93
00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:54.720
they left. Oh, and there were experiments. That was a

94
00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:58.040
large part of how we were funded. Companies would pay

95
00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:01.879
for certain tests to be done. Some might call it torture,

96
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:07.120
but we called it research. I finished typing my notes

97
00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:10.680
and leaned back in my seat. The diplomas and degrees

98
00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:14.680
stared down from their perches on the bare walls, mocking me,

99
00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:19.360
demanding why I hadn't gotten a better job. As usual,

100
00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:24.160
I didn't have an answer. My office suddenly felt stuffy,

101
00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:28.279
I closed down my computer and left. Driving down the

102
00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:31.079
packed freeway, all I could think about was collapsing on

103
00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:35.720
the couch beside my lovely Elizabeth, not telling her about

104
00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:39.399
my day until she dragged it out of me. Then

105
00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:41.920
listening to her encouraged me to help those who have

106
00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:46.399
been left in my care because I'm the only hope

107
00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:50.519
they have. Traffic was bumper to bumper and not helping

108
00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:54.560
my overall opinion of humanity much, especially when a car

109
00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:57.800
that was swerving from lane to lane nearly sideswiped me.

110
00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.680
It kept going on in front of me, nearly hitting

111
00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:04.360
several other cars. The driver and passenger seemed to be

112
00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:07.800
having a disagreement about how to drive the car, and

113
00:08:07.959 --> 00:08:09.959
it looked like it was about to come to blows.

114
00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:14.319
Fortunately they were soon out of sight and someone else's problem.

115
00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:17.439
For the next few miles, I kept watching the side

116
00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:20.279
of the road, waiting to see the offending car sitting

117
00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:24.399
in a ditch. However, they surprised me. They must have

118
00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:27.399
turned off to go terrorize some neighborhood streets with their

119
00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:31.120
reckless driving. I hummed to myself, not wanting to have

120
00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:35.000
whatever drek was on the radio forced on me. When

121
00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:38.279
I was nearly to my exit, my phone rang. I

122
00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:42.919
immediately recognized the number as Work. I contemplated answering it

123
00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:46.639
for a moment, then thought better of it. There had

124
00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:49.320
never been a time when Work called with good news,

125
00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:52.759
and I was in no mood for bad news. I

126
00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:55.679
hummed a little louder, trying to drown out the sound

127
00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.399
of the ring, before it finally stopped. The closer I

128
00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:02.159
got to home, the less I thought about work, and

129
00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:05.720
the more I thought about Elizabeth. Until I turned off

130
00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:09.799
at my exit, I had nearly forgotten work altogether. Maybe

131
00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.120
I would take tomorrow off and go do something with

132
00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.279
my wife. We hadn't been out for a while. The

133
00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:17.519
weather had been lovely, and I know she would adore

134
00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:21.360
a walk down by the lake. My thoughts were interrupted

135
00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:24.639
when I turned down our driveway and saw a car

136
00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:28.519
in front of the house. It wasn't quite in the driveway,

137
00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:31.919
it was sitting at an angle halfway in the front yard.

138
00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:36.879
I parked my car and slowly got out. Something struck

139
00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.080
me about this car, but I hadn't figured out what.

140
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.480
I approached the driver's side to have words with the

141
00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:47.279
person still sitting at the wheel. Excuse me, I said,

142
00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:50.639
staying a few steps back from the driver's door. He

143
00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:55.399
didn't hear me. Excuse me, I said a little louder.

144
00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.600
Still no answer. I tapped on the window, and he

145
00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:04.120
ignored toward me. I opened the door. Okay, look, I said,

146
00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:07.480
but it was I who would do the looking. The

147
00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:10.039
man fell out of the car, thudding on the grass.

148
00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:13.360
The inside of the car was covered in blood. I

149
00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:17.399
looked down and the man's throat had been cut. Oh

150
00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:21.480
my god, I said, jumping back. I watched to see

151
00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:23.600
if the man was breathing, but the way his neck

152
00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:26.840
was bent at an unnatural angle against my yard told

153
00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:30.480
me everything that I needed to know. I glanced through

154
00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:33.799
the car, but didn't see the passenger. It was then

155
00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:38.120
my eyes drifted to my front door. It was open.

156
00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:42.320
I stepped through the shrubs and up onto the porch,

157
00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:45.879
walking in a daze. The surrealness of the moment had

158
00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:48.759
yet to sink in. I was going inside to check

159
00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:51.799
on my wife and make sure everything was okay. It

160
00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:55.600
didn't strike me as anything more than that. Oh, she

161
00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:58.639
just left the door open. That's all. My mind kept

162
00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:02.279
trying to tell me that I wanted desperately to believe it,

163
00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.200
even though she had never been that careless during the

164
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:09.440
entire time we'd been married. I had pushed aside all

165
00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:14.399
reason and common sense in favor of pure denial. Everything

166
00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:19.080
was going to be okay. With Elizabeth. Everything was always okay.

167
00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:22.279
She could literally light up a room with her positivity.

168
00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.879
She was the best person I ever knew. I've no

169
00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:28.240
idea how I got so lucky as to know her,

170
00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:32.480
let alone be her husband. I floated in through my

171
00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:35.120
front door on my cloud of denial and looked for

172
00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:38.240
my wife. It didn't take me long to find her.

173
00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.039
There was one wall of the living room she was

174
00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:45.200
constantly redecorating. She always said it looked bare and empty

175
00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:48.480
no matter what she did with it. She was hanging

176
00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:54.000
from that wall, naked, her beautiful body desecrated by slices

177
00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:59.240
and rips. Her throat had been slit and blood still

178
00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:03.000
poured from it. I ran to her, tried to take

179
00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:06.759
her down, screamed her name, and then it was my

180
00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:10.480
turn to scream. I looked down and saw a knife

181
00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:14.039
blade sticking out from my abdomen. It was part of

182
00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:17.600
the cutlery set I had gotten for Elizabeth three Christmases ago.

183
00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.799
I screamed as I slowly turned to face my attacker.

184
00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:27.799
What's up, Doc, Frederick said, wearing a maniacal grin. The

185
00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.080
shock had punched a hole in my reasoning. I saw

186
00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.519
him standing there, but I couldn't accept it any more

187
00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:36.039
than I could accept my beautiful wife strung up like

188
00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:40.279
a macabre painting hanging on our living room wall. My

189
00:12:40.440 --> 00:12:43.360
eyes tried to focus on his face to make me

190
00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:48.080
recognize him as a threat. How's that impulse control working

191
00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:51.440
for you, doc? He ripped the knife out of my back.

192
00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:55.200
The pain, along with his arrogance, woke me from my

193
00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:00.720
shock induced stupor. Now do you understand, he said, as

194
00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:05.000
he shoved the knife into my belly. I did understand.

195
00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:09.039
I understood at that moment that I was already as

196
00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.320
dead as my wife. I knew that this piece of

197
00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:16.879
human garbage had taken something beautiful from this world. I

198
00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.279
knew I had to do something about it before there

199
00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:22.840
was nothing I could do before my body succumbed to

200
00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:27.200
injuries and I was unable. I grabbed him by the throat.

201
00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:31.200
He tried to laugh, but my grip was fueled by desperation.

202
00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:36.679
He tried to free himself, but couldn't. He began stabbing

203
00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:40.240
me over and over. I refused to release him. I

204
00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:42.919
carried him by his neck over to the kitchen counter

205
00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:46.919
and began bashing his head off the marble. I was

206
00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:50.519
rewarded with spots of his blood. I knew, at least

207
00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:54.879
I had made him bleed, and that made me smile.

208
00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:00.000
His eyes grew wide as my grin grew maniacal. I smelled,

209
00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:04.240
repeatedly crushing him against the sink, breaking the faucet and

210
00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:08.519
causing water to spray into the air. His eyelids fluttered

211
00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.480
as he lost his grip on the knife. He was

212
00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:14.720
nearly gone. I would take him with me, and that

213
00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:19.000
would be my parting gift to the world, removing something

214
00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:25.600
so evil. Suddenly, my body wouldn't obey commands. My grip loosened.

215
00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:29.360
I tried to tighten it, but I had lost all control.

216
00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:31.840
I looked down and I was standing in a pool

217
00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:37.840
of my own blood. His eyes fluttered open, and he coughed, no, no, no,

218
00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:41.399
no no. I thought, he can't live, he can't win.

219
00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:46.240
I had him. He stood as I sank to the floor.

220
00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:51.600
Looks like, maybe you do understand, doc, he said from

221
00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:55.120
what seemed like miles away. Too bad, you won't be

222
00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:58.200
around to discuss it. We could have a session and

223
00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:02.240
evaluate how it makes you feel. His foot came down

224
00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:07.000
on my spine. I felt a crack. He started kicking

225
00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:10.480
me in the side, repeatedly, splashing water and blood on me.

226
00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:14.240
As I felt my ribs crack. I fought with everything

227
00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:19.639
I had. My body didn't even twitch. No, I screamed,

228
00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.519
it can't end like this. I heard a sizzling sound,

229
00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:34.240
and then there was darkness. I could feel movement. Wasn't

230
00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:41.559
I dead? Was this what happened after? It was still dark? Hello?

231
00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:47.320
I tried to say, nothing, just the sensation of movement.

232
00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:51.960
Am I in a body bag? Am I on my

233
00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:55.720
way to the morgue or the grave? Please don't let

234
00:15:55.799 --> 00:16:00.480
me be buried? Alive? But I'm not alive? Am I?

235
00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.480
I don't feel any pain. That's a good thing, but

236
00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:08.480
not a good sign. The last thing I remember was

237
00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:13.559
lots of pain. Suddenly there's a light and my movement stops.

238
00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:15.919
I look up from the floor of a house. I

239
00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:21.360
don't recognize where the hell am I. I'm on the

240
00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:25.360
floor next to a wall, looking up at an electrical outlet.

241
00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:29.200
Nothing around me seems familiar. I try to stand, but

242
00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:34.399
it feels weird. It isn't difficult, and there's still no pain.

243
00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:38.159
It just carries an odd sensation with it, like my

244
00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:43.240
body is just relearning things, just like when I was

245
00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:46.879
a toddler. I teeter back and forth as I rise,

246
00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:51.960
but eventually I'm upright. My first few steps are tentative,

247
00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:56.240
but after that I gain confidence with each stride. Aside

248
00:16:56.279 --> 00:17:01.080
from the strange surroundings, there's a sensation like ants crawling

249
00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:04.880
all over me. I pass a bathroom and glance inside.

250
00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:08.880
The reflection in the mirror draws me back. I slowly

251
00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:15.640
approach it, seeing something unique and terrifying. It looks like

252
00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:18.440
someone drew an outline of a human form using a

253
00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:22.599
lightning bolt. The electricity shimmers and crackles as it raises

254
00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:26.119
around the empty form of the being. I wonder if

255
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.920
it will hurt me, Not sure if I want to

256
00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:33.079
test the limits of my newfound lack of pain. I

257
00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:36.839
hesitantly reach for this creature. It reaches for me at

258
00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:42.359
the same time. I'm mesmerized by this mutual curiosity. My

259
00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:45.079
hand is about to touch the electric pulse, shaped like

260
00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:51.240
its hand. I tremble with anticipation and fear as we touch. Surprisingly,

261
00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:55.599
I don't feel any pain. I don't feel anything except

262
00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:59.799
a hard surface. I move my hand back and forth.

263
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:04.480
The creature does the same. I make quicker movements, and

264
00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:08.559
so does it. Finally, out of frustration, I reach back

265
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:12.319
and strike at the creature. My hand strikes the hard

266
00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:17.119
surface and its splinters. There are now multiple creatures staring

267
00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:21.000
back at me. I step back and make a horrible realization.

268
00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:30.440
I am the creature. One month later, and police have

269
00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:33.119
been unable to find any credible leads in the string

270
00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:36.640
of brutal killings that began shortly after the patient escape

271
00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:40.519
from the mental hospital last month, the handsome anchorman stated

272
00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:43.640
from behind his desk, they're asking people to call in

273
00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:47.039
if they know the whereabouts of Frederick Winston, now known

274
00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:50.640
as the Mangler. In other news, the Larsen Electric Company

275
00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:53.279
has issued a statement that the recent power surges are

276
00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:56.400
no cause for alarm. These surges seem to be random

277
00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:00.640
in people's homes and certain businesses, and LEC spoke stated

278
00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:03.079
that there appears to be no pattern to the surges

279
00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:06.000
and that so far no one has reported them causing

280
00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:09.240
any harm. LC is tracking down the problem and should

281
00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:12.480
have it under control soon. The anchorman shifted in his

282
00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:15.920
seat and turned to another camera and on a lighter note,

283
00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:19.279
with Halloween months away, it seems that reports of ghosts

284
00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:22.240
are on the rise, he said, wearing a half Grin

285
00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:26.039
several area residents have reported what they call a ghost

286
00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:30.160
like figure outlined in light visiting them. Reports vary as

287
00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:32.960
to the duration and location of the visits, but they

288
00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:35.519
do seem to have a few things in common. The

289
00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:39.079
visits are usually short. In fact, most people say that

290
00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:42.119
if they blink, the figure is gone. No one has

291
00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:45.400
reported the ghost doing any harm, and it seems like

292
00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:49.759
anyone within close proximity feels a tingling sensation and their

293
00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:53.240
hair standing on end. Maybe I should be visited by

294
00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:56.759
this ghost instead of my next hairdresser's appointment, the attractive

295
00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:59.799
woman anchor said, with a laugh. Schedule me a visit

296
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:03.480
TI two, the mail anchor said, smiling, and that's our

297
00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.200
news for the evening. Good night. Jimmy switched the channel.

298
00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:12.559
Gimme a break, he said, to the TV ghosts, who's playing?

299
00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:16.200
What this is some marketing scheme to sell Halloween crap

300
00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:18.160
like that stunt they pulled a few years back with

301
00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:21.720
the clowns hanging around the schools to promote that stupid movie.

302
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:24.960
He switched off the TV and rolled over in his bed.

303
00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:30.359
It wasn't long before his breathing slowed, but before sleep

304
00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:33.799
could take him, he noticed a glow in the hallway.

305
00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:37.400
He didn't remember leaving any lights on when he came

306
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.319
to bed. Living alone had its advantages. If he heard

307
00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:44.640
someone in his apartment, he knew they weren't supposed to

308
00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.880
be there. He slowly reached over to the bedstand and

309
00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:52.759
pulled out his glock nine millimeter handgun, then held it

310
00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:58.400
close and listened. He watched as the glow moved. It

311
00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:03.000
seemed like someone was looking around, but for what. He

312
00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:06.400
didn't really have anything aside from his TV, phone and

313
00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.599
video games. If anyone wanted those, they would be in

314
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:12.799
a world of hurt. He had been lucky to get

315
00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:15.480
this apartment. If he was honest with himself, it cost

316
00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:18.279
more than he could afford, but when he had the chance,

317
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.319
he took it. It was too bad the opening came

318
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:24.480
because the person who lived there before him was one

319
00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:28.039
of the Mangler's victims. That's probably why he was able

320
00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:30.359
to rent the place so quickly and get the price

321
00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:34.200
down to where he could afford it. Almost maybe the

322
00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:36.480
glow was one of the street people who were stupid

323
00:21:36.599 --> 00:21:38.880
enough to see if there was an empty apartment to claim.

324
00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:42.440
That wasn't gonna fly either. Jimmy had jumped on this

325
00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:44.839
apartment to get away from the dingy rat hole he

326
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:46.640
used to live in on the other side of town,

327
00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:49.799
and there was no way he'd let some bum come

328
00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:54.039
in here and take what was his. The glow crept closer.

329
00:21:54.920 --> 00:21:58.359
He could feel the hairs on his arms raise. There

330
00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:03.319
was a sound too. It wasn't loud, almost felt more

331
00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:08.559
than heard, a soft crackle like electricity. When it sparked.

332
00:22:09.400 --> 00:22:12.200
The sensory input was almost too much for Jimmy to take.

333
00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:14.759
He pointed the gun in the direction of the glow

334
00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:19.000
and saw the barrel was shaking. His resolve that he

335
00:22:19.079 --> 00:22:20.839
could deal with anyone as long as he had his

336
00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:25.359
gun was beginning to fade. The glow became so bright

337
00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:29.319
that it finally took form. Jimmy's eyes widened. It was

338
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:33.839
the form of a person, just like the news it said.

339
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:38.119
It seemed to look around the room, then settle its

340
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:41.480
gaze on the bed. Jimmy began to sweat as it

341
00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:46.240
approached and stared into his eyes. It was the oddest thing,

342
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:50.400
staring into what should be eyes, but nothing was there.

343
00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:54.599
The flashes of many lightning bolts formed shapes that looked

344
00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:58.920
almost human, but it was just an outline. There was

345
00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:03.160
nothing inside should be the body. He shoved the shaking

346
00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:05.920
gun out from under the blanket and pointed it at

347
00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:09.920
the glowing figure. The figure noted the presence of the gun,

348
00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:16.680
then continued to advance. Stop. Jimmy said, I'm warning you.

349
00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:22.079
The figure ignored the warning. Jimmy squeezed the trigger, setting

350
00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:24.519
off a deafening shot that went right through the face

351
00:23:24.599 --> 00:23:27.640
of the figure. It acted as though nothing had happened,

352
00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:32.079
continuing to advance. The ringing in Jimmy's ears made all

353
00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:38.920
sounds seem muffled. The figure stopped two inches from Jimmy's face. Mangler,

354
00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:42.759
it said, sounding less like a voice and more like

355
00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:47.960
a transmission over an old, staticky radio. I'm I'm not

356
00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:51.200
the Mangler, he said. The person who used to live

357
00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:54.440
here was killed by him. It seemed to ponder this

358
00:23:54.599 --> 00:24:01.960
for a moment. Find Mangler, it said, I I don't

359
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:05.480
know where to find him. It moved an inch closer

360
00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:09.319
as the flashes of electricity arked and licked hungrily at

361
00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:16.119
Jimmy's face. Find him, Okay, okay, I'll find him, Jimmy said,

362
00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:20.079
feeling the heat from the electricity. The figure seemed to

363
00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:24.440
consider that for a moment, then backed away. It moved

364
00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:27.559
toward the bedroom wall. Then, like someone had turned on

365
00:24:27.640 --> 00:24:31.839
a vacuum, it was sucked into an electrical outlet and disappeared.

366
00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:37.079
Jimmy laid back in bed, breathing hard. His eyes darted

367
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:40.160
left and right all around the room, but the only

368
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.720
evidence of the figure that had remained was the bullet

369
00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:53.400
hole in his bedroom wall. The trips through the electrical

370
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:57.519
conduits had become easier. There were still times when I

371
00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:00.440
came out someplace I didn't intend to, but I was

372
00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:03.519
usually able to recover quickly and get to where I

373
00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:06.559
wanted to go. But where did I want to go?

374
00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:10.799
At first, I wandered around, lost in this new form,

375
00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:14.200
I found myself trapped inside. It was only after I

376
00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:17.160
had overheard a news report about the serial killer they

377
00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:21.799
called the Mangler, that I gained my purpose. Of course,

378
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.799
Frederick was going to keep on killing. Of course, they

379
00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:27.400
weren't going to be able to catch him. He'd been inside,

380
00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:29.799
away from his victims before, and he didn't like it.

381
00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:32.960
Not being able to torture and kill innocence was like

382
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:36.400
a normal person not being able to breathe. Not that

383
00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:40.359
I know much about being normal or breathing anymore. I

384
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:43.799
suppose on some level I should thank him. I thought

385
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:45.720
about it for a long time, and the only thing

386
00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:48.680
that makes any kind of sense is when we were fighting,

387
00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:51.640
somehow the water and blood I was laying in got

388
00:25:51.799 --> 00:25:55.359
splashed into an electrical socket. Instead of killing me, it

389
00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:58.599
bonded with me, making me able to become the electrical

390
00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:02.119
current to write like a wave to wherever I wanted.

391
00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:06.119
I became faster than any person ever was, and yet

392
00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:09.759
I wasn't a person anymore. I have no idea how

393
00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:14.000
I retained my consciousness, let alone my memory, but somehow

394
00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:18.720
I justify it by the old adage. I think therefore

395
00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:22.480
I am. My life has become an endless hunt for

396
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:26.799
the person who destroyed me, the person I must destroy.

397
00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:29.839
I don't even know what I'll do when I find him,

398
00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:34.519
but I will find him. I will stop him this time.

399
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:38.640
I won't fail. I'll end him like I should have before.

400
00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:42.160
I owed it to the people he's tortured and killed

401
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:46.000
since my failure. Most of all, I owe it to

402
00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:50.359
my wife. I know she wouldn't approve of my bloodlust.

403
00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:54.480
She would say there must be some other option. But

404
00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:56.559
if she would be able to see her own dead

405
00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:00.599
body hanging naked from our living room wall, I think

406
00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:04.880
she just might change her mind. My thoughts are interrupted

407
00:27:04.920 --> 00:27:08.559
as I arrive at my next destination, another victim's house.

408
00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:12.160
I'm not sure what I'll find that the police haven't,

409
00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:15.759
but I have to try. Maybe I can pick up

410
00:27:15.799 --> 00:27:20.039
his scent somehow, a plan almost assuredly doomed to failure

411
00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:23.200
since I lost all sense of smell in the transformation.

412
00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:27.079
I'm surprised, though, that I can still see and hear.

413
00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:31.640
I suppose waves of light and sound somehow intersect with

414
00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:35.720
my electrical body and it senses them. I don't question it.

415
00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:39.160
I've learned to just go with it. On the plus side,

416
00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:42.359
I don't have to worry about eating, drinking, or using

417
00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:46.599
the bathroom. I guess there's an upside to everything. Elizabeth

418
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:49.680
would be so proud of me. I arrive at the

419
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:52.880
room where the victim was murdered. Looking around, there's still

420
00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:56.839
blood everywhere. Along with evidence markers where they took pictures.

421
00:27:58.200 --> 00:28:01.039
The sheer amount of blood tells me he took his time.

422
00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:05.079
He desecrated this girl in her own room. Her parents

423
00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:07.799
must have been out, because there's no way they didn't

424
00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:11.359
hear the struggle. There were books on the floor, a

425
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:16.039
chair overturned, and blood everywhere. The room was a disaster.

426
00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:19.559
It looked like she fought him. I wish she would

427
00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:24.480
have succeeded where I had failed. But then I wish

428
00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:30.119
I hadn't failed and this girl was still alive. There's

429
00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:33.680
nothing I can do now except find him and end him.

430
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:37.599
Finding him was proving more difficult than I thought. I

431
00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:41.319
had unlimited access to anywhere with electricity, but I couldn't

432
00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:44.759
use a computer or a GPS. I was limited to

433
00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:49.200
transportation only through electricity. Granted, that still made me the

434
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:53.920
fastest being alive. I say being because I don't think

435
00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:57.480
I qualify as a human anymore. But I was limited

436
00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:00.200
to traveling to a place and then trying to find

437
00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:03.440
out where I was and if he was there, If

438
00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:05.480
he knew I was searching for him, all he would

439
00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:07.559
have to do is live the rest of his days

440
00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:11.039
in a cabin in the woods. With no electricity, and

441
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:14.480
I'd never be able to reach him. I believe two

442
00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:18.880
things worked in my favor with that theory. First, I

443
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:22.440
don't think he's that smart, and second, I don't think

444
00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:25.839
he knows I'm looking for him. I believe that surviving

445
00:29:25.880 --> 00:29:29.440
our fight only further empowered him to kill. When someone

446
00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:33.440
feels invincible, they're bound to make a mistake. An officer

447
00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:36.400
walked into the room, and I ducked back into an outlet.

448
00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:39.000
I was able to hang on where I was and

449
00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:42.319
watch from the inside of the outlet without being transported

450
00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:46.240
somewhere else. The officer looked startled and stared at the

451
00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:49.400
empty air that I had just vacated. She looked like

452
00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:51.759
she was unsure if she trusted what her eyes had

453
00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:56.119
seen in the instant before I vanished. She slowly stepped

454
00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:58.799
over to the corner and bent down to peer into

455
00:29:58.839 --> 00:30:02.039
the outlet. For a moment, I wondered if she could

456
00:30:02.119 --> 00:30:06.400
see me and what exactly she would see, But then

457
00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:10.000
her radio squawked, calling her to another scene. When I

458
00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:12.799
heard the voice on the radio say the address and

459
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:16.039
that they might have the killer cornered, I didn't waste

460
00:30:16.119 --> 00:30:20.160
any time. It was maybe fifteen seconds until I was

461
00:30:20.200 --> 00:30:23.039
across town at the address i'd heard. There was a

462
00:30:23.119 --> 00:30:26.400
lot of screaming and crying going on. I came out

463
00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:28.559
of the outlet and saw blood on the floor beside

464
00:30:28.599 --> 00:30:34.000
a body that wasn't moving. There was a girl being

465
00:30:34.200 --> 00:30:37.319
beaten by a man with his back to me. He

466
00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:41.359
turned to take another swing, and I knew my search

467
00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:45.759
was over. My therapist used to tell me I needed

468
00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:49.759
to work on my impulse control, he said calmly as

469
00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:53.480
he slapped her. I think I'm doing pretty good. I've

470
00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:57.079
been here ten whole minutes, and you're still alive. I

471
00:30:57.200 --> 00:30:59.559
shot across the room and knocked him to the floor.

472
00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:02.200
He jumped back and looked around for what had hit him.

473
00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:06.200
What the hell? I saw the fear in his eyes

474
00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:09.359
when he saw me. I know Elizabeth would have been

475
00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:14.000
ashamed of me, but I was enjoying his anxiety, after

476
00:31:14.079 --> 00:31:16.039
all he had done to me and so many others.

477
00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:20.599
I drank it in like an elixir. He started edging

478
00:31:20.680 --> 00:31:23.319
toward the door. I was there in a heartbeat. His

479
00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:25.960
eyes darted back and forth where I used to be

480
00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:29.559
and where I now stood. The panic in his eyes doubled.

481
00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:34.000
I wanted to make him suffer. But I didn't want

482
00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:36.880
to make the same mistake I'd made before and let

483
00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:39.960
him escape with his life. I lashed out with a

484
00:31:40.039 --> 00:31:43.000
bolt that used to be my arm. The energy slashed

485
00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:45.359
through his shirt and fried a hole in his shoulder.

486
00:31:45.960 --> 00:31:48.519
He screamed in pain and horror as he looked at

487
00:31:48.519 --> 00:31:51.720
the smoking hole in his skin. He tried to run,

488
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:53.880
but in an instant I was there in front of him,

489
00:31:54.160 --> 00:31:57.240
firing another bolt and searing the skin across his waist

490
00:31:57.319 --> 00:32:01.240
to his jeans. His screams of pain and rage were

491
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:06.119
only matched by the feral desperation in his eyes. Not

492
00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:10.319
knowing what to do, he went with the familiar attack

493
00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:13.480
the innocent. He grabbed the girl who had been crawling

494
00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:16.279
away from the scene. He grabbed her again and held

495
00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:19.119
her in front of him like a human shield. What

496
00:32:19.240 --> 00:32:22.440
a waste of skin. I fired a bolt into a

497
00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:25.680
ceiling light beside me, which ricocheted and hit him full

498
00:32:25.799 --> 00:32:29.319
force in the leg, nearly severing it. He went down

499
00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:31.440
like a ton of bricks, trying to hold on to

500
00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:34.400
his hostage, but she was fighting to get away from him.

501
00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:38.240
She broke free, and he crumpled to the floor. What

502
00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:41.799
do you want? He screamed at me with everything that

503
00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:44.079
is within me. I wanted to tell him who I

504
00:32:44.359 --> 00:32:46.599
was and what he had taken from me, and what

505
00:32:46.759 --> 00:32:49.759
I was about to take from him. But I didn't

506
00:32:49.759 --> 00:32:52.720
want to give him the satisfaction. I wanted to give

507
00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:56.240
him only uncertainty and fear to cling to. I could

508
00:32:56.279 --> 00:32:59.480
feel the seconds ticking away. I knew I had to

509
00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:02.279
make the most most of this opportunity, or he would

510
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:06.640
get away again, and after this I might never find him.

511
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:10.680
I unleashed every ounce of energy at him. I couldn't

512
00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:13.559
even see him. He was only a smoking pillar of

513
00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:18.920
frying skin. Just then the police burst through the door.

514
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:23.519
Free The first officer started, then the shock of what

515
00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:25.680
he was seeing stole the rest of the word from

516
00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:29.119
his mouth. He stood there, mouth agape. When the female

517
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.359
officer stepped in behind him. She looked at me, and

518
00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:35.160
her wide eyes narrowed as she put two and two

519
00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:39.799
together and recognized me from the last crime scene. I

520
00:33:39.880 --> 00:33:42.160
had no reason to fear. I didn't know if I

521
00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:45.400
could even be harmed in my current state. But when

522
00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:48.039
you see that blue uniform burst through a door with

523
00:33:48.119 --> 00:33:51.799
a gun aimed at you, all rational thought takes a vacation.

524
00:33:52.759 --> 00:33:56.240
I dove for the outlet and was gone. I didn't

525
00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:58.880
even care where I was going. I knew I had

526
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:02.440
done what I wanted to do. The monster was destroyed.

527
00:34:04.039 --> 00:34:08.760
Something felt different. Was it pride at finishing my crusade.

528
00:34:09.559 --> 00:34:12.320
Was it shame knowing Elizabeth wouldn't have wanted me to

529
00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:15.559
do it? I don't know. But there was something else.

530
00:34:16.119 --> 00:34:18.679
It was like there was added weight to my existence.

531
00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:23.000
I guess you can have a conscience in whatever you'd

532
00:34:23.079 --> 00:34:26.519
call this existence. I appeared in the place that made

533
00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:30.119
the most sense. Ironically, it was my old home, the

534
00:34:30.199 --> 00:34:35.599
one where everything I loved died, including me. It was

535
00:34:35.639 --> 00:34:40.679
where I took on this unintended new existence. Is that

536
00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:44.559
why I felt this extra weight? Was it some cathartic

537
00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:47.760
after effect of my search for revenge that was finally over.

538
00:34:48.960 --> 00:34:51.239
I looked around the charred debris of what used to

539
00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:54.320
be my home. In my mind's eye, I didn't see

540
00:34:54.360 --> 00:34:57.400
the burned out shell of what was left. I saw

541
00:34:57.480 --> 00:35:00.639
it as it was when we first moved in, when

542
00:35:00.679 --> 00:35:05.559
Elizabeth started decorating, when the interior was finally finished, and

543
00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:09.440
I turned to her and said, for now, knowing she

544
00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:11.800
would decide to change everything at some time in the

545
00:35:11.840 --> 00:35:15.719
future when she was bored, just like all women seemed

546
00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:19.199
to do. I remember getting a paint brush across the

547
00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:22.880
mouth for that comment. I smiled, remembering kissing her with

548
00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:26.360
my freshly painted mouth and ending up in the bedroom.

549
00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:29.639
As I turned toward where I had entered the house,

550
00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:34.440
my smile quickly faded. For some reason, I was still

551
00:35:34.519 --> 00:35:38.719
connected to the outlet that had never happened before. Another

552
00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:42.119
curiosity arose when I noticed the color of my electrical

553
00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:47.199
body was now tinged purple. It had always been blue before.

554
00:35:48.440 --> 00:35:50.039
The tale of what had yet to come out of

555
00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:52.960
the outlet was red. As I pulled and it came

556
00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:54.880
the rest of the way out, it merged with me

557
00:35:55.480 --> 00:35:59.559
and turned purple. What the hell? I heard some one say.

558
00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:03.599
I whipped around, but no one was there. Where am I?

559
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:08.119
The voice said? Who are you? I said to the air.

560
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:15.119
There was a long silence. Doc, Doc, the voice said,

561
00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:18.239
As far as I knew, it wasn't possible for my

562
00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:21.280
spine to turn to ice, since I no longer had

563
00:36:21.320 --> 00:36:27.480
a spine, but the feeling seemed the same. Frederick, I said,

564
00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:33.880
what happened? He asked, This crazy electric thing attacked me

565
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:38.280
and now wait a minute. How am I talking to you?

566
00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:44.599
You died months ago. My shock gave way to utter despair.

567
00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:59.559
My enemy was now part of me. Night of the

568
00:36:59.719 --> 00:37:06.199
tie Yrants by David o'hanley. Good things come to those

569
00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:10.840
who wait, Leslie Bonner said in his low Texan drawl

570
00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:14.800
before taking a pull off of his Marlborough Bad things

571
00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:19.440
come to those who live here. He wasn't wrong. The

572
00:37:19.559 --> 00:37:22.599
town of Fortune, Missouri, had a way of dishing out

573
00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:27.159
horrible fates for its residents. Bruce and Maggie Boudreaux knelt

574
00:37:27.239 --> 00:37:29.960
on the stained carpet of the single wide trailer that

575
00:37:30.119 --> 00:37:33.400
sat on the far western edge of the Gables, a

576
00:37:33.519 --> 00:37:37.199
trailer park converted into an industrial sized meth lab by

577
00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:41.000
the Dixie mafia. If you lived in Fortune, you either

578
00:37:41.400 --> 00:37:45.719
worked for the Gables or the Waiste Containment Facility. Bruce

579
00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:50.159
wasn't about to risk his health handling toxic waste. Cooking

580
00:37:50.280 --> 00:37:53.880
crank had been much safer, at least until he stole

581
00:37:54.039 --> 00:37:58.719
ten kilos of uncut ice. Mags wanted new tits, and

582
00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:01.760
Bruce couldn't object to them that his cock came up

583
00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:03.800
with the plan before his brain had a chance to

584
00:38:03.880 --> 00:38:07.880
consider the logistics of moving so much product. He'd never

585
00:38:08.039 --> 00:38:12.280
sold dope before in any quantity, but it seemed simple enough.

586
00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:15.079
Took less than a week to find a buyer for

587
00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:19.159
the whole damn batch, as it were. Unfortunately, the buyer

588
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:24.039
turned out to be and undercover fed. Bruce and Maggs escaped,

589
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:26.480
but their car was left on the side of the road.

590
00:38:27.159 --> 00:38:30.159
Bonner's mole in the dea tipped him off and he

591
00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:32.920
made the trip over from Nashville to deal with the mess.

592
00:38:33.679 --> 00:38:37.679
The entire operation would be relocated, which would mean months

593
00:38:38.039 --> 00:38:42.159
of lost production, months that Bruce and Maggie wouldn't be

594
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:46.679
around for. Leslie knelt behind Maggie, blowing a spear of

595
00:38:46.840 --> 00:38:50.800
smoke past her face. His pewter eyes cut down her

596
00:38:50.840 --> 00:38:54.679
bony back to the tramp stamp above the exposed neon

597
00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:58.519
green strings of her thong. He glanced at Bruce with

598
00:38:58.639 --> 00:39:03.119
his sleeveless flannel shirt and stick and poke tattoos. He

599
00:39:03.320 --> 00:39:07.039
wasn't sure if the couple were cliche stereotypes or if

600
00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:10.679
Jack Turney had decided on this being the official uniform

601
00:39:11.239 --> 00:39:15.440
of all of his employees. Jack rocked on a stool

602
00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:19.800
to the Springsteen tape playing on the boombox. Leslie never

603
00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:23.440
liked Jack personally, but he was the best choice to

604
00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:26.880
run the lab. He'd been a manager at Walmart, after all.

605
00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:31.239
Killing him wouldn't exactly be wasteful, but it wouldn't be

606
00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:35.760
the most pragmatic choice either. Leslie tongued a chipped moler

607
00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:38.840
and weighed his options. It wasn't like he could take

608
00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:42.239
out an ad in the help wanted section. Leslie eyed

609
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:45.360
the man carefully and flicked his ash on the carpet.

610
00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:49.840
Jack could live. The other two would just have to

611
00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:53.199
die more painfully. To make sure the point still got across,

612
00:39:54.440 --> 00:39:59.239
Leslie extinguished the cigarette behind Maggie's ear. She fell forward,

613
00:39:59.360 --> 00:40:03.840
shrieking before curling up in a fetal position. What the fuck,

614
00:40:04.360 --> 00:40:08.719
Bruce howled, Stop that, leave her alone. Leslie backhanded him

615
00:40:08.760 --> 00:40:12.199
across the cheek. His topaz ring tore a divot from

616
00:40:12.239 --> 00:40:16.519
the tweaker's gaunt face. Maggie's scream seemed to get louder,

617
00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:21.400
changing pitch, and then went on forever. Jack stopped rocking

618
00:40:21.719 --> 00:40:24.679
and looked at one of the foil covered windows. The

619
00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:27.559
aluminum blocked the heat signature of the labs from the

620
00:40:27.599 --> 00:40:31.280
police choppers using infrared scanners, but it also left the

621
00:40:31.400 --> 00:40:36.039
occupants blind to the outside world. His shaking hand battered

622
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:38.760
the top of the radio until he found the stop button.

623
00:40:39.440 --> 00:40:43.480
Leslie turned his ear up to the ceiling. It wasn't

624
00:40:43.559 --> 00:40:49.079
his victim he was hearing. That's an emergency siren. Jack stammered.

625
00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:53.760
Something's happened at the waist plant, toxic spill, maybe shit,

626
00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:59.599
nothing else. It could be great, Leslie hissed. He stood slowly,

627
00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:03.280
scratch matching at his chin. A smile creased his face,

628
00:41:03.760 --> 00:41:07.280
and he gave Mags a kick in the tailbone. Actually,

629
00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:12.079
this is great, fucking full on act of God. Great.

630
00:41:13.320 --> 00:41:17.000
How you figure that? Less? Jack chewed his fingernails in

631
00:41:17.079 --> 00:41:21.360
anticipation of the answer. FEDS can't snoop around if the

632
00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:24.960
whole area has gone nuclear or whatever the shit they

633
00:41:25.039 --> 00:41:28.119
have out there. Leslie chopped his hand down on the

634
00:41:28.199 --> 00:41:32.159
back of Bruce's neck and sent him crashing over. What

635
00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:37.000
the hell do they have over there? Nothing good, Jack muttered.

636
00:41:37.719 --> 00:41:40.679
Maggie crawled on her knees to Bruce's side and stroked

637
00:41:40.719 --> 00:41:45.800
his face. You okay, baby, course he is, Leslie snorted.

638
00:41:46.519 --> 00:41:48.599
I ain't about to kill either of you that quick.

639
00:41:49.320 --> 00:41:51.920
Just a little thump to make sure you're both paying attention,

640
00:41:52.840 --> 00:41:57.880
you bastard. Maggie sniffled. The running mascara became white trash

641
00:41:57.960 --> 00:42:00.400
war paint as she glared at him to fight biantly.

642
00:42:01.159 --> 00:42:05.360
If I wasn't tied up, you'd be free. The trailer

643
00:42:05.480 --> 00:42:10.119
rocked violently. Leslie drew the oversized laar grizzly pistol from

644
00:42:10.159 --> 00:42:13.079
his shoulder holster and went to the nearest window, ripping

645
00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:15.920
away the tinfoil that covered it for a peak outside.

646
00:42:16.599 --> 00:42:19.320
He scanned the park for anything out of the ordinary,

647
00:42:19.920 --> 00:42:22.840
but only saw more of his employees stepping out of

648
00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:27.440
their trailers to investigate for themselves. Was that one of

649
00:42:27.480 --> 00:42:33.239
the labs? Jack asked, shakily, too far away. Less reassured

650
00:42:33.280 --> 00:42:36.519
him something must have gone really rotten up at the

651
00:42:36.599 --> 00:42:41.440
chemical depot. You keep any respirators in here? Jack nodded

652
00:42:41.480 --> 00:42:43.840
and jabbed a finger toward a cabinet near the sink.

653
00:42:44.920 --> 00:42:48.519
Good Leslie waved him towards the window with the pistol.

654
00:42:49.400 --> 00:42:54.119
Come watch for anything unusual. Jack did as instructed. He

655
00:42:54.239 --> 00:42:56.840
cupped his hands around his eyes and pressed them to

656
00:42:56.920 --> 00:42:59.840
the glass for a better look. One of the crooks

657
00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:03.400
for the nearest. Lab lifted his safety goggles and squinted

658
00:43:03.480 --> 00:43:07.280
into the surrounding woods. The man took a few tentative

659
00:43:07.320 --> 00:43:13.519
steps forward, then stopped. He was pointing at something. Jack

660
00:43:13.639 --> 00:43:17.400
turned to tell Leslie when he noticed Bruce, Hey knock

661
00:43:17.440 --> 00:43:20.800
it off. Jack grabbed a half empty schlitz Caan and

662
00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:23.880
chucked it at him. Bruce flinched as it bounced off

663
00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:27.039
his shoulder, and the tiny pocket knife clattered to the floor.

664
00:43:27.639 --> 00:43:32.320
Mags snatched it up quickly. Boss, the bimbo thinks she's

665
00:43:32.400 --> 00:43:37.960
being cute, Jack tattled, she is cute. Jack, just look

666
00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:42.400
at that face. Leslie cocked the hammer back. Wonder if

667
00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:46.800
it'll still be cute dripping down the wall. Maggie looked

668
00:43:46.840 --> 00:43:49.800
from Jack to the gun, then up to the surgical

669
00:43:49.920 --> 00:43:54.840
eyes of Leslie Bonner. He wasn't bluffing. She turned the

670
00:43:54.920 --> 00:43:58.199
knife over in her hands and stabbed it into the floor.

671
00:43:59.320 --> 00:44:02.840
Less took a respirator from the cabinet without looking. Jack

672
00:44:02.960 --> 00:44:06.360
snapped his fingers and pointed to the far wall. Get

673
00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:10.960
your bony ass over there until you're told otherwise. He

674
00:44:11.119 --> 00:44:14.480
waited for her to stand before turning his attention back

675
00:44:14.519 --> 00:44:18.280
to the window. Leslie set the gun down long enough

676
00:44:18.360 --> 00:44:23.480
to get the mask on. The glass exploded inward, and

677
00:44:23.760 --> 00:44:30.079
Jack staggered backwards. He stumbled left, then right, then forward,

678
00:44:30.760 --> 00:44:35.400
back again. Maggie's screams filled the meth lab, rivaling the

679
00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:39.280
siren outside. Leslie snapped the gun up into a two

680
00:44:39.360 --> 00:44:43.639
handed grip and aimed at the window. Jack continued to

681
00:44:43.719 --> 00:44:47.920
square dance, blood splashing against the ceiling from the stump

682
00:44:48.400 --> 00:44:53.599
on his shoulders. He finally collapsed next to Bruce, knocking

683
00:44:53.679 --> 00:44:57.320
over an ether tank in the process. His severed arteries

684
00:44:57.440 --> 00:45:02.360
spurted the prisoner's face, drawing gas and whiny curses. Bruce

685
00:45:02.519 --> 00:45:05.800
rose to his knees and scuttled away from the corpse.

686
00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:10.480
Where the fuck is his head, Leslie barked. He swung

687
00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:15.599
the pistol toward Maggie. What the what happened? There's something

688
00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:22.039
out there, she shrieked. It it bit off his goddamn head, obviously,

689
00:45:22.760 --> 00:45:25.760
Leslie changed his aim back to the window. But what

690
00:45:26.199 --> 00:45:30.480
was it? Hungry, you dumb son of a bitch, Bruce cried,

691
00:45:30.920 --> 00:45:35.000
That's what it was. It's a monster. I'm the only

692
00:45:35.119 --> 00:45:40.360
monster here, Bubba, Leslie reminded him. People were screaming outside

693
00:45:40.639 --> 00:45:43.679
the trailer rocked, and the ceiling creaked as something heavy

694
00:45:44.079 --> 00:45:50.840
settled onto it. Footfalls thumped like sledgehammer blows overhead. Maggie

695
00:45:50.920 --> 00:45:53.400
slid across the carpet on her knees for the knife.

696
00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:57.039
She began sawing through the ropes as whatever was stalking

697
00:45:57.119 --> 00:46:00.519
across the roof came to a stop directly above her.

698
00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:06.800
Something flashed past the broken window. Leslie's pistol unleashed a

699
00:46:06.920 --> 00:46:10.840
clap of artificial thunder and blasted a chunk from the frame.

700
00:46:11.480 --> 00:46:15.280
Bruce cupped his hands over his ears. Jesus, couldn't you

701
00:46:15.400 --> 00:46:20.119
find something smaller, he whined, Sure, lend me your pecker.

702
00:46:21.039 --> 00:46:24.519
Leslie stomped over to Maggie and snatched the knife from her.

703
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.239
He pressed the edge against her cheek. The respirator made

704
00:46:29.280 --> 00:46:33.000
his eyes appear even less human. He cut her loose

705
00:46:33.119 --> 00:46:36.320
with a precise slash and dropped the blade in front

706
00:46:36.360 --> 00:46:40.000
of her with a nod to Bruce. Cut the little

707
00:46:40.039 --> 00:46:44.000
bitch loose, he grumbled, I could use an extra canary.

708
00:46:45.079 --> 00:46:48.719
Maggie did as instructed, then closed the knife and tucked

709
00:46:48.760 --> 00:46:52.079
it into her haltertop. She helped Bruce to his feet,

710
00:46:52.360 --> 00:46:55.920
wiping Jack's blood from his face. It's going to be

711
00:46:56.000 --> 00:46:59.559
all right, baby, she lied to him. The thing on

712
00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:04.519
the roof shifted its weight, crumpling the tin loudly. Leslie

713
00:47:04.599 --> 00:47:08.559
fired two shots through the ceiling. The muzzles fireball made

714
00:47:08.599 --> 00:47:12.559
the cloud of dislodged asbestos twinkle as it swirled around them.

715
00:47:13.679 --> 00:47:18.239
Crimson drops falling through a fist sized hole spotted the carpet.

716
00:47:19.400 --> 00:47:26.079
Leslie grunted contently. Whatever it is, it ain't bulletproof, he mused.

717
00:47:26.960 --> 00:47:30.639
The trailer shook as something threw itself against the wall outside.

718
00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:35.159
It ain't happy neither. Bruce said, we can't stay here.

719
00:47:36.280 --> 00:47:39.840
I agree, Leslie jabbed him in the gut with the pistol.

720
00:47:40.519 --> 00:47:43.559
You're going to hold the door open for us? Fuck that?

721
00:47:44.159 --> 00:47:48.480
Bruce shook his head. Ain't that something? Leslie eyed him over,

722
00:47:48.639 --> 00:47:51.840
then turned to Maggie. It's not every day you meet

723
00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:56.960
a broad with two pussies. Her face reddened as much

724
00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:01.000
from embarrassment as anger. Bruce was a sweet guy, and

725
00:48:01.119 --> 00:48:04.719
he treated her nice. She'd married him because she genuinely

726
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:08.639
liked him, after all, But Leslie was right. He was

727
00:48:08.679 --> 00:48:13.920
a fucking coward. She squeezed Bruce's scrawny arm. Please sugar,

728
00:48:14.360 --> 00:48:17.400
It'll be all right. She looked at the wall behind

729
00:48:17.519 --> 00:48:21.480
them as the thing outside rammed it again. The panel

730
00:48:21.559 --> 00:48:25.199
split from the blow. See that it's on the other

731
00:48:25.280 --> 00:48:28.960
side of the trailer. Just go open the door. What

732
00:48:29.079 --> 00:48:33.039
if there's more than one, Bruce asked, then you wouldn't

733
00:48:33.039 --> 00:48:36.199
be able to count them anyhow. Leslie moved the gun

734
00:48:36.320 --> 00:48:40.400
to Maggie's pink lips. You open the door right now,

735
00:48:41.039 --> 00:48:44.039
and perhaps I find something I'd like to shoot more

736
00:48:44.119 --> 00:48:47.760
than your old lady. Get it, Baba, I get it,

737
00:48:48.239 --> 00:48:52.280
he mumbled. Bruce's shoulders sagged and he scuffled to the

738
00:48:52.360 --> 00:48:56.519
door like a scolded child. He gripped the knob, but

739
00:48:56.719 --> 00:49:00.599
froze there. Maggie turned on her heel and kick the wall.

740
00:49:01.320 --> 00:49:03.719
She beat her fists against the wood paneling, and the

741
00:49:03.840 --> 00:49:07.679
monster revved up its attacks. The trailer home rocked from

742
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:11.320
the thing's assault. She looked over her shoulder to Bruce.

743
00:49:12.159 --> 00:49:15.239
Hurry up, baby, I'll keep it distracted over here, she

744
00:49:15.400 --> 00:49:21.679
told him. Yeah. Leslie hissed, good idea. He joined her

745
00:49:21.719 --> 00:49:24.840
at the wall, stomping his shit kicker against it and

746
00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:29.000
whooping like a knight at the rodeo. Maggie screamed profanities

747
00:49:29.039 --> 00:49:33.360
at the unseen evil outside. It shrieked back, stopping the

748
00:49:33.480 --> 00:49:41.119
humans dead still. They'd officially pissed it off. Claws dragged

749
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:45.400
across the aluminum siding outside. The high pitched grating made

750
00:49:45.480 --> 00:49:50.079
Maggie cover her ears instinctively. Less ground his teeth together.

751
00:49:51.159 --> 00:49:54.639
The way it switched from furiously battering the structure to

752
00:49:54.880 --> 00:49:59.119
meticulously scratching at it was familiar. It was the sort

753
00:49:59.159 --> 00:50:03.000
of six psycho logical game he played to rattle people.

754
00:50:04.320 --> 00:50:07.320
Maybe he really wasn't the only monster in the gables.

755
00:50:08.199 --> 00:50:11.239
The door creaked on its hinges, and Leslie whirled around,

756
00:50:11.360 --> 00:50:16.119
expecting something to shoot. He stared at Bruce's back, waiting

757
00:50:16.199 --> 00:50:18.880
for the monster to pull him outside or snap off

758
00:50:18.920 --> 00:50:23.599
his head like poor Jack. Bruce turned slowly, his face

759
00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:27.880
whiter than normal. He ran to the sink, vomiting loudly

760
00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:33.079
into the steel basin. What is it, Leslie demanded. Bruce

761
00:50:33.159 --> 00:50:37.079
pointed to the door between heaves. Less leaned and craned

762
00:50:37.119 --> 00:50:40.679
his neck to see without having to get closer. It

763
00:50:40.880 --> 00:50:43.960
wasn't a great view, but it was enough. In the

764
00:50:44.079 --> 00:50:47.199
piss yellow light of the street lamps, he could see

765
00:50:47.239 --> 00:50:51.039
the body parts wrapped in the tattered remains of white

766
00:50:51.119 --> 00:50:55.360
tyvek coveralls and the bare open rib cage of the torso.

767
00:50:56.199 --> 00:50:59.480
He cocked his head. The urge to join Bruce at

768
00:50:59.480 --> 00:51:02.400
the sinks swelled in the back of his throat. The

769
00:51:02.519 --> 00:51:06.119
torso and the limbs were from two different bodies. The

770
00:51:06.239 --> 00:51:09.960
damnable thing outside had been ripping his employees to shreds.

771
00:51:11.960 --> 00:51:16.159
Why did it get quiet, Maggs whispered, because it wants

772
00:51:16.239 --> 00:51:20.239
to scare us. Leslie said, certain that he understood it.

773
00:51:20.800 --> 00:51:26.159
Whatever it was, we heard it made it personal. It

774
00:51:26.280 --> 00:51:30.320
wants to play with us. You heard it, you stupid asshole,

775
00:51:30.880 --> 00:51:35.280
Maggie corrected him. You got the fucking gun. That's right,

776
00:51:35.360 --> 00:51:38.079
I fucking do. He grabbed her by the back of

777
00:51:38.159 --> 00:51:41.480
the neck, and I got the keys to the chevy outside.

778
00:51:42.440 --> 00:51:45.800
You pick which one gets you out of here. I'll

779
00:51:45.840 --> 00:51:49.639
take the truck, she snarled. Then go check that the

780
00:51:49.760 --> 00:51:53.639
coast is clear. He gave her a shove. She gripped

781
00:51:53.639 --> 00:51:56.000
the door jam and rocked on the balls of her feet.

782
00:51:56.679 --> 00:52:00.239
She took a deep breath to steal her nerves, then

783
00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:03.920
shot her head outside for a quick look in both directions.

784
00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:08.880
She backpedaled quick as she could. It's clear there's nothing

785
00:52:08.920 --> 00:52:11.840
out there but dead folk. She sniffled and wiped her

786
00:52:11.920 --> 00:52:15.840
nose with the back of her hand, Lots of them. Well,

787
00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:19.960
it's a dangerous job. Less strolled to meet her, digging

788
00:52:20.039 --> 00:52:22.599
the keys out of his black jeans along the way.

789
00:52:23.360 --> 00:52:27.519
Let's blow this joint. Something blue, all right. The trailer's

790
00:52:27.559 --> 00:52:32.039
windows shook and the siding rattled. The creature outside screamed,

791
00:52:33.039 --> 00:52:38.239
and another answered it, then a third, a fourth. Their

792
00:52:38.320 --> 00:52:42.480
primal calls carried with the rumble of the explosion. It

793
00:52:42.639 --> 00:52:46.039
wasn't like the first one. It was smaller, full of

794
00:52:46.159 --> 00:52:50.280
metallic clattering, and it was a lot closer. Most of

795
00:52:50.360 --> 00:52:53.800
the ingredients were volatile, and Less made sure his people

796
00:52:53.920 --> 00:52:56.519
had the purest, high grade versions of all of them.

797
00:52:56.639 --> 00:53:01.039
For his brand of crank. Explosions were inochi patiental hazard

798
00:53:01.159 --> 00:53:05.159
under normal conditions, and the night had been anything but normal.

799
00:53:06.280 --> 00:53:09.599
The creature sprang through the open door, bending the frame

800
00:53:09.760 --> 00:53:13.559
with its girth. Leslie brought the pistol up and fired

801
00:53:13.639 --> 00:53:17.840
without thinking. A hunk of pebbled brown green skin tore

802
00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:23.000
from its shoulder. It wriggled inside, its elongated snout stretched

803
00:53:23.039 --> 00:53:27.519
open in a shrill angry call. It slouched and snapped

804
00:53:27.519 --> 00:53:31.440
at Maggie's ankles. She jumped backwards, crashing through a table

805
00:53:31.519 --> 00:53:36.480
of Pyrek's dishes and beakers. Less fired again. The jacketed

806
00:53:36.559 --> 00:53:40.760
hollow point punched into the creature's chest. A stubby, clawed

807
00:53:40.920 --> 00:53:46.239
forearm dangled from its twisting sinew. Another round blasted through

808
00:53:46.320 --> 00:53:49.679
the billowing leathery neck and painted the wall with a

809
00:53:49.840 --> 00:53:54.719
thick arterial spray. The final shot passed through its eye,

810
00:53:55.320 --> 00:53:58.559
turning its head into a gory party popper that littered

811
00:53:58.599 --> 00:54:02.679
the trailer with bits of matter and skull fragments. It

812
00:54:02.800 --> 00:54:07.159
collapsed with its powerful hind legs, twitching and shredding the carpet.

813
00:54:08.559 --> 00:54:13.199
Bruce walked to it cautiously. Leslie joined him, followed by

814
00:54:13.239 --> 00:54:17.079
a limping Maggie. The top of the thing's head was gone,

815
00:54:17.639 --> 00:54:20.760
its nose laid three feet to the left, but the

816
00:54:20.840 --> 00:54:25.880
bottom jaw and its curved, serrated teeth were still intact.

817
00:54:26.519 --> 00:54:29.559
The thick muscular tail squirmed on the floor the way

818
00:54:29.639 --> 00:54:33.840
a snake does after its head's been chopped off. Maggie

819
00:54:33.960 --> 00:54:38.920
sagged to the carpet beside it. It can't be, she said,

820
00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:44.840
it is, Leslie informed her. He smiled big, the way

821
00:54:44.960 --> 00:54:50.639
only a Texan would in such situations. Sweet cheeks, we

822
00:54:50.880 --> 00:55:00.760
just killed us a dinosaur. Dinosaurs ain't even real, Bruce shouted.

823
00:55:01.519 --> 00:55:03.840
Less hit him with the pistol, driving him to his

824
00:55:03.960 --> 00:55:08.199
knees next to his wife. They are, and there's plenty

825
00:55:08.280 --> 00:55:12.760
more of them, Leslie growled, at least three. Matter of fact,

826
00:55:14.360 --> 00:55:17.800
let's go to that truck. Mag whispered. She snapped her

827
00:55:17.840 --> 00:55:22.559
eyes to Leslie. Now. The keys fell into her lap.

828
00:55:23.000 --> 00:55:26.280
She held them up by the rabbit foot keychain for

829
00:55:26.440 --> 00:55:30.840
good luck. Less explained, the rabbit had four of them,

830
00:55:30.880 --> 00:55:34.639
and look how he wound up. She stood skirting around

831
00:55:34.719 --> 00:55:38.920
the dinosaur carcass. The tail flopped about to block her

832
00:55:39.079 --> 00:55:42.599
path to the door. She tried stepping over, and it

833
00:55:42.719 --> 00:55:47.000
swept her leg, making her stumble forward. Leslie watched her

834
00:55:47.119 --> 00:55:50.960
topple over the threshold and disappear off the rickety steps.

835
00:55:52.519 --> 00:55:54.840
He couldn't hear her hit the ground over the still

836
00:55:54.920 --> 00:56:00.960
screaming siren. He heard other things, though. Guns popped off

837
00:56:01.039 --> 00:56:04.719
around the gables, the sound of his employees fighting back

838
00:56:04.840 --> 00:56:11.079
against the prehistoric super predators. Screaming and roars interrupted sporadically.

839
00:56:12.159 --> 00:56:19.360
Then Less screaming, then less shooting. He didn't get to

840
00:56:19.480 --> 00:56:23.760
Fortune often, so he wasn't sure how many people Jack employed,

841
00:56:24.320 --> 00:56:26.440
but so long as they were fighting, it meant the

842
00:56:26.559 --> 00:56:30.480
dinosaurs were distracted. He gave Bruce a kick in the hip.

843
00:56:31.119 --> 00:56:35.599
Get up, I think we should hide, Bruce said, sniffling.

844
00:56:36.199 --> 00:56:38.639
The alarm means the depot called for help, don't it.

845
00:56:39.559 --> 00:56:42.719
How the fuck should I know? Leslie looked down at

846
00:56:42.760 --> 00:56:46.559
the dinosaur and huffed, Oh hell, we better hope that

847
00:56:46.599 --> 00:56:51.920
ain't what it means. Huh, goddamn boy, this lizard's brains

848
00:56:51.960 --> 00:56:54.239
are all over the living room, and it's still smarter

849
00:56:54.360 --> 00:56:57.880
than you. Less grabbed Bruce's collar and hoisted him to

850
00:56:57.960 --> 00:57:02.000
his feet. They said, it's a chemical storage site, but

851
00:57:02.119 --> 00:57:06.679
they're making dinosaurs. Don't you get it. Bruce stared at

852
00:57:06.760 --> 00:57:09.960
Leslie for a long moment before shrugging he did not

853
00:57:10.199 --> 00:57:13.679
get it. It's a secret project where no one's gonna

854
00:57:13.719 --> 00:57:17.480
give a fuck about it. Leslie explained. This town's always

855
00:57:17.519 --> 00:57:20.679
had shit luck, and plenty of it. One more disaster

856
00:57:20.760 --> 00:57:25.159
ain't gonna hurt nothing. Whoever's running the operation, really running

857
00:57:25.199 --> 00:57:28.800
it is going to kill every motherfucking pecker Wooden Fortune

858
00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:32.760
and blame the whole thing on a chemical spill. Oh,

859
00:57:33.960 --> 00:57:36.599
Bruce spit his lip. His eyes widened when it all

860
00:57:36.679 --> 00:57:41.920
sank in. Oh, we gotta go. Glad you approve of

861
00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:46.920
the plan, Leslie rolled his wrist. The pistol felt reassuring

862
00:57:47.000 --> 00:57:50.519
in his hand, but it also felt light. He ejected

863
00:57:50.559 --> 00:57:53.679
the magazine and tossed it over his shoulder. It clattered

864
00:57:53.719 --> 00:57:57.039
into the kitchen. He eased the slide back a bit,

865
00:57:57.679 --> 00:58:01.039
but didn't look. It. Took him three more seconds to

866
00:58:01.079 --> 00:58:05.360
get up the nerve for that. He glanced quickly, scared

867
00:58:05.400 --> 00:58:08.599
of what he'd find. He gave a sigh of relief

868
00:58:08.679 --> 00:58:12.360
at the hint of polished brass. There was still one

869
00:58:12.480 --> 00:58:16.119
bullet in the chamber. He couldn't waste it on Bruce,

870
00:58:16.719 --> 00:58:20.519
not until the now leaving Missouri sign was miles behind them. Anyhow,

871
00:58:21.360 --> 00:58:23.800
The sudden rumble of his truck brought him back to

872
00:58:23.880 --> 00:58:26.599
the present. He gave Bruce a shove toward the door.

873
00:58:27.199 --> 00:58:30.679
The dinosaur's tail flailed once more and fell still, as

874
00:58:30.760 --> 00:58:35.519
if letting them pass by choice. Headlights blazed across the yard,

875
00:58:35.599 --> 00:58:37.800
and the truck slid to a stop in front of

876
00:58:37.880 --> 00:58:42.719
the porch. Less gave Bruce another prod to exit. Would

877
00:58:42.760 --> 00:58:45.280
you look at that, Bubba, your old ladies come to

878
00:58:45.320 --> 00:58:48.280
save You're sorry ass, Bess. We don't keep her waiting.

879
00:58:49.000 --> 00:58:52.840
He nudged him with the gun for emphasis. Bruce nodded

880
00:58:52.880 --> 00:58:56.880
and eased himself forward. Maggie was waving frantically for him

881
00:58:56.920 --> 00:59:00.639
to hurry. The tweaker watched the dino tail, expecting it

882
00:59:00.760 --> 00:59:03.559
to jump up again. He made it out onto the

883
00:59:03.639 --> 00:59:08.199
porch without incident and breathed a heavy sigh. Just get

884
00:59:08.280 --> 00:59:11.239
in the bed, baby, mag shouted, We need to hurry.

885
00:59:11.320 --> 00:59:13.599
The whole mountain's on fire. I just seen one of

886
00:59:13.639 --> 00:59:17.719
them things. Bruce saw one too. It launched itself into

887
00:59:17.760 --> 00:59:20.199
the bed of the truck, slamming its snout through the

888
00:59:20.280 --> 00:59:24.079
back glass in one fluid motion. Bruce watched it bite

889
00:59:24.159 --> 00:59:27.800
through the dashboard with a crunch. He screamed and jumped

890
00:59:27.840 --> 00:59:31.639
over the dead saurus, sprinting back into the safety of

891
00:59:31.760 --> 00:59:37.000
the meth lab. You fucking coward, Leslie, shouted. The gangster

892
00:59:37.119 --> 00:59:40.239
knelt and braced the pistol over his arm, taking aim

893
00:59:40.400 --> 00:59:43.840
into the cab of his truck. There was no clean shot.

894
00:59:44.719 --> 00:59:47.480
Maggie pushed the door and it banged against the porch

895
00:59:47.599 --> 00:59:51.679
an inch away she was trapped. The monster spat out

896
00:59:51.719 --> 00:59:55.280
the vinyl and swatted Maggie with its snout. It squirmed

897
00:59:55.320 --> 00:59:58.599
in placed, breaking away safety glass with its thick neck

898
00:59:58.920 --> 01:00:00.719
in an attempt to get a at her angle on

899
01:00:00.800 --> 01:00:05.199
the succulent human morsel. A forelimb shot into the cab,

900
01:00:05.639 --> 01:00:09.079
rending the leather seats. Maggie tried to go out the window,

901
01:00:09.159 --> 01:00:12.199
but was stopped by another blow from the dinosaur's skull.

902
01:00:12.960 --> 01:00:16.280
It bared its teeth in front of her face. The fetid,

903
01:00:16.400 --> 01:00:19.639
hot breath reeked of blood and the scraps of raw

904
01:00:19.800 --> 01:00:25.559
meat clinging between the serrated fangs it snapped down. Maggie

905
01:00:25.719 --> 01:00:29.320
jerked her head away, leaving a clump of AquaNet flavored

906
01:00:29.360 --> 01:00:33.320
curls in the beast's mouth. Her foot battered the petals

907
01:00:33.360 --> 01:00:37.000
in her attempt to escape. The engine revved, drawing a

908
01:00:37.159 --> 01:00:41.840
hiss from the monster. The dinosaur's fingers curled around the

909
01:00:41.920 --> 01:00:46.280
steering wheel. It wrestled itself further into the cab, rocking

910
01:00:46.400 --> 01:00:50.280
the truck violently. With the effort. The monster tried to

911
01:00:50.320 --> 01:00:54.559
bite again, nipping away a piece of flesh from Maggie's shoulder.

912
01:00:55.679 --> 01:00:59.440
She saw Leslie in the doorway, taking aim but holding

913
01:00:59.519 --> 01:01:04.599
its fire. She didn't see her loving husband, However, Leslie

914
01:01:04.679 --> 01:01:09.280
holstered the weapon and turned his head down. If Maggie

915
01:01:09.440 --> 01:01:12.519
was going to survive, she'd have to save her own ass.

916
01:01:13.519 --> 01:01:17.480
Another hot breath hissed across her flesh. She swung her

917
01:01:17.559 --> 01:01:21.840
hand around, looking for salvation. Her fingers struck the chrome

918
01:01:21.960 --> 01:01:25.599
skull atop the gearshift. She stamped the clutch to the floor.

919
01:01:25.960 --> 01:01:28.960
The steering column shattered as the wheel was wrenched from it.

920
01:01:29.800 --> 01:01:33.239
Maggie hooked her fingers around the skull and forced the

921
01:01:33.360 --> 01:01:37.719
shifter into gear. The truck crawled forward. She slammed into

922
01:01:37.760 --> 01:01:41.679
the door, banging it into the porch again again, one

923
01:01:41.760 --> 01:01:45.119
more time to no avail. The roof of the cab bent,

924
01:01:45.480 --> 01:01:49.079
allowing the dinosaur the room to move. It reached its

925
01:01:49.119 --> 01:01:53.920
head back and hissed. Maggie threw herself against the door again,

926
01:01:54.840 --> 01:02:00.119
still trapped, the monster spread its jaws and lunged for

927
01:02:00.199 --> 01:02:04.920
a killing chomp. Maggie's face hit the ground, shattering her nose.

928
01:02:05.519 --> 01:02:08.840
She'd never been so happy to hurt so bad. The

929
01:02:09.000 --> 01:02:12.239
snap of the teeth closing behind her echoed in her skull.

930
01:02:12.960 --> 01:02:15.239
She rubbed the tears from her eyes and watched the

931
01:02:15.360 --> 01:02:19.280
truck roll away, with the dinosaur wrestling in the entrapment.

932
01:02:20.039 --> 01:02:24.840
It roared and shrieked furiously. The others answered the cries.

933
01:02:25.320 --> 01:02:28.199
Trees shook as one of them ran to its pack mate.

934
01:02:28.960 --> 01:02:33.159
The chemical plant or whatever it really was, had blown

935
01:02:33.280 --> 01:02:37.239
sky high and set the mountain ablaze. The orange red

936
01:02:37.360 --> 01:02:40.719
hell fire of the spreading inferno revealed the shadow of

937
01:02:40.800 --> 01:02:45.800
the beast. A realization far more terrifying than her brush

938
01:02:45.880 --> 01:02:49.480
with death came to Maggie. She pushed herself from the

939
01:02:49.599 --> 01:02:54.000
ground and ran back into the trailer. Thought you were

940
01:02:54.039 --> 01:02:58.599
a goner, Leslie said, He shrugged with a grin. Told

941
01:02:58.639 --> 01:03:02.480
you the rabbit foot was lucky. Maggie slugged him across

942
01:03:02.559 --> 01:03:05.639
the jaw, sending him reeling into the kitchen. A second

943
01:03:05.719 --> 01:03:08.400
punch caught him in the temple. He blinked away the

944
01:03:08.480 --> 01:03:11.400
stars in his vision and found himself nose to nose

945
01:03:11.519 --> 01:03:14.920
with Maggie. He felt the prick of her blade against

946
01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:18.199
the prick in his jeans. She gripped the strings of

947
01:03:18.280 --> 01:03:21.719
his bolo tie and twisted the pocket knife, drawing a

948
01:03:21.840 --> 01:03:25.079
grunt from Less and making him rise on his tiptoes.

949
01:03:26.199 --> 01:03:29.800
You could have shot it, she growled. Only have one

950
01:03:29.840 --> 01:03:34.079
bullet left, he informed her, saving it for a special occasion.

951
01:03:34.960 --> 01:03:38.559
Killing a dinosaur ain't special enough for you. Already did

952
01:03:38.639 --> 01:03:41.559
that tonight. Better be prepared to do it a few

953
01:03:41.639 --> 01:03:46.400
more times. Maggie relaxed her grip. The trucks gone. We're

954
01:03:46.440 --> 01:03:50.920
gonna need new wheels, baby, Bruce said, in a shaky,

955
01:03:51.039 --> 01:03:56.760
uncertain voice. Baby, you made it. Maggie turned to face him.

956
01:03:57.760 --> 01:04:01.079
Blood poured freely from her nose down to the buttons

957
01:04:01.159 --> 01:04:05.000
of her denim shorts. Bruce's face paled at the sight

958
01:04:05.079 --> 01:04:09.480
of his frail little wife, bloodied face, streaked with running makeup,

959
01:04:09.800 --> 01:04:13.320
and a knife digging into a drug lord's scrotum. His

960
01:04:13.519 --> 01:04:18.119
mouth moved silently, sampling the possible apologies for running away.

961
01:04:19.159 --> 01:04:24.880
Maggie stared toward him, and he took an instinctive step back. Baby,

962
01:04:25.880 --> 01:04:30.079
baby babe, just calm down, he gulped, knowing that was

963
01:04:30.159 --> 01:04:35.159
exactly what not to say. I mean a fuck. Maggie

964
01:04:35.199 --> 01:04:37.639
gave him a shove and pointed the knife at him.

965
01:04:38.400 --> 01:04:42.400
She knelt next to Jack Turney's corpse. The keys jangled

966
01:04:42.400 --> 01:04:45.360
as she jerked them from his pants. She looked at

967
01:04:45.400 --> 01:04:50.079
the dead dinosaur. Remembering the scene outside, she stuffed the

968
01:04:50.199 --> 01:04:53.440
keys into the shallow pocket of her shorts. We got

969
01:04:53.519 --> 01:04:57.000
a ride, she said. Now we just need a plan.

970
01:04:58.360 --> 01:05:02.159
Jack's parked two trailers over. Less indicated the direction with

971
01:05:02.280 --> 01:05:05.639
his thumb. We only got one bullet to get us there.

972
01:05:07.159 --> 01:05:11.760
You didn't bring any more, Bruce asked, incredulously, I was

973
01:05:11.840 --> 01:05:15.159
only planning on killing the two of you. Less shrugged.

974
01:05:16.079 --> 01:05:19.039
Maggie pulled a vial of crank from Jack's shirt and

975
01:05:19.199 --> 01:05:23.400
treated both blood filled nostrils to a sample. It burned

976
01:05:23.719 --> 01:05:27.199
like a motherfucker all the way up, and the chemical

977
01:05:27.320 --> 01:05:29.480
rushed down the back of her throat. Was a mix

978
01:05:29.559 --> 01:05:33.639
of copper and ammonia, with the bitter aftertaste of a fedrin.

979
01:05:34.440 --> 01:05:36.559
She ground her teeth while it went to work on

980
01:05:36.639 --> 01:05:40.320
her nervous system. Less and Bruce were arguing, but she

981
01:05:40.440 --> 01:05:43.360
couldn't make out a word of it. They needed a plan,

982
01:05:43.480 --> 01:05:46.280
and nothing on earth is more creative than a tweaker

983
01:05:46.559 --> 01:05:50.199
with a fresh toot up their nose. She crawled along

984
01:05:50.280 --> 01:05:54.159
the floor to retrieve something shiny. She stood up, slinging

985
01:05:54.239 --> 01:05:58.440
the cylinder over her shoulder. She elbowed past Leslie into

986
01:05:58.480 --> 01:06:01.119
the kitchen and let the ether came anister klank onto

987
01:06:01.159 --> 01:06:05.639
the countertop. Maggie continued tearing through the cabinets for various

988
01:06:05.679 --> 01:06:10.480
supplies without speaking to the men, Despite their questions and pestering.

989
01:06:11.480 --> 01:06:15.079
It took another fifteen minutes to assemble the components and

990
01:06:15.199 --> 01:06:19.719
attach a makeshift sling to the newly formed apparatus. Maggie

991
01:06:19.840 --> 01:06:22.320
slung it onto her back and held up a long

992
01:06:22.440 --> 01:06:25.920
barreled wand made from the sink's pea trap and a

993
01:06:26.039 --> 01:06:29.639
section of shower curtain rod. She waved it around the room,

994
01:06:29.760 --> 01:06:34.480
pointing it at imaginary monsters. Guttural growls outside told her

995
01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:38.599
time was almost up. She stripped a barbecue lighter to

996
01:06:38.719 --> 01:06:41.840
its bare essentials and used duct tape liberally to finish

997
01:06:41.960 --> 01:06:45.519
up her project. Less looked it over and raised an eyebrow,

998
01:06:46.159 --> 01:06:50.039
then snapped his fingers. I'll be damned, he said, with

999
01:06:50.119 --> 01:06:55.079
an appreciative whistle. Little lady made us a flamethrower. Me,

1000
01:06:55.840 --> 01:06:58.880
she corrected him, clicking the switch to ignite the pilot

1001
01:06:58.960 --> 01:07:02.800
light made me a flame thrower. You and your one

1002
01:07:02.880 --> 01:07:05.719
bullet are following to make sure nothing tries biting my

1003
01:07:05.880 --> 01:07:11.519
ass What about me, Bruce asked, Oh, Sugar, I got

1004
01:07:11.559 --> 01:07:15.719
a perfect job for you. Maggie smiled menacingly. Since you

1005
01:07:15.920 --> 01:07:18.199
like runnin' you can lead the way to the car.

1006
01:07:18.920 --> 01:07:22.079
You know which one, the big blue caddie. You're always

1007
01:07:22.119 --> 01:07:27.320
oglin Get movin'. But a wush of flame ignited the

1008
01:07:27.400 --> 01:07:30.400
curtains to let him know she was not fucking around.

1009
01:07:30.960 --> 01:07:33.360
Bruce nodded and cut a quick path to the door.

1010
01:07:34.000 --> 01:07:36.880
He didn't waste time stepping outside. A woman with a

1011
01:07:36.960 --> 01:07:40.119
flame thrower is scarier than any monster, it turns out.

1012
01:07:40.880 --> 01:07:43.320
He looked around and gave them a thumbs up before

1013
01:07:43.400 --> 01:07:46.960
jumping down from the porch. Maggie unless joined him a

1014
01:07:47.039 --> 01:07:51.360
moment later. The gangster pointed to a ramshackle trailer, A

1015
01:07:51.480 --> 01:07:54.199
mangled body hung out of one of the busted windows,

1016
01:07:54.599 --> 01:07:57.360
and pieces of another meth cook decorated the yard like

1017
01:07:57.480 --> 01:08:03.159
gory nomes others of that one. Les whispered, that's where

1018
01:08:03.199 --> 01:08:07.480
he's parked. They scurried across the open avenue quickly and

1019
01:08:07.639 --> 01:08:10.880
ducked into the shadow of the nearest lab. The trio

1020
01:08:11.079 --> 01:08:14.440
kept low, moving slowly and watching for the rest of

1021
01:08:14.519 --> 01:08:19.199
the prehistoric monstrosities Maggie's mind kept racing back to the

1022
01:08:19.279 --> 01:08:25.600
one she'd seen in the firelight, pain, fear, methamphetamines, a

1023
01:08:25.720 --> 01:08:27.760
lot of shit going through her system that could have

1024
01:08:27.840 --> 01:08:30.520
made her see things that weren't there. But she knew

1025
01:08:31.000 --> 01:08:34.600
that wasn't the case. It was real. She'd seen it,

1026
01:08:34.840 --> 01:08:38.359
and she knew damn well that she was right. The

1027
01:08:38.520 --> 01:08:40.680
chittering of one of the creatures froze them all in

1028
01:08:40.760 --> 01:08:43.880
their tracks. It limped out into a yellow pool of light.

1029
01:08:44.600 --> 01:08:48.119
Leslie bit his bottom lip. The thing was missing a

1030
01:08:48.199 --> 01:08:50.920
few toes, and he knew it was the one he'd

1031
01:08:50.960 --> 01:08:54.520
shot on the roof. It lowered its head to the ground,

1032
01:08:55.319 --> 01:08:59.880
sniffing around. It visibly tensed and let out a raspy bar.

1033
01:09:00.960 --> 01:09:05.239
It called again, turning in a slow circle. Maggie never

1034
01:09:05.359 --> 01:09:08.119
took her eyes off it as she prodded Bruce to

1035
01:09:08.239 --> 01:09:13.680
continue on. It'll see us, he whispered under the porch.

1036
01:09:14.319 --> 01:09:18.199
She told him. Bruce crawled forward, disappearing through a gap

1037
01:09:18.319 --> 01:09:22.039
in the broken latticework around the porch's base. He held

1038
01:09:22.079 --> 01:09:25.680
out a hand and waved for the others. They started forward.

1039
01:09:25.720 --> 01:09:29.800
When Leslie grabbed Maggie's ankle, she glared over her shoulder,

1040
01:09:30.159 --> 01:09:33.640
ready to burn him alive on the spot. He shook

1041
01:09:33.680 --> 01:09:37.560
his head and pointed at the porch. Bruce's waving arm

1042
01:09:37.720 --> 01:09:40.880
was all she could see. The rest of him was

1043
01:09:41.000 --> 01:09:47.039
completely cloaked in the darkness beyond. Then it moved. The

1044
01:09:47.199 --> 01:09:50.920
glint of eye shine was right behind her husband. His

1045
01:09:51.239 --> 01:09:55.039
arm jerked under the porch impossibly fast. She heard the

1046
01:09:55.159 --> 01:09:59.960
wet crunching before he could cry out. Maggie screamed furious

1047
01:10:00.479 --> 01:10:04.000
and cranked the valve wide open. A spear of flame

1048
01:10:04.159 --> 01:10:07.720
shot through the opening, igniting the porch in a flash.

1049
01:10:08.159 --> 01:10:11.039
She saw the burning lizard dart under the trailer and

1050
01:10:11.279 --> 01:10:14.960
followed it with a sustained blast from her weapon. Time

1051
01:10:15.039 --> 01:10:18.600
to leave, Leslie shouted, trying to pull Maggie up by

1052
01:10:18.640 --> 01:10:22.439
the band of her shorts. It's gonna blow. She looked

1053
01:10:22.520 --> 01:10:26.159
up at the lab, now a five alarm structure fire

1054
01:10:26.840 --> 01:10:30.640
and knew he was right. The dinosaur shrieked in agony

1055
01:10:30.680 --> 01:10:33.600
as it cooked in the crawl space. The wounded one

1056
01:10:33.720 --> 01:10:37.239
limped at them fast as it could manage. Maggie spun

1057
01:10:37.359 --> 01:10:39.720
and put a wall of fire between it and them.

1058
01:10:40.600 --> 01:10:43.720
The dinosaur couldn't stop fast enough on its injured foot.

1059
01:10:44.079 --> 01:10:47.000
It toppled over and cried out as Maggie adjusted her

1060
01:10:47.039 --> 01:10:51.720
aim to burn it too. They rounded the trailer. Jack's

1061
01:10:51.760 --> 01:10:54.840
blue el Dorado was waiting in a gravel parking spot

1062
01:10:55.239 --> 01:10:58.840
one hundred yards away. They ran as hard as they could,

1063
01:11:00.279 --> 01:11:03.000
passed her and got to the car first. He pulled

1064
01:11:03.039 --> 01:11:05.960
the door handle, only to find it was locked. He

1065
01:11:06.039 --> 01:11:08.159
looked back and held out his hand for the keys.

1066
01:11:09.039 --> 01:11:12.960
The ground trembled around him. Maggie slid to a stop,

1067
01:11:13.319 --> 01:11:19.159
falling flat on her ass. Leslie looked at her curiously. Loud,

1068
01:11:19.600 --> 01:11:24.039
fast thumps echoed through the night, each one reverberated through

1069
01:11:24.119 --> 01:11:28.479
his body. He glanced at the caddy's side mirror and

1070
01:11:28.600 --> 01:11:31.640
the warning that the object within was closer than it appeared.

1071
01:11:32.680 --> 01:11:37.560
He rolled his wrist. The gun still felt, reassuring it

1072
01:11:37.720 --> 01:11:40.359
was the special occasion he'd been saving that bullet for.

1073
01:11:41.399 --> 01:11:45.439
He whipped the muzzle under his chin. The mother tyranosaurus

1074
01:11:45.560 --> 01:11:51.119
snatched him off the ground in her powerful jaws. Her

1075
01:11:51.239 --> 01:11:55.039
teeth shredded his guts and snapped through his back. There

1076
01:11:55.159 --> 01:11:58.239
was a muffled pop as the gun went off inside

1077
01:11:58.279 --> 01:12:01.720
her mouth. She lung her head from side to side

1078
01:12:01.840 --> 01:12:05.399
until his lower appendages sailed over the top of a trailer.

1079
01:12:06.640 --> 01:12:11.279
She turned her snout up and choked down Leslie's torso hole.

1080
01:12:14.640 --> 01:12:17.800
Maggie got to her feet and fired the flamethrower in

1081
01:12:17.920 --> 01:12:22.159
short bursts, like a lion tamer cracking a whip. The

1082
01:12:22.239 --> 01:12:26.119
Big Mama backed up slowly. The meth lab she'd set

1083
01:12:26.119 --> 01:12:31.840
a blaze exploded, startling the creature. Maggie got to the

1084
01:12:31.960 --> 01:12:36.800
car and reached into her pocket for nothing. The keys

1085
01:12:36.880 --> 01:12:40.079
were gone. She looked back and saw them shimmering in

1086
01:12:40.159 --> 01:12:45.920
the firelight where she'd fallen. The flamethrower sputtered. She discarded

1087
01:12:45.960 --> 01:12:48.880
it and dropped to the ground, rolling under the car.

1088
01:12:49.000 --> 01:12:52.479
As the beast scooped up a mouthful of gravel, It

1089
01:12:52.640 --> 01:12:55.760
bashed its head against the car, shoving it to the side.

1090
01:12:56.399 --> 01:13:00.319
Maggie scooted along to stay underneath it. The explosion had

1091
01:13:00.359 --> 01:13:04.439
thrown flaming materials into the surrounding mobile homes. They were

1092
01:13:04.479 --> 01:13:07.479
all starting to go up. She was trapped under a

1093
01:13:07.600 --> 01:13:11.119
car being pursued by a dinosaur in the middle of

1094
01:13:11.239 --> 01:13:15.439
Hillbilly Hiroshima. Metal crunched and the frame of the car

1095
01:13:15.600 --> 01:13:19.720
got uncomfortably closer to her. She crawled on her back

1096
01:13:19.840 --> 01:13:23.359
toward the front of the Cadillac. The drive shaft tore

1097
01:13:23.399 --> 01:13:26.439
her haltertop open, and for the first time ever, she

1098
01:13:26.640 --> 01:13:30.720
was thankful for her small endowments. She heard the clatter

1099
01:13:30.840 --> 01:13:33.840
of the knife falling out of her ruined top. Her

1100
01:13:33.960 --> 01:13:37.079
fingers curled around the wooden grip, and she opened it

1101
01:13:37.199 --> 01:13:40.840
with a dainty click that the t Rex answered with

1102
01:13:40.960 --> 01:13:45.640
a mighty roar. Maggie hurried to the engine compartment and

1103
01:13:45.760 --> 01:13:49.239
wriggled her arms up, groping blindly for the fuel line.

1104
01:13:49.800 --> 01:13:53.119
She cut at anything that felt right. The third try

1105
01:13:53.199 --> 01:13:56.000
sent a spurt of gasoline into her left eye and

1106
01:13:56.119 --> 01:13:59.600
let her know she'd found it. Maggie dropped the knife

1107
01:13:59.640 --> 01:14:02.479
and kids continued forward. As the pool spread beneath her.

1108
01:14:03.159 --> 01:14:06.199
She grabbed the bumper and took a deep breath, holding

1109
01:14:06.239 --> 01:14:09.239
it in while the monstrous Mommy stomped over the car

1110
01:14:09.760 --> 01:14:12.960
to the other side. Maggie looked at the clawed feet.

1111
01:14:13.640 --> 01:14:17.279
It was facing away from the trailers. She had a chance.

1112
01:14:17.880 --> 01:14:20.800
Maggie pulled hard on the bumper, freeing herself from under

1113
01:14:20.800 --> 01:14:23.680
the car and grating away the flesh of her shoulders

1114
01:14:23.960 --> 01:14:26.960
in the process. She rolled to her hands and knees,

1115
01:14:27.159 --> 01:14:30.039
scrambling like mad until she got her feet under her

1116
01:14:30.439 --> 01:14:37.319
and could run. The trailer exploded the car went up. Next,

1117
01:14:37.720 --> 01:14:40.720
she heard the pissed off roar of the beast. She

1118
01:14:40.880 --> 01:14:44.319
looked back to see it staggering away from the brutalizing heat.

1119
01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:49.079
Another lab came apart in a massive fireball, engulfing the

1120
01:14:49.159 --> 01:14:53.760
beast and spurring her to run faster. The glades continued

1121
01:14:53.840 --> 01:14:58.920
exploding for another thirty minutes, and Maggie ran the entire time.

1122
01:15:00.199 --> 01:15:04.039
She could barely hear the small pops of secondary blasts

1123
01:15:04.159 --> 01:15:07.199
by the time her legs gave out and she collapsed

1124
01:15:07.640 --> 01:15:11.119
on the side of County Road two thirty two. Her

1125
01:15:11.199 --> 01:15:13.760
feet twitched like they wanted to keep going, but the

1126
01:15:13.840 --> 01:15:17.720
muscles in her legs weren't having any of it. Helicopters

1127
01:15:17.800 --> 01:15:22.119
rumbled overhead on a path toward fortune. She rolled onto

1128
01:15:22.199 --> 01:15:26.000
her back, clapping her hands to get their attention. Her

1129
01:15:26.079 --> 01:15:28.680
lungs were too busy fighting for air to call out.

1130
01:15:29.439 --> 01:15:32.760
She slapped the ground in defeat. Maybe they were the

1131
01:15:32.920 --> 01:15:35.760
army or something, and they'd kill that big bitch of

1132
01:15:35.840 --> 01:15:40.359
a dino before it caught up with her. Headlights crowned

1133
01:15:40.399 --> 01:15:43.720
a hill further down the street, and Maggie forced herself

1134
01:15:43.800 --> 01:15:47.680
to her knees. She tried to slow down her heaving breaths,

1135
01:15:48.399 --> 01:15:51.600
but it was pointless. It took all her effort just

1136
01:15:51.720 --> 01:15:57.920
to stand. Something chittered behind her. She bent, putting her

1137
01:15:57.960 --> 01:16:02.359
hands on her knees and shook her head. She looked

1138
01:16:02.399 --> 01:16:07.800
at the headlights at her salvation, then over her shoulder,

1139
01:16:08.880 --> 01:16:13.680
just in time to see the teeth closing around her face.

1140
01:16:21.560 --> 01:16:27.399
Hog Wild by David O'Hanlon. The half century old ruts

1141
01:16:27.560 --> 01:16:30.520
left by the dump trucks hauling zinc out of Brodie

1142
01:16:30.600 --> 01:16:35.279
Mines jostled the four men violently. Elijah Lurker wrung the

1143
01:16:35.359 --> 01:16:38.399
steering wheel in his weathered fists like it owed him money.

1144
01:16:39.079 --> 01:16:41.640
He was just a boy when the mine closed back

1145
01:16:41.720 --> 01:16:46.159
in seventy nine after they discovered the first body. When

1146
01:16:46.199 --> 01:16:50.720
they pulled out seven more, it never reopened. It was

1147
01:16:50.800 --> 01:16:54.960
the perfect place to do the deed. Elijah looked to

1148
01:16:55.039 --> 01:16:59.079
the passenger seat. Jackson Green fidgeted with the cylinder of

1149
01:16:59.159 --> 01:17:02.600
the Bulldog of keeping the hammer held back with his

1150
01:17:02.760 --> 01:17:06.119
thumb as he clicked each of the five chambers into

1151
01:17:06.199 --> 01:17:12.000
place forwards and then backwards. Elijah watched the kid's tattooed

1152
01:17:12.039 --> 01:17:16.039
fingers work the cylinder like a lethal Rubik's cube. Tough

1153
01:17:16.239 --> 01:17:20.880
Love with two f's read across his fingers. The letters

1154
01:17:20.920 --> 01:17:25.119
were blobby, green, blue, and crooked. They were the kind

1155
01:17:25.279 --> 01:17:28.800
trailer part kids gave themselves in junior high and tried

1156
01:17:28.840 --> 01:17:32.960
to hide during job interviews. Jackson was twenty two and

1157
01:17:33.079 --> 01:17:36.119
already a two strike felon, so he didn't have to

1158
01:17:36.159 --> 01:17:39.439
worry about that. He didn't have to worry about anything

1159
01:17:40.239 --> 01:17:44.640
much longer. Elijah's eyes flicked to the rear view mirror.

1160
01:17:45.399 --> 01:17:48.720
Miles Dun was screwing with his phone as usual. A

1161
01:17:48.880 --> 01:17:52.239
pall mall hung forgotten from his lips as he squinted

1162
01:17:52.279 --> 01:17:56.920
at the screen, focused solely on his game. Walker Grimes

1163
01:17:57.000 --> 01:18:00.800
sat directly behind Elijah. For a moment there met in

1164
01:18:00.880 --> 01:18:04.800
the mirror. Elijah felt his own dread rippling across his

1165
01:18:04.960 --> 01:18:08.119
skin in a wave of goosebumps. As soon as the

1166
01:18:08.199 --> 01:18:13.119
job was done, Walker would kill Jackson. The three of

1167
01:18:13.199 --> 01:18:16.000
them all agreed to it as if they had a choice.

1168
01:18:16.039 --> 01:18:19.880
After the kids screw up in Bentonville, Elijah glanced at

1169
01:18:19.960 --> 01:18:23.000
Dunn again in time to see the ash finally fall.

1170
01:18:23.920 --> 01:18:26.640
Dunn took a drag off the cigarette and dusted the

1171
01:18:26.720 --> 01:18:30.920
ash to the floorboard. The front tire dropped into a

1172
01:18:31.000 --> 01:18:35.520
deep rut, banging the frame against the dirt road, Jackson's

1173
01:18:35.560 --> 01:18:39.359
thumb slipped from the hammer, letting it fly forward. The

1174
01:18:39.479 --> 01:18:42.680
forty four Special boomed in the confines of the sedan.

1175
01:18:43.239 --> 01:18:47.520
Elijah screamed. The window beside him shattered as something struck

1176
01:18:47.640 --> 01:18:50.600
the side of the car. The men cursed and fought

1177
01:18:50.720 --> 01:18:52.960
for something to grip. As the road was replaced with

1178
01:18:53.119 --> 01:18:59.760
untamed wilderness, Jackson's shrill screeching drowned out everyone. Elijah fought

1179
01:18:59.800 --> 01:19:03.439
with the steering wheel, narrowly missing a tree. They were

1180
01:19:03.520 --> 01:19:07.119
no longer going up the mining road, but careening down

1181
01:19:07.199 --> 01:19:11.600
the mountain. There was too much to process. As dusk

1182
01:19:11.720 --> 01:19:14.720
turned to night, he felt the hard impact of stones

1183
01:19:14.800 --> 01:19:19.840
striking a steel wheel, and then everything was upside down.

1184
01:19:20.960 --> 01:19:24.279
The car slid on its roof, clipping tree trunks and

1185
01:19:24.399 --> 01:19:26.680
rocks that twisted it to one side or the other.

1186
01:19:26.800 --> 01:19:30.359
On its downhill slalom, Elijah saw the edge of the

1187
01:19:30.399 --> 01:19:34.159
precipice in the moonlight. He stomped the brakes out of habit.

1188
01:19:34.720 --> 01:19:37.359
He squeezed his eyes shut as tight as he could manage.

1189
01:19:37.399 --> 01:19:40.239
As the car went over the edge and twisted in

1190
01:19:40.319 --> 01:19:43.880
the air, the landing was jarring. It felt like the

1191
01:19:43.960 --> 01:19:46.640
seat belt might tear all the way through him. The

1192
01:19:46.760 --> 01:19:50.479
air bag hadn't deployed, and as he tentatively opened his eyes,

1193
01:19:51.319 --> 01:19:57.119
he saw why they hadn't hit the ground. Instead, they

1194
01:19:57.239 --> 01:20:00.720
landed in the embrace of an oak tree. Her branches

1195
01:20:00.840 --> 01:20:05.199
hugged the sedan and kept it wedged safely thirty feet

1196
01:20:05.760 --> 01:20:09.439
above the forest floor. Elijah felt the weight on his

1197
01:20:09.600 --> 01:20:14.720
back and nudged the seat with his elbow. You all right, walker,

1198
01:20:15.520 --> 01:20:19.680
he asked. The weight shifted. How the fuck did you

1199
01:20:19.800 --> 01:20:22.720
manage to park a car in a tree? We are

1200
01:20:22.880 --> 01:20:24.640
never going to be able to explain this to the

1201
01:20:24.720 --> 01:20:30.720
old man, Elijah ignored him. Done you good, I dropped

1202
01:20:30.760 --> 01:20:34.279
my phone. Done, muttered, at least the seat belts still

1203
01:20:34.319 --> 01:20:38.960
work on this old piece of shit. Where's Jackson? Elijah

1204
01:20:39.000 --> 01:20:43.560
hadn't noticed the kid was missing. He realized the windshield

1205
01:20:43.720 --> 01:20:47.039
was as well. He craned his neck and spotted him

1206
01:20:47.119 --> 01:20:51.399
down below. The body laid crumpled and twisted in the

1207
01:20:51.520 --> 01:20:54.760
pool of the headlines. He got out of the tree

1208
01:20:58.199 --> 01:21:01.800
after twenty minutes of arguing, the three men still hadn't

1209
01:21:01.840 --> 01:21:04.920
come up with a plan. Dun laid on the back

1210
01:21:05.039 --> 01:21:09.119
of Jackson's empty seat and lit another cigarette, staring out

1211
01:21:09.199 --> 01:21:13.279
the back window at the cliff high above them. What

1212
01:21:13.439 --> 01:21:16.039
about cutting all the seat belts and makin a rope,

1213
01:21:16.520 --> 01:21:21.680
he suggested, they're load bearing, probably got about thirty foot

1214
01:21:21.720 --> 01:21:26.960
of em too. Worth a go, Walker grumbled, this is

1215
01:21:27.079 --> 01:21:30.039
the worst fucking tree house I've ever played in. Anyhow,

1216
01:21:31.159 --> 01:21:35.439
Elijah released the pressure on his hastily applied tourniquet. Jackson's

1217
01:21:35.560 --> 01:21:39.039
errant shot had passed through the meat just below the knee.

1218
01:21:39.800 --> 01:21:42.520
Even if they got down, he damned sure wouldn't be

1219
01:21:42.600 --> 01:21:46.159
walking out of the mountains. He shifted his weight gingerly,

1220
01:21:46.319 --> 01:21:48.720
trying to get the radio dials out of his back,

1221
01:21:49.319 --> 01:21:54.000
but not jostle the vehicle in the process. It might work.

1222
01:21:54.520 --> 01:21:57.520
Elijah turned enough to see over his shoulder and tried

1223
01:21:57.560 --> 01:22:01.119
to gage the distance to the ground. Son of a bitch,

1224
01:22:01.920 --> 01:22:05.800
Jackson isn't dead. The kids squirmed on the ground and

1225
01:22:05.960 --> 01:22:10.119
cried out as he stretched broken limbs. He called for Elijah,

1226
01:22:10.399 --> 01:22:14.319
then curled up into a fetal position. His plaintive cries

1227
01:22:14.439 --> 01:22:18.279
carried straight to the cab of the sedan. He's hurt,

1228
01:22:18.920 --> 01:22:23.920
he wanted help, he wanted to go home. Elijah's stomach

1229
01:22:24.000 --> 01:22:27.319
twisted in knots. He wanted to help the kid, but

1230
01:22:28.119 --> 01:22:30.720
to what end they were going to kill him. After

1231
01:22:30.760 --> 01:22:34.000
they took care of the cargo in the trunk, Elijah

1232
01:22:34.039 --> 01:22:37.079
looked between the headrests at the faded upholstery of the

1233
01:22:37.159 --> 01:22:41.920
back seat. That issue might have resolved itself in the crash.

1234
01:22:43.159 --> 01:22:47.359
Start cutting the belts, he said softly. I can't reach

1235
01:22:47.439 --> 01:22:51.399
these without moving us around. Got it, boss, done, said,

1236
01:22:51.680 --> 01:22:55.279
snapping open the Kershaw pocket knife. The two went to

1237
01:22:55.359 --> 01:22:58.239
work cutting the five straps free and passed them up

1238
01:22:58.279 --> 01:23:02.439
to Elijah. He tied the ends together. Not tying and

1239
01:23:02.600 --> 01:23:05.760
a dishonorable discharge were all he'd taken away from his

1240
01:23:05.920 --> 01:23:09.880
stint in the Navy. Once he was finished, Elijah tossed

1241
01:23:09.920 --> 01:23:12.920
an end back to Walker and let the rest unravel

1242
01:23:12.960 --> 01:23:17.239
out the broken windshield. It almost reached the ground, Walker

1243
01:23:17.319 --> 01:23:21.840
anchored it to the seat. When the screaming started. Elijah's

1244
01:23:21.920 --> 01:23:24.960
eyes flicked to the back seat again, but the cries

1245
01:23:25.000 --> 01:23:31.800
were coming from behind him, or rather below him. He turned,

1246
01:23:31.960 --> 01:23:36.119
leaning over the dash for a better view. Jackson wasn't alone.

1247
01:23:37.319 --> 01:23:41.640
A passel of feral hogs circled the kid, sniffing noisily

1248
01:23:41.720 --> 01:23:45.600
at his bloody wounds. Elijah watched as their numbers swelled

1249
01:23:45.640 --> 01:23:49.600
to a baker's dozen. The mountains were full of those bastards.

1250
01:23:50.279 --> 01:23:53.600
The rocky terrain made hunting them difficult, and there were

1251
01:23:53.680 --> 01:23:58.079
no natural predators. They ate fucked and kept on moving

1252
01:23:58.920 --> 01:24:03.359
three hundred pound large locusts. Worst of all, they weren't

1253
01:24:03.439 --> 01:24:10.319
picky about what they ate. Help me, Elijah Jackson wailed.

1254
01:24:11.159 --> 01:24:14.039
A few hogs took a step away when the McNuggets

1255
01:24:14.079 --> 01:24:18.960
started making noise. A few, but not all. A big,

1256
01:24:19.279 --> 01:24:23.520
tusked daddy of a hog nudged Jackson's ribs. The headlights

1257
01:24:23.560 --> 01:24:26.600
of the suspended sedan threw a spotlight on the whole scene.

1258
01:24:27.359 --> 01:24:31.720
Jackson tried to shove the animal's head back. Elijah gagged

1259
01:24:31.760 --> 01:24:36.720
as the boar nipped away his fingers. Done fire a

1260
01:24:36.800 --> 01:24:41.560
shot at the pigs. Elijah said, no way, too much noise, Boss,

1261
01:24:41.880 --> 01:24:45.359
it might shake us loose. Done replied, we're going to

1262
01:24:45.479 --> 01:24:48.680
kill him anyway. Walker said, if the hogs do it

1263
01:24:48.760 --> 01:24:51.319
for us, we don't have to worry about evidence or

1264
01:24:51.439 --> 01:24:55.760
hiding the body, speaking of we can't leave the car

1265
01:24:56.000 --> 01:25:00.319
in the tree. I'm aware, Elijah tugged the improvised rope.

1266
01:25:00.920 --> 01:25:05.359
Start down, I'll go last, sure thing. Done pulled the

1267
01:25:05.479 --> 01:25:08.079
lever to lay the passenger seat forward to the dash.

1268
01:25:08.800 --> 01:25:12.239
The car rocked ominously, and they all froze in place.

1269
01:25:13.279 --> 01:25:17.600
Walker glared at Done, and he shrugged in return. Done

1270
01:25:17.680 --> 01:25:21.119
went first. He climbed over the seat and gripped the

1271
01:25:21.199 --> 01:25:24.960
rope as he eased through the empty window frame. Elijah

1272
01:25:25.039 --> 01:25:28.600
had never seen Done nervous before. It would have been amusing.

1273
01:25:29.279 --> 01:25:33.399
If it weren't wasting time, they might not have. Jackson's

1274
01:25:33.439 --> 01:25:37.119
screaming was getting louder, but Elijah couldn't bring himself to

1275
01:25:37.199 --> 01:25:41.399
look again. He focused on Done as the man twisted

1276
01:25:41.479 --> 01:25:45.239
the belt around his forearm and slid along the hood.

1277
01:25:46.439 --> 01:25:52.000
Done lowered himself slowly and paused. Just wait for me

1278
01:25:52.119 --> 01:25:55.239
to reach the bottom before you come out, Walker, He hissed,

1279
01:25:55.880 --> 01:25:59.439
No shit, think I want to fall. Walker leaned on

1280
01:25:59.479 --> 01:26:02.359
the back of the driver's seat and stretched to watch

1281
01:26:02.479 --> 01:26:07.800
Dun's descent. What's the plan, Elijah. Done gets to the

1282
01:26:07.840 --> 01:26:10.920
bottom and scares off the pigs, then you can finish

1283
01:26:11.039 --> 01:26:16.119
Jackson while I come down. Elijah sighed. After that, I

1284
01:26:16.199 --> 01:26:19.319
don't know. You two walk until you have service and

1285
01:26:19.399 --> 01:26:22.319
call the old man. I guess he's going to be

1286
01:26:22.520 --> 01:26:28.399
righteously pissed. Walker looked over his shoulder. You hear that.

1287
01:26:29.720 --> 01:26:32.479
The back seat collapsed forward and the snitch in the

1288
01:26:32.560 --> 01:26:36.119
trunk came toppling. After the dainty form hit Walker in

1289
01:26:36.199 --> 01:26:39.119
the ass and sent him toppling through the windshield, the

1290
01:26:39.319 --> 01:26:42.520
enforcer hit the ground like a lawn dart next to Jackson.

1291
01:26:43.119 --> 01:26:45.800
Several of the pigs scattered from the heaven, sent morsel

1292
01:26:45.880 --> 01:26:48.800
crashing down in the middle of their dining room. The

1293
01:26:48.960 --> 01:26:54.000
animals squealed and hollered. The woods came alive with rustling

1294
01:26:54.159 --> 01:26:58.560
and grunting. Elijah looked down at Done, still dangling from

1295
01:26:58.600 --> 01:27:04.640
the straps rosen, stiff in disbelief. What the fuck was

1296
01:27:06.159 --> 01:27:08.560
Dune slipped a little as he raised a hand to point.

1297
01:27:09.359 --> 01:27:13.680
Gabby McKee, witnessed to the cock up in Bentonville, swung

1298
01:27:13.800 --> 01:27:17.199
the tire iron at Elijah's head. He twitched to the side.

1299
01:27:17.520 --> 01:27:20.279
A spray of broken plastic peppered his cheek as the

1300
01:27:20.399 --> 01:27:23.880
radio shattered against his skull. Gabby held on to the

1301
01:27:23.960 --> 01:27:26.760
headrest and stepped on the console to take a short

1302
01:27:26.880 --> 01:27:30.800
backhanded swing at him. Elijah caught her wrist and laid back,

1303
01:27:31.000 --> 01:27:34.119
blaring the horn. He put a foot into her stomach

1304
01:27:34.159 --> 01:27:37.520
and shoved her off. Gabby hit the roof and toppled

1305
01:27:37.560 --> 01:27:40.439
over the leaning seat. She grabbed the headrest with her

1306
01:27:40.479 --> 01:27:43.680
legs dangling out the windshield frame. She put her bare

1307
01:27:43.760 --> 01:27:46.399
feet on the hot hood and tried to pull herself

1308
01:27:46.520 --> 01:27:50.720
back in. The aluminum struts of the adjustable headrest bent,

1309
01:27:51.079 --> 01:27:53.399
and she dropped the tire iron for a better grip.

1310
01:27:54.119 --> 01:27:57.720
The cushion clicked twice as it slipped further out of

1311
01:27:57.800 --> 01:28:02.000
its socket. Gabby shrieked and pulled harder, her pale, freckled

1312
01:28:02.119 --> 01:28:06.079
arms tensed with effort. Elijah rolled over violently and caught

1313
01:28:06.079 --> 01:28:09.039
her elbow as it gave out. The headrest bounced on

1314
01:28:09.119 --> 01:28:12.960
the forest floor, and Elijah's eyes went wide with terror.

1315
01:28:14.039 --> 01:28:17.640
Dozens of pigs had joined the sounder. He guessed about

1316
01:28:17.720 --> 01:28:21.800
fifty of them altogether. Some were already tearing into Walker's body.

1317
01:28:22.119 --> 01:28:25.600
Others converged on Jackson until he couldn't be seen any longer,

1318
01:28:26.119 --> 01:28:30.800
but he could still be heard. Elijah pulled Gabby up

1319
01:28:30.880 --> 01:28:33.920
until she could grip the dash. She clamored inside and

1320
01:28:34.039 --> 01:28:36.319
scurried into the back of the car. Resting on the

1321
01:28:36.399 --> 01:28:41.319
driver's seat, She looked over her shoulder at Elijah. Thanks,

1322
01:28:41.920 --> 01:28:43.960
but stay the fuck on your side of the seat.

1323
01:28:44.520 --> 01:28:49.920
She hissed, I'm not going anywhere. Elijah huffed, you good done.

1324
01:28:50.840 --> 01:28:54.239
Fuck no. Elijah didn't like the sound of his voice.

1325
01:28:54.840 --> 01:28:58.840
Something outside of the obvious was wrong. He braced himself

1326
01:28:58.880 --> 01:29:02.359
for another look over the dash. He rolled back over

1327
01:29:02.520 --> 01:29:06.239
and banged a fist against the door. The tree creaked

1328
01:29:06.279 --> 01:29:11.800
in response. Don't do that again, Gabby whispered, you're making

1329
01:29:11.840 --> 01:29:16.920
it angry. Falling might not be so bad, Elijah told her.

1330
01:29:17.680 --> 01:29:20.880
Take a look for yourself. She peeked around the seat

1331
01:29:21.439 --> 01:29:26.600
and gasped before turning away. She panted heavily and slapped

1332
01:29:26.640 --> 01:29:29.840
a hand over her mouth to muffle the much needed scream.

1333
01:29:31.239 --> 01:29:36.119
Yeah that's what I thought, Elijah said. A massive quarter

1334
01:29:36.279 --> 01:29:40.079
ton boar had joined the party below. The others scampered

1335
01:29:40.119 --> 01:29:43.760
away from Walker as it approached, but he wasn't interested

1336
01:29:43.840 --> 01:29:47.000
in dead meat. The hog snorted loud enough to be

1337
01:29:47.119 --> 01:29:50.520
heard over the still running car motor and pranced beneath

1338
01:29:50.600 --> 01:29:56.199
Dun's swinging legs. Elijah watched the straps sway and debated

1339
01:29:56.279 --> 01:30:00.840
what to do. I'm coming up done, hollered, Just shoot it,

1340
01:30:01.319 --> 01:30:05.760
Elijah called back, are you fucking stupid? Nine mil won't

1341
01:30:05.840 --> 01:30:11.399
tickle that motherfucker. The rope moved about more violently. Dun shrieked,

1342
01:30:11.600 --> 01:30:15.439
and the ad hoc rope went still. Elijah didn't need

1343
01:30:15.520 --> 01:30:19.479
to look. He could hear the screaming, and when he couldn't,

1344
01:30:20.319 --> 01:30:25.279
he heard the crunching. They were all alone, just him

1345
01:30:25.760 --> 01:30:29.720
and the girl he was supposed to kill, stuck in

1346
01:30:29.800 --> 01:30:40.520
a tree, waiting to die together. Hours passed and the

1347
01:30:40.640 --> 01:30:44.560
hogs stayed put. They weren't going to abandon their meal,

1348
01:30:45.079 --> 01:30:50.000
and two entrees were still marinating high above them. Elijah's

1349
01:30:50.199 --> 01:30:53.800
entire body ached from his contorted position in the front seat.

1350
01:30:54.520 --> 01:30:57.520
His leg was throbbing, and he could feel the gathered

1351
01:30:57.600 --> 01:31:02.520
blood squishing inside his shoe. Hell of a thing, he whispered,

1352
01:31:03.279 --> 01:31:05.880
I don't even eat pork. Why don't you go down

1353
01:31:05.920 --> 01:31:10.520
there and see if the feeling's mutual. Gabby responded, you

1354
01:31:10.680 --> 01:31:14.399
have every right to be pissed, he started, Well, thanks

1355
01:31:14.479 --> 01:31:18.439
for giving me your blessing, asshole. You fucking breaking bad

1356
01:31:18.560 --> 01:31:22.279
extras were going to murder me. Pissed doesn't cover it,

1357
01:31:23.560 --> 01:31:26.000
if it makes you feel any better. Three and a

1358
01:31:26.039 --> 01:31:30.720
half of us are dead a little. Gabby rolled over

1359
01:31:30.800 --> 01:31:35.199
to look at Elijah. He was getting pale. You aren't kidding,

1360
01:31:36.000 --> 01:31:39.119
You're really dying. You wouldn't think getting shot in the

1361
01:31:39.199 --> 01:31:42.800
leg would be so serious. Gabby stretched and grabbed his

1362
01:31:42.880 --> 01:31:47.680
pant leg. Nicked your fibular artery. Elijah raised an eyebrow.

1363
01:31:48.640 --> 01:31:53.159
That sounds bad. It isn't good. She rolled over and snorted,

1364
01:31:54.079 --> 01:31:58.760
kill her pigs, sci Fi channel bullshit. How'd it get

1365
01:31:58.880 --> 01:32:04.239
so big? Serial killer back in the seventies, Elijah answered,

1366
01:32:05.039 --> 01:32:07.680
He hid his victims in the mine shafts, so the

1367
01:32:07.760 --> 01:32:11.279
Feds closed the mine. The whole area died after that.

1368
01:32:12.520 --> 01:32:15.880
There's no one in this valley anymore, so it just

1369
01:32:16.079 --> 01:32:20.840
keeps eating and growing, Gabby said. They sat in silence

1370
01:32:20.880 --> 01:32:24.319
for a few more minutes until dueling banjos made them

1371
01:32:24.399 --> 01:32:29.880
both jump. The car lurched from excitement Dun's phone. Elijah

1372
01:32:29.920 --> 01:32:33.199
looked around and spotted the glow coming from the passenger

1373
01:32:33.319 --> 01:32:39.319
side floorboards. He pointed, can you reach that? Gabby slithered

1374
01:32:39.399 --> 01:32:42.520
through the narrow gap and dived head first beneath the

1375
01:32:42.560 --> 01:32:46.479
glove compartment. She grabbed the cell phone, swiping to answer,

1376
01:32:47.680 --> 01:32:51.039
shut up and listen. She commanded, we need help. Hello,

1377
01:32:51.560 --> 01:32:55.079
can you hear me? God? God, damn it. The phone

1378
01:32:55.159 --> 01:32:57.920
beaped as the call ended. She tucked the phone into

1379
01:32:57.960 --> 01:32:59.920
her bra and tried to wiggle out of the hole.

1380
01:33:00.880 --> 01:33:04.079
Who was it, Elijah asked, trying to help her out

1381
01:33:04.119 --> 01:33:08.920
of the hole. Your car warranty expired, so we're doubly fucked.

1382
01:33:09.560 --> 01:33:13.000
She stopped struggling as something else caught her attention. Pull

1383
01:33:13.079 --> 01:33:17.479
me up, I'm trying. Elijah tugged her studded belt hard

1384
01:33:17.560 --> 01:33:21.359
while she pushed. You're heavier than you look. Just have

1385
01:33:21.479 --> 01:33:24.520
to keep getting on my bad side, don't you. Gabby

1386
01:33:24.640 --> 01:33:27.039
reached up from the dash and pushed herself with a groan.

1387
01:33:27.800 --> 01:33:30.239
She held herself there and tried to catch her breath.

1388
01:33:31.039 --> 01:33:35.960
Signal kept cutting out. Gabby raised Jackson's revolver and fired

1389
01:33:36.039 --> 01:33:40.319
under her arm, striking Elijah in the chest. She fired again,

1390
01:33:40.840 --> 01:33:43.960
putting another hole in his heart. You weren't going to

1391
01:33:44.000 --> 01:33:51.520
make it anyway, she said, empathetically. That's the job. He wheezed,

1392
01:33:52.039 --> 01:33:56.680
blood stained his teeth as he smiled at her. Still

1393
01:33:56.760 --> 01:34:03.319
got time time to finish the job. Elijah kicked Gabby's

1394
01:34:03.319 --> 01:34:08.039
wrist and she disappeared out the window. Gabby's fingers caught

1395
01:34:08.079 --> 01:34:12.479
the steel bumper and she swung perilously over the reinvigorated herd,

1396
01:34:12.880 --> 01:34:15.800
she fired the pistol at the massive Hogfather to drive

1397
01:34:15.880 --> 01:34:19.680
it away. It rammed the tree instead. The car shook

1398
01:34:20.119 --> 01:34:24.319
and the antique bumper creaked. She shot again, hitting its shoulder.

1399
01:34:24.800 --> 01:34:28.000
It growled and took another charge at the trunk. Gabby

1400
01:34:28.079 --> 01:34:30.159
lined up the sights with the base of its skull

1401
01:34:30.800 --> 01:34:36.680
and squeezed the trigger click. She threw the empty revolver

1402
01:34:36.800 --> 01:34:39.520
at the boar and grabbed the bumper with both hands.

1403
01:34:40.000 --> 01:34:42.840
She strained to pull herself up and lunged for the

1404
01:34:42.880 --> 01:34:46.640
hood ornament. It snapped off, and she swung wildly again.

1405
01:34:47.159 --> 01:34:50.399
The steel cut into her fingers, almost causing her to

1406
01:34:50.479 --> 01:34:55.640
let go. The car rocked, the engine revved. Her captor

1407
01:34:55.840 --> 01:34:59.319
wasn't dead yet. Gabby kicked her legs trying to reach

1408
01:34:59.399 --> 01:35:03.439
the dangling seat belt rope. Elijah sat up and rocked

1409
01:35:03.479 --> 01:35:08.119
his foot on the accelerator. He laughed, though it sounded

1410
01:35:08.159 --> 01:35:13.039
more like a stopped up toilet trying to drain. I'm

1411
01:35:13.119 --> 01:35:19.960
not dying in this fucking tree, he growled. He jerked

1412
01:35:19.960 --> 01:35:22.760
the steering wheel hard to the left, then to the right,

1413
01:35:23.439 --> 01:35:26.560
back and forth. He cranked the wheel with all he had.

1414
01:35:26.960 --> 01:35:30.640
The branches popped and cracked from the sudden attack. Gabby

1415
01:35:30.760 --> 01:35:33.680
spun as the rope twisted. She looked above to see

1416
01:35:33.760 --> 01:35:37.720
the tires shifting, peeling away weathered bark that rained down

1417
01:35:37.800 --> 01:35:41.600
on her. She swore and let herself slide down, screaming

1418
01:35:41.720 --> 01:35:44.960
the whole way. As the nylon strap scoured away flesh,

1419
01:35:45.760 --> 01:35:49.760
a knot broke her grip. Gabby fell the last twelve feet.

1420
01:35:50.720 --> 01:35:54.119
The giant boar broke her fall, and she bounced off

1421
01:35:54.199 --> 01:35:58.239
its back, landing in the gory remains of done. She

1422
01:35:58.439 --> 01:36:01.760
spotted the tire iron sticking out of the mud and

1423
01:36:01.920 --> 01:36:05.279
sprang for it. The hog clamped down on her ankle,

1424
01:36:05.479 --> 01:36:09.159
breaking bones with ease. The car horn bellowed above them.

1425
01:36:09.640 --> 01:36:12.399
The boar let go, and the smaller ones scattered and

1426
01:36:12.439 --> 01:36:16.680
abandoned their leader. Elijah laid on the steering wheel, extending

1427
01:36:16.720 --> 01:36:21.279
a middle finger for the stunned beast. Whoo pig suey.

1428
01:36:22.039 --> 01:36:24.640
He stomped the pedal and pulled the wheel. The car

1429
01:36:24.840 --> 01:36:27.760
came free and Gabby rolled away as it crashed down

1430
01:36:28.239 --> 01:36:31.720
on the boar. The sinister swine was no match for

1431
01:36:31.880 --> 01:36:35.680
Detroit steel. Viscera bulged in the back of its throat,

1432
01:36:35.960 --> 01:36:38.920
pushed forward by the v eight, Resting on its rib cage.

1433
01:36:39.439 --> 01:36:42.520
Its hoofs scratched at the earth, but it wasn't trying

1434
01:36:42.600 --> 01:36:46.479
to escape. Gabby could see it in the monster's black eyes.

1435
01:36:47.439 --> 01:36:51.439
Just like Elijah. It knew it was dead already. It

1436
01:36:51.600 --> 01:36:55.840
wanted to finish the job. The boar didn't squeal in pain,

1437
01:36:56.600 --> 01:37:01.079
it roared. The beast dragged itself toward its pray for

1438
01:37:01.199 --> 01:37:05.319
a final kill. Gabby managed to stand and limped to

1439
01:37:05.439 --> 01:37:08.640
the tire iron. The pig cried out as its flesh

1440
01:37:08.760 --> 01:37:12.479
and muscle tore. It abandoned its pinned hind quarters beneath

1441
01:37:12.560 --> 01:37:16.720
the car in testines unspooled as it crawled along, grunting

1442
01:37:16.880 --> 01:37:21.199
in desperation. Gabby grabbed the tool and pulled it free.

1443
01:37:22.039 --> 01:37:26.760
She was starting to understand the pig and Elijah weren't

1444
01:37:26.800 --> 01:37:32.399
any different. They lived violent, gluttonous lives, and that was

1445
01:37:32.439 --> 01:37:35.640
how they wanted to die. Only neither of them was

1446
01:37:35.720 --> 01:37:38.760
going to take her along for the ride. This little

1447
01:37:38.840 --> 01:37:43.359
piggy cried, wee oi oi. Gabby raised the tool high

1448
01:37:43.800 --> 01:37:46.800
and fell forward, using her weight to drive it through

1449
01:37:46.840 --> 01:37:53.640
the boar's skull. All the way home, she whispered. Dueling

1450
01:37:53.800 --> 01:37:57.159
banjos began playing again. As the feral pigs returned from

1451
01:37:57.199 --> 01:38:01.439
their hiding spots. Gabby forced herself up and took painful

1452
01:38:01.479 --> 01:38:05.239
steps backwards. She slipped the phone out and looked at

1453
01:38:05.279 --> 01:38:09.800
the name on the screen. Boss. She accepted the call

1454
01:38:10.199 --> 01:38:13.960
and listened to the man spewing profanities and threats, knowing

1455
01:38:14.119 --> 01:38:16.479
full well it was the same voice that had ordered

1456
01:38:16.520 --> 01:38:21.000
her death. The herd converged on their fallen leader and

1457
01:38:21.159 --> 01:38:25.520
began biting off chunks. Gabby raised the phone to her mouth.

1458
01:38:26.399 --> 01:38:31.720
You're next, fucker. She ended the call and began limping

1459
01:38:32.359 --> 01:38:42.520
back to town. The Warehouse of Blood by Shane Migliavaca,

1460
01:38:43.800 --> 01:38:47.840
April thirteenth, nineteen seventy nine. It's one am on Friday

1461
01:38:47.920 --> 01:38:50.880
the thirteenth, and I've been awake for two days. Will

1462
01:38:50.920 --> 01:38:54.800
the thirteenth hold good luck for me? We'll see my

1463
01:38:54.960 --> 01:38:57.560
long brown hair needs a good combing. Have him been

1464
01:38:57.640 --> 01:38:59.600
back in the apartment in three days, and I think

1465
01:38:59.640 --> 01:39:02.880
my bra starting to stink of bo I'm sitting here

1466
01:39:02.920 --> 01:39:05.159
on a wood crate and my butt has fallen asleep.

1467
01:39:05.479 --> 01:39:09.119
I've been following Teddy Stoneberry all night. Teddy's been the

1468
01:39:09.199 --> 01:39:12.479
talk of the town lately. Only surviving son of Peter

1469
01:39:12.600 --> 01:39:18.279
and Dorothy Stoneberry. Peter owns a huge shipping empire. Teddy's

1470
01:39:18.279 --> 01:39:20.600
twin brother, Chuck, died in a fire when the boys

1471
01:39:20.640 --> 01:39:25.720
were ten, which left Teddy to inherit everything. His younger

1472
01:39:25.840 --> 01:39:29.600
sister Anne ran off with her female tennis instructor last year.

1473
01:39:30.239 --> 01:39:33.920
Word was the folks disowned her after that. Lately, Teddy

1474
01:39:33.960 --> 01:39:36.840
has been seen gallivanning about town with a model by

1475
01:39:36.920 --> 01:39:41.479
the name of Susie s No last name, just S.

1476
01:39:42.720 --> 01:39:46.560
Guess that makes her interesting. Susie became a lot more

1477
01:39:46.600 --> 01:39:50.920
interesting a week ago when she went missing. At first

1478
01:39:51.000 --> 01:39:54.239
it was looked at as another Susie lost weekend coke binge.

1479
01:39:55.319 --> 01:39:57.479
Then her purse showed up in a gutter on forty

1480
01:39:57.560 --> 01:40:02.479
third Street. Everything intact, not even a penny missing, So

1481
01:40:03.399 --> 01:40:07.199
robbery wasn't a motive. If it was a kidnapping, why

1482
01:40:07.279 --> 01:40:10.800
hasn't anybody come forward? Pretty soon all signs were pointing

1483
01:40:10.840 --> 01:40:14.159
at good old Teddy. He was known to have quite

1484
01:40:14.199 --> 01:40:18.039
a little temper. The popular theory was they got in

1485
01:40:18.119 --> 01:40:21.560
a fight over her drug habit and hit her a

1486
01:40:21.720 --> 01:40:25.760
little too hard. Poor Susie is most likely stuffed in

1487
01:40:25.840 --> 01:40:29.800
a crate on one of Daddy's cargo ships halfway to Singapore.

1488
01:40:31.039 --> 01:40:35.720
The other theory Susie's old flame, JJ Brown, he of

1489
01:40:35.800 --> 01:40:40.520
a fifth rate punk band called Motherfuckers from Mars, killed

1490
01:40:40.560 --> 01:40:44.640
her in a jealous rage. I don't buy that theory myself.

1491
01:40:45.159 --> 01:40:48.640
Teddy he's involved somehow. I can feel it in my gut.

1492
01:40:49.720 --> 01:40:51.760
I watch as he enters a warehouse owned by the

1493
01:40:51.840 --> 01:40:54.880
family not far from the pier. I can hear the

1494
01:40:55.000 --> 01:40:57.800
water crashing against the side of a nearby cargo ship.

1495
01:40:58.279 --> 01:41:00.520
There's a chill in the air for me to pull

1496
01:41:00.600 --> 01:41:04.960
my denim jacket tighter. It's furry collar prickly against my neck.

1497
01:41:05.359 --> 01:41:09.119
I pull my wool wide brimmed hat down. Time to

1498
01:41:09.199 --> 01:41:12.920
snoop Sam, I say to myself, watching my breath twirl

1499
01:41:13.039 --> 01:41:16.359
in the cold night air. I slip off the box,

1500
01:41:16.520 --> 01:41:18.880
worming my way past the stack of crates I was

1501
01:41:18.960 --> 01:41:22.640
hiding behind my button legs are asleep from sitting there,

1502
01:41:22.800 --> 01:41:25.479
causing me to limp along for a few seconds before

1503
01:41:25.560 --> 01:41:29.159
the blood gets flowing again. This is my favorite time

1504
01:41:29.199 --> 01:41:33.920
of any story I'm investigating. Digging up dirt, sneaking around,

1505
01:41:34.359 --> 01:41:37.720
butting in where I'm not wanted. Might not be respectable,

1506
01:41:37.800 --> 01:41:41.079
but sure as hell is fun. Though. If I can

1507
01:41:41.159 --> 01:41:43.760
catch him red handed, I'll have the scoop of the year.

1508
01:41:44.359 --> 01:41:47.039
I'll be done with these shitty little news stories I've

1509
01:41:47.079 --> 01:41:49.640
been covering for a year and a half. Just because

1510
01:41:49.640 --> 01:41:52.640
I'm a woman, the chief gives me the most boring stories,

1511
01:41:52.760 --> 01:41:59.359
imaginable flower festivals and craft fares. Fucking really catch him

1512
01:41:59.359 --> 01:42:02.600
red handed. God knows what. I figure. He wouldn't have

1513
01:42:02.680 --> 01:42:05.800
the body stashed here, right, Maybe he's got something of

1514
01:42:05.840 --> 01:42:10.960
hers here. It's slim, but it's better than nothing. Teddy

1515
01:42:11.159 --> 01:42:14.960
entered using a door marked office. Too risky trying to

1516
01:42:15.119 --> 01:42:18.239
enter through there. Maybe I can find another way in

1517
01:42:18.399 --> 01:42:22.960
an open window or something, preferably nothing that involves climbing.

1518
01:42:23.720 --> 01:42:26.359
Me and heights don't get along too well since that

1519
01:42:26.520 --> 01:42:30.439
case with that embezzling councilman in the high rise balconies.

1520
01:42:31.640 --> 01:42:34.399
Oh I'm in luck. I find a dumpster around the

1521
01:42:34.439 --> 01:42:37.720
side of the warehouse. Above it is a large window.

1522
01:42:38.800 --> 01:42:43.159
There's a horrible smell coming from the dumpster. The image

1523
01:42:43.199 --> 01:42:47.960
of Susie's decomposing body pops into my head. Shit, no

1524
01:42:48.119 --> 01:42:51.720
two ways about it. Now, I got a look. Fishing

1525
01:42:51.800 --> 01:42:55.199
the small flashlight from my jacket, never leave home without it.

1526
01:42:55.800 --> 01:42:58.399
I lift the lid of the dumpster. Thank god, I've

1527
01:42:58.439 --> 01:43:01.880
got my riding gloves on. I shine the flashlight over

1528
01:43:01.960 --> 01:43:05.560
the contents of the dumpster. There's a few black trash bags,

1529
01:43:05.760 --> 01:43:12.159
some empty beer cans, some flattened cardboard boxes, and something else.

1530
01:43:13.560 --> 01:43:16.039
I can only see a little bit of it red

1531
01:43:16.680 --> 01:43:22.920
bright red? Could it be Susie. I try to push

1532
01:43:23.000 --> 01:43:25.319
some of the garbage out of the way, but it's

1533
01:43:25.399 --> 01:43:28.720
too far down. I really really do not want to

1534
01:43:28.800 --> 01:43:31.920
climb down there. I ease the lid back down and

1535
01:43:32.039 --> 01:43:35.800
go hunting for something to extend my reach. After a

1536
01:43:35.880 --> 01:43:38.760
little looking, I find a broken board from a wooden pallet.

1537
01:43:40.079 --> 01:43:41.920
I head back to the dumpster and use it to

1538
01:43:41.960 --> 01:43:45.000
push aside some of the trash while holding the flashlight

1539
01:43:45.079 --> 01:43:48.560
in my other hand. Laying there under everything is what

1540
01:43:48.720 --> 01:43:53.479
remains of a fair sized dog. The greasy cheeseburger I

1541
01:43:53.560 --> 01:43:56.680
had for lunch almost makes a return appearance. I throw

1542
01:43:56.760 --> 01:44:01.000
the board in and lower the lid. God, the dog

1543
01:44:01.119 --> 01:44:06.640
looks like it was skinned. Not only skinned, but there's

1544
01:44:06.800 --> 01:44:10.319
chunks missing, like somebody carved Fido up for lunch meat.

1545
01:44:11.359 --> 01:44:15.079
Who the hell would do that? Teddy got a dog

1546
01:44:15.199 --> 01:44:19.560
meat fetish? That would be far out and make a

1547
01:44:19.600 --> 01:44:22.479
hell of a headline. I decide to go back to

1548
01:44:22.600 --> 01:44:25.800
why I'm here, checking out this warehouse and where Teddy

1549
01:44:25.920 --> 01:44:29.039
got off to. I climb up onto the dumpster lid.

1550
01:44:29.600 --> 01:44:33.680
The cold metal creaks under my weight one too many cheeseburgers.

1551
01:44:34.359 --> 01:44:37.520
I try the window, but there's a wire mesh protecting it.

1552
01:44:38.199 --> 01:44:41.279
That's what a high crime rate gets you. Worse. Yet,

1553
01:44:41.439 --> 01:44:46.119
the glass is frosted, so peaking isn't possible. Damn their

1554
01:44:46.199 --> 01:44:51.399
security and secrecy. I stand there, frustrated, trying to come

1555
01:44:51.479 --> 01:44:54.640
up with another plan. That's when I hear a loud

1556
01:44:54.800 --> 01:44:59.840
scream from inside shit. I jump down off the dumpster,

1557
01:45:00.079 --> 01:45:02.159
trying not to break a leg in the process. I

1558
01:45:02.279 --> 01:45:03.800
run around the side of the warehouse to where I

1559
01:45:03.880 --> 01:45:06.760
saw the door marked office. Before I can pull it open,

1560
01:45:06.800 --> 01:45:09.479
the door flies open of its own accord, knocking me

1561
01:45:09.600 --> 01:45:11.760
on my ass and pushing the air from my lungs.

1562
01:45:12.319 --> 01:45:15.000
In the commotion, I see a vague man sized figure

1563
01:45:15.039 --> 01:45:18.039
standing in the doorway back it with the light from within.

1564
01:45:18.479 --> 01:45:20.640
I hear a groaning noise as it rushes past me.

1565
01:45:20.720 --> 01:45:22.439
I try to get a good look as it runs away,

1566
01:45:22.479 --> 01:45:26.119
but I'm too slow. I'm fairly sure it wasn't Teddy,

1567
01:45:26.239 --> 01:45:29.640
but that's about all I'm sure of. I look off

1568
01:45:29.680 --> 01:45:32.319
in the direction it went. I can try and follow

1569
01:45:33.000 --> 01:45:36.319
or go in the warehouse. I decide to go into

1570
01:45:36.359 --> 01:45:41.439
the warehouse. Whoever knocked me down left bloody footprints? What

1571
01:45:41.640 --> 01:45:45.000
is going on here? Just to be safe, I pull

1572
01:45:45.039 --> 01:45:48.399
a small double barreled derringer pistol from my jacket. I

1573
01:45:48.600 --> 01:45:53.319
keep it for close encounters. Better safe than sorry. The

1574
01:45:53.399 --> 01:45:55.800
mayor might be cleaning up the city, making it safer

1575
01:45:55.880 --> 01:45:59.319
for the good people, but it can still be pretty dirty.

1576
01:46:00.399 --> 01:46:03.439
I pull open the door. There's a modest office inside,

1577
01:46:03.520 --> 01:46:07.760
with desks, carpet and filing cabinets. The bloody footprints mar

1578
01:46:07.880 --> 01:46:12.880
an otherwise decent carpet. Shame Making my way through the office,

1579
01:46:13.000 --> 01:46:15.680
Following the bloody footprints back to their source, leads me

1580
01:46:15.760 --> 01:46:19.079
into a hallway. The blood leads down the hallway to

1581
01:46:19.199 --> 01:46:23.840
the main warehouse area, aisle upon aisle of metal shelves

1582
01:46:24.159 --> 01:46:27.560
about ten feet high, each one crammed with boxes and

1583
01:46:27.680 --> 01:46:30.800
crates of various sizes and shapes. As far as the

1584
01:46:30.880 --> 01:46:34.279
eye can see. The blood trail ends in a large

1585
01:46:34.359 --> 01:46:37.920
pool in the center of one of the aisles. There's nobody,

1586
01:46:38.680 --> 01:46:42.079
just a hat looks like the kind of security guard

1587
01:46:42.199 --> 01:46:45.920
might wear. A pained moan comes from somewhere in the

1588
01:46:46.000 --> 01:46:50.239
back the guard maybe. I try to follow the sound,

1589
01:46:50.319 --> 01:46:55.439
but get lost among the aisles. After a little fruitless searching,

1590
01:46:56.279 --> 01:47:00.920
I give up. Hello, I call out, where are you?

1591
01:47:01.760 --> 01:47:05.840
Then I add I'm here to help. I was actually here, snooping.

1592
01:47:06.640 --> 01:47:09.840
They don't need to know that. There's no answer. I

1593
01:47:10.000 --> 01:47:12.399
try a couple more times, holding my breath and waiting

1594
01:47:12.439 --> 01:47:17.479
for an answer. When finally here the voice says, weakly,

1595
01:47:18.119 --> 01:47:22.920
a man's voice, I'm here. Keep talking to me, buddy,

1596
01:47:23.119 --> 01:47:26.800
I holler back, I'll find you. After a few minutes,

1597
01:47:26.840 --> 01:47:29.680
I find a very beat up Teddy Stoneberry in the

1598
01:47:29.760 --> 01:47:33.039
rear of the warehouse. He slumped against a wood crate,

1599
01:47:33.439 --> 01:47:36.880
a large gash on his forehead, another on his chest.

1600
01:47:37.880 --> 01:47:42.159
His hair is matted with blood. What happened? I asked,

1601
01:47:42.239 --> 01:47:48.119
kneeling down by him. Who he mutters? Who are you?

1602
01:47:49.520 --> 01:47:53.000
I need a good lie, Jenny Smith. I was passing

1603
01:47:53.079 --> 01:47:57.279
by heard a scream. Not good, but it'll do. He's

1604
01:47:57.319 --> 01:48:00.560
barely with it anyway. His wounds look prett pretty bad.

1605
01:48:01.079 --> 01:48:04.199
He needs help, but the reporter in me overrides my

1606
01:48:04.319 --> 01:48:07.920
natural instinct to help. Who did this to you? I ask?

1607
01:48:08.600 --> 01:48:11.520
His only answer is a groan, his eyes closing as

1608
01:48:11.560 --> 01:48:16.199
he slumps forward. I check him, still alive, trying to

1609
01:48:16.239 --> 01:48:19.159
wake him. I shake him a little, Come on, teddy,

1610
01:48:19.239 --> 01:48:22.039
stay with me. He groans again, his eyes opening and

1611
01:48:22.119 --> 01:48:27.319
promptly closing once more. Fuck. Wanting to stop his bleeding somehow,

1612
01:48:27.399 --> 01:48:30.479
I scan the area for a rag or something. That's

1613
01:48:30.479 --> 01:48:32.800
when I see the room behind a stack of crates,

1614
01:48:34.079 --> 01:48:37.840
almost hidden away. I rush over. The room is dark.

1615
01:48:38.239 --> 01:48:41.159
I pull out my flashlight. Looks like someone was being

1616
01:48:41.399 --> 01:48:44.720
kept here. There's a stained mattress on the floor and

1617
01:48:44.800 --> 01:48:50.000
some blankets. There's also a bowl with hunks of bloody meat.

1618
01:48:51.039 --> 01:48:54.960
The smell of rotting meat and urine is overpowering. I

1619
01:48:55.079 --> 01:48:59.079
back away, trying not to vomit. That goddamn cheeseburger, won't

1620
01:48:59.119 --> 01:49:04.359
stay down? God, were they keeping Susie here? What the

1621
01:49:04.640 --> 01:49:07.960
fuck did they do to her? I go back over

1622
01:49:08.079 --> 01:49:12.359
to Teddy, suddenly not caring about helping him anymore. Angry,

1623
01:49:12.439 --> 01:49:15.439
I shake him hard till he moans, his eyes fluttering open.

1624
01:49:16.439 --> 01:49:21.000
Who did you have here? Who? He mumbles, his head

1625
01:49:21.079 --> 01:49:24.279
drooping forward. Hey, hey, I slap his face, leaving a

1626
01:49:24.359 --> 01:49:26.840
red mark. Stay awake, Teddy, Come on, who is in

1627
01:49:26.960 --> 01:49:33.880
that room? Susie? He laughs, coughing on his blood. Susie? Who, Susie?

1628
01:49:34.039 --> 01:49:38.199
Cue in that room? I point, were you keeping her there?

1629
01:49:38.880 --> 01:49:43.680
Teddy coughs, spitting out some blood right onto my cheek. Thanks.

1630
01:49:44.600 --> 01:49:50.119
He grabs my left arm. Tight. Brother, brother's here, he says,

1631
01:49:50.239 --> 01:49:53.720
before finally going out again. His grip goes slack, his

1632
01:49:53.840 --> 01:49:59.159
hand falling to his lap. Brother, Your brother's dead, I say,

1633
01:49:59.640 --> 01:50:02.640
even the we can't hear me off in the distance.

1634
01:50:02.720 --> 01:50:07.239
Somewhere in the warehouse, there's an excited whoop. Then one

1635
01:50:07.319 --> 01:50:11.359
by one, each row of lights goes out, leaving Teddy

1636
01:50:11.399 --> 01:50:15.279
and I in the darkness. Play play want to play?

1637
01:50:15.560 --> 01:50:19.920
A hideous voice calls out from somewhere in the pitch blackness.

1638
01:50:21.880 --> 01:50:27.600
Deck Someone something runs through the warehouse. I click the

1639
01:50:27.640 --> 01:50:30.920
flashlight on. The light beam dances around as my arm trembles.

1640
01:50:31.439 --> 01:50:34.359
In my other hand, I grip the pistol tight. It's

1641
01:50:34.399 --> 01:50:37.920
only two shots, but right now it's all I got play.

1642
01:50:38.640 --> 01:50:40.760
I jump as a box comes crashing down off of

1643
01:50:40.840 --> 01:50:43.319
one of the shelves a few feet behind me. I

1644
01:50:43.439 --> 01:50:45.720
shine the flashlight upwards and catch a glimpse of a

1645
01:50:45.880 --> 01:50:49.079
mangled bare foot. As somebody runs along the top of

1646
01:50:49.119 --> 01:50:52.600
the shelves, I hear a noise and stop dead in

1647
01:50:52.720 --> 01:50:56.720
my tracks. Another large crate crashes into the floor in

1648
01:50:56.800 --> 01:50:59.319
front of me. I raise my arms as wood splinters

1649
01:50:59.359 --> 01:51:02.079
and bottles why at me. I drop the flashlight in

1650
01:51:02.119 --> 01:51:04.560
the process. As it rolls away from me. I catch

1651
01:51:04.600 --> 01:51:07.000
a brief glimpse of an open space on one of

1652
01:51:07.039 --> 01:51:09.439
the bottom shelves to my left. I use it to

1653
01:51:09.520 --> 01:51:12.319
dart through into the next aisle, anything to distance myself

1654
01:51:12.399 --> 01:51:15.800
from whoever is up there. I cross the next aisle

1655
01:51:15.880 --> 01:51:18.359
until I come to another row of shelves. I press

1656
01:51:18.439 --> 01:51:20.800
my back against it, using my hand in the darkness

1657
01:51:20.840 --> 01:51:23.279
to inch along it, trying to head in the direction

1658
01:51:23.399 --> 01:51:30.399
of the hallway. Drip, drip, drip. I stop moving water,

1659
01:51:31.520 --> 01:51:38.399
a leak maybe drip drip drip nearby. Reaching out in

1660
01:51:38.479 --> 01:51:42.520
front of me, A drop hits my hand warm. I

1661
01:51:42.600 --> 01:51:46.600
pull my hand back, all it's right over there. A

1662
01:51:46.760 --> 01:51:48.880
large rough hand tries to grab me by the head,

1663
01:51:49.079 --> 01:51:51.680
knocking my hat off. I push away from the shelves,

1664
01:51:51.720 --> 01:51:54.199
trying to run, but they grab at my hair, yanking

1665
01:51:54.319 --> 01:51:59.479
me back. Don't break down, it says the pistol. It's

1666
01:51:59.520 --> 01:52:02.399
only two in the dark, I'd be firing blind, but

1667
01:52:02.680 --> 01:52:05.279
I've got to risk it. I angle it up towards

1668
01:52:05.319 --> 01:52:08.920
where I think it is, listening for its breathing. I

1669
01:52:09.039 --> 01:52:11.840
squeeze the trigger. A bright flash in the darkness and

1670
01:52:11.920 --> 01:52:15.479
an explosion of sound over the ringing of my ears.

1671
01:52:16.039 --> 01:52:18.720
I hear it let out a loud scream, letting me

1672
01:52:18.800 --> 01:52:21.479
go in the process. This is all I need. As

1673
01:52:21.520 --> 01:52:24.600
I run, there's light ahead. I'm not sure if it's

1674
01:52:24.640 --> 01:52:27.039
from outside or just my eyes reacting to the muzzle

1675
01:52:27.079 --> 01:52:30.159
flash of the pistol. At this point, I don't care

1676
01:52:30.239 --> 01:52:32.760
which it is. Running towards it, I hit something in

1677
01:52:32.800 --> 01:52:36.159
the darkness. I go down on my knees hard frantically.

1678
01:52:36.239 --> 01:52:39.199
I pull myself up, limping forward towards the light. The

1679
01:52:39.319 --> 01:52:45.960
light is all I have. Closer, closer, I reach the light.

1680
01:52:46.640 --> 01:52:49.520
It's the office. Adrenaline surges through me as a way

1681
01:52:49.600 --> 01:52:52.119
out looms ahead. I reach for the metal bar of

1682
01:52:52.199 --> 01:52:55.319
the door. My hands feel the coolness of it. Freedom.

1683
01:52:56.039 --> 01:52:59.159
Then reality's large, rough hands grab me by the hair,

1684
01:52:59.560 --> 01:53:03.039
yanking me away from the door. Bat all My hands

1685
01:53:03.119 --> 01:53:06.039
fly out, grabbing at anything to hold onto. They latch

1686
01:53:06.119 --> 01:53:08.640
onto the corner of a desk. I kick at my attacker,

1687
01:53:08.800 --> 01:53:11.800
digging my boots into their legs and bare feet. Howling

1688
01:53:11.880 --> 01:53:14.159
in frustration, they throw me over one of the desks.

1689
01:53:14.439 --> 01:53:17.239
I tumble over, colliding with a chair and crash to

1690
01:53:17.359 --> 01:53:21.680
the carpeted floor. I lie there. The carpet really is nice.

1691
01:53:22.399 --> 01:53:25.920
I get take a nap here, Dolly, No, don't lie

1692
01:53:26.039 --> 01:53:29.840
down and die. Fight. I see it there, just under

1693
01:53:29.880 --> 01:53:33.760
the desk, a letter opener. I pull myself towards it,

1694
01:53:34.319 --> 01:53:39.920
fingers outstretched. Crawl Sam almost there, bat at Dolly. A

1695
01:53:40.000 --> 01:53:44.880
shadow falls over me. It's here, got it. My fingers

1696
01:53:44.920 --> 01:53:47.079
wrapped around the plastic handle of the letter opener. I

1697
01:53:47.199 --> 01:53:50.319
roll over, coming face to face with it with him.

1698
01:53:51.000 --> 01:53:54.319
He looks down at me. His face was once handsome,

1699
01:53:54.760 --> 01:53:59.159
but it's marred by horrible scars, now old burns, healed

1700
01:53:59.239 --> 01:54:03.840
over drool hangs from his lip like a pendulum. Sparse

1701
01:54:03.920 --> 01:54:07.479
tufts of hair dot his fire ravaged head, the right

1702
01:54:07.600 --> 01:54:11.600
cheek of which is partially burned away, leaving a gaping hole.

1703
01:54:12.720 --> 01:54:17.920
Jagged bone poking through savage, bloody teeth line his mouth.

1704
01:54:19.399 --> 01:54:23.439
How can somebody live like that? He reaches for me,

1705
01:54:23.920 --> 01:54:27.800
his large, coarse left hand, caked and dried blood. The

1706
01:54:27.960 --> 01:54:31.479
right arm hangs limp, a large bloody wound just below

1707
01:54:31.560 --> 01:54:36.039
the shoulder. Is that where I shot him? Broken? Dolly?

1708
01:54:36.600 --> 01:54:40.600
He says the words, whistling through his exposed cheek, his

1709
01:54:40.800 --> 01:54:46.039
hand gently stroking my face. I fix. He grabs me

1710
01:54:46.119 --> 01:54:50.359
by the throat, his grip tightening. Lord, he's going to

1711
01:54:50.439 --> 01:54:53.359
pop my head off. I lash out with the letter opener,

1712
01:54:53.439 --> 01:54:55.760
stabbing him in the neck with the blade, the handle

1713
01:54:55.840 --> 01:54:59.319
snapping off in the process. He stumbles back, the blade

1714
01:54:59.359 --> 01:55:02.199
stuck in his ne He pulls it out, blood jetting

1715
01:55:02.319 --> 01:55:05.399
in big red spurts. I pick myself up off the floor,

1716
01:55:05.840 --> 01:55:09.159
barely able to stand, gasping for air. He looks at me,

1717
01:55:09.720 --> 01:55:15.159
panicked as his life drains away, Sadness in his eyes freading,

1718
01:55:16.199 --> 01:55:19.640
he says, reaching out with his hand before tumbling backwards

1719
01:55:19.720 --> 01:55:23.039
into a desk. He comes to a rest on the carpet,

1720
01:55:23.720 --> 01:55:29.000
blood pooling around him. Damn, now the carpet's going to

1721
01:55:29.079 --> 01:55:33.359
really be ruined. I stumble outside, the cold air waking

1722
01:55:33.439 --> 01:55:37.720
me up, its bitterness rushing through my lungs. I hear

1723
01:55:37.880 --> 01:55:42.960
sirens in the distance. Are they coming here? I could

1724
01:55:43.039 --> 01:55:45.279
go to my motorcycle, it's parked not far from here,

1725
01:55:45.840 --> 01:55:52.600
stashed behind a shipping container. Disappear or stay. After a

1726
01:55:52.640 --> 01:55:56.479
few moments of debating, I decide to stay. I really

1727
01:55:56.560 --> 01:55:59.720
don't feel like walking. I sit down on the cold

1728
01:55:59.800 --> 01:56:03.720
co and wait. Three hours later, I sit at a

1729
01:56:03.800 --> 01:56:07.199
desk in the twelfth Precinct police station, sipping a very

1730
01:56:07.600 --> 01:56:11.079
bad cup of coffee. It couldn't be more welcome at

1731
01:56:11.159 --> 01:56:15.279
this moment. What a Fool Believes by the Doobie Brothers

1732
01:56:15.359 --> 01:56:19.479
is playing on one of the detective's radios. The hardwood

1733
01:56:19.600 --> 01:56:22.960
chair under my ass isn't doing me any favors. I

1734
01:56:23.039 --> 01:56:26.159
thought that that crate was bad. I'm gonna feel like

1735
01:56:26.319 --> 01:56:30.479
shit tomorrow. The police have grilled me over and over.

1736
01:56:31.239 --> 01:56:33.000
There was no use lying to them about why I

1737
01:56:33.119 --> 01:56:37.079
was there. I already have a bad reputation with the

1738
01:56:37.119 --> 01:56:42.439
boys in Blue. From what I've gathered, Teddy is still alive.

1739
01:56:43.399 --> 01:56:45.640
The thing that knocked me down outside the warehouse and

1740
01:56:45.760 --> 01:56:48.520
left behind a trail of blood. Turns out that was

1741
01:56:48.600 --> 01:56:51.840
a security guard at the warehouse, got half his face

1742
01:56:51.920 --> 01:56:55.319
bit off. Seems Teddy was paying him under the table,

1743
01:56:55.960 --> 01:56:59.520
keeping his burnt brother there under lock and key. At

1744
01:56:59.600 --> 01:57:04.520
least that's who I think it was. Did that crazy

1745
01:57:04.640 --> 01:57:08.399
meat Loaf kill Susie? I think so, even though I

1746
01:57:08.439 --> 01:57:11.960
have no proof and no way of proving it. Maybe

1747
01:57:12.159 --> 01:57:16.239
Loaf was the dirty family secret, a secret that got free.

1748
01:57:18.000 --> 01:57:20.000
But it's not a story I'll ever get to tell.

1749
01:57:21.159 --> 01:57:24.560
Teddy's family lawyer showed up about an hour ago. After

1750
01:57:24.640 --> 01:57:26.920
some words with the detectives, I was given a choice

1751
01:57:28.079 --> 01:57:35.439
keep quiet or face numerous charges, including trespassing, gun possession,

1752
01:57:36.800 --> 01:57:42.039
and murder. What a fucking laugh. That is. Sure I

1753
01:57:42.039 --> 01:57:45.439
shouldn't have been there, but Loaf, that was self defense.

1754
01:57:46.840 --> 01:57:48.720
But I don't have the money to fight Teddy's team

1755
01:57:48.760 --> 01:57:50.680
of lawyers, and I sure as hell don't like the

1756
01:57:50.800 --> 01:57:55.680
thought of prison bars. Jimmy Quinn, my very put upon sidekick,

1757
01:57:55.760 --> 01:57:58.760
and fotog comes marching up to the stairs outside the

1758
01:57:58.800 --> 01:58:02.159
detective's bullpen, looking like I just woke him up from

1759
01:58:02.199 --> 01:58:05.680
either a great dream or a hangover. He raises his

1760
01:58:05.800 --> 01:58:10.840
arm up. This is becoming all too common, Sam, I shrug.

1761
01:58:11.560 --> 01:58:14.319
What can I say? He runs a hand through his

1762
01:58:14.439 --> 01:58:17.880
messy hair. Weren't you supposed to be covering a spring

1763
01:58:18.079 --> 01:58:23.279
flower show? A show got canceled. Take a last sip

1764
01:58:23.359 --> 01:58:28.079
of the coffee before standing. Get my motorcycle, He tosses

1765
01:58:28.159 --> 01:58:30.439
me the keys, right where you said it would be.

1766
01:58:31.239 --> 01:58:35.039
Would you drive? I ask, stretching and yawning. All right

1767
01:58:35.079 --> 01:58:39.119
in the sidecar. We walked towards the stairs. You know

1768
01:58:39.239 --> 01:58:41.560
there's an all night Chinese place down the block from

1769
01:58:41.600 --> 01:58:46.199
my place. Good old Quinn, always trying. Maybe one of

1770
01:58:46.239 --> 01:58:52.479
these days I'll give in. Maybe all night. Huh, Well,

1771
01:58:52.560 --> 01:58:56.720
I could go for some General So's chicken. And then

1772
01:58:57.560 --> 01:59:01.199
he asks, looking a little awkward, hope in his eyes.

1773
01:59:02.199 --> 01:59:07.279
Then I'm going home to sleep alone. I could see

1774
01:59:07.279 --> 01:59:10.920
how disappointed he was. Think I'll get shoot out by

1775
01:59:10.960 --> 01:59:15.000
the chief, I ask, already knowing the answer for sure.

1776
01:59:16.159 --> 01:59:19.640
Outside the cold air hits my face. I couldn't get

1777
01:59:19.680 --> 01:59:22.479
the image of poor loaf out of my head, and

1778
01:59:22.600 --> 01:59:27.079
the thought that poor Susy would never have justice. As

1779
01:59:27.159 --> 01:59:30.279
tired as I am, I don't think sleep will come

1780
01:59:30.359 --> 01:59:39.319
easy tonight. Well, my spooks, if you made it through

1781
01:59:39.520 --> 01:59:43.920
all that in one piece, go ahead and count your fingers,

1782
01:59:44.800 --> 01:59:50.079
check your reflection, make sure your shadow is still attached,

1783
01:59:50.720 --> 01:59:56.600
because tonight we wandered through some very bad places. Rooms

1784
01:59:56.640 --> 02:00:00.960
where doctors become ghosts. For us, it's where the food

1785
02:00:01.079 --> 02:00:07.279
chain gets personal, and hidden corners where family secrets grow teeth.

1786
02:00:08.279 --> 02:00:13.319
There's a certain comfort in ordinary horror, a creaking floorboard,

1787
02:00:13.760 --> 02:00:19.359
a dark hallway, a face in the window. But body horror,

1788
02:00:20.159 --> 02:00:23.680
it's a different beast, isn't it. It doesn't just ask

1789
02:00:23.880 --> 02:00:27.640
what's out there in the dark. It asks what's happening

1790
02:00:28.239 --> 02:00:32.600
under your skin. It asks whether the monster is chasing

1791
02:00:32.760 --> 02:00:38.319
you or really the monster is already using your hands.

1792
02:00:39.079 --> 02:00:44.079
And mad science, well, mad science is just human arrogance

1793
02:00:44.239 --> 02:00:49.079
with better lighting, a clipboard, a locked door, and a

1794
02:00:49.159 --> 02:00:54.239
little funding and a little secrecy, and a little voice

1795
02:00:54.359 --> 02:00:59.039
saying what's the worst that could happen? Then the power

1796
02:00:59.199 --> 02:01:04.600
goes out, the cage opens, the trees start moving, the warehouse,

1797
02:01:05.399 --> 02:01:10.119
it starts breathing, and suddenly somebody's last words are probably

1798
02:01:10.279 --> 02:01:18.159
something very scientific like oh shit, so sleep tight tonight,

1799
02:01:18.319 --> 02:01:22.720
my spookies. Try not to think about every electrical socket

1800
02:01:22.840 --> 02:01:26.159
in the room. Try not to wonder what's moving in

1801
02:01:26.239 --> 02:01:29.479
the woods. Try not to imagine what might be locked

1802
02:01:29.520 --> 02:01:33.720
away in some forgotten building with a family name on

1803
02:01:33.840 --> 02:01:39.239
the deed and something wet dragging itself across the floor.

1804
02:01:40.199 --> 02:01:43.760
And if you hear a sound in the walls, a scratch,

1805
02:01:44.199 --> 02:01:49.119
a squeal, a crackle, a whisper saying it only wants

1806
02:01:49.239 --> 02:01:57.119
to play, well maybe don't investigate. That's how they get you.

1807
02:01:58.720 --> 02:02:03.279
Until next time. Stay creepy, my spookies.

Related to this Episode

The Psychological Roots of Mad Science: How Trauma Breeds Monstrous Transformations

Mad science fiction often explores the terrifying potential of unchecked ambition. But what truly fuels these transformations? This post uncovers the profound psychological roots of mad science, revealing how trauma and suffering can warp brilliant …