CHAPTER 15 SOMETIMES THEY DON’T COME BACK
“You’re wondering why I haven’t taken you yet?
” The madman squatted on his heels outside the cage and smiled at Savannah.
“Did you know fear has a flavor? The more afraid the prey, the better they taste.” He tilted his head, a sinister grin breaking through his smile.
“You’re almost ready, darling. You just need a bit more seasoning. ”
Savannah crammed her body against the back of the small cage, hugging her knees to her chest. The last time he took her out of the cage, she thought he would rape her, then gut her like he did Maddy.
She buried her face in her knees, the horror of that moment coiling tightly around her mind, refusing to release her.
“I thought you might like to know…” he murmured. “… your brother is no longer with us.”
“What?” Her head shot up, eyes wide with terror. “Wh-What?”
“You didn’t think he was just a pretty ornamental piece to brighten up the place, did you?”
“Wh-What… did you do to him?” Savannah’s arms loosened, and she shifted in place, too scared to get near him.
“I…” he sighed and smiled. “… sent him home.”
What did he mean? He let him go? Why would he do that?
The madman chuckled when she just stared at him, confused. “I’m not sure his husband will have much use for him now—unless he’s into necrophilia.” He smirked. “No judgment if he is. I’ve fucked corpses. Granted, they were freshly dead and still warm, but even so… still dead.”
Dead. Savannah pulled her legs tightly against her again, her mind and body going numb.
“It’s just you and me now, darling,” the man said. “No more boyfriend or big brother to object to our… relationship. I’m sure they wouldn’t have approved, what with me being a few decades older than you, but most girls like older men.”
Savannah began to shake as a low ringing settled in her ears, muffling the man’s words. Abel… Maddy… She ducked her head and sobbed against her knees.
“Mm.” The man inhaled deeply. “You’re nearly seasoned to perfection.” He stood. “Now, we need just a few extra sprinkles and you’ll be ready to taste.”
The madman left the room.
Savannah burst out crying, screaming against her legs.
Let me die… please, God, let me die! I don’t want to be here-I don’t-I don’t-Please!
Choking on her sobs, Savannah lifted her head and looked around the cage. She crawled unsteadily to the bars and started scraping at them, her nails breaking and tearing until she pulled loose a thick flake of rust that didn’t immediately crumble to the touch.
Savannah scooted back into the corner, chest hitching with sobs.
Her hand trembled badly as she began scraping the rusted flake of metal across her wrist, crying and choking as it scratched her tender skin—but as hard as she gouged, she couldn’t break the skin.
She screamed and gouged frantically. “ Let me die! Just let me fucking DIE! PLEASE!!”
The metal door screeched open, and Savannah gasped, falling silent. Her heart pounded wildly as the man entered with a young woman in her early twenties, bound and gagged, eyes bulging in terror. Savannah crawled forward and gripped the bars, catching the woman’s gaze.
“I wouldn’t want you going into our relationship blind,” the man told Savannah. “A good partner prepares his lover , so she knows what to expect.”
“No…” Savannah whimpered and slid to the back of the cage again, eyes locked on the young woman as the man stripped her naked. The woman screamed and struggled, her cries a shrill wail of terror that ricocheted through Savannah’s head, raking at her sanity.
“Watch, darling,” the man panted as he shoved the woman to the filthy, freezing floor in front of the cage. “Watch how much fun we’re going to have.”
The woman cried, begged, and screamed, but the madman savored her fear and pain as he violated her right in front of Savannah.
Savannah clamped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, her cries and screams intertwining with the woman’s. The vile sound of the man’s panting and grunting filled the spacious room like thick tar, solidifying the air, turning it to sludge that slid chokingly down Savannah’s throat.
Stop-stop-STOOPPP!!
The woman suddenly gasped, her cries dying to a bout of low, uneven breaths, shuddering out of her in quickened, erratic puffs.
Savannah’s eyes opened to slits, then widened in terror.
She screamed and slammed her back against the cage, hands crammed to her mouth.
Outside the cage, the madman repeatedly stabbed the woman while still raping her.
A powerful, sickly, coppery odor invaded Savannah’s nostrils, igniting her gag reflex, as blood splashed across the filthy concrete.
When he struck an artery, blood sprayed out of the woman and splattered the bars, flicking droplets onto Savannah’s arms and legs.
Savannah’s screams climbed to an ear-piercing pitch as she frantically swiped at the blood, smearing it across her skin.
Panting hard, the man spasmed and came inside the woman’s fresh corpse.
When he finally pulled out, he sat back on his heels—and stroked his heavy member with a bloody fist, squeezing out pearlescent droplets of cum that oozed down his shaft, turning pink as it mingled with the blood.
His eyes glazed with ecstasy and insanity as he turned his gaze on Savannah.
He scooted over to the cage, still exposed, the woman’s blood smeared all over his genitals, and gripped the bars, blood squishing between his fingers.
Savannah screamed and buried her head in her arms.
“Yes,” he moaned, inhaling loudly. “Seasoned to perfection.”
“Where is Angel?” Dane found Devlin at the nurse’s station as he and Cole entered through the ER waiting room.
Devlin pulled them aside. “I gave him a mild sedative. He’s sleeping in one of the rooms.”
“A sedative?”
Devlin looked at the two men, his face tense with strain. “He was upset. I couldn’t console him. I was afraid he might inadvertently hurt himself.”
Fuck. Dane pressed his hand to his eyes. “What room?” he whispered.
“302,” Devlin said, then grabbed Dane’s arm before he could leave. “He’s sleeping. He’s okay for now. I need to talk to you about Abel.”
Cole came to attention. “What about Abel? Where is he?”
“He’s being examined.” Devlin looked sick. “You saw him… the bruises.”
“I’ll kill the fucker,” Cole’s voice trembled violently, fear and rage clashing within him.
“I hope so,” Devlin murmured. “But he isn’t the one who caused the bruises… not directly.”
Dane frowned. “What do you mean? Then how did he get the bruises?”
The sick look in Devlin’s eyes grew worse. “He told me…” Devlin swallowed, tears forming. “He told me that the man kept him in a cage, and he… he raped and killed a girl in the cage next to his. But it was dark, he couldn’t see her face, and the man… he let him think it was… Savannah.”
“What?” Dane breathed.
Cole just stared at the doctor, silent—with a look of pure horror on his face.
“That’s how he got the bruises.” Devlin’s voice trembled as tears started to spill over. “He was…” Devlin ducked his head, his throat tightening with emotion. “He was… throwing himself against the bars… trying to get to her.”
“Jesus…” Dane swallowed hard and hugged Devlin.
“He was crying so hard I could hardly understand him,” Devlin sobbed against Dane’s shoulder.
“Even finding out it wasn’t her didn’t ease the trauma of the moment.
” He raised his head, breath hitching, a new level of horror reflecting in his eyes.
“He said… He said the man killed a boy right in front of him and Savannah… a boy he said was Maddy.”
“What?”
“He had a bag over his head, but he was wearing Maddy’s clothes.
He made them think…” Devlin sagged against him.
“He gut him open… they thought it was Maddy…” Devlin broke.
“And then sitting under that tree…” Devlin gripped Dane’s back, shaking.
“… thinking it was Savannah and Maddy hanging above him… their blood dripping all over him… fuck…” He clung to Dane, sobbing.
Dane looked at Cole. The man was staring at Devlin, eyes glazed with tears—and a fuck-load of guilt rolling off him in waves.
Cole excused himself to the restroom while Devlin took Dane to Angel’s room. As soon as he closed the door, the shakes hit him. He fell back against the door and slid down to the floor, clawing at his hair as he broke down crying.
Just stop, you motherfucker—you won! You fucking WON!
His hands trembling badly, Cole dug out the cell and made the call.
“Checking up on your hubby?” Daniel’s voice drifted through the phone like a malevolent spirit.
“Please stop,” Cole whispered, sobs breaking his words. “Please don’t hurt them anymore. You won… they’re not… they’re not going to heal… I’m not… going to heal. Please let them go… you won…” Cole’s head sagged into his hand as he sobbed into the phone. “… you won…”
“I haven’t won until I get what I want.”
“What do you want?” Cole cried.
“What I’ve always wanted,” Daniel said. “I want my… legacy.”
“What?”
“Now that you’re reminded who I am… what I am,” Daniel murmured, “ It’s time we talk again, and start working on our father-son relationship.”
Cole listened in numb silence as the Mangler finished speaking, then ended the call with a simple mumbled—“Okay”—as the final remnants of the life he loved so much crumbled into ruin.
Dane lay on the bed with Angel, holding the boy in his arms while he slept.
He wished his husband could stay asleep until the nightmare was over.
But what if it was never over? If Maddy didn’t come home—or he came home broken—Angel wouldn’t recover.
Dane feared it might already be too late for healing.
The boy had suffered a mental blow that shattered his entire world. How does one come back from that?
He's come back before and healed. He can do it again.
Could he, though? As horrifying as it was before, the trauma and pain were his own—this time, it was Maddy. Despite Angel's strength and fight, losing Maddy would break him, and there would be no way back this time.
A soft knock sounded on the door, then Devlin quietly entered with Abel. The boy was cleaned up and wearing a hospital gown. On the outside, he looked almost new again, except for a few visible bruises on his arms and face. However, the nightmare still lingered in his eyes.
“He wanted to see Angel,” Devlin murmured as Dane left the bed.
Abel walked to the bed and crawled up beside Angel, wrapping his arms around the other boy. In his sleep, Angel grabbed onto Abel, and the two boys clung to one another. The sight of them broke Dane’s heart.
“I want to give you a sedative, as well,” Devlin spoke softly to Abel as he approached the bed. “You need to rest.” The boy didn’t object.
Dane watched them, tears welling up. His throat and chest grew tight as the pain in his heart became unbearable. When Devlin turned and locked eyes with him, a shared fear passed between them: What if they don’t come back to us?
The two men exited the room without voicing their fears.
Dane cleared his throat as they stood in the corridor outside. “Max will be calling soon, wanting to know what’s happening.”
“What do we tell him?”
“I don’t know,” Dane sighed. “But we can’t tell him about the park. They don’t need to know that. But we need to let them know Abel is with us.”
“They’ll be relieved about Abel,” Devlin whispered. “But it won’t ease their worries for Maddy and Savannah.”
“Doesn’t ease mine either,” Dane mumbled.
“Or mine.” Devlin sank into one of the chairs outside the room.
Despair hunched his shoulders. “Savannah is like my own little sister.” His chin trembled.
“She’s the one who saw something beautiful between Abel and me, before we did.
She told me not to give up on him when he showed resistance.
She and I…” Breath shuddered out of him as tears rolled down his face.
“… we were kind of a team from the start. I loved her spirit from the beginning. Even facing a terrifying diagnosis, she was more concerned about Abel and me. She always had a smile for me.” A quiet sob shook him, and he pressed his face into his hands.
“We can’t lose her… we can’t lose Maddy… we can’t.”
Dane sat in the chair next to him and hugged him. “We’re going to find our way through this fucking nightmare,” he whispered. “We are. We’re getting the kids back. We’re getting Gabe back. This fucker doesn’t get to win.”
The sound of footsteps caught Dane’s attention as Cole came in, looking almost hesitant with red-rimmed eyes, showing recent tears.
Cole appeared as broken as the two boys inside the room, trapped in the belief that he was responsible for all their family’s pain and suffering.
Despite efforts to comfort him, nothing seemed to help.
Dane understood this well; though it was heartbreaking to see Cole bear such unbearable guilt, he knew he would have done the same in his place.
“Someone should talk to Max,” Cole murmured.
“We were thinking the same thing,” Dane said.
“I’ll go,” Cole offered. “I won’t tell them about the kids in the park.”
Dane stood. “Maybe we should stay together.”
Cole shook his head, looking defeated. “He doesn’t want me,” he whispered. “He only wants to hurt me… and he’s already done that.”