CHAPTER 19 RUDE AWAKENINGS
Thoughts of the boy stayed with Cole as the two men led him back down the metal staircase and deeper into the factory.
Of all his repressed memories, the boy was the one he had buried the deepest. Looking so much like Ezra, the cleanup process nearly destroyed what was left of Cole’s sanity.
To this day, he still didn’t understand how he hadn’t gone crazy.
The massive structure was a maze of twists and turns, where one could easily get lost, with no windows and some passages blocked by collapsed ceilings and debris. They stopped outside a large metal door. “Henry and I need to have a private conversation,” the Mangler told Byrne. “Please excuse us.”
The deputy looked at his dad with raw bitterness, possibly mixed with pure hate. “I have better things to do than join your tea party,” he muttered at the older man and walked away.
Cole watched him go. “Trouble in paradise?” Cole mumbled as he turned his eyes on Daniel. “Seems kind of tense between you and him.”
The Mangler rested his hand on the door handle. “How much did he tell you?”
“Enough,” Cole said. “He hates me because you… favor me over him. At least, in his mind.”
“No, he’s right.” Daniel smiled and pushed open the heavy door, the corroded hinges protesting sharply. “He was a disappointment from the start. Refused to learn and always made a mess.”
“I didn’t learn, either,” Cole whispered. “I hated the things you made me do. I didn’t want to be like you—he does.”
“Your difficulty in learning was my fault,” Daniel said. “I pushed you too hard at the beginning. Your brother was a killer from day one. You weren’t. I should have realized that you needed to be eased into it.”
Cole stared at him; did he really believe that would have made a difference? “It wouldn’t have mattered how you did it,” Cole said quietly. “I would have never been a killer like you.”
“We’ll see.” Daniel entered the dark room. “I still have hope for you.”
Hope for him? What the fuck did he mean by that—
Daniel flipped a switch, and a pale light flickered overhead, too dim to fully illuminate the spacious room but enough to reveal the rusted cage against the wall—and the blond girl cowering inside.
Byrne entered the boy’s room and turned on the light.
The kid huddled in the far corner of the cage, knees hugged to his chest in a tight fetal position, shivering.
The boy had almost shut down shortly after his abduction, and that was no fun for Byrne.
Like his dad, he savored the fear. It made the whole experience so much sweeter.
Squatting before the cage, Byrne rapped on the bars with his flashlight. The kid jerked and stirred from a troubled sleep. “Did you miss me?” Byrne grinned at the boy. “I’ve been out running errands, but I’m back now and all yours.”
The kid remained huddled up and stared at him, his eyes glazed as if he wasn’t quite there. Not good. Not good at all. But he thought he knew how to “wake” him up.
“Tell me about your girlfriend, Maddy.” Byrne sat cross-legged before the cage. “Tell me about Savannah.”
The girl’s name made the boy flinch, and his eyes cleared a little.
Byrne smiled. “I’ve seen her, you know. Very pretty, sweet. I like girls, too, just so you know. If you won’t give me the attention I want… maybe she will.”
“ No .” Maddy lunged forward, falling onto his hands, and scrambled to the front of the cage.
“ No ...” Panic flared across his face. “...leave her alone... don’t.
.. don’t touch her.” Fear shone in his watery eyes.
“Please,” he whispered with a tremor. “I-I’ll do whatever you want.
.. just... just don’t...” He hung his head, trembling, as tears streamed down his face. “Please, leave her alone.”
Now, they were making progress. Byrne shifted onto his knees and unzipped his pants. The boy recoiled back into the cage, panic widening his eyes.
“You said you would do whatever I want,” Byrne murmured, a sexual rasp corroding his voice. “I will need you to prove that, or else… I’ll have to see if Savannah is more accommodating.”
Maddy shook his head, tears flooding his face. “No…”
“Come here.”
The boy hesitated before crawling forward again.
“Give me your hand,” Byrne said as he pulled out his hard cock. The boy stared at him, terrified, but still slid a shaky hand through the bars. Byrne’s smile stretched as he wrapped the kid’s fist around his cock. His breath quickening, Byrne groaned, “Jerk me off.”
Savannah! Although he knew the bodies in the park weren’t their kids, a part of him feared they were dead somewhere else. As terrifying as it was to see his baby girl locked in a cage—seeing her alive nearly crippled him with relief.
The girl lay with her arms over her head, sobbing uncontrollably. Her shirt and pants were gone, leaving her in only her bra and panties.
Cole ran to the cage and dropped to his knees, gripping the rusty bars. “Savannah,” he choked. “Baby girl…”
Savannah didn’t respond as she cried harder. What had they done to her? Cole squeezed the bars tighter, rage overtaking his fear of the monster from his childhood. He twisted his head, fury burning inside him as he stared at the Mangler.
“Hey…” Daniel smiled and raised his hands. “I haven’t touched her. Well, not much, anyway. We’re still… building our relationship.” He looked at the girl, her back turned to the front of the cage, body trembling violently from cold and fear. “Aren’t we, darling?”
Breath surged through Cole’s nostrils as he turned back to the young girl. “Savannah… it’s me, baby girl… It’s Cole.”
The girl went deathly still and seemed to stop breathing, waiting—to see if he was a hallucination?
“Savannah. I’m here, sweetheart,” his voice cracked with emotion. “Talk to me, darling, I need to know you’re okay.” He swallowed hard.
“ Cole…” Savannah shifted slowly, as if afraid to turn and see that he wasn’t really there.
“It’s me, sweetheart.”
Savannah twisted around, eyes widening in shock.
“Cole!” she cried and scurried to the front of the cage.
She thrust her slender arms through the bars, desperately reaching for him.
“Cole!” she sobbed, pressing her face against the bars, her body shaking as she clung to his hands and arms. She completely broke down, her cries nearly screams.
Cole gripped her hands and pressed his head to her brow through the bars, tears streaking down his face. “I’m gonna get you out of here,” he whispered. “I promise, baby girl.”
Savannah was inconsolable. “ Abel…” she cried uncontrollably. “ Maddy… they’re… they’re dead…” She wilted against the bars, wailing in unbearable grief.
“Savannah,” Cole whispered against her brow. “Abel is home… he’s safe.”
The girl shuddered hard, her breath hitching in her throat. She raised reddened eyes to his face. “What…?”
“He’s alive,” Cole spoke quietly. “He’s with Devlin right now.”
“He’s… he…” Her face crumpled as another wave of sobs hit her. “Maddy…” She choked on her grief. “I saw him…”
“No,” Cole whispered. “The boy you saw… that wasn’t Maddy.”
“Huh…” Savannah looked up, her dirty face streaked with tears, fearful uncertainty in her eyes. “It wasn’t…”
“No.”
“Is he… is he… alive?”
Cole cleared his throat. “I haven’t seen him,” he whispered. “But I believe he is. Don’t give up hope, sweetheart. Please, I need you to hold on, okay?” He kissed her forehead. “Gabe is here… we’re going to get you out of here.”
Savannah looked past him to the Mangler, who stood near the door, too far away to hear their whispered words. “How?”
“You leave that to us,” he murmured. “Just try to stay strong, okay? We’re going home. All of us.”
When the man came, his creamy fluids shot all over the bars and Maddy. He squeezed his eyes shut, his stomach turning. Cum smeared his hand when he pulled his arm back inside the cage, his body shaking as globs of the killer’s semen oozed down his chest and stomach.
“Not bad,” the man panted as he stuffed his flaccid cock back inside his pants.
He winked at Maddy. “Bet you jerk off a lot with a prudish little girl like Savannah cock-clocking you, huh?” He reached between the bars, dragged his thumb through a glob of cum on Maddy’s chest, and smeared it across the boy’s lower lip, then inside his mouth.
“Can’t wait to see what that mouth can do. ”
Bile surged in the back of Maddy’s throat at the nasty taste of the man’s cum on his tongue.
His eyes watered, and his stomach began to heave; he couldn’t control it.
Maddy jerked away and puked. Little came up, but he continued to dry heave until his stomach pushed up thick, rancid bile that left a horrible, bitter taste in his mouth and throat that made him dry heave even harder.
Maddy coughed and gagged, his arms shaking badly as his hands pressed against the floor of the cage. Tears dripped off his face into the small puddle of nasty bile as his stomach revolted, again and again, until he was sure he’d start puking up blood.
The man chuckled and stood. “You’ll get used to it,” he said. “And if you don’t…” He shrugged. “… doesn’t matter. I like fucking a gagging throat.”
When he left, Maddy frantically wiped at the cum oozing down his front, but there was nothing to use to clean it off, and he only managed to smear it all over his skin. The stench of the cum filled his nostrils, reigniting his gag reflex.
“Uuh!” Maddy wiped his hands furiously against the bars, rusty slivers embedding in his palms. Panic and revulsion fused as he desperately tried to rid himself of the vile fluids clinging to his chilled skin.
The taste of the man’s cum in his mouth—the stench of it on his skin—awakened something inside Maddy, a survival instinct that had gone dormant after the island, turning him into a victim.
After coming home, he hadn’t fought back— he’d surrendered, allowing the fear and shame of the island to consume him, keep him afraid, and isolate him from the people who loved him most… the people who could help him heal.
You gave up with no thought or care of what it was doing to Angel… or Savannah.
Maddy gripped the flaking bars and pressed his head against the cold, rusty metal, warm tears rolling down his chilled, grimy face.
I have to get out. I have to get home.
Angel had sacrificed everything for Maddy, fought to stay sane in an insane situation—to protect Maddy. If he died here, disappeared into thin air… Angel would never recover.
He fought for you! Maddy screamed at himself. The least you can fucking do is fight back for him!
Whatever Henry said to the girl was of no importance to Daniel.
He didn’t care if he told her that her brother was alive, or that the boy she saw gutted wasn’t her boyfriend.
None of it mattered. What did matter was Henry’s love for the young woman, his determination to protect her, and keep her alive.
“Visiting hours are over,” Daniel said. “Time to go.”
Savannah sobbed and clung to the man, desperate to keep him with her.
He whispered to her as he gently freed himself from her grasp, likely reassuring her that everything would be okay and they would escape this place.
Daniel smiled; let her believe it. When reality hit, and she realized there was no escape—just as all his victims eventually did—the complete desolation of mind and spirit would add that final dash of seasoning .
“You gave her hope,” Daniel said when they were outside the room. “That was cruel.”
Henry didn’t respond as he walked along the debris-riddled corridor, boots crunching on broken glass and crumbled plaster.
“Are you wondering about the boy?” Daniel asked. “If he’s still alive?”
Henry walked ahead of Daniel in silence.
“He is. Though soon, I’m sure, he will wish he wasn’t.
” He stared at Henry’s back, noting the tension bunching his shoulders.
“He’s your brother’s plaything. I prefer the lovely young ladies, as you surely recall.
The blond sweetheart back there… I’m going to take my time with her, fuck her a few times before I cut into her soft, tender flesh. ”
Henry slowed and turned his head, the look in his gray eyes betraying his desire to kill his father.
Daniel chuckled to himself.
Yes, give in to the hate… come to the dark side.
And he would, for Daniel meant to give him no other option.