Chapter 16
Joy
“Um, are you sure you wanna go in there?” Jazz asks me, brows furrowed.
I stop, looking at the faces of the girl gang. “Yeah, of course. Why?”
They all share a look before turning their eyes back to me. “Well, it can get a little…intense.” Lovely says. “You’ll see things that might shock or upset you, that’s all.”
Inhaling I hold my breath for a moment before blowing it out.
“I spent a long time with a man who for all intents and purposes looked good from the outside, but was the epitome of evil. He beat and broke me. He sold my baby. He’s done all manner of unspeakable things and he got what was coming for him.
That man in there,” I point to the shed we’re standing outside of, “that man is part of this whole thing. He too has probably done unspeakable things. Men like that need to pay for their actions. If it’s in blood drawn by a slightly unhinged pregnant woman, then so be it. ”
A smile blooms on Lovely’s face, on Blanche’s face, on Ana’s and Nat’s and all of the women who are standing around me.
Even Mercy’s lips tip up and somehow that makes me feel seen.
Heard. Empowered. Am I pooping myself about watching a man slowly lose his life?
Heck yes, but he deserves what’s about to happen to him and for that I can stomach anything Chewy decides to throw at me.
“Well then, let’s head in.” Mercy waves a hand toward the door and I pull my shoulders back, grip the door and yank it open.
“Holy shit.”
There, hanging from a hook in the middle of the room, is a naked redhead with clamps on his nipples and his penis. There is a drain on the floor and one lonely fly seems to be hanging on the man’s face. Oh, and he looks to have one of those cow ear tag things attached to his ear.
“Wow, she went straight for the soft bits.” Vi says, staring at the man’s privates.
“We ready to get started?” Pops calls out.
I can’t see either him or Chewy, but I can hear a lot of clanging, a weird fizzing sound and stomping.
“It’s not going to be the same without Rhodie,” Chewy says in a sad voice. “I’ve never done DRMC official business without Rhodie before.”
“What about Batman?” Blanche asks in a bored voice.
“Oh yeah, I guess there was that.”
“And the three men from Thompson and McDonald’s assault squad?” someone else calls.
“I forgot about them,” Chewy calls out.
“And the woman who was running that baby farm…”
“And that time you hung Theo and Jay up in those sex swings…”
“Who the fuck are Theo and Jay?” Gallows growls.
“Oh they’re The Keep’s IT men,” Mira says with a grin.Gallows give her a confused look and then frowns when she winks at him.
Chewy clomps out from behind a stall, dressed in one of those white suits you see on the CSI crime shows with a frown on her face. “Huh, it seems that I may have forgotten those moments. Sad really, because some of them were my best work. Is this baby brain? Forgetting good memories like this?”
“Good memories?” Kaia says an octave higher than her normal voice.
“Alas, I fear pregnancy may be affecting my brain. And that won’t do. How will I be better than everyone here if I have a normal person brain?” Chewy looks horrified at the thought.
“Nah, you’ll be fine. Even growing a baby can’t take that killer instinct outta ya, girl.” Pops winks behind his safety goggles. “Now, decide. Are you using caustic soda in his dick, or the electric cattle prod?”
“Fucking hell,” Gallows mutters looking green.
Chewy looks between the two items Pops is holding up, her dark brows furrowed. “Do we have a syringe?”
Pops grins and pulls the thickest syringe I’ve ever seen out of his back pocket with a “taadaa!”
“Let’s go caustic soda.” Chewy chuckles with glee.
“I’ve just mixed it up so you wanna get it in there while it’s at its most powerful.” Pops nods.
“No, she isn’t,” Mercy mutters beside me, eyes on Chewy’s hands.
“Shoot! Wait!” Mira yells, making everyone jump. “We need music! You always have music!”
Everyone starts agreeing, nodding and bustling around and somehow Blanche pulls out a bluetooth speaker.
From who knows where. She plops it down on a metal table off to the side, and Mira pairs her phone to it.
Which should be easy and yet seems to take an incredibly long amount of time.
Long enough that the man hanging from the meat hooks starts to hyperventilate.
“Hey, hey, it’s going to be OK.” Lovely soothes, her hand outstretched like she’s trying to calm a spooked animal. “You’re only going to be hurtin’ if you don’t give us what we want.”
“W-what do you want?” the man stutters, his legs thrashing around as he tries to hide himself away from us.
“You know, silly. We want to know how you got here. Why you’re here and who sent you. Once you answer all those questions Chewy might let you go.”
“Or I might not,” Chewy shrugs. “That’s what makes this part so exciting.” The man whimpers and I do start to feel a little sorry for him, but I need to push that feeling down. He’s here to take my baby from me.
Chewy’s head snaps up as the first bars of a song finally play out of Blanche’s speaker.
“Oh, I love this song!” Kaia exclaims, Nat pointing and grinning at her as the song from Grease fills the room.
“Pops! Syringe me!” She holds her hand out and Pops slaps the syringe into her outstretched hand.
Chewy waits as Pops quickly steps behind the man and grabs his legs with an iron grip, holding him still. Chewy leans forward, her gloved hands surprisingly gentle as she fondles the man’s penis.
“So, who do you work for?” she asks in her monotone voice.
“I’ll never tell, you crazy bitch!” he grits out before he spits at her, a wet glob landing on her safety goggles.
“Wrong answer,” Chewy says in a sing song voice that sends a shiver down my spine. “I’ll give you one more chance before this-” she waves the huge needle around in the air, “-goes straight into your pee hole. So, who do you work for?”
He goes beet red, and I can’t tell if it’s from rage or fear.
Either way it doesn't matter. His refusal to answer has Chewy letting out a sad sigh as she slowly inserts the needle into the end of the man’s penis before pressing gently on the depressor.
Whatever caustic soda does, it’s not pretty.
His member looks red and irritated before something starts to bubble out of the end of it.
“Can we turn the music up? I want to sing Sandy’s part but he’s drowning me out,” Ana whines.
Mercy and Gallows slowly turn their heads to stare at her before looking at the DRMC men who stayed behind.
“We have no answers for you man, it’s just the way it is,” Wire says with a shrug as he leans against the door.
“I’m just glad the Mannings decided to hole up with the kids inside. There is no good way to explain any of this shit to outsiders,” Flack adds.
“Ah shit,” Pops grumbles, “we got a damn fainter. Hold up, Dayz.”
We all watch in fascination as Pops picks up the cattle prod, presses it to the man’s balls and then zaps him. He comes to with a yelp and thrashes about as Chewy attempts to make the same soothing sounds that Lovely made earlier.
“Look, buddy. This will go a lot smoother if you just tell her what she wants to know,” Wire says in a bored voice.
“He’s right you know,” Chewy shrugs. “I have more where this came from,” she waves her needle around again.
“What do I care? You already fucking disintegrated my cock!” Redhead yells.
“Yeah, well, you have plenty more places I can stick this. I might go up the backside next.” Chewy threatens with a grin and starts to move in that direction as the man shrieks, making me jump.
I get why the Ol Ladies wanted to double check that I was going to be OK coming in here.
Is it cruel and a little twisted? Yeah, but for some reason I don’t feel guilt or any need to try to talk anyone down or try to help this man.
I have an overwhelming urge to need the information Chewy is seeking, too.
I want to know who sent him. Why he’s here.
Who he works for. I need us to get this information so that the DRMC can put the world back to right, to make it safe not just for me and Kit, but for everyone.
Everybody deserves to know their loved ones are safe and sound, and in order to do that some people will have to die. Like this man.
“What the fuck is that?” Pops mutters under his breath before tilting his head slightly.
“Wait.” Chewy frowns, tilting her head the same as Pops, and it’s in this moment that I realize how strong the Tombs genes really are. They are carbon copies of each other. Well, except one is an older man and the other is pregnant.
“That better not be what I think it is,” Pops growls, before storming toward the door, snatching off his goggles and throwing them on the floor.
I share a look with the Ol Ladies and we rush out after Pops and Chewy as a loud engine roars closer and closer. I know it’s not Reid, as this doesn’t have the same comforting sound as the motorcycle pipes I’ve come to love. No, this has the sound of anger as it bears down.
Pops stops abruptly in the drive, eyes at the other end as a navy blue muscle car thing comes barrelling toward us, kicking up rocks and dust.
“Carmelita!” Pops gasps, hand on his chest as he stumbles slightly backwards into Wire.
“Ah, anyone care to explain?” Gallows asks, looking around at the group.
I stare at him wide eyed before turning back to the scene.
I have no idea what’s going on, but we’ll all find out as soon as the car comes to a stop.
In about two seconds judging by how fast it’s going.
A giant dust cloud kicks up as the car skids in front of us and then Pops is there, ripping the door open.
“You motherfucker!”
Pops