Death and Destruction (Jeff the Killer Fanfic)

30. Time's up

Kitty

"Keep your eyes peeled and your ears sharp. We don't know who we're dealing with here."

The boys nodded as I led the way, trudging through the snow and stepping in Liu's tracks as we followed his path up the mountain. I assumed they were his at least, they were light and alone, no one else with him. Something eventually caught my attention, the sound of an animal tracking through the woods, stopping when we stopped. A predator. I knew the boys heard it too as they closed in on me and made sure we had our asses covered.

When we finally reached the end of the trail I realized I'd begun spotting more purple duct tape along the way up the slope. They had the same words written on them, over and over again: 'tick tock'. I continued at a slowed pace until my gaze finally grazed a figure in the clearing ahead. Music became apparent as we drew nearer and when we reached the clearing a man greeted us, sitting on the open bed of a rusty pickup truck while rock n' roll played from the cab. He was dressed in simple clothes, blue jeans with torn knees and a thermal layered under an old Motörhead shirt. He didn't necessarily seem menacing, until I saw his eyes; sunken and full of a darkness that even I couldn't comprehend. At the center of it all was Chelsea, still bound at his feet with bloodied clothes and cuts everywhere on her bare skin.

"Chelsea!"

"Uh-uh-uh," the man started, low and gravelly, waggling a finger at us while Jeff held Thomas back, "you've kept me waiting. Poor Chels had to pay the price."

"Who the fuck are you?!" I shouted, echoing loud and clear in the trees before he perked up.

"Well sweetheart, are you wanting to know who I am, or who I am? Because I can tell you either, but only one answer really matters."

"Cut it with the cryptics, we already know you're a proxy." Jeff spat at the man while he raised his arms in the air innocently. "What'd he promise you?"

"He didn't need to promise me anything to get me on board. See, the big old stick-in-the-mud has this whole collection thing going and since you sent the kids running back to us he busted out the big guns," he laughed as he flexed his arms,, "and once I come out to play, things usually get pretty fuckin' spicy. I'll say, this one really likes to put up a fight, one of you boys is a lucky bastard."

Chelsea flinched as he reached down to brush his hand across her forehead and the terror in her eyes ignited a fire inside me, raging like an inferno. I whipped my knives out and he pulled his hand back, holding them innocently again while he grinned.

"Okay, okay, hands off the merchandise," he said, slapping his thighs while he dropped his arms. "You already know what he wants, I know what you want, this is just gonna go in one big shitshow of a merry-go-round until someone finally outsmarts someone else. So I'll cut ya a deal: at least one of you comes with me so I can hand deliver you to the stick-in-the-mud himself and I'll give the little witch back."

"And if we don't?" Jeff asked, the man narrowing his eyes. He wanted carnage.

"Then that means I get to have a little fun," he snickered before loosing a sharp whistle, "Here, boy!"

A hefty weight barreled into my side and I screeched as I rolled in the snow, a pale, emaciated figure that barely resembled a human screaming in my face while it jabbed sharpened claws toward my eyes. The music grew louder and the voices in my head screamed at me to kill him, but this thing was damn near relentless. Another figure dashed to my aid and Thomas rolled away with the creature wrapped in his jacket in an attempt to keep its razor sharp talons from injuring anyone further. Fiery pain raced up my arm from a solid hit, Jeff offering a hand to help me to my feet all while the man laughed his ass off in the bed of the truck, like this was all some kind of sick, twisted game to him. In fact, I'm sure he was getting a kick out of it.