Hush Little Baby

Chapter 7: Slaughter

"REGGIE!"

Scott screamed at the water but didn't see any sign of Reggie or the monster that took him. Sitting back while unsure about what to do, he knew that he couldn't stay here especially near the water in case that ungodly creature came back.

Getting to his feet, he jogged back into the town and tried to determine where his friends were. He wandered down the main street, back to the building where everything had started. Entering the threshold of the city hall, he looked around the room for any clues.

Checking the back rooms and all the walls for any sign of this being a prank or a joke. Scott turned up nothing as he spun around and saw one of the duffle bags in the center of the pentagram. A note rested on top of it.

Take it and go. The note instructed as Scott looked back down at the bag of money.

"ARE YOU ACTUALLY LETTING ME GO?"

Scott called into the darkness, not sure if he would get a response. Moments passed as silence remained to be the only voice in the room.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Reaching down he picked up the bag as the weight seemed to match that of the money. He didn't have time to check inside though; he just needed to get out of here. Throwing the strap over one of his shoulders he booked it down the street and up to the van that was still sitting on the edge of the ditch.

Throwing open the passenger door, Scott threw the bag on the seat before running around to the other side, and brushed off the glass that was on the driver's seat, then knocked out the remaining glass from the windshield.

Third times the charm right. He thought to himself as he turned the key that was still in the ignition. The car struggled to come to life as he tried it again. The engine sputtered once more before stopping. Now worried that maybe something was wrong, he turned the key one last time, and the headlights of the car came to life and illuminated the road ahead of him. The engine roared to life soon after.

Taking a second, he looked back out the passenger side window at the old abandoned town. Can I really just leave them, I could always get help and bring them back here? For a brief moment, Scott thought he was free, and the fact he was a criminal had escaped him. In Scott's mind, he was now the victim, the police had to help him out, or he could just give them an anonymous tip.

Feeling reassured of his plan he put the car into drive and started heading down the road, through the mountain pass. He was really doing it, He thought as he approached the first corner, when suddenly the sound of a semi-trucks blaring horn rang out as it swung wide around the corner and headed straight for Scott.

Turning the wheel to try and avoid the metal beast, the semi almost instantly mimicked his moves as they both collided. Scott's head fired forward bouncing off the dash stunning him for a minute as the semi-truck kept pressing forward, pushing him all the way back to the entrance of the ghost town.

Returning to the waking world, Scott looked up to see the other truck directly in front of him. Scott was lucky to be alive as he checked his body to make sure he wasn't gored by anything then looked into the truck across from him. The driver's seat was empty.

Unsure of where he was,  Scott looked out the passenger window, only to see that he was right back where he had started, the van was now completely totaled by the truck as Simon turned and looked down at the money. As if a voice was in his head, he felt like he needed to see inside the bag.

He slid the zipper down as a grotesque smell immediately filled the van. Pushing open the driver side door, Scott vomited everything that was inside of him out before he turned back to look at the bag while holding his nose.

Parting the zipper just a bit more a gory mess met his gaze. Every human known part of a body was mulched up in the bag, accompanied by a bloody note with the words Gotcha, written on it.

The smell was still too intense as Scott ran from the van, into what smelt like a gasoline cloud. Looking down at the bottom of the vehicle, he spotted a pool of an unknown liquid that was now running around the tires.

"Oh shit."

Seeing too many action movies, Scott knew how this was going to end as he ran back into the abandoned towns compound and heard the violent explosion behind him as it shook the air. An orange light suddenly illuminated behind him as a cloud of smoke drifted off into the nothingness.

That was it, his only means of escape was now completely destroyed. With no hope left, he made his way back down the main street passing all the ruined buildings until the same putrid smell from he duffle bag hit him again.

Having no care left in the world, Scott looked to his side as the building marked Butcher sat waiting for him to enter. Ready to meet his fate he walked up to the building and pushed the door open, as his senses were completely overtaken by the smell, yet he kept pushing through it until he reached a backdoor in the building and attempted to force it open as well.

However something was holding it back as he pushed again and again until running straight at it, The door easily broke away as Scott tumbled in and caused whatever was behind it to move out of sight. Before he could even get in though, a body swung down from the ceiling knocking Scott backward, yet he maintained his balance.

Looking at the body in the door he could see that it had been mutilated, pieces of its flesh missing all over, and the word Liar was carved into its chest, and stained with blood.

"Jesus Christ. Who could do something like this?"

Scott mustered up the courage to inspect closer pushing the body to the side only to reveal a room with even more corpses in the exact same position, all with the word liar carved into them. Scott didn't even have to look close to notice that the bodies had been mangled to some degree and it was almost obvious that this is where the contents of the duffle bag came from.

He continued around the room looking at the bodies trying to make sense of it all when he suddenly heard something knocking against wood. Scott looked over at the door only to see that it was still open, and that's when he realized the knocking wasn't coming from the left or right, it was coming from the floor.