The Many (26 page)

28

McElroy’s gun twitched into the room. Behind the barrel he saw Karl writhing inside a straitjacket, tethered to a chair in front of a large TV. He was shouting into a thick gag, his eyes frantic and huge.

McElroy craned his neck to peer through the door hinges, checking that no one else was in the room. Then he hurried over to Karl, ripping the tape off of his mouth.

“Jesus, thank God,” Karl croaked.

“Where’s Leach?” McElroy said, bending down to loosen the ropes pinning Karl’s torso to the chair

“I don’t know. He probably took off when he saw you.”

McElroy threw the ropes aside and straightened up, glancing at Karl. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt?”

“I’m fine,” he coughed. “Just a sore throat. Fuck, is it just you here?”

“Yeah. It’s complicated.”

“What about Doctor Reynolds and Maxine?”

“Maxine is handcuffed in the kitchen. I don’t where the doctor is…”

“–You should get Dawn from the basement,” Karl said, nodding urgently behind McElroy at the TV set. “Leach has given her something.”

McElroy stood behind Karl’s chair, squinting at the stark white room filling the screen. The girl was bound and gagged and stripped to her underwear, her breasts spilling out of her bra. It looked like the beginning of a snuff movie. McElroy guessed whatever was planned for her would be the stuff of recurring nightmares. But she appeared to be alone in the room – at least she was safe, for now.

He turned back to Karl, frowning at the series of straps fastening the back of his straitjacket. He set about undoing the top buckle, his fingers fumbling with the fiddly metal prong.

“Fuck, you need to get down there,” Karl said.

“Just a minute,” McElroy said, moving on to the second buckle. “Don’t you want out of this thing?”

“Look!” Karl urged.

McElroy glanced up at the TV again. He flinched when he saw a man in a white coat standing in front of Dawn. He appeared to be cutting her ropes free. “Doctor Reynolds,” he said stupidly.

“Just get the fuck down there!”

But McElroy was already racing out of the bedroom and along the hallway, praying his brief hesitation hadn’t already been fatal. Throwing himself down the stairs, he heard Maxine begging for help. He ignored her cries, spinning around the banister and ducking his head into the second, low-ceilinged set of stairs.

He flung open the door at the bottom, finding himself in a small, windowless room furnished with an armchair and a side-table strewn with magazines. A shirt and pants were draped over the back of the armchair; shoes filed under the seat. A navy overcoat hung from a peg on the wall. Like a changing room, McElroy thought grimly.

There was another door straight ahead and he went through it, emerging into a vast, white basement.

“Oh, Christ,” McElroy said, seeing the blood. It was pooled on the floor by the bed; splattered over the sheets. A shiny trail led from the bed to the far corner of the room.

29

Dawn was standing there, shaking.

Blood was smeared over her face and down her neck. Dr. Reynolds lay face down in front of her, his red-stained coat covering him like a blanket. He wasn’t moving, and didn’t look likely to again.

“I told him no,” Dawn said in a distant voice.

“I know, it’s all right,” McElroy said softly, recovering from the initial shock. “Do you remember me?” he asked, taking a tentative step towards her.

“Detective McElroy.”

“That’s right. Tell me, are you hurt? Injured in any way?”

She shook her head.

“Good, that’s good, Dawn. Do you mind I join you over there?”

She nodded.

“Okay. I just want to check on him first – it won’t take a second.”

He went to the body and put two fingers under the asshole’s nostrils, feeling for air. Nothing. He looked along Dr. Reynolds’s bloody torso. He’d been stabbed dozens of times. The damage was particularly severe around his neck, where the torn flesh was ragged and hanging loose.

Only then did it occur to him: “Hey, where’s the knife?”

He looked up, but Dawn was no longer standing in the corner.

Mistake.

McElroy knew he was dead in the spilt-second before the blade cut across his windpipe. His hands flew to his throat, trying to staunch the spurting blood, but he’d already lost control of his body, tipping onto Dr. Reynolds’s carcass with his arms flapping uselessly at his sides.

In his feverish final moments, he heard Dawn whisper something in his ear, a comment he didn’t fully understand, but would take to the grave.

“Pig.”

30

Karl saw the whole thing on screen. At first he’d cheered when Dawn sunk her teeth into Dr. Reynolds’s neck. The knife dropped from his hand, and Dawn scooped it up in a flash, sticking the knife twice into his chest before he’d had time to react. He’d tried to grab her, but she ducked away, stabbing him in his shoulder, his side, and then slashing him violently across his stomach, causing a gush of blood to pour onto the floor. At that point, Dr. Reynolds was in another world, bleeding to death on his feet, but Dawn kept stabbing at his torso with furious accuracy. Only when his mutilated body fell to the floor did she retreat into the corner of the room.

Karl’s elation turned to confusion. Dawn’s attack seemed exceedingly savage, even for self-defense. And when McElroy entered the room, Karl already guessed the detective’s fate.

Panicked, Karl managed to stand up in his straightjacket, but his ankles were still tied to the bolted-down chair. Karl tried pushing his lower legs out, then sideways, but the ropes wouldn’t give. He could only look on in dread as McElroy bent down to check the body. 

Karl had screamed again when Dawn reached down the back of her underwear and pulled out the knife. She drew the blade swiftly across McElroy’s throat, stepping back to watch his thrashing fit. When the detective’s limbs finally went still, she calmly turned around and looked up at the camera.

Karl swallowed, his fear turning inward.
Did she know he was watching?

He stared on helplessly as Dawn left the basement. A few seconds passed. Then he heard footsteps slowly thumping up the stairs.

Cold sweat broke out over his body.

Was he next?

Karl was suddenly delirious with adrenaline. He strained and shook against the ropes around his ankles, summoning all his strength to his legs. He could hear Maxine crying out for help, obviously alerted to the footsteps coming up from the basement. Karl prayed that Dawn was going to take care of her first.

He finally managed to work some slack into the ropes. He stood up and tried jumping up as far as he could, hoping the friction would jiggle the ropes free. It was a struggle to stay upright, and he worried his ankles would break if he tipped over, but he’d run out of alternatives. He had to go for it.

Feeling the ropes loosen as he jumped higher, he heard Dawn’s footsteps below him. She sounded nearer, but she wasn’t climbing the stairs. She was walking around the ground floor. Maxine’s cries suddenly went quiet. Karl jumped with added urgency, sensing he was running out of time. Just then, Maxine let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The fright caused Karl to lose his balance. He tipped all the way forward, past the point where the ropes would hold him upright. Seeing the floor rapidly approach, he braced himself for the snap when his ankles succumbed to gravity.

His face slammed into the hard wood floor, sending a crack of pain up through his nose, but after he’d snorted out a gob of blood, he realized his legs were no longer attached to the chair. His falling weight had wrenched the ropes free.

Instinct took over. Karl turned to the side and rocked himself up onto one knee, then both knees, then staggered to his feet one leg at a time. He ran out of the room, heading straight for the stairs at the end of the hallway. The straitjacket meant he was virtually defenseless against a knife attack, but he figured if he met Dawn on the stairs, he could throw himself at her like a human missile.

He paused at the top of the stairs, listening. There was no sound below. He sneaked down a few steps to where the staircase turned at a right angle. From there, he was able see down into the main hallway.

Karl backed up a step when he heard footsteps approaching. He poked his head around the corner, catching a glimpse of Dawn crossing the hallway, still barefoot in her underwear. Blood covered her body and dripped from the knife in her hand.

She looked up, seeing him.

Karl froze. Dawn’s eyes narrowed, like she was zeroing in on prey. Then she started towards him.

31

Karl backed up the stairs, his shoulder bumping against the wall as he struggled for balance. Now that he was confronted by a murderous Dawn, he was too afraid to throw himself at her. His survival instincts were screaming at him to retreat from the knife.
He’d seen what she could do.

Dawn rounded the corner of the staircase, her expression fixed with intent. She was moving quickly, far too quickly for his armless body.

“
Stop!
” he cried. “Dawn, you’ve got to…”

His plea was cut short as Dawn rushed up the final few steps between them. The blade cut into his side, sending shockwaves up through his torso. She pulled the knife out and went to stick him again, but Karl turned his back to her so the blade grazed the surface of his skin
.
Before she could lunge again, Karl flung his head back, striking Dawn’s face with a loud crack. The impact threw him off balance, and he fell on top of her, sending them both tumbling down the stairs
.

They slammed into the wall where the staircase cornered, leaving their bodies sprawled over the landing. Karl was quickest to his feet, using his shoulder against the wall to lever himself up. He looked around frantically for the knife, spotting it a few steps above him. Then he looked down at Dawn. She wasn’t moving. Fresh blood trickled from her nose. For a paralyzing moment, he thought he’d killed her.

Just then, Dawn’s eyes blinked open. Karl tensed, bracing himself for another attack.
Ready to kick her in the teeth.
But then he noticed her eyes were bleary. She looked like she’d woken up after a hard night.

“Are you okay?” Karl said.

Dawn groaned, fingering her face. “Ow, what happened to my nose?”

“I said,
are you okay?
”

Dawn flinched. She studied him, her brow furrowed. “No. Fuck, where am I? I don’t remember...”

“It doesn’t matter. Can you get me out of this thing?”

“Why are you in a straitjacket?”

“It doesn’t matter.
We need to get out of here. There could be more of them.”

“More of who?”

Karl growled, shaking his crossed arms. Dawn finally got the message and stood up. She undid the buckle at the front of the straitjacket, and then turned Karl around, releasing the straps that tied the sleeve-ends to his back. Karl felt the jacket loosen, and his arms break free. He pulled the jacket over his head and threw it onto the stairs.

“Thank God for that,” he said, taking a moment to stretch out his arms. When he turned to face Dawn, his relief quickly turned to worry. Her eyes were glassy and distant. She looked like she’d descended into shock.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, rubbing her bare arms. “We’re gonna get out of here.”

Dawn stared right through him. Her skin was freezing to touch, and Karl’s hands weren’t warming her up at all
.
A familiar dread spread over him. Was she just in shock, or was it something more permanent…

Before Karl could finish the thought, his head whipped around, alerted by vibrations coming up through the stairs. Then a faint rattling of metal. More faceless men? Or perhaps Maxine was still alive? He didn’t dare ask Dawn if she’d killed her, afraid it would reawaken her rage.

He took a careful step back and reached down for the knife. The vibrations had passed. The metal noise, too. Dawn was still staring at him from the landing below, stiffly poised, like she’d been caught in a game of freeze tag. Karl held a finger to his lips, just in case she was tempted to say something.

The silence in the house drew out. Karl told himself the noise had most likely been Maxine in her final death throes. Even if she were still alive, she’d likely be incapacitated. And the longer he waited, the greater the risk of the faceless men swooping in to clean house. 

Karl joined Dawn on the landing, nodding that it was time to go. She gave no indication that she understood, so he took her hand, leading her down the stairs. He paused at the bottom of the staircase, scanning the hallway. Bloody footprints glistened darkly on the wooden floor. There was a doorway to his left, where the floorboards gave way to lemon-colored vinyl. Bright red blood was gathering in the seam. A woman’s slender forearm lay just in view, her fingers curled like a dead spider.

Karl spun around in fright, pulling his hand away. Dawn stared back at him with a flat expression, either not noticing or not caring about the blood
. She wasn’t a threat anymore
, Karl reassured himself.
She didn’t even know where she was.

Settling his breath, Karl focused on the open door at the far end of the hallway. He could see the silhouette of trees against the starlit sky, feel the crisp night air on his skin. Freedom was only a few steps away.

He was about to grab Dawn’s hand when a loud bang shuddered through the house. A man’s cough came next, then heavy footsteps. Karl glanced down to his right, where the stairs dipped below the floor.

Someone was coming up from the basement.