"I... I choose Tina," Kaylee finally whispered, her voice barely hearable.
"Are you sure, Kaylee? Tina has been nothing but trouble since I picked her up." He stepped behind her, forcing her to her feet, his hands moving over her body with a familiarity that made her skin crawl and shrink away from him. "Michelle has proven herself to be quite the little cock sucker. I think she might even grow to like it after a while."
Kaylee ducked her head down, refusing to look anymore at the three women, especially the two she'd just condemned to death. She couldn't, guilt and horror were eating at her. As well as the grief she felt, grief for the loss of Gabe.
"Oh well, if you insist." David pushed her into the chair, forcing her in hard enough to knock the air out of here.
He turned and went to his shelves, reaching into a small white box and drawing out a length of red ribbon. With a careful hand, he cut it then held the two ends together, trimming them neatly. He drew out another length, repeating the process before tucking the edges of the ribbons into his front pocket.
The ends hung down the front of his beige pants, a striking contrast like lines of blood, marring the material. He settled a few things onto a metal tray, humming as he worked. Then he walked to the door of the cage, opening it and wiggling his fingers at Michelle.
"Come out, come out wherever you are," he chuckled. "It's too bad we just don't have more time, I might have let you prove to Kaylee what a wonderful addition you could be to our little love nest. But, I'm expecting company so come on out little Michelle."
"N... no!"
David looked at her in consternation for a moment as if he'd never have expected her to argue with him. "Michelle, this is not the time for you to prove you have any balls. Get your little ass out here!" he roared, his anger billowing in sheets of rage.
Michelle stood with her back to the very back of the cage, her head shaking even as terror made it impossible for her to speak. Her legs felt like jello, fear making her bowels feel like water as she watched him. His eerie eyes seemed to glow, his face turned red and he stomped his foot.
"If I have to come in there and get you, Michelle, you will regret it with every scream I wrest from you before I finally kill you," he screamed at the girl, his voice hoarse. "Now get your cunt out here!"
"NO!" she screamed. "NO!"
Tina watched David with a disassociated detachment that made her feel as if she were somewhere else, watching this through someone else's eyes. The expression on David's face struck her as funny and she let a little giggle slip past her lips.
She couldn't help it, he had a look of such surprise on his face. It was almost as if he actually believed that they would calmly walk out of this plastic prison that had become their haven in these last moments and cheerfully put their heads in his hands so that he might kill them. How foolish could any man be?
"Do you actually believe that any of us are going to allow you to kill us?" she asked slowly.
"Shut up, Tina. This doesn't concern you. Kaylee has given you a reprieve."
"But for how long? How long before you tire of the two of us and decide to get rid of us? How long before you tire of having broken toys? We hate you, David. All of us, even Kaylee that you profess to love. We hate every rancid breath you suck into your evil lungs."
"Tina..." he began, his tone of voice going beyond warning and into rage.
"No! You're going to listen. You've fucked us, you raped us all in horrible ways. You've tried to break us, and you failed. You FAILED!"
"Tina, be careful," Sheri hissed from her post beside the girl. We want him pissed, not homicidal."
"You are nothing but a pathetic little boy." Tina took a step forward, her eyes glued to David's face. "A little boy with a truly pathetic little cock who has to rape women to get it up. You can't do it any other way, can you? You couldn't have a regular relationship with a woman. You can't get it up unless you are threatening and hurting, can you?"
David took one step into the cage, his eyes set upon Tina. His hands clenched into white knuckled fists at his sides.
"You don't scare me, David. You don't scare me at all. You are nothing, less than nothing." Tina turned her back, refusing to look at the man. He would attack, she knew that. She just had to hope she could provoke him past his control point. She had to give Michelle time to do her part.
With a hideous roar, David rushed her, taking the five steps he needed to get his hands on Tina in three. His hands closed around her throat, strangling her, his thick fingers digging into her flesh brutally.
Michelle raced from the cage, almost too panicked to do her part of the plan. She hesitated for a moment, hearing the sounds of the struggles behind her, seeing the way to freedom in the long staircase that was so close. But then she heard Sheri cursing, heard Tina gasping for air and couldn't forget them. She rushed to the shelves, her shaking hand scattering the metal tools before grasping a handful of scalpels.
Turning, she ran to the cage. Sheri was fighting with David, struggling to get his fingers from around Tina's throat. Tina was almost unconscious, her body limp in the strong man's hands. She struggled feebly, her fingers pulling impotently at the thick fingers dug so cruelly into her throat.
"NO!" Michelle screeched, rushing at David's back, her arm raised with the bladed ends of the scalpels pointed out. Not even thinking, only feeling the horror of what he was doing to her friend, she brought her hand down hard, feeling the slight pop the skin made as the scalpel slipped through, sliding deeply into his flesh. Beyond that first pop, the blades went in easily, like slicing through warm butter.
David screamed, his eyes growing wide as he realized what was happening. He turned, letting go of Tina, his hands flailing. He knocked Michelle down even as she tried to stab him again, running out of the cage. Sheri went after him, her pale body almost a blur as she raced after the injured man.
She was past thinking like a cop; she'd been through things in the last twenty-four hours that no cop should ever have to deal with. Now she was thinking like a woman. She was thinking like a woman who'd been brutalized, beaten and raped. She wanted revenge. With a shriek, she leaped at him, grabbing one of the scalpels that had been left in his body and yanking it out. She knocked him to the ground, stabbing him over and over.
David fought her, rolling on the floor with her, roaring every time the blade struck home. He could feel himself weakening, feel his life's blood draining away to the floor of his basement retreat. "No," he whispered, finding himself on his back, Sheri on top of him, her red hair a mass of mussed snarls, her eyes full of hatred.
"Die you pathetic piece of shit," she hissed, sinking backwards, the scalpel she still held in her cut hand hanging loosely at her side as she watched him suffer. She was breathing heavily, her flesh quivering from the effort it had taken her to stop. "Go to hell!"
