Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All characters in sexual situations are 18 or older. Thanks for reading!
"I've got a better idea. Take this." Samantha handed Noah the box cutter. "Hold this to his throat. Get him to leave." She glanced at Paul. Her brother, Eddie, was taking a defensive position in front of his new master. Paul and his mother were whispering together.
"No, Sam. I couldn't do that. It's... Paul." Noah gestured at his recently insane acquaintance from school.
"Okay... I'll do it." Samantha frowned at him. The full effect of her dour expression was blocked by her respirator.
"Noah's right. We can't do that." Paget put a hand on Samantha's shoulder. She glanced at their enemy. Paul's mother was running across the lawn toward the Reader's house. "I think she's going for reinforcements. We better hurry."
"Noah's plan it is." Samantha nodded, tossed away the box cutter and raced to intercept Shannon.
"Only pretend like you're trying to stop him. When you let him go, run away," Noah said to his sister. When Paget nodded, he sprinted toward Paul and Eddie.
"He always forgets... who has all the brains... in our family," Paget whispered to herself as she jogged after her brother. She wasn't an athlete. She wasn't going to keep pace, but she wasn't supposed to.
"No, you don't... Mrs. Botti... uuugghhhhhhh." Samantha lowered her shoulder and plowed into Shannon. They tumbled to the turf. She could hear the older woman groaning. She hoped she hadn't hurt her too badly. In the distance, Samantha heard Paul screaming for his mommy. That brought a smile to her face. She stood, lifted Shannon like a sack of potatoes, and swung the woman over her shoulder.
Noah feinted right and spun left around Eddie. He whooped as he passed his girlfriend's brother. Adrenaline surged. He straightened his arm and clotheslined Paul as he ran by, felling the other teenager. He skidded to a stop and turned a one-eighty. "I haven't forgiven you, just so you know." He punched Eddie in the jaw. It was an awkward swing, and pain flashed in his fist, but it seemed effective enough.
Eddie staggered to one knee. "I don't have a choice. I have to serve." He looked up at Noah with wet eyes.
"You were always an asshole, Eddie, and full of excuses." Noah picked up the semiconscious Paul and flung him over his shoulder.
"Eeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Paget finally arrived and dove on top of Eddie. They rolled together in the grass, struggling.
"Okay... okay..." Noah watched Samantha run over, Shannon bouncing on her shoulder. "Ready?"
"Ready." Samantha gave him a thumbs up. "Let's do this."
~~
"Rrrrrrroooooooaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr." Kathy arched her back at the top of the stairs, her voice thundering through the house. Below her, injured bodies were pulled out of the way so that the invaders could try another assault up the stairs. "Hand me another one, sweetie." Kathy held out her hand.
"Here you go." Hailey stood with her back to the hallway wall, not far from Kathy but out of the way. She handed Kathy another wooden disc. Paget had bought the heavy wheels to be converted to shields, but Kathy had turned them into projectiles. She watched Kathy hurl another one downstairs and listened to the resulting crash, followed by cries of pain. Hailey couldn't see downstairs. She didn't want to. Her childhood home was a war zone, and the thought rattled her mind as surely as Kathy's roars rattled the walls. She handed another disc to Kathy when the tall woman held her hand out.
"They're using sofa cushions as shields, Hailey. They think they can take me... with pillows?" Kathy heaved another wheel down the stairs. It caught the foremost cushion right in the middle and sent the men and women behind it tumbling down the stairs. Kathy let out another roar. Her eyes glowed red, and her smile revealed canine daggers. "I'm going to eat you all up. All of you. Awwwooooooooooooo." The howl was long and piercing.
Hailey had learned to cover her ears when Kathy roared or howled. Her pussy throbbed seeing Kathy in this feral state. She prayed that Kathy would save some for the bedroom once this was all over. She removed her hands from her ears. "Another one?"
"Wait..." Kathy watched and listened. "No... no... they're running away. Eddie's calling them from the front door." She took a step down the stairs. She could hear feet running out of the house. Cautiously, she descended to the first floor. There was no one there. Apparently, she hadn't hurt anyone badly enough that they couldn't run away. She looked back up the stairs and could just see Hailey's eyes peering down at her. "Guard the stairs in case they come back. Don't let anyone up."
"How do I stop them?" Hailey couldn't stop her limbs from shaking.
"Throw a wheel at them." Kathy smiled, shrugged, and prowled toward the kitchen. She needed to find her mother.
~~
"Oh... gosh... oh... gosh... they're getting in." Jessica pushed at the desk. It was a futile effort. "Eloise... please." The door was almost open far enough for a person to slip through. Jessica gave up on pushing the desk and reached for the knife. She brandished it in front of her, retreating to the center of the room. But the desk stopped sliding. When she looked at the crack in the doorway, there was no one there. "Hello?" Jessica took a couple steps toward the door.
"Hello." A woman's voice came from right behind Jessica, practically in her ear.
Jessica whirled, the knife slicing through the air, until a cold, delicate hand caught her wrist.
"That is no way to greet a friend." Eloise smiled and carefully took the knife from Jessica's trembling hand. Eloise glanced at the desk by the door. "What on Earth is going on, dearie?"
"Did you make those people go away?" Jessica nodded toward the door.
"What people?" Eloise furrowed her brow just enough to let Jessica know she was perplexed. "I returned to my painting to find you in the dark, waving a weapon at a wayward desk."
"I've been calling you and calling you." Jessica slumped into Eloise's arms, resting her cheek against the ample bust of her Victorian dress. "You didn't come."
"I can't hear you calling me, Jessica. I'm not wired like a telegraph machine." Eloise patted Jessica's silky copper hair with one hand, she dropped the knife by her side with the other. It stuck point down in the floor. "I was busy overseeing a delightful joining by a robust man of twenty and his scrumptious mother of forty-four. It was their first time, and they were glorious together."
"I'm..." Jessica didn't know what to say. "I'm happy for you."
"Thank you, dearie." Eloise cupped Jessica's head and held her tenderly to her breast. "Now tell me. What happened here?"
Jessica told her everything she knew of the assault.
~~
"Ooooooof." Paget rolled off Eddie, doing her best to sell that he'd successfully fought her off. She popped up onto her feet, did her best to look scared, and backed away from him. She was frightened, so it wasn't surprising that he seemed to buy it.
"Get away from me, bitch!" Eddie spat the words and slowly pushed himself to his feet. Between Noah's punch, Noah's sister's tackle, and Paul's kicks, he wasn't feeling all that well. And to make matters worse, ever since losing his painting, his brain was muddled. Thinking about Paul caused fear to well up inside him. He could sympathize with the terror on Noah's sister's face as she turned and ran away. Eddie focused his attention on Paul, awaiting orders.
"Get the others, you vile boy." Shannon kicked her feet in the air, straining to look over at Eddie from her awkward position on Samantha's shoulder. "Save us."
Eddie ran toward the Reader's house. He yelled for help through the front door. When the entire congregation came flooding out, he ran with them. Noah and Samantha jogged down the street ahead of the pack, with Paul and Shannon slung over their shoulders.
"Stop them!" Joanna screamed.
"Yes... we're trying..." Antonio panted. They had only run a few blocks, and he was already sweaty and out of breath. His arm throbbed where a wooden wheel had crashed into it. He wouldn't be surprised if it was broken. His former wife lagged toward the back of the ragged pack along with his daughter, but he didn't wait for them. He pressed himself onward, willing his body to catch the kidnappers.
"They're... getting... away..." Lindsey reached a frantic hand out. It was a fruitless gesture. She was near the front, but still far behind Noah and Samantha.
Eddie saw the look of desperate longing on his mother's face, and it bit like a dagger in his heart. Not long ago, she had looked at him like that. Now, she didn't even glance at him. He wanted to quit and run home, but to his shame, he could not. He plodded on with the rest of the bleeding, exhausted group. They slogged on, their quarry always just out of their grasp. They were miles from the Reader house when Noah and Samantha pulled ahead and finally disappeared around a corner. The congregation couldn't find them. The one true God, and Mother Shannon, had been absconded. Mother Mary had been martyred. The thought of it twisted the knife in Eddie's heart further.
At Joanna's direction, the congregation split up and searched Clover Falls. They coordinated with cell phones. All of them prayed that they would find Paul unharmed. At the same time, many prayed they would not. When night fell, Paul's followers returned to their homes, promising to search again in the morning.
~~
"Mom!" Kathy stepped through a broken door into the bathroom. She found Andrew, Clive, and her mother bound and gagged. The men were in the bathtub, and her mother was on the tile floor. She lifted her mother tenderly into the air and carried her out of the bathroom. The men made loud muffled sounds and their eyes bulged. Kathy looked back at them. "I'll come for you when it's safe."
Or eventually, anyway.
She walked into the living room. The sofa was missing its cushions, and it had been tossed on its side. The entire house looked like a tornado had swept through. Books were on the floor, framed pictures were broken on the floor, and the fireplace poker jutted out from the wall. Anywhere she looked, it seemed something was smashed and torn. She cleared space on the carpet with her feet and set her mother down. She removed the gag.
"Ohhhhh... Kathy... it was terrible. I thought they were going to hurt you." Adeline's eyes darted over her daughter's face. She didn't see any new cuts. When Kathy broke the cords that bound her, she threw her arms around Kathy's shoulders. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Kathy smiled. "I'm the undisputed Queen of the Stairs. Are you hurt?"
"Not hurt." Adeline softly wept for joy onto her daughter's neck. The pungency of Kathy's sweat filled her nostrils. She kissed her way up to Kathy's jaw, across her cheek, and to her lips.
"Oh... I guess everyone's okay." Hailey blushed, standing in the doorway. She watched mother and daughter make out.
"Oh... gosh." Paget stepped up next to her sister, her cheeks turning even more crimson than Hailey's. "They are close, aren't they?"
"It's odd seeing them together." Eloise joined the two Reader women, watching the Blys. "I marvel at how the small woman could have created a woman so tall."
