Antecedent (Tex Sawyer)

Antecedent 7

...

Being with Tinker contrasted greatly than being in the company of the other three Sawyers I was unfortunately acquainted with. Not that it came with any merits other than the physical aspect being considerably less. Naturally, it also came with its own unfortunate perks. In this case in the form of being chained quite literally to the handle of his truck complete with a rather bulky padlock to which the keys that belonged to them chimed and dangled against the fork of his metal hook. The radio was up loud the minute he decided he liked the music and unlike Tex didn't try to force me in conversation. It was strange but luckily at the very least it was in some form better than what I had currently recieved.
Keeping my attention on the road I tried to calculate what I could spot or the time that passed, anything that would in some way aid me for when the time was right and escape imminent. This painfully wasn't the right time. Even if I wanted to jump out of a moving vehicle and  take shelter in the woods, this chain and my left arm was going nowhere. It looked mostly the same for the past fifteen minutes, a stretch of tree and an endless looking road. Noticing that Tink's head was turned in my direction through the reflection on the glass, I turned back to him.
"Don't even try it." He simply warned his intact thumb and finger turning down the radio volume. He was now on guard but he wasn't stupid in knowing I was at a disadvantage.
"Couldn't if I wanted to." I replied obviously lifting my arm the small distance the metal would allow me.
"You're right, you couldn't but not just because of that." Tink agreed, looking back to the road seemingly more at ease on how he wasn't stuck with a total careless idiot.
"But mainly because of that."
"Alfredo said you saw the traps first hand as well." Flinching at the idle statement, I closed my eyes before opening them soon after as the sight of Sherri haunted my mind. The look of terror on her face and what very little was left of her afterwards. "They range, you know: size, strength, pain. You're a smart girl but I made these traps and have been making them for years, you'd be dead or maimed in seconds that I can promise you."
"Well if you made them..." It wasn't even that the knowledge surprised me, despite only having one Tink seemed good with his hands and had a mind like clockwork. He was observant and forever appeared to be several steps ahead of his siblings and with that he was more on guard. I didn't doubt that they ranged from trip wires to more nasty gadgets.
"Then there's this damn road. It feels endless now, right? Doubt you're some kind of cheetah so imagine running it from the house, you'd already be exhausted and out of breath. So then what? Going too far into the tree, you know you're facing traps so then you try to climb upwards just on the outskirts here?" Pointing out with his hook, I watched him wearily knowing he had taken in the fact I was just as perceptive as him. "No shelter on them, I turn these lights on and it gets lit up like a christmas tree, even Junior would be able to spot you dangling there so that rules out Plan B."
"My god you are smarter than your brothers."
"Yes, I am." Tink replied, satisfied at the fact I knew that. "Then of course there's Plan C right? But that's only if you're being brave or careless and have plenty of time. Naturally for that one you would need to have tabs on all of us, a set of keys that fit one of the first few cars you give a try with if you're more pressed. But then, oh no there's no gas. Why? Because why syphon it all into the trucks so it looks like Plan C of driving away into the sunset is also off. Though if you're lucky and there is a small slither you decide 'fuck it' and use you'll find that there's: Tex, Alfredo, myself and of course Charlie who could also be on the road."
"But Charlie doesn't live with you?" I asked casually trying to hide just how much the older Sawyer was picking up from me. He knew that I was attempting to calculate each step and I wondered if this is why he decided to take me for a drive. To show me just how hopeless and futile escape was. They were in the middle of nowhere and prepared to make victims as lost and vulnerable as possible.
"Ah," Tink breathed slyly, the tips of his moustache blending in with his lip as he smirked. "Plan D, you see while we are scarce for Law Enforcement in this particular area-"
"I've noticed," I told him bitterly, getting a nod in return.
"When the slaughterhouse closed, people were quick to up sticks and leave. Not us though, we had always been butchers and always had roots. Without nearly as many people travelling to and from there wasn't need for a drift of pigs, every once in a while one drives past and even then they just give a little radio to say all is fine. They're not needed but it covers a basis. Charlie, well Charlie has enough of a criminal record and arrest records longer than this damn stretch of land that he knows enough to code. And even if he fails, well who gives a shit. They'll put it down to some clown having replaced the last and since they're not needed, mistakes can be made. So you imagine for a moment, you're all panting away out of breath and there is this cop's car coming your way, you gonna risk it?" Waiting for a response, he connected his brown hues with mine as I remained straight faced.
"Probably not." I grudgingly admitted after a few seconds of verbal silence. The music still played low but in those moments of quiet pounded through my head. 
"Damn right you wouldn't. Why because one you don't know who the hell they are and if it could be him. You don't know his face and I made sure of that because you missy, you have a brain in that head of yours. Two, they have a gun and wouldn't mind shooting you up a little as punishment for your betrayal. Three, if it is Charlie he could and most probably would run into you to take you down a peg and finally four, you know you'd just get cuffed, bagged and returned." Taking his hand off the wheel, he clapped it against his hook to prove his point and that he was finished. Out of all four plans I had currently conjured in my head, he had put them through the wringer. Frankly it was irritating as well as a little soul destroying. Is this what it is like to have a sibling? I pondered to myself, he certainly seemed to be condescending like one. Leaning back in my chair I allowed the material collar of his borrowed coat to hide my face as he remained sitting there with his shit eating grin. "Let me know when you have a Plan E."
"It wouldn't be a betrayal" I mumbled grumpily to him instead as he focused on the road once more satisfied that he had ripped the rug out from underneath me. "It would be an escape. You are literally killers and cannibals."
"All have to live missy."
"And necropehliacs." I added wrinkling my nose in his direction wearily. Tink too pulled a face.
"Don't you be putting me in a category with Alfredo now. Otherwise you really would be insulting me."
"Call it revenge for the telepathy."
"Someone had to let you down gently." He shrugged, "Tex may enjoy a chase but I'm getting a bit too old for a turn of Cat and Mouse. Mouse tries to run and I cuff her to something. In this case a door and only when cuffing still fails to get the point across do I remove something. A foot, a leg, heck even if I feel that's too extreme I would start small." Ensuring his eyes were on me once more, he lowered his head to show he was being serious, the sun shadowing around them to show an almost skull-like outline. "I'd pull teeth."