Hello 👋. What you will read bellow is a quick one-shot made as a project for my creative writing classes. It was the first time I tried horror/thriller and I quite liked it so expect more elements like this one from now on in my works 🤣.
Hope you enjoy!
22:58
Something bumped in the jeep at the red light. A thud came from the truck, a muffled moan. Fleetingly, he sensed panic rip through him, his perfect plan ruined, but he composed himself.
He saw a lady exit her vehicle, palm over her forehead, to shield her face from the pouring rain. She rushed to his window, tapping on it, and with a long exhale he released the tight grip on the steering wheel, hitting the button to lower the wet glass only an inch.
"I'm so sorry! It's the freaking cats and dogs falling from the sky! It was too late to hit the-"
She abruptly paused. He raised his head, catching wide eyes that looked through him, to the seat next to him... to the bloody knife. A second moan erupted from the back to seal the horror setting, rising louder over the thunder.
His lids closed in frustration. He didn't have time for this. It was nearing twelve. A sigh left his lips as his ears caught the slow backtracking of the woman. Swiftly, he grabbed the cutter and jumped out.
When she was efficiently taken care of, she was placed on the back seat, the wound on her gut bleeding through her layered clothing. He shoved her legs inside, a crack sounding at the weird angle he was trying to force them. He shut the door with a loud thud, unbothered by the noise. His dominant sentiment was anger, rage pumping in his veins, rising as the rainfall picked up some more.
He glared at the trunk, his fist clenching over the knife, nostrils flaring.
You had to make a sound!
In deliberate slow steps, he approached the end of the vehicle. He slid a finger under the hood and punched a button. It opened, the overhead light switching on.
Anna raised her eyes, one swelled and bruised. She looked at his hand; the tears, a waterfall, increasing in volume and speed. Then she moaned in terror. She squirmed as far away as she could. She worked to draw her feet forward, tried to remove the gag. He had seen it all. He knew what to expect and the intention behind their actions. Erica, Jasmine, Clara... The list went on. Some lasted for hours, others had little fight in them, but their end was inevitable.
He leaned over her, grabbing the rope that held her bound and spinning her to her front, her plastered injury gashing fiercer. The sharp weapon pierced below her ear, a slit forming instantly, her cries worsening.
"I told you to be quiet," he whispered in frightening serenity. Water that had gathered on his hair, fell on her shoulder. "But you didn't listen." He stopped scarring her. "Luckily, I have someone else to take your spot." Putting the blade in the middle of her throat, he sliced deep. Scarlet rapidly flew from her neck. As he closed the tailgate, her lifeless eyes remained locked on him.
23:26
Pulling the lever, the car halted after he made a left; the road ending where a path began. He lingered for a moment, checking the clock, contemplating. He was prepared to handle a single body down the trail. Two would be a problem; two would be an inconvenience. He could damp Anna right where he was.
No!
He was too close to the highway.
He opened the glove box, collected gauze, and plasters, and moved to the backseat. The second woman (he would have to learn her name later on) was still unconscious. He flipped her over, raising her now-red blouse and covering the wound. He applied pressure, ripping the packaged plaster with his teeth and sticking it on as best as possible. The flood and the blood had his fingers slipping.
His index on her collar calibrated her heart's rhythm. Steady. Lips tugged up to form a smirk. Perfect. Finally, after all the mayhem, something was going right. She will work better too.
Besides the stab in the abdomen and a likely broken bone, she was intact. No bruises, no swelling. He was forced to hit Anna, to smash her head onto the roof of the jeep as she slowly got suspicious at the bar's parking lot.
Yes, she'll do so much better.
His smile widened, and it wore off just as fast. "Fuck..." He murmured, eyeing her free hands and legs. The dead girl carried the only rope he had brought. The knots were a torment to undo and he couldn't cut it or the rope would be too short.
He exhaled forcibly irritably as he scuttled to the rear end, opening it. Anna laid in the same position, eyes dry, drool on the interior below her ajar lips, crimson dripping from her neck. He maneuvered her so that she was aligned with the small light, his views straining as it was from the droplets falling around him at a rapid pace.
Two minutes to loosen one of the three knots. Curses ran from his tongue every second or so, the irritating loudness of the weather concealing his own thoughts. And that was his downfall. The rain striking the leaves and trees concealed coming footsteps, perhaps even a sob of anguish, and with his attention trained on the fucking rope, he did not expect the thick lodger hidden under the driver's seat to crash with his skull.
He lost his balance and fell on Anna, rotating instantly to woman number two. Pale, but with a look of determination in her sickly face, reaching above she hauled the rear door over his spine, his wails as futile as hers were half an hour ago.
It took a beat for him to recover, the pain on his back enough to kneel him on the floor, grasping aimlessly at weeds and mud.
Damn it!
Scanning the perimeter, he realized she was out of sight.
"You can't go far in your state." He thundered in the echoing ambiance. "An open cut," continuing his game of intimidation, he struggled to stand, a bloodthirsty countenance overlapping signs of suffering, "and a significant loss of blood. It's a matter of time till I get my hands on you." He walked to the front, his back to the vehicle as he scoured the woods. "Tell you what," one more step and he reached the passenger side, "come out and I'll make it quick, you won't feel a thing."
A lie. He had to lure her out somehow, and until then he needed his... The door stood ajar, the glove box open, and the knife... missing. He bent to see properly, spinning his vision in intervals from the trees to the car. On his third turn, he heard the crackling of leaves, snapping up as she swiftly appeared before him and pushed his precious blade directly into his stomach.
He stuck his nails on her wrist, the other finding her hair, and pulled hard. She removed the cutter torturously slowly, stabbing it once it was out at the side of his throat and pushing him to the ground.
23:49
Maria Werring watched her abductor gurgle and choke on his blood. His trembling limbs fruitlessly made for his neck, and as he withered on the mud, a leg swinging her way, she stepped back. The entire situation hadn't settled in yet. It did, though, in the next seconds. She took in his last struggled breaths, the final jerk of his limbs. A foot away and she spotted another body. A female in the trunk, dead, on her belly. She was blind to her at the time. She suddenly remembered the moan she had heard when she stood by his car window. She remembered the dagger piercing her abdomen. And she remembered the pain.
A breath secured in her lungs escaped, her wound throbbing. The adrenaline was starting its descent and with it, her legs gave out. She placed a hand over the laceration, the other on a tree. Sick rose to her esophagus, violently exploding from her mouth. That was the ultimate bit of her energy. Her figure slid down to the trunk, lulling to the side. The sound of walking brought her hazy gaze to the path, scarcely acknowledging lights coming closer.
She was saved.
Six people became visible, all in black raincoats, and one neared her while the others examined the deceased. It was a woman. She put her palm on Maria's cheek, inspecting her countenance.
"I'm hurt." She mumbled.
The woman trailed her orbs to her stomach, looking it over. She poked the plaster and Maria cried; the woman shushed her gently. Her thump came above her collarbone, Maria feeling it in passing as she lost consciousness with every beat.
"She can still work. Pick her up and bring her to the cabin. We need to hurry. It's almost midnight."
What did you think? Leave a comment, maybe a vote to let me know you if you liked it. 🥰