Caesar free of the choke hold began to gasp and cough violently, water in his eyes. He inhaled deeply letting air back into his air-starved lungs. When his lungs began to work, he looked around. He saw Victor walking towards Dvorak. An evil expression jumped into Caesar’s eyes. He fell into the side of his cargo pants pocket. He unsheathed a long, wicked looking knife. A silver knife that saps the strength of werewolves. For a brief moment, he balanced the knife in his huge trembling hand. Then he threw with tremendous force at Victor .
Victor werewolf-senses caught a swishing sound behind him. He jerked around. The knife drove viciously into his shoulders. He screamed as the knife went through him. He dropped to his knees, groaning. The knife would have gone straight into his chest if Caesar’s trembling hand hadn’t faltered his aim.
Caesar staggered to his feet. He ran frantically to where Dvorak was standing, weak and dazed.
“Come on, let’s get Selena,” he panted, blood running down his face, into his mouth, seeping into his shirt.
Dvorak nodded vacantly. Together, they ran into the garage. Then I walked hastily through the door and came to the cell. Caesar opened it and turned to Dvorak.
“Get her,”
Dvorak went in. Selena, who had been hearing all the commotion outside and being terribly worried, saw Dvorak.
His eyes on her, he took out a scarf out of his pocket and wound it around his decapitated hand. Then he came over to where she was.
She gasped as Dvorak clutched the holds of her arms with his unaffected hand. Impatiently, he heaved her up from the bed.
“If you make any trouble, I will crack your skull,” he scowled into her face.
They came out of the cell. When she saw Caesar looking gaunt, rough and bloodied like one of the survivors of the world war, she started back and shrank against Dvorak.
“I’ve got a surprise for you tonight. Don’t worry, you’ll love it,” Caesar snarled at her, wiping the blood off his face with the back of his hand. He brought out a Glock from his waistband and said to Dvorak. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ll lead the way,”
Together they all moved frantically out of the passage, then out into the garage,then into the cold rainy night.Rain continued to pour. Selena shivered slightly as the rain hit her body. Quickly, her hair and flimsy dress plastered to her body.
They pass through the open space where they had left Victor. He was no longer there. Only a puddle of blood was the tell-tale sign of him being there. If Selena had known that was his blood, she would have been horrified. Both men were looking frantically around them for any sign of Victor. Selena remained cold and withdrawn as Dvorak pulled her along with him. Caesar led them to the back of the house. There was a small black gate there. It was locked with a big padlock.
Caesar took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and began to fiddle with the lock. He tried one key after another. Dvorak watched on, curiously.
After a while, the padlock snapped open.
Caesar took off the padlock and tossed it to the ground. Then he held the gate handle and pulled. It gave a rusty grinding, growling as it yielded. Caesar took out a powerful, small, pinpoint flashlight from his hip pocket. He turned it on. A hard white light sprang on. The powerful beam stabbed the darkness, revealing a dark, tense jungle.
“Follow me,” Caesar said over his shoulder, leading the way.
“Where are we going?” Selena asked, panic in her voice. “Where are you taking me, Caesar ?”
“Shut up! Don’t make any trouble,” Dvorak snapped at her. Of course, he also didn’t know where they were going. He also was a little worried about where Caesar was taking them. And yet in darkness, seeing the grim expression on Caesar ’s face, he knew the man knew what was doing. In fact, he believed Caesar was just executing what he had planned in his mind alone.
They walked single filed up the track. Caesar plodded in front, Selena behind him and Dvorak in the rear. As she trudged along, Selena was thinking Caesar was taking her to the place where he was going to kill her and discreetly dispose of her body. She felt like Isaac in the biblical story as he had been led to the sacrificial altar. That was the only logical explanation for making all of them go through all this. And whether she found it hard to believe or not, Dvorak was also in it with him. They had both planned to kill her. She thought about the child inside of her. If what Caesar had revealed to her about her expecting a child was true, then Caesar won’t be killing only her but her unborn child too. And a sudden fear gripped her. She had to control herself not to run.
Caesar was walking swiftly through the tracks. They followed him at a fast pace. Suddenly behind them, they heard the howl of a werewolf. The menacing loud sound echoed through the jungle.
“I think we’ve got company,” Dvorak said huskily, fear on his face. “Victor maybe?”
“Of course!” Caesar said breathlessly. “I’m not surprised. He’s coming for his woman. That’s my plan. Let’s be fast,”
Selena kept on moving, looking puzzled. She had not been able to follow what they were talking about. She didn’t understand any of these. It bothered her greatly that she had no idea of what they were actually saying. They toil through the thick, matted grass, zig-zagging around the band of trees, aware of the chattering and chirping of nocturnal insects and animals overhead. They had been walking for some twenty minutes when Caesar stopped.
“We are there,” he said as the other two came up.
Dvorak looked ahead of him at the high tangled grass and the thorny shrubs and the trees. He did not see anything.
“What are you talking about, sir?” He asked.
“Don’t you see it? That’s where we are going,” he waved the beam of the torch at the trees. “It’s just a little walk. You’ll see. I’ll show you,” there was excitement in his voice. And he began to move through the thickets.
Dvorak pushed Selena forward and they followed him.
After some minutes, they came upon a high brick wall. A gate was set in a wall. It was big, brownish dark and covered with mosses and rotten leaves. It gave off an awful smell.
“Here it is,” Caesar flashed the beam on it. Screwed crudely on it was the Creole word;
“Torture House! Keep Off!”
The gate wasn’t locked. Caesar pushed it. Its metal shingles made a grinding, rusty sound as it swung open.
“What’s this place, sir?” Dvorak said thickly. His voice was loaded with fear. He was beginning to think Caesar “Don’t worry, you will see. C’mon! No time to waste,” Caesar said as he entered. Dvorak swallowed hard. He was beginning to think Caesar was crazy or something. He drew in a long, slow breath and pushed the jittery Selena forward.
She, on the other hand, scarcely heard all that was being said around her. The stiffening darkness, the steamy heat and the smell of decaying vegetation that came out of the cave washing over her, and the feeling of uneasiness that had settled on her when she heard the howl of the werewolf all badly frightened her.
Caesar locked the gate with a loud click, leading them through the foul-smelling passage. Then they came upon a vast chamber. Guided by the torch's glow, Caesar approached a wall and flipped a switch, flooding the room with blinding light. Thick iron shackles hung menacingly from the ceiling, while steel restraints littered the cold floor. Stains of dried blood adorned the walls and ground, mingling with scattered animal furs and bones. A cruel whip lay abandoned in the corner, casting sinister shadows across the room. It was a chamber of nightmares, a place of unspeakable horrors.
“My God! What the hell is this place?” Dvorak said to Caesar, feverishly looking around.
“This is my father’s workshop,” Caesar returned, wiping sweat off his face. “I’ve known of this place since I was little. Here is where we give the werewolves a nice vacation” he was grinning wickedly now, his eyes on Selena.
Selena, wide-eyed with fear, started to move towards him but Dvorak held her. She started to writhe and twist in his hands.
“Why did you bring me here, Caesar? Why are you doing this?” She said fiercely, facing him.
“You mean you still don't understand what all these are all about? Don’t worry, you will understand, whore,”
“You bastard! I hate you!” she screamed and spat at him. The wet saliva landed on his face. He wiped it away savagely with the back of his hand.
Then they all heard a terrible noise. Something incredibly massive hits the gate at the entrance of the cave……….draws back………hits again. The room trembles in its frame and a puff of dust bellows in from the ceilings.
“He’s here,” Caesar said tightly. “Bring her to me,”
Terrified, Dvorak shuffled Selena over to where Caesar stood.
Caesar looked at her with stony, contemptuous eyes and came up behind her back. He held her arms in a vice-grip. His hands felt like a monkey wrench. She winced and started to pull her away.
“Be very still, you little fool,” he said, his voice flat and menacing. “This whole show is all for you. Do you feel that?” As he spoke, she felt something sharp pricking through her dress into her side.
“What’s…is it?” She gasped, terror creeping through her.
“A dangerous knife,” he spoke in a casual conversational tone. “It’s hungry and ready for blood. If you give me trouble, I’ll gut that baby inside of you, nice and slow,” she stood still at once, her thighs fluttering with fear. “Atta girl,” he muttered and turned to Dvorak. “There’s a gun behind me. Take it out,”
Dvorak reached for Caesar’s waistband and pulled out the gun.
“That bastard Is coming for her. The bullet in the gun in your hand is loaded with a werewolf tranquilizer. When I shout "shoot, you shoot okay?” Dvorak nodded frantically, “Good boy! Now go hide there,” he gestured to a loose door which was leaning on the wall.
Dvorak went there and slid comfortably behind it.
The terrifying, violent noise outside increased, then they all stiffened at the grinding, mashing sound a metal makes when it’s been ripped off hit their ears drums. Selena couldn’t stand all these again. She drew in her breath to scream, but Caesar sensing this, clamped his hand on her mouth, and pulled her hard against him. She stood there, trembling, her mouth open and sour sickness in her stomach. At that moment, they all heard a heavy foot bounding through the passage, then there’s a heavy thud at the room door. Followed by an intense snarling. The snarling thing strikes the door again with incredible force, splintering it from top to bottom. It held for some moment, then the beast smashed at it powerfully.
The door splinters into two and a massive, frightening wolf Selena has ever seen pounced into the room.