Monsters
By Karen Singer
Chapter 38 – Breaking What’s Broken – Part 2 of 2
Susan was against the idea. Her father was against it. Janice was dead set against it. Brandy had no opinion because she didn’t know. And Carol, Carol wasn’t looking forward to it either, but she had no better idea other than to let her mother go in and rearrange Brandy’s brain. To her, that had to be the very last resort. As bad as this might be, she needed to try this first.
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Vince Beastman had no idea where he was, and he didn’t care. The minute he got even partially loose, he was going to kill a lot of people, most of whom appeared to be Chinese. And especially that woman – Death! She was going to die! When they got to this place last night, he had been hauled along with his men into some kind of barn where they had all been stripped and chained. A few hours later, he had been taken out, still in chains, and tied to a fence just outside the barn. Now he was tied there with rope, instead of the steel chains. As hard as he could, he couldn’t manage to break free. But he was working on it. He wasn’t going to give up. He had people to kill.
As the sun came up, he got a better look at his surroundings. He was out in the country somewhere. There was a big fenced in field in front of him. He heard a noise and from around the side of the barn, he saw something strange appear. It looked like a man trying to walk in a squatted position with his hands bent up to his armpits. The naked man paid him no attention as he seemed to be intent on searching the ground. Then another man appeared the same way, then more. What the heck? And then he recognized one of them, and shock nearly made him pass out.
“Al! It’s me! Help me. Get me loose!”
But Alfonso acted as if he didn’t even hear him.
“Al. It’s me. Help me!” He tried again. But still Al did nothing but search the ground. There were more of those men now in the same state as Alfonso. Occasionally all of them would plant their faces into the ground as if they were trying to get something with their mouths. What were they doing? As far as he could tell, they were all acting like…chickens. He could hear the soft clucking from some of them now too. “Al! Wake up! What the hell are you doing?” But still his friend didn’t even act like he heard him. “Al. What did they do to you?”
As the sun continued to rise, Vince Beastman had no choice but to watch, not just his friend Alfonso, but all the men, some of whom he knew, as they went about their new lives. As close as he could come, they were all acting like…chickens. Why? What had they done to them?
Eventually, there were more people around him, but none of them came close. “What did you do to him?” he yelled. But nobody seemed to pay him any attention. He struggled with his bonds again, but it was no use. He couldn’t break free. But he was still ready, still waiting for that one little chance.
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“No! I don’t want to!” Brandy lashed defiantly.
“Brandy,” Carol said calmly. “You need to see this. Don’t worry, you’ll be surrounded by all the agents. Everyone. And especially me. But after what he did to you, this is something I want you to witness – personally. I really think it will help. All you have to do is go out to the front of the barn and watch.”
“Watch what?”
“Beastman being put into one of his own cages.”
“What?”
“I had the men modify the cage you were in so it would be large enough to hold him. After what they did to you, I thought a taste of his own medicine would be good for him. We’re going to put him in that cage, just like you were, and force him to stay like that for a very long time. Maybe forever. Susan even said she might be able to ship him off that way to China somewhere where he could be displayed like in a show of some sort.”
“You’re going to put him in a cage?”
“Yes.”
“But it was Alfonso that built the cages. They were his torture devices.”
“But Alfonso only did it for Beastman. I think Beastman deserves this, don’t you?”
“Maybe. Yes. No! No, nobody should go through that.”
“Not even him? Not even someone as cruel as he is? He’s the one that used that gas on you in the first place. I think he deserves it. We all do.”
“Maybe,” Brandy admitted. “But why do I need to be there?”
“Because I think it will help you to see it happening. I really do.”
“Beastman was the one who made them do more to me than just put me into a cage. They sewed me up and then hung that bucket from my breasts that kept filling with my own pee.”
“Maybe we can do something like that to him too. I’d rather enjoy doing that to him. Maybe we can hang a bucket from his balls, so his own pee pulls them down all the time.”
Brandy smiled. “I think I’d like to see that.”
“Then let’s do it. We’ll get him into the cage, and then once he can’t move a muscle, we’ll do whatever you want to him.”
“Can we let the Wu people rape him whenever they want? He won’t be able to do a damn thing about it.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Carol agreed. “A taste of his own medicine.”
Brandy said nothing.
“Come on,” Carol said. “You can supervise. But I really think that you seeing him being put into that cage will be a big help to you.”
“Maybe,” Brandy admitted.
“Come on,” Carols said. “It’s time to make him even more helpless than he is now.”
Part of Brandy wanted to go, but a bigger part of her didn’t. Her feet didn’t seem to want to go anywhere. Carol reached out and grabbed Brandy’s hand. Very gently, she pulled. Brandy resisted.
“Trust me,” Carol said softly. “You know I love you. I only want what’s best for you. Trust me,” she said gently again.
Brandy looked at her, then took a step. Carol pulled again and Brandy continued to follow her, out of the house, and out toward the barn. There were a number of people gathering now, including most of the Wu Agents. Men! But Carol kept hold of her hand and didn’t let her leave. Slowly. Carol led her to the large area in front of the barn where Beastman had been tied to the fence so he could see all the “chickens.”
“You’re not turning him into a chicken?” Brandy asked Carol.
“I think this would be a better punishment for him, don’t you?” Carol replied. “As a chicken, he wouldn’t even remember what he had done. He would just think he was a chicken and wouldn’t suffer at all.”
Brandy said nothing. Carol finally dropped her hand and left her there where she could see it. The empty cage was set in the middle of the space. One of the Wu Enterprise men was waiting next to Beastman. Carol went over to him and together they began untying him from the fence.
Beastman felt them finally untying him. If he was going to make a break for it, he figured this might be his best chance. The ropes were finally removed but the woman held one of his arms and the man held the other. He moved as fast and as forcefully as he could, suddenly shoving them both away. His fist lashed out and caught the man’s face, knocking him away, then he turned to the woman, the one he knew was the more dangerous one. But this time he was facing her. This time there would be no surprise attack. This time, he had the advantage. He glanced to the side and noticed one of Alfonso’s cages sitting there, but his attention had to stay on the woman. The dangerous one. The one they called Death.
Brandy screamed at seeing Breastman suddenly fight his way free. The fear kept her rooted in place, her heart felt like it had stopped with her worry about Carol.
Carol recovered quickly. She saw Beastman turn around. She also saw him notice the cage. “I’m going to put you in that cage,” she told him. “Everything you tried to do to my friend is going to be done to you instead.”
“Like hell!” Beastman replied. He ran straight at the woman, but she moved like lightning and all he got was a kick in the back for his trouble. He stumbled, but he turned as fast as he could and his fist lashed in her direction, and caught her in the side of her head. He went after her as fast as he could. Fast enough that she didn’t have time to recover after his first punch. He punched her in the head again, this time, a full punch with everything he had. He was rewarded to see her go down. He dropped to the ground over her and hit her one more time. To the sound of someone screaming in the background, he picked up the limp body of the woman and carried her over to the cage. He dumped her down into it, then knelt so he could start pulling her body into position and locking her in.
Brandy was going crazy. She watched in horror at what Beastman was doing to Carol. She knew they should have never messed with him. But now seeing Besatsman putting Carol into that cage was more than she could take. She screamed again, but this time it was a scream of rage. “Noooo!” Without thinking, she was running across the empty area straight at them. She launched herself into the air. “Nooo!” she yelled again. When she came down, her legs were around Beastman’s head. Her body twisted, and the sound of Beastman’s neck breaking could be heard all over the area. She rolled off away from him, ready to give him more, but when she turned around, he was still slumping to the ground. Dead.
Beastman’s heavy body suddenly seemed to heave up and move on its own accord, but it was only to get it away from the cage. Brandy saw Carol getting up out of the cage. Carol was looking at her with a strange, satisfied look on her face. Was she smirking at her? And then it hit her. “You set me up,” Brandy said as she got to her feet. “You planned all that. You knew what I would do.”
Carol looked down at Beastman’s dead body. “I didn’t know you’d kill him, but I kind of thought you might at least break out of your shell and fight back. Looks to me like it worked.”
“I hate you!” Brandy said angrily.
Carol smiled and moved a step closer. “I love you too.”
The two women came together and hugged each other tightly. When they separated, Carol held onto Brandy. “Look around,” she said. “How much do the men here scare you?”
Brandy looked. She saw all the Wu Enterprise men watching her and Carol. It was a moment before she realized it. “None of them scare me at all.” She smiled. “None of them scare me one bit!” she emphasized.
“Do you think you’re back to normal?”
“No. Not even close. I have no doubt I’m going to have lots of trouble still, but for the first time since I got out of that cage, I feel like I can at least breathe. And I can’t tell you how much I’d like to kill someone for what they did to me.”
“You just killed Beastman,” Carol pointed out. “Does that count?”
“Yes and no. It’s just that now that I am back…at least somewhat…I feel like I want to kill someone else. But who else is there?”
“Well, we were hoping that Beastman would know who’s behind all the trouble in Las Vegas,” Carol said. “But now…maybe one of his men will know.”
“Don’t bother,” Brandy replied. “I think I know. I think I figured it out from a few things I heard while I was being held captive.”
“Who?” Carol asked.
“The person behind it all is the one person we never considered. But in truth, it was the one person we really should have considered. The only one that makes sense.”
“Who?” Carol asked again.
“Come on,” Brandy said. “I’ll tell you and Susan all about it. It may be a bit complicated.”
Carol followed Brandy toward the house, but they only got a few steps before Brandy stopped and stared.
“Ralphie!” Brandy yelled. “Are you still here? I thought I told you to leave.”
“You did, Miss Brandy,” Ralphie replied. “But they wouldn’t let me.”
“Well too late now,” Brandy said menacingly as she headed straight for him. “What the hell are you doing wearing shoes like that? You know perfectly well I don’t allow you to wear anything less than four-inch heels. Go change them, and make sure whatever pair you pick is your highest heels…and they better be locked on you the next time I see you.”
Ralphie was scared again. “Yes, Miss Brandy,” he yelled as he started to run toward the barn.
“Ralphie!” Brandy yelled behind him, stopping him. “When was the last time you wore a diaper? Huh? I’ll bet it’s been ages. The next time I see you, you better be wearing one, and it better be soaked! You hear me? Soaked! Now get changed. I can’t believe you would slack off so far. You’re a disgrace. I can see we’re going to have to do a lot more training to get you back in line.”
Ralphie gulped and ran as fast as he could for the barn. Brandy was back. He had missed his one and only opportunity to get away. But how could he? Those damn Wu people wouldn’t let him leave. Now what was he going to do?
