Consumed

“Kill her. I was only going to kill her later. You’ll be doing me a favour.”

“What? Dad?”

Robert noticed the knife for the first time, “The knife… You’ve been in the kitchen? What have you done with my wife?”

“What?”

“The woman… In the fucking kitchen…”

“There was no one there,” said Lara — unable to take her eyes off her friend’s half-eaten body. “Please… We just want to go home.”

“You’re not going home, okay?” said Robert. “You know it. I know it.”

“Where are our fucking friends?!” shouted Joel. He pressed the knife against Suzanne’s throat harder causing a little bit of blood to trickle down her neck. She let out a squeal of pain.

“Daddy — please…”

“Just kill her already,” said Robert — a smile on his face. “If you can’t kill her… How are you going to kill me? Think of her as the practice run before you  come to me… I’m Wendigo, don’t you know?” he laughed and winked at Tammy. A laugh cut short by Joel’s scream.

Robert turned his attention back to Joel just in time to see him drag the knife across his daughter’s throat. Suzanne’s eyes went wide as panic set in — a jet spray of blood spurted from the slit  all across the dining room floor. Tammy screamed whilst Robert applauded, “Well done, you, I didn’t think you had it in you…” Joel pushed Suzanne to one side, where upon she fell to the floor clutching hopelessly at her throat, and made a sudden dash forward for Tammy who did little to protect herself from the incoming attack. The knife’s blade pierced her skin as easily as it had slid across her sister’s — a funny sound from Tammy’s mouth, as opposed to a scream, to let all those around realise it was a serious impaling. Robert howled with laughter as he jumped to his feet. “What a day this is turning out to be!” he laughed.

Joel pulled the knife from Tammy’s chest, where he had stuck it for a second time, and looked at Robert who was still standing by his seat.

“You really should have given your friend a weapon too,” Robert said — a menacing tone in his voice and his eyes fixed on Joel. “You think you can get to me before I can get to her? Look at her skinny little neck… No weapon to protect herself from me… It won’t take much for me to snap her neck. I may be older than you but I bet I can move quicker,” he winked at Joel. “Really should have given her a wea…”

Joel cut him short, “Get out, Lara. Go and get help.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Oh how noble,” Robert teased.

“Just go!” he insisted.

“But you better run fast, little girl, because I’m right behind you,” Robert smiled and did a biting motion with his mouth. “Working up quite an appetite here.”

“Fuck you!” hissed Lara.

“A lot of people saying that to me today,” Robert pointed out. “They’re all dead now. Just saying. The two might not be related but, if they are, you’re fucked.”

“Fuck you!” she reiterated.

Robert laughed.

Lara turned and ran from the room — straight back into the hallway and towards the front door. She didn’t look back as she hurried towards it. Once there, she twisted the handle only to find it was locked. The sound of a car engine outside, followed by a wheel-spin. Someone clearly in a hurry to leave the property.

She tried the handle again on the off chance it was just stiff, “Fuck!” The kitchen, she thought, could have had a back door. Without knowing how much time she had to spare, she hurried back down the hallway into the kitchen where the stench of gas hit her. A quick glance at the hobs — everything was on, even the oven which had been left open. No time to worry about that as a crash came from the dining room. She rushed over to the back door and pulled at it but it didn’t budge — locked just as the front door had been.

Joel screamed from the other room.

“Come on, please!” she screamed at the door as she continued to tug at the handle in the hope it would magically unlock itself.

“We rarely keep that door unlocked,” said Robert from behind her.

She span around and screamed when she saw him standing in the doorway, coated in blood and clutching the knife.

“Don’t be so afraid,” he said, “it’s not my blood… You’ll be pleased to hear… I’m actually okay… Although, I don’t think your friend is going to make it if I’m going to be honest.” He did his best to give a sympathetic smile before he started to laugh. He took a step closer, “Just so you know… I’m really going to enjoy eating you.” Lara started to cry. “Oh, don’t cry… Makes the skin all salty… I’ve been trying my best to keep salt out of my diet. My wife… She says it’s bad for you and, well, apparently it is. See, I didn’t know if she was telling the truth so I looked it up. Apparently too much salt is definitely bad for you.”

“Why are you doing this?”

He took another step closer.

“Because I can!” Robert said. He held the knife up and waved it at her. “Now, you going to save me the effort and come to me or are you going to make me come all the way over there?”