“What, you don’t wanna let me in there, huh?” Kat grunted into her gag and tried to pull away, sneering at Hank Matthews as he groped her. But she knew the psychology of the situation, that her struggling only turned him on. Still, it was beyond her to sit there stock still, which would only have frustrated him more, perhaps to violence. No, she told herself, play along until the time is right, then kick this punk’s ass!

He chuckled, strolling off to the kitchen for another beer. Coming back, he asked her, “It’s weird, isn’t it? Being here…with me? Tell you the truth, I didn’t even know the dumb jerk who lived here. Didn’t need to know him. Alls I needed to do was wack him, drop him into the lake out there, a nice shiny pair of cement shoes on for his big goin’ away party. And boom, I get the cabin!” He broke out laughing, shaking his head and slurping down a good half of the can before pulling it away, a string of saliva connecting his lips to the can.

This doesn’t make any sense, she tried putting the pieces together. This guy was stalking me from the party, so he kills Mitchell and takes the cabin? There must be lawyers, relatives, that’s…wait…Mitchell’s wife!

“Beautiful thing is, don’t nobody know but that hag Barbara Jarvis, and I’m gonna drop her down right next to you!” He burst out laughing again, flecks of beer spit hitting her in the face. She tried to turn away, but there was nowhere to go and no place to hide. He drained the beer can and tossed it aside, releasing a long, loud burp, gurgling and grotesque. He undid his belt. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Barbara Jarvis entered through the front door, sounds distant, her footsteps getting louder as she stepped into the central room of the cabin. “What’s this? You’re still playing around with her?”

“She just woke up!”

Barbara shook her head, walking casually across the room to her. “Hi again, sweetie. Bet you didn’t expect to be seeing me again, eh?”

“She didn’t expect nothin’.”

But Barbara only snarled at her accomplice. “You were supposed to have been done with her by now. It’s getting dark. I don’t want you out on the water in the middle of the night; someone’ll see.”

“Why don’t we just wait ’til early morning?”

“When the locals are out fishing? That’s fucking brilliant, Hank!” Now put a bag over her head and get it over with. You’ve still got the concrete to mix.”

These words sank into Kat’s brain and her gut, goose bumps pushed up all over her body. She pulled and wriggled again, instinct urging her toward a desperate bid to escape. There was no more role-playing to be done. Now it was a matter of survival, and those odds were slim at best.

“Hey,” Hank said, pointing an angry finger into Barbara’s aging face, “you don’t give me orders, awright?”

Barbara put up her empty hands, palms flat. “Okay, sure, whatever. You just have your fun, do what you want. Maybe…maybe I can watch?”

Hank looked Barbara up and down and shrugged. “If you keep yer mouth shut, I don’t give a shit what you do.”

“Okay, good,” Barbara muttered, reaching into her purse as she turned away from him, “that’s fine then.” She moved fast, the same little black stun gun she’d used on Kat in her right hand, quick to push it into Hank’s side and incapacitate him, probably for good.

But Hank was faster, and he grabbed her wrist before she could make contact, the black device harmless in her frenzied grip. She looked at him, surprised and angry, teeth gritted. He said, “Didn’t you think I’d guess that you’d stab me in the back, you bitch?”

“I’m not—I wasn’t, but you’re out of control! Just let me take care of it!”

They wrenched from side to side, the center of their focus that devious little machine in Barbara’s hand. It came closer and closer to her, the muscles of her arm straining.

Kat looked on in shock, captive to that chair, knowing that her fate lay in the hands of the victor of that terrible struggle. Either way, her fate would be bad, the worst; the only real question was going to be how long before she was released from the torture of her last hours?

Hank and Barbara smashed into a lamp, sending it crashing to the ground, the stun gun still volatile between them. It came closer to Barbara, all forces slowly working against her. And even during that desperate struggle, Kat could see the fear in Barbara’s eyes, the knowledge that those deadly silver electrodes were going to reach her.

“Don’t do it,” she rasped at him, voice quivering. “I’ve got all the money; you need me for the money!”

But Hank just grinned, pushing that stun gun even closer, just a few inches from doing its terrible duty. “Oh yeah? You don’t bank online, do you?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Well, you do now…or at least you used to!” With that and another rush of strength, Hank shoved the stun gun into Barbara’s chest and, his hand over hers, squeezed the button. With that distinctive crackle, Barbara’s body convulsed and quivered, losing all control.

Hank yanked the stun gun out of her hand and let her body fall to the floor. He looked down at her and spewed out a terrible laughter, bloodlust ripe in his howling glee. He bent down and shocked her again, her limp body jittering and jutting like a fish on the deck of a boat. Hank stopped, then returned the stun gun for another pointless and cruel round of electrocution, Barbara’s body reacting only out of nervous response. The smell of burnt hair filled Kat’s nostrils, nearly causing her to vomit into her gag.

Hank stood, still looking down at Barbara’s body. He growled, dissatisfied with literally electrocuting her to death. He started kicking her, harder and harder with every strike, screaming at her, “Nobody treats me like that, you hear me? Nobody tells me what to do, nobody ever! Not this little bitch and not you either; you got that? You got that?”

But Barbara offered no answer, blood seeping out of a fresh wound in her forehead.

Hank finally tired of it, his amusement and fury dying down as he stepped away from Barbara’s body and returned his attention to Kat in that chair. “Awright then,” he said, wiping the drool from his chin, “I guess we know who’s in charge now, eh?”

Hank pulled a set of keys from his pants pocket and crouched down at her feet. He unlocked the pair of cuffs attaching her ankles to the chair, leaving the cuffs connecting her ankles together in place. She instantly kicked at him, Hank laughing at her desperate attempt to repel him. He wrapped his arms around her legs to pin them, then rubbed his other hand over her thighs. “Oh yeah, I like it when they struggle. And you? You’re gonna give me the ride of my life, honey…and the last ride of yours!”

He walked around and unlocked her wrists from the back of the chair, leaving them bound together as he lifted her up off the chair. He dragged her away from it even while she pulled and twisted, nearly tripping over Barbara’s body.

“Sorry about the mess,” he said with a mean grin, “I’ll clean it up later…you too. Don’t worry, it’ll hurt like hell!” He broke out in another mean laugh and dragged her, hopping and flailing against him as that bedroom came closer and closer. She’d been there before, voluntarily, but this time everything was different. Everything was upside-down, and she could hardly deny that she’d had a pivotal role in destroying her own world, herself. Unfolding before her, her life was about to end, she was certain of that. And it wouldn’t come too soon as far as she was concerned.