4Chapter 2: Filthy Freak
Stephanie covered her mouth quickly, but they had already heard her. She darted into the bathroom, bolting the door shut. She heard shouting from outside the door, followed by a bang as something or someone attempted to break the door down.
" She's in there," Stephanie heard a gun cock outside. She looked around desperately, spotting the window. She rushed over to it as she heard the fifth stair creak several times. How many of them were there? Stephanie scanned the window ledge for the key, but couldn't see it.
" Come out Stephanie," Stephanie froze as she began searching the floor underneath the ledge. He was outside, talking to her. And this time it wasn't a dream." We just want to talk."
" YOUR LYING!" Stephanie screamed at him. She fell to her knees, scrambling desperately for the key. She heard laughing outside, and another gun cocking. And another. They all began cocking their guns, click after click sounded throughout the house. Stephanie gasped for breath, beginning to hyperventilate.
" You're right," The man said." Of course we're going to hurt you, but you already knew that."
A shot was fired through the door. Stephanie screamed, covering her face with her hands, hysteria taking over. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She spotted the key and grabbed it, straightening up and shoving it onto the lock. It wouldn't go in for a few seconds, but eventually it did.
" She's going out through the window!" Stephanie looked back as she hitched herself onto the window ledge. She saw somebody looking through the bullet hole.
" If you go out that window your mother dies bitch," the man spat. Stephanie froze as she heard her mother scream.
" GO STEPHY!" Her mother screamed at her. Stephanie stayed frozen, sick to the bottom of her stomach. She gagged, spitting out the window to get the sicky taste out of her mouth. She began to get down off the window ledge and crossed over to the door slowly. She closed her eyes, sweat drenching her forehead.
" Good girl," The man said. Stephanie gritted her teeth at the sound of his voice. She hated him so badly. He had no business to barge into her home and threaten her and her mother. She froze again.
" She's stopped," The guy looking through the bullethole said. Stephanie looked straight at him and he recoiled from his placement.
" I'LL KILL YOUR MOTHER YOU STUPID BITCH!" The man screamed." YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS!"
" STEPHY RUN!" Her mother probably had a gun pointed to her head at that moment, but the only thing she cared about was the well being of her daughter." THEY'LL KILL ME ANYWAY!"
An eye looked through the bullet hole at her. It was a cold grey colour. It was unmistakably his eye. Stephanie had only seen him once, but it had been enough. She would never be able to forget the evil colour of his eyes.
" 10 seconds," He said. Stephanie clenched her fists and glared at him. She saw his eye widen slightly, looking slightly unsure for a moment. She didn't stop to dwell on this.
" Go to hell," She spat, and turned and sprinted for the window.
" Shoot her," He ordered the other men.
The air seemed to explode around her. Stephanie scrambled up onto the ledge, and jumped without thinking about how far she would fall. She hit the grass hard, feeling something crack. She screamed through gritted teeth, not stopping to dwell much on her pain. She stumbled to her feet, feeling her wrist shoot through with agony. She ignored it, sprinting away from her house as fast as she could.
She heard shouts behind her and more shots being fired. She closed her eyes like she had done for many nights in a row. Then she remembered what always happened after she did this.
Her eyes flashed open as the barrel of a gun smacked her in the face. She fell backwards. Stephanie grabbed her sides, waiting for the kicking to begin. To her surprise, she was lifted up roughly and practically dragged back to her house. Her wrist seared painfully as the person jerked it. She bit her lip, drawing blood.
Her foot caught on the doorframe, alerting her that she was back at her house. She was dragged inside and thrown on the floor.
Then the kicking started. Stephanie had known that it was coming, but still screamed when it did.
" GET UP!" The man yelled. He kicked her again and again and again, just like in her nightmare. But this time she couldn't just wake up, she had to fight back, not cower like she did when she knew that it was a dream.
" STOP IT!" She screamed at him, forcing her head up and staring him straight in the eye. He glared at her murderously, hate etched all over his face.
" GET UP AND FIGHT YOU FREAK!" He shouted at her, spittle flying in her face. She felt the strong urge to run to her mother, but knew that this would end up in her being kicked more. She got up slowly, suddenly aware of every single injury she had sustained. She glanced at her mother, who was hovering by the doorway, eyes only for her daughter, ignoring the guns around her. Stephanie swayed slightly on the spot,regretting her decision not to cower in the safety of her mother's arms.
" Aww, little girlie is going to beat me up," the man smiled harshly at her. Stephanie finally got to look at him properly as all of the surrouding men laughed mockingly. He was balding and had scars all over his face. When he grinned savagely at her, his teeth were metal. Stephanie felt sick as she stared at his teeth. If he bit her she would surely bleed to death.
" Well come on then, you filthy little freak," the man said." Explode my brain."
Stephanie swayed some more, feeling sickness rising up her throat. She opened her mouth and spat vomit at him. The man stared at his shoes for a moment in disgust before glaring at her, inhaling heavily, his face turning scarlet. Stephanie back more nausea, feeling sick to her stomach with terror. She could hear her mother screaming at the edge of her hearing, see her struggling vainly with one of the men, but the thing that she was focused on was the angry man in front of her. She could hear his breathing getting steadily heavier and his fist clench.
Stephanie screamed as she was punched in the face. His fist cracked against her skull and she fell, lights popping in front of her eyes. Her head filled with pain, stabbing pain, like a thousand daggers in her head. She didn't like it there. Not at all.
" FILTHY LITTLE BITCH!" The man was screaming, but Stephanie was dazed, concentrating on the searing pain in her head. She felt spittle hit her face as he shouted at her. She felt his boot connect with her ribs, heard her mother screaming, him screaming, his men laughing, and guns cocking. Abruptly, she was furious. Beyond furious, she felt murderous. She wanted to kill this man who invaded her dreams. He had no right to barge into her house and threaten her and her mother. How would he like to have a gun pointed at him? How would he like it?
How would he like it?
Stephanie pulled herself up off the floor and glared at the man. Her fury brimmed over, and she directed at him. Him and his gun. Pointing his gun everywhere, threatening her mother.
How would he like it?
HOW WOULD HE LIKE IT!
" HOW WOULD HE LIKE IT!" Stephanie felt herself suddenly yelling, so loudly that her voice broke. " HOW WOULD HE LIKE IT!"
She continued screaming this again and again and again, like a crazy person.
" Shut up!" The man ordered her, cocking his gun threateningly." SHUT UP!"
The gun left his hands suddenly as Stephanie continued screaming. She stopped as she saw this happen. Everything seemed to stop for a second, like the whole world was focusing on this one gun, hovering in midair on its own. It rotated slowly to face Stephanie's enemy, extremely threatening. Stephanie felt electricity shoot up her spine as this happened, and she shivered.
Then everything exploded in a sharp bust of sound. Suddenly everybody in the room was shouting in panic.
" Restrain the girl!" The man shouted, his eyes fixed on the gun aimed between his eyes." I SAID RESTRAIN THE GIRL YOU MORONS!"
Stephanie heard them shouting, heard their boots thump slightly as they made contact with the floor. Everything seemed to slow down. She spotted a man coming for her out of the corner of her eye, but her eyes were fixed on the man restraining her mother. Her mother was looking at her desperately, struggling, tears in her eyes. The man holding her had an expression of anger on as her mother did this, trying to maintain his grip on her.
Stephanie focused on this man. She focused and focused. She wondered what on earth a man like that could be thinking.
What on earth could he be thinking?
What could it be?
'This woman needs to be shot!'
The words did not come directly from the man's mouth, but Stephanie heard them none the less. It wasn't a direct threat, but Stephanie suddenly felt panicked, almost hysteric again. She couldn't lose her mother, not ever! She wouldn't allow it!
" NO!" Stephanie screamed at the man who had threatened her mother in his mind. The gun turned in midair, and the trigger was pulled by seemingly invisible hands.
The man behind her mother dropped down dead. Suddenly, everything was moving fast again. Stephanie felt rough, gloved hands wrench her arms behind her back and force her down to the ground. Her wrist cracked even more, causing her to scream in pain.
" Shut up," The man hissed, picking up his gun from where it had fallen onto the living room carpet. His brought his face close to hers, pressing his gun against her cheek." You know, I'm tempted to just kill you now and have done with it."
" NO!" Stephanie's eyes flashed to her mother, being restrained by another man. He put his hand over her mouth as her mother began shouting abuse at the man threatening to kill her daughter. Stephanie opened her mouth to tell her mother not to give them any reason to hurt her, but she felt a hand strike her around the face as she did this.
" Don't say a word, you disgusting little freak," She heard him say to her as her cheek burned painfully. He got up from his kneeling position and went to stand in front of her mother. Her mother struggled against her restrainer, glaring at him as she did this.
" Let her speak, please," he said, sounding sickeningly amused." Let's see her get out of this one."
" L-let me get out of this one?" Her mother sounded suddenly unsure of herself, though when she had been screaming abuse before she had not." I don't know what you-"
" Don't give me that crap Mrs Ferguson," the man laughed." You knew we were gonna get her one day. I never did believe you when you said that she hadn't inherited the disease from her fool of a father."
" MY DAUGHTER DOES NOT HAVE A DISEASE!" Her mother yelled furiously. It was at this point that Stephanie realized that all of the shouting that her mother had ever directed at her was a picnic. As she watched her, eyes wide, Stephanie wondered how the man could just simply stand there looking like he didn't care. Her mother's eyes blazed, tears of anger pouring from them. Spittle flew out of her her mouth and she was bright red." AND MY HUSBAND WAS NOT A FOOL YOU STUPID PATHETIC IDIOTIC BRUTE!"
Stephanie screamed as the man put a knife to her mother's throat suddenly.
" Be quiet," the man ordered, looking at her." Not another word out of your mouth, and no more using your tricks or I will cut your mother's tongue out!"
" She isn't like Frank, I'm telling the truth," her mother now pleaded." She's not a Psychic, she's not."
" Tell that to him!" the man pointed to the dead man on the floor." That little bitch made my gun shoot one of my men and your telling me she's not one of them?"
Her mother stared into his eyes, and then nodded.
" DON'T LIE TO ME!" He screamed. Her mother set her jaw defiantly, again apparently oblivious of the weapon threatening her life. Stephanie felt sicker than ever. She was a wreck. She was breaking out into constant, clammy sweat, she had the shakes, and her heart was pumping like she had just run a marathon. To top it off every inch of her body was hurt, but the only thing she feared for at that moment was her mother's life.
" You can kill me, but you can't kill her, can you?" Her mother said, triumph glittering faintly in her eyes. Something changed in the man's expression, confirming to Stephanie that her mother's statement was true. Stephanie couldn't help wondering whether her mother had asked that question just to reassure Stephanie. But it hadn't. Stephanie couldn't help but replay the words 'you can kill me' over and over in her head.
" You can't kill her," her mother continued." You have orders, and I'm betting that they want her in their sick laboratories badly, considering she is Frank's daughter, am I correct?"
Another change in expression confirmed the statement once again.
" And because she's Frank's daughter, I'm betting that right now you're close to wetting yourself with fear," her mother finished. There was silence for one split second in which Stephanie digested what her mother had just said, turning it over in her head, confused beyond belief. How did these people know her father? Her father was an engineer, why would they be afraid of him? Why on earth would they be afraid of her? They had guns and could beat her to a pulp quite easily, as they had already demonstrated, so why would they be even the tiniest bit afraid?
Stephanie itched to ask these questions, but didn't dare for fear of being hit again.
The man licked his lips, removing the knife from her mother's neck. Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief. He went to walk out of the room, pausing in the doorway.
" Knock her out," He said." Then put her in the back, tied up."
Stephanie felt something jab into her arm, then her vision blurred and she fell asleep.