Page 32 of Savage Scream

I stole another bike, not even bothering to hide my identity as I rode through neighbourhoods where the kids were still playing on the front lawns under sprinklers as the sun slowly set.

I told Cynthia and Will that I was going to see Jared, and I am. Just not before I run some errands.

The first kill was easy since the guy was napping in his recliner. The last two were a little more challenging. One had a big fucking dog, so I had to silently coax it out of the house so I could get close enough to my target to complete the job.

The other had a date over for dinner. I had to wait until she excused herself and went to the bathroom so I could strike without an audience. Once she was out of the room, I didn’t hesitate to let Thana do her thing, and I was back on the bike out the front of that house before the dead guy’s date must have found him and started screaming.

Now, as the last streaks of pink fade from the sky, I slip through Tim’s back door. I hear him before I see him, and at first I think he must have someone here with him, because I hear voices, but as I listen, I realise he’s talking to someone via cam on his computer.

This complicates things. I can’t risk being seen or recorded by someone outside the house, so I retreat back outside and hug the house as I make my way to the side of the garage where the electricity meter box is.

Turning off Tim’s power will ensure his internet drops out too, and will allow me to complete the job without risk. So I quietly open the exterior cabinet with my gloved hands, flick the power switch and hurry back into the house.

I can hear Tim cursing, something crashing to the floor, before he curses again, and I grin. He’s disoriented by the sudden darkness.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I press my back to the wall in the passage a few metres from the doorway of the room Tim is in. Taking a steadying breath, I slowly open my eyes and they adjust quickly to the darkness, allowing me to see better.

“Stupid fucking power company. We pay a fortune for electricity, yet they can’t keep our power running.” Tim whines to himself, and I pop my head around the door frame to see his tubby silhouette staggering around. “Where the fuck did my phone go?”

He bends, huffing and puffing as he searches aimlessly in the dark.

“Ah. There you are.” He mutters before I see his phone screen light up, illuminating his chubby face, and the ridiculous tiger suit he’s wearing.

Ew.

Just. Ew!

Before he manages to get the phone’s torch light on, I pounce, darting forward with Thana raised. She slices through the flabby flesh on his neck, doing her job and severing his kill switch.

I weave out of the way just in time to avoid the spray of blood. His gargled gasps fill the room as he panics, stumbles forward to his knees and then falls face first to the floor.

He’s not dead yet, but it won’t be long, so I flick my phone’s flashlight on and retreat from the room, making sure to avoid stepping in any blood.

I hover in the doorway for a few minutes, waiting to make sure he’s dead, and when I know the life has left his body, I pass by the bathroom, wipe Thana clean on one of his towels, and leave the way I came in.

The list Griffin sent me is long. Since Saturday, I’ve eliminated nine of the twenty-two names who are known local members of Carnal Unicorn. That leaves thirteen, all of which live outside Fox Pines. Which means I’ll need to find a different form of transport to get to them.

At the bottom of Griffin’s list, he included another thirty odd names. These names aren’t related to Carnal Unicorn, but are the people he needs to eliminate in order to take control of the Timber Valley district.

What’s interesting about that part of the list is that the majority are Kerr gang members or part of the Kerr family. Travis’ foster family.

I have a feeling that Travis’ name was originally on this list, and even though it’s not on this one that Griffin gave me, I know that he’s still in danger. If Travis doesn’t stand down, they won’t hesitate to kill him, unless I can complete marking names off this list before my eighteenth birthday.

That’s less than two weeks away now, so I have my work cut out for me.

Riding back through the streets of Fox Pines, I ditch the bike in the creek and walk the two kilometres to the train underpass where I stashed my backpack earlier. I get changed in the dark, removing my kill clothes and stashing them in a plastic bag, before slipping into my black short sleeve cropped t-shirt, and my black denim shorts.

I feel a little anxious about what I’m wearing. I don’t usually wear short sleeves in public, but tonight I’m forcing myself to step out of my comfort zone, because I’m about to do something I’ve never done before, and part of that is letting down some of these walls I’ve kept up for so many years.

After burying the plastic bag in the messy scrubland nearby with my kill clothes inside, I make my way to middle class Fox Pines until I find myself outside Jared’s house.

He sent me a message earlier, asking what I was up to, trying to spark conversation. I didn’t respond, and no doubt he’d be pissed about that, but I needed to focus on the kills.

It’s nearly 10:30pm now, and as I sneak into his backyard, my heart starts thrashing in my chest like it’s preparing to leap out.

Why the hell am I so nervous about this, and not the four kills I did earlier? I’m definitely wired wrong. That’s for sure.

I glance in through the glass doors that show Jared’s parents in the living room. It appears that his mum is asleep on the couch, a half empty bottle of wine on the side table next to her, and his dad is reclining in the armchair, his head tipped back with his mouth open, probably snoring.

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