Hell’s Fear (Hellfire MC #11)

Chapter Seven.

Team Six: Pyro and Bunny, Chance and Clio. (Hellfire). Calamity and Rosie (Rage). Jase (Hawthorne’s). Ramirez (RCPD). Darkness (Unwanted Bastards)

Clio.

I was hoping Chance took this as an opportunity to relax. He’d been so tense with the war coming and making sure everyone was prepared. He needed this to chill for a bit. The battle wouldn’t end soon. Not unless Fury obliged us all and dropped down dead.

The guide reiterated the rules and allowed us entry. I took one look and knew this was going to be terrifying. We’d entered a seemingly dilapidated butcher shop. One of my worst nightmares. The escape door was located behind a counter, which held what looked like rotten joints of meat. A picture of a cow hung on the wall with all the various cuts showing.

On the adjoining wall was a blackboard with a list of prices, the name of the butchery, a welcome sign, and an image of steaks. There was a table with a chequered cover in the corner, a menu, a clock, and a set of scales. The floor had sand scattered randomly around it too.

“Any idea?” Pyro inquired.

“Not a clue,” Calamity replied.

Puzzled, we started searching.

“Good job I work in a bar,” Bunny drawled, about ten minutes later as we stood scratching our heads.

“Huh?” Jase asked.

“Magic rarely changes prices, but when he does, I have to make sure the ones above the bar match the price lists on the tables,” Bunny explained. She picked up the menu from the table, showed us the prices on it, and pointed at the board.

“They’re all different,” Ramirez replied.

“Yup, and since we can’t alter these, I’m assuming we have to modify those,” Bunny agreed, pointing.

The board was just slightly out of reach, so Rosie climbed onto Calamity’s shoulder, and as Bunny called out the prices, Rosie moved the numbers. Once done, it flashed twice, and Calamity lowered Rosie to the floor.

“The exit didn’t open. There has to be something else we need to complete,” Darkness commented, frowning.

“What?” Chance asked, and I sensed the slight frustration in his voice.

“I’ve got some weights here. Maybe we have to balance the scales?” Jase called from behind the counter.

“Yeah, I’m not touching that meat,” Bunny announced, wrinkling her nose.

“It’s fake.” Jase chuckled. He picked up a piece and began working his way through the cuts until the scales balanced.

With a click, the door opened.

We all dashed through, and I winced. This was major ick. The floor was covered in a thick covering of sawdust, and hanging all around us were heavy carcasses. Up against two walls were metal shelves.

“Tell me they’re not real!” I squealed, hiding behind Chance.

“Babe,” Chance rumbled and laughed.

“Nope. They better be fake!” I repeated.

“They are,” Rosie confirmed after poking one.

“That smell is fuckin’ awful,” Ramirez commented.

“Yeah, have to admit, that is realistic,” Pyro complained.

“Can we get out of here? Please?” I demanded.

Chance chuckled again. My husband was no help.

“I’ve found a metal detector,” Darkness called from a corner.

“One here, too,” Calamity announced.

“Guess we’re seeking something metal,” Pyro stated the obvious.

Examining the door, Jase noted the absence of a handle and the presence of a keyhole.

“So, we’re hunting both. Let’s get moving,” Chance ordered.

Calamity and Darkness began sweeping the floor in slow circles. When they got a hit, one of us dug up the item. We soon discovered there were red herrings planted as we unearthed items that had nothing to do with a handle or key.

“Um, I think the key is in bits,” Bunny announced as she held something up.

“Wonderful,” Pyro grunted as we peered at what was clearly the prongs of a key. It took us another twenty minutes to sweep the floor, shelves, and finally, the carcasses to discover what we needed.

Ramirez fit the pieces together, and we entered the next room.

After eating, we looked around and winced. I was glad I’d eaten first and refused to examine the room.

“This is just nasty!” I exclaimed.

“It’s a serial killer’s dream,” Bunny agreed.

Hanging from hooks and tied at their wrists were bodies. Tubes were inserted into their arms, draining blood. The fluid dripped down into a bucket where two water guns waited. A bowl with clear tubing was pinned around the doorframe. At the bottom was a key.

The key would literally float to the top of the first tube, across the top of the door, and then drop to the bottom. Once at the bottom of the furthest pipe, it would have to re-float to the top as the fluid dripped into the piping. It was pretty obvious what we had to do.

“Get going, guys,” Bunny ordered as she sat down.

Jase and Darkness filled the pistols up, ran to the door, emptied them into the bowl, and raced back. They passed them to Calamity and Pyro, who repeated their actions before Ramirez and Chance took a turn. And then they started all over again.

“Is that not refilling?” Rosie questioned, pointing at the bucket.

Bunny and I watched. Rosie was correct. The blood flow had slowed.

“Squeeze a body,” Bunny suggested.

“You!” I snapped.

Bunny rolled her eyes and reached for the nearest body. She squeezed tightly, and the blood flow increased in the tube.

“Wonderful!” I squealed. “I’m not hugging dead bodies.”

“Clio, they’re not real,” Rosie stated.

“Not touching them. Chance, swap with me; I’ll run back and forth,” I demanded.

Chance laughed. “Baby, you hate exercise.”

“I loathe corpses more!” I exclaimed.

“It’s okay, we can squeeze while we wait,” Ramirez said, and Chance frowned at him.

“Clio’s married to me and got my kids!” Chance stated, and Ramirez roared with laughter.

“You think we don’t all know you pissed on and around Clio? Dude, you pee on her daily!” Ramirez teased as I beamed at him—Chance did have a slight issue with possessiveness.

“Shut the fuck up and hug that body,” Chance snarled, and we all laughed.

By the time the key dropped into the opposite tube, everyone but Jase and Calamity were hanging on to bodies. (Of course, I wasn’t either).

Calamity and Jase raced back and forth until the key popped up. Calamity reached up, grabbed the float attached to it, and yanked it through.

Then we opened the door and escaped.

“I should have stopped two rooms ago!” I wailed as I peered around. We were all stood on a thin ledge in the new area.

A pig’s head hung above the door, which was set back from it. From the pig’s mouth spilt a waterfall of red fluid. There was nothing between us and the door apart from a river of blood.

“Fall into the blood river, and your life is forfeit,” an announcement said.

“Let’s not wade through it,” Chance muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“There’s a stack of poles and metal planks over here,” Jase called from a corner.

“Can you see anywhere to fit the poles?” Pyro asked as we all searched.

“Here!” Calamity called after a couple of minutes. He was crouched over the edge of the ledge with Chance holding on to his tee.

“Huh?” I inquired.

“The poles fit in here, and I guess we have to build a bridge without falling in. There’re some stepping stones. I bet the poles reach them, and we put the slats in place to cross the room,” Calamity explained.

Jase and Pyro held the poles out. “They’re not long enough. And they’re all different lengths.”

“Which means we have to fit the correct length to work together, or we risk coming up short,” I said.

“Yeah, looks that way,” Calamity concurred.

They experimented and finally agreed on four to slot together and shoved them in the holes that Calamity had discovered. They then fitted into groves on the first stepping stone.

We made a line, and I pulled out slats and handed them to Bunny, who passed them to Rosie, who gave them to Calamity. He slotted one in and shifted forward. And on we went until Calamity reached the stone. They worked out the poles again and continued with our production line, growing until we were all engaged and passing slats along.

The final slat locked, but a jump remained between it and the door platform. Calamity leapt across easily.

The river of blood we’d built the bridge over began to bubble, liquid landing on the slats.

“That’s going to make it slippery. I’d crawl if I were you,” Calamity called. Chance, who’d been behind him, rolled his eyes and made it across easily—and without crawling. Jase did the same, but Darkness, ignoring all warnings, tried walking and slipped straight in.

I screamed as a pigman appeared from the blood and grabbed Darkness before disappearing with him.

“They took Darkness!” I screeched.

“It’s fine. They won’t hurt him,” Chance soothed.

Ramirez and Pyro, learning from Darkness, crawled deliberately and made it across. Bunny flew over, followed by me, but Rosie was terrified.

“Baby, come on!” Calamity called, beckoning her.

“I can’t!”

“Sure you can, babe. Concentrate on me.”

“Calamity, I don’t want to be kidnapped by Pigmen and forced to have their babies!” Rosie cried.

My jaw dropped open as I looked down. I could see several pig heads moving around.

“That won’t happen, will it?” I whispered to Chance, who snickered and shook his head.

“No, honey,” he reassured me.

In the end, Calamity had to go back and fetch Rosie, who stayed so close to him. I was amazed she didn’t shove her head up his ass.

I hadn’t realised I’d spoken aloud until everyone began laughing, and I blushed. But Calamity certainly did appear uncomfortable.

“Bitch!” Rosie snapped once she was safe, but her eyes were twinkling.

“You’ve no idea,” I muttered.

“Come on,” Ramirez commented, and we entered the next room and froze.

Five men stood there with guns pointed at us.

Immediately, the guys moved in front, but not before I saw the Venomous Fang cuts.

What the fuck?

“Time to die, assholes,” one called out.

“Take cover,” Calamity hissed at Rosie, Bunny, and me. We did as ordered and ducked behind some packing crates.

“They’re unarmed,” Rosie whispered.

“I know,” I said, terrified.

“You’re going to die. And then we’ll have some fun with your women before taking them back to the clubhouse,” a Fang called out.

“Over my dead body,” Chance snarled.

“Yeah, that’s the plan, asshole. You’re a bit slow on the situation,” a Fang snickered.

“Now!” Ramirez yelled, and I saw our men ducking and diving for cover.

Ramirez stood alone and whipped his weapon out, firing three shots and downing two before the Fangs understood he was armed.

Ramirez flew towards a box but threw his gun at Chance.

The Fangs had trained their weapons on Ramirez and hadn’t realised what Ramirez would do. With them distracted, Chance leapt up and shot a third before tossing Ramirez’s weapon to Jase, who caught it and took out a fourth Fang.

In sheer fury, the last Fang began spraying bullets. A muffled curse came from someone, but I couldn’t lift my gaze. I curled into a small ball and covered my head with my hands, trying to be as tiny a target as possible.

The rapid shooting paused.

A single shot was fired.

Ramirez called out, “Everyone stay down.”

“Not happening,” Chance rumbled, and I peeked through my fingers to see Ramirez edging forward, his weapon out and Chance at his side.

“He’s still alive,” Chance announced as they reached the first body.

A gunshot rang out, and I jumped.

“Not anymore. That’s for Goldberg,” Ramirez stated coldly.

I drew in a sharp breath.

Ramirez had just murdered a Fang in cold blood—and in revenge for the detective they’d lost. Phil Goldberg had been Nando Hawthorne’s partner. The Venomous Fangs had killed him in a shootout. Ramirez, the cleanest cop in Rapid City, had executed a Fang in Goldberg’s name.

As I let the realisation sink in, two more shots rang out and Ramirez gazed at Chance stoically.

“You okay, brother?” Chance asked into the sudden silence.

“Fine. You can report me once we get out,” Ramirez said.

“For what? That fucker was reaching for his gun when we approached. Same as those two. If not for you taking the killing shot, we’d be dead. And I distinctly heard you warn them,” Chance replied.

“Same here, exactly what I witnessed,” Calamity agreed, standing up.

“They wouldn’t listen. You warned them to raise their hands,” Bunny claimed as she rose to her feet.

A warm feeling swept through me. Even though we were based in Spearfish, Phil Goldberg’s death affected us. Now Ramirez, his close friend, had gained some measure of revenge for him.

Ramirez looked stunned as we all vocally agreed on the same version of events. Tears appeared in his eyes, and they were quickly batted back.

“You’ll never walk alone, Ramirez. None of you will. That was what we promised,” Chance muttered. I was the only one in proximity to hear him.

“I just murdered three men, Chance,” Ramirez replied softly.

“No, you stopped my wife, Bunny, and Rosie from being gang raped and tortured. Serve and protect, Ramirez; you did that. If you’d let me get close enough, I’d have snapped their necks,” Chance responded, and Ramirez nodded.

“Taking the trash out isn’t murder,” Calamity murmured and griped Ramirez’s shoulder.

“Remember, brother, there’s a lotta different shades of grey,” Chance agreed and straightened. “We gotta fuckin’ escape. God knows how many more Fangs are around, and the other teams are unaware.”

“We need to build a pigman. I reckon the parts are hidden in these crates,” Bunny called out from where she’d been studying a diagram on a wall.

“We’ve got fifty minutes. Let’s go,” Chance said, and we began tearing into the boxes.

We escaped with twenty minutes left and found ourselves in a black room with chairs.

“Shit! I thought we’d end up in a waiting room with everyone else,” Ramirez muttered.

“Me too,” Jase agreed, looking worried.

There was nothing to do but wait. Some of the guys paced back and forth.

The minute the door opened, we nearly fell over our feet to reach everybody.

Chance

“Fangs have infiltrated the Escape Rooms,” Phoe yelled as we all entered a large room.

“Who’s missing!” I demanded.

“Is anyone injured?” Ramirez snapped.

“The Fangs are here?” Inglorious roared as voices rose around us.

“Micah’s not here!” Phoe cried somewhat hysterically.

“Did you say the Fangs are here?” Nando called out.

“Fangs attacked us!” Ben loudly stated.

“We were too!” Clio yelled.

“Everyone shut up!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs.

Silence fell.

“Who is injured first of all?” I demanded.

“Kele has a slash on his arm. We wrapped it as best as we could. Phoe has a black eye and a bruised cheek, and Ben was stabbed in the shoulder. We performed first aid,” Celt said.

“Bunny, can you check them?” I asked, and she nodded and moved.

“Who’s missing?” I inquired next.

“Micah’s entire team is. If they ran into the Fangs…” Phoe cried, face pale.

“Who else encountered the Fangs? My team, Sunny’s team, and anybody else?” I questioned.

“Don’t look like nobody else did,” Inglorious said after silence met me.

“Who’s missing?” I asked.

“Marsha, Smokey, and Grey are,” Sunny announced.

“Welcome, players, to the final room. As you can tell, some of you weren’t clever or fast enough to escape from their rooms. They are now in my prison,” Marissa’s voice came over a loudspeaker.

“Marissa, let us out! The Fangs have infiltrated the rooms!” Phoe cried.

“To free your fallen friends, you have to find the keys to their cells. It’s one key per cell. Then you need to flee this room. If you do not arrive at the dungeon within the time frame, you all fail and go on our wall of permanent inhabitants.”

“Marissa!” Phoe shrieked.

“That’s a recording, and that’s Fanatic’s entire team,” I said, pointing to the screen. All our missing people were there.

“I’ve found a key!” Sallie called out as she brandished one.

“Split into two teams. Half search for keys, and the rest find the way out,” I announced loudly.

As soon as everyone was moving, I headed over to Phoe and took her in my arms. “Fanatic is okay. Look. He’s there and safe and trying to escape by the looks. Keep watching him, honey.”

Phoe nodded and sank into a chair.

I gazed at the final room we were in. It resembled a cosy library with stuffed armchairs and lots of knickknacks and books. There were trunks and boxes and loads of places to hide shit.

“I’ve got a scroll. It says to look below,” Inglorious called out.

“Look below?” Sunny replied.

“Yeah. Could the floor be false?” Inglorious suggested.

“Search for a trapdoor. How many keys have we got?” I asked.

“We’ve seven at the moment,” Fish called from where he was collecting them.

“Found it,” Shee yelled, and we winced.

“Tone it down, dude,” Carly said, approaching.

“Ten keys! Need three more,” Fish declared.

Five minutes later, we had thirteen keys, and Inglorious was tearing back the trapdoor. A dark chute appeared, and we glanced at each other.

“Out of my way!” Phoe snapped, barged past, and jumped. Her screams echoed until they faded with her distance.

One by one, we all followed and ended up in the dungeon. Fish began unlocking the cage as we discovered Fanatic’s team had also been attacked, which is why they ran out of time.

As everyone arrived, a staff member appeared.

Ramirez, Ben, Nando, and Bobby Lucas charged forward, showing their badges and explaining what had happened. The teenager paled but took us to where the crew usually waited.

On the door were two Fangs who dropped their weapons on seeing us. Nando and Bobby hogtied them and called for backup.

Ramirez set Celt, Sunny, and Tiny to guard them while Bobby and Ben went with some others back to find those who’d been left alive.

Inside the room, we discovered a group of teenagers, all looking terrified. Ramirez showed his badge and tried to reassure them.

“I tried to warn you,” a girl yelped upon seeing Phoe.

Phoe turned to her and gasped.

“You were on the desk! Brooke, isn’t it?”

“A man was behind the curtain holding a gun. But I did try to warn you!” Brooke cried.

“It’s okay, Brooke, we all made it. You were so brave, honey,” Phoe said, gathering Brooke in her arms.

“Excuse me? I’m sorry, but did you find Miss McKenna?” a girl inquired with tear marks on her cheeks.

Nando’s head turned slowly as Davies spun to face her. The girl stepped back, frightened.

“Mac was here?” Nando inquired.

I felt my stomach sink.

“Yes, those men took her away. Told us if we didn’t behave, they’d kill her,” the girl said as tears spilled again.

Nando

I caught Ramirez’s gaze, and he looked stricken.

A heavy feeling settled in my gut, and I knew McKenna wasn’t alright.

“Nando, Davies, go find McKenna,” Ramirez commanded as Clio wrapped her arms around the crying girl.

I was already moving before Ramirez finished giving his order.

Davies, London, and Max rushed out the door with me.

“Check the offices,” I ordered with a lump in my throat.

Images of McKenna laughing and teasing me kept hitting me like bullets. Something warned me McKenna was harmed, worse, destroyed by the Fangs. Deep down, a voice screamed that McKenna would never be the same again.

Still, I prayed I was wrong.

We kicked open every door between the cloakroom and the offices and found no sign of McKenna. As I came to McKenna’s office, I took a deep breath. Scared of what I might find, I swapped a glance with Davies and then turned the handle.

It was obvious immediately there’d been a fight. A lamp had been knocked off a table, and there were folders thrown onto the floor. McKenna’s desk had been emptied, and everything swept to one side. Sadly, I closed his eyes as my gaze lit on clothing that had been torn from someone.

I held up a hand to hold Davies back as he entered the room. Aware of what I was going to find, I stepped around McKenna’s desk, and a cry left my mouth.

“Stay back! And call an ambulance now!” I ordered.

In front of me was an image I’d never burn from my memory. I’d be dying and still see this clearly. Lying naked, curled into a ball and with blood covering her body, was McKenna. There was no doubt she’d been beaten and raped. Blood streaked down her legs, and I heaved.

Urgently, I crouched down and checked for a pulse. It was weak but there.

“Get me that fuckin’ ambulance!” I roared as I tore off my shirt and covered the battered woman in front of me. “Now!”