Aaron stepped carefully back into the house. It was probably a bad idea, but Aaron wasn’t much into running. He’d feel a lot better with a gun, he thought.
The basement was full of junk, and apparently deadly items, so he was positive there was something down there to help them. Aaron only had to avoid the giant with the chainsaw and the man with the burnt face that they’d closed in the basement with the dresser.
He tiptoed his way through the house, noticing it was in even more disarray than before if that was possible. You could only keep a house so clean while swinging a chainsaw…
Aaron also noticed some signs of a body being dragged. The dust and glass and other clutter had made a path like a thick paintbrush to the front door. He clenched his fists remembering Katie had been separated from them.
When he got to the basement door the dresser had been removed and the door was ajar. With all the other crap going on he wasn't terribly surprised. As long as the chainsaw guy wasn't around Aaron could take on the guy from downstairs no problem. With luck, perhaps no one was in the basement now.
It was still pretty dark, and he had to climb over the shelves that Andrew and Katie tipped over, but he tried keeping his eyes peeled for anything good. Most of it was garbage save for a few items Aaron was sure he could pawn for some decent money. He made it back to the iron maiden, the puddle of blood still on the floor beneath it.
Poor kid, Aaron cringed, remembering the image of Spencer’s brutally murdered body.
Ah, but the iron maiden was a weapon, perhaps this is where the weapons were. Aaron hurried past the blood and ransacked the shelves.
“Yes,” Aaron said. He managed to find a basic ax, not a gun, but it was something.
He didn't want to stay down here too long because he’d left Aly outside with an injured Andrew. Giving everything one last look he found a couple daggers. They definitely looked like they were for medieval or role playing, but if they were sharp Aaron didn't care.
Grabbing everything he found he noticed something from behind one of the shelves. There was an extremely dark smudge that looked too intense to be mere dirt. Curious, he slid the shelf a bit and exposed more of the smudge. He was right, it was no mere smudge. In black chalk or paint or tar was a shape, a symbol, or graffiti.
He pulled the shelf completely out of the way. The image was of a butterfly. It was almost unrecognizable because the designs inside the butterfly’s wings were skulls and the butterfly’s this body was an upside down torch with a very chalky black flame. The strange butterfly image was encircled by a thin halo of flowers.
Odd…
He ran his hand over it, getting black on his hands. And that’s when he heard a loud roar from behind him. Aaron jumped back, he hadn't heard the burned man sneaking up on him at all, but there he was. From the looks of it, he was hurting, grabbing around his eyes like he was having an extreme headache.
Aaron readied his newly obtained weapons but realized he hadn't done anything yet. The man was hurt, even after sneaking up on Aaron, but Aaron didn't lay a finger on him. Then, Aaron noticed something very interesting.
Across the man’s patched up face was black sludge. Aaron never got a good look at him in the dim lighting, but he was sure the medical wrap on his face was white. The black sludge was new.
It could’ve been anything, Aaron thought, but he also wanted to dare an idea.
Aaron put his hand on the butterfly graffiti again, this time destroying the image completely. His hand would be stained black for a while, but…
Something was happening.
The burned man collapsed, and the dark sludge was covering his most of his body now. Aaron watching in amazement as the man writhed in pain; he couldn't believe that actually worked. He starred down and his stained hand and back at the messy butterfly symbol.
After a minute, the man finally stopped. He lay as if broken, and the black sludge was rolling off his body, like oil and water.
“What the?” Aaron was perplexed.
That wasn't all. The room itself was changing. Aaron blinked over and over, wondering if there was bad mold in the house making him hallucinate, but just like that the room was suddenly less crowded, less dirty, and much brighter.
“Huh…” Aaron huffed.
As glorious as this hocus pocus show was, he left in a hurry, racing back to the people he left behind.
*****
Aly was in the clutches of the bee-man. He didn't even have a face; it was all sculpted by the bee’s fidgeting bodies. She’d been scared speechless, gasping for air and closing her eyes.
There was no counting how many stings were in her arms, legs, face, even neck. The bee-man had lifted her off the ground by her shoulders, and slowly but surely the bees were starting to cover every inch of her body.
“Let her go!” Katie screamed.
Katie didn't know what to do. She couldn't exactly fend him off with her hands. Andrew was still unconscious and probably no help. Frantically, she searched around them for a long sturdy stick she could use to hit the bee-man with. To her shame, she considered running, but Aly had helped her. There had to be something she could do, Katie thought.
Her heart leapt. If she ran at him fast enough, maybe she could do some damage, Katie tried motivating herself.
She aimed at the nasty creature and ran at him full speed. Just like whacking a really angry hornet's nest, Katie told herself, really really angry nest. She stuck the stick right through him. Katie gasped in horror. His body literally was made of all bees. She hadn’t wounded him at all, just pissed him off.
The bee-man released one of his hands, grabbing Aly by the neck of her shirt, and used the back of his hand to smack Katie away. She tripped over Andrew and fell backward. The colony that formed the man’s body was now stirring, enraged, and buzzing so loud it was like white noise on a broken television.
Katie got back up ready for another attempt when she watched the bee-man’s hand start to form a new shape. The bees dispersed and created a large curved hook.
Just like in the movies, Katie thought, “Candyman..?”
Before she could say another word, the bee-man drove the hook into Aly’s stomach.
“No!” Katie shrieked.
She regained her strength and her walking stick and prepared to stab him a second time, mostly out of rage and desperation. The next thing that happened baffled her so badly that her jaw literally dropped.
The bee-man scattered. Just scattered. His human form became a cloud of bees. Aly dropped to the ground clutching her stomach.
“Aly!”
Katie waved the bees away as best as she could. She had no idea what caused him to disappear like that, but she was more than relieved.
Aly did not look well. Everywhere was puffy from the stings, even her eyes were swollen shut. Katie sat beside her, unsure of how to tend to her several wounds. Her stomach had a large cavity now, full of blood… and bees.
“Oh…” Katie hesitated.
At that moment, Katie was sure Aly wasn't even alive anymore. Katie couldn't see if her eyes were going to open or stay closed, but her arms went limp. Unable to stand it any longer, Katie cried loudly. She didn't care who or what heard her.
“Aly!”
Katie gasped.
“Andrew!”
A man was running towards them through the trees. Katie whirled around to see Aaron approaching them with an ax in hand. Finally, a surprise that her heart could handle.
“Aaron…”
Aaron’s eyes were wide in surprise, “Katie?”
He came to a stop and relief washed over him, but seeing Andrew and Aly collapsed on the ground his face was a mix of emotions.
“Are they…” Aaron started.
“I don’t know about Andrew, but Aly…”
Aaron nodded, seeing all the blood, “Well, I’m glad you’re ok. There’s something that happened I gotta tell you.”
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