My Life is Horrific Chapter 10 — Bittersweet Endings (Beginnings?) (Patreon)

BANG

"AGHH FUCK!" I cried out as I pushed myself off the ground, my hands slipping on the damp stone floor as with fresh waves of pain shooting through my chest. It felt like someone had jammed a red-hot poker straight between my ribs and twisted it hard. My flashlight rolled away from me with a clatter while I tried to get my knees under me and failed twice before I finally managed to roll onto my side and stay there breathing like I had just run a marathon uphill.

"James! Oh my god James are you okay? What happened? Please tell me you're okay!" Her words tumbled out desperately while she twisted her wrists against the bindings and her bare feet scraped uselessly on the stone trying to reach me.

It didn't take me long to realise I must've triggered  a gun trap the moment I walked into the room. There was a bullet in my chest now lodged somewhere between my ribs. "This fucking sucks..." I mumbled while I fumbled at the wound, it didn't seem to be bleeding much so at least there was that. I tried to push myself up only to fall almost comedically to the floor, face planting and getting another concerned scream from Claire. 

I get she's scared but is it too much to ask for not to have her scream in a place with a serial killer on the loose. 

I fell a second time when I tried again my palm slipping on my own blood making me hit the floor hard enough to knock the wind out of me. "Fuck fuck fuck this stupid goddamn trap who the hell rigs a fucking basement like this, Jesus Christ it burns it burns so fucking bad!" I muttered every curse I could think of while Claire watched the whole thing with pure terror on her face and fresh tears cutting clean tracks through the dried blood on her cheeks.

"James!!!" Claire said again as she tried to shake herself loose. 

I pushed myself up again this time slower while bracing one hand on the chair leg and the other pressing hard against the bullet wound. "I should be okay," I told her. "I just need a minute..."

"Why aren't you healing like before? James it's not closing it's still bleeding, I thought you were like me!" Her voice shook and she leaned as far forward as the ropes allowed her.

"It's a little slower than yours I think," I replied while leaning against her chair for support. I reached up with my free hand and started working the knots on the ropes until the first wrist came free then the second and finally her ankles. The second she was free Claire threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug that pressed her body right against mine and buried her face into my shoulder.

"I was so scared," she choked out into my hoodie. "I thought nobody was coming. I thought he was gonna keep me here forever or... or kill me slow or... I didn't think anyone would find me. I thought I was gonna die alone down here. Thank you thank you thank you—"

I groaned loudly when her squeeze crushed the entry wound and fresh pain lanced straight through my chest. "Easy... easy Claire... ribs... bullet... still in there..."

She jerked back immediately with her hands flying up like she'd been burned. "Oh shit I'm sorry I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, what do I do? Tell me what to do. Do you want me to pull it out? Do I pull it out? I don't know how to do this I don't—"

"Yeah," I said through clenched teeth while easing myself down to sit on the edge of the chair. "Try and get it out. Fingers are probably fine. Just... dig."

Her face went green. "With my fingers? In your chest?"

"Unless you see a pair of pliers lying around, yeah. Come on. Quick," I said as I gestured to my wound. 

She stared at the hole for a long second then looked up at me with wide terrified eyes. "This is gonna hurt."

"Already does."

She took a shaky breath then pressed two fingers into the wound while wincing like she was the one being cut open. I grunted hard and my head fell back against the chair while black spots danced across my vision. Her nails scraped against torn muscle and I felt the slug shift deep inside. "Almost... I think I got it... oh God it's slippery..." She whimpered once but kept going and after a few awful seconds her fingers closed around the deformed bullet and she yanked it free with a wet pop.

I panted hard while slumping forward with my forehead resting on my knees. "Fuck... good... good job..."

Claire dropped the slug onto the stone with a tiny clink and wiped her hands on the raggedy jumper while staring at them like they belonged to someone else. "I did it. I actually did it. Are you... are you gonna be okay now?"

"Getting there." I lifted my head and gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile even though my face felt numb. "Healing's probably kicking in, just give it a couple minutes."

She wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist. "What happened up there? I heard a lot of gun shots and noises Did you... did you kill him?"

Before I could answer a loud THUMP echoed down the tunnel followed by another and another, quickly they turned into footsteps coming down the tunnel. 

I met her eyes. "No. No I did not."

The footsteps turned into a run and the whole tunnel started to shake like something massive was charging straight toward us. Rocks rattled loose from the walls and pattered onto the ground around our feet.

"Fuck let's go now!"

I shoved myself upright while grabbing her wrist and we bolted down the nearest tunnel. Claire ran barefoot beside me with the oversized jumper flapping around her thighs. Behind us the footsteps thundered closer and closer until the ground itself seemed to vibrate under our soles.

I twisted at the waist while still running and fired three quick shots back into the dark. BANG BANG BANG. The muzzle flashes lit up Jason's mask for split seconds as the bullets slammed into his left knee then his right then his left again. He staggered hard with each hit and his leg buckled once but he caught himself on the wall and kept coming like the damage was nothing more than a bad limp.

"Claire do you remember which way he brought you in?" I yelled over my shoulder while reloading.

"I don't know!" she cried back. "It all looks the same! I was blindfolded half the time! I can't... I can't think straight!"

We skidded around a corner and the tunnel split three ways. I picked left at random and we sprinted another twenty yards before the passage dead-ended at a rusted iron grate set into the stone. No way through. We were boxed in. "Shit shit shit." I spun back the way we came just as Jason rounded the corner thirty feet away. His silhouette filled the tunnel, on his shoulder I could see the dagger that Earl had shown me earlier. He must've failed to kill him. Or maybe he just didn't stab him in the right place. 

I raised the pistol and unloaded the rest of the magazine into center mass. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG. Six rounds slammed into his chest and he rocked back with each impact but he never went down. Smoke curled from the barrel as the slide locked open on empty. I ejected the mag and stared at the single remaining magazine in my pocket. Eight rounds left. Eight fucking rounds against a walking tank that shrugged off headshots like they were confetti.

Claire pressed herself against the wall beside me with her hands over her mouth. "He's coming he's coming what do we do?"

I could try to take him hand to hand but that hadn't worked well last time. He'd thrown me around like a toy and stabbed me half to death. Eight bullets might slow him but they weren't killing him. I needed something smarter. Something that could help us get away, but how do I do that? Come on think of something! Something—

My mind drifted to the system rewards I'd gotten, but more specifically. NZT-48. The name rang a bell at the time but only now did it come to the surface. Limitless. The movie. The pill that unlocked 100% of the brain.

Holy shit.

"Keep back," I told her while fumbling in my pocket for the pill before I closed my eyes for half a second and willed one into my palm, instantly a small clear tablet appeared between my fingers.

Claire stared at it. "What do we do!!?"

"Just give me a minute!" I barked while popping the pill dry and swallowing hard.

The NZT hit fast. 

Not like the movies where everything went slow-mo and blue. More like someone flipped a switch in my skull and suddenly every detail sharpened to a razors edge. I turned around immediately and scanned the iron gate in less than a second. I then raised my gun and pressed it above the locking mechanism, angled 60 degrees to the left before firing. The door popped open and both of us instantly rushed through with Jason right on our heels. 

But even as he was breathing down our necks I found that I didn't really care. 

The NZT was really doing havoc on my brain I was noticing things I'd never in a million years see on my own. 

I noticed the way the tunnel walls had faint scoring marks from years of what I could only guess was water flow. I noticed the slight downward grade that meant this passage was leading deeper into what I suppose was a natural cave system. I noticed the rusted chain hanging from the ceiling twenty yards ahead with a broken link near the top and a hook at the end. 

I noticed Jason's footsteps were slightly uneven now from the knee shots which meant his left leg was weaker. I noticed Claire's breathing pattern was close to hyperventilation which meant she had maybe ninety seconds before she passed out from panic and exertion. 

And I noticed the perfect choke point.

"Claire stop!" I grabbed her arm and yanked her behind a thick support beam that jutted from the wall. "Here. Right here."

She panted while clutching my sleeve. "He's right behind us!"

"I know." My voice came out calm. Too calm. The pill had stripped away the fear and left only pure calculation. "When he comes around that bend I need you to wait for my distraction, then run straight back the way we came. Do not look back. Just run."

"But—"

"Do it."

She nodded fast with tears streaming down her face. I then grabbed her and pushed her into the wall trying to make her less noticeable. It was then Jason appeared at the end of the tunnel moving fast despite the limp. I walked closer to him with a completely calm expression, despite knowing the exact percentage chance that my plan would fail and I would die, it didn't matter. The NZT gave me a certainty that my plan would work. But that wasn't the only thing it gave me. 

100% access to my brain meant 100% access to everything my body had to offer. 

It had a lot to offer. 

I stopped ten feet from him and grinned. "Hey Jason."

"Yippee ki yay motherfucker!"

I unloaded seven rounds into his knees. Four into the left joint shredding cartilage and tendon. Three into the right doing the same. He buckled hard with his legs giving out like wet cardboard but he caught himself on one hand while swinging the machete wildly with the other. I sidestepped the slash and fired the last round straight into the rusted chain link above his head. BANG. The bullet snapped the weakened metal clean and the whole length came crashing down.

At the same moment I reached out with my mind and caught it mid-fall. The chain froze in the air for a split second then whipped around his body like a python. Links wrapped his arms to his sides then snaked up to his neck squeezing tight enough to crush a normal man's throat. He thrashed but I held it forcefully with my telekinesis while stepping forward and slamming the hooked end straight into his left eye through the mask hole. The point punched through with a wet crunch and he let out this guttural groan that echoed down the stone walls.

"Claire run!" I shouted over my shoulder while keeping the pressure on.

She did not move. She stood there pressed against the wall with her eyes wide and her mouth open. "James... how are you...?"

Jason surged against the chains with raw power that made my temples throb. I poured everything into the telekinesis hold while gritting my teeth, blood started trickling from my nose then my ears snd finally from my eyes. It felt like my brain was melting inside my skull, like someone had poured acid straight into my ears and stirred it. The pain built pretty fast but I still held him down on his knees while he clawed at the links around his neck.

I focused harder and ripped the dagger out of his shoulder with another burst of TK. The blade yanked free in a spray of black blood and flew straight to my hand. I caught it mid-air and drove it point-first into his other eye while twisting it and turning his brain into soup. He bucked once more with that groan turning into a rattle but I spun on my heel and delivered a roundhouse kick that connected square on the hilt. My boot drove the dagger almost entirely through his head with a sickening crack of bone and the blade punched out the back of his skull in a gout of gore.

Jason froze for one endless second then collapsed forward like a felled tree. His massive body hit the stone with a heavy THUMP that shook dust from the ceiling. He lay there face down in a spreading pool of his own mess without so much as a twitch.

Claire and I stood there frozen while the echoes died and the only sound left was our ragged breathing. I watched his back for any rise and fall but it stayed flat. No movement. No roar. Nothing. She edged forward slowly with her hands still shaking and poked his boot with her toe like she expected him to jump up. When he did not she looked at me with wide eyes. "Is he...?"

"I think so," I said while wiping blood from my face with my sleeve. At least I hoped so but I was not going to trust in a damn spooky dagger. Not after everything. "Go ahead of me and get to the car. Here." I handed her the flashlight. "I marked some trees on my way here with notches. Follow them back to the lakehouse."

She took the light but did not move. "What are you going to do?"

I paused while staring down at the corpse. "Make sure he's dead."

She nodded tentatively with her lips pressed tightly then turned and ran back up the tunnel with the beam bouncing ahead of her until she disappeared around the bend.

Meanwhile I grabbed Jason's ankle and started dragging him through the tunnel. The fucker weighed a ton, he was solid muscle and whatever mystical bullshit kept him going made him feel like pulling a goddamn fridge through mud. I grunted with every step while hauling him back through the tunnels. "Heavy... piece... of shit..." Sweat poured down my back and mixed with the blood still leaking from my nose. Up the short stairs through the kitchen with his mask scraping the floor and leaving a black smear behind. I paused once to catch my breath and leaned against the wall while my vision blurred. "Come on you bastard... almost there..."

I dragged him all the way back up into the house where the hillbillies lay scattered like broken dolls. Earl slumped in the corner with his neck twisted 180 degrees. The barrel guy gutted against the wall. The short one sprawled across the threshold with his rifle still clutched in dead fingers. I did not stop to check them, assholes left me and my friends to die, they could go fuck themselves for all I cared. 

I continued to haul Jason past the old house and out the front door onto the overgrown lawn. Finally I dropped his leg with a thud while sucking in deep breaths.

"Okay... that's the easy part done..." I muttured as I looked around. Nearby an axe was stuck into a chopping block half buried in weeds. I yanked it free with a grunt and hefted the weight. The blade was rusted but sharp enough. I started with the arms. The first chop bit deep into his shoulder joint with a wet thunk and black blood oozed out slowly. I swung again and again until the limb came free. 

Then the other arm. 

Legs next. 

Each hack sent jolts up my arms but I kept going. The torso I carved into quarters like splitting firewood. Guts spilled out in ropes that smelled like rot and sewage but I did not stop. The head I left for last. One solid chop severed it from the neck and it rolled a few feet away with the mask still strapped on.

I piled the pieces inside the mansion threshold arms legs torso all heaped like garbage. Then I fished a lighter from the short hillbilly's pocket flicked it to life and touched the flame to the curtains. It was amazing I knew I'd find a lighter in his pocket just based on the discolouration of his fingers. 

NZT was OP. 

The old fabric caught very quickly and fire licked up the walls hungrily. I stepped back while flames roared to life and spread through the rooms with cracks and pops as beams gave way. The whole place went up like a bonfire. I watched for a minute to make sure the pieces burned and Jason didn't somehow rise from the dead and lumber out. 

I picked up the head and carried off into the trees a hundred yards away. I dug a hole with my hands and the axe blade then dropped it in and buried it. Hopefully that would be enough. Hopefully if the dagger was mystical it would contain whatever shit Jason was. Or at least keep him down long enough for me to live out my life and die and escape this fucking world. 

I trudged back to the lakehouse with my legs feeling like lead. The front door hung open and Claire waited on the porch with her arms wrapped around herself in that raggedy jumper. The second she saw me she ran forward and crashed into my chest with a hug that squeezed the air out of me. "James!"

I hugged her back while burying my face in her hair. "It's over."

She pulled back just enough to look up at me with tears spilling freshly across her cheeks. Not sad ones this time, but ones of pure relief that shook her whole body. "It's over? He's really gone? We made it?"

"Yeah. He won't be coming back," I said as I rubbed her head. 

She buried her face again and we stood there for a minute while she let it out. Sobs that turned into hiccups then quiet breaths. After a while I eased her back gently. "Get in the car. We need to move," I told her to which she nodded and climbed into the passenger seat while I headed inside one last time. 

When I crossed the threshold the stench hit me like a wall, the lakehouse was filled with blood and death thick enough to choke on. I almost threw up right there in the entryway but swallowed it down and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the counter along with a pack of Max's cigarettes from the table. The bodies lay where they fell and I did my best not look at them. Just turned and walked out.

Outside I slid behind the wheel and fired up the Mustang after taking a massive swig from the whiskey, such a big swig that Claire looked a little concerned. The engine roared to life and I peeled out down the dirt road while gravel kicked up behind us. Claire curled in the seat with her knees to her chest and stared out the window as the trees blurred past. We drove for an hour before the forest finally thinned and spat us out onto a paved highway. Almost another hour after that before we hit a gas station. The neon sign buzzed faint in the pre-dawn light and a couple early trucks parked at the pumps. 

We pulled in and I killed the engine after a couple moments both of us got out and immediately drew stared from everyone. Pretty rude, but consider in that both of us looked like we'd just crawled out of a slaughter house it wasn't surprising. 

We headed inside and making a couple guys at the coffee counter turn and freeze. One dropped his cup shattering it on the tile while the girl behind the register screamed. "What the hell happened to you two? Oh my God are you okay?"

I ignored the stares and walked straight to the counter. "Phone please... there has been an incident and I need to call the police, also can we use the truck stop shower... as you can see we both need it."

She blinked at me for a second then nodded rapidly and slid the landline over. "Yeah yeah of course, the showers are just in the back over there."

"Thanks." I turned to Claire. "Go wash up. I'll handle this." She nodded silently and disappeared toward the back while I punched in 911.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"All my friends are dead, they were killed by a psycho  at a lakehouse up near Crystal Lake in Franklin county, please send as many people as you can." I gave them the address and our location at the gas station.

They asked a bunch of questions but I kept it short and essentially just told them to get their ass over there and they can see for themselves. After I hung up I dialed home and tried to see if my Mom would pick up, it rang for a few moments but after that I got nothing and no one picked up.

Fuck it, I only called so my Mom wouldn't worry, I didn't want my psycho dad anywhere near this situation. He might pop one off in his trousers from the mere smell of blood. 

After a breath I called Claire's dad next. It picked up on the second ring.

"Bennet."

"Hello Mr Bennet, it's James Mitchell. I just wanted to let you know that there's been an incident, Claire's okay but... something happened. A psycho came to the cabin and killed all of our friends, we managed to escape and we're  at a gas station off route 12."

A pause. 

"I'm on my way."

I sighed while handing the phone back. "Thanks."

The girl nodded still pale. "No problem. Um... police on the way?"

"Yeah." I replied before heading to the shower after Claire finished. The water ran hot and I stood under it for ten minutes while scrubbing off layers of blood and dirt. The bullet hole in my chest had closed to a puckered scar by now which was good, in fact most of the machete scars were barely visible. It seemed I lucked out when I got Claire's power, even if it seemed to be a weaker version of hers. After the shower I dried off and pulled my clothes back on then walked out to the car.

I sat on the bonnet and twisted open the whiskey again and took a long pull that burned going down, after gasping for some air afterwwrds I lit one of Max's cigarettes. Claire came out a few minutes later clean but still in the jumper as she had nothing else to wear. She climbed up beside me without a word. I handed her the bottle and she took a sip then coughed hard.

We passed it back and forth for a while. She stared at the horizon where the sun was starting to peek over. "This night was so unbelievable, in a completely terrifying and unnatural way. Like something out of a bad dream. Now that it's over it feels... strange. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. For him to jump out or... I don't know. It feels too normal now. Too quiet. I expected something worse in the end."

I took a drag on the cigarette and blew smoke slow. "I'd take a boring ending over anything exciting right now."

She leaned against my shoulder and we sat like that until sirens wailed in the distance. I flicked the cigarette away and stashed the whiskey under the seat before the cops pulled in. Two cruisers screeched to a stop and four officers jumped out with hands on their holsters. "You James Mitchell? Claire Bennet?"

"Yeah."

They looked us over while one talked into his radio. "What happened here? You two look like hell, you better come down the station with us."

Before I could answer a black SUV roared into the lot and skidded to a halt and a moment later Claire's dad Noah jumped out in a rumpled suit with his glasses askew. "Claire!"

"Dad!" She ran to him and he caught her in a hug while she broke down again.

Another man stayed by the SUV. Dark-skinned bald in a suit. The same guy from that vision I had when I touched Noah. Shit. The fact I had no clue what movie he was from made him even more terrifying though I could only hope I earned some points with Noah by saving his daughter. 

Noah turned to the cops while holding Claire close to his chest. "I'm her father. She's a minor and she's been through an incredible amount of trauma, I won't have you taking her down to the station when you don't even have officers on scene. You can take preliminary statements but nothing in-depth. And I want a paramedic here now."

The cops tried to argue against Noah, but after a bit of back and forth and when Noah took the lead officer aside for a moment they seemed to change their mind which was weird. 

Claire cried into his chest with her words muffled. "It was awful Dad. Everyone's dead. He killed them all. Tyler, Maxine... everyone."

He stroked her hair while murmuring soft. "It's okay sweetheart. It's over. You're safe now. Let's get you home." He walked her to the SUV while the bald guy opened the door.

More sirens blared as additional cruisers whipped past heading toward the lakehouse. I stood by my car with my arms crossed while the cops eyed me. Though fifteen minutes later a new set of cop cars came. The officer got out and walked right towards me. 

"You James Mitchell?"

I nodded. "Yes sir..."

He shifted his weight while looking sympathetic. "Son we need you to follow us to the station. There's been an incident at your home. Your whole family... well... there's been an accident... and... we need you to identify the bodies."

I looked at him for a long moment. 

Did I just hear him right?

Mom. Dad. Esther. Dead.

A laugh bubbled up from my chest. "Heheheh...Heheheh.. Hahahahahahahah..."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAH!!!"

(AN: James might be a little cracked, but tbf idk a single person who wouldn't be when coming into contact with Jason. Anyway I figured the NZT would allow him perfect control of his abilities due to what it does. Now that he's experienced it he'll know how to use his telekinesis, but he won't be very good at it. I think he'll need a teacher. Hope you enjoyed the first part of this. Let's move on to the second.)