Got 'Em Page 11

  After placing the paperwork on the chair, I get this eerie feeling as a high pitch screeching sound echoes through the warehouse. I quench in irritation. I turn around from facing the front of the warehouse and catch a glimpse of a shadow running down the far end. With a raise of my right eyebrow and a bit of a jaw drop, I yelp, “Who’s there?” I argue with myself whether or not to go and inspect, as it only looks like a shadow, and it just as well could’ve been a figure of my imagination. But that noise was real, and the shadow could’ve been too. Deciding to go for a little wonder just to self-clarify that nothing is there, and it most probably is just a figure of my imagination, I start walking the five hundred or so metres down the other side of the warehouse, roughly 120 metres in from the loading door side. I hear another quenching screech, only this time, it isn’t as loud, no shadow to recall, just the screech. So I give a hula out, “If someone’s there, I strongly suggest you leave now!” With a pause as I glance over to where I heard the screech approach from, I continue with a hula, “This is private property, and if you don’t leave, there will be consequences!”

  Giving it about a minute to see if anything else is going to interrupt the warehouse’s silence. Of course, from what you would expect, nothing interrupts it. And if there is someone there they would have more than likely left, knowing I am determined to approach this mysterious noise with whatever I have. Though there is still a question left, if someone was actually present, who would it have been?

  Getting back to the chair, I grab the pen that is with it and put it down on the ground on the left side of the chair and place the paperwork on my thighs, as I close my legs to make a makeshift table. Pulling out the spare paper, I begin to draw up some of the blue prints for my designs. I bring the back of the pen up to my mouth and start tapping the back on my lips, in anticipation of what to design first; then it comes to me.

  First off, I had to close the entries to the warehouse, but in doing that I want to still have complete ease of access to either of the exits or entries. So I start drawing a secondary wall that starts off three metres from the front of the warehouse, about two metres away from the door going down the right side of the warehouse. This is where the wall will start. Then the wall will follow and curve around the electricity box and light switches, and cut in about six metres away from the entry to the basement and then follow down just past the loading door. Then 20 metres past the sliding loading door, it will curve out and join the left sidewall of the warehouse. So that way, from the entry of the warehouse you will not be able to see past the wall into the actual warehouse, or more like what will be my workplace, and from the workplace, you will not be able to see out.

  Now that’s clear, and set to mind quite well, I am onto the next blueprint. I have something in mind, and I’m going to call it a ’barb treye’. The image that comes to mind when I mention this particular project, is a focus contraption, where on a time limit you have to do a certain thing before the barbwire malt becomes triggered and meets its destination. It will be a ground set up and will execute whatever is in its way;

  The term malt in this case is ‘bunched’ vertically the contract horizontally across a two by two metre square steel frame, Attached to a timing sling which will be held by a pressing machine that will have a timer. Once the timer hits a full set of zero’s, the press will release the sling which will be attached to the steel frame. Upon release, the barb treye, being one of my creations, will come in sheer contact with another solid whole piece of steel that will prevent the barb treye from going any further. Imbedded into the ground, will be a retractor which becomes dragged with the barb treye. Once the barb treye has reached the whole steel stopper, the retractor will bring the barb treye back to its slinging position as the pressing machine will relocate and lock back down the sling for the next execution.

  With all that drawn out and measured accurately, the next one I have in mind, I’m going to call ‘the runner blades’. Like its name, I’ll set up a slow set split conveyer line that’ll run through a dual table saw, wide-cut then through a second dual table saw, thin-cut which will give adequately cut up pieces, apart from the middle, which will go through a third stage under a band saw, then into the mincer.

  With both drawn up and measured, I peer up into the warehouse and put my imagination to the test of what it will look like. Peering back down at the designs, I place them aside as I stand up and start walking over to the two black bags. I pick them up and decide to carry them to the basement door. Opening the door, I make my way down the stairs to place the items on the floor next to Charles, as Jackson speaks in a desperate voice, “Hey man, can I get some water?” I look at him with a little sympathy, and then look over beside him at the water dispenser as I nod and say, “Hmm.”

  Making my way over beside Jackson, I pull out the water dispenser and put one of the refills in it and drag it over just behind Charles. After that, I pull out a chain and four pad locks. I untie one of Charles’ hands as I whisper in a voice of sweet revenge, “You do anything, and I will kill you!” As I put the chain I have released to his back and wrap the chain around his waist and left arm, up along the left side of his chest then around the back of his neck and back down the right side of his chest, locking the two parts of the chain together and fairly tight, I place a padlock. Then I continue the chain in through the front of between his legs then out the back where the chain wraps around his waist on his lower back, then I place a second padlock where the two parts of the chain meet.

  Running the rest of the chain from Charles to two of the ‘lock down’ points in the floor, padlocking them, I release the rest of the tie down rope so Charles has one hand and arm free and can freely walk around. Already stepping back towards the stairs as I have no idea what he could have planned, I walk back up the stairs and into the warehouse. The reason why I have done this is so that at least one of the men could be semi self-sufficient and help his so called ‘mates’ out if he’s good enough to do so.

  After I left, Charles looks around and tries to shuffle off the chain. Sitting back down after having barely any effect on the chain, Charles grabs at the chain on his waist and yanks it. Then he tries to move it around to see if he can somehow manage to get it off. Jackson looks over to Charles and says in a voice full of thirst, “Dude, can you get me some water? I’m fuckin’ thirsty, hey!” Charles glances at Jackson, and in an absurd voice replies, “I’m not your maid, man,” as he continues sarcastically, “Grab some chains and do it yourself!” Bill shakes off a laugh as Charles finishes sarcastically, stating his chained freedom to walk around as the others are still tied to their chairs.

  Charles gets up to grab Jackson a cup of water, as he has a fairly clear conscience, and knows they cannot do it themselves. After pouring Jackson a cup of water from the dispenser, he goes to hand it to him, Then realises he can’t actually reach over. So, he places the cup on the table and slides it over to Jackson. Using his mouth, Jackson bends down and grits the cup with his teeth and lifts his lip as he brings the cup up to his mouth. The water seeps through his teeth and down his face as he feels helpless and wants to drink it all at once.

  Bill looks over to Jackson as he starts drinking and yells, “Oi, you’re getting it everywhere, man! Calm down.”

  Jackson replies dropping the cup out of his mouth as he takes a few deep breaths, “I know! I am fuckin’ thirsty!”

  Bill looks around at Charles and Jackson, with the looks as if he has an idea about something. Then he looks directly at Charles and curiously asks, “Hey man, are these seats bolted to the ground?”

  Charles looks down to the ground under Bill’s seat and replies blankly, “No, why?” Bill starts getting jiggly on his chair as the chair starts moving. Then he stops.

  Looking up at Charles with a huge grin, he says with hope, “I think I can get us out of here.”

  Charles starts laughing high-pitched, “Ha-ha-ha,” as they all start laughing with hope.

  Shuffling his chair, bill shu
ffles over to Charles as he has one hand free. Bill believes that Charles can untie him so he can untie the rest and try to remove the chain from Charles. As bill has shuffled over to Charles, Charles begins to untie the knot keeping Bill in his chair with his free hand. Bill, becoming untied, decides to go and untie Jackson. At this point, they hear footsteps.

  Approaching the door at the top of the basement as Bill makes a quick but quiet approach back to his chair. Grabbing the rope, he makes himself out like nothing is happening, as I come walking down the stairs suspiciously I take a quick look around by grabbing Charles’ chain around his waist to see if it is secure. Then, I make my way back to Jackson to check his rope. After checking Jackson’s rope, I continue to make my way around to Bill. Approaching halfway around the table, Bill becomes very nervous and anxious that he may be caught, when suddenly I heard the sound of an engine pulling up outside the warehouse.

  In quick measures, I take a quick glance at Bill’s rope as I give out a ‘hmm,’ then I grab masking tape and place it on all of their mouths, and retie Charles’ hand down so he can’t remove the tape. Walking off, back up the stairs before closing the basement door. I approach the vehicle that resembles a local rangers’ car that has pulled up. The ranger hops out of the car and says in a concerned voice, “Hey there, mate. I haven’t seen you around here before.”

  Giving the ranger a delightful smile, I state, “I’m actually new here, as my grandfather recently passed away and has left me this warehouse.”

  The ranger replies respectfully, “Sorry for your loss, mate, and welcome to the area. I’m your local ranger so if there is anything you need, just give me a hula.”

  Nodding with pleasure, I incite, “Sure thing mate, it’s good to know this area is under watch.”

  Hearing slight mumbles from upstairs as both myself and the ranger are talking loudly, all three men start yelling through the masking tape on their mouths and bopping around on their chairs to create loud noise. As the ranger slightly hears a muffled sound, he questions me about it. Tilting my head slightly, to take a listen to it, then pipe up, ‘oh that must be my phone’ I pause as a curious looks creeps upon my face, ‘I must have left it on vibrate. Give me a sec, I’ll be right back!’ I say with urgency as I quickly go back into the warehouse and take a quick right to where I had left my phone. Coming back out to the ranger as I pull the warehouse door closed and ‘answer my phone.’ On the phone, I cheerfully play along, “Hey! How’s it going? Long-time, no talk?” as I pause for a second for a quiet answer before continuing, “Yeah, we have to catch up, definitely. Look I’ve got to go as I have company.”

  The ranger quickly replies, “It’s okay mate, I’ve got to head anyways,” as he gets into his truck and starts reversing it. I end the call with a mischievous smile as I head back to open the door of the warehouse.

  Charles ferociously kicks his chair towards Bill, jiggling his singly tied hand on the chair, as Bill looks at him stupidly then looks down at the rope as it has fallen off. Bill tries to rip off his masking tape and scream blue murder as he hears the warehouse door open and close. He stops and sits back down as Charles angrily mumbles his beat-up words to Bill. I open the basement door frantically, making my way down to the basement, pulling out my pocket knife as I yell angrily to Charles, “I’ll give you something to fucking scream about, you fuck!” as I flick open my knife and ram it through Charles’ roped hand on the chair. Charles screams in agony, tossing and turning as I continue, “For every mistake you make in the attempt to be freed without my consent, I will only do worse.”

  Giving Charles a sharp kick to his right ribs, I dramatically walk off panting as I leap up the stairs and slam the door close on my way out. Bill stands up and approaches Charles and says sympathetically, “Sorry, man,” as Charles mumbles something off to him through the tape and shrugs off his apology.

  Bill goes to take off the tape from Charles’ mouth as Charles abusively raises his voice, “You should have fucking done it!” As he took a breath he continues as he lowers his voice, “You should have taken off your tape and—” Charles begins to yell out louder, “—Fucking yelled man! Even run up the stairs to whoever it was—” as Bill slides the tape back over his mouth to quieten him.

  Charles tosses, turns and mumbles in distress and agony as Bill goes over to Jackson to untie his knot and take off his tape and whispers to Jackson, “Keep quiet, I think we will leave Charles here as he is chained; we will go and get bolt cutters and come right back for him.”

  As they both glance over with painful eyes to Charles, he yells through the tape in the likeliness of knowing what is being said, “You’re not leaving me here! Don’t you leave me here!” As Bill and Jackson quietly get up and go up the stairs; Jackson opens the door slightly to see if anyone is around.

  Opening the door completely, Jackson and Bill notice there is no one around. They start walking around towards the warehouse front door as they hear footsteps approaching the door; they go back around the corner just beside the door to the basement. As the front door to the warehouse opens, I walk in to grab something. Jackson peers around to see what I am doing as I bend down to pick whatever I am picking up. I then walk back out the door, leaving it open.

  Jackson walks over to the door and watches me as I walk down to the little shed beside the warehouse. Jackson whispers to Bill, “Come on bro! This is it! He’s distracted in the little shed!” Bill comes quietly running over as Jackson watches me enter the shed. Both Bill and Jackson run off amongst the trees to the left of the front of the warehouse.

  Hearing a bit of movement, I look over to where the noise is echoing from. Suspicious, I squint my eyes as I start approaching the area, and ready in hand a shearer. I get closer to the area, as a random kangaroo hops past. I stop and shake my head, saying disturbingly as I feel jumped, ‘fuckin’ wildlife’ as I make my way back to the shed.

  In that moment thinking I was gaining on them, Jackson says to bill nervously, “Fuck man, he’s coming over our way!” as Jackson takes a breath of shock. But after seeing the kangaroo, I left as Jackson watches me go back into the shed, then says to Bill with a rush of freedom in his speech, “Okay, now!” As they run off into the forest of trees around the warehouse, they head down alongside the warehouse so that they don’t have to worry about stopping and hiding.

  Crossing over, away from the warehouse, Jackson stops and sees the kangaroo that had passed, laying on the ground with blood on its chest. Bill, still running, didn’t notice that Jackson has stopped. Still running, he scurries straight into two lines of wire, stopping him on the spot: one is about sternum high and the other is about lower neck high. Jackson looks at Bill and says, curious as to why he has stopped so suddenly, “You okay, man?”

  As he starts to choke up and fall backwards onto the ground, Jackson notices he is caught up in wire, cutting his neck and sternum open.

  Blood running out, as daylight starts turning into night, Bill holds his hand around his throat to try and stop the bleeding as Jackson does the same to his sternum. Looking at Bill as he kneels down beside him pressing his hands up against his sternum, Jackson tears up and in a shallow voice, he whispers, “Please don’t die on me, man! Please don’t die!” Bill chokes for fresh air, yet all he is taking in is his own blood. All Bill manages to say to Jackson, as a last word, coughing it up, is, “Go.”

  Jackson replies to Bill shallowly, “No man, I can’t leave you here.” As life in Bill’s eyes slowly dulls out, he finally leaves in peace. Jackson’s tears dry up as he looks over to the warehouse in anger. He stands to his feet and takes off in the direction they were originally going to go.

  Back at the warehouse, down in the basement, Charles, angry and frustrated, tries to head-butt the table as he wheezes in pain and abandonment that his mates have left him to rot by himself—with a mad man. As I make my way back inside the warehouse to check on my misfortunes that have put a block on my inventions, I notice the basement door isn’t fully closed, as I ha
d slammed it shut beforehand. On that note, my suspicions start to flare up, my heart begins to race as I make my way down to the basement, bracing myself for the worse, with the shearer in hand.

  I get down the final lot of stairs, looking around defensively, as I reach the bottom. I start grabbing things and pulling things out and throwing them. I walk back towards the stairs and stand there facing the stairs, as Charles is still wheezing in pain and being shit scared of what may happen. I look down and sigh. Turning around slowly and grabbing the chair Jackson was sitting in to drag it in front of, but beside, the table where Charles is sitting.

  Ripping off the masking tape from Charles’ mouth slowly, as Charles keeps wheezing, I ask spitefully as I look dead into his eyes, “Where are they?”

  His saliva dripping from his mouth, as he stubbornly spits out in pain, “I don’t know.”

  Bringing myself a little closer and in an intimidating voice, I shout to him, “Where the fuck are they?”

  Charles looks up at me with anger and yells, “I don’t fucking know! God damn it! Just leave me alone!”

  As I get up out of the chair and stand behind Charles, I holler demandingly what I want to hear as I put the shearer to his neck, “Tell me where they are or I’ll cut your fucking head off.”

  Charles, scared, whimpers out, “Please don’t do this man. I really don’t know where they are, believe me when I say, they left me here man! I would tell you where they are otherwise,” he splatters each word out. Pulling the shearer away, with open eyes of belief, I walk away from Charles towards the stairs as he, being a smart arse, starts laughing. I stop facing the bottom of the stairs as he says in a hysterically obnoxious tone, “Even if I did know, ha-ha. I still wouldn’t tell ya!” I frantically turn around as my believing face deceives with hatred, I pace swiftly over to him as I ready the shearer. Driving it through Charles’ throat, I push on it to drive it in further.