Evelyn's younger sister, Brelan, fell in love with me for a couple of months after Bootcamp. She'd convinced me of the same. Brelan caught wind of the torrid affair and made Evelyn promise to never see me again. Sister's "code of honor". Even now, the thought drives tiny spikes into my heart. A cardiac iron maiden which slowly bleeds me to death.

Dust trails the car down the long dirt driveway. Soon, the reckoning will come. The abandoned logging camp has several cabins. The meeting place is the large warehouse sized cafeteria. Why here? Seemed like the right place.

Confront your fears, lay it all out on the table, wear your heart on your shirtsleeve, those are things people tell you that don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Fear of loss or failure to keep something precious could come into play. But wearing your heart on your sleeve is ignorant. Which makes me the stupid one, because whenever I receive affection I drown them in flowers, love letters, and stupid little cubes full of love songs and videos about kittens. What a waste of time.

Some of their cars are lined up behind the cafeteria. My tires slide through gravel and dirt, nearly taking out the rustic wooden steps. When my foot hits the ground the whispers from within halt. No doubt they're telling each other how they broke up with me, laughing and giggling. I have a mind to set the place on fire with them inside. I'm not ready to let go, not just yet.

When I clasp the door handles, a collective gasp comes from within. They know I'm here and their wait has ended.

Stop. Something ain't right.

Inside the utility box, I retrieve my .45 Excalibur. It has double barrels like a shotgun with Nicron explosive rounds. The sights are dead-on. One laser straight down the middle. Not that I need it. I can shoot the left nut off a Tweaker at a hundred yards.

This time I'm more cautious of what could be on the other side of the doors. Excalibur's barrels lead the way. When we step through, the putrid stench of a hundred lies, blasphemies, and wasted words almost knocks me over.

Everyone's here.

Brelan's eyes fix on me. I want her where she can witness all.

Mission accomplished.

I'd taken a surgeon's care when I carved them out of her head. Her cookie dough scoop fit perfect. I didn't even hit the bone. I'd placed those beautiful eyes as the centerpiece of the first table. They're still the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen.

Flies whirl across my scalp, drawing my gaze up.

Eden had struggled. She even managed to bust my nose with the back of her head.

Shouldn't have hoisted her into position from directly behind.

After I cauterized the wounds with a blowtorch, the hay bailing hooks held steady. Oh ... she'd passed out when I inserted the first one. But for some reason woke when I yanked on the ropes. Meat beneath those double D mounds shows from the tears her struggle made against the rusted metal. I'd thought for sure she would have torn them out but she didn't. I let her dangle like a gruesome piñata. Her hands are bound behind her back and she's naked from the waist up. I kept her shit licking boots and Wrangler jeans on to remind me how much I can't stand cowgirls.

Yee fucking haw. I duck so as not to disturb her rest.

Teresa's lips are full like an actor who's had one too many treatments. I walk over to her and caress her upper lip with my tongue. A rancid sludge slimes my taste buds. Doesn't bother me. I swallow it down. Her eyes are open, staring straight up, not quite rolled all the way back. Muscle tissue and bone sinew wrap around the metal post. I'd sawn through her throat with a rusted bowsaw. She'd screamed until almost halfway through. The last of her shrieks came from the hole in her trachea. Tiny bubbles popped and blood spurt with every gasp.

Misty saw porn on my computer. "What's the big fucking deal?" I said. "Everyone watches porn." From then on she called me a sick and twisted peeping Tom. When I found her, I snuck into the house and watched them. Poetic, I know. Her kids slept in the rooms adjacent to the master bedroom. Couldn't risk them interrupting my work. I'd held a pillow over their faces until they stopped kicking. Princess Misty screamed through her gag as I cut out her man's heart. Better me than her. But her incessant screech didn't stop until I ripped out her tongue with a pair of needle-nosed pliers. The tongue stayed on her pillow. While she drowned in her own blood in the back of the stolen van, I explained why the girls had to go. I'd dismembered her with an ax in front of Brelan ... for shock value. Her body parts are in the prone position on a table near the kitchen. I'd put them together. A life-sized bitch puzzle.

Man, did I have fun with Chelsea. Caught up to her behind Night Lights, this club in New Sacramento. Roughly, it's where Vancouver Canada used to be. As per usual, she had a dick in her mouth. Poor little guy squealed when I bonked her on the head and she bit down. Before she could spit it out, I taped her mouth shut. "Don't swallow," I'd said. Because she disobeyed me I amputated her hands and feet with my jigsaw. She'd flopped around a bit, trying to get up while blood squirt from the ends of her severed extremities. Funniest thing I've ever seen.

Faint moans come from the back of the room. I'm not sure if she's awake. I stroll to where I had propped a picnic table against the wall. Evelyn is crucified on it with sixteen-penny nails. Took about five in each hand and feet to keep her up. I left her at eye level so I can play with her. Made her witness the removal of her sister's eyes. She didn't want to and refused to keep them open. I found a new use for my staple gun. Since then, the staples had torn through. Ripped flesh dangles in front of her pupils. This is my third trip back since she joined the others. She'd been the hardest of the bunch to find because her husband is a Militant. Took a trip to New Texas and extracted her like a dead tooth.

Skin has sunken into her ribs due to dehydration and malnourishment. The ball strapped in her mouth is covered with dry slime from her nostrils. She's still struggling against the nails. It's time to finish her off before she's too unaware for me to enjoy.

I catch her eyeing me. "You always were a tough one."

"Uuung ooo," she mumbles.

"That's not very nice for a Christian girl."

My tools are lined up on the table next to her. The military style hunting knife I took off a dead insurgent beckons me. A hoarse whisper of a scream comes from her. Most of it through her nose accompanied by a glob of blood tinged snot. I undo the strap and gently remove the rubber ball. Her scream doesn't get any louder. I regret not giving her water.

"Wh ..." She tries to wet her cracked lips with her tongue. I lift a ladle of water to her mouth. She coughs it up.

"Slow down. Tiny sips."

Finally, she shuts up and takes a good sip of water.

"Why are you doing this?" She sobs.

"You ended us. Now I get to end you."

"Get over yourself, Chess." Her coughing is harsh. She dry heaves. "It's so hot in here."

One more ladle of water manages to stay her gag reflex.

For a moment, I consider her second and third-degree burns. Skin sloughs to the floor when I scrape my knife down her ankles.

"What are you doing?"

Huh. Can't feel her feet. They're burned white, almost to the bone. No screaming. Damn. I like it when they howl.

"Just let me go I won't ..."

"Don't beg. It's unbecoming of a lady."

Her pleas end quickly as I plunge the knife into her and pull it straight up. It slices through the soft rectal skin, the folds of her labia, up to the ascending aorta. Warm blood sprays me as I cut. Some trickles into my mouth.

Tastes like penny flavored salt taffy.

When the knife reaches her diaphragm, I turn it and use the serrated edge on the bone.

Breath and life leave her with one last grind into the sternum. Bloody entrails spill between her legs and down the table. I marvel as they coil and flop to the floor.

"Happy anniversary." I wipe the blood slathered blade off on my pant leg.