Chapter 33 HAPPY DEATHDAY

Natasha was fast asleep as she stood erect, hands tied behind the pole. T-Rex trudged towards her. Couldn’t contain his excitement. And reaching her, he threw his fist to her face, and it collided with her nose.

Natasha came awake with a sharp cry. Her eyes were dark, cupped by fleshy pouches and radiating fear. Her lips appeared swollen, and blood dripped from her nose. She looked up at T-Rex with dread. Her entire body quivered at the mere sight of him.

Natasha noticed she was standing naked before him and moved her hands to cover her nakedness, but found that they were tied behind the pole. Sweat broke on her brows as she struggled with all her might, letting out scared whimpers. But the rope would not give. Her wrists were hurting from the struggle.

Closing in on her, T-Rex cupped her jaw and spoke to her face. “I’m not going to lie, this is going to be a really bad day for you, sweetheart.” his playful tone concealed a lethal truth.

Natasha quivered at the stench of his breath. Anxiety overwhelmed her. And just then, Kevin muffled a scream as he struggled to escape the leather that bound his arms to the chair. This was, quite possibly, the worst birthday experience for him.

Natasha’s eyes were drawn to him. “Kevin!” She whined, grateful to see him. “Please help me.”

Her eyes flickered past him, and that’s when she found that his arms were tied to the chair that he sat on. The colour drained out of her face. A small squeak escaped her pressed-together lips.

T-Rex walked over to some hospital equipment lying on a table beside her. Ran his finger along the scalloped edge of the table. Kevin’s eyes widened at the sight of the surgical devices that were arranged on the table—just like the last time.

A scalpel, a syringe, forceps, scissors, some long needle, a knife, bowl containing oil, and several transparent little bottles—vials, were arranged all on the table.

Some containers were filled with white, colourless liquid, and the rest held some kind of dark fluid in it. There was a big bag pack sitting at the corner of the table. Kevin watched him move over to the table. Took out a book from the bag.

Recognition crossed Kevin’s features at the sight of the book.

“Seven Most Painful Ways to Die.” the title read in bold red ink. The book he’d seen in Cedric’s room.

T-Rex flipped pages to its centre and placed it on the table before him.

Is he going to torture her from that book? Kevin thought with dread, his face frozen in horror, heart pounding against his ribcage.

Fought harder to free himself. His effort proved futile. The leather was just too strong. His stomach knotted with dread as he watched T-Rex loosened the rope around Natasha’s wrist. She whimpered as he carried her roughly to the table. She kept hitting and kicking as she hung from his broad shoulder.

“Leave me alone!” she cried, hitting him harder on the back.

T-Rex did not flinch at the pain. Neither was there any trace of contortion to his face. He dropped her hard onto the table. Natasha bawled as her back bashed the table.

“No, no,” T-Rex quickly cautioned, “We wouldn’t want that whining once we have begun.”

He picked up one of the four sharp rods that lie beside her feet. Kevin’s eyes were drawn to his hands, the sight of the rods causing a ball of fear to rise within his stomach.

Pressing her down onto the table with one hand, and holding the sharp, pointy rod with the other, he plunged it into her left foot with such force, pinning her left foot to the table.

Natasha let out a horrible cry as she felt the metal tore through skin, crushing every bone within her leg. The pain was nothing like anything she’d ever experienced before, excruciating, brain wrecking. Tears spilled on her cheek as she watched him pick up another rod.

T-Rex pierced the rod forcefully through her right foot. It drew blood. Natasha—screaming, buckled her waist, allowing the pain to flow through her. The rod tore through her foot and punctured the table. Thick blood flowed from her foot, sliding down the iron rod and pouring onto the table. They fell like tiny raindrops beneath the table.

Almost immediately, T-Rex pierced another rod through her right wrist, pinning her arm to the table. The rod entered as if she was nothing, just meat, blood, bones, blasting a cavity in her arm as it slide through, bursting into the table.

Natasha screwed her eyes shut, her body trembling. Her blood stained the table. “Please stop! It hurts.” she shrieked. Tears streamed down her wet check as pains travelled every nerve in her body.

Kevin’s eyes turned inward as he watched T-Rex stab another rod through her left wrist. Her eyes wrenched open, mouth slack, as she propelled backward.

He was horrified. Felt his heart split in half. Felt a prickle in his stomach when he saw her face, so beautiful, now frozen and reddened.

Natasha’s jaw loosened as her mouth quirked in an open scream. Only warm, silent air escaped her lips. Her cries were inaudible. She had lost her voice. For a split second, she held his gaze and broke it—distracted by the excruciating pains she felt running through every nerve of her body.

Kevin shut his eyes so he wouldn’t watch, but he could still hear her loud screams. Could still see images of Natasha screaming aloud in his head. They were disturbing. They were real. He heard her blood dropping onto the floor beneath the table; heard her call out his name in a loud, terrible cry.

He shuddered at her broken voice. Stubborn tears still escaped his eyes that were shut tightly and streamed down his face slowly. It felt like the event of a year ago happening all over again.

Last time he’d watched Loretta die, it took almost a year for him to recover; to return to his right state of mind; to sail through his PTSD. He wondered if he was going to survive this one.

As he sat there, he wished for death to come quickly, but that was something he knew wasn’t coming anytime soon. T-Rex had promised him a slow and painful death. And just then he was mocked by the thoughts he’d harboured just before his blissful romance with Natasha a few days back.

Worry about the consequences later, now is not the time.

Now was finally the time to worry about those consequences. And it was too late now to do anything about them. He was finally paying for his clumsy mistake—falling in love with the daughter of a man hunting for his kind, sharing her bed.

Just then, Kevin felt the leather around his wrist starting to loosen and was quickly brought back to the present reality. Opened his eyes to the terrifying sight of T-Rex standing over him, and loosening the leather restraining his arms and feet. His hands were stained with Natasha’s blood.

Kevin’s eyes flickered past him to stare at Natasha, whose arms and feet were pinned to the table by the rods. She lay still in her pool of blood, glancing at the light bulb hanging above her. Her eyes were shaky and devoid of life. She appeared dead. The heaving of her chest was the only indication that she was still alive.

Once T-Rex had finished loosening the leather around his arms and feet, Kevin quickly tried to fight back. He threw his fist at T-Rex face, but found he couldn’t move a muscle. He just sat there, paralyzed; only his eyes could move.

Damn T-Rex! He cursed beneath his breath.

He injected me with a neuromuscular blocker.

T-Rex leaned forward until his mouth reached his ear. Then his lips drew back in an unholy smile, revealing sharp, pointy fangs. “I knew that pancuronium drug would come in handy.” he grinned.

He carried Kevin in his arms as if he weighed nothing and placed him on the table close beside Natasha. T-Rex noticed she was slowly losing consciousness from losing too much blood.

He took a syringe from the table and extracted liquid fluid from a vial. As he walked to where Natasha lay, she followed him with weak eyes. He lowered syringe to her. She whimpered in fear and turned her face away, shutting her eyes.

“Don’t worry, this won’t hurt you.” he assured, injecting the fluid into her arm. “It would only keep you from passing out.”

Kevin struggled to get up, but his arms remained immobile, unwilling to obey him. Found it surprisingly hard to move an inch of his body. Every part of his body felt stiffened. He could only move his eyes.

“Don’t even bother trying,” T-Rex chuckled, “That’s the pancuronium taking effect in your body. The drug has temporarily paralyzed your entire muscle junction. It would take some time for its effect to wear off. By then, what would be left of you would be your heart dangling from your chest.” his voice carried a sinister tone.

Kevin felt a lump go down his throat.

He lowered his lips to his ear. “I’m not going to lie. The torment that you are about to experience, I assure you, would be more intolerable than all the most excruciating pains you can ever imagine. I’ll make sure you don’t miss a moment of it.”

T-Rex picked an iron rod from the corner of the long table and walked to Kevin. “I won’t let you bleed to death. I won’t let you die of shock after you see your gut spill. As a matter of fact, I won’t let you die until I am satisfied.”

Kevin felt his body shudder. Heart pounding against his ribcage, he followed T-Rex with his eyes.

“The reason I created Cedric was so I could get myself into your life. The aim was simple; to protect you and keep you from dying. I have been preparing you for this very moment.”

He stifled a groan. “Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against you. I do not hate you. In fact, I do not wish you dead, but I made a promise—a promise which I intend to keep.”

Kevin couldn’t take his eyes off the rod in his hands.

“I just want to see you suffer. I want to see your pains. I want to break you until you beg for death.” he leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “Allow me this pleasure, please.”

Kevin swallowed hard. Felt his throat burn.

Without warning, T-Rex plunged the rod into his left foot with an impelling force. Kevin’s eyes bulged at the sudden excruciating pains coursing through his veins. His bones felt crushed.

Allowing him no time to recover, T-Rex nailed another rod through his right foot, crushing his bones, and pinning it to the table. Kevin’s blood poured onto the table. He wanted to scream, but they were suppressed behind the gag that’d been pushed down into his mouth.

Sweat formed on his forehead as he watched T-Rex pick up another rod. By now, he was already trembling all over. T-Rex pierced his left wrist.

Gasping, Kevin’s face was frozen in an open scream, his eyes wild and wild. He gurgled as thick blood spilled from his wrist. Tears flooded his bloodshot eyes, his body trembling.

T-Rex pinned his right wrist to the table. The rod pinned his wrist and broke out from beneath the table. His tendons were severed.

Kevin uttered a muffled cry through the gag, his arms shaking.

T-Rex’s eyes fell on Natasha, then he returned his gaze to him. “I can’t let you die just yet… at least not without letting you watch as I tear her beautiful skin.” His lips curled into a scornful smile.

“I want to watch the look on your face when I finally rip her heart out.”

T-Rex walked to where Natasha lay and stood at her side. Turned to Kevin and said, “Shall we begin?”

His enthusiasm was met with a blank stare.

T-Rex raised a hand towards Natasha. She whimpered, shutting her eyes in horror. His hand fell on a scalpel lying beside her. He picked it up and gently lowered it to her chest.

Heart pounding against her ribcage, Natasha turned to look away. Her breaths felt short, her chest heaving rapidly. She let out a muffled cry as the scalpel touched her skin, the cold surface of the blade sending ripples of fear across her shivering skin.

T-Rex focused his eyes on her, his grin widening. He could sniff the fear rising from her body. Loved it scent. He used the blade to slice through her chest, dragging it down across her stomach slowly. Stopped a little above her navel.

Dark blood spilled from her chest. Pains exploded throughout her body. She wailed, and her fingers clutched the table. She rolled over, glancing at Kevin, her tears poured on the table. The light faded from her eyes until all became dark and empty.

Goodbye Kevin…

She slowly shut her eyes in tears, watching the world vanish before her eyes.

Goodbye Dad…

Goodbye Madelia…

Goodbye Dreda…

Goodbye Derik.

Mom, I’m soon coming to join you soon. I never could have imagined this is the way my life was destined to end.