Chris returned to the police station. As he was walking towards his office, an officer stopped him.
“Sir, your cousin was here few minutes ago, I let him wait in your office, but he left.”
That put Chris in suspicions. He got in the office, when he saw one of the drawers open. Fear kicked in, he remembered clearly what he’d put in that drawer. He checked it, and he confirmed himself, his revolver was gone. He ran out of his office, put on his jacket and headed to the exit shortly after he got a team with him.
“Railey, Jackson, Rollins, McNoy, with me.” They got in the deputy’s car and quickly headed to the corn field.
Jack opened his eyes. Everything was blurry. His head hurt, it felt like it got hit at least twice. He was knocked out from behind. He tried opening his eyes wider. He looked again, he saw a sofa, a small table and a couple of chairs in front of him. There was also a small fireplace with a couple pieces of wood, burning. He was in a living room. On top of the table was a knife, a jar of what looked like human teeth and a human hand, cut off from someone who was probably dead by now. Jack tried to move, but he was unable to. He was tied to a chair. He wanted to scream for help, but he knew that would only be a waste of breath.
“What the hell… is going on…” he thought.
He heard footsteps, someone was coming in the living room. All Jack could do, was wait. A man walked in. A big, tall man, whose face was mostly covered with his grey beard. He hardly had any hair, and was missing a few teeth.
“Well well well, look who’s awake,” he said.
“Well I can’t say my stay was comfortable, but no hard feelings, I’d gladly check out,” said Jack, in his sarcastic tone which he uncontrollably gets on difficult situations.
“You can’t check out yet, lad. Not before dinner.”
“Nah, I’ll pass, not really hungry.”
“You aint, son, but we are”, the man said with a smirk. “Jessy, food is ready,” he shouted. Shortly after, a young girl walked in the room. She couldn’t be older than 15. She sat on the sofa, picked up the hand from the table and started chewing it.
“Ewh, you gotta be kidding me.”
“You know, we are a happy family. Never wanted any trouble, we just had our… personal preferences. We don’t like pork, we prefer humans. Is it that crazy to take? But we would still respect the law, we wouldn’t kill anyone, we would only use the morgue for our apetite, not fresh but… manageable. You wouldn’t eat frozen chicken, would ya? Well, we did, if you know what I mean. Anyway, people were talking, authorities after us, we had to leave. But we couldn’t starve, and we could not approach morgues anymore. And the fresh meat is so… mmmmm… so warm… plus, hunting humans, seeing them losing the light off their eyes before you gut them, oh… it makes you feel so powerful.”
“Ah, aren’t you fellas some gross f*****s”.
“We all have our sins. What makes you think you are more valuable than the chicken you eat, or the mosquito you squash because it won’t let you sleep, or or the bug you step on, simply because you don’t like it? On the other hand, we don’t only kill for fun, we eat, we survive, and, if we wanna be cocky, we help fight the overpopulation,” the man said with an evil smirk, obviously trying to annoy Jack. “I got a wife, a young daughter and a son, many stomachs to feed, pal, and you’re on the menu. The only reason you are still breathing is because you had a gun. Are you a cop? Is there anyone coming after you?”
“Why would I tell you that, pal? It would only get me killed. What I can tell you, though, is that it’s not nice to marry your sister.”
The man punched him in the face. Jack felt dizzy for a second, but got it together.
“I’m going to ask you again, and if you tell me, I might not let my children eat you before I kill you. Is there anyone coming for you?”
In the meantime, the cops had parked outside the corn field.
“Alright, two teams of two. You two, that way, you, that way, I’m going this way alone,” Chris instructed the officers. The went in the corn field with their guns out. There was still some sun lighting their paths, but the corn was too dense, it was still hard to see through.
While Jack and the bearded man were in the living room, the man’s wife joined them. She was in the same condition, wearing rags and quite filthy. She whispered something in the man’s ear, probably letting him know they had some visitors, the police. He looked worried.
“Alright, get Garry and let’s go. Jessy, you keep an eye on our guest,” he told the young girl, while she was still eating. They took off shortly after. In the meantime, Jack was desperately trying to get his hands untied from the back of the chair. The knots were tight, but amateurish. He managed to get them untied, but the young girl was still on the sofa near him, eating, and the knife was on the table right in front of her. He slowly stood up, trying to prepare himself for whatever may come as soon as she sees him moving. She was still looking at the hand and chewing it, as if she was really hungry. He stood up and tried to slowly walk towards the hallway, she kept chewing, looking down. He was almost there when the girl jumped on his back and bit him on the neck. He screamed from the pain, but quickly tried to shake her off and she fell on the ground, hitting her head. She was unconscious. The bite was not deep, so he tried to ignore it until he was out. He grabbed the knife and walked around the cabin, looking for an exit. There was a kitchen full of blood and body parts ready for “cooking”, a bathroom, and another door at the end of the hallway. He tried to open it, holding the knife. It was locked. He took a few steps back and ran towards it, hoping he’d break it. Shortly after he was surrounded by dead bodies. The room was more of what looked like a slaughterhouse. There were dozens of dead bodies hanging from the ceiling, like pigs. Shock hit him badly, he froze. It was unbelievable, humans doing this to each other. Not animals, not monsters, not the stories you hear as a kid from the things hiding under your bed, but humans. He quickly ran towards the end of the room and opened the door, and he was out.
The bearded man was in the corn field, slowly trying to find the cops. One of them, officer McNoy, saw a man, with his back turned, roaming the corn field. “Hey, you! Freeze!” The young man turned around quickly, holding a rifle, and took a shot at him. Officer Railey ran to the scene, but the bearded man saw him and shot at him. The others heard the shots and approached. There was a gunfight. The two officers were shot down, but Chris managed to shoot the bearded man on the shoulder. He ran back towards the cabin, while Chris along with Rollins and Jackson kept pushing the family. Shortly after, they managed to surround the wife and arrest her.
Jack was coming out of the cabin, when he saw the bearded man walking towards it, with his left shoulder injured. Jack hid the knife in his back pocket, and put his hands up.
“You.. you got away, you little piece of s**t”. He aimed at Chris with his rifle and shot. It hit him on the chest, he fell on the ground, almost unconscious. The man approached him, when Jack pulled his knife out and stabbed him on the abdomen. “Rot in hell, you sick son of a b***h!!!” He fell on the ground too, bleeding to death. Shortly after, Jack fainted. It was not much longer till Chris and his officers found him and rushed him to the hospital.
Jack was on a hospital bed, resting, and Chris was next to him, watching him. “You were right, cousin, but it’s all over now, just get well”, he whispered over him. A woman walked in the room, she was an officer.
“Sir, we cleared the cabin, there was a young girl, Jessy Alkins, we have her too. The father, Roger Alkins, died on the scene from the stab wound, and you arrested mrs Rena so you’re already aware of that. There was a son as well, Garry Alkins, but according to our files, he died years ago under unknown circumstances, so it was just three of them. We have found out there have been at least 50 victims from their attacks the last 2 years.”
“Oh God, what world are we living in..,” replied Chris. “Thank you, officer, you may go.”
The end.