Cannibals
The remainder of the day Jacob crept through the adjacent vent shafts to see what else he could find. He had also been looking for another way out. In a room on the first floor he found that the
others were using it as living quarters, the walls were padded with mattresses to mute the sounds from within. A total of ten beds were put out, so there were more of them that he hadn’t seen yet. He figured the girl wasn’t really a part of the group but actually a prisoner. Women were worth a lot these days. He hadn’t found any signs of his father around in any of the rooms, but then again he couldn’t risk a closer inspection at the time.
He worked his way towards the basement of the building only to find the most grotesque thing he could possibly imagine. The room was completely dark and smelled of rotting flesh. As he lay still in the vent shaft he heard movement from above. The three me unlocked the door that lead to the basement and walked into the room. The light from the doorway allowed him to see what was going on. The basement had five men in it, none of them being father. The men were dying of starvation and completely naked. Some were missing limbs already. The basement was a meat locker. As they came in the men didn’t even bother struggling, they just moaned and screamed, too far mutilated to give a decent fight. Two of the men held down one of their victims while the third pulled out a hack saw and sawed away at the victim’s leg. In minutes of blood curdling screams and the sound of saw on bone almost made Jacob nauseous. He held back the dry heaves, to not make any noise and waited for the men to finish and leave the basement before he made his way back up the building vents.
It wasn’t clear how much time it had taken for the Cannibals to saw off the victim’s leg. After they left Jacob stayed motionless in shock of what he had just seen. He had never had a first- hand experience on what happened in a Cannibals camp. His father had told him but spared the details for the most part. Now it was completely clear to him why his father had opted to raise him far from what was left of society. Those that weren’t Cannibals were meat. And both were ultimately meat for the Beasts.
Jacob waited until nightfall, the coolness that worked its way down the vent allowed his body temperature to cool enough so that he wasn’t sweating as bad as before. He worked his way back up to the roof, the rest of the Cannibal party hadn’t retuned yet. On the way up he heard the other three men dining away on the other man’s leg. Jacob stopped to eavesdrop on them. They spoke briefly of their encounter with Jacob.
“…how could you miss that one?... it looked healthy!
Healthy enough to move out of the way!
“I wouldn’t have missed if that bitch didn’t run up to me… Why the fuck did you let her out of the cell anyways?”
“I was just having a lil’ fun with her boss… it’s better for me to chase her around a bit before I have my way with her.”
“You know you are one sick bastard Pete! …Pass me another piece…”
“We can’t afford to miss anymore free meals Orlando, I feel bad enough we had to lock the other boys in the basement,”
These guys were eating their own. Even more disturbing.
“Having a piece of pussy around in nice, but if she tries to do some shit like that again she’s lunch…”
Jacob had heard enough, he was going to do something. He crept his was up to the roof and decided he would make his stand up there. It was already dark and he was counting on the cloak of night and possibly the unintentional help of another predator. Jacob took out his bayonet and cut himself on the forearm, smeared the blood on the door opening that lead to the stairs. He bandaged himself up with the sleeve on the other side and headed back to the vent shaft.
He took some of the stink moss out and placed it in the opening of the shaft and waited. Jacob felt something approaching, the Aura was stronger in some beast and this one was more than ample. It didn’t take long for a Beast to pick up the scent of fresh blood out in the open. A Skull Cat had been the first to show, hopefully the last. One beast was enough to cause an ample distraction… More than one would cause complete pandemonium.
Skull Cats looked like the great cats of the old world but with all the skin pulled from its face pulled back to its neck, where a mane of skin was formed. It passed by him unknowingly and headed straight for the blood. It stood at the passage smelling the blood before taking a lick. After the taste of fresh blood the Cats eyes glowed red and in began to smell in the crevice created by the half open door. Surely the others bellow felt the Cats approach and were taking position to repel an attack. Once the Cat forced its way through the door the snare went off unleashing a pile of debris that fell from above the inside of the opening.
The bricks and bottles would have been fatal to a human, but the Cat simply evaded the
avalanche with its superior reflexes. It was Jacobs’s opportunity to sneak in with the others being occupied with the Cat.
FC Media Links