THE SONG THAT DOESN’T END

By Tobias Christopher

Anya had gone through too much shit to die like this. To die at the hands of a mass murderer that wanted to tear her nephew limb from limb. An innocent boy who still had a chance to survive and make the world a better place. No, Benjamin had to grow up to be a good man. And she needed to get him there. Who knows how far the boy would go in twenty years.

She picked herself up and found duct tape and curling iron to cauterize the wound and seal it until she could get to a real doctor. She just needed to hold the pain in and stop Barracuda’s madness.

Meanwhile, Barracuda lifted Chip with his legs kicking in the air by the collar of his shirt.  He had neither the strength nor the muscle to defend himself, which was Castle’s biggest mistake. He should have been using his time to turn this string bean into a muscular killing machine without remorse. Frank for some reason had been insisting on preserving the boy’s innocence. Maybe Castle just wanted something pure to survive as his legacy. But in the end, he just gave Barracuda one more rape victim to feast on.

With one rip, Barracuda tore off Chip’s shirt, pants and underwear in one vicious rip as he sniffed the young college student closely and let his breath hit the boy. He had an innocence about him he rarely saw in those he got close to.

“You got a tight little man pussy on you,” Barracuda said. “I can smell it on you. I’m going to split you open like a melon, boy. Your screams are going to be the joy I get until I find Castle’s son. Then I’m going to do a repeat performance on him.”

“No,” Chip said as he struggle to breathe and tried to pull a knife. But Barracuda grabbed his wrist and twisted it with a loud crunch. Chip’s screams could be heard for miles. “I’m gonna enjoy eating you all up.”

Anya stepped out of the bathroom, she wound taped up and cauterized. It would hold for the time being. It hurt with every step, but a little boy was counting on her. She held the heating iron in her hand, cranked up its hottest setting. 

“I’m going to try to keep you alive until you can’t scream anymore,” Barracuda said. “And then I’ll wait a few hours to see if there’s anything left worth sticking my massive dingus into again. We’re gonna have a hell of a time.”

“Stick your dick into this, motherfucker,” Anya said as she shoved the curling iron into his rectum with as much force as she could. Barracuda seemed to even get some pleasure from it as Anya as she pushed it all the way up into him. He dropped Chip, who Anya caught. The two stared into each other’s eyes, but she didn’t want his innocence destroyed any further by being associated with her.

“This won’t stop him,’ Anye said. “We need to move. Let’s find you some pants.

“Pants can wait. Let’s get Benji,” Chip said. “I hope he’s okay.”

“He’s my nephew, he’s a fighter, that much I can promise,” Anya said.

Frank washed off his bloody hands in the sink after pulling the head off of the last convict. It was easy to do once he applied enough pressure added with the anger of knowing the last of his bloodline was in danger. As Frank looked into the mirror, he could only imagine what it would be like if his children were alive today.

Frank’s loving wife had ultimately forgiven him for the affair that produced an illegitimate son. It had taken years of marriage counseling and living apart for a while, but they had managed to make amends at some point. His children, however, were less forgiving.

Lisa was now 30, with twins of her own. She wanted them to be close to her family, but she despised the thought of Benji. Being a holy Catholic, she had words to share with her father for his cheating. Frank Jr. was a little more forgiving and had always wanted a little brother to spend time with, ultimately growing a close bond with the boy. Frank Jr. was about to graduate from NYU and had a promising football career ahead of him if his knee reconstruction surgery went well. If not, he was going to have a career in law to look forward to. That plus a loving woman who was standing at his side after his injury with a wedding in June.

That left young Benjamin, who was shy and uneasy about living with a new family. But it was better than his last home. Frank was sure the boy had been messed with, so he had to be given a lot of love and attention, which his father and brother were willing to give him.

Frank had already found marijuana in the boy’s room and wasn’t sure how to approach this. After all, it’s not like he could just kill the people that had given Benji the drugs. Maybe he just needed time to get his head clear of the trauma he’d faced. But they were starting to become a family again, and that’s all Frank wanted.

In reality, Frank splashed water on his face and realized what he needed to do with the boy once he was safe. There was only one place to send the boy where he’d never have to worry again.

“Let’s go save my son,” Frank said as he made sure his gun was loaded.

“So, what are you going to do with the boy when we catch him?” Raymond asked. “A kid like that? His black market value might still get something if his balls haven’t dropped yet.”

“I’m gonna fatten him up some, he’s got no meat on his bones,” Crackers said. “He’ll make a fine roast once he’s put on about 20 pounds.”

The two opened the door as he noticed the floor was slippery with water.

“You trying to Home Alone us, kid?” Raymond asked.

“Nah, I fucking hate that movie,” Benji told them as he realized they were in the water. Benji stood on the stairs with a pair of rubber gloves. In his hand was a sparking wire from the electrical box. “I heard your ‘plans’ and I’m not much for being eaten or sold.”

Benji dropped the wire into the water and ducked. The volts charged through the water as he covered his ears so he wouldn’t hear the screams. Benji stood up and realized he’s just murdered two men. As the charred corpses hit the floor, Benji started sobbing a little. No, this life was not for him. He took no pleasure in murder, even if they were criminals. This was purely self-defense for him. This would take years to undo the damage of what he’d just done.

Everyone in the area saw the lights flashing at the house and knew it was the boy. Everyone involved started tunning, hoping they’d be the first to make it. Chip and Anya were the first ones there as Benji was openly crying at that point. Chip had only managed to find a pair of loose pants as he carefully hugged the boy, picking him up to calm him. His broken wrist was throbbing, but he had bigger issues at the moment.

“It’s okay, kid,” Chip promised as he rubbed the boy’s back. “No one’s going to hurt you. We’ll take you somewhere safe, I swear.”

“My family’s dead,”  Benji cried. “I have no one.”

“You do,” Chip promised. “You’ll never be alone again. I’ll help you find a loving family that no one will ever take away.”

“Do you promise?” Benji asked, wanting so badly to trust someone, but after two years of seeing his loved ones murdered, he didn’t know if he could do it again.

“Kid, look at me,” Chip said. “I swear on my life, you will never be alone again.”

Anya stepped over the two convicts, ignoring them as she saw how good Chip was with the boy. How he’d managed to keep a sane mind after everything he’d witnessed, she’d never know. But she knew that this wasn’t the life for either of them and exposing Benji even further to this madness would only end up destroying him in the long run. Maybe, just maybe, these two were meant for each other.

“We need to go,” Anya said. “My van’s not far from here.”

“Think you trust me enough to let me take you to safety?” Chip asked softly. “You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to, but I swear to you that I’ll find you somewhere safe.”

Benji looked into the young man’s eyes and saw how trusting he looked. He put his arms around Chip’s shoulders and hugged him tightly as he continued crying. For the first time in a very long time, he felt safe. The boy was broken after all that he’d seen, but with the right people, he’d recover and have a full, loving life.

“Follow me,” Anya said, reaching the same conclusion Frank had gotten to sometime earlier. As Chip carried the boy, they started to carefully run, hoping they’d make it to the van. After a short while later, they were headed toward the outskirts of town as Anya stopped. The largest convict stepped out. He stood seven feet tall with long matted black hair and a more ratted beard and had a Nazi symbol etched into his forehead as well as other places on his body that are too horrifying to picture being carved into the human body. 

The man had been known to swallow babies and puppies whole, not because he liked the taste but because he liked to hear the cries as he sunk his teeth into them. That’s why he’d had his jaw surgically dislocated so he could accomplish such a feat.

Convict #1

Adolf Manson Trump

Crime: Too many to list. Let’s just say that he puts the Red Skull, Hitler, and every Stephen King monster ever written to shame.

Benji screamed in terror as Chip held him close as he whispered soothingly to the boy. “Shh, it’s okay. I won’t let him hurt you.”

“You speak as if you have a choice,” Adolf told him. “The boy dies first.”

Anya cocked her rifle. “You speak as if you’ll have a head.”

Before she could fire, Adolf threw a tire iron at her that looked like it had a bite taken out of it. Anya screamed as she held her arm and dropped the gun.

“I’ll eat your organs first,” Adolf told her. “Then I’ll rape you, and eat the boy.”

“Chip, run!” Anya ordered.

“You are barefoot and do not know the terrain. I give you two minutes at most,” Adolf said. “Use this time to make peace with your God if you choose. In the end, you will die painfully. But please, do run. The sweat makes you taste even better. I will lick you clean before I murder you.”

“Gross,” Chip said as he realized he’d have to protect this boy with every ounce of strength he had. “You won’t touch my friend.”

Barracuda had left a trail of blood, but it in no way deterred him from his mission.  He was going to rip Benjamin Castle and The Punisher’s allies into bite-sized pieces as he followed them. He would have his revenge. He quickly picked up the trail of Anya and Chip, knowing they’d be helpless once he got to them.

Chip stared at Benji. “No matter what happens, when I put you down, you start running. You don’t stop until you reach the highway, got it? I’ll buy you time to run for it.”

“I don’t want to leave you,” Benji said.

“I know, but at least someone will survive,” Chip said. “I feel like I’ve known you since your father told me we had to rescue you. You’re like the son I’ll never have. I love you, kid. Now get ready to run for it. Run as your life depended on it.”

“How sweet,” Adolf said. “Ready to die?”

Chip gulped and hugged Benji tightly. Just as Adolf was about to run toward them, a machete stabbed him in the back of the neck.

“This is a flesh wound!” Adolf shouted as a sledgehammer hit the hilt of the machete, driving it in even further, then again until the machete had come through the convict’s neck, spraying blood on Chip & Benji. As he fell to his knees, the sledgehammer kept striking at Adolf, plowing into his skull until his blood and brains were mashed all over the pavement.

Frank stood over the dead body as he saw Chip holding his son. The boy looked relatively safe physically, but he knew there would be severe mental scarring.

“Can we go home now?” Benji asked as it started to rain.

Anya ran a hand through the boy’s hair, seeing her dead sister in the boy’s features. She knew this was the only time she would ever see the boy before he was sent away.

“You take Benji to safety,” Anya said. ‘And you never look back.”

“Will we ever see you again?” Chip asked.

“No,” Anya told him. “I understand you have a good man waiting. Go to him and live your life.”

“Now what?” Chip asked as lightning struck, revealing Barracuda standing near the cliffs, Frank saw it too and stared into the distance, waiting. “No, Frank, we can run, get a tank and come back!”

“There is no ‘we’’,” Frank said. “This is the end for you, Chip. You’re going to take the boy, go as far underground as you can and raise my son so be a good man, away from all of this.”

“CASTLE!” Barracuda shouted.

“He won’t follow you,” Frank promised as he touched Benji’s face. “You’re my legacy, kid. Be a good person. I can never see either of you again. Because I don’t want to kill either of you if I have to track you down. Be good people and live good lives. That’s what I’m fighting for, so innocent kids like you can survive.”

Frank pulled Chip into a hug, the first time Frank had done so. “You’re the first person I’ve ever trusted with something this important. Do not fail me.”

Chip nodded as Frank looked at Anya. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Kick the fuck out of the guy who tortured my family?” Anya asked. “You know we’re going to die, right?”

Frank nodded as they started walking in the rain.

“How’s your arm?” Frank asked.

“I’ll live, I’ve suffered far worse,” Anya told him. “All that matters is that Barracuda never gets near those boys again.”

“What about us?” Benji asked.

“We’re going somewhere where you can be safe,” Chip promised as he held Benji’s hand. “We’re going to get you that family you need. Where you’ll be safe from all of this.”

“Will you come with me?” Benji asked.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Chip asked.

“I want you to stay with me,” Benji said as held Chip’d hand even tighter. Chip was the first person to ever truly stand up for him and protect him, and he didn’t want to lose that. Barracuda murdered his last brother and he’d be sure not to let anything happen to this one.

In the now pounding rain, Frank and Anya saw Barracuda standing at the cliffs as he smiled, his teeth reading ‘motherfucker’ at the two of them as they started their final confrontation.

TO BE CONTINUED…