It didn’t take long for her to get home. She sped through the driveway and jumped out of her car, screaming for her father. Bob ran out of the barn, his legs covered in mud from a hard day’s work.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ He shouted.

  Kate’s throat quivers, she tried to say a word but all that came out where wheezes and coughs. Her father reached out to her to calm her. When she finally gained her composure, she managed to painfully utter a name. ‘Butch…’

  A horn ran through the farm as a beaten up pickup truck with the confederate flag slowly drove up to their house to park. In a comfortable distance, Butch and his gang hopped out of the car. Everyone had all sorts of weapons on hand. Butch was the only one with a firearm.

  Kate hyperventilated. She was supposed to have more time to warn her father. Instead, Butch followed behind. He wanted to give her a glimpse of hope just so he can shatter it for his own amusement.

  ‘Get inside!’ Bob ordered, which she gladly obliged. He had to face them. He had to talk to those who demanded everything.

  Kate looked out of the window before locking the front door. The rest of her family gathered around to watch. They were all quiet, scared at what might happen. Kate’s mind raced to any weapon, a gun perhaps to get her father out of the situation and possibly defend herself. But her father’s guns were locked up in a safe inside of the shed. If she tried to run or sneak to the shed, Butch would shoot her and murder her entire family. She was powerless. Incapable of doing anything but watch.

  ‘I hope you know why I am here, Mr. Moore.’ Butch rested his shotgun on his shoulder. ‘Unlike your daughter, I hope you can be civil.’

  ‘What do you want?’

  Butch shook his head. ’You know what I want. We had an agreement, and you didn’t stick to it. Once every fortnight, you give me $4k and we defend your farm. But in truth, I shouldn’t be surprised. It is my fault for having faith in your people in honouring a deal made by civilised folk.’

  Bob raised his hands as Butch took a step forward. ‘Wait! I can get the money if that is what you want.’

  ‘Sadly, I think we are beyond that now.’ Butch sighed like an annoyed teenager before pointing to one of his friends. ‘He was attacked by a friend of Kate. And I am wondering if he is here. You know, an eye for an eye sort of deal.’

  ‘He isn’t,’ Bob lied. He knew Jackson was in the barn packing up and preparing to leave. ‘Look, I have the money. There is no point to this.’

  ‘No, I disagree, Mr. Moore. Because my friend was hurt and we didn’t get what we are owed. On the fourth of July, mind you! You insulted me; you broke a promise, and that broke my faith in you and your family.’

  Bob gulped, terrified as to what would happen. ‘What are you going to do?’

  Butch smiled, excited that he got a question he can finally take joy in answering. ‘I need to make an example. Because what your daughter did was unwise. She went around to her friends, blabbering about how I “ran” away when a buddy got hurt. That ruined my reputation and thus, my business. I need to correct that, and this is the only way how.’

  ‘You don’t have to do this,’ Bob whispered. ‘Not here, not in front of my family.’

  ‘No, I do want to do this,’ Butch sadistically replied. He clicked his fingers at the man who got his sternum broken the honours to get the first few hits in. Bob stood there, his eyes closed as he readied himself.

  He calculated that fighting back would only make things worse for everyone involved. It wounded his pride more than anything, but sometimes, pride was the first thing someone would sacrifice to protect their family.

  Everyone in the house held their breaths. Nancy prayed for someone to step in to stop them. Tyler wished for his dad to step up and fight back. Even when he knew he couldn’t. Jade turned her back to the window. She didn’t have the strength to watch what she believed to be a bloodbath.

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  Kate’s eyes widened. Not the man who approached her father, but at the figure that appeared behind Butch and his gang. The reptile was silent, his pace calm and methodical. The chain around his left hand tightened while his eyes burned with fury!

  The man who approached Kate’s father flew back to Jackson with a chain wrapped around his stomach. With a pop, Jackson twisted his head the other way around. No one had time to process what was happening, the fact that an alien was real in their eyes or that their friend’s neck snapped.

  It didn’t matter. Jackson didn’t allow them the time to figure it out. With the first person, he wrapped a chain around their right leg and pulled them towards him. The reptile then stomped on his leg. From knee to foot, his entire leg crumbled into itself like how someone would stomp a soda can. Bone, muscle and blood splattered all over the ground like paté.

  Jackson lunged to the second person. The meat hook at the end of the chain pierced their chest. Which gave Jackson the chance to rip out his entire rib cage from under him. Miraculously, the man who had his entire chest torn out didn’t die of shock. Instead, he stayed awake. To witness his friends as they were slaughtered one by one.

  The third person tried to fight back. If one could say an attempt was made. All he did was raise his baseball bat into the air. But he was too slow for the creature of nightmares. Jackson went behind him and dug the meat hook around the lower ends of his spine. With a yank, Jackson managed to sever his spine in two. Jackson then reached inside of his back to grab the top part of his spine and pulled out his entire skull from under him.

  Then there was Butch. The last one standing. He stumbled back, his shotgun at the ready to fire at Jackson. Fear, however, made his aim sloppy. Jackson ducked at the right moment. Before Butch could rack another shell, Jackson snatched the weapon from under him and shoved him to the ground. The reptile examined the weapon for a brief moment before he snapped the shotgun in two over his left leg.

  The fight was over, there was no point for anymore killing. Jackson, however, had a different alternative. He leaned down and jabbed two of his index fingers under Butch’s ribs. Puncturing both of his lungs. The reptile’s face relaxed, now emotionless as before while he watched Butch die in front of him. Butch pained wheezes and muffled cries were music to Jackson’s ears while his lungs collapsed. A slow, agonising death.

  Everyone inside the house was shocked. No one could comprehend what they had witnessed. The efficient brutality, how effortless it seemed to mutilate a human body like he did with nothing but a chain with a hook at the end of it. Tyler’s face was white while Jade puked once the violence had concluded. Nancy sobbed with the thought that someone she thought was harmless was instead a different kind of butcher.

  Bob froze, his body locked into place with a bit of blood over his face. He flinched when Jackson stood back up, his hands covered in gore and blood. Jackson was satisfied with how everything ended. The two looked at each other, and said nothing. Bob wanted to scream and demand why he had done it. Yet, he couldn’t muster the strength to make a sound.

  Without a goodbye, Jackson walked over to the barn to grab his backpack to begin his journey. He knew it was time to go.

  Kate sat there, terrified, yet oddly relieved that Butch and his gang were gone. She never had sympathy for them, even if their deaths were horrific in nature. Kate knew she was right to doubt Jackson, she knew he was never to be trusted. To her, he was a monster! He helped her family one more time, but through the only way he understood. Murder.

  As Jackson walked out with a bag slung over his right shoulder, her eyes widened. Pink paper poked out of his bag. The same ones Jo had in her office. Jackson turned back to the house, his eyes locked with Kate’s. For a brief moment, she thought he would go inside and kill her and her entire family. To tear her apart like what he did to Butch and his gang.

  Instead, he turned around and walked away. He would kill and kill again. But she wasn’t his target. He had someone else in mind.