There were two of them.
Robbie Wiseman was not working alone.He’d found an accomplice.A mind as damaged and warped as his own, to share his love of that terrible film.
Hudson turned again at a noise from the door.The back door swung open, revealing the second Baby Face.Instead of an axe, this one carried a lethal-looking butcher’s knife.They raised their left hand, revealing the key they’d used to get inside.They let it jangle, taunting them, before dropping it.It rattled on the hard tiles.
“Robbie,” Hudson said, glancing between the two figures.One of them was bigger, more well-built.That had to be Robbie, the first Baby Face with the axe.Rav’s killer.“Take off the fucking masks,” he said angrily.“We’re not going to be part of this dip-shit reconstruction.”
The second killer tapped their knife against the counter, then drew the blade along the granite surface, creating a high-pitched noise that set every nerve on edge.The bastard was toying with them.Teasing.Getting a kick out of the fear they generated.
Hudson backed against the counter, feeling for the drawer behind him.Was this one of the ones he’d searched already?
The first attacker jerked the axe towards him, threatening but not ready to hurt him.Not yet.
“Why don’t you say something?”Anger governed the fear in his voice.“Come on, you’ve waited all this time.You must have something you want to tell me.”
A gentle tilt of the head.It was a gesture lifted straight from the movie.
Had Robbie lost himself completely?Did he believe he was Baby Face now?
Hudson pulled open the drawer behind him and reached inside.His hand closed around a wooden spoon.Fuck.He searched again, feeling blindly, and found a plastic spatula.
They were screwed.
“Luke,” he whispered.“I’m so sorry.”
If they hadn’t met and started a relationship, Luke wouldn’t be in this danger now.
The two masked killers came closer, their weapons raised.The axe swung straight at Hudson.He dropped to the floor, feeling a whoosh of air as it missed his head, smacking into the counter.
He rolled away but the second killer was fast.Suddenly they were on top of him.
The knife was raised, coming down on him with deadly precision.In that second, he saw the evil intent behind the mask.
Flat on his back, unable to move.The blade came straight for his heart.
Chapter Twenty-Six
A Matter of Survival
The second killer’s breath rasped behind the plastic mask, and it sounded so much worse than it ever had in the movie.
Hudson grabbed their wrist as the knife came closer to his chest.Baby Face clamped on with both hands, with the benefit of having their weight above him.The knife inched closer and closer.In a film, this was the moment the director would call cut, and Hudson would be replaced by a special effects prop.Not this time.That deadly blade was destined for his flesh.
He gasped and twisted, trying to wriggle free.
Those eyes bore into him, emitting pure evil.
There was a sudden, dull sound and the force above him relaxed.He glanced beyond the Baby Face mask.It was Luke.Hudson realised he had a wine bottle.Luke swung again and the bottle struck the back of his attacker’s head.Hudson took advantage, yanking their wrist to the side, diverting the angle of the knife.
Undeterred, the first killer raised the axe, but Luke was too fast for them.He swung the wine bottle like a cricket bat against their head.There was another dull sound as it smacked against the mask and the figure staggered backwards.Amazingly, the bottle didn’t break.
Above Hudson, the second attacker had regained their strength.A lithe body struggled against Hudson’s, forcing a knee into his groin as they wrangled for control of the knife.He yelled in pain but refused to relax his grip.This was no superhuman killer from the film.It was a very real person—crazed and hellbent, but vulnerable just the same.
Luke smacked them on the head with the bottle again.Still, it did not break, but there was a cracking sound, whether it was bone or glass he didn’t know.The killer might have been dazed but they did not weaken for a second.Another knee into Hudson’s groin and pain boomed all through his body.For a few moments, his head swam, his vison blurred.If he lost consciousness, he would be dead.He was aware of the blurred flash of a blade, scything through the air towards him.
Then a sudden, hot wet eruption over his face and neck.
He heard a dreadful, choking sound.As the pain in his groin eased and his sight became clearer, the horrific realisation of what was happening sank in.
