“Don’t mention it,” I say as the men shuffle off toward the hotel.
“You guys gonna line up to begin?” Gary asks, and we all remember that we’re supposed to be playing a game, not bonding.
We hurry to the shallow end of the pool. The entire thing is massive, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be winded after swimming the length of it. I’m also nervous about how I’ll kill any of these people when they have legs to kick with, but then I see that Gary is busy buckling their ankles together as we prepare to start the swim.
He looks up from the first set of legs, and I nearly laugh at his excitement as his buggy eyes bulge. “Try not to make it too bloody, as I’m a bit squeamish. I’m trying to get over it.”
“We’ve got you, Gare Bear,” Eve calls. “Let’s get this train rolling!”
He moves to the next Cattle and starts fastening the woman’s legs, but she kicks out and lands a blow to the dented side of his head. Gary crumples to the concrete with a groan.
Eve is on her way over before Gary has a chance to get to his feet again. “This motherfucker,” she mutters before snatching the woman by her hair and looking straight into her eyes. “Didn’t your mama teach you to keep your hands and legs to yourself? If she didn’t, you’re gonna learn today, bitch. If I spot a chainsaw in that cabana, you’re gonna pay for what you did to him in the most excruciating way.”
“I might need to go to the infirmary,” Gary says with a nervous laugh.
“Yeah, you might,” Eve says as she releases the woman. “It’s definitely getting bloody now.”
Gary hurries off as we consider the best way to run the game without our officiant. What we come up with is a different game altogether. We’ll each take turns removing a body part until the bitch is dead. The one who makes the final cut is the loser.
We send back four of the five Cattle, leaving only the bitchy woman who kicked Gary. Working together, we strap her midsection to one of the loungers via some of the rope from the cabana. When we’re certain she isn’t going anywhere, we hurry to pick our tools for the game.
The gleaming gun catches my eye first, but that will end the game of body-part Jenga too quickly. Instead, I go for the reciprocating saw.
“This should help us drag this out,” Kindra says as she holds up a small soldering iron. “We can cauterize any major vessels.”
“Stop it, you’re turning me on,” Frankie says as she raises a katana and swipes the blade through the air.
Eve plucks up the chainsaw, Cat opts for the tray of surgical tools, and Kindra chooses the biggest set of pruning shears I’ve ever seen. With our murder weapons tucked under our arms like prizes, we scurry back to the woman on the chair.
“Let’s let Quinn make the first cut,” Cat says.
The girls agree, and I step forward with the tool and turn it on. The blade whirs to life, and the woman’s eyes widen. I grip her wrist and cut through the zip ties so that I can pull her arm around front and focus on a single finger, but she wallops me with her free hand and immediately tries to undo the rope around her waist.
Like hyenas, the women descend on her and pin her flailing limbs to the lounger. Knowing what I want, Eve ratchets the woman’s wrist and presents her quivering fingers toward me. So many choices.
Sensing my indecision, Cat offers some help. “The thumb and index finger contain the most nerve endings. Break through the center bone rather than the joint to inflict the most pain.”
“That nursing-school education is paying off in spades,” Eve says as she grunts and readjusts her grip. “Chop, chop, Quinn! She’ll have less fight once she loses some blood.”
The woman screams through her nose as I press the vibrating blade against her thumb. It melts through the skin, but when the teeth hit that thick bone, the blade stutters to a stop. I pull back and come at it from a different angle, and I’m rewarded with a loudpopas the bone splinters beneath the vibration. The thumb remnant drops to the concrete.
“Fucking sick,” Kindra says with a grin.
Eve passes the arm to me, and we trade places. “My turn! And I’m going to take a risk. Get that soldering iron ready.”
Cat grabs it from the lounger and turns it on. “It’s heating up. I’ll cauterize any vessels that won’t clot.”
Eve nods and yanks the chainsaw’s starter. In the silver bikini and black bathing cap, she looks like a deranged synchronized swimmer as she slings the whirling blade toward her prey. She leans forward and, wearing the most maniacal grin imaginable, proceeds to lop off the woman’s right foot. The appendage skitters across the pavement and spins into the pool.
Blood gushes from the open wound, and now that she’s down a foot, her legs are free to kick. We didn’t exactly think this through.
“Hold her still!” Cat screams.
We do, figuring she’s preparing to seal off the bleeding stump at the end of the woman’s leg, but she’s wielding the scalpel. She attacks the kneecaps with surgical precision, and the lower parts of the legs become more like spaghetti noodles.
Cat swipes some sweat from her forehead and sits back, pleased as punch. “There. It’ll be hard for her to kick without any ligaments.”
Tears stream from the woman’s eyes as she hurls curses at us from behind her sealed lips. Her nostrils flare, and she’s looking a bit pale. How wonderful.
