Desolation Boulevard (49 page)

Montana stared at the monster before her and
tried to imagine the horror of what had just been described. She
was too stunned to comment, and Scarface seemed to interpret her
silence as some kind of tacit approval, so he continued.

“
Anyway, the next night
everyone gathered behind the fence again, hoping to witness a
repeat of the previous night’s entertainment, but of course,
nothing eventuated, and eventually everybody went back to their own
diversions in a more subdued mood. That’s when I realised that
waiting for random stragglers to stumble upon the school was
ridiculously optimistic and statistically unlikely. I knew that I
had a wonderful opportunity to engage these people, thereby making
them more loyal.”

Montana stared at the lunatic opposite in
dread, as she waited for him to utter the words she knew would be
coming. He smiled crookedly through his leathery features.

“
Yes, you’ve worked it out
haven’t you? I decided to give these barbarians what they wanted.
All I had to do was organise a hunting party and build up a supply
of contestants. It really wasn’t very difficult.”

“
You fucking freak! You
have Matt and Dylan! You can’t do this!”

Suddenly the Doctor’s face
showed pure hatred and contempt as he moved closer to Montana.
“I
can
do
this, and I
will
do this! We’re all living in a brave, new world
now and only the strong and the smart will survive. The show will
go ahead tonight, as usual, and you will be my guest. You will see
that the old ways are irrelevant. Now, go and get some warm clothes
on. It looks chilly out there, and I don’t want you catching a
cold. Guard!”

-

Fifteen minutes later Montana was sitting in
a makeshift grandstand in the teachers’ car park, waiting for the
appearance of tonight’s victims. She had the best seat in the house
next to Scarface, and all around them marauders laughed and drank
from bottles of beer or Jack Daniels. She was attracting many
salacious stares from these brutes (and some jealous ones from the
women), but nobody approached her directly. It was clear that there
was absolute respect for The Doctor within the walls of this
asylum, and that Montana was off limits to everyone except him.

She peered to the west, where the sun was
just beginning to dip beneath the trees as the temperature dropped
rapidly. Outside the fence, a dozen large flares had been set up in
two parallel rows about twenty metres apart on either side of the
gates, their flames sending black plumes of smoke straight up into
the darkening sky. Beside each gate stood four armed guards, and
Montana knew that the stage was set and the show wasn’t far away.
She had a sick feeling in her stomach when a lone figure emerged
from behind the grandstands and walked towards the centre of the
car park, and it took all of her willpower not to cry. The crowd
began to scream and cheer as the man, who was dressed in a long
black jacket and a top hat, reached the centre of the car park,
before turning to face them. He allowed the ovation to continue for
a few seconds before holding both hands above his head. The horde
became silent instantly.

“
Ladies and gentleman!”
bellowed the ringmaster. “The Doctor has organised some fun for you
all tonight! There will be blood spilt! Please show your
appreciation.”

A deafening round of applause and cheers
echoed around the improvised arena as The Doctor stood and bowed
politely, with mock sincerity. As the applause died down, the
ringmaster continued.

“
The Doctor thanks you for
your support, ladies and gentleman. Now, it’s time to start the
show!”

All heads turned to the left, as two more
guards entered the arena dragging a long metal chain. Montana stood
and tried to peer above the heads of the cheering mob, but could
only catch fleeting glimpses of the two shackled figures that were
being led into view, staring wildly about at the overwhelming scene
before them. With a partially obscured view in early evening gloom,
it was impossible to tell if either of the figures was Matt or
Dylan, but when the ringmaster raised his hands again and the crowd
returned to their seats, Montana could see that tonight’s victims
were to be a middle-aged man and a younger woman, who was now
slumped on the grey asphalt, which was darkening beneath her, as a
puddle of urine pooled where she sat. Montana’s heart ached for
them and the torment they were about to endure, but she also felt
some perverse sense of relief that Matt and Dylan had received at
least one day’s grace. Despite her revulsion at the scene before
her, Montana forced herself to focus, and pay attention to her
surroundings, hoping that she might spot some weakness in The
Doctor’s organisation that might give her and the boys a chance to
escape before tomorrow night. She examined the panorama around her
as The Doctor put his withered hand on her knee.

“
Almost ready,” he purred
into Montana’s ear, as the ringmaster held up his hands for silence
once more.

“
Ladies and gentlemen!
Please give it up for Number Four and Number Five. Open the
gates!”

As two guards swung open the big, double
gates, the other six raised their weapons and kept them trained on
the growing shadows outside the fence, obviously wary of any
early-bird feeders. Then the victims were grabbed by two extra
guards and dragged to the open gates, where one end of their chain
was attached to the bottoms of the heavy gateposts.

Montana watched in horror as the man and
woman fought against their captors, as the crowd laughed and roared
their approval at their futile antics. Then, in an act of brutality
that would haunt Montana for the rest of her life, the two victims
were hauled outside the gates, which were quickly closed and locked
behind them.

The crowd continued to cheer for the man and
woman, as they screamed and tried to pull the locked gates open,
but when the ringmaster raised his hands once more crowd became
silent, waiting for the next act in this violent and disturbing
farce.

“
Ladies and gentlemen!” he
roared, as the pleas for compassion continued outside the
gates.

“
The Doctor is a reasonable
and compassionate man! Tonight’s contestants will not be sacrificed
as lambs to the slaughter, will they?”

“
No!” screamed the crowd,
as one.

“
Do you want to see a fair
fight?”

“
Yes!” they
yelled.

“
Bring the equalisers!”
ordered the ringmaster, as two young, buxom women appeared from the
right side of the stage to a standing ovation.

Each of the women carried a weapon, and when
they reached the ringmaster they stood and held aloft an axe and a
sledgehammer to the hearty approval of the baying crowd. The
ringmaster took the axe first, and walked over to the gates, where
the victims, still attached to their chains, were desperately
trying to find a way back into the school. He swung the axe behind
him and heaved it over the fence, where it landed between the two
rows of flares. Immediately the man and the woman sprinted towards
the weapon, dragging their chains, but the man was faster and he
seized the axe, leaving the woman unarmed temporarily. The
sledgehammer was hurled over the fence next, and the woman rushed
to pick it up as the man looked on.

Montana watched the unfolding drama and
tried to spot some weakness that she could exploit to help her and
the boys escape, but it all seemed too hard. There were too many
guards, too many weapons and too many marauders for three people to
defeat. The two victims had now backed up hard against the fence
with their weapons and were screaming, “Help us!” and “You can’t do
this!” But the ruthless audience threw each of their pleas back at
them in a high-pitched taunting cacophony.

Then, suddenly, as if directed by a stage
manager, the first feeder appeared out of the gloom. It came into
view like a ghostly apparition, just beyond the light thrown by the
flares, and stood for a few seconds studying the victims, who were
now screaming in abject fear. The crowd roared their approval at
the prospect of unrestrained violence, and then, without any
hesitation, the creature ran at the two victims, who were raising
their weapons above their head. Montana was horrified by what was
occurring before her, and she wanted to close her eyes, but
something compelled her to keep watching as the nightmarish scene
played out.

As the feeder reached the couple it leapt at
the woman who swung the sledgehammer wildly. Montana could see that
the woman had underestimated the weight of the weapon, however, and
her strike missed the creature completely. The feeder pounced on
her with tremendous velocity, throwing the woman to the ground,
where it began ripping chunks out of her neck, sending torrents of
blood arcing through the firelight. The man had avoided the
feeder’s initial attack, but now sensed an opportunity as the
creature ripped the woman apart with its teeth and claws. As the
crowd howled in excitement, he raised the axe above his head and
brought it down hard on the feeder’s skull, splitting it in two and
killing it instantly. The crowd cheered as the man kicked the
feeder’s body from the woman, who was writhing on the ground,
unable to even scream, as blood flowed out of her her like a
flooding river. The man screamed to the guards, “Help her! Help
her!” But the laughter from the crowd made it clear that the woman
was going to die, writhing in pain as the marauders watched on. The
man gazed blankly at the crowded grandstand, before returning his
attention to the woman who was in her death throes at his feet.

He raised the axe, and, in a rare moment of
compassion, amidst the barbaric episode that was being acted out,
brought the weapon down on the woman’s head, as the crowd cheered,
finding humour in the mindless violence. Then, as the man turned
away from the mutilated bodies at his feet, a swarm of feeders
streamed from the darkness, as if drawn by the scent of blood and
death. Montana could take no more of this horror, and closed her
eyes as the feeders raced towards the man. Despite the fact that
she could see nothing of the carnage, the reaction of the audience
was enough to suggest that the man had taken out one or two of the
feeders with his axe, before being overwhelmed and devoured. So
while she sat next to The Doctor, trying to block out the sounds of
bodies being ripped apart by hungry feeders, she realised that this
was never intended to be a “fair fight.” It was simply a brutal
execution designed to appease the masses of marauders so that the
Doctor could maintain power. If she and the boys couldn’t find a
way to escape this nightmare before the next “contest”, she knew
that one or both of her friends would almost certainly die.

Chapter 75

Once the main entertainment had finished -
in other words, after the marauders had become bored watching the
creatures devour the man and the woman outside the fence - the
ringmaster gave a signal and everybody stood, while Scarface and
Montana were escorted away from the arena. Instead of heading back
to the office she had been in earlier, however, the guards led them
to a classroom on the second floor. The room was unlike any other
she had seen inside the school so far. It had been furnished like
an apartment and it even had a basic kitchen and its own bathroom.
Montana knew that this had once been a special education classroom,
but its previous function was now almost completely disguised by
luxurious furnishings and shelves full of books. Scarface walked
across the room and threw a bulky ring of keys onto a table before
asking Montana if she was hungry. She looked at him with pure
disgust.

“
How can you expect me to
eat after watching that?” she challenged. “It was the sickest thing
I’ve ever seen! And that’s saying something, isn’t it? Especially
after everything that’s happened recently.”

Scarface poured himself a large tumbler of
scotch and gulped down a mouthful before speaking. “Montana, I
needed you to see the show tonight so you understand what you’re
dealing with here. These people are animals. They will kill for me.
Luckily, though, I like you. You’re very fresh, and you have an
energy that I find invigorating. I want to keep you around as my
... companion, but it’s important that you respect what I’ve done
here, for these people. I’ve found a way to survive these feeders.
Do you understand what I’m talking about?”

Montana understood, all right. She
understood that the man standing before her was as crazy as a
shithouse rat! There was no way that she was getting out of this
madhouse by pleading for reason or kindness. She was going to have
to escape this mess by being as wild and ruthless as her captor
was.

“
I understand,” she said,
trying to sound as genuine as possible, while inside she was trying
to work out how she could kill this psychopath.

“
Will that happen again
tomorrow?” she asked. “The entertainment, I mean.”

“
No. We don’t do it every
night. By making the rewards random, I keep them interested. I
wasn’t planning on having a contest tomorrow night. Why do you
ask?”

“
I’m worried about my
friends. Do you think I could see them tomorrow
morning?”

“
Mmm. Still worried about
them are you? Well, I think they’ll make excellent contestants.
They look very strong and resourceful. How about this? I’ll make
you an offer. I’ll allow you to see them one last time, but you
have to agree to one thing?”

“
What’s that?” she
asked.