Kayla's Massacre: Part 6

Kayla knew the voices before she saw the girls: they were Amber Levine and Berri Tyler, girls she'd shared a day care with several years ago. They were both blond-haired, though Berri's hair was a curled mess. She had an excitable, carefree face; Amber always looked calm regardless of the circumstances.

They rounded a corner. Kayla greeted them with a smile and a nod. It occurred to her that she wasn't too keen on the idea of killing them. Thinking about it made her wet, but her mind was tugging the other way. They hadn't ever been her friends by any definition, but Amber was single-handedly responsible for stopping several bullying attempts on Kayla during middle school.

Presently, Amber's eyes didn't even register recognition. Neither did Berri's. Kayla was a bit jarred before she remembered her hair was its natural color now, and it had been a couple years since she'd even seen these two. Now, Berri hadn't changed. She'd grown her breasts a little, revealed by a frilly blue top that barely covered her nipples, but her face was exactly the same, maybe with a few more freckles here and there. Amber, on the other hand, looked way different. She'd looked kind of awkward a few years ago, but now, she looked regal. She could tie her hair back in a bun, put on a nice dress and a crown, and be a queen. Kayla could easily see her growing up to become a senator or a CEO. She radiated importance. In a black bikini that covered more than most one-pieces, she somehow managed to look noble in a swimsuit, too.

Kayla thought of simulating a guillotine to end her, but that train of thought hit a wall. She didn't want to kill Amber. She realized that for the second time, but once more, her vagina won over her mind.

"Where is everybody?" Amber asked. Kayla shrugged.

"About eight girls are back by the tunnels," she said. "The rest, I have no clue."

"Maybe they're gonna hide and surprise someone on their birthday?" Berri suggested.

"Whose birthday is it?" Kayla asked. This time, Berri shrugged.

"Nobody's," said Amber. She looked at Kayla. "There's a pool with jets in the bottom. Where is that?"

Kayla nodded in the direction of the pool. "I'll show you. We call that one the gushing orgasm simulator."

Berri laughed. Amber smiled. All three girls kept walking toward the pool.

"People just walk in there and stand over the jets," Kayla said. "I'm serious. Pretty much everyone takes pictures."

"You have a camera," said Berri. Kayla lifted the camera hanging around her neck.

"Yeah. Pretty powerful little thing. Records at twenty-two hundred fps, four-K resolution."

"Woo," said Berri. "Pro-quality stuff you got there."

They arrived at the pool. Berri ran in immediately and stood over one of the jets. Water gushed around her crotch, like Kayla had predicted. It really did look like a gushing orgasm.

"Amber!" said Berri. "C'mere. Put your hand in the water and make it look like you're getting me off."

Amber blushed—something Kayla had never seen her do before. She obeyed her friend anyway. The resulting scene was too good not to preserve. Kayla clicked a picture. Still blushing, Amber went to the deep end and swam away. Berri laughed, but didn't follow. She ran from jet to jet and started rating them according to how much pleasure she'd have to have to squirt that much.

"This one's like getting banged from behind by Orlando Bloom." Next. "This one's like missionary with Anakin Skywalker." Next. "This one's. . . eh, where'd it go?"

Kayla knew what was going to happen. She felt her cunt clench in anticipation. She set up her camera and pointed it straight at Berri. Amber was still off in the deep end doing something or other, but Kayla had something ready for her as well. But first, Berri.

Kayla watched the curly-haired girl poke at the jet again. Water came up and she stood up straight. She moaned as it collided with her crotch. Kayla began to wonder if she was doing this for fun or if she was just really horny.

She never found out. Berri was enjoying imaginary sex with some attractive movie star one moment, and the next, a spike leapt out from the jet. It slid all the way through the vulnerable girl and the tip came out the top of her head. For a moment, her hands reached for her head—but quickly fell. Berri slid slowly down the pole, dead. On her knees and held upright by the spit, she looked alive from a distance. If it wasn't for the blood spreading out in the pool around her, she may even look alive from where Kayla was.

***

Amber heard something from the shallow end and poked her head above the water. Berri was kneeling over one of the jets, pretending a handsome movie star was getting it on with her. Strangely enough, she wasn't reacting much to it. Her arms hung limp by her sides. Worse yet, she was completely still.

A million possibilities flooded through Amber's mind and they all drove her to the same conclusion: something was wrong. She started swimming toward her friend.

"Berri!" she called. No answer. She called louder, more desperately. She saw the blood in the water and swam faster, her heart pounding.

Something touched her neck, then tightened around it. She didn't even have time to look at it. Something yanked on it from below and pulled her under. She stopped herself just short of screaming. Whatever was happening, she needed to preserve the air she had until she could surface again. She looked down—or up, as she was upside-down. There was a wire coming from one of the jets. She put a hand on it and traced it up to her neck. To her horror, she realized it was cutting her. Blood was flowing up from her neck. She tried to wiggle a finger under it and protect her throat, but it was too tight. It had already given her a quick, uneven haircut. She had to make sure it didn't give her a headcut next. So she didn't struggle. She tried to feel for a weak point with her hands. Nothing. She swam down a foot and checked the jet. She stuck a finger into it, but couldn't feel any mechanism that would release the wire.

Amber felt herself losing consciousness. She fought it. The employee she’d spoken to would be here soon enough. The blood in the water had to draw attention. She waited. Thirty seconds passed. She was running out of breath. She tried tugging on the wire once more. She found a spot where it knotted, right where the string from the jet met the one around her neck. She managed to get a finger in. She pulled and prodded at it. It made her fingers bleed, but if she could get it free, she could survive.

Suddenly, everything went dark.

***

Kayla saw the blood rise from the water where Amber had gone down. With bittersweet satisfaction, she released the lever behind the pool. A huge blue tarp shot over it in an arc, unraveling itself in midair. This, Bart had planned and built. It looked pretty impressive. It covered both dead girls, Amber tethered to the bottom of the pool with her throat cut, and Berri with a spit through her body.

She collected her camera and left the pool behind. There were only six girls left.

***

Kitty felt her eyes water for the first time. She didn't wipe them. She let the tears—real tears, as Adrian's ingenuity would have it—fall down her face. Adrian saw it and smiled. "You can cry now. I don't know why I'm happy about that. But here, let's find that song you liked."

Adrian opened his web browser and went to a music streaming site. Kitty searched her own built-in computer for the song. She played a few measures of it and the computer recognized it.

"Magic of Love," she said. "The song's called Magic of Love."

Adrian searched the song, clicked the first link, and turned his speakers up. They listened to the peaceful modern folk-sounding song for about two minutes.

"This part," said Kitty. Three seconds later, drums joined the flute melody. A choir joined in and took the melody, singing slight variations on it. A bagpipe joined the choir, and that was when Kitty cried.

"Beautiful," said Adrian. "I don't even listen to this kind of music usually."

Kitty hummed the melody. She closed her eyes and enjoyed it, repeating the rise in the finale. She felt Adrian get out of his seat. She opened her eyes.

"Can I hug you, Kitty?"

"Yeah."

Kitty was used to hugs. She never got tired of them, though. It felt good to be close to another person. Adrian was warm. She felt safe in his arms, though he'd admitted several times that he felt safer around her.

"Kitty," said Adrian. "How's your brain?"

Kitty ran a check. From the first memory till now, old thoughts had been trickling in. She imagined the strongest memories came first, or memories that were triggered by something, such as Alyssa's presence. She remembered Adrian—he'd been a senior when she was a freshman last year. He was always working on something, some big project. She'd never guessed that one day, she would be his big project. She'd played tennis with him a lot—something she wanted to do again soon. She'd liked both him and his little sisters. Unfortunately, there was no bringing Dani and Erica back. Their brains were destroyed and their remains were already buried.

"I remember things," she said. "Not everything, but more things than before. I played tennis with you. Kayla Connelly kissed me in fourth grade. Your sisters came and gave you a laptop for your birthday while we were playing tennis once. Dani was really cute, I remember."

Kitty recalled a memory she'd rather have forgotten.

"I remember how it felt to die."

Adrian hugged her tighter.

***

Amber needed to breathe, and fast. Her fingers were already cut to ribbons, but the knot on the wire was coming loose. She had to be careful with it. If she tugged it only a little too hard, it would slice through her throat and she'd die. It was already dangerously close, biting deep into her neck. If she survived this, she'd have a scar around her neck for the rest of her life like a morbid necklace.

Blind and barely conscious, she pulled the wire hard. It sliced into the back of her neck, severed her left pinky, and left her left ring finger numb. But it came loose. Amber kicked off the bottom of the pool and shot upward. She broke the surface with a gasp and looked around. There was a tarp over the pool. That was what had made it dark underneath. A bit of light filtered through, but not enough for Amber to see. She made her way to the shallow end. Standing in three feet of water, she lifted the tarp from the side of the pool with her right hand and peeked out. There was no one around. The red-haired employee was gone and the rest of the park was quiet. No screams. No splashes.

Amber had known in the back of her mind that something was wrong for a long time. It was too quiet. Girls Amber had seen going one way three minutes before had seemingly disappeared from the park. She felt her neck with her good hand—or her relatively good hand. The cut felt horrible, but she could breathe. The cuts on her hands weren't much better. Her left hand would never be the same, but her right looked like it had a chance. It was hard to see through all the blood, though.

"Berri?" Amber said. She felt something twist inside her and threw the tarp back. There Berri was. Now that she was closer, Amber could see everything. Her best friend was dead with a spike impaling her from crotch to head. Her blood mixed with Amber's had tinted the pool pink. Amber covered her mouth and turned away. She felt vomit hit her hand and mix in with her cuts. It stung. She breathed hard through her nose. Slowly, she forced her food back down and gave herself a few minutes to calm down and get her heart rate back below a hundred again.

This was no accident or prank. Someone had murdered Berri and tried to do the same to Amber. Amber almost suspected the employee she'd talked to earlier, but the redhead hadn't been carrying anything but a camera, keys, and a phone. Amber pulled the tarp back over the pool and blocked her vision of Berri's corpse, but sat on the edge and used the tarp to stop her bleeding. It didn't work too well, but it was better than nothing.

If there were more murders going on, Amber knew she should stop them and save as many of her classmates as she could. But what if the killer was bigger than her? What if he had a gun? What did he even look like? Or she? If Amber could reach the locker room, she could collect her phone and call the police and avoid facing the killer directly. But what if there was more than one killer? There were just too many openings where someone could see her sneaking around. If she stayed here, she could wait everything out, then tell the police everything she knew—which was nothing they couldn't see by themselves.

How many more were dead? Amber wanted to believe that she and Berri had been the killer's only targets, but then again, she also wanted to believe Berri was alive. She also wanted to believe she was at home on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and a good movie. Wanting did nothing. More girls were dead than just Berri, and she suspected more would die. She had no reason to believe the killer would stop with her.

Or were she and Berri the last two left?

Amber heard a scream. Against all her instincts, she slipped under the tarp, curled in a ball, and closed her eyes. She felt like she was betraying her classmates to the killer. In the back of her mind, she knew she'd carry more than just her physical scars with her after today.

***

Kayla stepped away from the girl's body, panting and surprised at herself for screaming. Fourteen-year-old Sena Wylder lay writhing on the ground. She clutched her throat and sputtered up blood, but nothing she did would save her. She'd surprised Kayla, and her natural reaction had been to slice sideways with her knife. Why did she do such a thing by instinct? She was starting to lose it. It had all started with May's dying prayer. There were six girls left—actually, five now that Sena was essentially dead. She was so close to completing her massacre. Just five more.

Kayla had killed a lot of people today. Innocent people, and most of them kids younger than her, at that. She wanted to be done with it.

Kayla straddled Sena, whose movements were slowing. She pulled up the dying girl's orange shirt to reveal track shorts and nothing but bare breasts up top. Sena focused her eyes on her killer for a few seconds, and then she died. Kayla took a few pictures, then set up her camera. She needed all 23 deaths recorded, and she wasn't about to stop just because she'd missed the moment of death once. She cut through Sena's neck with her knife and removed her head. Blood flowed down her long, brown hair and dripped to the ground below. Kayla wrapped the dead girl's hair around her head, tossed in the air, and kicked it like a goalkeeper. It flew and made a field goal between two slides. She didn't know where it fell, but she didn't really care anymore. She rubbed herself off a little on Sena's belly, but didn't reach orgasm. She stood and collected her camera and looked around for more girls. She dragged Sena's corpse off to the side and let it rest against a pole supporting a slide. It was out of the way. Anyone just passing by wouldn't see it.

Kayla sighed and began her search again. She kept her knife tight against her wrist and told herself over and over again to keep it there.

"Hey, do you work here?"

Kayla turned at the sound of a girl's voice. This was Micaiah Miller, 14 years old. She resembled Irri Snowski with her blond hair and facial structure, but her body wasn't quite as curvy. Kayla resumed her employee facade, glad she hadn't defaulted to a knife slash this time.

"I do," she answered. "Can I help you find anything? Or anyone? Seems everyone's disappearing on me today."

Micaiah nodded. "Yeah, dude. I can't find anybody and the locker room is locked."

Kayla smiled. "I can help. C'mon. Follow me."