Because I forgot to post yesterday, here's one extra.

The Killer's Killer

Kayla Connelly knew she should have fled to Canada by now. Alyssa had been strangely quiet for nearly a week and Bart was in the basement all day, every day. Presently, Kayla sat in front of the computer. She had headphones in while she watched the uncut version of her snuff film. She watched May's death over and over again, then Tay's, then Micaiah's. All three turned her on, but she kept her hands away from her sensitive bits.

"I'm coming home," Kayla said to herself, quoting May. Then she switched the clip to her failed murder of Micaiah. The camera only showed her face after she stopped moving, but Kayla remembered every word she'd mouthed. She'd been trying to endear herself to Kayla, and it had worked, for the most part. Micaiah was alive. No one else in the park was.

"Kayla," said Alyssa. Kayla quelled her jump and swiveled around in her chair. Alyssa stood in the doorway, naked and damp from a shower.

"Yup?"

"You still watching that? We should make a new one."

Kayla looked back at the screen, where Micaiah was lying, apparently dead, on the ground. She paused the playback. "I wanna know some things before I kill anyone else," she said. She didn't wait for Alyssa to prompt her. "I'm killing these girls—all these girls. I'm taking their lives from them and using them to get myself off."

"And me and Bart."

"And you two, too." Kayla continued. "I kill them and they die. What happens then? To them, I mean?"

Alyssa didn't even hesitate. "We cut their bodies to pieces, fuck them all, then cook them, fuck them again, and eat them."

"Not that," said Kayla. "I mean, like, them. The person. Where do they go, if anywhere?"

"Hell," said Alyssa with a shrug. "Do you care?"

"Yeah. If I'm sending them all to hell to get tortured forever, I don't think I wanna kill anyone else."

"And what if you're just erasing their existence? They don't go to heaven or hell or anywhere in between. Just poof—gone. Their minds vanish, their bodies stay and we have fun with them."

"Somehow that's even worse." Kayla rested her elbows on the computer desk. "What are the chances they go to heaven? Or some kind of paradise or reward?"

"Low."

"That's what I thought. I don't like that, though."

"You getting religious on me?"

"I wanna believe the girls I kill aren't just gone forever. So yeah. You know anything about religion?"

"You wanna convert?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't it a little late for that?"

"Yeah."

"If heaven and hell turn out to be real, you know which one you're going to."

"Yeah."

"So why not just keep doing what you've been doing? If you're going to the same place anyway, just kill and enjoy."

"I had my fun. I'm gonna retire."

Alyssa was silent for a while. Then she said, "Are you sure?"

Kayla knew from the tone of her voice what was about to happen. But she couldn't go back now.

"I'm sure. Feel free to hit me with that chloroform now."

"Smart girl," said Alyssa. Kayla felt the cloth cover her mouth. She didn't fight it. She took a deep breath.

***

Kayla woke up to the sound of a saw whirring beneath her. She felt cold. She blinked the blur from her eyes and looked around. The first things she saw were Alyssa's naked boobs swinging in front of her. She felt her arms and legs locked in restraints. She turned her head. There was a stock around her head. She craned her neck to look up. There was a silver blade about ten feet above her. She felt air on her body and realized she was naked and suspended above the ground. Underneath her, there were kitchen tiles and a drain.

"Nice rack," Kayla said. "Sure you don't wanna fuck one more time before we do this?"

Alyssa brought a hand down from whatever she was working on and hit Kayla's face, hard. Something cracked. Kayla blinked, surprised. A slap shouldn't hurt so much.

"Aly—"

The slap came again. Once more, it stunned Kayla. She didn't try to speak again. She watched Alyssa work on something over her head and out of her field of view. She worked quietly. Kayla became aware of something warm beneath her body in addition to the wind from the sawblade near her crotch. She couldn't see anything on the other side of the stock around her neck, but she assumed there was a stove of some kind.

"Smile," said Alyssa. She stepped back and turned on a video camera Kayla hadn't seen before. Now that she looked, there were two more on either side of her. She focused on Alyssa again until the woman walked around behind her. Kayla felt the wind grow stronger before anything else. She closed her eyes. The sawblade didn't hurt much at first. It just felt like a shock as it slashed her clit in two. When it ate into her crotch, she felt it in full. She screamed. The heat under her grew more intense to match the pain. The blade tore through her intestines after ripping her womb in half. She felt its wind against her spine now, but it never touched that. She felt an emptiness behind the blade as her guts flopped out in slimy glops. She felt her stomach turn and empty its contents out her mouth before it died to the blade. She felt a sharp cut against her sternum, and then the blade stopped. She didn't stop screaming right away. It didn't hurt so much as it scared her, and the heat was her next big problem now. She opened her eyes and blinked tears away. Alyssa walked around in front of her, and then she felt something like a wet paintbrush on her back. It felt good, minus the implications. Alyssa kept painting something over her, and the heat only got stronger. It got painful a few minutes in, and there was nothing Kayla could do about it. The brush went around to her ruined belly. Kayla yelped when Alyssa cut what remained of her uterus out, but after that, only the heat truly hurt her.

After a few minutes, she could smell her own flesh cooking. She heard sizzling, presumably as her blood and fat evaporated. Alyssa finished up with her brushing and left Kayla feeling wet and sticky, like the time Vivi had rubbed honey over her body. Kayla found herself screaming again not too much later. She felt something enter her ass. Her entire body turned around. She stared straight up at the guillotine blade now, and she felt the heat on her back. She still couldn't see anything below her neck. She saw Alyssa upside-down next.

"Where's the money?" Alyssa asked her. She held out a small stack of bills. Kayla smiled. She'd only packed $10,000 in her backpack. Alyssa slapped her again. This time, Kayla saw the piece of brick in her hand.

"Fuck you," Kayla said through frantic breaths. "My money."

"Roast like a whore, then. I'll find it on my own."

Alyssa left the room and left Kayla suspended over something hot with her guts drained out. She moved her jaw to make sure it wasn't broken. She wasn't going to survive this, but that was no reason to give Alyssa all her hard-earned cash. She doubted the woman even cared that much about the money, but the amount she made was enough to tempt anyone. She hung there, dying, wondering how long she had left. She'd be fine with any time, but she'd appreciate it if she could die by the guillotine rather than the heat. She'd always wanted to know what it was like to lose her head after she'd removed so many herself.

A few minutes passed. Kayla made a point not to scream, and even made funny faces at the camera. That got harder as the heat on her back got hotter, so she eventually settled for not screaming. She heard Alyssa's footsteps all around the house as she presumably searched for Kayla's money.

"You're not gonna find it!" Kayla called. "You can sell my laptop if you want, though!"

Alyssa's footsteps got closer. The door opened. Alyssa walked in, looking pretty mad. She grabbed Kayla's hair and pulled. "Where did you hide it?"

"I didn't hide it."

"Where did you put it?"

"In a box. Twenty-something boxes."

"Where?"

"Dunno. What time is it?"

"Three."

"Then they're probably out for delivery."

"To where?"

"It's going to the families of everyone I killed."

Alyssa said nothing. She released Kayla's hair. She pulled a rope on the guillotine. Kayla clenched her teeth until the blade took her head off with a schluck she felt through the few bones she still had connected. She fell. The last thing she saw was Alyssa's foot rising to kick her.

***

Kitty half-dragged Fay toward the hospital, many miles away. Fay's phone was dead with a bullet hole in it and Casey had ran off in the other direction. A second shot went off somewhere behind them. Casey's voice screamed. Kitty looked over her shoulder. Fay's knees wobbled. She moaned and took her head off Kitty's shoulder. She'd left a wide splotch of blood. Kitty reached out for her, but she held out a hand and took a shaky step. She fell. Kitty caught her. She looked around, then picked a familiar house and walked toward it.

"A little further," she said. "You'll be all right."

She knocked on the door. When it opened, Kitty spoke immediately:

"Call an ambulance."

Kitty's father turned around, picked up a phone, and dialed three numbers. He waved Kitty in. She led Fay to the living room. Kitty's mom was there. She left for a minute and returned with a shotgun. Kitty smiled. Her mom nodded to her and went for the front door. Another minute later, her dad entered.

"Ambulance will be here in a minute," he said. He pulled the curtains on the windows behind the couch. "Miss Ryan, stay alive till then."

Fay gave him a thumbs-up and a weak smile. "It's not too bad," she said.

"No," said Kitty. "It's only a bullet to the head. Nothing to worry about."

"Since when did you use sarcasm?"

"I have no clue."

They waited a little longer than a minute. The ambulance took five minutes to arrive, along with at least ten police cars. Several more passed the house. Kitty's mom returned from the door.

"What in the world did you tell them?" she asked her husband. "Why are there so many of them?"

"Only what I saw," said Kitty's dad. "Did you let them in?"

In response, two police officers and four paramedics entered the house. They helped Fay onto a stretcher, then carried her out. One of the police officers stayed a moment longer and stared at Kitty. A memory came back. He was the last person who'd seen her before she died. She started to follow him out. Each of her parents grabbed one of her shoulders.

"Not so fast," said her mom, and drew her into a hug. Her dad did the same.

"Sorry," said Kitty. "I scared you, didn't I?"

"The whole dying thing?" said her dad. "Maybe a little."

"A lot," said her mom. "Welcome home."

Kitty cried. She hugged her parents tight. "I'll be back," she said. "I promise you. I'll be back."

She released them and ran out the door.

***

Casey had seen the shooter's face. It didn't surprise her as much as it should have. Alyssa Holmes had always seemed a bit off. Turned out she knew how to shoot a gun. Casey prodded at the bullet hole in the side of her neck. It wasn't bleeding much and she could still breathe, so she assumed it wasn't fatal. She wiped her blood on her shirt and kept running.

"Yo!" Casey called to Alyssa, way ahead of her. "You aim for the center of mass! Else you miss like a bitch!"

Casey knew she should probably run the other way and rejoin Kitty and Fay. She had the killer's name and face, and the police could chase Alyssa down much more efficiently than she could. Logic overtook her desire to be heroic. She stopped, turned around, and ran the other way. If she told the police what she knew, everything would be over. The killing spree would finally end.

Casey rounded a corner and ran straight into Alyssa. Alyssa smiled. Casey saw the stun gun in her hand, but couldn't move in time to avoid it. The shock ran through her body and froze all her muscles for what seemed like half a minute. Then it released her, and she collapsed, moaning in pain. Alyssa drew a knife.

"I'll take that pretty head of yours if you don't mind."

Casey's last unrelated thought before the blade sliced into her neck was an odd one: how in the world had Alyssa got behind her?