Dash pulled his van over behind the environment crew's car. His hands were pale from gripping the steering wheel too hard for too long. He let a sigh as he finally arrived at his destination.

As far as his team's slaving career went, this haul broke their record for fastest recon time. Three hours, no more. He didn't want to do any haul before they know the surroundings, but others took the chance and blew the house's fuse right after dusk. Dash was nervous all the way here. He saw nothing alarming, though, and that calmed his nerves.

A knock on the windshield broke his driving trance. He rolled the window the old fashioned way to see a hazmat helmet staring back at him.

"You're late for, like, one whole hour. Are you Dash?"

The man in question playfully headbutted the helmet. "Well, you called one hour ago. What can I do? Anyway, let's go load the load. It's almost dawn. How many, Ev?"

"Two. Seems like they're friends. One of them got Cole torn up pretty bad, but Ari said he's fine for now. I hurt the other one pretty bad. It felt nice hitting her. I might have killed her, though. Whoops."

Dash stepped out of the van and followed Eva into the house. They entered the lantern-lit living room and joined Ari and Cole, the latter lying naked on a bloody couch and wrapped in equally bloody bandages. Cole's hazmat suit lay beside him, all torn up. Ari was scrubbing the bloodstain on the floor with a rag, while her other hand held her breast and squeezed it nervously, almost like her own personal stress ball. "How come?" asked Dash.

"Girl's all drugged up. Grabbed a bone saw and... See the result." Ari shrugged. "Luckily, her parents are family doctors. This boy barely lives. We need to be armed next time, Eva."

Cole moaned and coughed blood through the bandage over his face. A few drops made their way to the couch, painting fresh crimson on the green velvet. Eva threw her arms and shouted, "Ah, right, we need to clean that. And, well, the rest of the couch."

"The rest of the house," corrected Ari.

"Yeah... damn. Dash, grab the lantern and haul the girls. Watch your step down there and be careful. I'll do... something. Oh, keep the bound girl in your house, okay? My cells aren't that healthy at the moment." Dash nodded and strode out of the room, taking the lantern with him. He also took a knife on the way, just in case. Seeing the extent of the wounds on Cole made Dash a little scared, and the knife unfortunately didn't help. His hand didn't shake as much with it on him, though.

After he descended into the basement, he picked up one of the haul and slung her over his shoulder. He was surprised at the lack of weight on his shoulder. The girl cried out under the bag on her head. She didn't struggle at all, though. Dash liked the struggle his hauls put up, so this one struck him as odd. He shrugged off his concern, blaming her blood loss, and went to put her in his car.

He eyed the bound girl on the trunk. The starry night highlighted one long scar running down the length of her torso. Covered behind her black hair, her boobs were practically nonexistent. Rows of faded self-harm scars lined her arms and legs. The scars were neatly spaced, almost as if the girl didn't want it to look bad. They were barely visible, but Dash knew how the scars look. He glanced at his bloodied wrists, how the thin, wrinkly scar covered his fragile arteries.

Dash was putting the dead girl in the van when he saw Eva took a jerrycan filled with fuel out of the front seat. "Oh, good idea. Love me some fireball," he commended.

Eva nodded her head as they walked in once more. " We'll never get all the blood out before. It looks like no ones going to be home for a long time, anyway. I'll set this up down there. Go grab stuff, okay? Be quick."

Dash grabbed her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "No one's home? For a long time?" He pulled her closer, his hand taking the jerrycan and dropping it on the floor. "Then we can stay here for some time. Ari can take the haul." The brown-haired man leaned on her and unclipped her helmet off, then set it beside the jerrycan.

"Fuck, guys, really? We've been here for too long; someone can come here any second! Work, you fuck!" shouted Ari from the living room.

The three stared at each other. Eva broke from Dash's embrace, giving him the that-happened look before scurrying downstairs. Dash shrugged and began his work

He first searched the living room, taking apart computers for their good parts. He tried the master bedroom, but it was locked. He took all the food from the kitchen, putting them in a trash bag. Then, together with Ari, they stuffed some of the drugs from the doctor's office in between the foodstuffs. Leaving Ari to deposit the loot to the van, Dash proceeded to the second floor.

As soon as he stepped in the second floor, a primal fear deep inside him suddenly flared, making him stumble on the last step. Goosebumps and his stronger heartbeat told him something was certainly wrong up here, but he couldn't put a finger to it. The dark environment dimly lit by his lantern only added to the chill.

He didn't turn off the lantern when he went inside the bedroom, ignoring his team's SOP on visibility. The meager light bulb provided him sight and a sense of safety he didn't want to lose. The air was significantly wetter in the room, and his nose quickly caught the lingering fatty miasma. It smelled like Eva's dungeon. Other than the bed and the mirrored dresser, the room was unusually messy, almost like someone else had ransacked the place before.

Amidst the books and clothes, a trail of dried grime lead to the bathroom entrance. His thoughts went wild with possibilities. Had her her own captive? Did he just captured a nymphomania? The smell wasn't really of sex, but rather of fat and blood, so he discarded that thought. He opened the bathroom door, his gaze following the trail. The feeling of being inside a stranger's dungeon terrified him. His lack of familiarity made him all more cautious. He would never want to be at the other side of the business, even if it was not for real.

He held the lantern upward, highlighting the trail up to the bathtub's side. He froze when he clearly identified the human heart and liver lying on the floor, bile leaking from below the latter. Aside from some glimpses of the gory videos his girlfriend usually watched, Dash had never seen real human entrails. As the shock wore off, he picked up the heart and gave it a squeeze. The bag of muscle held its shape rather firmly. He squeezed it a few more time as he put his lantern on the sink to free up his hand. The liver was too disgusting for him to hold with his bare hand, so he picked a towel, wrapped it on the organ, and deposited it inside a plastic bag he rummaged from the bedroom. Coming out of the bathroom, he put the heart inside the bag and continued his search for valuables. He pocketed a camera and a phone, and took a laptop under his arms.

Walking downstairs, Dash found Eva about to go up. "Hey, I was about to call you. Let's go. The bomb's set up. What have you got upstairs?"

Dash passed the plastic bag to her. "See for yourself. I'm done for today. Take care, sweet." He kissed her briefly, then went to his car. Dash practically had no day job, so he relaxed in his car and watched the fireball roar from inside the house as the environment crew drove away. He left the scene after the ashes started to fall.

Soon after, he rested in the comfort of his own couch, the girl safely contained in his basement. He was too tired to undress, but regretted it when the content of his pocket stabbed him in the thigh. He emptied his pockets with one hand, the other one rubbing the pain off. Seeing that he looted a phone, his hands quickly set into the instinctive task of removing all the tracking bits, but realized that he had done it already. "Oh, stupid me," he thought out loud.

A curious thought led him to a two hour exploration of the poor girl's phone. Aside from the hidden porn folders she clumsily hid, her life was pretty normal for a depressed student. Few friends, even fewer still in touch. Edgy memes and borderline porn intertwined with cat pics and pretty landscapes in her downloads folder. Her camera roll consisted of artistic-looking photos, her friend's photos, and more cats. Had he not kidnapped her, she might have been a good photographer.

He took a look at the camera, but found the battery out of charge. Looking for the correct charger in his loot pile would take too much time, so he plugged it to his beast of a computer and left it charging overnight. He finally collapsed on his couch and closed his eyes.

Dash failed to notice the knife missing from his pocket.