Reborn as a Prophet in a Horror Movie

#073Reader Mode

T/N: Thanks for the coffee Cora, Lewe and ChocolateChipCookie! Since the goal has been reached, it’ll be a double release for today. 1/2 (/≧▽≦)/

#073

Lacey’s voice was a menacing growl, as sharp and dangerous as an animal baring its fangs. “What’s your real reason for being here?”

She purposefully kept her eyes averted from Ben’s mangled fingers, a sight too gruesome to stomach. Despite being bound and barely clothed, Lacey’s body was a coiled spring of barely contained fury, eyes blazing like a cornered wildcat ready to lash out at the slightest provocation.

“Just needed to fill up the tank, like anyone at a gas station,” Johan said with a casual shrug.

But Lacey was no fool. The hard glint in her eyes made it clear she wasn’t buying it for a second. To her, Johan was the very picture of a deranged drifter, a traveling serial killer hunting for easy prey.

The truth, however, was far more simple. Though Johan did have ulterior motives for being here… murder just wasn’t one of them. And to be completely honest, Johan really didn’t want to get the cops involved either.

“Please, spare me…Mama, oh Mama…”

“Shut UP Ben!” Lacey hissed at him viciously.

Ben’s legs were unharmed but the traumatized clerk was in no shape to stand, let alone run. Lacey’s eyes flicked appraisingly over his untouched legs as she gnawed at her lower lip. Nothing was going according to plan.

It should’ve been easy: one plays the bait, lures the unsuspecting victim in close. The other springs the trap once their guard is down, a quick jab of debilitating drugs. Taking turns as captive and captor, Ben and Lacey decided their roles that way.

If Ben had played bait while she was free, Lacey knew she’d never scream so pathetically. But they’d already picked their roles and Johan’s unexpected brutality had destroyed their scheme completely. No amount of desperate backpedaling could undo it now.

“Why the hell are you doing this to us?!” Lacey’s rage boiled over. “You could’ve just left while either me or that idiot was out cold if you wanted to run!”

Johan rubbed his chin, mulling that over. He had to admit she made a good point. It’s just that he urgently needed to get something specific and important from this shady gas station.

“Well, I do have a very important reason for my actions,” he explained patiently. “You see, I really need to get my hands on some CCTV footage…but I’m not exactly a tech wizard when it comes to operating those machines.”

“CCTV?” Lacey frowned as the word triggered a memory – she recalled Johan mentioning that earlier when she’d played the helpless captive. Suspicion bloomed dark and ugly…was he an undercover cop maybe?

But one look at Ben’s nearly unrecognizable fingers crushed that doubt. This level of violence was way past normal police work. As Lacey wrestled with swirling doubts and theories, Johan kept talking in that weirdly casual, friendly way.

“Truth is, I’m not really planning to turn you two in to the cops either. I’d just get dragged down to the station for hours of questioning too. I’m already running behind schedule as it is…” He shook his head ruefully. “That whole ordeal would waste precious time that I really can’t spare right now.”

Lacey eyed him warily. “You’re not seriously asking for all the CCTV footage, are you?” It sounded like he was demanding they hand over every shred of evidence documenting their crimes.

Johan waved off her concern with a casual flick of his wrist, the gesture at odds with the generous kindness in his heart. As his arm swung, the monkey wrench swayed back and forth and, as if on cue, each rhythmic swing seemed to crank up the volume of Ben’s wailing sobs.

“No, no, of course not,” Johan assured her, his voice smooth and untroubled. “There was just this really cute guy who stopped by before me. I just need the clips he’s in.”

Lacey stared at him, momentarily speechless. “…What?” she finally managed.

Johan, mistaking her confusion for lack of understanding, elaborated. “I mentioned him to your…papa too. A guy slightly shorter than me – black hair, eyepatch on his right eye, ridiculously good-looking. He stopped by, right?”

“Oh. Him. Yeah, he was here. Acting all creepy and weird,” she confirmed, looking up at Johan with a sneer that could curdle milk. Lacey had perfected the art of twisting her face into the most despicable expression with ease.

“Just the video, then? So you don’t need his body too, I’m guessing?”

“Lacey.”

The monkey wrench that had been idly twirling in Johan’s palm came to an abrupt halt, his voice calm and measured despite the blood staining his hands. “The picture quality on that convenience store TV is impressive. That’s a good thing for all of us.”

The true meaning behind his strange comment about the TV quality wasn’t clear, but Lacey understood the underlying threat on an instinctive level. She gulped back the scathing retort loaded on her tongue, barely containing the tirade of insults and accusations, her chest heaving from the effort.

“He made this huge fuss trying to get some coin he dropped, then he just took off. Left a big mess for me to deal with. Annoying guy. That the footage you’re after? And why do you even want it?”

Johan raised his chin haughtily, looking down at her with an air of superiority and condescension. “Wow, where’s your empathy? I just want a video of a guy I like for myself. Is that so hard to understand? But I guess if you’ve never been head over heels for someone, you wouldn’t understand. I’ll forgive you.”

Under her breath, Lacey muttered a single word:

“Stalker.”

But then she caught herself. As disturbing as Johan’s obsession was, it wasn’t her problem. If giving this weirdo stalker the footage he wanted would get him out of her hair, then so be it. Lacey smothered her disdain, plastering on a rigid smile.

“So, let me get this straight. If I pull the CCTV footage of that one guy for you, you’ll drop the whole thing? No reporting us, no more hassling us, nothing?”

“Living with so much suspicion of others must be exhausting.”

“Spare me the lecture and just tell me if we have a deal or not,” Lacey snapped, her patience wearing thin.

Her spineless brother was absolutely useless in this negotiation, especially with his mangled fingers. A shudder ran through her again. No matter how strong his willpower was, those busted fingers made it impossible for him to help either way. Lacey and Johan exchanged a knowing look, an unspoken understanding passing between them like a silent current.

“Alright, alright. Get me that CCTV clip of the guy, and I’m out of here, no more trouble,” Johan agreed, notably avoiding any mention of the dog’s actual owner.

As he closed the distance between them, Lacey’s body responded like a caged animal, every muscle ready to strike. But he simply reached for the cord binding her wrists, shaking his head in disbelief as he worked to untie the knots.

“Why’d you tie it so tight when you weren’t really trapped anyway?”

“Thorough realism is key,” Lacey replied dryly, trying to mask the discomfort that had settled deep in her bones. Truth be told, she wasn’t supposed to be tied up this long. Her shoulders ached from being stuck in the same position, and her hands had long since gone numb. But she didn’t dare let her guard down, not with Johan at her back.

“While we’re chatting,” Johan continued, his tone way too casual for someone untying a fake victim, “I am curious though…how do you pick your targets? Not going after Jun was smart, I’ll give you that much.”

Lacey was taken aback by his cavalier attitude. Kidnapping and murder were her family’s business, a tradition she had always been proud to uphold out of respect for her parents. But she knew ordinary people would be horrified by it.

Suddenly, Lacey found the man behind her to be unnerving, a sense of unease creeping up her spine like an unwelcome visitor. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was seriously off-putting about this man, but she hesitated to turn around with him this close.

Despite the knot in her stomach, Lacey managed to stutter out an answer. “Y-you need a certain amount of fat to extract oil. But that guy was way too skinny.”

“Oh, is that so? You’re concerned about the cost-effectiveness.”

“But it’s not just about the amount of fat. You need a healthy, sturdy body. Someone without any flaws. Too much fat or too little won’t cut it. You need the perfect balance for good oil.”

“Hmm.” Johan took a moment to process the information before muttering under his breath, “Guess I should feed him better.”

Lacey shot him a suspicious glare, wondering if he was trying to compete with her family’s business. But no matter how much she stared him down, he seemed totally unbothered, just continuing to work with his hands like it was no big deal.

Finally, Lacey felt the cable ties around her wrists loosen, but the pain that surged through them was excruciating. If she’d had more energy, she might’ve tried to take a swing at him, but she knew from the start that his ripped physique was way too much for one person to handle. That’s why they’d sent two of them after him in the first place.

Seeing his hands covered in her brother’s blood made rage boil up inside of her all over again. She couldn’t hold it back anymore. “If Papa had caught you, you’d be squeezed like a grape by now,” she spat. “Consider yourself lucky.”

“But that didn’t happen, did it? It’s a pointless what-if, a meaningless fantasy. You can untie your own feet, can’t you?”

Lacey let out a scoff, glaring daggers at the man who’d hurt her brother so badly. It was soul-crushing to see her future partner, the one who should’ve had her back carrying on their parents’ legacy, now just a bloody, broken mess whimpering for their mom. Seeing her once formidable brother so utterly defeated only fueled the fire in her gut. She had to look away, focusing instead on getting her ankles free.

Lacey’s mind raced as she desperately tried to figure out how to kill Johan. It was obvious the man was messed up in the head, but she couldn’t just let some dangerous outsider run around free, especially when he could expose their secret. How could she trust anyone outside the family? If she could just get out of this storage room and find her father, maybe there was a tiny shred of hope.

Her hands shook from the stress as she wrestled with the bindings tying her legs. Minutes felt like hours, and the cable ties seemed to get tighter by the second. As she stressed over what to do, she noticed Johan clumsily trying to shove the monkey wrench in his pocket, but he failed. He let out a heavy sigh, sounding full of regret.

Suddenly, a loud thud made Lacey jump. Her eyes flew to the storage room door, her heart feeling like it might pound right out of her chest. The heavy door stayed shut, but then the pounding started again, even louder this time.

“Lacey! Ben! What’s taking so long in there?”

The gravelly voice, so similar to her own, sent a flicker of hope through her. This time, her fear was real. Taking a deep breath, she rapidly blinked back the tears threatening to spill over. She had to stay alert. Their prey was craftier and more powerful than her. The door handle jiggled uselessly; apparently it had been locked from the inside while she was unconscious.

Lacey’s gaze swept the tiny storage room. Besides Ben huddled on the floor, there were three people crammed into the claustrophobic space. Her mind whirred, frantically hunting for anything she could use to break free. She knew she had to move quickly, but before a plan took shape, she noticed that other than Johan, Ben was the only other person not tied up.

“Papa! Papa, save me!” Ben’s terrified voice bounced off the walls.

“Ben? Ben?!” Their father’s frenzied yells were muffled by the door but still echoed back, amplifying the chaos.

Thanks to that, anytime Lacey might have had to hone her plan evaporated. Fueled by a burst of adrenaline, she managed to rock her body and surge to her feet, bound ankles protesting. In a desperate attempt, she launched herself at Johan, praying to catch him by surprise.

But her plan backfired. Their size and strength difference was too great, and Johan dodged her clumsy attack with ease. Off-kilter and hindered by the restraints, Lacey pitched forward, slamming into the frigid, hard floor.

“Aah!” she cried out, pain exploding through her.

“Mama, Papa!” Ben’s shrieks only escalated the pandemonium.

“Lacey, Ben! What the hell is going on?!” Her father’s strangled voice joined the cacophony of screams and Ben’s frantic pleas.

CLANG—CLANG!

The metallic crash made them flinch, followed by the violent shaking of the door handle like an enraged beast pummeling it.

Johan didn’t stay still either. He snatched Ben, who struggled against his iron grip, and wrenched his arm behind his back. In a single fluid motion, he swung the wrench, shattering the lone light bulb. The room plummeted into smothering darkness as shards of glass showered down.

“Aaaah!”

Ben’s agonized scream was muffled by his tears and running nose. The crushing pressure on his arm and broken fingers was pure torment, but it was the startling embrace in the pitch blackness that fractured his already splintered psyche even further.