Purgatory, West Virginia
March 23
The air was still and humid. It was as if the atmosphere did not want to disrupt the unburdening taking place within May’s cottage.
He didn’t know why or even how he had started talking, but somehow Finn found himself on his back, staring up at the pipes under May’s sink and telling her the story he had never spoken aloud to anyone.
“I woke up with a baseball bat to the ribs and a bucket of saltwater in my face. It was an actual baseball bat, a Louisville Slugger. I remember thinking, where did these guys get a fucking American baseball bat? They went to town with it, cracked some ribs, got me in the kidney. I pissed blood for a month.”
May handed him a tool. “Tighten that wrench on the bolt; otherwise, you’ll just strip it.”
Finn took it and continued. “I was hanging by shackles from this meat hook drilled into the rock in the ceiling, and I remember thinking the cuffs were scratching my watch face, and I’d probably have to replace it. Crazy shit, huh? I mean, these animals are going at my face with rock salt and rags dipped in bleach, and I’m pissed about my watch.”
“Check that joint where it’s dripping there.” May pointed to the spot.
“SEALs are trained for capture in SERE training,” he said.
“SERE?”
“It stands for survival, evasion, resistance, escape.”
“Did it help?”
“Not even the tiniest bit.”
May passed him the new piece of pipe.
“They spoke almost no English, but they knew words like castrate and rape. Shit, I couldn’t have told you my name. They got off on terrifying me.”
May passed him a rag to clean up the small puddle under the pipe. “And were you? Terrified?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even remember if I screamed. Well, that’s not true. I screamed once for sure. They poured some chemical on my face, and fuck, I thought my head was going to dissolve off my body. It was dripping down my side and burning through my shirt. I mean, I’m sure I must have screamed more, but after that, there was this really loud ringing in my ears, like an old air raid siren. I could see their mouths moving, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“They kept laughing. I remember that. They were sitting on a blanket, eating dates, and showing each other shit on their phones. Who does that? That’s what really got me, you know? That’s what flashes through my mind when I think about those three days: those guys just sitting there talking and joking like they were on a picnic.”
“Scrub that rust.” She passed him a scouring pad.
“The weirdest shit was going through my head. I remember thinking I owed my little brother ten dollars from a bet we made at a Phillies game when we were little, and I had never paid him. And then I kept picturing that scene in The Sound of Music where the red-haired lady spins around on the mountain.”
“Julie Andrews.”
“I’ve never even seen that fucking movie.”
“You missed a spot.” May pointed to another pipe.
“God, they were going at my face.” He carefully cleaned the pipe. “The knife was hitting my jawbone. This one guy kept pointing to my face and laughing. I couldn’t move my mouth, but I kind of mumbled, ‘you’re one to talk, you ugly fuck.’ He walked over to this table, grabbed an ice pick, held it under his own eye, and smiled. He was short and had these really tiny yellow teeth, like a demon or something. That’s when I saw Tox.”
“Your best friend.”
“Yeah. God, he was like the fucking Angel of Death. He had three of their throats slit before the demon guy even knew Tox was in the cave. Tox probably had a foot and half on the guy. He came up behind him, took the ice pick right out of his hand, and killed him with it, shoved it in his ear to the hilt.
“He found the keys and unlocked the shackles, and I fell over his shoulder. I had pissed myself, and I remember thinking he was going to get pee on his shirt. I mean, forget about the blood and the acid and whatever else was on me. I was embarrassed about the piss.”
“Why do you think that is?” May asked.
“I never really thought about it. I was thinking so much weird shit the entire time. I guess because, with the peeing, I did it to myself; it showed that I was afraid and everyone would know it.”
“Pass me those tools.” May pointed at the wrench and hammer by his head. “You want a sandwich?”