Torturing Tanya (Part Eleven)
by Paul Mellette
*****
Tanya watched the situation unfold before her. Paco Ruiz; a boy from her past...
a man who had been Dave's friend in years gone by... was standing there this day
as the only thing between her and eternity, the only stumbling block to the
diabolical plans that a madman had for her... Tanya knew that Paco was a good
and a brave man... that he was sworn to "uphold and protect," and also knew that
even had he never taken such an oath, he was man enough to come to her rescue...
But Tanya feared that he was in over his head. Big Mel was the kind of monster
that you have nightmares about... that Hollywood made movies about... the kind
that does not go down easy... and rarely stays there when he does...
She cringed inside for yet another person who fate had brought into the mix.
Tanya strained to warn Paco that Big Mel was right there... but then suddenly it
was not necessary...
*****
As Paco surveyed the room, he was first stunned by Tanya's presence... a woman
he had longed for... pined over missed opportunities for over half his life... a
woman who he had often fantasized about... was there, naked before him... It was
not the way he would have liked, but just for an instant... there was a leaping
in his loins and his heart crept into his throat...
Scanning the room, he also saw Vonnie's corpse... the pathetic remains of a
pathetic person; Paco grimaced at the mangled mess that he saw there... Then he
caught a glimpse of Big Mel... his still naked bulk looming behind Paco, their
images reflected in a large mirror... and the psycho was about to attack!
*****
Big Mel had waited patiently for the intruder to enter the room... he saw that
he carried a gun and moved with the deliberate motions of someone trained in law
enforcement or security... Mel wasn't afraid; there was little, if anything,
that could bring fear to his hard and cold heart... but he did act when such
situations presented themselves...
Swinging his club-like fist toward Paco, he sought to use the element of
surprise and his incredible bulk to end the confrontation before it even
began...
*****
Paco was shocked at the sight of the big man... he had seen Mel on a couple of
occasions, but it was always when he was clothed and clean and had something
less psychotic behind his eyes... Whatever had happened here this night had
unleashed the monster within the monster... And then Mel made his move...
The officer barely got his left arm up in time to fend off the blow. As it was,
it was a nearly useless gesture... the force of the big man's fist hit Paco with
such force that his arm immediately went numb... It might have been broken for
all the use it was; in fact Paco couldn't be sure it wasn't broken... He could
not move it, it hung like so much dead weight to his side. And worse, the sudden
impact had jarred Paco's gun loose from his grip...
Quickly... way more quickly than a big man should be able to move, Mel was on
Paco, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him off the floor... The
policeman's feet kicked at the air as he tried to find something to use as
leverage... Paco Ruiz felt the life being squeezed out of him... his left arm
useless and his right no match for Mel's strength...
Mel's visage was not human... his eyes bulged and the veins in his neck stood
out as he strained all his strength on Paco's neck... Paco held on, stiffened
himself as best he could and did all he could do...
Gaining as much force as he could, he slammed his head forward and shattered Big
Mel's nose with his own forehead... The big man screamed in pain and dropped
Paco... his hands raised immediately to his face to feel the broken cartilage.
Paco tried to regain his footing... but Mel was on him again... his huge fist
slamming into Paco's shoulder...
*****
Tanya closed her eyes and wept. How could it be that the cavalry had arrived...
and this was all there was? Was she to endure one more person's death as a
precursor to her own? And why was Paco even here?
She opened her eyes again and saw as Paco suddenly seemed to turn the tide of
battle... as he head-butted her captor and was released... but the freedom was
short lived as Mel hammered the cop with his massive fist... and then as Paco
stumbled backward across the room...
*****
Paco's shoulder was pounding. The force of Big Mel's blow had damn near rendered
his body numb... if he gave in to the feeling, he would just lay down and die...
but it was Tanya who was going to die as well unless he did something...
anything... and fast...
His gun lay on the floor across the room. Paco had to retrieve it if there was
any chance at all. He ducked to the right, managed to evade a slow overhand
punch that the monster threw at him, and dove for the gun...
It was a basic, police issue. Nothing fancy, a .38 caliber handgun. Good against
common criminals at something of a decent range. It was not made to stop an
elephant, but it was all there was...
Staggered from the force of the blows, and unable to take time to aim; Paco
gripped the gun and pointed it toward Mel. If the maniac realized what was
happening, he showed no sign of it. Paco squeezed the trigger and a red blotch
appeared on Mel's chest. The big man grunted in pain, but kept coming... and
suddenly had seized the policeman again!
Ruiz squeezed the trigger again and Big Mel grunted again... louder than the
first time... but did not fall. In fact, he had grasped Paco's gun hand and had
begun to turn the weapon away from himself. As Paco Ruiz struggled with all his
might, he found the gun moving away from the villain... and toward himself... He
desperately wanted to drop the gun, but something within himself would not allow
it... he had been trained to never loose his piece... to never yield it to a
criminal... his piece and his shield were too dangerous in the wrong hands...
*****
Tanya watched from the bed. She was silent, there was no sense trying to speak
and there was really nothing to say anyway. It was a turning point in her life
or death night... either Paco would win the battle and save her... or he would
die too and she would shortly follow him into eternity...
*****
Mel grimaced as he struggled to force Paco's arm back toward him. Even though he
seemed strong as an ox to Paco, Mel was substantially weaker than before he had
been shot. The big man knew he was hurt... but he could not be stopped before he
finished what he started...
He remembered the first one... the one whose rejection had hurt him so... the
one whose memory Tanya had stirred... if only she hadn't lied to him and laughed
at him... if only she had understood how he had wanted to love her...
But she hadn't and Mel hadn't reacted to the rejection very well at all... and
her body had never been found...
*****
Paco could feel himself losing this battle. His muscles ached from the strain of
trying to keep the behemoth at bay... and his own gun turned away from
himself... He knew he couldn't last much longer... and he knew that if he
failed, there was every chance that not only he, but Tanya and her daughter
would die... Possibly even Wade as well, because there was little doubt that the
young man would try something stupid...
Then, with a flash of lightning-swift pain and the noise of a clap of thunder,
Paco heard his gun discharge and felt the searing heat of the bullet as it
ripped through his chest...
*****
The crazed killer felt a rush when the gun fired. He felt the shock in his
opponents body as the bullet tore through his flesh... and it was a chest
wound... near the heart, if not directly to the heart... While Mel had enough
sinewy tissue and muscle to slow down a bullet, Paco was only normally sized...
not layered with extra weight... and since he was off duty, he wasn't wearing
his "vest"... so there was nothing to protect his internal organs from the
intruding projectile...
*****
Paco was hurt badly. He knew it as he felt the shock of the bullet ripping
through him. Had he opted to carry a larger weapon, like many of his
contemporaries, he was sure he'd have died instantly. As it was, he knew he was
probably going to die very soon. He went rigid and his eyes glazed over as he
felt his knees buckle; were it not for his assailant's grip, Paco Ruiz would
have fallen to the floor in a pool of his own blood...
But Mel did have Paco in his grasp... and he grabbed Tanya's would-be savior
once more and this time lifted him high over his head, and hurled him through
the bedroom window and to the ground outside...
Then Mel turned and began to move toward Tanya once again...
*****
End Part Eleven
(c) 2002 Paul Mellette
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