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 Sam Ped in:

   "THE WRONG FOOD GROUP"

   Pedro Vila





   PART I



   "What are you doing here?  My father could call the cops on you." She
said.

   Her eyes blazed.  Focused onto mine.  The had the color of the deep end
of a hotel swimming pool and I needed a life preserver.  Missy looked back
into the house nervously from the front door she was behind, and I was
still stuck on the outside of it from her.

   "Yeah, I know." I said back.  "I just had to have one more look at you.
Then I'll go." I went nowhere.

   "Sam." Missy said softening.  "You know we can't do this.  We can never
have a future together.  You have to go now."

   "What makes you think I came to talk you into anything?" I acted casual.
Missy gave me the look that saw right through me.  I was caught.  Of all
the girls I've ever known, I have to fall for the one that can read me like
an X-Ray.  "Yeah, okay.  You can't blame a guy for trying."

   I stepped Back and before I turned to walk away, I could see that door
shut behind her eyes and I knew it was locking in the part that wanted me
to take her away.  I could have turned and done just that but Missy would
have stopped me no matter what was inside.  She was strong like that.

   I didn't turn around when the door shut.  I just kept walking away.

   I was going to be lousy company for awhile.



   My office smelled.  It smelled of bad liquor and misery.  It jumped me
like a mugger and left me to lay hurting.  No cases.  No money.  Nothing to
take my mind off the stinking world.  Just a hole in my gut where something
used to beat.

   I should have been happy for her.  I did what I had to do to make her
life better.  I knew what I was doing.  I mean, What chance could we have
had?  Where could we even go?  We were two different people from the wrong
sides of the calender.  I knew it was the right thing to do, staying away.
It just wasn't pleasent.

   I don't know how long I slept.  It was long enough to make me hurt
worse. I hadn't bothered to lock the door and woke to what I thought was a
hobo camping out in my only other chair.  I sat upright and looked him
over. He sat up when he saw me move and looked ready to talk to me.

   I wasn't ready though.  That didn't stop him.

   "Mr.?" He asked.  "Mr.  Ped sir?  I din wanna wake ya.  It's awright
that I waited, right?"

   He looked too inbred to be related to Jed Clampet.  He might have been
hiding a banjo behind him.  Who ever he was, he didn't look like he had a
cent on him.  I decided to give him my detective speech.

   "What do you want?" I asked.

   "Well, uh, you see, uh, it's ma daughter." He stammered.  I perked at
the mention of daughter.  "Ya see, uh, she uh, she done disappeared.  Ya
see?"

   The information just was pouring out of him.  "So?" I said.

   "Well uh, well you see, I don't have anywhere ta turn.  She been gone
fur a week now, uh, an we's gettin pretty worried.  Ya see?"

   I hit him with the hard stuff.  "You got any money?"

   "Well, uh, no.  Can't say as I do right now.  But we'd work off every
penny till we paid ya." He didn't stop long enough for me to get rid of
him, but put a picture on the desk as he started to tell me about his child
being gone.  He said nothing important about where she was last seen or
what she was wearing or what color her panties might have been.  I tuned
him out and looked over the photo.

   Her name was Esther and she looked about as inbred as her father. 
Except on a seven year old it looked more appealing.  Kind of like a twist
on the farmers daughter thing.  I imagined her being married to her older
brother already and felt a lower part of my body waiting to buy tickets to
that show.  I closed the theater and cut off Mr.  Deliverence.

   "Hey, buddy.  I know it's hard but I need cash up front to grease the
wheels.  I don't have a bill to my name and information costs money." I
could see his face start to break and knew what was coming.  "Tell you
what. I can make a few calls and ask where it's free to ask.  Who knows. 
Maybe you might get lucky.  But don't get your hopes up.  It's a big city."
The last part was for him.  I guess I felt for him a little.

   I know what it's like to lose a little girl you love.

   I did make those calls and even called a favor but I came up empty
handed.



   It was a month later that I started to see a pattern in the
dissappearence of little girls and thought of the inbred guy from before.

   It happened every week like clockwork.  A professional job.  No
witnesses.  No deaths.  No specific area.  But in every case it was a
little girl of about 7-9.  Mostly white and not to well connected to
society.  I started to get concerned then.  This could really stir up
trouble for people as the law started to get desperate to stop the
kidnappings.

   They had no leads either.  No ransom notes.  No motives.  I checked
through a few sources and found no increase in child porn or slave trades
in and out of town.  That many girls taken would have showed up somewhere
to the right people, but the whole underground community was just as
confused as I was.  They were expecting the girls to show up somewhere too
and were disappointed at seeing nothing new to trade.

   It was a big city, but we were a small community.

   When the first skulls were finally found, we all started to get angry.
Some of us because we didn't want to see children hurt or at least dead. 
Others because they felt cheated out of sharing what must have been an
ultimate fantasy for them.  Either way, the result was the same.  We
united.

   If this didn't stop soon, we would all be rounded up and shot by
fanatics.

   I started to spend clout with a few police officers hoping I could help.
I didn't feel very welcome there, but they didn't turn me away either. 
Because of this, I was able to gather a little profile of details of the
kidnappings and bones found.

   I felt a hole in my gut larger then the one Missy left when I found
human teeth marks on one of the bones.  Word wasn't out on it, but somebody
was eating little girls.  And not the good way either.



   The police have the best crime labs for this sort of thing so it was
dumb luck that I stumbled on a kidnapping and was able to stop it.  I got a
good look at one of the guys and a rough shape of the other two.  He looked
like a cross between a Samoan and a Neandrathal.

   The police grudgingly called me a hero for about a minute and then I
spent over thirty six hours trying to describe in as many different ways as
I could what happened in that thirty seconds of kidnapping.  In the end,
they were frustrated at how little I had and started to think I was in on
it.  I clammed up then and they let me go when they couldn't charge me with
anything.

   No good deed goes unpunished.



   The police had questioned every kidnapped childs parents except one. 
That was the country type from my office.  Turns out his name was Hank
McGill.  His wife Hillery and their missing daughter Esther McGill.  She
didn't have any brothers.  I showed them the police sketch of the man I
saw. Hank looked lost in thought and answered, "Yep.  I remember them types
a few months ago.  Strange people.  Didn't talk very well." This coming
from Hank might have meant they couldn't talk at all.  Hanks eyes went wide
and he stuttered, "You don think them ones had sometin to do with Esther,
do ya?" This guy was right on top of things.

   The McGills didn't have much else except to say there were five of them
and they all looked like the drawing.  They could have been a tribe of some
kind.  Maybe got into the country and were just carrying on a tradition
from their homeland.  Yeah, sure.  A lot of cultures eat their young.

   I went with them being from another place and checked everywhere
immigrants might have lived, worked, and submitted evidence of themselves.
There was nothing though.  Nobody had seen anybody looking like these
tribesmen.

   I went back to patrolling likely spots for kidnappings and bid my time.

   I would get lucky again.  But I'd wish I hadn't.



   PART II



   It was in an alley near the elementary schoolyard that I found the
boogyman scoping out candidates for abduction.  Without looking at me, he
suddenly walked in the opposite direction from me and I had a gut feeling
he knew I was onto him.

   He tried to loose me and he had pretty good instincts for it too, but
this was my city and I knew all the angles.  After a while at cat and
mouse, he gave up on trying to loose me and turned around to charge.  He
looked like a gorilla or a wild type of simian but I was ready for him just
the same.

   I ducked to the side at the last minute and landed a blow to the back of
his head as he passed by.  He shook it and turned to charge again.  I tried
the same move and everything went according to plan, or so I thought just
before I blacked out.  Whatever he did, it was quick.



   I awoke on a chair with my hands tied behind me and my feet to the chair
legs.  It was a good job.  I couldn't move.  I seemed to be sitting in a
kitchen with a large grill and a wooden table in the middle.  I got shivers
when I remembered what this case was about.  I wondered if they only ate
little girls or if I would be an exception.  There was a small open cage to
the side and a broken doll sitting in it.

   My blood was beginning to boil.  I tried the ropes some more.  I
couldn't get any slack though.  My mind started to spin at the thought of
crying little girls waiting to be eaten.  It made me half crazy.  The other
half was ready to kill these freaks of nature.

   I examined everything in the room hoping for a loose knife or something
to free myself with.  I was at a blank far end of a kitchen like room which
looked converted from a garage.  There were no windows though, and only one
door.  In the middle of the room was a heavy looking pine table with four
chairs around it.  I was on the fifth.  Nothing fancy, but solid looking.
Beside the table on the right was a resturant type of grill.  It was off.

   Across the table from me was a cabinet with a padlock on it.  Probably
cooking knives were in there.  I'd have to find a way to break that lock.

   To my left was a 4X4X4 foot cage with the broken doll inside.  It was
open and there was no padlock on it It looked solid as well.  The doll
looked halfway towards me with a broken eye, like it was blind and trying
to find the sound of my voice.  It didn't have an owner anymore.

   I craned to look behind me.  Nothing.  No wait!  A rusty nail sat in the
corner!  I couldn't move my feet but I could hop the chair over.  I figured
I could knock myself over to grab the nail sideways if I could just get it
away from the corner.  I didn't have anywhere else to go right then so I
just kept on trying.  I couldn't get the chair leg close enough with my
arms and legs bound to it like I was.

   I seemed to be going at it for hours and was getting pretty ranchy from
the extra sweat.  By luck I was able to hop over the head and it went
flying out from under me.  I hopped over and tilted over near it.  A few
more sideways hops and had it.

   I jabbed at one spot repeatedly hoping I got a major load bearing part
of the rope.  I didn't know how long it would take me or how far I was
along, when suddenly the door opened.

   In came five boogymen wearing black and carrying two large sacks all
together.  They saw me laying and I jabbed the nail into my cuff fast when
a couple of them came over to grab me.  I got a closer look at them.  They
were dark skinned and big nosed.  They actually looked less like cavemen
and more like pictures of Mayan people from long ago.  Or maybe like some
twisted Nazi cartoon depicting a jewish person.  The two righted me and
went back to the bags.

   They talked amongst themselves in some language that sounded like
Hyenas. Then I noticed the bags had bumps on them that moved.  I spotted it
just before they put the contents of the bags in the cage.  Two young girls
appeared with tape over their mouths and their hands taped behind their
backs.  They were both in there underwear.  Both blonde.  Looking like
sisters with one older.  I'd put the older one at eleven and the younger
one at seven years old.  They were beautiful to look at but I turned when I
heard squeeking coming from the grill.

   The boogymen were turning it on.  I turned back to the girls in sudden
realization and felt terrible for thinking about them the way I just did
before.  The older one saw me and tried to say something to me.  It all
came out a muffle though.  I tried to twist about but couldn't hardly move
still.  I shook my head at her to say I was helpless and she just started
crying again.  The little one was crying too.

   I cried out also.  "You fucking bastards!!" They all turned to me and
one smiled.

   Smiley came over to me and said in perfect english to my face, "You
shouldn't knock it until you've tried it." He slapped some tape over my
mouth ,then stepped back smiling still.  I pulled out my nail and felt for
the spot I'd been trying to cut through.  I found it and started jabbing
again.

   I looked at the door and waited for Captain Nickles and the whole police
force to come barging in to stop it.  Captain Nickles must have missed his
stage cue and they didn't come.

   I figured the grill would take at least fifteen minutes to heat up and I
pocked as fast as I could at my rope.  Satisfied with the grill, they all
walked to the cage and pulled the older girl out and carried her struggling
to the table.  They held her good like they were used to this sort of
thing. Then each one in turn stepped away to strip.  When they were all
stripped and erect, they yanked off what was left of her clothes and did a
one potato two potato thing to pick who would be first.  I didn't think it
would matter who was first since they all looked identical to me.

   Then I watched in horrid facination as the poor girl was gang raped by
these boogymen from where the fuck ever they came from.  I wondered how
many more of them there were in the world.  Not too many if they eat their
own children.

   The spasming girl was held to the table on her back and her arms behind
her made her flat chest thrust upwards.  Her hair was sticking to her eyes
from it being wet from sweat and tears.  Her slim white legs looked whiter
with the darker things gabbing and pawing at her weaker body.  She was
passed around them at least four times and was starting to bruise and tire
out.  Her young skin glistened with the sheen of sweat.

   I had parts of myself that was secretly enjoying this.  The rest of me
tried to vote them off the island.  Her sister in the cage refused to
watch. I couldn't blame her.  But then, I knew how this was going to end.
Or at least I thought I did.

   They picked her up from the table and she was too weak to struggle any
more.  I wish she had because they were then carrying her to the grill. 
Nobody had a knife or hammer and any tools what so ever.  Oh shit!

   THEY WERE GOING TO COOK HER ALIVE!!!

   I tried to turn my head away.  There was no part of me that wanted to
see this, but I couldn't look away.  I couldn't yell.  I turned to the door
one more time and hoped somebody was knocking on the dressing room door for
the policemens cue.

   The boogymen held the girls legs apart wide and lowered her crotch down
to the grill.  The girl started to feel the heat and struggled harder then
she'd ever struggled in her short life.  They held her down hard to the
grill and I heard a sickening sizzle.  The child was held fast to the grill
but jerked uncontrollably enough to make random hands slip off of her for a
second here and there.  But she couldn't concentrate as her crotch and legs
burned with a torturous intensity and wasn't even aware of having slipped
hands off of her.

   I had to work hard not to puke into my mouth so much I would choke to
death.  I felt some relief as the poor girl finally went unconscious.  The
smell could have made my stomach growl had I not known where it just came
from.  Then the boogymen pulled her off and laid her on her back on the
table with her legs still spread.  The whole underside was dark brown and
had patches of blood running down from cracks running where she wiggled
herself.

   I never saw a knife or fork.  They all just bent down and bit large
bites of the little girls cooked flesh off and chewed like gourmets.  Her
chest was still heaving.  I sat dazed as I stared at the horror movie scene
in front of me.  I felt a sudden jab on my wrist and realized I'd stuck
myself with the rusty nail.  That snapped me out of it and my arms started
to drop.

   I was free!

   I didn't bother to hide my hands, I just bent down to undo my legs as I
kept glaring at the cruel things in front of me.  They didn't even bother
to look at me.  They were in there own little heaven.  I was about to show
them hell.





   That was the last thing I remembered.  I blacked out and when I came
back, I was holding a phone and a voice was saying, "Stay on the line. 
We'll be right there."

   I looked around and saw the door to the place I last remembered.  I
dropped the phone and went back inside.  It was a mess.  There were five
bodies laying on the floor with pools of blood by some.  Then girl on the
table wasn't breathing anymore and I threw my coat over her.  I probably
could have given her CPR, but I thought this was better.  She would be
crippled physically and emotionally.  I turned to the child still in the
cage.  She was in shock and I carried her out of the room.

   I gently pulled off the tape from her mouth and arms and held her.  She
was lovely to hold and I felt nothing sexual for her.  Those demons were
still there in me, but they were in moarning from the loss of the other
beautiful creature back in the room.  They left us alone.

   When the cops did show, the tiny girl had put her arms around me and
held me tightly.  Nobody tried to pull her away.

   When Nickles came up to us, he was smiling slyly.  "Your a hero, Sam. 
Front page news.  Your picture is going to be plastered all over this city.
They're going to know everything about you."

   Yeah, everything.  The pedophile detective.  Hanging around and
protecting your children.  Yeah, you can trust him.  Except allot of people
think it's worse to fuck children then it is to kill them.  I would be just
as bad as those sick fucks in the room behind me in their eyes.  No way.

   Nickles started to walk away.  "Nickles." I called him back.  "I don't
want to be the hero here.  I just wanted to save the girls.  Lets keep this
quiet, okay?"

   Nickles was smiling hard now.  Like a cat who had just caught the mouse.
I figured it out.  He knew I couldn't stand up to public scrutiny.  He was
going to take all the credit for capturing the boogymen and I was getting
nothing.  No credit and no money.  He knew it'd be like that all along.

   A social worker took the clinging little girl from my arms and she clung
to her then and that was the last I saw of her.

   "Tell you what." Nickles said to me.  "You get out of here right now and
we won't charge you with anything."

   "Charge me with what?  Doing your job?" I countered.

   Nickles dropped the smile.  "Do you know how you killed those men in
there?  Let's just say it wasn't your normal style.  You don't want to be
connected with with that sort of violence now, would you?"

   I didn't tell him I couldn't remember anything.  It didn't matter.  If
it was that bad, it'd be best not to have anyone know I was capable of such
things.  I needed my record clean if I was to be the kind of detective I
neede to be.

   I left.

   The office still smelled and I remembered my heartbreak over Missy.  I
was numb and it seemed like nothing now.  I went to sleep.

   Tommorrow was another day.




   FINISH