And Then There Were None.
Torvald Andersen, an old Norwegian shipping magnate has passed away, leaving behind a substantial fortune. His three estranged granddaughters are summoned from their home in Los Angeles to attend the funeral and to be present for the reading of the will. In addition several of those who were close to Torvald in his final years have been asked to attend. With the uneventful funeral behind them the beneficiaries pile into a minibus and are taken to Torvald’s ancestral home deep in the mountains.
***
Zara - Torvald’s youngest granddaughter, young and wild at heart.
Ingrid - A shy girl that feels most at home when hiding behind a book, cousin to Zara and Hanna.
Hanna - Torvald’s oldest granddaughter and the polar opposite of her little sister Zara.
Camilla - Hanna’s fun loving girlfriend.
Zara jerked awake as the buss hit a bump in the road. “Are we there yet?” She mumbled. “I really need to use the little girls room.”
“I wonder why,” Hanna scoffed. “Could it be because you insisted on getting hammered as usual?”
“Not my fault grandpa insisted on an open bar,” she said, shrugging. “It would have been rude to ignore his last request.”
“Oh, please,” Hanna persisted. “We never even met the man!”
Ingrid turned in her seat to face them. “Can’t you two try to be friends for one day? You are making us look bad in front of the others.”
Camilla looked around, as if suddenly remembering they weren’t alone on the buss. “Pfft, it’s not like they can understand us, they’re all Norwegian or whatever.”
“Actually, Felicia is Swedish,” a young, friendly looking brunette said, smiling brightly. “But we all understand English just fine. I’m Ella by the way.”
Ella - Torvald’s nurse, perhaps the only one that truly cared for the old man.
Felicia - Torvald’s much younger girlfriend.
“Nice to meet you,” Ingrid said and gestured to the brunette sitting quietly beside Ella. “Who’s your friend?”
“Oh! This is Julie, she was Mr. Andersen’s maid.” Ella said helpfully before gesturing to the woman behind the wheel. “That’s Maja, she is an aspiring model, but worked for your grandfather as his driver.”
Ingrid nodded, making a mental note of the names. “Then I assume the uptight looking one over there is the lawyer we spoke to on the phone, Viktoria something?”
“That’s right, I never caught her last name either, too much effort to remember two names for everyone, don’t you think?” Ella said with a wink.
Julie - The old man’s maid, shy, but friendly once you get to know her.
Maja - Aspiring fashion model working as a driver to make ends meet.
Viktoria - Ambitious lawyer.
***
“Wow, this is…” Camilla gaped as she took in their surroundings in the fading light. “…the middle of absolute damn nowhere!”
“Please tell me someone brought booze,” Zara said, sounding concerned. “If not, this is going to be so extremely boring.”
“Relax, it’s just for one night,” Ella said, patting Zara on the back.
“I guess…” Zara conceded. “At least it’s already pretty late, I mean, the sun is already setting.”
Maja chuckled as she walked by. “It’s actually just 14:05,” at Zara’s blank stare she elaborated. “Just after 2 PM.”
“But… the sun…” Zara said, confused.
“Zara, I explained all this on the plane, remember?” Ingrid said gently. “Its due to the…”
“Yeah, yeah, magic or magnets or whatever,” Zara said, waving her off. “I’m gonna go explore, a place this big has to have a wine cellar.”
Ingrid glanced at Ella and the two burst out laughing as Zara darted towards the building.
***
The house was massive, old and very drafty. It had once been part of a large farm, but it’s awkward position had made it impractical and as such it had been shut down and converted to serve as a cabin. The house itself sat in a large clearing, but the surrounding forest was in the process of reclaiming the area. The snow cowered trees surrounded them, hiding everything else from view, they were completely isolated.
The eight women made their way inside and gathered around a large table, Viktoria took a head count and had just concluded someone was missing when Zara showed up with a glass bottle containing a clear liquid, she had a broad smile on her face.
“I don’t know what this stuff is, but it packs a punch!” Zara stated, putting the bottle on the table.
Ella grimaced. “You’re drinking akevitt? On purpose? That stuff is 50% pure alcohol.”
“I’m happy you’re happy,” Viktoria cut in. “Dinner should be ready soon, after that you are free to enjoy… whatever it is people enjoy about places like this.”
“Don’t look at me,” Felicia said dryly. “Torvald loved this place, but I was always bored out of my mind. As an added bonus it takes 3 days to warm the place properly due to the lack of electricity.”
“Well,” Camilla said, looking around the room. “At least we are all dressed for the cold, I guess we’ll just keep our jackets on for now.” She turned to Hanna, smiling playfully. “And as for tonight… we should have no trouble keeping ourselves warm, right babe?”
Hanna cleared her throat awkwardly and blushed. “Yes, uh… well…”
Zara giggled at her sister’s obvious discomfort.
***
After dinner Maja decided to grab some firewood, they already had a fire going, but it looked like the weather was about to take a turn for the worse and she decidedly did not want to go outside during a blizzard. She trudged trough the knee high snow, holding the lower part of her coat up to avoid getting snow on it. She realized somewhat sheepishly that a winter coat probably wouldn’t be ruined by snow, but it was a one of a kind garment made by her favorite designer, she wasn’t taking any chances.
She stopped for a moment to look up at the starry sky and sighed happily. The stars are so vivid out here, away from the lights of the city, too bad I wont get another chance to come out here. She thought sadly. Then again, maybe he left it to me…
The sound of crunching snow told her someone was approaching from behind and she turned to face the newcomer. “Oh, good, I was afraid I’d have to make a second trip and… Wait, which one are you?” She asked as she got a look at the newcomer. She was blonde, attractive and wearing a puffy winter jacket, but it was hard to make out the color. Great, that narrows it down to most of them… “Never mind, doesn’t matter I guess, but put that ax away, the wood is already chopped.”
“Oh, I can still think of a use for it.” The newcomer said, her smile hidden behind the scarf covering her face, but audible in her pleasant tone.
Maja gaped in surprise as the newcomer swung the ax in a horizontal arc, she tried to back way, but the deep snow slowed her down. Before she could even scream she felt the air rush from her lungs and pain blossom in her belly as she doubled over around the blade that dug into her flesh.
The Killer
Maja fell to her knees in the deep, crimson snow, her eyes were wide as she stared down at the ax. “Y-you ruined it… my coat…” she whimpered.
The killer shook her head in amazement. “Don’t you think you have bigger problems?” She put a foot on Maja’s shoulder and tugged the ax free, the wounded girl moaned softly and fell backwards into the deep snow.
A wracking cough tore trough Maja as she struggled back onto her knees, blood dripped from her lips down the front of her coat as she looked down at the jagged, bloody hole in the expensive garment. “It… It was one of a kind,” she snarled. “I’ll kill you for that!”
“That’s the spirit!” The killer said happily and swung the ax in another horizontal sweep, burying it between Maja’s breasts. The dying girl grunted at the impact and looked down at the ax once more, a soft wail of despair left her bloody lips. The killer tugged her weapon free and let Maja fall.
Maja lay looking up at the dark sky, clouds were quickly moving in. I knew it, there is a storm coming. She felt the killer grab her legs and begin to drag her away, but Maja was too far gone to care, her last sensation was of a single snowflake landing on her forehead.
***
“Maja?” Julie called, looking around in the darkness. “Do you need a hand with the firewood?”
There was no answer, only silence. Julie trudged along slowly, following Maja’s tracks as fast as she could. The driver had made a clear trail, but it was beginning to snow heavily and it wouldn’t be long before the tracks were covered. As she reached the firewood there was still no sign of Maja, but the tracks kept going, sort of. Why did they change all of a sudden, it’s like she was dragging something… Maybe she put the firewood on a sled, but why would she be heading away from the house? The question popped out of her head at the sight of Maja’s distinctive purple coat, she was standing on the dock down by the small lake.
Maja didn’t turn as Julie approached, she just remained at the edge of the dock, staring out into the darkness.
“What are you…?” Ella began, but cut off as the woman finally turned, it wasn’t Maja. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought… wait, why are you wearing Maja’s coat? And is that… blood?”
“You’re quite observant.” The woman said simply.
Before Ella could respond the unknown woman grabbed the front of her jacket and pulled her close. Ella was caught completely off guard. “Hey!”
“Nice jacket, I bet it’s all warm and comfy… but It can’t possibly be all that good for swimming, can it?” The woman laughed at the shock on Ella’s face. “Let’s find out.”
Ella screamed in terror as she was heaved bodily off the dock and crashed trough the thin ice bellow. Icy water hit her like an electric shock and she exhaled on pure instinct. Her empty lungs screamed as she swam towards the surface only to slam against the ice. Where is the hole? It can’t be far, it… She searched franticly in the darkness, but her puffy coat started to drag her down as it soaked up the icy water, before long she saw the surface grow distant as she slowly sank into the icy darkness. She trashed and jerked as her body began to shut down, lungs burning. Finally she lost control and let instinct take over, she inhaled deeply and icy water filled her lungs.
***
“Wait,” Hanna said suddenly. “So, there is no way to charge my phone?”
Felicia shook her head sadly. “No electricity.”
“No worries, I have a solar charger,” Zara said, slurring slightly. The akevitt was having it’s intended effect.
“That’s great!” Hanna said sarcastically. “So assuming this storm lets up we can charge it for the two hours of sunlight we get in this god forsaken ice hole.”
“Loosen up, sis.” Zara said, handing her the bottle. “Just take one night off, I promise it wont kill you.”
Camilla laughed and shook her head, the argument was an old one and she knew the outcome by heart. Camilla herself tended to agree with Zara, but she couldn’t say that to Hanna. Oh, Hanna, you need to learn to relax. Let your hair down for once! But she knew it was futile, Hanna was who she was. And I love her as is, Camilla concluded as she gazed out the window and sipped at a glass filled with Zara’s vile Norwegian booze. “It’s really coming down out there, huh? Maybe we should have stocked up on firewood while we had the chance.”
Ingrid glanced up from her book and frowned at the stack of wood by the fireplace. “I thought we did,” she said slowly. “Maja and Julie went out to get more, but…”
“That was a while ago,” Viktoria finished for her. “They should have been back by now.”
With the exception of Zara—who had passed out on the couch in front of the fireplace—the women all headed towards the main entrance.
“Wait,” Ingrid said as they opened the door. “Is that…?” She walked slowly out into the heavy snowfall and shone a torch out into the darkness. Nine wooden stakes were placed in a neat row facing the house, the two on the far left each had a flag or banner flapping in the wind. No, Ingrid realized suddenly. Those are the jackets Maja and Ella were wearing!
“Okay,” Hanna stated angrily. “Jokes over! You got us, very funny, come out!”
Only the the howling wind answered her.
“They must be in the house somewhere,” Camilla concluded. “We can cover more ground if we split up.”
***
They searched the house, top to bottom, but the missing girls were nowhere to be found. Julie, Hanna, Camilla, Ingrid and Felicia gathered in the main hallway to compare notes.
“So, we’ve searched the whole house,” Ingrid stated evenly. “That just leaves the outside and… There is no way they are running around out there without their jackets. No one is that committed to a joke.”
“They obviously have an accomplice,” Hanna said, shaking her head. “One of you is in on it.”
“My money is on the lawyer,” Julie said, winking playfully.
“Wait,” Camilla said. “Where is Viktoria anyway?”
“Uh… guys…” Ingrid said nervously. “What color was Viktoria’s jacket again?” As they turned she pointed out to the third stake, a black puffy jacket flapped in the wind. It was torn to shreds.
“Nope!” Hanna stated suddenly. “I’m not doing this tonight, I’m going to bed.”
“But…” Camilla said as Hanna turned to leave.
“Please tell me you’re not falling for this crap,” Hanna said derisively. “Let them play their game…” her voice lowered to a whisper. “We can play our own upstairs.”
Camilla smiled broadly and followed her lover up the stairs.
Ingrid glanced back to the stakes once more, she was less certain than Hanna appeared to be. Nine stakes… Nine of us.
***
Hanna seemed to relax as they walked up the stairs. Alone at last, Camilla though, running her hand trough her lover’s hair. The familiar touch sent visible shivers up Hanna’s spine and she laughed in delight. “The thing’s I’m going to do to you,” she said over her shoulder as she put her hand on the door handle.
There was an ear splitting boom and a large chunk of the door seemed to disappear, Hanna cried out and slammed into the wall on the far side of the hallway. She stood against the wall for a moment, her face blood splattered and frozen in surprise as she stared wide eyed at Camilla. “W-what?”
Camilla stared in disbelief at the large, bloody hole in her lover’s chest. She turned to look trough the door and found the cause, a shotgun had been rigged up to trigger when the door opened.
Hanna followed her gaze to the smoking weapon and then looked down at her bloody chest. “Oh, I see,” she said numbly. She took a couple of rapid, shallow breath’s and looked back to Camilla. “I… love… y…” she trailed off and slid slowly down the wall, her blue eyes never leaving Camilla.
“Hanna?” Camilla said, her voice barley a whisper. “No… No!” She rushed to her fallen lover and cradled the body in her lap, weeping softly.
***
“Okay,” Felicia said, smiling crookedly. “I have to admit, whoever came up with this truly went all out, I…”
“This isn't a joke!” Camilla shrieked. “Hanna is dead!”
“Don’t you think you’re taking this a bit far?” Ingrid said carefully. “I mean, kudos on the acting, I might have believed you if…”
“See for yourself!” Camilla growled. “Pulling Ingrid up the stairs.”
***
Zara blinked in confusion and sat up slowly. The room seemed to shift around her, but that was probably due to the booze. The empty bottle lay on the floor beside her. Did I finish the whole thing? No, she decided, sniffing at her soaked jacket. I must have spilled it on myself. Awesome.
Someone cleared her throat and Zara turned carefully to look up at a blonde in a black jacket. “Hey… uh… you? Where am I exactly?”
The woman chuckled. “Sorry about the change in scenery, I didn’t want anyone to hear us.”
Zara took another look at the woman, even without the beer goggles she would be a looker. “Well, I usually prefer guys, but the selection is rather limited, so…”
The woman lit a match. “I’m flattered, but that’s not exactly what I had in mind,” she glanced down at the empty bottle. “Do you know why they call it 100 proof?”
Zara swallowed, something felt very wrong about the situation. “No…”
“Let me show you,” the woman said and tossed the match at Zara.
The booze soaked jacket instantly ignited and Zara screamed in pure terror.
The killer winced. Maybe this was a bit much, even for me, she thought as the screaming girl rolled around on the floor, trying and failing to put out the flames. Zara’s once flawless skin blistered and blackened in the all consuming flame, her hair burning away to leave her nearly bald. The blood curdling screams gave way to desperate wails within moments and before long Zara’s smoldering body was still. The killer emptied a bucket of water over her victim and tried her best to salvage what was left of the jacket.
***
“She was there! I swear!” Camilla insisted as she and Ingrid rejoined the others in the main hall.
“Camilla…” Ingrid said gently. “Is it possible Hanna is just messing with you?”
“No!” Camilla growled. “She wouldn’t do that! Not like this.”
“There are five of them now,” Julie said slowly. “Jackets I mean.”
Camilla’s eyes widened suddenly. “Zara!” She rushed into the living room and found the couch empty. “No…”
***
“You think they’re really dead?” Julie said quietly.
“Yes,” Felicia said simply, watching the two Americans dash away.
“Who would do this?” Julie said, voice quivering.
“It has to be one of those two, they want the inheritance for themselves,” Felicia said, nodding to herself. “Come with me.”
Julie followed her into the kitchen and gasped as Felicia pulled a steak knife from the kitchen drawer. “What are you going to do with that? You can’t just kill them!”
“No…” Felicia said closing on Julie. “I know this place well, I will hide until help arrives.”
“Then why do you need the knife?” Julie said, eyes fixed on the blade.
“I’ve never been one to let opportunity slip by,” Felicia said darkly. “Did you really think I was going to let you just swoop in and claim what’s mine?”
“What?” Julie said, confused.
“He left you everything!.” Felicia snarled, backing Julie into a corner.
“I… I… don’t understand.”
“Cut the act, I don’t know how you did it, but it doesn’t matter now. Once the killer guts you like a trout and I miraculously survive it will all be mine! I worked too hard to…”
“Worked? I’ve never seen you lift a finger!” Julie snapped, surprising herself. “So, you spread your legs for him, so what? You never cared for him, he was just your meal ticket! Maybe if you’d actually spent time with him rather than act like a living Fleshlight he would have-”
Felicia’s eyes blazed with fury as she raised the knife. She opened her mouth in a wordless roar and… stopped, her roar replaced with an odd gagging sound. Julie looked up and saw something metallic sticking out of Felicia’s mouth. As Felicia fell forward to land at her feet Julie saw the hilt sticking out of the back of Felicia’s head and realized what it was, a knife.
Julie felt her heart hammer in her chest and sighed in relief. “Thank you, she was really going to kill me!” The words rushed out as Julie dashed forward to hug her rescuer.
“Well, that was just rude,” The woman said, hugging Julie tightly. “She would have ruined my fun.”
Julie pushed the woman away. “Wait… who are you?”
The woman produced a large meat hook from inside her jacket. “Its a secret.” Julie screamed, realizing she had traded one killer for another. The woman raised the hook and swung it down, then up towards Julie, striking between her legs.
The sharp hook dug into Julie’s crotch and the woman moved in close to stare into Julie’s eyes. “This will hurt,” she said simply and tugged the hook upwards. Julie screamed as the hook dug trough her intestines, pain lancing out from her belly. The deadly weapon finally stopped, lodging against her lower ribs, but the damage was done. Julie collapsed onto the floor, but the woman wasn’t done. As Julie gurgled and choked on the blood rushing up her throat the woman dragged her out of the kitchen and down the stairs towards the basement.
***
“She’s gone…” Ingrid said quietly as they concluded the fruitless search for Zara. “They’re all gone.”
“Seven…” Camilla said, her voice hollow. “There are seven jackets now.”
Ingrid joined her at the window. “But… Felicia and Julie… they were just here…”
“Who could be doing this?” Camilla asked desperately. “I don’t want to die!”
“Someone wants the inheritance for themselves, thats the only motive that makes sense, but…” Ingrid cut herself off. “That would make me the killer.”
Camilla stared at her.
“I’m not the killer! For crying out loud, Camilla!” Ingrid said quickly. “I’m just saying, I’m the only one left, since you don’t have a claim to the inheritance. Unless…”
Camilla nodded. “Someone faked their death!”
“That must be it, but who?” Ingrid wondered out loud as she turned to look out at the stakes. “I suppose it doesn't matter right now, what’s important is…”
Ingrid turned back to find Camilla hanging a foot of the ground and rising steadily, her feet kicked wildly and her hands were tugging at the rope around her neck. Blood flowed down from the rope to soak into her gray jacket… No, not rope, barbed wire! Oh, god! What do I do? “Hang on!” She winced at the unintentional pun and grabbed Camilla’s legs, hoping to pull her down.
Blood rained down on Ingrid as she held on to her last friend and ally. “Don’t leave me, please!” she sobbed. Moment’s later she yelped in surprise as she won the tug of war. The two of them landed in a heap and Ingrid didn’t waste any time, she quickly rolled off Camilla and moved to check on the wound, no doubt the barbed wire had… No…no,no,no,no… her mind recoiled from the scene before her. Camilla lay sprawled on the floor, blood spreading beneath her and her head… her head had rolled across the room when it fell. The weight, Ingrid thought numbly. My weight added to hers… I killed her…
Ingrid barely had time to sense a presence behind her before pain exploded at the back of her head and the world went black.
***
Ingrid groaned as she opened her eyes slowly and took in her surroundings. She was tied to a chair in the living room and she wasn’t alone. The killer was sitting in her own chair cutting up Ingrid’s jacket into strips. Ingrid felt a nonsensical surge of anger at the sight, she loved that jacket.
“Oh, good! You’re awake.” The killer said, looking up from her task. “I was afraid I’d hit you too hard.”
“You can have the money,” Ingrid sobbed. “I never cared about it, I just want to go home!”
“Money?” The killer asked, confused. “What money.”
“The inheritance,” Ingrid said with annoyance. “Don’t treat me like an idiot, its obvious you want it all to yourself. I haven’t figured out who you are yet, but the motive is obvious.”
“And if you had to guess?” The killer said, amused. “Who do you think I am?”
Ingrid sighed and decided to play the killer’s game. “Your hair takes Elle and Julie out of the equation and Camilla…” Ingrid closed her eyes, trying to get the image of Camilla’s severed head out of her mind. “Is definitely dead. I can’t believe my cousins would do this, so that leaves…”
“Let me stop you right there…” The killer said and turned Ingrid’s chair around to face the other end of the room.
Ingrid gasped, eyes going wide. Eight corpses were displayed in front of her in varying states of undress, none wore their jackets. Ella lay on the couch, her hair was wet and her lips blue. Maja lay next to her, two bloody gashes told the tale of her violent end. Hanna sat slumped against the back wall, eyes staring. Felicia lay bent over the back of the couch, a knife hilt protruding from the back of her head. Julie hung from a chain suspended from the landing above, a meat hook was buried in her upper belly. Camilla was placed prominently on the table in front of the couch. Her head nuzzled between her own breasts. Finally there was Victoria, she hung down from a long iron pole, impaled from anus to mouth. Ingrid almost missed poor Zara, or at least she assumed it was Zara. The girl’s charred remains were dumped in the fireplace among the few remaining embers of the night’s fire.
The killer pulled off her mask. “I’m sorry, you obviously put a lot of thought into that whole speech, but I was getting bored.”
Ingrid stared at the woman. “Who… who the hell are you?”
“Name’s Nadia,” she said, smiling broadly as she worked to tie the strips of cloth into a rope.
Nadia
“But… how are you connected to any of this?”
“I’m not.”
“What?”
“I have no idea what you were rambling about.” Nadia said, shrugging.
“Then why? Why would you do this?”
Nadia chewed on her lip. “Cause it’s fun?”
“You mean you’re just some nuttcase? Does this country even have serial killers?” Ingrid demanded.
“It does now!” she said happily and heaved one end of the rope over a rafter above Ingrid’s chair.
“Please don’t do this…” Ingrid pleaded as the home made noose was placed around her neck. “I-I’m about to be very, very rich. I can give you anything you want.”
Nadia leaned down and placed her lips to Ingrid’s ear. “There is only one thing I want,” she whispered and pulled on the rope.
Ingrid’s instinctual scream cut off almost immediately as she and her chair were lifted from the floor. Nadia disappeared for a moment, straining at the effort of lifting her victim, then returned having tied the rope off somewhere. Ingrid pulled at her bindings and squirmed as much as she could, but Nadia had tied her up expertly.
“I know, right? I’m great at knots!” Nadia beamed, walking around as Ingrid slowly spun from the uneven weight distribution. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”
Ingrid could feel herself grow weaker, her struggles became feeble and a line of drool formed at the corner of her mouth. I should have stayed home… she thought as the darkness consumed her.
***
As Nadia left she tied a leftover strip from Ingrid’s jacket to the ninth stake, completing her masterpiece.