Red Man

by catt dahman

  “I think it’s those three guys we met. They talked about this trail. It has to be them,” Bev said.

  “I don’t know how it could be anyone else,” Carla agreed, “but it could be. It could be anyone.”

  “I have a plan, but I’ll explain it later,” Charlie said. They made beefy noodles for dinner, and Charlie held up her spork and said, “We always seem to be waiting on the next meal, especially dinner. We’re breaking down with injuries, carrying so much weight, and getting no sleep. We have to stay here two nights and get some rest and drink water and take care of the injured.”

  “We need to get Leila to doctors,” Dana said

  “But we can’t do it like this. We’re all worn down. We have to defend ourselves too,” Charlie said, “and we have to stay and eat and sleep, or we’ll make mistakes we can’t take back.”

  “Agreed,” Carla said.

  “We can’t keep running on no rest and with people injured. We have to get some strength back and have our minds clear. And we can’t just run forever. I vote we stay a day and rest.”

  Taryn nodded, and Bill held up his hand as his vote.

  Dana smiled sadly and said, “We have no choice but to do it. Leila is in rough shape. It isn’t life threatening, but it’s serious. If we wait, then Taryn can walk if we go slowly.”

  Even before the sun went down, they began sleeping in shifts after they had eaten.

  When it was dark, Charlie pulled Carla aside and said, “I’m going hunting. You in?”

  “Like Flynn, Chica.”

  Bill, Holly and Taryn had guard duty, and Carla and Charlie made a show of saying goodnight but whispered a fast warning and faded into the gloom to sleep.

  “Carla, I have to show you something. Don’t freak,” explained Charlie as she took out a small snub-nosed .38 from her pocket, and in the moonlight, she showed it to her friend. “I have been scared to show it. You know how Bev, Holly and Dana are about guns.”

  “I don’t think they’ll care if you have it. Leila, Oh my, God, her leg looks so bad to me. She’s in so much pain.”

  “That’s why we’re out here. We have to get them before they get us. They’re picking us off one by one. Ray, Anthea, Taryn, and Leila.” They crept through the trees, picking high ground and looking at the compass often. They searched for a tell tale fire to show them where their enemies were.

  Carla swiped at a bug. “I’m hot and tired. I don’t see a thing. Let’s just, oh wait a second. Look over there,” She said as she helped Charlie get into place so she could see.

  “Bingo. Okay, let’s look first. Stay quiet.” Charlie felt an unfamiliar thrill at being on the other side now, of not being a victim, but of being the hunter and in charge. It made her feel sick because she knew she wanted revenge.

  The two women took slow steps, fearing old leaves that might crackle and rustle. Ducking behind a pair of thick trees, they peaked through the fork and watched a campsite.

  It was a man they knew as Rick who had been one of the three men who suggested this trail. It was, after all, probably them. They watched Rick as he sat with his feet propped up.

  In a few minutes, he got up, got some wood, and used a familiar hatchet to cut off some smaller limbs. He built the fire higher. Carla motioned with her fingers, and it took Charlie a few tries to understand and then to see the other bear trap hanging on a tree. It matched the one Leila had stepped on.

  In whispers, they made plans.

  Charlie felt her entire body shaking with nervousness and fear, but she took a deep breath and began humming an old song. It was something from Broadway long ago by Cinder Montaine, and Charlie hummed it loudly as she walked into the firelight.

  Rick jumped to his feet and pulled a knife, asking, “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to get my hatchet and cell phone,” Charlie said as she stopped humming.

  “Nah, I like that hatchet.”

  “I see,” Charlie said.

  “You’re some crazy bitch coming here.”

  Carla ran at him and held Charlie’s revolver against the man’s temple. “She’s sane compared to me, pendejo”

  Charlie ran over and took the knife away, and checked for more weapons; then, they pulled him out of the firelight and into the darkness that was broken only by the moon and clouds. “Talk. Where are your buddies?”

  “Over at your camp. You best run back and see what trouble they’re causing.”

  “Why are you doing this to us? Did you kill Ray?”

  “Your boyfriend? Ha,” Rick said, “Missy, I love to play games, and this has been a blast so far. I love it. Watching you scramble and panic…and your black- haired friend? I did her before we chopped her head off.”

  “You did what?”

  “Fucked her.”

  Carla was pressed back as Charlie hit Rick with all her weight. When Rick went from moaning and whining to yelping, they slammed his face to the ground so he would be quiet. Charlie didn’t know how hard it was to stab a person even with the sharp knife she had taken from Rick. Yet she still managed to cut him a little on the arm until the blood caused her to slip. He was getting loud.

  “Tell me why?”

  “Bitch, you cut me.”

  “I’ll do it again if you don’t talk. Why?”

  “I didn’t peg you as the bitch of the group. My mistake. Figured that gal Dana was bad assed.”

  Charlie shrugged and said, “You underestimated me.”

  “I like it. All of us like it. We like games. We enjoy messing with girls this way.”

  “Were you hired?”

  “Hired?” Rick laughed, “by whom? Hired? That’s a good one. Okay. Maybe.”

  Charlie had to ride his heaving back with Carla’s help after she slammed the knife into his hand and out the palm; they kept his face in the dirt. “Try again, scum bag. Were you hired?”

  “How many are with you?” Carla demanded.

  Rick fought back, rolling and pushing until Carla pointed the gun back in his face. “I don’t give a shit. Shoot me. I don’t think you can, but have at it. I ain’t talking and I ain’t playing your game.”

  “Keep a watch, and kill him if he moves,” Charlie said. She ran into the men’s camp and kicked dirt over most of the fire so it gave off little light. She only needed a small amount for her job and didn’t want to be seen if anyone looked. She moved like lightning and cut slashes in both tents. She used her flashlight and didn’t see anything in the tents that she wanted to get.

  Their food was up in a tree away from bears, so she cut the rope. With the knife, she cut slits in the food packets and scattered them around, except for a few she stuffed in her pockets. She slashed their water bag. She knew she couldn’t face two or more men in a battle, and this was going to make them furious, but it might be a burden and slow them down as well. She had ruined all three necessities: food, water, and shelter. Seeing their first aid box, she grabbed it and ran to Carla.

  She wanted to hurt them. This was the best she could do. Stabbing at the man’s arms had kind of made her sick, but she couldn’t have done it had she not been furious.

  She was almost there and could see them in the moonlight.

  Carla shot Rick in his head. As the blood sprayed onto a tree, Charlie skidded to a stop, shocked. Rick crumpled to the ground, a black hole in his forehead.

  The sound of the gunshot was very loud in the quietness of the woods. The two women ran. The men would have heard the shot and would be headed back to camp; they wouldn’t find them there.

  Halfway back, Charlie paused to catch her breath, and they got drinks from their pouches. “That scared me. It was so loud. Jeez, Carla, you almost scared me to death.”

  “I know. For some reason, I didn’t think it would be so loud. I’ve shot guns before, but I forgot. I just shot without thinking. We had to do something. You could have brought back rope to tie him with and leave him, but he’d come after us.”

  “I didn’t even think about rope. I t
hought…well…it got in my brain that when I got back, he’d just be dead.”

  Carla chuckled and said, “He was.” She stared into the sky and wiped her eyes. It hadn’t been easy to kill him, but she had not thought about it, first.

  “I meant…yanno…magically dead. I know. Crazy. Why’d you do it?”

  “He was telling me about Anthea and how he raped her. He told details, and I imagined her, beautiful as she was, being treated that way before he cut off her head.” Carla choked. “I…it made me sick, Charlie. He raped her. He had to die. I just pulled the trigger. I’m sorry.”

  “I think I would have, too. I know I would have. We knew as soon as we saw him what we’d do. No, we knew when I said I had a plan to find their camp.”

  “I know,” Carla said as she hugged Charlie, “I just heard what he did, and he laughed, and I pulled the trigger. On TV, the bad man comes back and gets the girls; he gets them ‘cause they are too soft hearted to kill him first. Charlie, I wasn’t soft hearted. I did it.”

  Charlie held her friend while Carla vomited a little as she shook.

  “He can’t come back and hurt us now,” Charlie said. She shared a tissue with Carla, and after they blew their noses and stopped crying and shaking, they tossed the tissue to the ground. Littering be damned.

  They wondered what the men were thinking now that they had struck back and the men had found the damage. A gun in the mix was a new thing. Did they have one, too? Would they back off, now?

  They called out as they went into camp.

  Almost everyone was sitting around the fire, faces streaked with tears. They hugged Charlie and Carla, saying they thought they were dead. They heard the gun shot.

  “That was me,” Carla said as she held up the revolver.

  “I never thought I’d be glad to see a gun. I have seen the light,” Holly said.

  “Me, too,” Dana added.

  Charlie admitted it was hers, not wanting Carla to get the full blame. They told everyone about how Charlie had ruined their camp necessities and brought back some things. “Some of this food I brought back is the expensive kind, and we’re gonna fix it and eat it right now at midnight because I’m hungry.”

  “Sounds good,” Dana said, “Ummm, what happened to Rick?”

  “He made a move, and I killed him.” Carla stretched the truth a little.

  “Good. I’m glad.” Dana started crying hard, which she never did. The rest were sniffling or crying, too. “I’m really glad. For Anthea.”

  “What the hell is going on? Where is Bill? Is Leila okay?” Carla asked.

  With Dana sobbing, Taryn spoke, “We were attacked by two men who looked like Cody and Chris, but it had happened so fast. One man came in swinging an axe, and the other ran at Bill. The women scattered, and there was a gunshot. The two men stopped and ran away.

  “We were rattled. Bev and Dana came running out of their tents, but even if we had talked about fighting back, when it happened, we panicked and ran. There was a lot of screaming,” Taryn said.

  Bev broke in and said, “I didn’t know what to think since I was still half asleep. I saw Bill fighting a man, and I saw another man running at Dana. She took off, and the man…I lost sight of him. I ran, too. After the shot, the men ran off, and we came back, set things up again, and saw Bill on the ground. One of them stabbed Bill in the stomach, and it’s a bad injury.” She shook her head.

  “That’s why I’m glad Rick is dead; let them see how it feels,” Dana said.

  Carla rubbed her temple. “So, is Leila okay, or was she just scared to death?”

  “Death?” Dana went from crying to laughing. Holly went to her and stroked her hair and tried to calm her friend, rocking her.

  “What?” Charlie asked.

  “The man with the axe? He went after Leila who couldn’t fight back. He used the axe and cut off her injured ankle. He kept swinging until it was done. She died, Charlie. Blood loss or shock, Dana doesn’t know which. She’s too upset.”

  Charlie sat down with Carla and the rest, their eyes alert to any movement in the dark. They watched the darkness.

  Who was next?

  Part 2

  Chapter 6

  Later, they thought they heard screaming far away, the sound a man might make upon finding his lost friend, dead in the woods. Charlie hoped that was it anyway. She smiled a little. Since she had messed up their supplies, they were weakened and might call it quits and go away. If they had good weapons, they might come to try to do something else, but they knew there was a gun in this camp.

  They had gotten Rick, but the men had gotten Anthea, Ray, Leila, and Bill. Had they not fired the gun, there was no telling what kind of damage the men could have inflicted.

  Nothing moved as they got water, made breakfast, and did camp chores. They bathed and then slept that day three at a time. Charlie, Carla, and Taryn went first, falling asleep before sun up and sleeping into the afternoon. They felt better once they were awake again. “I was out twelve hours?” Charlie marveled. “Amazing.”

  “I’ll break that record right now.” Dana promised, sleepily as they went to the tents to sleep.

  Charlie and Carla wrapped Leila in her sleeping bag and Bill in his and dragged them away from camp. The scent of rotting flesh would draw scavengers, and they didn’t want that. They felt terrible doing it. After stacking rocks all over the bodies, they went back to camp and waded into the creek.

  “They could have gotten us while we did all that,” Charlie said.

  “Maybe they weren’t watching, or they went away. You messed them up,” Carla said.

  Once they had cooled off and were clean, they set about making dinner. The others had a big meal for lunch from the stash Charlie brought back; they had eaten broccoli with cheesy macaroni and tuna. The three ate the remains of that while they cooked the packed of spaghetti, sauce, cheese, and meatballs.

  After everything was clean and straight, they sat and watched for threats.

  Dana sent Taryn to sleep a few extra hours once she was up. Dana had more questions about the men’s’ camp and what had gone on over there, but said she was still glad one of them was dead. The part about Anthea being brutalized made Dana go pale.

  “I won’t say it’s easy or painless, but it’s good to be on my own two feet again,” Taryn said as they walked the trail, slow and steady.

  They were aware that they kept abandoning campgrounds to the dead, leaving bodies behind as they travelled. It would take the rescue teams and police a long time to collect everything from the crime scenes. These were not the same women who had started the hike. Their eyes were hollowed, smeared underneath by purple smudges, and worry lines covered their foreheads. And now, there were two less on the trail.

  Dana still made them stop to drink water and eat protein and carbs, but instead of light bantering and jokes, the women stayed quiet, listening, their eyes darting and moving constantly. They waited for a new attack.

  This part of the trail wound along the somewhat steep side of a bluff; it was cut into the side and fairly wide. In normal times, it would add a little of a thrill for hikers to enjoy, but right now, it made these hikers nervous as it seemed a good place for an attack on them. Instead of cutting up and joking about not looking up or down, the women concentrated on their footsteps.

  “Watch this spot. It’s a washout, and there’s trash…fishing line and junk.”

  “Holly, don’t move.”

  Holly looked back at her friends. “But….”

  “It may be nothing, but it could be something.”

  Holly looked down. Her feet were caught in wraps of fishing line that she carefully pulled away and off her boots. To get by, they would have to walk over the line carefully; it was spread out, bluish against the sandy trail. Holly was careful not to press against any line that was stretched out. “Just be careful. Once I am done, we can see about tossing it. It looks okay really.”

  Charlie knew it wasn’t okay at all. She was almost holding
her breath.

  A loose loop caught the toe of Holly’s boot; she angrily yanked it away. This was just slowing them down and adding stress they didn’t need. The loop on her boot stretched taut, and as she pulled, sticks snapped and rocks rolled from several places, and a landslide began.

  Charlie and Carla reached for Holly, but the woman fell on her butt and then was pulled along and slid off the side of the trail to a ledge below. “Damn that hurt.”

  They were relieved to hear her.

  Charlie lay on her stomach and looked down. The other four did the same.

  Holly looked up at them and shook her head. “Nothing is broken or sprained, thankfully. I think I skinned my backside, but I’m okay. I was lucky.”

  “We can use the rope, and she can climb up. It’s steep but not that difficult,” Bev added.

  “Right, since she’s not hurt,” Charlie agreed. She pulled herself up as the others asked Holly questions and reassured her. Part of the line was wrapped about a tree trunk and ran tightly down the washout and over the edge. They would have to be careful not to trip and fall. The line must have been caught securely on branches and rocks and limbs to still be stretched that way.

  Maybe Holly was still tangled in the line. Wishing to warn her, Charlie leaned back onto the ledge and looked down. This time, she let her gaze follow the line over the side. “Holly, in case you’re still tangled up, do not wiggle around. We’ll toss a knife down, and you will have to cut it loose.”

  Dana tensed as she saw the taut line. “Holly, be still. You don’t want to pull anything over on top of you.”

  Holly looked up at the ledge with fear. She slid a few inches that way to relieve the pressure, sighing as she saw the line slacken.

  “Stop,” Charlie yelled. She strained to see what was wrong. The line had become loose as it ran to the top, but a big rock on the edge of the small spot Holly lay on, wiggled. Was that a net around it? She called down to ask Holly.

  While they stared down at Holly, clouds had moved in, covering the sky. Thunder exploded overhead.

  “We need to run a rope, and then one of us can climb down while the rest are on guard. We can cut the line off Holly and then climb back up,” Charlie suggested. She said that once they had Holly up, they could either go back and find a spot to wait out the rain or make the trail safe and go on a ways before making camp.