by Linda Nelson
They broke out of the brush and onto the road to find the car was gone.
Maybe they didn’t come out on the road in the same place they had entered the woods at. Carol scanned the street in both directions. The car was nowhere in sight.
“Crap, where the hell did they go?” Carol hissed.
Across the street was movement of a body coming in their direction. This someone was walking along some sort of dirt road on the other side of the street and was waving at them. It was Max.
Carol threw her arms up in the air exhibiting her frustration and anger for being left behind.
Max spoke as soon as he knew he was close enough for Carol and Karla to hear him. “Come on, we got tired of waiting for you. Rod found a place for us to settle down for the night. It’s an abandoned cabin down here.” He motioned for them to follow him down the dirt road. “Rod went into town to get us something to eat, he’ll be back soon.”
They followed Max down the road in silence. He led Karla by the hand. It was a good quarter mile walk to this abandoned cabin that probably served as a hunting cabin of some sorts.
The building was made out of rough cut logs and was only one story. The place couldn’t be any more rustic.
It only had one bed, but there were plenty of blankets stashed in a make shift closet. Not one ounce of food was to be found, not even a refrigerator. The cabin also had no electricity either. But it did have an outhouse out back behind the building.
A half an hour passed before they heard Rod pull up out front with a car. It wasn’t the same car they had when they drove into town. Apparently he had ditched it afraid the police were looking for it and found another one that was sitting on the side of the road on the other side of town.
As soon as Rod placed the bag of food on the table the others were right into it, each taking a grinder and a can of beer. Karla frowned when she saw that this was all they were getting to drink. She couldn’t stand the taste of beer, but it would have to do.
Carol ate her grinder in silence. She watched Rod pull up a chair and set his sandwich aside to eat later. He focused on a packet which he had pulled from his jeans pocket. It was the same packet he had purchased in the shop at the beach. He saw Carol watching, staring at him.
“You want some?” He motioned to Carol. He figured, by the way she was looking at him that maybe she was waiting for him to share some of it with her.
She shook her head no. Carol had no idea what he was going to do with the stuff, and it wasn’t something she had ever used before. Her drug of choice was coke, not some designer substance she had never heard about.
Carol continued to watch Rod. He filled the crack pipe she had found in the old woman’s purse with the powdery substance and lit it. Within minutes of taking his first drag, he began feeling its effects. He offered the pipe to the others but was surprised that no one wanted to join him.
During the whole trip, Max had not been impressed with Rod. He was beginning to not like him more and more without ever realizing why. At first he thought it was because he rubbed him the wrong way. Now as he watched Rod get high he knew what it was, it was the effects of the bath salts all this time that made the dude seem off.
Max had heard stories about others who had used the substance and it never had a good ending for the user. Most times they wound up committing suicide. This was his first experience of being with someone on bath salts. He didn’t know it at first that Rod was beginning to show signs of overdosing on the substance. Not until Rod picked the fight with him just because he was looking at him.
All Max did to set Rod off was to look up at him while he was busy whittling away at a stick he had in his hand. This happened sometime after they had finished eating and Rod finished his pipe.
Max was using a hunting knife he had found somewhere in the cabin shortly after arriving with the girls. He was just trying not to be bored. Rod’s attitude made him not want to use any substance, even the weed he still had in his shirt pocket. He didn’t trust Rod, and he wanted to keep his wits about him. That meant no coke, no pot, nothing. He drank his beer slowly so he could stay alert.
“What are you looking at?” Rod accused Max.
“Nothing…”
“Then stop starring at me.”
“I’m not starring at you.”
Max should have gotten up and left the room, but he didn’t. He should have, but he didn’t. He remained there at the table whittling away at his stick. It now had a nice sharp point on the end of it. The stick could come in handy as a weapon if it was needed.
But what happens when someone says you are starring at them, and they are sitting in the same vicinity as you are? Human nature tends to make you want to look at them even more. Just because they have drawn your attention to them, cautious of what they are about to do.
Without warning, Rod stood up and flung the table at Max knocking him chair and all over backwards. Karla and Carol let out a screech. They weren’t sure what they should do. Rod was acting like a mad man, and it all came on suddenly.
Rod wasted no time either. He lunged at Max and was on top of him and began punching at his face while Max tried to fight back. The knife and stick he had in his hands were knocked away, skittering across the floor.
The two boys fought knocking the furniture around. Max struggled to keep a defense against Rod.
Carol and Karla yelled at Rod to stop, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. He continued to pummel his fists into Max’s now bloody face.
In between the punches, Max yelled to Carol, “Get Karla out of here.”
Carol didn’t need to hear anymore. She grabbed the keys lying on the floor close to the door and took Karla by the arm and dragged her out the door.
“Get in the car,” she yelled at Karla.
Karla didn’t want to leave Max behind. What if something bad happened, who was going to help him?
“Karla, get in the car, now…”
Carol’s voice zapped Karla out of her hesitation while Carol slammed shut the driver’s door and started up the engine. She thrust the car into reverse before Karla shut her door all the way.
“We can’t just leave Max like that,” Karla complained. “Rod might kill him.”
“We have no choice.” Carol answered her, “Can’t you see Rod is out of his mind?
I know that I’m not able to stop him, and you wouldn’t be able to do anything either. The only thing left to do is to get help.
Do you still have your cellphone?”
“Yeah, but it’s dead.”
“Great…,” Carol said frustrated. “By the time we get help, Max will be dead. I’m sure of it.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“We’re going to get the hell out of here.”
Karla was on the verge of tears. It was bad enough to leave Max behind knowing that Rod was beating the crap out of him, but the thought of him being dead was even worse. She wondered what had just happened. It had all happened too fast. What the hell was wrong with Rod? Why was he doing this to his friend?
Chapter 15 – We Stole a Car?
Carol found her way back onto the main highway. Not long after that they passed a state police car. Almost immediately, its lights began flashing as it turned around to follow and catch up to the car the girls were riding in.
At first Carol wasn’t going to pull over. She really hated cops, but she also knew that things would get even worse if she didn’t comply.
No wallet, no license, the car was stolen; Carol knew she was going to be in lots of trouble. The only thing she could hope for was to be able to talk her way out of what was to come. She forced herself to roll down the window before the officer got to the car.
Karla was apprehensive too but not for the same reasons. She had no idea that Carol was driving without a license and never thought a minute about their underage drinking. Nor the fact that they both probably were considered runaways and that the car they were riding in was stolen. She never thought anything abo
ut any of it. All she could think about was having left poor Max behind probably to his death. Tears streaked down her face, she couldn’t hold them back anymore.
Officer Lance Sarkum knew the car was stolen. He couldn’t wait to hear the story the driver was probably going to tell him. He walked cautiously up to the car surprised to see the car window down.
“Put your hands up in the air and step out of the car.” He kept his hand on the butt of his weapon. He didn’t want to draw it unless he actually had to. The officer called for backup before leaving his vehicle. They would be there any minute. He just didn’t want the driver to drive off and start a chase.
“Karla, do as he says, now...”
“But why do we have to put our hands up in the air?”
“Because the car is stolen dummy…”
Karla mouthed a big O before putting her hands up and out the window after unlatching the passenger door. She used the weight of her body to open it allowing her to step out of the vehicle and onto the side of the road.
Carol joined Karla on the side of the road out of the way of traffic.
Soon they were joined by another State Police car driven by a female officer, Officer Cassie Pondier. She did the frisking to make sure neither of the girls was carrying any weapons or paraphernalia.
Carol was darned glad she had gotten rid of the joint nub earlier that day. At least they couldn’t get her for having drugs on her.
Officer Cassie asked, “Where were you going in such a hurry?”
Karla spoke up before Carol could. All she could think about was poor Max. “We were trying to find help for our friend.”
“What friend,” asked Officer Lance.
Carol looked the officer in the eye, “Karla’s boyfriend is being attacked by another guy, my boyfriend Rod. We were looking to get him help. But we are afraid Max might be dead by now.”
“Why didn’t you just call 911?” Officer Cassie asked Karla.
“My cellphone is dead.”
“So why didn’t you charge it?”
“Because I didn’t bring my charger…”
Where about is your friend?” Officer Lance asked while he placed handcuffs on Carol.
Officer Cassie did the same with Karla.
Karla was miffed. “Are you arresting us? Don’t you believe us that my boyfriend might be dying at this very moment? Aren’t you going to help?”
“Young lady,” answered Officer Cassie, “you are under arrest for a stolen vehicle. Anything you say can and will be held against you….”
“But what about Max?” Karla insisted, “Are you going to let him die?”
The officers put Karla and Carol in the back seat of the car together allowing them to keep their hands in front of them with the cuffs on.
“Tell you what,” replied Officer Lance. “You tell us where this friend is, and we will send a car out to check on him.”
“But I don’t know the address,” responded Carol. “I know where it is, but I can’t tell you the address. It’s some hunting cabin on a dirt road off of a back road somewhere close to here.”
The two girls seemed sincere enough for Officer Cassie. “What do you want to do?” She asked the other officer. “I can follow you, and we can check out their story if you want, then take them to the station.”
Officer Lance looked at the girls in the back seat of his car and shut the door. He had a feeling about this too. For someone who had just stolen a car and having been pulled over, they were being too cooperative. Maybe they were telling the truth.
“All right…,” he answered, “But if their story checks out we will need to call in back up before going inside. I don’t want to leave these two alone in the car.”
Carol found herself trying to point the way back to the cabin, but her hands were cuffed making this almost impossible to accomplish. “Turn left here,” she said waving her hands around in front of her.
It was a good ten miles back to the cabin. This was a quick trip on the highway, but it seemed like it was taking forever to find the dirt road leading to the cabin as soon as they got off the highway.
Karla was a little bit afraid that they might not remember their way back and then poor Max, what would happen to poor Max if they didn’t get back to him in time.
Chapter 16 – You can’t take me alive
Rod heard the car start up. He knew what was going on. The sound made him stop beating his opponent and run to the door in an attempt to stop whoever was taking off in his car. He was too late. All he could do was stand there and watch Carol and Karla back out of the driveway and almost take a fair size tree out in the process.
He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. How could she do this to him he wondered? The bitch took his wheels.
The sun flickered through the leaves making the lighting flicker. Thunder still sounded off in the distance. This only intensified his disorientation.
Why the hell did he go and smoke that stuff? He knew it was going to mess him up. But just for that one moment he felt ultimately good from the stuff. Then Max began staring at him – why did he have to go and do that anyway… the high felt so good and then Max had to go and ruin it.
Rod gave up on getting the car back. He had chased it a few yards down the street only to pitch a rock at the back window. It never connected. The car was way down the street before the rock fell to the ground. He waved his hand gesturing with his finger even though he knew it wasn’t going to do him any good. All he could do now was turn back and get his stuff from the cabin. He would be hoofing it from here on out until he could find another set of wheels.
How can someone feel so good and so horrible at the same time? That is just the way Rod felt. He had this looming feeling in him that something bad was going to happen. Maybe it was the way the sunlight filtered through the trees or the fact that he kept thinking he saw the tree shadows move. Could someone be possibly waiting for him behind the next tree?
The cabin door was slightly ajar. Rod was sure he had closed it all the way. He put his back up against the door and moved partially inside the cabin. Max’s body was gone. Where the hell did he go? Was he lurking around a corner inside the cabin or maybe that was the shadow that he kept seeing behind the trees?
“Shit…” Rod said as he backed his way out of the cabin. There was no telling where Max may have gone. He reached down to put his hand on the door handle with the intent of shutting Max inside. A bug – spider as huge as a rodent ran up the door and onto his arm. He let out a scream and began slapping at his arm. He hated and feared spiders most of all. If only, he had that knife Max had been using, he would have been able to kill the frigging thing. Instead, all he could do was continue to slap at his arm in panic.
Rod heard the sound of the vehicles coming down the road. They were coming for him. He knew it was only a matter of time before they knew that he had left Brantwood with the cash from the gas station. How they had tracked him down out here was beyond him, all he knew was that he needed to get out of there fast.
He looked around. There was nothing around that could be used for a weapon except for a shovel leaning up against the cabin. It would have to do. Rod stood ready with a shovel in hand. He would never let them take him alive. His feeling of dread was still there, and he was sure this wasn’t going to end well.
The shadows behind the trees began to change. Large spiders crawled from the woods toward him. He brandished the shovel waving it at the army of spiders, keeping them at bay.
Officer Lance could see someone standing outside the cabin holding a shovel ready to strike. This was not considered normal behavior when greeting a police car. He stopped short of the driveway and radioed the car behind him telling Officer Cassie about the situation. Then he called for backup. Most likely from the looks of things the girls may have been telling the truth and their friend may be in trouble inside the cabin. There was no telling what this guy was on, or maybe the girls had the answer to this question.
“Cassie, a
sk the girls what he is on…”
Cassie had a full view of the girls in her rearview mirror. They were going to have to wait a few minutes before they could act, and backup was going to be needed by the looks of things. Lance was right to ask. If they knew what this guy was on, they would know how to interact with him.
“What is this guy on? Or, does he have some kind of mental illness,” she directed the questions to the backseat of the car.
“I don’t know what his problem is,” responded Karla, “All I know is that he all of a sudden for no real reason began beating up my boyfriend. It was like he was trying to kill him.”
“So you didn’t see him take anything, no acid or meth?”
Carol could see how whacked Rod looked holding on to that shovel. It was like he was going to take on the world with it. But, didn’t he know, shovels don’t stop bullets? The guy was definitely whacked.
Carol spoke up, “He smoked something from a packet in a crack pipe. He said it was legal and bought it at some shop on the beach.”
“What did it look like?”
“White packet that said Cloud Nine on it,” Carol replied, “The guy in the shop said you were to burn it like incense, not smoke it.”
Officer Cassie got on the radio immediately and notified dispatch about the situation and the other officers whom were now arriving on the scene. “The subject, He’s on Bath Salts…”
That’s all she had to say. Everyone knew what to expect, and it wasn’t going to be easy to subdue this guy without having to cause him some sort of bodily harm. Even with the use of Taser guns to do the job for them. They tended to cause more problems in the end. But that may be their only option.
Cassie wasn’t going to hang around and watch. As soon as she saw the first back up car arrive she put her car into reverse and left the scene.
The girls didn’t need to see this.
Karla and Carol, sitting in the back of her car were distraught enough over the fact that they hadn’t seen any sign of their other friend, the one whom they had gone to get help for. Most likely he was somewhere inside the cabin. Hopefully he was still alive. There was no telling what condition he was in after seeing the other guy stoned out of his mind from the bath salts.