Barns, Blood and Rock and Roll

by Joe Zito

  “We’re free now Jeanie. It’s safe up here. The falls will lead us to a better place.”

  The sound of rushing water was becoming clearer and more defined to Jeanie. She looked all around her. Puffy white clouds floated by her. There were stars in the sky as well; the same stars one would see on a clear night in spring but very much alive and sparkling with bright beauty in Jeanie’s lucid, midafternoon hallucination. The dreamy suspended feeling of being up high in the sky along with the slow and relaxing pull of the canoe was mesmerizing. A soft, warm brush of air blew through Jeanie’s hair. Ella was still smiling as if she too was enjoying the blissful, warm spring ride in the sky. Ella looked down into the field of yellow flowers. Jeanie followed her sister’s eyes and gazed downward also. She saw herself and Ella running through the meadow holding hands. A euphoric feeling came over Jeanie when she saw the sweet image of innocence far below. The sound of the falls was getting closer. Jeanie felt elated and utterly happy.

  “The falls will lead us to a better place Jeanie,” Ella said once again.

  In the distance Jeanie saw what appeared to be standing water in the middle of the meadow. It was a lake.

  “I love you Jeanie,” Ella said in her dreamy, slow motion like voice. Her voice seemed to dance with the warm wind.

  “Look,” Ella said.

  The sister’s looked over the canoe and down into the meadow. There, Jeanie saw her and Ella running through the brush of yellow dandelions, laughing. But the image of haunted dreams past showed itself down in the meadow and it was carrying a monster size axe. Jeanie inhaled a deep breath of horror at the bloody sight of the demon from the forest. It swung its axe high and droplets of ruby red blood showered the yellows flowers. Unbeknownst to the sisters, they were a lightning second away from deaths bloody kiss. Jeanie up in the canoe started waving her hands wildly and screaming at herself at Ella far below. They kept on running towards the lake but with deaf ears, not hearing the screams from above. In the canoe, Jeanie looked at Ella with terror and desperation. Ella just smiled back with her sweet and young innocence almost as if it was their fate. The demon was getting closer to the girls down below. They were almost to the lake and Jeanie above in the canoe could clearly see that the lake was made of blood. The demon was almost right behind them and the girls jumped into the bloody lake. Their bodies were coated and drenched in the red gore as they floated towards a large waterfall going over the edge of the meadow. Jeanie up in the canoe saw her and Ella down below embrace each other and engage in a slow, bloody kiss. Jeanie looked on in horror as she watched herself and Ella kissing in the lake of blood. And then down in the meadow, a young, blood drenched Ella turned her eyes to Jeanie high up in the canoe and whispered, “He’s coming for you Jeanie.” And blew her a kiss. Jeanie up in the canoe let out a frightful, chocked cry as she covered her mouth in sick terror. Ella sitting on the other end of the canoe cocked her head sideways and her eyes fell back into her head. She began to speak but it wasn’t her voice. It was her mother’s. And she spoke to Jeanie.

  Jeanie, this is your Mother. The devil man is coming for you Jeanie. Do you see him down there? He saw what you did last week and how you took advantage of your sister and bathed yourself in lust and incest. Did she taste good in your mouth, you little whoring witch! You make me sick. You are not my daughter. You are beyond dead to me. May you drown in a river of guilt for the rest of your life. He’s getting closer Jeanie. He’s going to chop off every one of your limbs!

  Just as the girls down below in the bloody lake rushed over the edge of the falls, Ella in the canoe sharply jolted her head straight up as bloody tears fell from her inverted eyes. Jeanie screamed. Ella hissed long and wretched like a witch, “The falls will lead ussss to a better plaaaccceee!”

  She laughed maniacally and dropped to the floor of the canoe. She dashed on all fours like a possessed animal towards Jeanie. Her blood streaked face came rushing fast at Jeanie.

  Ilikeitwhendirtymenfromtheforestfuckmyvagina!

  “Shh” Ella hushed to Jeanie in the cabin. “Almost done.” She said quietly. Jeanie felt something warm hit her back and heard a horrible grunting sound. They were done with her. The entire time she stared blankly into Ella’s eyes, watching the dreamy, bloody daydream of floating canoes in the sky and demons in a field and a lake of blood, but now reality had come home and she began quietly cry to herself. Big boy grabbed Jeanie by her buttocks and pulled her up off the table. He threw her down onto the floor. Ella, naked and smelling of filthy sex, went to her defiled sister. She cried and put her body over Jeanie as if to protect her.

  “All right gurl. Get up hur, C’mon now!”

  Ella had to keep her promise of letting the men have her again. And they did. When they were done the fingernail scratched surface of the wooden table was saturated with blood. Ella’s blood.

  An hour later, Ella lay flat on her back in the middle of the shack staring coldly at the ceiling, not saying a word after her rape. The big boy went to her and settled his hulking body on top of hers. His huge, fat knees pushed hard onto her shoulders, pinning her to the floor.

  “What are you going to do to her?” Jeanie asked in a trembling, horrified voice. “She’s bleeding down there. Please no more.” Her eyes flooded with tears as she chocked backed her sobs.

  “Shut yer trap girl!” Big boy barked.

  The skinny man was rummaging through some clutter of junk in the corner of the cabin.

  “Would you hurry the fuck up Scag! I wanna get to that skinny dippin’,” the fat hillbilly said to him.

  The skinny man responded, “All right, jesus!”

  “You dumb fucks!” The old man in the open blue shirt yelled at the other two. “No names shit for brains! Remember, I said no goddam names!” He spit tobacco juice onto the floor and went to whack the big boy upside the head all while Ella lay motionless under his sweaty mass of a body.

  “All right, all right, sorry, let’s just get on with it.”

  Get on with what? Jeanie’s mind overflowed with fear. Please god, don’t let them hurt her anymore. Dear god what are they going to do?

  “Whooo buddy, der she is, lookit!” The skinny man said sounding almost rejoiced.

  The fat hillbilly still with his fat body on top of Ella smiled wide, showing his yellow and crooked teeth. The old man lowered his eyes to Ella. She was looking back at him with her lips quivering from fear. Her heart felt like it was in her throat.

  The old man said, “Oh, were gonna have some fun now. You sit really tight now, ya hear pumpkin.” He began to laugh and then the rest of backwoods fucks joined him. Then, Jeanie’s eyes blew up wide at what she saw. In Scag’s hand was a bulky looking piece of machinery that roofer’s find very handy and a necessity in their work. A nail gun.

  “I’m gonna stick it in her pus,” the skinny man licked his lips and began walking towards Ella. “Hur I come now.”

  Jeanie screamed. And then the fat man started screaming to, mocking her terror.

  “For Christ sakes they’re just kids!” The man in the corner with the mysterious brown stains all over his body suddenly said.

  “Shut yer fuckin’ pie hole old man!” The skinny man shouted.

  Amongst all the fear and anxiety and screaming in the hot, smelly shack, the old man in the blue shirt perked up as if a thought had popped into his mind.

  “Now hang on a minute. The man may have a point,” he said looking cautiously at the other two hillbillies’, and then, “I have an idea. YOU!” He shouted and pointed at Jeanie. It startled her making her jump. The room was dead silent for a moment and then he said, “Shit in her mouth,” followed by a cunning smile that revealed his half toothless mouth.

  Jeanie felt hot and shaky and could feel her lunch from earlier rising in her throat at what she heard. She stood there in the cabin, silent, frightened.

  “I said shit in her fuckin’ mouth!” He barked.

  A disgusted, morbid frown formed on Jeanie’s face as she turned hea
d slowly back and forth telling the greasy, toothless hillbilly, “I will not.” And then she broke out into a cry.

  The greasy man went to grab the nailgun. He put it to Jeanie’s forehead with force. She cringed and whined a high pitch scream through her teeth. The other men started to laugh.

  “Go on. Move!” The old man said and he began guiding her to Ella.

  “Please for the love of god, they’re just kids!” The stained and chained man on the floor pleaded.

  “I thought I told you to shut your goddam pie hole!” He triggered the nail gun and shot a nail at the man but luckily missed. He positioned it back on Jeanie’s forehead forcing her to defecate in her sister’s mouth. And that’s when Jeanie realized what those brown streaks were on the man chained to the floor and on the decapitated woman in the corner.

  Suddenly Ella spoke, but not without chocked and stuttered sobs. “It’s ok Jeanie. I can take it. It’ll be ok. Just do as they say.”

  Jeanie all of a sudden felt like she was truly going crazy and wanted to scream and rip her hair out because of the dreadful situation and Ella’s calm logic and demeanor. Her mind whirled out of control.

  You can’t be that strong Ella. Why are you so brave and I am so weak?

  As much as Jeanie loved Ella, she couldn’t get over how mature Ella was at times and how amazing her resilience was as a person. She almost hated her for it. Jeanie often wondered if Ella knew how she felt. Growing up it was as if Jeanie was the younger sister and Ella was the oldest. Even at puberty Ella developed shapely curves and Jeanie was still straight. And Ella’s insatiable sexual appetite at such a young age sometimes frightened Jeanie; how does a fourteen year old turn out that way, Jeanie thought late at night in her bed. Already Ella has had three sexual partners and Jeanie only one. Despite all of this the sister’s couldn’t hide their love for one another. And now Jeanie was getting ready to do the unthinkable for just that reason. Because she loves Ella and wanted both of them to get out of this alive.

  Jeanie knew she didn’t have to ‘go’ even though she ate just two hours ago. The backwoods fucks weren’t going to let up either and she knew it. With the nail gun to her forehead, she positioned herself above Ella. The greasy man nudged at her head with the giant piece of machinery. With tears streaming down her face, she slowly squatted down over Ella’s face. She could feel Ella’s breath on her anus. It came in quick, scared breaths. Jeanie squeezed hard and released a small puff of gas into her sister’s mouth. Ella gagged. Jeanie broke out into a pathetic sounding sob of defeat, because she had no bowels to release into her sister’s mouth at the vile request of the men from the forest. And she knew because of that, both she and Ella were going to die from a three inch piece of metal being forged into their brains or somewhere else. “Oh my god. I just killed my sister because I can’t shit! I’m a failure! I’m a fucking…….”

  And that’s when Ella heard that first hellish scream from the forest. A haunting tone that would make her sleep with one eye open for the next three years until she finally shut it out with the help of Jack Daniels and Xanax. “Scream it out Jeanie; just scream out what you heard all those years ago. Go ahead, get it out of our mind,” is what her shrink told her when she was twenty. Although the shrink would finally cease her treatment when Jeanie was twenty one and had found the love of her life. His name was Derek. But for now in the present, she heard something out there in the forest. So did Ella. And so did the greasy, back woods rapists with a knack for terrorizing humans with games of shit and bloody rape.

  Those games ceased.

  The horrific screeching sounded to Jeanie like one thousand woman screaming in a sheet metal lined closet; shrill, brash, piercing and very loud. No one said a word. They were all frozen statues, pinned to the floor. The hell screech echoed again across the forest then finding its way into the cabin. Each hillbilly looked at one another. Jeanie could see the fear in their eyes. The big boy pulled himself up from Ella. She was relieved to have his girth removed from her body. The skinny man put his first finger to his mouth motioning a ‘sshh’ gesture. He silently mouthed the words “It’s junior” to the other greasy hillbilly’s. They shook their heads in agreement. Finally the old man in the blue shirt and khaki pants, the one who was willing to put a nail through Jeanie’s forehead only just a few minutes ago said, “How in the hell did he get out. It ain’t feedin’ time yet boys.” The big boy shook his head slowly and said, “No it ain’t. How the hell did he get loose?” The screech sounded again chilling Jeanie’s bones and soul. Ella sat up slowly, wincing at the pain in between her legs. Jeanie went to her and held her. Feeding time? What the hell is happening? Jeanie thought with a small burst of panic. The men huddled together in the middle of the cabin. They motioned to each other without saying anything. To Jeanie they looked like football players do when they’re all hunched over setting up there play. Then suddenly the screech hit their ears again and it was very loud and much, much closer. The greasy old man positioned himself next to the door with the nail gun firmly in his hand. Jeanie and Ella lay in each other’s arms looking on with scared eyes and terror in their thoughts. All Jeanie could see through the dirty glass window of the door was a mess of dark, green shrubbery and weeds, all faintly lit by the rays of the sun. But then something moved out there in the haunting green. Jeanie caught a glimpse of something big move its way through the trees, but had no idea of what it was. Then the old man stomped his foot on the wooden floor of the cabin. It made the girls jump. He said, “Come and get it junior. Come and get your snack. C’mon now, don’t be shy.” He glanced with hate in his eyes at the girls and laughed. The sisters tightened their grip around each other. And then Jeanie did see something through the window; something gigantic and grey. “C’mon junior!” The old man said again. The last thing Jeanie did see before the unknown thing crashed through the door of the cabin was a pair of giant, greyish looking bird wings. A violent shower of glass and wood exploded in front of Jeanie and Ella. It hit the floor making a sharp, shattering sound. Jeanie finally saw the thing that was making the shrieking tone from the forest in all its horrid glory that could turn her dreams black. Was it human? Was it an animal, or a bird? Its pallid grey, hulk of a body had monstrous sized black wings joined to its upper back. It screeched again and expanded them. Behold, this eerie, man beast bird thing, wild Kentucky brother. An ancient inbred nightmare from a tainted southern past, and manifestation of old southern lore as told by old men sitting in rocking chairs on log cabin porches from ages ago. What was this winged, bird human hybrid mess of Satan’s creation? The bird man’s body had a sickly, greyish tone and its skin looked as if it had hung out in the bathtub to long with its wrinkled skin. It had large oversized feet that looked like a birds feet. Its legs were skinny, and bony like a birds as well. Its face was narrow and deformed and had a cone shaped skull with just a few strands of stringy black hair on top. Its pointy chin almost formed into a V. But the thing that Jeanie couldn’t help but notice about this hideous creature was its extremely long phallus which just about touched the cabin floor. A bush of black hair surrounded it at the top. It reminded her of watching those sausage factory documentaries in school. And those giant fucking black wings!

  “Junior!” The old greasy man yelled.

  Yes indeed it was junior and he wasn’t here for his evening meal but for the blood of his brethren. No more would their inbred brother be confined to its moldy, wet cave of a prison where they had it chained, much like the shit covered man in the corner. The thing wanted their blood and now. It shrieked again. The volume of its shriek broke the glass on one of the windows.

  “Take it easy now junior,” the fat man said in a scared shitless voice. “Go on and get yer dinner right over there.” He pointed to the girls. The bird man glanced slowly at the girls and then back to its fat fuck brother from Kentucky. Its mind was made up as it lurched with hunger and hate in its bulging eyes towards the fat man. Just as it towered over his shaking brother the feeling of a sha
rp piece of metal shot through its back. The old man in khaki pants shot a nail from his trusty nail gun into the bird man. A screech of pain tore from its deformed mouth but then it reached behind and slowly pulled out the nail. Forgetting about the fat brother, the bird man went in for the kill stomping towards the old man. It shrieked into his face. Ghastly spittle projected onto the old man. The bird man gripped its long, boney fingers around its brother’s neck and squeezed all while lifting him up almost to the ceiling. Jeanie looked on in horrified yet amazed eyes at what she was seeing. The creature tightened its grip until finally the old man’s neck had separated from his body. A loud, heavy plop sound was made when the he crashed to the floor; his shirt soaked in his own blood from it overflowing from his wide open neck. The thing turned and made its way toward the girls. As if by instinct both Ella and Jeanie sprouted up quickly from the floor and retreated back away from the hideous grey colored bird beast, as far as they could get. The fat brother positioned himself behind its strange, inbred half man half-brother and aimed the nail gun at its head. He pulled the trigger three times on the handy roofer’s tool but the poor fat bastard missed. Instead of them going through the bird man’s skull like he intended, the lightning fast speed of the nails drove themselves into Ella’s smooth stomach. She formed an O expression of shock, but mostly disbelief on her face. Her hands cupped around the nails sticking out of her belly. She looked down to the floor. Her brown hair fell around her face like a curtain closing on this bloody horror show. She fell backwards into Jeanie who was standing right behind her. It was a slow descent to the floor for both sisters. The bird man stood there looking curiously, almost sympathetically at the girls as he cocked its head to the side. Jeanie’s eyes became flooded with tears as she put her arms around her dying sister. The nails were lodged deep into her gut. Blood spilled out of her at an even flow. She was going to die in the hot as fuck hell hole that stunk of blood and shit. Jeanie stood up, but she didn’t know why. Maybe she wanted the bird man to come after her and kill her so she wouldn’t have to see her sister die. Or maybe she wanted to run and scratch out the fat fuck brother’s eyes and rip out his heart for killing Jeanie, but instead she said morbidly, “Come and feed, I’m right here. This is what this is all about anyway right? We’re fucking lunch!” The room started spinning. It was all too much: getting hit in the head with a ball bat in the forest, waking up in a stuffy, hot cabin to the sounds of Ella being raped and loving it, her evil witches face, Jeanie being raped, this weird bird, creature thing, that fucking bloody demon and his giant axe. Her legs were shaky and then they gave way. She collapsed to the floor next to her near dead sister.