Headless

by Robert Thompson

  He reaches the bottom of the stairs, and stops when he notices footsteps echoing on the wood above him. His breath slows with each step, as it grows louder, and louder. Thud; breath. THUD; breath. Each step bringing the stranger closer. Dougie stares at the door, waiting for it to open. Whoever was up there had stopped at the top of the stairs. What seems like an eternity passes in silence. He finally grows frustrated with the interminable silence.

  “Come on mother fucker! Come get some!” Dougie screams out, as adrenaline begins coursing through his body.

  His chest heaves, his pupils dilate and an instant feeling of sobriety overtakes him. His massive hand clenches the beer bottle so tightly it cracks. His breathing hastens as he cracks his neck, and grits his teeth. Dougie smashes the bottle against the wall, breaking off a nice bit to use as a knife.

  “Come on!” He roars out in anger.

  The door creaks open at the top of the stairs slowly into darkness. Dougie stares hard, trying to make anything out. He stands there a couple more moments, still not being able to see anything, and finally raises the glow stick, throwing it towards the top of the stairs. It disappears into the darkness. No one is there. Dougie looks around the candlelit basement, finding himself entirely alone, except for the heads of the deceased hanging above him.

  He exhales slowly, deeply, and lowers his eyes to the stairs in front of him. He takes his first step up, then another. And another. Finally, he looks up just in time to catch Caleb's skull directly in his face. The sudden bombardment takes him by surprise and he loses his balance, falling back down the stairs. He gasps out in pain, arching his back as the wind is knocked out of him.

  Dougie looks to his side, finding his best friend's head staring back at him. Half a strap on dildo still stuck down Caleb’s throat. A look of shock on his pale blue face. Dougie scrambles away from the head, in shock. He turns as several soft wet thuds follow. Tina's head bounces down the stairs, rolling to a stop alongside Caleb's decapitated head.

  “Jesus Christ! What the hell is going on!” He keeps pushing back away from the heads, and bumps into the small table in the center of the basement.

  He reaches up, grabbing at the sheet over the table and attempts to use it to pull himself up. However, it slips and sends him falling back to the ground, as the book and sheet fall too. He looks over to find a large glass cylinder built into the small table. In the center of it, surrounded by a soft green light, is a floating skull. The Horseman's skull.

  Heavy footsteps begin thudding down the stairs. The Horseman descends into the substructure. Dougie's eyes grow wide with shock, confusion and fear as the demonic mercenary turns towards him, the axe swaying in his right hand. The Hessian stands there motionless for a moment, before tapping Tina's head with the toe of his boot, and the head rolls between Dougie's legs, who sits back staring at the severed cranium.

  “No. You can't be real.” Dougie whispers, looking up at the Horseman.

  The Horseman spins the axe once, the razor-sharp blade swiping through the air at a high pitch. Dougie's eyes lower to the axe, as he climbs to his feet, brushing himself off. The Horseman takes a half step towards him, and Dougie raises his hands.

  “Hey! Hey! Hang on!” Dougie yells out, staring at his potential attacker. “Look, you're a soldier, right? A fighter. So give me a fighting chance, eh? When's the last time you had a good fight? Put the axe down, and let's handle this like men...”

  Dougie raises his fist. The Horseman stands there a moment, before dropping the axe. Dougie grins, feeling accomplished that he's conned his attacker out of a potentially quick death. This gives him a chance, at least. All he has to do is get past him, and outside. Dougie motions for the Horseman to come at him.

  “Let's do this, mother fucker.”

  The Horseman advances on Dougie, and grabs for him, but Dougie is incredibly fast for his build, and moves to the side out of the way. Dougie throws several left hooks into the Hessian's rib cage. As the Horseman turns on Dougie. Dougie grabs the Horseman by the back of his collar, and throws several knees into his abdomen. He lifts the monstrous figure up and throws it back across the basement floor.

  The Hessian stumbles across the dirty floor, landing on his stomach. Dougie stands up, laughing. As the Hessian starts to push itself up from the ground, Dougie runs and punts the mercenary in the shoulder, sending it rolling over to his back and slides into the wall. Dougie's adrenaline undermines his survival instinct and he runs at the Horseman as he sits there, and begins kicking it in the chest and abdomen repeatedly. The Horseman flinches with each attack.

  “You killed my boy! You killed my friends! And you think you're gonna kill me? Fuck you!”

  As Dougie lets up, the Horseman leans over, seemingly hurt for the first time. Dougie takes a few steps backwards, and turns around. Where is it? There...and he picks up the Horseman's axe. He turns and with a massive swing, he sticks it into the Horseman's chest and abdomen. The handle bounces off the wall above where the Hessian's head once was. It grips at the axe for a moment, before slumping over. A black viscous liquid oozing from the injury.

  Dougie spits on the Horseman's lifeless body, and makes his way to the stairs, jogging up them two at a time. He falls flat on his face, his head bouncing off the top step, and looks down to find the Horseman holding his ankle. The mercenary yanks the axe from his chest, dropping it to the ground, as he pulls Dougie back down to the basement with ease.

  The young athlete bounces off the wall, and grunts as he falls to his hands and knees. The Horseman advances on him, and Dougie pushes himself up from the ground, spearing the Horseman back into the wall, knocking over several candles in the process. The old items of the building ignite rather easily, starting a fire. The Horseman pushes Dougie back, away from himself, and Dougie twists, pulling the Horseman to the ground, and into an arm bar, extending as he feels the Horseman's arm crack in his grip. The mercenary grabs at Dougie seemingly in pain.

  As Dougie pulls harder, very much trying to remove the Horseman's right arm from his body, the Horseman turns over Dougie's legs. It climbs to it's knees, grabbing at Dougie's arm, and with ease climbs to it's feet, lifting the massive young man off the ground. The Horseman scuffles to the wall, and with a turn of it's hips, slams Dougie against the brick, as the room gets hotter. Dougie groans, letting go and falling to the ground, grabbing his side.

  Dougie climbs to his hands and knees, then stands up, barely able to keep his balance. He inhales deeply, and sighs out, raising his chin up as the Horseman's chest heaves. Dougie seems to have actually gave the demon a run for his money. Dougie grins.

  “Go ahead. Get your little axe, bitch.”

  The Horseman looks down, as the cut in his chest and abdomen from the axe heals over. The young man shakes his head, frustrated. The Horseman pulls his arm back and swings, throwing a straight right. Dougie's eyes go wide, as the Horseman's fist bursts into his sternum, and through his back. Dougie looks down at the Horseman's arm stuck through his torso, and coughs as he spits up blood. The Horseman rips it's fist from his chest, and holds it's bloody hand up in front of Dougie's face, before the young man falls to the ground, dead. With little time allotted to it, the Horseman walks to the axe, picks it up and makes it's way back to Dougie.

  The Hessian raises the axe above itself and swings down, removing the young man's head with a single swipe. It drops the axe next to the body, and squats down, picking up the cranium. After holding it up a moment and staring at it, Hessian raises the head up, placing it on his own neck. After a moment, the black liquid that oozed from his chest moves along the edge of the neck, building up to create some sort of flesh. Dougie's skin goes pale, as black veins work up into the skin, and the Hessian leans down, picking up the axe.

  It turns towards the stairs, a new, worthy, head on it's shoulders, and it's eyes open to reveal pitch black corneas. As the building goes up in flames, the Horseman makes it's way up the stairs, the trophy heads, Dougie's body, and the Horseman's original sk
ull, left to the flames.

  CHAPTER XXI

  Katerina buttons up her pants, sitting on the arm of the dusty couch. She grabs her shirt, pulling it over her head, and clears her throat, looking back at Amir, who is still resting his head on the back of the dusty old couch. A content and rested look on his face. He looks her way out of the corner of his eye, and grins. Neither saying a word.

  She brushes her hair back, and leans back, kissing him. He props her up with one hand, and rests the other on her hip. Katerina loves the feeling of his hands on her body. Strong, rough hands, but gentle and warm as well.

  “Did you enjoy it?” She whispered, pulling away. Kat wasn't often self-conscious, but like most people, sex has a way of bringing it out in her.

  “The best I've ever had,” he spoke softly in return, making sure to look in her eyes when he said it.

  He leaned forward and kissed her collar bone, as she smiled widely. She was glad that it had started raining. Too much tension, and too much drama tonight. This alone time was what she wanted more than drunk friends and ridiculous squabbles. To her satisfaction, Amir seemed to be just as pleased.

  She laid her head on his shoulder, as he ran his fingers gently through her hair, brushing it out. She could tell just from the feeling of it that their sexual activities had messed it up a bit, but she really didn't care. She could always throw it back in a ponytail and go on about her business, if her friends were going to pester her about why it was a mess. These types of things weren't worth getting worked up about.

  Tonight was a good night, she thought.

  The rain was pounding a rhythm on the roof above them. Kat was impressed with how few leaks there were. These people could build a sturdy house. She was certain if her childhood home had been left for at least a hundred years unattended, it would be in complete shambles. At least that's what her father complained about with every trip to the hardware store on his days off.

  Amir suddenly, and quickly perked up as thunder crashed outside. She flinched at his sudden reaction, but even being startled, he was mindful enough to grab her waist, so she didn't fall. She began to laugh at him being spooked by the storm, before she registered his face in the low-light, and saw the look of confusion.

  “What's wrong? It's just a storm.”

  “You don't smell that?” He looked around, before turning his attention to her.

  “Smell what?”

  The house they took shelter in was full of old dead things. Dirt, dust and grime, that had made it through two World Wars. And a faint rotting scent filled the air that could have been basically anything. It smelled wet, old and dead. But there was something new, she sensed. Not quite able to make it out from the rest of the smells filling her nose, and memory bank, but it seemed familiar...

  “It's fire,” Amir noted.

  She nodded. That's what it was; wood burning. Memories of high school campfires after Football on Friday nights, camp-outs, and the night she lost her virginity...no, we won’t be remembering that one.

  “Do you think I should go check it out?” He inquired, looking up at her.

  “It's probably just Harold or Danny fucking something up. Or Jackie saw a spider and said fuck these woods, didn't need them anyways. We're alone, I'd like it to stay that way.”

  She turned, straddling him and kissing him. He returned the kiss, resting his hands on her ass as she slowly ground herself into his groin. She felt him start to harden again against her thigh, and her kiss intensified, as she grabbed his face with each hand. He gasped and pulled away, shaking his head.

  “I need to go out and make sure they're alright.”

  “Probably a good idea,” she conceded.

  She knew she wasn't going to get his attention for the next round until he did he fulfilled his good-guy nature. He leaned up and kissed her once more, hoping to keep her satisfied enough before lifting her up, and scooting her back so he had enough room to get up.

  Katerina let him pass, and he was out the door in a flash.

  She fell back against the chair, and it returned a cracking sound, as the old wood gave way. If it was going to break on her sitting back on it, she questioned just how did it survive what she, and Amir had done? Kat reached out and patted the old piece of furniture, thanking it for not falling apart. She yelped out when the door burst open, and a soaked Amir, ran back in.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “We need to go, now.”

  “Did they get the van unstuck?”

  “Would you just come the fuck on? Please!” He screamed, extremely alarmed.

  She leapt to her feet at how scared he seemed. What happened? What did he see? She suddenly had a dozen questions, and had no time to ask a single one of them, as Amir grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her out of the old home.

  The town center was lit brightly now. At first glance, her mind took it as the moon being out. But it was still pouring rain. Amir whipped her around, and they found the very next house in a blazing inferno. The wall falling away and hitting the house they were just occupying.

  The flames licked at the old wood, and soon it was starting to burn. That's why he was in such a hurry. He saw the fire and knew it could spread. She hugged him tightly, staring at the flames as they reached up to the dark clouds looming low overhead. He placed an arm around her hip, and pulled her close to himself, as they watched the house burn.

  “What do you think caused it? Lightning hit it?”

  “Or one of the idiots. CALEB! DOUGIE! JACKIE! DANNY!” Katerina screamed out, as she looked around.

  Suddenly she realized they were very alone. No laughing friends. No joking about “bro, that's so awesome! Burn!” Where was everyone? The entire area was lit up brightly by the fire, and the smell of smoke was too thick in the air to ignore. Why were they the only ones who had noticed? Well, Amir noticed. She was too busy trying to get laid. Maybe that's where they all were?

  There was an uneven number, though. Images of Dougie and Caleb double-teaming Jackie popped in her head, and she shook the images from her head. It was the Freshman Christmas Party all over again. Kat pushed the wet hair out of her face, and raised her hand over her brow, shielding from the growing brightness, and the rain pouring down on them.

  “You think I should try to go in and make sure there's nobody in there?”

  Katerina looked at Amir. Was he really willing to run into a burning house for people he didn't know, or even particularly like? She had a whole new respect for him being willing to do this, even as she shook her head in the negative. He stared at her out of the corner of his eye, and she could tell he was weighing whether or not to go with her recommendation.

  The sound of wood bursting caught both of their attention. Surely the house had collapsed in on itself. She found herself grateful that he didn't decide to rush into the house and play hero. Truthfully, some part of Amir was happy about this decision as well, but he tried to force that down in an effort to maintain his air of confidence, and bravery.

  What they saw wasn't just the house collapsing in on itself, though. A beam had fallen across the doorway, certainly, but it was the figure making its way out of the house that caught their attention. The axe cut through the beam with such force that it echoed even over the roaring fire, and pounding rain. The figure kicked the wood out of the doorway and onto the muddy ground.

  “Is that Dougie?” She whispered, staring at the form, as it comes out of the flames.

  “I don't think so...”

  As big as her more tolerable friend was, Amir knew this person made him look small. He shook his head, watching the form outlined in flames, as it stepped out into the rain. They weren't on fire. How did they not catch on fire? Amir was both fascinated, and frightened at this massive individual. He raised his hand, as the flames were nearly blinding, and all they could make out was the figure's silhouette.

  “They look familiar to you?” He asked.

  “I can't see shit. There's just someone standing there,”
she grumbles. “Hey! Dougie, is that you?”

  The figure turns towards them, and starts to advance. Each step is taken in a long stride, and it makes its way towards them. Katerina steps in the direction of the figure, trying to get a better look and she grins, looking back over her shoulder at Amir, “It is Dougie! DOUGIE!”

  “I don't think so...”

  Kat attempts to pull away from him, but Amir grabs her arm, and holds her back. She looks back at him angrily, and he yanks her back, turning and pushing her to the ground. She hears the whistling pass over her head, but never sees what causes it, until the blade of the axe sticks into the wood of a pillar. She stares up at it in confusion, but Amir pushes her off him, and climbs to his feet. He pulls her up out of the mud, and pulls her away as the Horseman advances on them.

  “Who the hell is that? It looks like Doug!” Kat yells at Amir, as he pulls her along.

  Amir shakes his head. “I don't know, but it's not him. Run!”

  She looks back over her shoulder, seeing the figure still pursue them, as they run. It yanks the axe out of the wood, as it walks past, the wood splintering into pieces from the force of its strength. They stumble along together about fifty yards ahead, and opening, as their shoes dig through the mud.

  “Where are we going?” She yells out, running out of breath quickly.

  “Away from here!”

  He didn't have a plan, at the moment. Other than to run, that is. Which she was more than fine with, until they could figure out who it was that just tried to take her head off.

  CHAPTER XXII

  Katerina and Amir run through the mud as the rain washes down over them. The fire from the house behind them still lighting the entire area. The fire blazes too strong for rain to put it out. At least right now. They run deeper into the town, Amir still pulling her by the hand.