“Jim!” he heard someone whisper. For the first few seconds after hearing his name he thought he was dreaming. Just moving his head made his vision dim but he did it anyways so that he might see who was calling him. Maybe it was somebody from the other side come to help him on his way. He didn’t immediately see anyone but wasn’t too surprised. His vision was getting blacker around the edges at an alarming rate. Moving his head hadn’t helped much. Luckily after a few seconds of thinking he was passing out he was able to see a little better. Unfortunately that didn’t help. He still didn’t see anything.
“Jim over here!” called the whisper again. “It’s me Pete!”
Jim knew he was fading and the voice he heard actually was from the other side. He’d seen Pete shot in the back. That must be why it was him. When Jim had thought of death before he never thought he’d be greeted by Pete when it happened. He was almost disappointed. At least someone was there though and he guessed that was all that mattered. Looking around he was still unable to see where Pete was but moving around caused him to realize something. He wasn’t actually dead. If he could still feel pain then he was still alive. If he was still alive then he was still in danger. Wanting to slap himself for almost giving up he forced his eyes to focus and found Pete’s head sticking up above the window he’d jumped out of a few minutes before.
“Jim, wake up damn it! I need some help here,” Pete whispered a little louder. Once he saw Jim was looking in his direction he began talking again. Jim couldn’t hear most of it since his hearing had decided to rebel but he did hear Pete tell him he just needed to hold on for a little longer. He said the Goatman was almost there and that all he had to do was wait a little longer.
Great, Jim thought, the Goatman was almost there. Maybe he could talk him into putting him out of his misery since no one else seemed to want to. For someone who said she wanted him dead Maria was sure taking her time. But hey at least the Goatman was on his way. Yup, Pete was still crazy. Leave it to him to think some mythological creature was on the way. Forget all about going for actual living, breathing help. Not that it mattered much anyways since, if the thing was real, it wanted to kill him almost as much as Maria did if not more. Jim was still slowly processing everything when he was startled and almost smacked his head on the floor as shots split the night and pieces of wood started flying from the window frame where Pete’s head was.
“Damn he’s a fast little bugger!” Maria exclaimed. “Think I got him that time though. If not oh well.” She turned her attention back to Jim and smiled.
“I’ll just deal with him after you and I are finished.”
Jim’s concentration was lost as a result of the gunfire but he still tried to focus his eyes enough so that he only saw one Maria instead of three. One was bad enough, but three was enough that he almost asked for the gun to kill himself for her. It was too much trouble trying to see her so he just closed his eyes and rested his head on the floor. It was making his head hurt worse anyways. He figured he might as well be as comfortable as possible if these were going to be the last few moments of his life. He didn’t like giving up but there was nothing he could do. There wasn’t much he could do with one arm and no weapon. Maybe if the army or something came in right now they might live but as it stood now he could barely move his head without passing out much less fight for his life. Maria held all the cards. Opening his eyes he looked her way to see what she was doing and was saddened to see tow of her standing across the room from him. Gun in one hand, gasoline can in the other. Not a good mix. She saw the direction of his gaze and smiled. “Don’t worry; it’s still the axe for you and the tart. I can’t use the gun on you. It wouldn’t fit the story. Remember? The Goatman carries an axe not a gun, silly.”
Nonchalantly tossing the gun over her shoulder she slowly sauntered over to Jill. Staring at Jim she slowly began spilling the contents of the can around Jill’s feet. The smell of gasoline slowly reached his nose making him sneeze. This just added more agony to his already tortured body. He was clear headed enough to wonder how the whole house wasn’t an inferno by now. Between the two of them rolling around a little while ago to the gasoline it was a wonder they weren’t toast by now.
Squinting he saw the interior actually did look a little darker than he remembered. He assumed the darkness was a result of his head injuries but that apparently wasn’t the case. Adjusting his head he saw most of the candles that had been lit the last time he’d seen them were now scattered, smoking as they died. Maria must’ve taken advantage of the time he’d been unconscious to extinguish most of them so she could draw out her little plan as long as possible.
In his mind he still struggled to regain enough of his senses to mount some kind of resistance; he couldn’t let it end this way, but his body wouldn’t obey him either. He was still having a lot of trouble breathing and his arm was still dead. His hands and knees were the farthest he’d been able to make it since his pummeling had begun. He didn’t know what to do. If there were ever any option he hadn’t seen them. Now all he had to pin his hopes on was a creature that didn’t exist. Oh yeah, said creature wanted to kill him so there went that idea.
Through a haze of pain he watched Maria as she danced around the room dumping gas here and there like it was water instead of a flammable liquid. While most of the candles were out he knew some were still burning otherwise they wouldn’t be able to see. It wouldn’t take much for a small flame to become a big one. Especially in an old place like this. It would go up like it was made of paper.
She made it most of the way around the room when she suddenly stopped and tossed the can to the ground. Bending over she shifted some boards and papers out of her way, let out a small squeal of delight and stood up.
“Looky what I’ve found Jimmy!” she shrieked happily.
Shit, Jim thought, she found the damn axe. Why couldn’t Pete have made himself useful and grabbed the damn thing before he left. At least then he would have been of some help instead of running around spouting stuff about the Goatman. He really did sound like some kind of freak when he did crap like that.
“So, which one of you do you think I should kill first?” Maria asked no one in particular. “Maybe I should do the Eany, Meany, Miney, Moe thing. That always works in the movies. Then again I could do the Rock, Paper, Scissors stuff but that’s no fun alone.”
She stood thoughtfully for a minute.
“Oh! I know! We can draw straws!” she said jumping up and down. “Wait a minute. Jilly isn’t awake enough for that. This is really a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be.” She stood undecided for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and walking towards Jim.
“Well,” she began sounding somewhat sad, “since Jill won’t be awake for a while I suppose you and I will just have to have our fun first. Nothing that will kill you or anything like that. We have to wait until I kill Jill for that. Who knows, maybe if we’re lucky your yelling and screaming will help wake her up, then I can have some fun with her while you watch. You have to watch you know.” Pausing again with a finger to her lips, “No, I think we’ll just make sure you’re in a lot of pain first. The fun stuff will come later.” She took a step closer fingering the blade of the axe, “Let’s see, where should we…” she was abruptly cut off as a tremor shook the floor. Jim could almost swear he heard a ringing sound accompany it but he guessed that was probably just from his injuries.
Dust sifted down from settling around them in a cloud. Jim could hear groans of protest sounding from the upper floor of the house. Maybe someone was looking down on him. If he was lucky the house might come crashing down around them. If he was really lucky it would just fall on Maria, killing her allowing him and Jill to make their escape.
“What the hell was that?” Maria yelped.
Almost as if it had been waiting for some signal the tremor rocked the house again. Pieces of plaster fell from the walls this time. Jim’s hopes rose as he thought about something falling on Maria. He also heard the ri
nging sound again. It sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn’t remember from where
Maria looked unsure of what to do. Obviously what was happening wasn’t part of her grand plan. She looked around the room like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes were wide and darting all over the place trying to find the source of the miniature quakes. He’d actually like to know himself.
Glancing at the front entrance to see if maybe Pete was there causing this he saw nothing. He briefly entertained the possibility that Pete might’ve been able to reach someone and they come to the rescue like the proverbial cavalry. Apparently that wasn’t the case. There was some other explanation for what was going on. He just didn’t think he would be around to find out what it was. His vision was blurring quite a bit around the edges. If it wasn’t for the situation it might’ve been kinda interesting but as it was it was just a bad sign of things to come. Looking at Maria he could barely make her out. Between the drifting dirt and dust and his failing eyes she looked more like a ghost than an actual human being.
Jim knew the combination of all his injuries were finally taking there toll on his mind. His body was telling him it was time to shut down for a while and relax. But he couldn’t. There was still a crazy woman with an axe he had to find some way to deal with so he willed his addled mind back to the brink of consciousness. He probably wouldn’t be able to talk her out of killing them but he could try. At the very least he would face his death awake just like his friends had.
“Come on,” he croaked, “this place is getting ready to fall down around our ears. Let’s go. We won’t tell anyone what happened. We’ll all just go our own ways.”
“You won’t tell anyone?” she repeated. “What do you think I am? My name isn’t Johnny. I’m not some puppy dog following someone around so close that if they stopped his head would go up their butt. Give me a little more credit than that.”
“You’re right,” he said gritting his teeth, “obviously something isn’t going according to your plan. Maybe you should just get out of here and leave us. That would work wouldn’t it? Nobody would find us for days. We might even be dead by then.” He couldn’t believe he was saying crap like this but he didn’t really have any choice. A bum arm and a rattled head weren’t the best things to have when trying to negotiate for your life. He was about to say more when the house suddenly shook again worse than either of the previous two times. Things fell from the roof, boards splintered in the walls, a crash sounded from another room then everything stopped. Nothing broke the silence but the echo of the metal on metal sound he kept hearing. It still sounded familiar to him. Almost like something from a dream he’d once had but he couldn’t remember what it was about.
“Well,” Maria said totally forgetting anything Jim might have said, “I don’t have the slightest idea what that was,” then to Jim, “but where were we?” She acted as if she were trying to remember. “Oh yeah, that’s right you were begging for your life like a little girl and I was ignoring you and getting ready to start cutting off little pieces of your body.” She sound really excited about this. “Let’s just make sure this is sharp,” she said as she reached up and plucked some hair from her head. Jim watched the dust cloud out from her head like a man on death row watched his lethal injection be plunged into his
IV.
The dust settled about her shoulders and chest but instead of watching what she was doing a slight movement in the doorway behind her caught his eye. He couldn’t see what it was but his heart started beating faster with excitement in anticipation of a rescue. Unfortunately this proved to be just a little too much for his throbbing head and body. As the blood pumped through his veins faster than he was used to a blinding pain shot to his head. He almost thought Maria had somehow kicked him again without him having seen her move. When the pain finally subsided, through blurred vision, he looked past Maria to the door. He could vaguely see the outline of somebody standing in the doorway. No, he had to correct himself, whoever it was filled the doorway. It must have been his injuries but Jim would’ve sworn it looked as if the doorway could barely contain whoever it was. Regardless of what it was it didn’t move. It seemed to be waiting for something.
Maria didn’t seem to notice and Jim had no intention of warning her about his possible rescuer. Instead he stayed where he was and kept his mouth shut. His vision was really starting to play hell with him. It was quickly giving way to blackness. He knew he wouldn’t be able to remain in the world of the wakeful and happy for much longer whether he liked it or not.
Beginning to drift off he remembered what Pete had yelled as he dove out the window earlier. He’d said they’d called the Goatman and that he was coming just like they’d asked. He just needed to wait a little longer. Jim was sure that whatever his pain filled mind was telling him was in the doorway couldn’t be much worse than the Goatman and was I all probability a whole lot better so more power to it. Maria had finished her inspection of the axe and quickly stepped closer to him covering the last few remaining feet between them before raising the thing above her head readying her swing.
“Any last words?” she asked.
“Yeah I think I do have some,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. He’d finally remembered why the ringing sound was so familiar. Unfortunately he couldn’t say anything since a coughing fit seized him. Everything in his line of vision flashed alternately between black and white. It didn’t help him much in his efforts at remaining conscious. Maria obviously hadn’t expected anything from him since the look of glee that had been covering her face turned to a pout as she waited for him to spit out his last words. Once he able to speak again he quietly whispered his final words in this world.
“Goatman,” he said once, “Goatman,” he said again gaining a little more volume, “Goatman,” he almost yelled for a third time, “Come get me! And come get me now!”
It was the most defiant thing he could think of doing at this point. He didn’t know why he’d said those words but somehow it’d felt right. It was almost sad that this was the most he could do in his current state but it would have to do. His head fell back to the floor with a thud causing his vision to fade even more if that were possible.
“What the hell was that all about?” Maria scoffed after she’d made sure she’d heard what she thought she’d heard. Jim barely heard her. The world was quickly leaving him or he was leaving it. He wasn’t sure which. When he opened his eyes he could still make her out but only just barely. He could tell who she was but that was about it. Any details about her escaped him. Not wanting to waste anymore energy he let his eyes shut until they were just barely cracked and all he saw was a sliver of the world in front of him. “Oh well,” she said seeing him drifting off, “time to make Jimmy feel just a little bit of my pain!”
He saw her arms start their downward swing when he suddenly felt the house shudder again. The ringing sound that accompanied it felt like it was piercing his skull. To her credit she only faltered a little but it didn’t matter. The axe was descending on a course that ended somewhere near the middle of his body. Steeling himself for the impact he forced his eyes open so he could at least defy her that little bit but the blow never landed. Instead Maria was knocked from her feet and slammed into a wall across the room by an arm the size of a tree trunk. Jim struggled to sit up but his body still wasn’t letting him do it. If anything he was worse from lying so still for so long. Gathering enough strength he looked toward where Maria had taken flight.
Gasping for air, he saw her roll over to her hands and knees trying to get her feet back under her. She still clutched the axe in her hand but what he saw next showed him that was the least of his concerns. He felt the floor shake again and saw a hoofed foot come into view. Numb with horror he watched as the arm he’d seen only seconds ago reach down and pluck Maria from the ground by her neck like she was a newborn baby. Unable to keep himself from following that arm back to its source he found himself gazing open-mouthed at a creature that looked like it had stepped from th
e pages of some satanic book.
The creature looked just as it had in his dream only more horrific than he could’ve possibly imagined. It’s horns sprouted from the crown of its head like small twisted trees, hairy legs that looked like they would be better suited to a buffalo tapered down into huge cloven hooves and last but not least the thing that had haunted his night for as long as he could remember. The Goatman’s' Axe. Not just any axe but one that might’ve at one time belonged to Paul Bunyan or some Norse God from the heavens. It showed glaringly clear even in the dim light. Looking at it Jim thought he could almost feel his soul being ripped form his body. He idly wondered if Pete were any where nearby seeing any of what was taking place. He really hoped he was because if Jim made it out alive he really wanted to know someone else saw what he was seeing. If this was some type of weird figment of his imagination he really did belong in the loony bin with Pete.
Maria dangled inches from the creatures face as it took its time studying her. Her face was turning nice shades of blue that Jim thought were quite becoming. The creature looked at her as if trying to decide what to do with the strange soft thing it had picked up. Luckily Maria chose that second to help it out in its decision. Using what little strength she had she raised her axe, which she’d somehow hung onto, and buried it in the creatures shoulder. Bellowing in surprise it dropped her in a heap on the floor.
“What the hell is that thing?” she screamed as she scrambled to her feet.
“The Goatman,” Jim said with a weak laugh.
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