Come Get Me

by Michael J Hunter

  “Shut the hell up!” she yelled gripping her axe in both hands readying for another swing.

  The creature had retreated a few steps to examine its wounded arm. It turned its head and sniffed the place Maria had struck it. Looking up it hissed at her in what could only be anger.

  Maria darted forward and swung her axe again, connecting with only a glancing blow this time. It wasn’t enough to actually hurt the creature but it did make it mad. With blood that looked slightly green running down its arm the thing hefted its axe and warily advanced on Maria. It moved slowly, taking its time almost as if it were stalking her even though she was right in front of it. Jim couldn’t understand why it didn’t just use its superior size and strength to end things quickly. As he watched through hazy eyes he saw that it seemed to be herding her towards the door. He was surprised it was being so nice. He wanted to yell at the thing and ask what the hell it thought it was doing. If it kept moving her the way it was she would escape.

  That couldn’t happen.

  If she got away she would just run back to town and act like she was the victim in this whole mess. He was pretty much an outsider after all these years plus everyone knew Johnny was in love with her. All she would have to do is tell everyone he and Jill had abducted her for some kind of kinky stuff that she didn’t want to do and when she refused he threatened to kill her. He could see exactly how it would all play out in his head. She would have the whole town ready to shoot on sight by the time they made it back. He just couldn’t understand why the creature was trying to let her go.

  Maria, in full bloodlust now, didn’t realize what the creature was doing until she felt a breeze on her back. Quickly glancing over her shoulder she saw nothing but the doorway to darkness and freedom. Smiling, she took another tentative swing at the creature, almost as if she were testing the waters. Instead of striking out at her, the creature retreated a step. It dipped its head towards the door as if trying to tell her to leave.

  Seeing the pleading look on the Goatman’s face, Jim suddenly understood what it was doing.

  The thing didn’t want to kill her. Even though everything she did was aimed at harming since it stepped foot in the house, the creature still didn’t want to harm her. Looking back over her shoulder then at the creature again she shook her head.

  “Hell no I’m not going,” she yelled at it. “I still got work to do on Jimmy boy. I’m going to take your damn ugly head then I’m going to take his. Think I’ll hang them on the wall next to each other.”

  Not giving the beast a chance to make a move, she quickly made an awkward swing at the things leg but missed. Overbalanced by her overconfidence, she was surprised when the beasts arm shot out and clenched an iron grip around her throat. It pulled her close, making sniffing noises and shaking its head like it didn’t like what it smelled.

  Maria, not one to be defeated so easily, continued struggling. She reached up with her hands and tried prying the creatures hands from her throat, kicked her legs trying to hit some vital spot that might make it let go; she even tried spitting in its face but that’s hard to do when you’re having a hard time breathing.

  It hissed in her face, spraying her with spit and mucus tossing her aside. Jim couldn’t believe it. The creature turned its back on her and slowly walked towards Jim and Jill. The creature hesitated when it reached them as if trying to decide which one to help first. Jim was about to tell it to tend to Jill when he saw something leaping through the air behind him. His words of direction turned to a feeble yell of warning. The Goatman spun just in time to have the axe Maria had been using planted in its chest. Jim saw his hopes of making it out of here alive fall to the floor. He wouldn’t have thought it was possible for someone as small as Maria to kill a beast like the Goatman but she seemed to have just done it.

  “That takes care of one of you,” she rasped as she yanked the gore covered axe from the brutes’ body. “You’re next,” she said staggering in his direction.

  “Lucky me,” he laughed. Why not? He had nothing to lose.

  “I’ve waited a long time for this you little bitch,” she spit at him as she loomed over him. Well, not exactly looming, more like leaning. Leaning on the axe like it was a cane if he wanted to be exact about things. If only he had any energy he might be able to beat her. The Goatman had softened her up for him but too bad for him his limbs weren’t obeying him at the moment. First he’d gotten his ass beat by a girl. Now he was going to get killed by that same girl after she finished killing a creature that by all rights shouldn’t exist. If anyone had told him he was going to die like this he would’ve had them committed.

  Maria slowly raised the axe and Jim closed his eyes. He didn’t think he wanted to see what came next. After a few seconds he realized he was still alive and thought he shouldn’t be. Cracking an eyelid he looked up and saw Maria standing there just like she had been a few seconds ago. But there was something different. The Goatman’s hand was around her throat again. That couldn’t be right, he thought. The Goatman was dead, wasn’t he? Maria’s face was turning a brilliant shade of purple and her eyes were starting to protrude a little farther than Jim thought might be healthy for her when he heard a snap. He was reminded of braking branches when he was a child. At the sound of the snap Maria’s body went slack. Then she was unceremoniously dropped on the floor where she landed with a thump. He couldn’t really turn his head to see her and was pretty sure he didn’t really want to. His attention was caught by something else.

  The Goatman was swaying back and forth in front of Jim looking for all the world like he might follow Maria to her resting place. He really hoped that didn’t happen considering he was the only way they were going to get out of here. The gash in his chest seeped something but Jim was pretty sure it wasn’t blood. Focusing his eyes as best he could he swore he saw movement in the things chest. He was pretty woozy but he was sure the hole was closing. It took a few more second but after what could’ve only been a minute the wound was no longer there. The only thing left was another scar that matched all the others. The beast shook its head like a horse, flexed its chest muscles and stood straighter. It was completely healed. Jim just wished it was that easy for him.

  Even after everything it had done for them, when the Goatman moved towards Jill he wanted to scream. All he could do was watch as the creature looked at first one of her hands then the other trying to figure out how to get her down. Jim strained himself into a sitting position to get a better look but it cost him. Stars danced in his vision for a few seconds before everything went black. Drifting off into unconsciousness he whispered an apology to Jill for not being able to save her and for ever getting her into this mess. It didn’t make him feel any better since he was sure she would never hear it.

  He wasn’t sure how long he was out when he was suddenly shaken from his forced slumber. The creature was hovering over him sniffing him the way it had Maria a little while ago. If he could’ve he probably would’ve screamed. He knew he was indebted to it but the creature still wasn’t the prettiest thing he could think of. Especially after being forced to wake up.

  Seeing he was awake the beast raised its head so that they were eye to eye. Dreading having to look at the creature much less stare it in the eye Jim squeezed his tightly shut. Jim could feel its breath blowing gently across his face. It didn’t smell as bad as he thought it would. Actually it smelled almost like flowers. He still kept his eyes shut. It might be some kind of trick. The brute didn’t seem to care. It seemed content to wait him out.

  Finally after what seemed an eternity Jim gave in. Cracking his eyes he found exactly what he expected but then not what he expected. He was face to face with The Goatman. Instead of the animal savagery he thought he was going to see he saw something surprising. Kindness and caring seemed to reach out from the creature’s eyes and wrap him in a warm embrace. All his life Jim had heard horror stories about this creature and how it had killed and maimed too many people to count but looking into its eyes he couldn�
�t believe it. He knew it wasn’t true. This creature had never harmed anything that hadn’t harmed it first. All the stories were just that. Stories.

  Not taking its eyes from him, he, as Jim was now thinking of it, gently picked him up and cradled him to its chest like a lost child. Turning swiftly from the room, it strode from the house barely looking away from Jim to see where it was going. Jim could only look up, smiling at it in wonderment. The creature gave him what must have passed for a smile and said in a rough voice unused to speaking, “You called and I came.” The sound was like two trees rubbing together in a strong wind. They seemed to echo in his head for a few seconds. After the words faded to nothing but a memory Jim was unsure if he even heard it right.

  Wanting to ask it all the questions that were almost brimming over in his mind Jim found he was unable to. His body once again chose the most inopportune time to hit the shut off switch on him. As he slowly passed out he knew he was in no danger as long as he was in the creatures arms. What had scared him for life was now like coming home to a familiar friend he’d never known he had. All these years they thought the Goatman was out to hurt them but they had it all wrong. He was only there to help. If he actually chased them when they were kids it was probably only his way of playing. The poor creature life had to be one of the loneliest in existence. Now Tommy and Rob would never know the wonder of meeting this wonderful creature. With that unhappy thought floating through his head he was out.

  He awoke some time later to the alarming smell of smoke. Opening his eyes too quickly he found he was momentarily blinded by a bright light. Not immediately understanding where he was he tried to sitting up but quickly found he was unable to. As his eyes adjusted he saw that the bright light was just the morning sun. He must’ve been out for quite some time. Making small movements trying to sit up he felt his muscles scream their protest. He was sore from head to toe not to mention spikes of pain still shot through his body every time he tried taking a deep breath. Turning his head slowly to keep the pain to a minimum he found Jill curled up on her side not more than two feet away. He could see her breathing was deep and steady and felt as if a great weight had lifted from his chest. She was ok and so was he. Quickly thanking God that she was ok he looked in the other direction and was greeted by the smiling face of Pete who was propped up against a tree.

  “Got any hot dogs?” he giggled pointing towards Jim’s feet. Jim looked down between his legs and saw the house from last night. It didn’t look that bad by daylight he decided. Especially since it was on fire. One of the candles must’ve finally caught on something and then that was all she wrote. It was well on its way to being nothing but a bad memory. As he watched what was left of one of the ground floor walls fell over in a shower of sparks.

  Pete began laughing for no apparent reason and for no apparent reason Jim soon found himself joining in. This once again proved to be too much for him. He quickly fell back hitting his head on the soft ground behind him. It was just enough to send stars shooting through his vision and make him pass out again. He could still hear Pete’s laughter and the sound of approaching sirens as he started to dream of a familiar dream but his time it wasn’t scary. This time it was just a normal dream about a walk through the woods. The Goatman wasn’t physically present but Jim’s dream self knew all he had to do was call and he would come.

  Epilogue

  The two of them sat in comfortable silence on the front porch of their newly purchased old house watching the sun slowly set over the horizon. After all the moving they’d done recently it felt good to be able to just sit and relax a little now and then. It would take a while before the place felt like a home but it was theirs and they were together and that was all that mattered.

  The events that occurred over the past couple of months were already fading in their memories and those of the town. For the first couple of days after the events of that horrible night they weren’t left in peace for more than a few minutes at a time. Finding three people in the middle of nowhere next to a burning house was bad enough but after sifting through the rubble and finding two bodies they almost ended up being locked away for good. It was even worse when those two bodies were identified. The police had nothing but questions and threats after that.

  They’d finally gotten the hint after about two weeks. The story they heard was always the same with nothing that could be proved or disproved either way. It was their words against those of dead people. This time the evidence had supported the living. The cops were still confused as to what had actually happened but Jim, Jill and Pete had no more answers to give them. They’d said all they could say about what happened. Well, at least Jill had told them everything she knew which wasn’t much. She luckily slept through everything that happened. The one thing that she did shed light on was how she’d been abducted.

  Apparently when she’d been out for her walk Maria had come upon her in a hysterical state saying all kinds of crazy things. When she’d finally gotten her calmed down enough that she could understand her what she heard terrified her. Maria told her that Jim found her and demanded to be taken out to the place Tommy had been killed. Jill thought this sounded funny and said so but Maria explained it away saying that her and Jim had been old childhood friends and that they hadn’t parted on the best of terms but that they had made up since he came back and had come to her for help since she knew just about everything that went on in town. After that the scenario played much the same as it had with Jim. She was taken out to the abandoned house and jumped from behind. Instead of leaving her free to wake up on her own though they drugged her. They used a little more than they should of though which explained why she was unconscious for so long.

  Jim and Pete, when asked had just told a seemingly outlandish tale of a lover scorned. They said Maria was crazy and had somehow gotten Johnny to go along with her plan to make Jim lover her. They also made sure that the police understood that part of Maria’s great plan was blaming the local legend for everything that happened. At first they weren’t believed. It was too crazy. Most of them knew Maria. A few of them had even dated her. They were ready to throw the both of them in the asylum until they were finally searched Maria’s house. Then the story was suddenly much more plausible.

  Upon entering her home they’d first been confronted by a normal everyday single woman’s home. Then one of the officers had been being a bit of a pervert and was looking through Maria’s underwear drawer looking for a souvenir when he’d stumbled across some pretty damning evidence. A nice hefty stack of pictures was found in the back of the drawer buried under everything. Flipping through the pictures they found little notes Maria had made to herself about when she’d taken them. But that wasn’t all they found. In the back of her closet hidden behind a few old boxes they found notebooks filled with love letters and stories all dealing with one person.

  Jim Collins.

  Apparently Maria had a very vivid imagination and liked committing most of it to paper for later remembrance. After finding all this stuff it was pretty hard not to believe their story.

  Then they found the goat.

  In the woods behind her house they found what was left of a rotted goat. After doing some checking, the police found that one had been stolen from a town a few miles away. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The police quickly apologized for detaining them so long and released everyone but Pete. They wanted to know what his part had been in the whole adventure. That took a little more explaining but he too was eventually freed with no charges filed against him. The only thing that was ever mentioned about the creature was how Maria was going to blame everything on it. Nothing about how it saved them. They knew if it was ever mentioned that asylum was still out there waiting for them.

  Jim knew why he wasn’t talking but couldn’t understand why Pete didn’t. He, unfortunately, was going to be staying in a mental hospital for a while. Not a full blown asylum, but close enough. With Jim’s help Pete’s parents had finally convinced him he needed to
get some help. If nothing else he could rest for a while. Jim kept his mouth shut so he wouldn’t have to join him.

  When the police and ambulance had arrived at the smoldering ruins and found them, Pete had lapsed back into talking to himself about the damned purple dinosaur again and laughing at a joke only he had heard. Who knows maybe he was laughing at the world around him and the people who thought they were sane. After talking to Pete with his parents Jim didn’t see him again until the day they took him to the mental hospital. Jim went to see him off with his arm in a sling. He tried not to be too sad about the whole thing because he knew Pete would at least have some peace and quiet where he was going. He also wouldn’t have to worry about lighting his nightly fires anymore. But he was still sorry to see him go. Maybe Pete would be sane enough to return to the outside world again someday. Jim wanted to be there waiting for him. He hoped now that Pete knew he didn’t have to fear the creature he would be able to get better a lot sooner than the doctors were telling everyone. Jim wasn’t holding his breath though. This was Pete they were talking about after all. Jim was hoping Pete would say something, maybe act like his normal self, before he left to give everyone a little hope but he didn’t. As he got in the van to leave Jim heard Pete mumbling about the purple dinosaur again and decided he needed to get to the bottom of at least this part of Pete’s problem before he could let them take him away. He walked over to say goodbye and quietly asked what the whole thing with the dinosaur was about. Surprisingly Pete looked at him and smiled like his old self.

  “Oh, that?” he said happily. “It was just something I saw on TV one day that bothered me so much I can’t get it out of my head. Kinda like one of those damn jingles you hear on the radio. That stuff annoys the hell out of me.” Then with a wink and a wave he climbed into the van and was off.

  Jim couldn’t help but laugh. Something as simple as that and it made him seem like a raving lunatic. He decided Pete really was laughing at the world when he giggled to himself.