The Field

by Ian Dawson

  Daniel cleared the bottom and sides of the window frame of broken glass using the piece of wood.

  He heard the front door being kicked in, the chainsaw once again only a wooden door way. “I need you to climb out. I’ll be right behind you.” The chainsaw revved inside the house as he helped Colby climb through.

  He handed Colby his special piece of wood and joined Colby outside.

  They were finally free.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

  Austin could hear the dog barking over the sound of the idling chainsaw as he stepped through what remained of the front door. He had cut it neatly in two: one half on the ground; the other still connected to the hinges.

  He let the dog out of his uncle’s room. The dog raced out the front door.

  Where the hell were they? He spied the closed door to the garage. Did they corner themselves inside? Excellent. He looked down at the chainsaw. Why stop at slicing a door apart? Why not flesh and bone?

  He turned the knob and pushed. It didn’t budge. He revved up his trusty friend and began to slice through.

  Where the hell was James?

  As Kyle made his way around the side of the house, the deafening shriek of the chainsaw filled his ears. He saw what remained of the front door, and through a small side window that looked into the kitchen, he saw the boy in black ripping through the door in the kitchen that led to the garage with chainsaw.

  Kyle had a hunch about what the older boy was so determined to get at on the other side and kept running.

  James heard the whine of the chainsaw and opened his eyes. His head was throbbing, he could taste blood, and he knew without touching it that his nose was broken.

  He saw that the burning frame of the shed had ignited the branches of the trees above it. The flames devouring the trees that surrounded Austin’s uncle’s house were getting closer to the roof of the garage.

  It was already hard for him to breathe with a broken nose, and the building smoke wasn’t making it easier.

  He slowly got to his feet with the help of the doorknob on the door leading to the backyard and stood. He wavered slightly, almost lost his balance, but used the side of the house to keep him steady.

  As he turned the corner, he saw them in the faint glow of the firelight: Colby and the other boy were outside the garage window.

  Should I help them? Stop them? He knew deep down what he had to do. He had no other choice but to face the consequences of his actions.

  He would have to distract Austin by any means necessary and let them escape.

  Daniel picked up the piece of wood as he and Colby crouched down beside the window, ready to escape, when he heard a low growl behind them. He turned to see the Rottweiler staring at him and Colby in the moonlight. Colby grabbed Daniel around the waist.

  Daniel didn’t want to hurt the dog, but if it came between them and escaping, he knew he’d have no choice.

  As he raised the piece of wood, he heard something hit the ground farther away from him. “He likes corn dogs,” said a familiar voice in the darkness.

  Daniel turned around and saw Kyle. “Kyle?” he said.

  “I know, I’m awesome. Can you run?”

  Daniel’s left foot had gone numb, along with his right side. But neither inconvenience was going to slow him down. Daniel nodded.

  “Who’s this?”

  “This is Colby Emerson.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Kyle said. “We have to go. Hurry.”

  Daniel watched as Kyle stopped and looked behind he and Colby. Daniel turned his head toward the street.

  Daniel, Kyle, and Colby made their way out from the side of the house, being cautious not to be seen as they crossed down the driveway.

  Daniel could still hear the chainsaw inside the house, which was a good thing as Daniel and his companions headed down the street toward the construction site.

  James breathed a sigh of relief as best he could. They had made it out alive, which was all that mattered at this point. He knew that as soon as Austin discovered they were gone his only solution would be to kill them on sight.

  James knew he had to make sure Austin never got that chance.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

  Austin made it through the top half of the door. As he neared the bottom, the chainsaw made a squealing sound and got stuck. He cut the engine, put the chainsaw on the kitchen table, and used one of the kitchen chairs to bash the top half of the door in.

  He looked inside. Across the room he saw the shattered window.

  He dropped the chair on the kitchen floor and looked over at the stove.

  The kettle was boiling now; steam rose from its large gaping mouth. Austin turned off the burner and removed two potholders from a nearby drawer. “Oh, James,” Austin called in a sing-song voice.

  James stood in the doorway with the remains of the front door. He hesitated going inside. The thought of he and Austin alone in the house while Austin was wielding a chainsaw didn’t put his mind at ease, but he knew what he had to do.

  He knew he was a dead man walking. And he had made peace with that.

  James entered the house and came into the kitchen where Austin stood by the stove.

  “Did you get them?” James asked.

  “No. No. They escaped through a window in the garage.”

  “Oh. That’s too bad.”

  “Too bad for you,” Austin said. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” Austin splashed James with the boiling water from the kettle.

  Austin watched as James made a high-pitched scream, his skin instantly turned red when the water hit his exposed flesh. He had held up his arms to protect his face, but it was of little help.

  James fell to the tile floor. Austin watched in fascination as his best friend writhed in pain. He casually put the kettle down and walked toward James.

  James was crying now. He was in so much pain and his skin felt as if it were melting from his body. He saw Austin approach and tried to crawl away toward the front door, but Austin stomped down on his ankle, pinning him.

  “I know you helped them escape,” Austin said nonchalantly. It was as if the events of the last few minutes had never taken place. “Where did you tell them to go?” Austin ground his heel into James’s ankle.

  “Why did you do this? I’m your friend!” James said, tears welling in his eyes. The pain caused by the boiling water was so great, so intense that his body felt like it was on fire and numb at the same time.

  Austin stared down at him, stepped off James’s ankle, then kneeled next to James, a smirk on his face. “No. We’re not friends. Tyler, the big guy I saved you from last year? He’s my best friend.” Austin pulled a zip-tie from his pocket. He dragged James over to the sink by his wet and bloody shirt collar, and zip-tied his wrist to the pipes below. “You were just a bet. A bet that I won.”

  James tried his best to process what had just been said. His mind kept flashing back to that afternoon at school. “I don’t understand.”

  “I’ll make it easy for you, stupid,” Austin said as he stood and walked back across the kitchen. “Tyler and I had a bet about who could find the weakest kid and see how much abuse he would take. Tyler’s target lasted only a week, but you,” Austin laughed, “you took everything I threw at you and came back for more. I thought for sure that little acid thing would make you run back to your mommy, but here you are.”

  “A bet?” James said. “This whole thing was...”

  “A game,” Austin said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have another game to finish.” Austin left the kitchen.

  James was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. Betrayal, anger, and hatred surged through his body. He let out an agonizing scream. “Someone help me! Please!” James let out one more scream, then passed out.

  Austin entered the living room and made a beeline for the wooden end table beside his uncle�
��s recliner. His face red, his eyes lit up with rage. He yanked open the end table’s drawer and the lamp’s light illuminated a .38 snub-nosed revolver with six rounds. A box of bullets was also in the drawer. He checked the gun to see if it was loaded. It was.

  Austin shoved the box of bullets in his pants pocket, and with gun in hand charged out the front door toward the street.

  He looked around, his body moving swiftly as he searched for some sign of where the boys had gone.

  Anger and hatred had taken over. Pure predatory instincts to injure and destroy were all that mattered now.

  That’s when he saw it: a series of bloody footprints at the end of the driveway the led down the street. They weren’t complete, but they were enough to give him an idea where to continue his hunt. Austin felt himself tense, his hands becoming fists. He felt his grip tighten on the revolver.

  He ran down the stretch of broken road, the way lit not by moonlight but the glow from the fire now consuming the field and woods around Austin’s uncle’s house.

  Austin could have cared less.

  All he cared about now was watching his prey suffer as he took their lives once and for all.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

  Daniel’s head was spinning, his jaw aching, and his left foot felt sticky, cold, and numb. He, Kyle, and Colby had made it a little way down street and away from the house, but now, with his blood pumping fast again, he suddenly felt weak.

  For a moment he faltered, his vision blurred, and he felt himself pitching forward. Kyle caught him as he dropped to his knees. His head felt like it weighed a ton as it slumped forward and his vision was filled with flashing white dots.

  “Daniel!” Kyle said in a loud whisper. Daniel’s vision trickled back and he found himself resting against a tree. He breathed deeply; the smoke from the fire around them invaded his lungs. He coughed hard.

  Kyle was rummaging through his backpack, pulled out a bottle of water and a flashlight. He unscrewed the cap from the water bottle and handed it to Daniel. “Drink,” he said softly. Kyle handed another bottle to Colby who kept looking back down the street toward Austin’s house as he drank.

  As Daniel finished the bottle and removed it from his lips, he inhaled deeply with a sense of satisfaction. He opened his eyes and saw Kyle examining his injured foot with the flashlight.

  “I cut my heel trying to escape,” Daniel said.

  “We have to get you to Megan’s house. Her dad’s a doctor. Do you think you can make it?”

  “Yeah,” Daniel said. He turned and used the tree to help himself back to his feet.

  Kyle put the empty water bottle back in his backpack, zipped it closed, and slung it over his shoulder. He placed his arm around Daniel. Colby wrapped his arm around Daniel’s waist on the other side. The trio continued to move closer to the construction site.

  Daniel felt both relief and fear at the same time. He knew that he was free and that Kyle was here now to help him and Colby. But he also knew that Austin would stop at nothing to make sure they never made it to safety.

  Three gunshots sliced through the silence.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

  “Shit!” Kyle spit out as he heard the three gunshots and nearly pissed himself. The resulting sound from the shots echoed through the night, all other sounds seemed to stop as did time. There was no way the three of them could outrun a madman with a gun. Not in the condition Daniel and the young boy, Colby, were in.

  Kyle ducked down, as did Daniel and Colby as they hurried toward the construction site. Kyle knew that they would be easy targets if they stayed there. It was much too open and with the full moon and the light from the fire it might as well have been daylight.

  “I have an idea,” Daniel said. “If we hide Colby in one of these cement pipes, you and me can draw Austin away into the woods.”

  “Like decoys.” Kyle responded. “What about your foot? Why don’t you both hide here and I’ll let him chase me?”

  “No,” Daniel said. “I have to finish this. Come on.”

  Kyle wasn’t going to argue with Daniel. He had no clue what horrors his friend had endured at the hands of these two older boys and wasn’t about to question his decisions.

  The three of them ducked down behind a cement pipe near the center of the construction site. Kyle poked his head around the side and kept watch as Daniel spoke to Colby.

  “Okay, buddy. I need you to hide in this pipe for me. We have to get Austin away from here so we can stop him. Can you do that for me?”

  “Yes. Do you promise to come back?”

  “We promise.”

  Kyle slid toward them. “And we’ll take you out for ice cream after we do.” He saw Colby smile in the dim light.

  Kyle hoped for all three of their sakes that he would be back to fulfill that promise. Besides, ice cream sounded pretty good right about now.

  Colby climbed into the cement pipe and settled into its middle, swallowed by the darkness within. Kyle looked and Daniel. “You ready for this?”

  “No,” Daniel said with a little laugh. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna do it.”

  “Then let’s do it.”

  They counted to three and ran as fast as they could away from the construction site screaming and yelling toward the fire-engulfed woods.

  Austin thought he had lost them after his first three shots missed. He was sure he could have hit at least one of them. Now, they knew he was after them and they had vanished.

  He arrived at the edge of the construction site and looked around. A sea of large cement pipes, bulldozers, dump trucks, and a crane dominated his view. They could be hidden anywhere.

  He ran across the dirt toward the crane. He figured it would give him the best vantage point to see the site and see his prey. Plus, it would give him a better position to shoot from.

  As Austin reached the crane and climbed the ladder toward the cab he heard screaming in the distance. He swiveled his head and saw dark figures screaming and waving as they ran into the woods.

  Austin growled, his upper lip curling as he jumped down from atop the crane. They’re mocking me? Austin landed on an uneven section of ground and felt his right ankle twist and pop. There was no recognition of pain.

  Only of his desire to kill.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

  James’s eyes sprang open. He could smell the fire outside and it was clear from the closeness of the sound of crackling wood that the house was now ablaze.

  And he was still stuck inside, zip-tied to a pipe under the kitchen sink. He had to get out.

  His skin was red and raw. The blisters forming on James’s skin were starting to sting, and a few of them had already broken and were draining clear fluid down his arms and neck.

  James was enraged. The revelation by Austin about his bet with Tyler Darden had cut James deep. It was a tough reality to face, but he had to come to terms with the truth as he saw it: he had been Austin’s first kidnap victim.

  It was time for him to do what he should have done hours ago. It was time to kill Austin.

  James pulled against the zip-tie. His wrist began to bleed from the force of the thick, black plastic cutting into it. He tried to angle himself so he could kick at the pipe, but the slickness of the tile floor from all the water, and blood only made his attempts more futile.

  That’s when he saw it. On the counter by the stove was the freshly sharpened knife Austin had used to slash his arm. The handle was visible as it peeked over the countertop. It was his only chance at freedom.

  He reached out for it but was about two feet short. Under the sink was a plunger. He grabbed it and used it as an extension of his arm to drag the knife off the top of the counter until it fell and clattered on the floor. He used his foot to drag the knife toward him and to his free hand.

  “Yes!” he exclaimed. A feeling of relief and impending freed
om overwhelmed him. He slid the knife, blade-side out, between his wrist and the zip-tie and began to move it up and down. It was a slow process, but he eventually managed to weaken the plastic enough to snap it apart.

  His bonds broken, James got to his feet and hurried into the living room. He knew what he needed in order to stop Austin’s reign of terror. He had had it pointed at him enough times.

  He approached the open drawer of the end table and knew exactly what he would see: the drawer was empty.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

  Kyle swung his flashlight around like an out of control Lightsaber. From his previous journey behind the guy in the sunglasses, he knew that it was a quick hike from where his bike was to the house. Well, that was before things got out of hand.

  Now there was a huge fire all around them and one of the boys had a gun. That didn’t give him and Daniel much time. Daniel’s foot was definitely slowing them down, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

  None of this was Daniel’s fault.

  The area where they currently were was thick with smoke. He could see the orange glow of fire up ahead; the crackle of burning wood seemed to come from all directions.

  The sound was brief, but loud enough for both he and Daniel to hear it. It sounded as if something large had charged through a patch of dry leaves and bushes.

  “It’s them,” Daniel whispered. “You ready?”

  “How’s your foot?”

  “Doesn’t matter right now.” Daniel hobbled away from Kyle. He watched as his best friend took off in an awkward sprint down the smoky path.

  Wait, why am I still standing here? Kyle ran after Daniel.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY

  James staggered out of the house. There were no words he could summon to explain how much pain he was in. He knew with his vision the way it was he’d never be able to catch up with Austin. And he wouldn’t be able to stop him if he was armed with his uncle’s gun.