They're After Me (Brandy's Birthday)

                         

    

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  They’re After Me

By Ray Bush

Brandy was in her favorite place in the world, riding shotgun while her husband drove slowly down a dirt road. This was a terrible weekend, her mother Hazel needed a doctor and Brandy needed this dusty drive. She needed a break from trying to figure out what the hell had happened to her mom in that clearing. How would the left half of her body age fifty years in one night? The right was still her mom and still her young looking self. The left half was much more wrinkled. The left half of her hair was no longer the dark blondish color, it was black and gray. Brandy and her sister found their mom and led her back to camp. Boo started on her mom’s left side but switched so Brandy could see that her mom was as cold as a corpse. 

Brandy pushed that all out of her mind, for now she would enjoy the woods and pretend everything was ok. She loved the winding dirt road, she even loved the sound of rocks crunching under the tires. She closed her eyes to try to block out the tears. This weekend was horrible and depending on what the doctor said, it could get a million times worse. Ray had his right hand on Brandy’s left leg. He squeezed three times, that is the way the two said “I love you” without words. She squeezed his hand three times. 

Hopefully it wouldn’t take Boo and Steve long to get Hazel to the hospital. They took off ahead, Rick protested for a long time but neither of his daughters or their husbands felt comfortable driving the huge motorhome. He finally agreed so Boo took off with Steve and Hazel while Ray followed Rick who was driving the motorhome. Brandy knew that her dad was going crazy driving this slow but in that monster driving fast really wasn’t an option. She was right, he wanted nothing more than to get to his wife. Brandy took a deep breath then opened her eyes and looked out her window. She couldn’t look out of Ray's because on his side was a drop off, it was not a cliff but it was still pretty steep. The woods on his side were still very thick but her side was much prettier. 

She saw movement in the trees that had to be a deer. Brandy got excited to see the animal. Deer were all over the Utah mountains but she still loved it every time she saw one.  Brandy saw another flash of the shape, it looked black but was much smaller than a bear. It was too tall to be a skunk or a badger. She watched it as it moved through the trees and closer to the road. Brandy couldn’t focus on the shape, it was moving too fast. It was almost next to the road then in a flash a little girl wearing what looked like a mask darted in front of the SUV. 

“What the fuck?” Ray said as he jerked the wheel to the left, Brandy screamed. Before he could correct the over correction the SUV climbed over the slight dirt speed bump lining the drop off, then down the drop off itself. Ray was smashing the brake pedal but it was doing no good. 

Brandy was screaming out, “Oh my God,” if Ray was not saying “Fuck me, Fuck me, Fuck me,” over and over, then he would have surly made one of his infinite perv comments. What Brandy didn’t know is that in the very back of Ray’s mind he did laugh at the sexual sounds of this terrifying descent. 

The front of the SUV struck a thick tree trunk on the front driver’s side fender. The SUV spun sideways and began to roll. Brandy cried out when she saw her husband’s head smack hard on the steering wheel. She saw his eyes roll back in his head. The widows shattered and the windshield was destroyed. Without realizing she was doing it, Brandy prayed that her husband would be ok. She didn’t believe the way that she used to even though she wanted to so badly. Hopefully Ray would be okay and she could regain some of her faith. 

Brandy felt like she was rolling and banging around forever but in reality the fall was barely over twenty seconds. The car came to rest on its wheels with Ray’s door pinned closed by a thick tree. He would have to climb out hers. The only stroke of good luck came when Brandy tried to open her door and it actually opened. She turned off the ignition, then got out of the vehicle, and began tugging hard on Ray to try to get him out of the car. Ray grunted in pain and his eyes fluttered open. 

“Oh my God babe,” Brandy was crying hard, Ray was blurry in her teary vision, “Please tell me you’re okay.”

Ray smiled but it was weak and broke Brandy’s heart more than a little. “Of course I am,” Ray’s voice was as weak as his smile, “That mountain’s a pussy.” 

Even in this horrible situation Ray had the ability to make her smile, “Can you move?” She didn’t think he would be able to, especially when the blood began to run from his ear. 

“I don’t think so babe,” Ray said and the weakness in his voice hurt Brandy all the way to her soul. Ray had to be okay, he just had to. “I can barely fuckin breathe.”

“You see dat pawpaw,” That is the worst voice Brandy could have heard. She was terrified of backwoods hillbillies. These men were obviously from the deep woods in the Utah mountains. “That car falled down the cliff.”

“Babe they saw us,” Brandy was pleading with her husband in a panicked but quiet voice. His eyes were closed and his body was limp. “Babe I need you to get up,” Ray still didn’t move, “Please babe.” Brandy’s last plea was left unanswered. 

“It’s just over here,” That was another voice, this one sounded older than the first. Brandy prayed again, first for Ray to magically wake up and second that the men would not find them. She was beginning to think that neither prayer would be answered. Or maybe God was just telling her no. A branch broke that was much too close for comfort, “I hope it’s a girl.”

“Me too,” That voice was the oldest of the three, and angry. He sounded like the most cranky man to ever walk the Earth. “It’s been way too long for all of us.” It was clear that this voice was the most intelligent of the three. 

Brandy agonized. She knew for a fact that Ray would want her to leave but it was also a fact that Ray wouldn’t leave her there. How could she leave the love of her life alone and dying in the woods? By the sound of these men, death would be a blessing compared to what they would most likely do to the couple. She put her hand on Ray’s chest, she couldn’t feel a heartbeat. His chest was no longer rising. Brandy put her ear next to his nose and didn’t feel his breath. Brandy looked at her husband for a long ten seconds. Another branch broke, this one even closer than the first. Brandy did the hardest thing she could think of. She kissed her husband six times on the lips then ran off alone in the woods. 

“You ear dat,” These were the kind of men that Brandy feared the most. They had no concern for the law because nobody knew they were here or probably even existed. “Dat a deer.”

“That’s a person, idiot,” Pawpaw said, “How long you lived in the woods, dunce child? I can’t wait to find’em, I’m sick of talkin to you morons. I hope it’s a woman,” Pawpaw breathed in deep, “I really hope it’s a woman.” Brandy didn’t like the sound of that.

Brandy was hiding behind a tree watching the men close in on her poor husband. Hopefully they would see him hurt, Brandy couldn’t bring herself to think he was dead, and just move on. The youngest of the three men opened the liftgate of the white SUV. It looked like three generations of men. A grandpa, a son, and a grandson. The middle aged man reached the door she left open and touched Ray on his neck. Brandy wanted to kill him for that. Brandy wanted to pull out her gun and shoot these assholes in all their heads. How dare these greasy backwoods assholes touch her husband with those disgusting hands. Brandy reached for her holster and hated herself when she realized she left her gun in the spare tire compartment. She hoped these pricks wouldn’t find it. 

“He’s dead,” Brandy’s heart sank to her toes. That is what she had thought but to hear it confirmed by another was devastating. 

“Leave him,” Pawpaw said, “We have no use for a dead man. Unless we can’t find her. We can come back and have him cold before we have him for a snack.” That thought made her sick, but what could she do? She had no chance of overpowering these men, the middle aged man and the youngest were big boys. Pawpaw looked at the ground from the door to where Brandy stood. “Look, you see them footsteps?” Brandy wanted to scream, “Check the car for weapons then will track em. She ain’t goin nowhere.”

“How do she know it’s a she?” This was the youngest again, he really wasn’t very smart. The car was clearly packed for a couple on a camping trip. 

“Look at the shit in the car numbnuts,” Pawpaw said, “Why didn’t your paw raise you right?” The old man shambled faster than he should have been able to then slapped the boy in the back of the head. 

Brandy was agonizing again, she couldn’t stay here. But how could she leave Ray with these men to have their way with. That fate sounded horrible for her husband. Ray was dead and wouldn’t suffer, he would be abused and disgraced but it would be pain free. Ray would want her to run, she could almost feel his presence or maybe his soul that hadn’t passed over yet telling her to run. Tears were pouring down her cheeks. She forced herself to move away from the car and away from the man she loved. He would never even get a proper burial or send off. 

Brandy moved as silently as she could through the tall trees. She knew she was leaving footprints but there was nothing she could do about that. The men were most likely going to be able to track her, they clearly had the ability. She just hoped she was fast, without being too obvious where she was. The worst part was that she had no idea where she was or in which direction she needed to head. Brandy was lost in the woods with three rednecks wanting to do god knows what to her. Her only chance would be to stumble across a trail, but that would be like finding a needle in an enormous haystack. Ray knew the most out of the way places, she always told him he could take her somewhere and leave her. She would never be able to find her way out. Today he inadvertently did just that.

Brandy watched her feet carefully with her hands in front of her acting like a cat's whiskers. Brandy couldn’t hear them well anymore so she pulled her phone out of her bra and called her mom. Hazel answered but the signal was choppy. “Mom, can you hear me,” Brandy whispered and her mom responded but Brandy didn’t understand. “Mom, Ray’s dead. They’re after me. Please help,” Brandy lost the signal. she prayed her mom heard what she said but she doubted it.

The men were getting closer and not trying to hide their location. They stomped through the woods in their black shit kicker boots laughing like imbeciles. The men could afford to be careless and slow. Brandy had no doubt that these men knew these woods like she knew her own backyard. If Ray were here he would know where to go, he was amazing with directions. 

“It’s a woman, I knows it,” That was the middle man, “I can smell her,” Then he sniffed long and loudly. Brandy’s stomach turned like a wild mouse. 

“Yummy yum yum yum,” That was the youngest, “Move faster, I can almost taste her.” Brandy’s eyes teared up yet again making it hard to see, she wiped them away and pushed forward towards nowhere. 

“Don’t worry boy,” Pawpaw said, “She ain’t goin nowhere,” She could almost see the old man’s crooked hillbilly grin. “Ain’t nowhere for her to go,” All three men chuckled.

“La la la la la la,” It was a beautifully haunting melody sung by a little girl who must have been an angel. Brandy couldn’t decide if it was comforting or terrifying to hear a little girl in the middle of nowhere. Her memory did a quick flash back to the little girl that ran in front of the car. She decided that she should be terrified.

Brandy again wiped the tears away from her stinging eyes and tried with all her strength to fight them away for good. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Those men could not catch her, what they would do to her would be worse than the worst nightmare. Who knew how long they would keep her alive, how many days they would do those despicable things to her. That would be a fate much worse than death. Brandy found fresh strength and began looking for a branch that could serve as a club. It didn’t take long to find a thick branch that she could easily handle. 

The first option would continue to be to run, but she also wasn’t gonna go down without a fight. Brandy looked behind her as she moved forward but couldn’t see any movement behind her. Unfortunately two things happened, first she stepped on a dry branch that cracked as loud as a gunshot. Second she turned her head back in time to have a tree branch poke her in the eye. 

“Hear dat boys,” That was Pawpaw again, “”Even better is she’s scared. It’s better when there’s terror in her eyes.”

Brandy hated the sound of that. She didn’t want to, but couldn’t help, imagining what those men would do to her. She moved as fast as a scared, lost, one eyed woman could while still remaining somewhat quiet. She needed to find somewhere to hide, a cave would be perfect. She was losing confidence that she would be able to outrun the men, she had to find a place to hide. The forest was thick so pinpointing a place would be nearly impossible, again she had to hope she would stumble across something. 

“La la la la la la,” That was the same little girl. The song refreshed her fear. She paused but knew she couldn’t for long. “La la la la la la.” Brandy decided she would take her chances with the little girl. If she were really there then she would surely have a place to live and maybe could hide Brandy. 

She turned in the direction of the girl’s voice. “Did you hear that?” Pawpaw asked. They either knew the girl’s voice or somehow didn’t hear it. “She’s headin southwest.” How the hell could that son of a bitch tell that so quickly? “I bet she’s headin towards the shack.” Brandy hadn’t been but she damn sure was now. If she were lucky the shack would have one door, if not she could try to block off one so she could deal with them one at a time. 

“I don’t like that place Pawpaw,” This was obviously the youngest. “She’s always watchin.”

“You so dumb boy,” That was the middle man, “Thems just furrytales.” These were the worst kind of men. It was like someone reached in Brandy’s head then pulled out her worst fear and dropped her right in the  middle of it. 

Moving silently became less important than moving quickly. Brandy picked up her pace with her hands in front of her to prevent another eye poke. The eye was just starting to feel better and the last thing she needed would be to poke the other. The men behind her picked up their pace as well. If it weren’t for the trees these men would be on her in no time. Even in the cover of the woods it wouldn’t take them long. Brandy started to run. So did the men behind her. Brandy began to cry again, those damn tears were making it very hard to see. She damned her eyes. 

Brandy was more than grateful when she saw the leaning shack. It was less than a minute. Suddenly the singing child made complete sense. Brandy hoped she hadn’t made a mistake coming here, who lived here with that little girl. Could it be someone worse than these men? Brandy doubted it. Brandy hadn’t noticed the face, looking at her through a crack in the door until the door slammed shut. She recognized the mask for sure. Brandy walked the walkway to the door hanging crooked. The shack seemed to be poorly built but it would be somewhere to hold up and hopefully fight off these men. She shut the door softly, luckily there was no creepy little girl in here. There were two doors, Brandy looked for something to barricade the backdoor but realized the door swung out. She wouldn’t be able to prevent them from opening it. That was unfortunate. Brandy looked through the crack of the door and held her thick stick tight. 

The Three men stepped through the treeline into the shack’s clearing. They had no doubt where Brandy was hiding. It was time to fight. She fought back tears and pulled all the strength she had left. She had to fight, she was raised to fight, and she had no other choice but to fight.

“Go around back,” Pawpaw said, then slapped the youngest in the back of the head. “You better not let that bitch get away.” Pawpaw limped slowly towards the door, for every step he took forward Brandy took one back. Her back hit the wall. 

A heavy something banged on the backdoor hard enough to shack the shack’s foundation, if it had a foundation. Glass jars rattled on shelves, Brandy barely heard. Under any other circumstances her and Ray would have spent a night in this shack with a voice recorder. But Ray wasn’t here was he. Brandy felt a fresh blast of pain in her heart. This place had to be haunted. Where else would that little girl come from? 

“I blocked her in Pawpaw,” The young one walked to the side of the house. “Wit a big rock. Dat’s hers only way out.” 

“Good work,” Pawpaw said, Brandy readied her club to fight for her life. She made the choice to die in this shack, she would not go with these men. If she brought the gun she would empty the clip except for one, just in case. Someone knocked on the door, she guessed it was Pawpaw. “Little girl little girl let us in.” Brandy could already smell the BO from these bastards. Now someone banged hard on the side so hard that Brandy thought the wood would splinter. “You knows we got you bitch.” It was the middle aged man. “But we likes a whore that fights back..” He banged the side of the shack even harder this time. 

From the other side came another hard bang, it had to be the youngest. “Come out pretty lady, I ain’t gonna hurt ya.” He laughed the terrifying laugh of a backwoods hillbilly. They will, but me’s will be gentle.”

The old man knocked on the front door, “I’m comin in now bitch, I hope you’re read…” His voice was cut off by a loud crack. It had to be a gunshot.

The old man fell through the front door with a bloody hole in the back of his head. Brandy screamed and so did both men outside. The middle aged man’s scream was cut off by another loud crack in the air. A second later the youngest was silenced. Had she really been saved? Who could be out there? Hopefully not someone even worse, maybe the owner of the shack. She heard a footstep followed by something dragging across the forest floor. Footstep, drag, footstep drag moving closer and closer to the shack. The sound was unsettling and getting closer by the second. They stopped not far from the door. There were grunting and almost growling noises outside the door. Something pulled Pawpaw slowly and jerkily out of the doorway. Brandy stared at the door with her heart pounding in her chest, ears, and neck. 

Brandy watched the door for what felt like forever. She let out a terrified scream when a head poked through the door. That scream was followed immediately by a scream of relief when she realized that it was Ray. “Babe are you okay?” He asked weakly. Ray was bruised and bloody but he was on his feet and more importantly he was here. He hadn’t let those men get her. She loved this man so much.

Brandy was on her feet and charging towards Ray in a flash. There was no thought for Ray’s injuries or health, Brandy tackled him down with a forceful hug. She rained kisses down all over his face despite not being able to see him through her teary vision. 

Their entire world flashed bright reddish, yellowish, orangish with the illumination of twenty atomic bombs and boomed louder than thunder ever could. Less than a minute later Brandy and Ray lay unconscious in each other's arms next to a dead Pawpaw.