Blood in the Woods Read online

  “No,” he replied.

  “Oh, yeah you have,” Jack butted in. “A nice, big, juicy, alley cat’s ass.”

  “Nothing like sucking on some cat ass, right, Jack?” I joked.

  “Meow – meow – smooch – meow. Ahh, sucking on cat ass.”

  “Nothing like some cat ass, I tell ya. Best dish Louisiana has to offer! Why, I think I’m going to go home and suck on my cat’s ass, too!” I said.

  “Me three!” Jack spat, and an explosion of laughter spread throughout the bus.

  Some of the kids were turning blue in the face from laughing so damn hard and soon our Mick Jagger look a-like bus driver, Ms. Kenton, was screaming at the top of her lungs once more, telling us all to shut the hell up.

  “Leave me alone or I’m going to tell my parents!” the boy whined at Jack and me.

  “No – no – not your parents! Please no, not your parents, anything but your parents!” I mocked, grabbing at my heart like I was dying.

  “Do your parents serve cat ass for supper?” Jack deadpanned.

  And that’s basically how the rest of the bus ride went – with me and Jack making cat sounds for the rest of the way home, and we didn’t stop pestering that poor kid until he got off the bus, and when he did, he was in tears.

  Jack got off the bus about ten minutes later, and I decided to get off with him. Once the bus doors closed and it drove away, Jack and I turned around and gave everyone who was left on it a big middle finger. We giggled together and gave each other a high five before I took off running home.

  Several hours later, Jack and I were standing at the end of my driveway waiting for Justin and his dad to come pick us up for our trip to the mall. Momma had just given both of us the don’t fuck up speech, but we really hadn’t heard a thing that came out of her mouth; we were both just so excited and ready to go out on our own without parental supervision. A couple of minutes later, Justin rolled up with his dad in their Chevrolet. The door opened, and we hopped right in.

  It took about fifteen minutes or so for us to get to the mall, and when we got there Justin’s dad gave us all the same don’t fuck up speech we’d received from Momma; Jack and I hypothesized that all parents must have to study and memorize that dialogue before becoming a parent. Hell, Justin’s dad’s spiel was almost identical to Momma’s, except for the god damns; Momma normally used fuck or shit instead.

  “I’ll be back in an hour and a half, boys. Ya’ll need to be standing right where you’re standing now, no later than eight fifteen. Understand?”

  “Yes, Mr. Richardson,” Jack and I said.

  “Love you, Dad,” Justin said.

  “Love you too, son. Be good.”

  “I will,” he replied.

  As the truck pulled away, I felt the excitement building in the air like some crazed pyromaniac was inside our souls, stacking loads of Black Cat fireworks on top of each other. And once the taillights vanished into the distance, we all yelled and jumped around as if we had just won homecoming queen.

  “This is going to be awesome,” Justin gushed.

  “I know, right? So, what do you guys want to do first?” I asked.

  “Let’s go up to the sporting goods store. There’s always something cool to look at in there,” Jack suggested.

  “Sounds good to me. You in, Justin?”

  “I’m up for anything right now. This is so awesome.”

  “Tell me about it. Let’s go,” I said.

  The Hammond Mall wasn’t grand, or as great to see as some of the other malls out there in the big, wide world, but in the small town of Hammond it was as good as it was going to get. The outside design was pretty bland, and in desperate need of a new paint job. It was painted all grey, with multiple patches of paint missing in some areas, and split off into three sections with only two floors.

  Dillard’s was on the right-hand side on the first floor, JC Penny was all the way in the back section of the mall on the second floor, and the movie theater could be found in the farthest left-hand corner. So basically, the building was shaped like a giant H. I don’t know if the architects built it that way because it was located in Hammond, or if that was just the way it ended up. Nevertheless, it was our mall, and we loved it.

  We high-tailed it up the stairs and through the electronic doors at the main entrance, stopping in the walkway to take a look around and study the lay of the land. A Kay Bee Toys was up on the second floor, the corndog stand (that Jamie ended up working in) was to the immediate left and the elevator was dead in the center. Stretched overhead was a walkway for the second floor that connected with each of the other sections of the mall. Guardrails had been placed on each side to prevent the clumsy or the suicidal from falling over, but I could see kids hanging over the sides anyway, dropping pennies into the fountain that bubbled below. There were also numerous, smaller stores lined up and down both sides of each corridor in the mall, but we three had no interest in most them. There was a gift shop that was really expensive, a gag shop, an arcade on the top floor, a Chik-Fil-A next to the entrance of Dillard’s, a sporting goods store and a music store across from the arcade. And that was it; any other stores in the Hammond mall were completely pointless as far as we were concerned.

  “Sporting goods store, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah – it’s up on the second floor,” Jack said.

  “Well, let’s get going,” Justin said.

  We made our way over to the elevator, pressed the button and waited for it to arrive. When it did, the doors opened up and there were a pair of college kids in there making out. When they realized the door was open, they stopped wiggling their tongues in each other’s mouths and rushed past us, giggling. We stepped into the elevator, pressed the number 2 button and rode it up to the second floor.

  “Did you see the tits on that girl?” Justin asked us.

  “I sure did. Those babies were huge,” I said.

  “I’d like to suck on them jokers,” Justin smirked.

  “That’s not the only thing I’d like to suck on,” Jack said.

  “What else is there to suck on besides her feet?” I asked him.

  Justin chuckled, and Jack turned red in the face from embarrassment. I didn’t mean to embarrass him, but we never really talked about girls that much so when we did, we were ruthless, and I think that made Jack a little uncomfortable. I could definitely say that Jack was a shy one when it came to girls.

  “Ewwww. You don’t mean you want to suck on her muff do you?” Justin asked.

  “What’s a muff?” I pried.

  “It’s a pussy. You know – the hairy thing between girls’ legs.”

  “I thought that was called a vagina?”

  “That’s the word the doctors use for it. Everyone else either calls it a pussy, muff, hair pie, or meat wallet,” Justin declared with confidence.

  “What the hell is a meat wallet? That’s sounds disgusting,” Jack said in repugnance.

  “I don’t know, but I hope I never see one. The name sounds horrible enough,” Justin concluded.

  We walked out of the elevator and turned right, heading toward the sporting goods store, laughing and joking as usual. Once we got into the store, Jack looked around at the prices on every single squirrel-hunting gun they had. I don’t why he wanted to look at all of them, because Mr. Shawn already had an arsenal in the house big enough to hold off a small Army. But, if that’s what floated Jack’s boat, that was fine with me.

  Once Jack was done looking at the last gun, we wandered across the hall to the arcade; the place I’d wanted to go to the most. As we walked in, a guy on his way out bumped into me so hard that I collided into Jack. Justin quickly extended his arm and caught me by the shirt, preventing me from hitting the floor.

  “Whoa! You alright, Jody?” Jack asked me as he regained his balance. “Can’t you say excuse me, asshole!” Jack yelled out after the guy.

  As I straightened myself up, I stared at the man, and instantly was overtaken with fear. He’d stopp
ed dead in his tracks and was now staring directly into our eyes. He wore a long, black jacket, and black clothes from head to toe. But what had created the surge of fear through my body was the design that was on his t-shirt; it was that same circle with the star in it that I had seen in the trailer that fateful day.

  And once my eyes drifted up from the guy’s shirt to his face, I began to analyze him, the first thing I noticed was that he had a harelip that ran from the top of his upper lip all the way up to his right nostril. His hair was brown and he looked skinny, standing around five foot ten, with jet-black eyes that reminded me of a sharks. The guy looked real mean, and Jack had just called him an asshole.

  “It’s okay, sir,” I said nervously, “it was my fault. I didn’t see you coming out. I’m sorry.”

  He just stood there – no reaction, no apology, nothing; he just stared the three of us up and down. I looked over at Justin and could see that he was scared too; the terrified look on his face said everything.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here, okay guys?” Justin mumbled.

  “No! He can apologize for –”

  “Shut the fuck up, Jack! Forget about it. Let’s go,” I urged.

  I grabbed Jack by the shoulders and pulled him into motion with me. Justin followed right behind us and we headed into the arcade; I glanced back over my shoulder to see if the guy was still standing there, but he was gone. As we got further into the arcade, it was dense with hot, sweaty bodies. Children were playing games and waiting for tokens, others standing by waiting for an opening to play. I dragged Jack up to the Mortal Kombat arcade and only then did I let him go.

  “Jesus Christ, Jack! Why’d you pop off to that damned psycho?” I spit.

  “Because the bastard almost knocked both of us down. Who the hell does he think he is?”

  “I don’t want to know who he is,” Justin said as he stared directly into my eyes. “Did you see his shirt, Jody?”

  “Yeah, I saw it.”

  “What was that on his shirt?” Jack asked us.

  “What does that damned symbol mean?”

  “I don’t know, Justin, but did you see that scar on his face?” I asked him, I was getting nervous all over again just by talking about the guy.

  “He looked crazy – just standing there and staring at us; it made me feel weird,” Justin said, his voice was shaky now. “I wonder if he had anything to do with those calves.”

  “What calves?” Jack was confused.

  “It’s nothing, Jack, don’t worry about it,” I placated, trying to quash his interest in the conversation.

  “Maybe we should fill Jack in, Jody,” Justin suggested.

  “Listen, damn it! Stop bringing that shit up, Justin. It’s over and done with. We don’t need to bring Jack into it, either. He wasn’t there, so it’s not his problem. Plus, I couldn’t really give two shits about who that guy was, or where he’s from, or even if he did have something to do with what we saw in the woods.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but my voice was raised above the general cacophony of the arcade. “Just because somebody’s wearing a symbol, doesn’t mean they had anything to do with what happened. We don’t even know what it means. It could be the new symbol that means I love pussy, for all we know. Right now, I just want to go home,” I ranted.

  “Would someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?” Jack asked furiously, grabbing me by the shirt, twisting it in the process.

  I grabbed Jack’s hand, yanked it away from my collar and looked deep into his eyes. I knew he was upset – I would have been, too, if it were me; there were no secrets between Jack and I – ever. We told each other everything, but because of the incident in the woods coming out like this, I felt like the worst friend anyone could ever have.

  “He’s back,” Justin whispered.

  I broke eye contact with Jack and looked over at Justin. “What?”

  “He’s back – he’s over there, watching us,” Justin said quietly.

  Jack and I simultaneously turned our heads and looked across to where Justin was pointing.

  “Jesus Christ,” Jack muttered under his breath.

  There the guy was again, standing behind one of the arcade machines not more than twenty feet away from us. The neon lights from the arcade reflected off his face to give it an eerie glow and cast dark shadows around the harelip to create a deep, black crevasse on his face.

  “What the hell is he doing?” Justin asked in a whisper.

  “I have no clue. Let’s just start walking the hell out of here,” I suggested.

  “Sounds good,” Jack agreed and we turned around in unison and began making our way out of the arcade.

  Once we were out, and had walked a few feet, I turned around to see if the guy was behind us.

  “The son-of-a-bitch is following us,” I declared, with panic in my voice.

  He walked quickly, his back ramrod-straight; the guy had excellent posture and reminded me a little of Michael Myers from Halloween, only without the mask. Visions of the symbol that was displayed upon our stalker’s shirt flashed around inside my head; some from the trailer wall.

  “Turn in here, turn in here!” Justin gabbled and he grabbed Jack and I by the wrists, his hands slick with sweat.

  Justin steered us left into the KB Toys store, and the three of us hurried in. As soon as we stepped foot into the store, we noticed that there were only a few adults – and most of them were in line checking out – and a shit load of kids were running around everywhere. We continued on, maneuvering through the bins of toys and the little kids that filled the main floor, and finally made our way up the middle aisle, coming to a halt by the Ninja Turtle toys.

  “We need to tell an adult,” Justin said.

  “I’m for it. Let’s go tell the guy that works behind the register,” Jack added.

  “Alright, I’ll go,” I offered.

  I turned to go tell, but before I could move, our sinister pursuer shot down the aisle and grabbed me by the arm. I screamed, and caught the attention of everyone in the store. Justin reacted first, and kicked my assailant in the shin as hard as he could. The man slung me to the floor as if I was nothing, which knocked the wind out of my body. Dazed, panting, I looked up and saw the man attempt to grab Justin, but Jack rammed him in the stomach, sending him falling backwards into a shelf filled with super soakers and G.I. Joes.

  “Get up, Jody! Get up!” Jack yelled at me.

  I was still winded, but I was finally catching my breath. The next thing I felt was Jack and Justin gripping me from under the arms and pulling me to my feet.

  “We gotta go!” Justin shouted in my ear.

  I knew that this was serious; whoever this guy was, he was out to do us harm.

  “You okay, buddy?” the cashier asked, looking like he was in well over his head. He’d finally come from around the counter, and as I looked around, all the adults were holding their children close to them and watching as our attacker rose up from the ground like a weird kind of zombie coming back to life.

  “Beat feet!” I screamed, and Jack, Justin and I dashed out of the toy store, not thinking twice and without looking back.

  I ran so fast through the mall that my lungs were beginning to burn, I was bumping into people left and right, and I could hear some of them yelling at me, but I couldn’t give two shits; a goddamned lunatic wasn’t chasing them. I could hear Jack’s feet hitting the floor behind me, so I knew he was right there with me, but I didn’t know if Justin was keeping up.

  I got to the elevator, pressed the button and the doors opened wide. I ran into the elevator, and poked my head out to see where everyone was. Jack stumbled in first, but Justin was still a few feet behind, with the guy in close pursuit. People stared hard at us, like we were a bunch of out-of-control hoodlums, simply running amuck with no parental supervision.

  Justin’s face had turned pale, but at the same there were bright red circles consuming his cheeks. The man was right behind him, shoving people out of his way in hi
s attempt to catch Justin. It was then that I thought why the hell am I taking the elevator instead of the stairs? – but it was too late to change that decision, because Justin was coming in hot.

  “Hurry up!” Jack yelled at the kid.

  I prodded again at the first floor button just as Justin dove into the elevator, smacking his head up against the metal wall. And as the doors closed, the man slipped through at the very last second and they shut firmly behind him.

  He grabbed Jack by the throat and rammed him hard into the elevator wall, Jack’s face turning bright red. I was terrified, didn’t know what to do, my body shaking uncontrollably.

  “You’re going to give me some blood, you little cocksucker!” the man screamed loud and harsh in Jack’s face. “Did you really think you and your friends were going to get away from me? Huh? I’ll fucking take your life, boy!” He glowered down at Justin, who was scrabbling to his feet, and kicked the poor kid square in the chest. Justin let out a whimper of pain and went right back down to the floor.

  The man then glared over at me, and all I could see was pure evil etched upon his face; the only emotion showing was pure rage as fire flashed in his eyes. I honestly thought we were going to die in that elevator, but then the man threw his head back and let loose with an agonized scream and when I glanced down, I saw that Justin was biting into his calf muscle.

  At this, my adrenaline kicked in and washed all my fears away. I knew that we had to fight back, but most importantly, I had to help my friends.

  I let loose a battle cry, screaming it at the top of my lungs; Justin released his bite and screamed as well, then sunk his teeth back into the man’s calf. I jumped onto the man’s back, wrapped my legs firmly around his waist and bit him as hard as I could on the back of his neck. The guy screamed bloody murder and released Jack from his grip.

  As soon as I tasted blood in my mouth, I spit it out into his hair and jumped off his back. Jack spit in the man’s face, and then kicked him hard between the legs. This sent our attacker to his knees with excruciating pain, and he bellowed like a wounded dog. He then got a swift kick across the face, courtesy of Justin, his nose now bled profusely, and blood poured out and onto the floor.