Bobby Cole - The dummy line

A few moments later, she heard a splash as he went through the creek. No! No! she thought, realizing he was gaining on her. Looking back, she could see he had a flashlight. She could make out a small opening up ahead and ran for it as hard as she could, dragging brush with her. She was numb. She was trying to run faster than her body could keep up. Run! Run! Run! She could hear limbs cracking and his footsteps as he raced through the woods toward her. Her leg caught in something, stopping her dead in her tracks. She screamed as loud as she could. The opening’s right there! Struggling to free herself, she lost her grip and dropped her improvised weapon. She didn’t have time to pick it up as she freed herself and lunged into the small opening.

“Help me! Help! ” she screamed as she struggled through the dense brush.

Sweat closed in. When he was within twenty yards, he sprinted as fast as he could and tackled her. He landed on top. She took the brunt of the blow, landing hard. The ground scraped her bare stomach and chest. She struggled to catch her breath. He lay on her, breathing hard. Elizabeth was screaming for her life. He didn’t care. He had her. Sweat had his reward.

Sweat’s weight prevented her from moving. He bent over, wiped his bloody face on her back, and laughed. Holding her down, he sat up so he could breathe better.

“Please, please . Don’t hurt me, please , awwww, please! ” she begged.

He pushed her face down in the dirt while he thought about what he was going to do first. I’m gonna be slow, and thorough, and enjoy all of it…right down to her last gasp of air. He placed his flashlight in his mouth while he took his knife out of his pocket and eased the sharp blade under her bra strap. He made sure she could feel the steel. He was slow, methodical.

Elizabeth could feel the knife pressing against her skin. She screamed even louder. The fear of being raped and butchered was paralyzing. She was about to pass out from fear and dread.

The black strap fell away from the cut of the razor-sharp knife, exposing her naked back. Sweat stabbed the knife in the ground just out of her reach and then leaned back to admire her body. This was it. His favorite fantasy was about to play out.

Elizabeth continued to scream for help. Jake heard her and was scrambling toward her as fast as he could. Reese also heard and was headed that way, too. Tiny’s eyes welled up when he heard it, and then he shed tears of frustration and shame standing next to the four-wheeler.

Sweat’s right hand held both Elizabeth’s arms fully extended above her head as he rolled her over. He wanted to see her face and breasts. He was careful; he wasn’t going to let her hit him again. Blood from his nose dripped on her stomach. He positioned his weight over her hips and legs so she couldn’t move. Her shoulders and chest were scratched and covered in dirt and blood. With his left hand, he began scraping it away. Elizabeth was sobbing uncontrollably and begging him not to do it. Sweat couldn’t hear anything. He wasn’t aware of anything other than this opportunity.

Jake and Katy were less than two hundred yards away when the screaming started the second time. Jake was trying desperately to get close enough to see what was going on. He had never heard screams like that before. Jake crossed a four-wheeler trail with a ground-level shooting house on the side. He thought about Katy and what he was hearing and what was surely about to occur.

“Katy, listen to me. I need you to stay right here for just a few minutes while I go help that girl; please, I gotta go right now. Here’s the flashlight. I swear, I’ll be right back,” he said with his most serious voice. He opened the door to the shooting house and shined the light around. “Just sit right here, sweetheart. I have to go.”

“No, Dad, don’t leave me,” she said with tears in her eyes. Her whole body was shaking.

“Please, Katy; trust me, honey. Please. I don’t have time to explain,” he begged.

Katy didn’t say anything, but he knew she understood. She didn’t want any part of what was making that girl scream. Katy did as she was told.

“Katy, please don’t leave this shooting house, baby. I mean it now. Stay right here.”

“Be…be careful, Dad,” she said softly as she watched him disappear into the woods toward the screams. She was shaking so badly she couldn’t hold onto the flashlight and dropped it.

Jake stopped twenty feet from the shooting house and turned around for just a second, thinking about leaving Katy. Every fiber in his body told him not to. But he had to help. He turned back around and ran as fast as he could.

Reese crossed the Dummy Line. He had about another four hundred yards to go. He could clearly hear the screams and knew his crew was involved. He pulled out his radiophone while he ran and hit Send. Maybe they had caught the dude and he had a woman with him, too. He grinned.

Beep-beep . “Tiny,” he said excitedly.

There was a long pause, and just as he was about to put the phone back in his pocket, beep-beep . But there was no voice afterward.

Reese stopped and took a deep breath. He leaned his rifle against a tree.

Beep-beep . “Yo, Tiny what’s going on…who’s the girl?”

Sheriff Ollie Landrum was dumbfounded. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone beeped. He didn’t know what to say. Here was a chance to get additional information that he desperately needed. Caller ID had given him another suspect, Johnny Lee Grover.

Ollie hit Send again, but he didn’t verbally reply.

Beep-beep .

Reese sensed that something wasn’t right. He stood still, trying to think.

Jake crawled to within forty yards of the shocking scene. He recognized the big, muscular dude with the flashlight in his mouth. He had been with the gang at the camp; now he was holding down a nearly naked young girl. Shit! She’s covered in blood. She was begging him to leave her alone. Jake also could see a knife stuck in the ground. To make a killing shot with turkey loads, Jake knew he needed to be a little closer. This guy was taking his time, but there was no doubt he intended to rape this girl.

Sweat never noticed that Jake had slipped up to within twenty yards and was on his knees about to shoot. Jake could clearly see Sweat holding down the girl with one hand and trying to loosen his pants with the other. She was bucking like a mule but couldn’t resist much longer. Jake couldn’t let him rape her. Twice in the same night, Jake did something he had never done in his life. He placed the front bead of the shotgun on the guy’s chest and took a deep breath.

Ka-BOOM!

Sweat collapsed forward, lifeless, on top of Elizabeth. She was stunned but instantly started trying to free herself from under the heavy weight of the dead man. Screaming louder and louder, she pulled herself loose.

Jake was shocked, motionless. He hadn’t shot. He then saw the fat guy from the camp house standing in the edge of the woods, a pistol hanging at his side. What in the world? Elizabeth got up screaming, running in Jake’s direction. Half-naked and running blindly, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. She didn’t know Jake was there. Jake took one more look at the fat guy. He briefly thought about killing him, but didn’t. This is crazy. The fat guy appeared to be in a trance. He was staring at his dead buddy, whom he had just killed. He didn’t seem to care about the girl at all.

Jake got up silently and took off running after the girl.