Bobby Cole - The dummy line

“No, Dad!” Katy cried out.

“Mr. Crosby, I don’t wanna leave you.”

“Listen to me. I’ll be fine. You have to help each other. Promise me you will,” he said, looking Katy in the eyes. “We don’t have time to argue. Promise?”

“But, Dad!” she whined.

“Katy, honey, we don’t have time,” Jake pleaded. “Please take care of her,” he said calmly to Elizabeth.

They both started crying. Jake told them to stop. Jake hugged Katy for as long as he dared and afterward looked up at Elizabeth. She looked worn out. He prayed that she had another mile in her. Jake looked down at Katy’s feet, covered only by a pair of cotton camo gloves.

He stepped out of his boots, saying, “Wear these, Katy. It’s better than nothin’.”

She slipped them on. She wore them around the house when she had to feed the animals.

“I’ll catch up. OK? Elizabeth, I need to keep the gun. Now y’all go.”

Jake watched them walking away, realizing that might be the last time he saw Katy. It hurt down to the bone. He dreaded what he was about to do.

He hurriedly took out his pocketknife, opened it, and locked the blade. He tried to slip the handle into the gun barrel but it was slightly too big. He jabbed the blade into the log lying at his feet. Then he slid the end of the barrel onto the handle and with all his weight, forced the barrel a few inches over the knife handle. He now had a new weapon and a chance to attack the remaining thugs.

Jake had purposely crossed the creek beside a large oak. Squatting down on the bank, he rubbed mud all over his arms, chest, neck, and more on his face. Then he leaned against the back side of the huge old tree. When the thugs were crossing the deepest part, he would charge with his Remington model 870 bayonet.

He could hear them closing in. Each step sent Jake’s heart into another gear. The intensity was overwhelming. Sweat was pouring off him. Vapor from his breath was pluming out into the night. Jake concentrated on reducing his breathing so as not to compromise his location.

“There they go…they’re gonna cross the creek,” he heard one say and another one grunted in agreement. They approached cautiously, but Jake could hear every step. Visions of his beautiful daughter and the wife whom he so often disappointed, and even Elizabeth, whose life depended on him, were flying through his mind. His decision to go hunting had forever changed the lives of countless people and set in motion an unfathomable sequence of events.

Jake took a deep breath and tightened his grip on his bayonet. He waited to hear the sound of rednecks sloshing in the creek. He was determined to kill both of them.

Katy and Elizabeth were moving slowly through the swamp. The mud kept pulling off Katy’s boots. Elizabeth was in excruciating pain. They held hands, and Katy tried her best to help support Elizabeth. Both girls were sobbing.

Elizabeth understood the danger that Jake faced and the sacrifice he was making. She knew why he was doing it. Elizabeth also knew that he was counting on her to get Katy to safety. A vision of Tanner’s fight flashed through her mind and then an image of her attacker-it was so vivid she could smell him. Walk. Just keep walking, she told herself.

Both girls heard a big truck cross the Noxubee River Bridge, the sound echoing across the swamp. They could almost feel the vibrations. They looked at each other and smiled knowingly. Elizabeth noted that it was still pretty far away because she couldn’t see any lights, but at least she knew they were headed in the right direction.

After sloshing through the mud for a hundred yards or so, Elizabeth saw a log that they would have to cross or go around. Pointing at it, she asked Katy, “You wanna sit a minute?”

“Yes,” Katy whispered.

The moment they sat down for a much-needed rest, a gray fox jumped from a hole in the ground at their feet, ran between them, then headed deep into the swamp.

They both yelled at the top of their lungs. Elizabeth’s long scream matched Katy’s. As quickly as it happened, it was over.

Elizabeth realized that they had betrayed their location. She instantly grabbed Katy by the hand and they took off running for the highway. Elizabeth fell down. Katy helped her get up. They were both in a panic.

Jake could tell that his pursuers were hesitating at the edge of the creek. Come on. Just a few more feet, he thought. He gritted his teeth, listening intently, waiting for the sounds of them wading into the water.

Katy and Elizabeth’s scream of terror pierced the silence. He tensed and turned to look in their direction. The dense swamp was coal-black. He couldn’t see anything. Jake heard one of them mumble something, then walk into the water. Jake had them where he wanted them, but Katy was in danger. Katy! What the hell’s goin’ on? What are they screamin’ at? Jake’s mind raced immediately to a vision of Katy and Elizabeth in the hands of those maniacs. But these monsters were less than twenty feet away from him-right now. He was shaking so hard he knew the thugs could hear-even over the sloshing sounds they made. The instant before Jake attacked, a graphic image of Katy in the hands of those fiends seared his brain. Jake bolted toward the girls, never looking back. He ran with all his might.

“ Shit! Who is that! Hey, come back here!” Jake heard someone yell in an incredulous voice. As he was running, Jake could hear chaotic shouting and the thrashing of water.

“Elizabeth! Elizabeth!” a man screamed as Jake plowed through vines and limbs in the direction of the girls, “Elizabeth! It’s Steve Tillman!”

“Mr. Tillman? Is that you?” Elizabeth yelled in response.

“Yes! Yes! We’re coming, Elizabeth!”

Jake stopped. He couldn’t hear clearly over the ringing in his ears, caused by the pounding of his heart. He tried to make sense of it. Elizabeth seemed to recognize one of voices coming from behind him. He cupped his hands and hollered, “Elizabeth, do you know him?’”

“Yes! It’s my boyfriend’s dad!” she yelled with excitement.

After a moment, Jake heard the girls crashing toward him through the undergrowth.

“Is Katy all right?”

“Yes sir!” Elizabeth shouted back. Jake felt a wave of relief rush over him.

“Elizabeth, we’re coming…stay where you are!” Tillman yelled.

Jake was stunned and exhausted. Everybody was yelling at once.

R.C. drew down on Jake’s chest when he saw him. Jake was totally covered in mud, barefoot, and carrying a shotgun with a knife jutting out of the end of the barrel-all very Apocalypse Now . “Deputy sheriff! Deputy sheriff! Drop it! Drop the gun! Drop it, NOW!” R.C. screamed. “Put your hands in the air!”

Jake let go of the shotgun and raised his hands. He then dropped to his knees, locking his fingers across the top of his head. He could stand no longer although the weight of the world had just been lifted from his shoulders.

“Man, I’m glad to see you,” Jake said with relief.

R.C. didn’t respond. Her kept his pistol trained on Jake as he slowly approached the shotgun. He picked it up and leaned it against a tree out of Jake’s reach.

Steve Tillman was out of sight, heading toward Elizabeth. Jake could hear Katy running back toward him and yelling, “Dad! Dad!”

When R.C. saw the little girl run to the muddy man and hug him, he dropped his pistol to his side. R.C. listened to Steve Tillman talking excitedly to Elizabeth Beasley.