L Akers - Fight Like a Man

Just before her head hit the ground, she opened her eyes and saw him; a dark blur barreling toward her—

GRAYSIE STRUGGLED to pull her pistol out from behind her as time slowed. The dark blur flew at her and she screamed, just before the shape of a man emerged and collided with the blur—Ozzie!—in the same split second she pulled her pistol free, pulled back the hammer and squeezed the trigger.

The gun loudly boomed, barking death.

The blur twisted in the air and barreled toward Graysie.

Man and dog went down in tangled heap.

Graysie scrambled to her feet at the same time as Ozzie, who crawled out from under the man’s arm and nearly flew to her, almost knocking her back over with his enthusiasm.

Filled with terror at what she’d done, she dropped the gun with a little toss, as if it were too hot to hold. She rubbed Ozzie’s head with both hands, checking to be sure he wasn’t hit. “You okay, boy?”

Ozzie was fine, barely winded even. She realized the farmhouse she’d seen from the back was her dad’s house. She was a lot closer than she’d thought coming in the back way.

The man on the ground moaned and Ozzie ran back to him, nudging at his leg.

Graysie stepped closer and pulled Ozzie away by his collar. “Watch out, Ozzie!” With the limited moonlight, Graysie couldn’t see much of his face, but he didn’t look like a tweaker. He was huge. Healthy.

Not like the sick guy in the barn. But the fact was he was out in the middle of the night, on her dad’s property, chasing either Ozzie, or her. She’d never seen him before. He had to be with the other guy.

“Who are you? Were you chasing my dog?” she yelled at him, fear making her voice shake. “What’s your name?”

The man hesitated and then moaned, “Fuuuucking Pu—” his words broke off as he screamed in pain through clenched teeth. He grabbed his wound. Blood seeped through his fingers.

Like a cold shower, anger replaced Graysie’s fear for a moment. He was trying to hurt Ozzie? What kind of freak would hurt a dog, especially a sweet dog like Ozzie? She had to be sure that’s what he was saying. “What?”

The man didn’t answer. He moaned and tried to roll over.

A different kind of fear knotted inside her. What if he dies? Am I in trouble? But if he was with the guy who attacked her, it was self-defense. Graysie yelled at him, “Look, were you with the meth head in the barn?”

He answered with a whimper.

The fear in his voice made Graysie feel stronger. She nudged him with her foot. “Who are you? Were you chasing me, or Ozzie?”

“ Fucking Pu—” he yelled through clamped teeth, breaking off again with a sob, not able to speak through the agony.

“Stop cussing my dog!” Graysie screamed at him.

Ozzie stepped up to him again and sniffed, and then buried his nose in the man’s side, pushing at him. Graysie pulled on the dog’s collar, bringing him to a safe distance. He jerked free again, running back to the man and licked his face. He whined.

“Ozzie, leave him alone. He can’t hurt us anymore.” Graysie reached for Ozzie again, and to her shock and surprise, the man twisted and rolled to his stomach, and struggled on the ground.

He was trying to get up.

She jumped forward and grabbed Ozzie’s collar, forcefully pulling him away from the man. She had to get away. She had to run.

Gripping the collar, she frantically looked for her bag and her gun, both hidden in the darkness on the ground. She whipped around to check the man again. He was on all fours now, wobbling and moaning. His blood puddled beneath him. He fell back to the ground again, but continued to struggle.

A glint of moonlight reflected off the gun. She snatched it up and took off, abandoning her bag, pulling at Ozzie with all her might. She cut to the side of the field that met the road, hoping to draw the creep away from her father’s house, in case he was able to get up. If she could make it to the other side of the road, they could disappear into those woods and quietly circle back to her dad’s.

Finally, Ozzie stopped resisting and ran with her. He loped easily beside her frantic leaps through the field. Her heart beat rapidly, hammering in her chest. The tweaker was still out there too. He could pop up any minute.

She threw a glance over her shoulder, hoping not to see the bloody man behind her. No sign of him yet. She pushed harder, and felt a stitch in her side. Her blood pumped loudly in her ears; that’s all she could hear. It was as though all other sound ceased.

Digging deeper, she pumped her arms back and forth as she pushed through the discomfort. Finally, the dirt road appeared through a thin stand of trees, just across a ditch.

Not breaking her stride, she ripped through the trees and jumped the ditch, seeing Ozzie slide to a halt out of the corner of her eye as she leapt. Too late to stop, she went airborne and landed on the dirt road, skidding in bits of tiny gravel on her knees… directly in front of a screaming monster hiding behind two blinding beams of light bearing down on her. A cloud of red dirt followed it as it barreled down the road growling toward her.

Her bloodcurdling scream rang through the air as she hunkered down on her knees, holding her arms over her head, just as she heard her father’s voice in her head calling out for her in a scream that matched her own.

Finally, the monster came to an abrupt stop, inches from Graysie as she knelt, head-down between the glaring twin beams. A moment later, the monster was silenced.

She held still a moment, still not daring to believe she was still alive, and then turned her head and tried to peek through her fingers at her newest foe.

“Graysie!”

She whipped her face the other way toward the familiar voice—it wasn’t in her head after all—and nearly fainted with relief to see her dad running down the road, with her Uncle Jake right behind him.

Grayson slid in the dirt, gathering his daughter in his arms. “Graysie, are you okay?” he breathlessly asked, as he hugged her.

“Dad!” She clung to him, her head against his chest, willing it to be true. She was home? This was real? She wasn’t dead? “I’m okay… but there’s a—”

“Grayson!” a voice yelled above them.

The both looked up to the astonished face of Olivia, Emma, Gabby, and an old man, all standing over them, lit up by a tractor’s lights.

Grayson scrambled to his feet and pulled his wife to him with one arm, and dragged Graysie up with the other, pulling them both in and squeezing them to his pounding heart. “You’re home? You’re both home?”

Olivia joyously laughed through her tears and nodded.

“You’re home!” he said again, this time believing his eyes. The cold knot he’d carried in his stomach for days on end finally loosened, and tears pricked at his eyes, and then ran unchecked down his cheeks.

He turned to see Gabby run to Jake as Olivia finally let loose with a stream of chatter, spilling the goriest details of their journey to her husband in such a rush that she couldn’t be understood. He smiled down at her and waited for her to take a breath.

“Jake!” Gabby screamed.

Jake jogged as fast as he could with his bum leg, eating up the space between them. They flew together with enough force to nearly knock them down. Jake threw his arms around his wife and twirled her through the air. “I knew you’d make it!”

Gabby laughed, trying to choke back her cries. “It wasn’t easy. It was a rough trip,” she said, her voice breaking. She pulled him in tighter and held her breath, trying to keep the tears in.