Cheater's Paradise

by Keith Trimm

“I see, and you think I’m like them? Do I look drunk to you?” the man said with a smile. “You know nothing of me.”

  “I know you like to tie up women and burn them, sounds like you’re a serial killer.”

  “Maybe I am, what are you going to do about it?”

  “Well, since one of these ladies is my girlfriend, I’m going to start off by beating the shit out of you.”

  “You don’t care about the other one?” the man asked.

  “Sure I do, I just care about Cindy a little more,” Bob said taking a step towards the man with the poker in his hand.

  “Can you guys take this outside?” Cindy asked. “There isn’t a lot of room in here and that poker might land somewhere unexpected.”

  “Its dark honey, this won’t take long.”

  “Won’t take long?” the man said laughing.

  “I’ve lived in these woods all my life, I’ve hunted, trapped and killed everything I ever ate. You think your skills as a “bouncer” are going to help you now?”

  Bob rushed the man and grabbed onto the poker rendering it useless. He then shoved the man into the fireplace and kicked him as he cooked on the hot coals. Once the poker was free from the man’s grip, Bob used it to beat the man unconscious and shoved the rest of his body into the fireplace to finish cooking.

  “That was really gross Bob,” Cindy said.

  Bob stepped over to Cindy and gave her a kiss. “You prefer I let him burn you?”

  “Get me out of these ties please and Laura, she’s the one that saved our asses.”

  “What? I beat that fucker to death, “Bob said.

  “Laura used a spell to conjure you here.”

  “I was already on my way, after I escaped from the compound, I smelled the smoke from the fireplace and headed this way.”

  Cindy stood up, free of her bindings and gave Bob a long kiss. “Shut the fuck up and cut Laura loose.”

  “Wait a second guys,” Laura said. “Look behind you.”

  Standing in the doorway was the wife of the man who was cooking in the fireplace. She was standing with a pitchfork in her hands pointing the tines at Bob and Cathy. Behind her stood her son and pregnant daughter. “You killed him” the woman asked.

  “Yeah, is that a bad thing?” Bob asked.

  “No, it’s not, he won’t be able to rape my daughter any longer.”

  Cindy spoke up,” You knew all along and were going to let this fuck burn us at the stake?”

  “I have no control over him, he had total control over me and the children.”

  “Then why the pitchfork?”

  “I saw this man enter our cabin, I have the pitchfork for self-protection. I heard a fight and wanted to see what happened,” the woman replied.

  Bob said, “So you’re not going to stab me with that?”

  “No,”

  “Then please put it down.”

  The woman lowered the pitchfork and entered the room followed by her children. “You should get him out of the fireplace before it’s too messy.”

  “What do you want me to do with his body?”

  “Leave it out in the woods for the wolves,” the woman replied.

  Bob pulled the man’s body from the fireplace and dragged it out into the woods. It smelled like burning hair and made him gag. On his way back he tried to see the compound he had escaped from earlier that day and wondered if they would be out looking for him. The cabin would be an obvious target, but he wasn’t sure the clan would risk contacting the family that lived there, they had a psycho and that might have been enough to keep them at bay. If it weren’t for Momma who was hoping to make steaks out of him and the girls, he’d consider living here with the mother and two children. They were out of the way and knew how to live on the land. Just what he needed.

  Maybe there was a doable plan there. All he needed was to talk to the woman who now owned the cabin and make her a deal. Maybe she could use a man around the place and his girlfriend Cindy could help. Laura could leave and be on her way. Everyone would be happy, except Momma, who was only a few miles away across a lake and through the woods.

  Back at the cabin, Bob approached the woman and asked her, “Do you think we might be able to stay for a while?”

  “Yes, I owe you that much,” she replied.

  “I know this is kinda quick to ask this, but with your husband gone, could you use a man around the house? I sorta need a place to stay and so does my girlfriend.”

  “Which one is your girlfriend?” the woman asked.

  “The big one, the one I kissed.”

  “I didn’t see you kiss either one of them, what about the skinny one?”

  “She was being held prisoner by those fucks up on the hill along with us, she probably wants to go home.”

  “Why don’t you want to go home?” the woman asked.

  “I don’t have a home right now.”

  “And your girlfriend?”

  “She’s with me now.”

  “I see, I’ll talk to my children and see what they think.”

  “That’s all I ask, I can be a great help, and my girlfriend can help with your daughter being pregnant and all.”

  “Is your girlfriend pregnant as well?” the woman asked.

  “No, she has a weight problem.”

  “Oh, I’ve never seen anyone so large before, we have to work for every meal so there is very little extra.”

  “I know what you mean, in today’s society it’s very easy to get fat. Living out here could do wonders for her, maybe lose some pounds.”

  “Oh yes, she would, very quickly.”

  “Great, so you talk it over with your kids, when do you think you’d make your decision?”

  “You can stay one week, I’ll know by then,” the woman replied.

  “That’s fair,” Bob said.

  Chapter 24

  Woods

  The woman of the house gave Cindy and Laura makeshift frocks to wear while they lived at the cabin. Each were given chores to do and today Cindy was in charge of dressing whatever kind of game Bob brought back from hunting. Neither Bob nor Cindy had ever done this kind of work, and after three days were beginning to doubt their choice to stay. But what real choice did they have?

  Bob walked back from the woods with two squirrels dangling from his right hand. They were dead and limp striking his leg with each step. “I got something for you,” he said with a smile.

  “I can’t do this,” Cindy said. “I’m no pioneer woman, I eat from a can, not from the woods.”

  “Just skin it and clean it, it can’t be that hard,” Bob replied.

  “How?”

  “I don’t know, use your knife.”

  “Then what?”

  “Ask Anne,” Bob said, referring to the mother.

  “I don’t want to, I want to go home,” Cindy said.

  “You want to leave? Go then.”

  “You know I can’t, how the fuck do I get out of here? We’re trapped!”

  “No shit, now either skin that squirrel or start walking, you don’t have much choice!” Bob snapped back.

  Cindy took the squirrels from Bob and set them on a wood table fashioned from wood cut from the forest. She hacked at them trying to chop off the heads. It didn’t work. Then she heard Anne call out her, “What are you doing girl?”

  Cindy rolled her eyes and sighed, “I’m trying to cut these up.”

  Anne took the knife and pushed Cindy aside. “I don’t know what good you two are if all you can bring to the table is two squirrels, we have five mouths to feed, we need more than this.”

  Now Bob was agitated. “It took me all morning to kill those fuckers, you think that’s easy?”

  “My dead husband may have been a bastard, but we never went hungry,” Anne said. “Now go back in the woods and fetch us some real meat, and you girl, I’ll show you how to fix these squirrels once, then you do it on your own, got it?”

  Cindy looked at Bob with disgust. She gave the look that said, “L
et’s get the fuck out of here ASAP.” Bob shook his head realizing he had nowhere else to go. He was a fugitive. This place was the best hiding place he could ask for.

  “Fine,” Bob said, “I’ll go back, but I don’t know what I can do. It’s not like there’s a cow out there waiting for me to strangle it.”

  “You’re a man, you have hunting instincts,” Anne said.

  “Those instincts have to be groomed, I wasn’t raised a hunter, my dad was a plumber, and you don’t have running water out here so I can’t help with that either.”

  “I don’t know what a plumber is, but I do know that it is past noon and the children are hungry, get back out there and bring us some real food. If you don’t bring anything back, don’t bother coming back, “Anne said. She then grabbed Cindy by the arm and pulled her close to the wood table. “Now fat girl, this is how you cut up a squirrel.”

  Bob turned and headed back out to the woods, he thought for a moment and stopped. Looking back he watched Cindy and Anne cut up the squirrel. “What about Aaron? Can he come with me?”

  “My boy is attending to his sister, she is six months along and is having difficulties. She needs constant help,” Anne said.

  “What kind of difficulties?” Bob asked.

  “Are you a doctor?” Anne asked.

  “No, I’m a bouncer.”

  “Then bounce back into the woods and fetch us some food. The girl needs to eat.”

  Bob turned and walked back into the woods, he had no idea what he was doing or what he was going to find. He was no hunter and there was no learning curve.

  Six hours later the sun was setting, there was no sign of Bob, the rest of the group sat in the cabin eating the small amount of meat Bob provided that morning. There wasn’t much, but with some creative cooking, Anne made it go further.

  “Where is your man?” Anne asked Cindy

  “How should I know? You sent him out in the woods, he’s probably stuck in a hole, or broke a leg. Real nice way to treat the man who saved you from your asshole husband.”

  “I am grateful for what he did, but that doesn’t change the fact we have to eat. He’s the only man here, I will send Aaron out to look for him in the morning.”

  “I thought Aaron was too busy taking care of his knocked up sister,” Cindy snapped.

  “You can take your tone and you fat body and leave at any time.”

  “Why not have Laura take care of your daughter? At least she’s female,” Cindy said.

  Laura spoke up, ”Yeah that would be fine with me.”

  Aaron let his plate down hard and spoke up, “She is my sister, I will take care of her, I have always taken care of her.”

  Anne spoke up, “Aaron, she should be taken care of by another woman, now that we have one here, you need to help with other chores.”

  “No, I won’t stop, she is my sister!”

  “Why are you so mad?” Cindy asked. “Anyone can help her, you don’t need to be so defensive.”

  It was then Cindy had an epiphany,” Is the child yours?” she asked.

  Aaron was silent, he looked to the ground and didn’t respond.

  Anne then interrupted, “Aaron, is this true? Is the child yours and not your fathers?”

  Aaron got up and tried to walk away. His mother stopped him before he could get to the door. “Boy, did you have relations with your sister?”

  Aaron stood silent, staring into his mother’s eyes. He didn’t want to answer.

  “You tell me now!” Anne yelled.

  “Yes,” Aaron replied in a whisper.

  “Holy fuck,” Cindy said.

  “You let me believe it was your father that did this?” Anne asked.

  “Honestly, I don’t know if the child is mine or fathers.”

  “What? Did you take turns with her?”

  “Father made me,” Aaron said.

  “Is this true?” Anne asked looking to the pregnant sister. In tears, she nodded her head.

  “What kind of fucked up zoo are you running here?” Cindy asked.

  In shock, Anne walked away from the door and sat down. Aaron left the cabin and the remaining four sat in stunned silence.

  For the rest of the night, no one really said much, this was too much for the family to bear and the crushing reality of the abuse was like a lead weight.

  Out in the woods Bob sat starting at the sky. It was a warm evening and he had no luck finding any game so decided it was better to stay away then get yelled at. Then he heard a sound, the sound of footsteps. In the moonlight he could make out it was Aaron, walking through the trees. “Hey what’s up?” Bob called out.

  Aaron turned to Bob and saw him through the trees, he walked over and sat down next to him. Bob spoke up, “What you doing out here?”

  “Had to get out of the cabin, things were getting a little too deep.”

  “Like what?” Bob asked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Is it about fucking your sister?” Bob asked.

  Shocked, Aaron replied, “How did you know?”

  “I didn’t, but you seemed way too close to her, it was more like you were dating, then brother and sister. What happened? Did your sister confess?”

  “No, I did, mother was trying to separate us so I told her the truth.”

  “So the kid’s yours?” Bob asked.

  “Yes, maybe, it could be my fathers.”

  “Ouch, that sucks.

  “It doesn’t matter now, he is dead and she is pregnant, if the child is mine, I want to raise it.”

  “How will you know the difference?” Bob asked.

  “I’d raise it no matter whose baby it is, I love my sister.”

  “You know, I figured there would be a problem with one family living alone out in the woods, if you don’t have anyone to screw, you’re going to end up screwing a family member, and it looks like I’m right.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, I was lonely.”

  “I’m not blaming you, that’s just the way it works when you have an isolated population. It was bound to happen. Did you ever screw your mother?” Bob asked.

  “Oh no! That would never happen.”

  “Why? Because she wouldn’t let you? Or because your father would beat you?””

  “Neither, she is my mother, that’s all.”

  “But your sister is your sister.”

  “Both are wrong, but one is more wrong than the other. I refuse to live a solitary life without love.”

  “Or sex from what I seen.”

  “I’m not having this conversation any longer,” Aaron said.

  “What are you going to do? You left because you let the cat out of the bag, and I’m stuck out here because I can’t catch of fucking rabbit alone a deer. Seems like we’ve both been ostracized.”

  “What does that word mean?” Aaron asked.

  “Kicked out,” Bob explained.

  “Yeah, we have been.”

  “So now what the fuck do we do? We are the only men, and they are sitting back in the cabin. I don’t think that’s fair.”

  “What do you propose to do?”

  “I say we take back the cabin, your mother is the only person keeping us from being out in the weather, I say we go back and tell her who’s boss.”

  “Till we starve, did you forget why you’re out here?” Aaron asked.

  “Fuck, she can go hunt squirrels.”

  “I see what you’re saying, but she’s a good woman who’s only trying to provide for her family. She means no harm. She’s just doing what she feels is right. “

  “And I want to do what I feel is right,” Bob said. “I think there is a misuse of power, or at least a misplacement of power. I’m the man of the house, as they say. I should be in charge and making the decisions.”

  “Do you plan on taking the cabin tonight?” Aaron asked.

  “Oh yeah, I’m not sleeping in the grass tonight, I’m sleeping in a warm bed. In that cabin.”

  “When?�
��

  “Are you with me?” Bob asked.

  “You’re asking me to go against my own mother.”

  “You’re own mother kicked you out.”

  “No, I left on my own.”

  “But I’m sure she didn’t make it comfortable for you,” Bob said.

  “No, she didn’t”

  “Then are you with me or not?” Bob asked.

  Aaron sat and thought, he kicked around some sticks and looked back towards the cabin. he couldn’t see it through the trees, and it was dark outside, but he knew where it was.

  “Yeah, I knew this day was coming, now that she knows, things have to change, I have nowhere else to go.” Aaron replied

  “Good, let’s make a plan, how hard can it be to kick an old woman out of power? Does she own any weapons?”

  “Cutting tools and knives for cooking, then there are my father’s hunting tools.”

  “Where are those kept?”

  “In a small storage room at the back of the cabin, and there is a bow and arrow set in another building,” Aaron said.

  “Ok, this should be easy, you go around back, pick up the hunting gear and I’ll grab the knives from the kitchen before I make my big announcement.”

  “All you need is to get the knives, my mother won’t go for the hunting gear, it’s not her thing, it was always my fathers.”

  “You’re sure? I don’t want to get into an argument and have an arrow shot at me.”

  “It’s not my mother’s way, she may be a bully, but she isn’t a violent woman. Not that I have ever seen.” Aaron said.

  “With your father gone, that may change. Now she’s top dog.”

  “True, but that doesn’t mean she knows how to use his hunting gear.”

  “I’d feel safer if you gathered that stuff up first. I don’t want any surprises.” Bob said.

  Chapter 25

  Light it up

  “Do you smell smoke?” Bob asked.

  “We live in a cabin, we burn wood, I always smell smoke,” Aaron replied.

  “This doesn’t smell like the smoke I’m used too, I smell burnt hair.”

  From the direction of the cabin, the sounds of a woman screaming cut through the woods. Both men took off towards the cabin and ran through the woods until they saw the source of the smoke. One of the stakes was ablaze with a person tied to it. From the distance they couldn’t tell who, but someone was being roasted alive.