Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror (Cades Cove Series #1)

by Aiden James

  “Oh, darlin’, don’t cry,” she told him, reaching over and wrapping her arms around him. “I love ya, I truly do. But, my heart belongs to Seth. We’ve spoken of this before.”

  He pulled away and stood up, his hands balled in fists as he faced her.

  “Why?” he demanded. “Why him and not me??”

  David prepared to jump out from his hiding place when things turned violent. Allie looked up into Zachariah’s face. Calm and unafraid, the compassion in her eyes confirmed the sincerity of the words she just spoke.

  “He’s the ‘one’, Zach,” she said.

  “The one, what?” he replied in anger. “Is he the ‘one’ who’s been by yer side since we was youngins? Or the ‘one’ who’s always made time for anythin’ ya wanted to do, includin’ yer witchin’s? God knows what his ma and pa’d think if they ever found out ‘bout what ya often do out here in the mil’ of the night!”

  “And I trust ya to never tell ‘em!” She stood up, her look serious. The warmth and compassion from a moment ago dissolved in her rising anger. “Is this the reason ya brought me out here—to talk ‘bout things we can’t change none?”

  “I’m every bit as good a man as Seth!” he cried, moving back toward the tree and pointing at what David couldn’t see, though he pictured a freshly carved heart with her name upon the tree’s other side. “I can provide for ya! I can give ya all the lovin’ ya need! Ain’t nothin’ he can give that I can’t, and ya know it’s true!!”

  She stood up and faced him, and the softness in her eyes revealed she fought tears as well.

  “Please, Allie…please put my name under yers!” he begged, wiping his eyes with his coat sleeve as his tears began to flow.

  “I-I can’t. I can’t and I won’t!” she replied, seemingly offended by his request.

  David thought it had to be killing her, to tell her longtime friend these words. He wondered what might’ve happened had she survived and later experienced the terrible loss of her true beau dying on a European battlefield of World War I.

  “Allie Mae, please!” Zachariah cried harder and fell to his knees.

  “No!” she shouted and turned to leave.

  He fell to the ground, pounding his fists in frustration upon the unforgiving earth. David felt sorry for him. Allie Mae was likely Zachariah’s first and only love until now.

  She picked up her lantern and stepped down the bank, and onto the stones leading to the other side of the stream. When she reached the opposite bank she started to climb up. But another man stepped out of the shadows and blocked her path.

  “And where the hell do ya think yer goin’?”

  The man’s voice gruff, she looked up in surprise.

  “Get out of my way, Billy Ray!” she hissed. “This ain’t none of yer concern, and I’ve got no quarrel with ya…yet!”

  “I think not!” he replied, laughing meanly. “My brother’s pain is my concern, so yer quarrel’s most rightly with me too!” He pushed her back and she stumbled down the embankment. Before she could regain her balance he grabbed her arm, yanking her behind him as he moved back across the stream.

  Zachariah sat up as his brother and captive approached, sniffling and wiping his face on his coat’s sleeve again. Allie Mae yelled a litany of threats at Billy Ray, who seemed unaffected by her taunts, focusing only on the task of dragging her up the bank and over to the bench where he threw her down onto the stone slab. The bottom of her dress became entangled on one of the slab’s sharp edges and ripped. Rather than continue her verbal tirade, she glared at him while assessing the damage to her gown.

  David tried to get a better view, peering around the oak. But until they reached the illumination provided by Zachariah’s lantern, he couldn’t see the infamous Billy Ray Hobson. Allie Mae’s lantern fell into the stream when her assailant dragged her back here.

  A towering man, Billy Ray soon stepped into the lantern’s glow. Ruggedly built with powerful legs and arms, a scruffy beard covered most of his face. Clad in a white short-sleeve shirt open around the neck, he looked like he might have earlier worn a suit similar to his brother’s, with identical trousers. Unlike his younger brother, he wore heavy black boots, like those used by the region’s early coal miners. A shadow cast by his brown fedora obscured his eyes.

  “What are ya doin’ here, Billy?” Zachariah asked him, rising to his feet and moving over to the bench. “This is between just her and me.”

  “The hell you say, ‘lil brother!” he huffed. “‘Seems to me Allie Mae’s got some carvin’ to do, so I reckoned I’d lend her a hand!”

  He yanked her up by the arm from the bench with more force than before, and she yelped in pain. Angry, she glared at Zachariah and scooped up the bouquet he left resting on the bench.

  “So, ya told him when we was meetin’ here tonight?”

  “Billy ain’t supposed to be here—honest!” he whined, shifting his anxious gaze from her to his brother and then back again. “He was supposed to help me get set up and then leave! That’s what he promised!” He narrowed his eyes at his brother, who grinned as if amused by the exchange between them.

  “I ain’t got time for this horseshit,” said Billy Ray. “Let’s get on with the carvin’ of my brother’s name, so Seth Sullivan will know who ya belong to when he gets back from the war.”

  He grabbed his brother’s lantern from the side of the bench and dragged her toward the tree. She clawed at his hand to release her, and as before, David intended to come to her aid. He moved around the side of the oak and prepared to launch himself at this fiend once close enough. When the older Hobson came within a few feet away, and raised the lantern toward the mark his brother made, his face became discernible. In shock, David drew a sudden breath. Although fifteen years younger, the face he stared at was his own. He couldn’t believe it and moved away from the safety of the tree to get a closer view. Both Allie Mae and Billy Ray paused to look in his direction. She gasped as though she could see him while he narrowed his eyes, as if David’s image was faint and too hard to discern.

  “I’ll have none of yer witchery!” he hissed, turning his attention back to the task at hand.

  David could come no closer. Something charged and unseen constricted tightly around him when within a foot of Billy Ray, leaving him just near enough to feel the heat and smell the sour odors of whiskey and sweat emanating from the man, but too far to impact his actions. He panicked at the thought he might not be able to come to her aid after all.

  Allie Mae’s gaze remained fixed on David, and she smiled weakly.

  “Woe to ya, Billy Ray, if ya persist in yer effort to forge a lie!” she warned, bringing her attention back to him. “Ya sense this spirit’s presence, but know another far worse is near. His vengeance will be realized if ya fulfill the evil in yer heart!” She raised her chin in defiance.

  Billy Ray hesitated, nodding his head as if he believed her.

  “All right, Allie Mae. All right,” he said, pulling her closer to where she leaned away from his foul breath. “There’s other ways to teach a bitch like ya a lesson!”

  Fury filled her face and she shook her arm free from his grasp.

  “Don’t ya call me no bitch!”

  He chuckled, motioning for Zachariah to continue to stay out of this.

  “Ya ain’t nothin’ but a whore, Allie Mae. Just a fuckin’ sleazy whore!”

  “Why ya bastard!” she shrieked, and slapped him across his face.

  The sound ripped through the ravine, and at first he seemed shocked by her response. But the shock soon turned to rage, and before she could strike him again, he grabbed her arms and threw her down on the ground. He warned Zachariah again to keep out of their feud and then jumped on top of her, pinning her arms under his weight while she fought to free herself from his hold. The bouquet of lilacs and honeysuckles flew out of her hand, with the majority landing next to her head.

  He removed her shoes to keep her from kicking him with the sharp heel tips and pointed toes,
throwing them to his brother to hold for safekeeping while he showed him ‘the only way to tame a back-talkin’ slut like this-un’.

  “Now, ain’t that better?” he told her once he straddled her torso to where she couldn’t move.

  “Let me go, goddamn ya, ya fuckin’ snake!”

  “O-o-oh! I like a gal with some fight in ‘er!” He grabbed her arms near the wrists and held them fast to the ground. He bent his face down to hers.

  “Don’t do it, Billy Ray!” said Zachariah. “She’s mine—not yers!”

  “Ya disgust me! Ow-w-w!!” She howled in pain as he tightened his grip on her wrists. “Make him stop, Zach! Ah-h-h!! Stop hurtin’ me!!”

  Zachariah moved over to where they struggled on the ground, but seemed unsure what to do next. He circled the spot where they lay, pleading for him to get off her. Disgusted with the younger Hobson’s response, David ran over and tried to knock Billy Ray over. But the mysterious force prevented him from so much as grazing his body, though he turned his head in David’s direction.

  Allie looked toward him and whimpered, as if aware he couldn’t save her. To Billy Ray it appeared she looked instead at the flowers strewn near her head.

  “What’s this, I see?” he asked, turning to his brother for an answer when she refused to give one.

  “It’s my present from her,” said Zachariah, bending down to pick them up. Billy Ray stopped him.

  “It wasn’t what ya was hopin’ for when we went to all this trouble earlier tonight, now was it?” He pointed at the bench they created and back toward the tree where Zachariah had carved her name. “I’ve got somethin’ right proper in mind for em in a ‘lil while.”

  “Let me go!” Allie Mae squirmed more aggressively to free herself.

  “Hold still ya goddamned bitch!” he hissed in irritation.

  Billy Ray slapped her hard across the face, and when she shrieked again he slapped her harder, pulling her bonnet off and shoving it inside her mouth. That act finally got his younger brother moving, to stand up like a man and rescue his beloved.

  Zachariah grabbed him from behind by the shoulders. Slighter in build, he succeeded in lifting his brother off Allie Mae. But only for a moment. Billy Ray turned and slugged him in the gut, causing him to fall backward. Zachariah’s head landed hard on a thick protruding root from another, much older oak. With blood trickling down the side of his face, he lay motionless. Horrified, Allie Mae screamed, while David went over to check on him. He couldn’t get close enough to be sure, but he thought Zachariah still breathed. Definitely unconscious.

  “Ya killed him, ya bastard!! Ya murderer!!!” she shrieked after spitting the bonnet out of her mouth.

  Billy Ray secured her under his weight once more, shrugging his shoulders in indifference. He laughed and tore open her dress, ripping away her brassiere to expose her breasts. She fought harder, which made the leering smile on his face broaden.

  “Get off me! Yer hurtin’ me!! Please...let… GO!!!”

  Shocked and mortified for her, David tried to attack him again, screaming at him to leave her alone. He managed to knock Billy Ray’s hat off and he saw the goose flesh rise on the back of his neck. But it only made him briefly look behind him while he squeezed Allie’s breasts with his rough and dirty hands.

  “Yer goddamned spirits can watch if they’re so inclined,” he told her. “But one way or another yer givin’ me what I’ve come for!”

  She continued to squirm while he pressed his face down onto her right breast. He pulled up her gown forcefully, ripping her undergarments free and throwing them toward the woods. All the while David tried to rescue her, desperately pushing his body against the invisible force to where the charged warmth became a fiery burn too painful for him to endure. She seemed to see him through her tears, sobbing while she pled for Billy Ray to stop his assault.

  He shoved her legs apart, and then eyed the small bunch of lilacs and honeysuckles lying next to her head. He chuckled gleefully as he picked up the flowers with one hand while securing both of her wrists with his other. He then brought them between her legs and wiped them around her sex. When he started shoving them inside, a worse look of horror appeared on her face. Powerful rage swept through her and she managed to free her wrists from his grip. With her left hand she raked four fingernails against the tender spot just below the right side of his jaw.

  “Get the fuck off me!!”

  David desperately sought to help lift her attacker to where she could slide out from under him. Again repelled, this time the invisible force sent him flying down into the stream.

  Billy Ray howled in pain, grabbing at her fingers while blood oozed freely from his wounds. Enraged as much as she, he slammed her arm down against the ground. A soft crunch and snap announced it fractured on impact.

  “Someone please help me!! He’s goin’ to kill me!!!”

  “Shut the hell up, bitch!!” Billy Ray roared at her. “Or, I’ll kill ya now!!!”

  She ignored his threat and screamed even louder. He warned her once more, and when she wouldn’t quiet down, he began to pound her face with his fists. David had managed to climb back onto the bank, his clothing soaked. The left side of Allie Mae’s face bloodied from the blows from Billy Ray’s hand, she looked at David to her right, openly begging him to save her. But he couldn’t. The force that had stopped him before crackled with intense energy and extended to the edge of the bank’s slope. He could only watch helplessly.

  “Who are ya callin’ to?” asked Billy Ray, sarcastic, following her gaze to David. “I told ya to shut the hell up!” He leered in David’s direction, until his gaze fell on a sharp pointed rock protruding from the ground a few feet away.

  “Let’s see if yer spirits can save ya from this!” he said menacingly, again securing her wrists with one hand while he dug out the rock.

  David’s heart dropped when he realized Billy Ray’s intent. The force remained impenetrable. He fell to his knees on the bank, crying while he pleaded for Billy Ray to stop.

  As if he could hear this, the fiend looked over at him one last time and smiled. Then he turned his attention back to Allie Mae, whose eyes followed the course of the heavy, sharp-pointed rock he wielded above his head. She screamed again as he brought it down onto her mouth. Muffled cries followed as crushed teeth and torn tissues fell inside her open throat. Again and again he brought down the rock, and once it smashed into her left eye socket she quit moving. Billy Ray added a few more blows for good measure, and each delivered on Allie Mae’s left side, away from David. When finished, he casually tossed the rock, barely missing David’s head as it flew by and fell into the stream. The waning bubbles announced its arrival at the bottom of the streambed. But the evil intentions of her attacker weren’t finished. To David’s horror, after loosening his belt and removing his trousers, Billy Ray savagely raped the corpse.

  David looked away, unwilling to witness the continued violence and grunts from this man who so closely resembled him physically. He laid on the edge of the ravine’s bank weeping until something nudged him. Fearing Billy Ray would be leering down at him, he was grateful to find him gone. Allie Mae’s corpse lay a few feet from away, and in the lantern’s soft glow he saw Zachariah begin to stir next to the other oak.

  The pasted streaks on David’s hands nearly undetectable, they had smeared and been washed away during his struggle to save her life and his subsequent dousing in the stream. His watch, waterproof and still attached to his wrist, showed the time as12:48 a.m. Allie Mae’s passing must have been around twelve-thirty. He stood up and carefully pressed his hands forward. The mysterious force had receded, undetectable until he neared her body. He wondered now if her spirit had just touched him and worried what would come next. Billy Ray reappeared at the top of the ravine carrying a pair of shovels.

  “We best move quickly,” he said to Zachariah, after he returned to where the corpse lay while his younger brother struggled to his feet.

  “What the hell have ya done??” Z
achariah cried out once he saw Allie Mae’s violated and violently torn body lying nearby. He immediately ran over to her side, gathering her body in his arms, his sobs heartrending.

  “Ain’t no time for cryin’ over her, Zach!” responded Billy Ray, harshly. “If she hadn’t broke yer heart and put up such a fight just now, she’d be all right. But, once a bitch n’ whore, always a bitch n’ whore!”

  He pointed to the wounds along his neck, which still bled.

  “Goddamn ya, Billy Ray!!” shrieked Zachariah.

  He laid Allie’s body back on the ground and ran over to his brother, pummeling his back and shoulder with his fists. The older Hobson easily subdued his weaker sibling, gripping his wrists with enough force to bring him to his knees. Zachariah howled in pain and crumpled to the ground, wailing loudly from his grief.

  “Yer goin’ to hang for this!!” he screamed. “Sheriff Thompson’s goin’ to see to it once I tell ‘em what you’ve done!!!”

  “You’ll do no such thing!” retorted Billy Ray. “What do ya think he’d say when I tell em’ how ya helped me kill Marshall Tillis? Once I show him where ole Marshall’s buried behind Blake Casper’s place? Hmmm??”

  His smile pompous, he brought the edge of one of the shovels close to his brother’s face. Zachariah continued to sob, but he heeded his brother’s threat and got back on his feet. He reluctantly took the other shovel from him and picked up the lantern, casting another sorrowful glance at Allie Mae’s lifeless form. He followed Billy Ray as he moved toward the woods on the other side of the bench. David crept close behind as far as the mysterious protective force would allow, causing Zachariah to look over his shoulder several times.

  “Pay no attention to her conjured spirits,” said Billy Ray, moving toward the darkened woods across from the ravine. “Foller me over to where we found the makin’s for yer bench. There’s a hole we can use to bury her.”

  Just a few feet beyond the tree line lay a shallow depression in the ground, where the stone slab unearthed that night had been. Since only a foot or so below the surface, the two set out to make it deeper. But after digging into the soil a few inches, the tips of their shovels met repeated resistance, the earth refusing penetration into the thick clay.