by Ian Dyer
Stephen lifted away his hands and rubbed them clean on the dead woman’s only dress as he left.
3
Susie met Tommy outside of the Travellers and they both headed off to valley together. The morning was cool and quiet. There were the usual cackles from the crows, the bleats of sheep and of goats. Dogs would bark and then yelp as their masters reminded them who was boss but soon even those were a distant echo as they ventured further from Rockfall. The two moved in silence which would have puzzled Susie under different circumstances, but today she didn’t mind.
She had spent the night dreaming of Stephen and had awoken with the memories of the night be fore’s atrocities almost wiped clean. They were there, she could remember them whenever she wanted, but as love is blind, so too can be our memories and she would only be reminded of them when the end was coming.
‘Not too fars now, Susie.’ Tommy was a few meters ahead and veering down the steep slope to the valley floor.
‘Yep. Good thing as well, feels like it is going to be another scorcher.’ Susie wiped some sweat from her brow and took in a deep breath. The air was stale, much like it always was but there was something else – hidden beneath the stink – another scent, like decaying flesh or the smell of a dead dog. She swallowed and spat, trying to rid herself of the stink but it wouldn’t go. She reached the top of the rise the Wastelands stretching as far as the eye could see - the sky a massive blue sheet of glass, the ground a wash of yellow and white with the occasional speck of bush or cactus breaking up the monotony. She stepped cautiously from the hardpan to the loose soil of the steep slope and headed down to where Tommy stood at the bottom. It wasn’t far, perhaps fifty feet but the sheerness of the fall made it treacherous.
But the orchids would be worth it. Keeping her feet sideways on Susie clambered down, sometimes skidding on the loose soil. She looked up from time to time, making sure she was headed in the right direction and that Tommy was still there. Her legs were beginning to tire and the sweat was running into her eyes.
She glanced down to see how far she had to go, the sun hindering her vision. Holding up her hand to shield her eyes from the yellow glare she a black garbed figure raced from a stack of rocks over to where Tommy stood unaware of what was heading his way. Whatever it was moved fast and seemed to be holding some kind of weapon.
She leant forward to hurry her climb and as she was about to shout her concerns to the young man, the ground beneath her feet crumbled and she went tumbling down – floor to sky floor to sky floor to sky. Over and over again she went grunting as her body hit the deck. Her legs and arms banged against rocks, her back grazed upon needle bush. At some point she thought that eventually she would pass out or crack her head against a blade rock and that would be that. Dust flew up her nose and she began to believe that this tumble would never come to an end.
Finally, with one last deep thud to the side she hit the valley floor and Susie screamed, coughed and cried as she expected the worse.
As the dust settled, matching the muddle of her mind, she eased her breathing and waited for the agony of broken bones to set in - but it didn’t. She hurt, really hurt but everything felt intact and attached. Slowly, she knelt on all fours and spat out a wad of dusty phlegm. Her side hurt something rotten and she could taste blood. Her head was still spinning and she felt sick but Susie couldn’t help but feel amazed. Amazed and lucky.
An image of the garbed figure running at Tommy flashed before her eyes.
She was still knelt on all fours like a dog when a rough pair of boots stood between her dirty cut and bloodied hands.
‘Christ, Tommy,’ Susie gasped, ‘that was fucking close.’
There was no response. But that smell had come back, only this time a thousand times worse. It filled her nose and the air grew heavy. She found it hard to breath and slowly Susie tilted her head up to see what was in front of her. What was causing the smell?
‘Patience…’
And then the world went black.
4
It had been a struggle, well for Tommy anyway, and taken longer than had been anticipated but finally Susie was propped up in an old wooden chair her hands and feet bound to the chair – naked. Tommy had been told to wait outside for the time being and much like the night before; he peered through gaps in a window only this time his cock was kept in his pants.
Patience went about her business mumbling and grumbling as she waddled about her home. What Patience had to do to Susie was probably best done when the girl was out of it, but Patience didn’t want that. She wanted Susie to be looking her in the eyes as she did the deed and then found out the truth. Giggling to herself Patience scratched at her scabby scalp and kicked out at an errant rat as it darted from one hole to the next.
In preparation for today she had opened the main kitchen window and the sunlight burst through highlighting the filth that Stephen had only previously glanced. Years of clutter and waste were piled high. Paintings hung crooked, wet and decayed - their original imagery lost to time. Alabaster white bones were strewn across the floor, some were bestial others human like. Her tatty dress would make waves in the dust only for it to settle and the floor lost once again. The dappled sunlight tried to shine on glass jars but their age and tattiness made it impossible. A leak from the old boiler room in the roof above the kitchen sent a constant trickle of water down the wall near the sink and green moss grew from its edges. In fact, on closer inspection, though you wouldn’t want to get that close, the walls were alive with a green best left alone in our darkest nightmares.
As Patience shuffled from here to there readying herself, Petra began to pulse - Susie was waking up.
5
‘The black summer heat grows, young Susie. The crows circle, they cackle like fools and you dance to it like a shadow under an old oak tree. For years I have seen you, undressing in the moonlight, I watched you disappear into men’s beds, I watched you disappear. I dreamed dreams that I dreamed of you and still dream. The Mighty One saw fit to cast your womanhood into the fires but yet that womanhood has blossomed like a fearsome desert rose. That heart shaped bone that was once your hips shall expand and spit forth a demon and your screams shall signal the end of the world. The earth shall decompose and we shall all bathe in the bloodbath; washing ourselves with the hearts of the young.’
6
Susie sobbed, her struggles long since gone. Her body ached. The scent of death was all around her. The air was wet, thick and hard to take in. Susie didn’t want to think about what she breathing in, taking in. But that was nothing compared to the fear she felt. The witch was walking around her, talking in tongues, uttering sentences that made no sense but at the same time they did – uttering truths of her life that Susie wanted to forget - was trying to forget now that Stephen was in her life.
‘Stephen has come.’ A distant voice from the far room spat. Susie closed her eyes not wanting to see anymore. She feared what monsters hid in the darkest parts of this house.
‘Open those wide eyes, girl.’
Susie felt two clawed hands rest against her naked, shuddering shoulders. The fingers were cold, scaled and tight.
She opened her eyes and Patience was stood in front of her, between her hands was a glowing orb and it pulsed in time with her own heartbeat.
Her hands were full.
Susie lurched in the chair, the rope digging into her chest and hands as she tried to turn to see who was holding onto her…
‘We play with bones and juggle with hearts.’
…But there was no one there and yet the grip of the lizard fingers remained.
Patience laughed and threw her head back.
Susie’s heart was racing and her chest heaved like a volcano ready to explode.
‘Stop it! Please stop it!’ She sobbed. Patience stroked the orb and placed it on the side table next to Susie. She could feel its heat.
‘Hanged pigs and broken bones, girl. That’s what will be waiting for you. Just wait and see. Trust
old Lud.’
Susie shook her head violently from side to side. ‘Please…Stop. What…do you. Want?’
Patience caressed Susie’s soft wet cheek and ran her cold, long fingered hand down to her right breast; cupping it like it was a piece of beef.
‘Cut it off, Patience. Cut it off and feed old Lud.’
Susie screamed but her attempts to move away were pointless. The scream went dry and harsh and then faded into nothing. Patience leaned in close, her stench causing Susie to retch. Un-cupping her breast, Patience placed her first and second finger into her mouth and then spat out white gloop coating them completely.
‘Just a little poke from a couple of little pink sticks. You’ve had bigger.’
Susie’s eyes were wide with realisation but there was nothing she could do and she braced herself.
‘Don’t forget what old Lud wants.’
There was a grin on old Patience’s face as she slid her hand down Susie’s abdomen, then her thigh and then on into the dark crevasse of her vagina.
‘Hold still my pretty, could get messy if ya twitch.’
With a not so delicate thrust, Patience put the two spitty fingers deep inside Susie, feeling her way to what she knew she would find. Her fingers came to a stop when she felt it, but they weren’t removed, she kept them in there for a moment longer, savouring the feeling. She grabbed Susie’s face with her spare hand and their eyes met – one full of tears, the others - full of joy.
‘Lud and the daughter will be pleased.’ Patience hissed, ‘You are with child. But you will forget.’
Susie didn’t get a chance to react as Patience spat in her face and then kissed her, forcing her ancient, wretched tongue deep inside of her mouth. Just as the kiss was coming to an end, darkness once again came over Susie. She was grateful for that.
7
Outside, Tommy didn’t really understand what was happening, nor could he see much. An odd darkness had descended over Patience and Susie but now that darkness was lifting and Tommy walked around to the front of the house and opened the main door. He was hoping that now was when Susie was going to become his girlfriend. He smiled as he entered the room paying little attention to the filth on the floors, the walls the ceiling. Even Susie, as naked as a babe wasn’t a distraction.
He watched Patience gather the orb and slump in her favourite chair. She looked happy and Tommy knew that to be a good thing. But she looked tired.
‘Is she my girlfriend, now, Patience?’ He asked sheepishly.
Patience answered her voice slow and breathless. ‘Not yet Tommy. Not yet. Give me a couple of hours would ya.’
It wasn’t really a choice, Tommy was stupid but he knew when to leave Patience well alone. He grinned his famous toothy grin, turned and walked back outside closing the door as he went. He decided to go pick some flowers for Susie. That would help pass the time and don’t all girls love flowers?
8
At around the same time that Susie was being violated Stephen was helping himself to some fruit juice and fried eggs with fatty bacon at the Travellers. The doors had been left unlocked, the bar unattended and now, thanks to the kind patrons of Rockfall, drank dry but he had enough to get him through. His bags upstairs had already been packed, stuffed full with the provisions Tommy had fetched for him. He was ready to go, ready to leave this place but he had one more task to fulfil before he went.
Once you have eaten, Stephen, you must go to the Court House. Petra has been starved for too long.
‘As you wish.’ Stephen said in-between bites.
Once he had finished he checked the weapon, ensuring all eight holes of the casing were full, and then holstered the weapon. He had adjusted his holster slightly so that it hung extremely low now, like a gunslinger of old. It allowed for a better draw but hindered movement. But movement wasn’t a concern.
Leaving the Travellers, letting the batwing doors swing wildly he walked along the boardwalk ignorant to the stares and the idle mutterings of the townsfolk. They lowered their heads to one another, leaning in close so their whispers could be heard – Demon, hero, killer, Watchman. All were true but no one knew that. Carried on the breeze were the cries of the crows and the moans of the farmyard animals and with it the harsh bite of the sand as it pummelled the skin. There was a storm coming, one, maybe two days away and Stephen knew he would have to endure it on his journey. The boardwalk creaked as he reached the Court House and following the same path he had taken the previous morning, he ventured across the road, passed the water well with its ancient iron works and stood outside the decaying court house.
Kill them all, Stephen.
9
The sweat on the Sheriffs brow ran down his face, pooled under his chin and dripped down to his soiled handkerchief. His white shirt was damp with sweat and his gusset was moist. Jameson’s fat belly hung double over his tight belt line and he sat in his mighty chair; the sun beating down upon him like hells fire passing judgment on those around him.
His office was large, dusty and full of junk. The table was festooned with piles of paper, documents in no particular order spread out until they formed a white sea. The air was stale like the air in every building that Rockfall housed. Around these parts the air was always stale. More so now; for in his office, set back a ways, were two occupied prison cells filled with two rather smelly, dishevelled, unwashed prisoners. The eyes of the prisoners watched the Sheriff as he watched them.
Jameson had asked his Deputy why he had done it; why had he done such a terrible thing to his wife? But the Deputy remained silent. Guilt etched upon his face. Jameson had known Ellen since she was a babe and it saddened him that she had come to such an end. Such a horrific murder by men who had no right to be on God’s green earth. And the poor children. Who would care for the poor children now that their dear mother had gone? Everyone in town knew that the marriage between John and Ellen was a farce and that their love had blown out long ago. But their love for the children kept them together.
Obviously Johns love didn’t go that far. It was the money that kept John there. Greed. Pure and simple.
It was a good plan that John had devised with the Quint brothers. But they hadn’t factored in one slight problem; Stephen. The mysterious traveller from the good lands known as Ritash. He had seen been made aware of this plan and had done something about it. Some say he be a Daemon, cast out from the Void left wandering the bleak earth until the end of all days, but Jameson don’t believe none of it. He had seen Watchmen before and even though Stephen was good he had seen better.
A few little mumblings, like criminals do when they are in trouble, flittered into Jameson’s ear and he turned his attention away from the jumble of papers on his desk and over to the two cells.
‘You two better not be contriving an escape plan.’
The two lovers stopped their oh so innocent mumblings.
‘Aye, that’s better. Keeping quiet is the best you two can do until I figure out what’s best for ya.’
The Sheriff turned and looked out of the large dusty window and into the main street of Rockfall. The people he had been expecting where walking toward the building now and his heart sank a little at the thought of it. John had seen this face many times.
‘Who’s coming up the drive, Jameson? Your new Deputy, maybe? The bastard Watchman?’
Not removing his gaze from the window the sheriff said, ‘I said no talking so keep it quiet if ya know what’s good for ya! And you will address me as Sheriff from now on. We are no longer friends.’ The Sheriff (for shall we call him that now) paused for a moment and in that moment he regretted asking for them to come and for them to see the face of their mother’s murderers. But it was done now and it was probably for the best. ‘Actually my dear fellow,’ the sheriff went on, ‘I am waiting for Mrs Depor to come along. And obviously where Mrs Depor goes the five orphaned Drive children go too.’
John went to talk but his mouth was dry. Cathy sunk back against the wall; her silence was a blessing
from the Man Jesus himself. The ex-deputy couldn’t believe that Jameson had organised this. Why would a man...How could a man do this? John wanted to puke and took in deep breathes to calm his nerves. Looking to Cathy he begged her with his eyes to speak for him and staring back at him was the face of a woman whom had been beaten but not silenced.
She lifted herself up and stood at the bars of her stinking cell. Her voice was low, dryer than the desert but as fierce as the sun.
‘You heartless fuck! How could you bring them here? Why force them to see their Dad and make him see them?’
The Sheriff twisted the chair so he was sat facing the cells. The sweat was pouring from him now; the room had grown hotter still.
‘I did not order them here, bitch. I merely asked if they would like to see their dear Dad before they went away. If they want to see the bastard that killed their Mother then so be it. I cannot stop them nor do I want to. If it were up to me then I would have had them pull the lever that sent you plummeting on Hangman’s Hill. But sadly I have to wait for the law men to arrive from Westfield before any judgement can be made.
It was Johns turn to talk, ‘But why did you...’ But a knock at the door silenced him and made his stomach twist into tight coils.
‘And here they be, my good murderers.’ The Sheriff looked at John. ‘Now you pull yourself together, man and answer any questions your kids have with the truth.’ The Sheriff lifted himself from the chair and moved himself up to the bars of John’s cell. ‘The truth, you hear. They deserve the truth.’
He stepped over to the gloomy half lit cell that housed Cathy and was pleased to see her back away from the iron bars once he had arrived.
‘And as for you, my sweet lipped little fancy... well you keep your fuckin mouth shut and your thoughts to yourself! If you as so much open yer mouth ill cut yer fuckin tongue out and nail it to yer left tit. You understand? Both of ya?’
