The Witness: A Slasher Horror Novel

by Zach Bohannon

  I leaned Blake against a wooden beam that supported the portico above the cafe’s patio.

  “Can you hold yourself up here for a minute?”

  Blake slightly nodded.

  I leaned in and kissed him on a place on his cheek that had not been chewed, and where skin still remained. My lips stuck to the dry honey as I pulled away.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  Walking into the road, I looked down the center of town. A pair of buildings sat at the end of the street, creating a dead-end cul-de-sac. And just like the other shops, trees poked up over the tops of them as well. I had begun to see why the place was abandoned and why only these psychopaths were settled into it. But how in the hell had this place just fallen off of the map? Surely, someone knew it was out here. Maybe it was known, but no one gave a shit enough to come and check on it.

  I turned around and looked the other way, and it was much the same. A pair of buildings were at the other end of town as well, and trees were beyond those too.

  A clicking noise got my attention. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a light come on in one of the buildings across the street.

  Shit.

  I ran back over to Blake and put his arm around my shoulder. He had appeared to be getting some strength back, as his dead weight had come somewhat alive and he was becoming easier for me to bare the weight of on my own hundred and thirty pound frame.

  “Blake, someone’s coming. We gotta go.”

  He groaned, but his legs were moving. I was exhausted too, working on pure adrenaline. But we had a chance to get out of here, and I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity.

  20

  We’d moved to the rear of the coffee shop, and I set Blake down against the back of the building. As his back touched the wooden wall of the building, Blake let out a small yelp. I quickly reached out and covered his mouth with the palm of my hand, muting him. A few feet from us, the first line of trees stretched for as far as I could see. And in the darkness, I couldn’t see into the forest past a few yards. “Shhh,” I said again. I couldn’t imagine the pain he’d felt when the open wounds on his torn back hit the wooden slats of the building, but I had to try and quiet him down.

  “Baby, I know it hurts. But you have to fight through it and not make a noise. Please.”

  He slowly nodded, and tears worked to escape through the small openings in his eyes and all the swelling.

  Standing from a kneeling position, I crept over to the edge of the building so that I could peak around the corner and look out into the street. I placed my right palm flat against the wall, gripping the corner of the building with my left hand. Slowly, I moved my head around the corner and looked into the center of town.

  The silhouette of a large man moved slowly toward the coffee shop, scanning the area, and the flashlight in his hand failed to stay steady as he wobbled. Enough light shined on him for me to see the dirty old overalls covering a dirty bare chest.

  Beau.

  I bit my lip and winced as the beam of the flashlight quickly moved toward me, but I turned out of sight just before he could get a chance to see me. I looked to my right and saw the beam of the light flashing past the back of the building. He would have seen me if I hadn’t moved.

  Standing still, I could heart my heart beat against my chest as I heard his boots hit the wooden patio at the front of the coffee shop, and the slats creaked as his heavy body passed over them. The front door also creaked as it opened, loudly enough to mask Blake’s heavy breathing.

  I closed my eyes and began my own heavy breathing. Next to Blake, there was a door that led inside. Inside, I heard Beau’s heavy footsteps creeping through the house. Surely, he’d know that Blake was supposed to be inside that shit-filled tub.

  Then, Beau let out a muted laugh. My arms began to shake and I bit my bottom lip until it almost started to bleed.

  “Where you at, pretty boy?”

  The half-retarded tone in his voice confirmed that Beau was the man in the house.

  “Come’on out and I promise to make it quick on ya.”

  I’d begun to quiver.

  I went to all fours and began to search the ground for something, anything, to protect us with. A large rock, a lost nail, anything. Behind me, I heard Beau’s slow footsteps getting louder.

  “Come’on, queer boy.”

  When I heard him, I turned back toward the house on instinct. And when I did, my eyes widened as I finally saw something.

  One of the slats on the back of the building had started to come out.

  I hurried over to it, rustling the dirt beneath my feet. Then, I heard Beau stop moving in the house.

  “Shit,” I mumbled to myself, realizing my mistake.

  Beau laughed again, and the bass heavy click of his boots started up again.

  I reached out and pulled on the loose board, trying not to yank it too hard. If the board broke off too short, it would be useless. I needed to pull the entire board off of the building, so that it would be long enough to swing.

  Slowly, it began to pull away, bringing nails with it.

  All the while, Beau sounded closer to the back door.

  “You out there?”

  Sweat dripped down my forehead and over my eyes. The humid summer air combining with my panicked nerves had me drenched.

  I heard a click and turned to see the knob on the door begin to turn.

  The edge of the board was stuck in the house. One last nail was left to pull out, and it was being stubborn. The nail was likely rusted, and I couldn’t get it out.

  The door creaked open, and hit Blake’s legs as it swung toward him. I panicked and turned away from the loose board.

  And there was Beau.

  He’d peeked his head around the door and I could see his toothless smile. His eyes moved away from me as he looked down to Blake. Then, he looked back up at me.

  “Looks like a God damned party,” he said, still smiling.

  Beau moved all the way out of the doorway and kneeled down in front of Blake.

  “Hey ‘er, pretty boy.” He delivered a gentle, arrogant slap to Blake’s left cheek.

  Blake grimaced as the dirty hand hit the exposed wounds on his face. Then, Blake gasped as Beau’s large hand moved down and wrapped around his throat.

  “You in for a type of pain that ya can’t even ‘magine, boy.”

  I turned and pulled the board as hard as I could, finally pulling out the rusty nail at the left end of it.

  Beau looked up, but it was too late for him.

  In one swift movement, the loose slat pulled away from the building, and I turned with the motion, swinging it as hard as I could, connecting with the left side of Beau’s head before he even had the chance to guard his fat, ugly face with his hands.

  Beau fell to the ground, clutching his cheek, and let out a scream that I knew would surely lure the attention of other people in the town.

  “You fuckin’ bitch,” Beau yelled as he rolled around on the ground.

  The entire world slowed down in front of me. I was dizzy, not sure about the moment I was in. My vision was foggy, but I looked down and was able to make out Blake trying to direct my attention toward Beau.

  Beau had gotten to his hands and knees and was trying to stand. I looked down at the board and noticed the exposed rusty nail that had had so much trouble leaving the building.

  When Beau finally made it back to his feet, his backside was facing me, and he shook his head, apparently disoriented.

  I turned the board in my hand to where the rusty nail was exposed.

  As Beau began to turn around to face me, I brought the board over my shoulder like a baseball bat.

  He turned.

  And I swung as hard as I could up toward his head.

  My eyes closed, and I both heard and felt the board break as I made contact with him, sending shards of wood into the air. I’d swung so hard that my momentum carried me all the way down to the ground, and I came within inches of hitting my head ag
ainst the building.

  As I lay there on my stomach, I heard a loud tumble coming from where Beau had been standing.

  I looked back and saw his large belly pointing toward the sky, and his body rumbling slightly.

  Slowly, I pushed myself up onto my knees and stood, one leg at a time. I turned and looked down at Beau, and covered my mouth so that I wouldn’t scream out.

  His eyes bulged from their sockets, and his tongue dangled over the side of his mouth. The piece of board stuck out from his face, the rusty nail having gone into his temple and, presumably, into his brain.

  Blake looked up at me, groaning.

  Then, lights began to flare up from the street.

  “Shit,” I mumbled, hurrying over to Blake.

  “Baby, we gotta go.”

  I reached down and grabbed his hands. More of his strength had come back to him, and he was able to help me get him up to his feet.

  Voices had begun to creep up from the center of town.

  With Blake’s arm around my neck and his hand settled on my opposite shoulder, we moved into the woods as fast as we could.

  21

  Never in my young life had I been engulfed in so much darkness.

  The woods were a pitch ebony that should have struck fear deep through my tired bones, but with everything I’d seen in however many days I’d been in this place, all I could feel was the adrenaline rush. I was moving away from Hell.

  Leaves rustled, not only beneath our feet, but also all around us. We could’ve come across countless animals in the Mississippi wild, some more threatening than others. But we didn’t. And none of them would have been more threatening than the animals who’d presumably be hunting us once they found the fallen body of one of their own.

  The trees seemed to go on forever. Though I couldn’t see more than a few yards beyond my face, there appeared to be no end to the dark forest. But we kept moving. Blake had gained back more strength than I’d originally thought he would. Naked, he still moved nearly as quickly as I did. My feet were bare, and I felt pain in every step, sometimes crushing rocks with the soles of my feet. I hadn’t observed Blake’s feet, but had to imagine that Don and his group of monsters wouldn’t have left Blake’s feet free of honey for the insects to feast on. He had to have open wounds on the bottom of his feet that would be eating dirt with every step he took.

  For the first time since we’d run from the back of the coffee house, I turned around. Through the path we’d been running, I saw the lights in the town. They were further back than I’d thought they’d be, and we were moving much faster than I’d estimated.

  Then, we heard something high-pitched.

  We both stopped at the same time and looked back.

  “Sounds like some kind of siren,” I said.

  Presumably, they’d found Beau’s body, and were now waking everyone in the town and signaling them with some kind of siren or air horn to come outside and join the hunt for us.

  “Keep moving,” Blake sputtered out.

  And we did.

  ***

  Minutes later, we finally reached the edge of the woods.

  At the end tree line, Blake leaned against the base of a large pine, and I was able to catch my breath, kneeling over and breathing heavy into the humid summer air.

  I turned around and looked back the way we’d come. Through the dark forest, I could see a faint light in the distance. It looked like they had powered all the street lamps and that the town had awoken.

  As we’d moved through the woods, we’d heard branches break in the distance, and the footfalls of wildlife around us. But now, I heard the faint sound of more rapid footsteps cracking small limbs and moving through the leaves on the ground.

  I turned and took Blake’s arm.

  “We gotta go.”

  And with the weight of my battered love back on my shoulders, we continued to move away from the town.

  ***

  Once we’d begun to move away from the forest, we found ourselves in an open field of healthy green grass. Clouds had parted in the sky, allowing the moon to shine down on us. It was good because it gave us enough light to see where we were going, but I knew it would also make us more vulnerable when our stalkers made it through the woods.

  We’d separated ourselves a good distance from the trees, and about thirty yards ahead of us, the flat plain turned into a corn field.

  I heard a large crack behind us, and as I turned back to see if someone was following us, my foot got wrapped up with Blake’s, and we both stumbled to the ground, groaning as we went down.

  I hit the field face first, feeling the sting rise up through my forearms as I caught myself on the heel of my palm. Blake rolled, yelling out as his scarred and naked skin hit the sharp blades of grass that covered the vast field.

  Looking back, I saw light coming through the trees, the beam moving at a furious pace through the air like a swinging sword.

  I quickly jumped to my feet and scampered to Blake.

  “Get up, hurry. We have to get to that corn field.”

  “It hurts.”

  He was rolling on the ground, writhing. Clutching his arms, his chest, his legs—anything he could get his hands on.

  The light moved closer and I heard the leaves on the ground rustling.

  “Get up, Blake. Or we’re both going to die.”

  Finally, Blake worked to get up, crying out as he did. I reached down and pulled him up, and we began to move again.

  He moved slower than he had before we’d tumbled to the ground, but I still worked to get us to that corn field as fast as I could. If we didn’t get out of sight soon, they’d see us, and we’d be dead in minutes.

  Still running, I turned again as I heard a voice behind me. It was too faint to make out what had been said, and we kept limping toward the edge of the corn field as fast as we could.

  “Com’on out,” the voice behind us said.

  We kept staggering toward cover, and neither of us turned around.

  “We know you’re out there. We gonna get you!”

  I could tell now that it was Don’s voice.

  And I could almost reach out and touch the first head of corn as the flashlight appeared in the field behind us.

  22

  The moon had half-hidden itself behind a cloud and appeared in the sky now in a near crescent shape. And now, as we looked back from behind the first row of corn, Don revealed himself from the vast collection of trees.

  Don stopped at the edge of the tree line and put the flashlight down to his side, which made him fully visible with the help of the moon. He was alone, which struck me as odd. Perhaps others would eventually show up behind him, or maybe they had split up and gone out searching different directions outside of the town. But I sensed that Don knew he was onto us. It was almost as if he could smell us in the summer evening air.

  “I know you’re out there! The smell of pine can’t hide the shit stench on your boy’s ass, girl!”

  My eyes went wide and I began to shudder.

  He knew we were here.

  “We can’t stay here,” Blake whispered.

  I nodded at him in agreement, scared to make any noise, even with Don standing a couple of hundred yards away.

  “We’ve gotta move now.”

  We turned as the light flashed toward us.

  “Shit,” I said.

  Filled with fear of having been spotted, we turned and began our way through the corn field.

  ***

  We parted the seemingly endless rows of corn, occasionally looking back to see how far Don had caught up to us. Blake groaned with every brush of the tall stalks against his bare skin, but did his best to mute himself. The corn wasn’t fresh. It appeared to be unkempt and barely alive. This caused it to be thin, giving anyone chasing us more visibility to see where we were.

  But we just kept moving.

  Soon, I was falling face first to the ground, letting out a sharp yelp.

  I reached down and grab
bed the big toe on my right foot, which had kicked something hard that lay in my path through the corn. I rolled back and forth like a turtle stuck upside-down on its shell.

  “What the fuck was that?” I cried out.

  And when I looked up to Blake, he was looking down at the ground, just past my feet. His mouth was covered with his hand and tears swam down his face from his wide-open eyes.

  I lifted myself off my back, to my hands, and I saw them.

  Two heads.

  One of the heads had dark brown hair that went just to the ears. The other had a scarred scalp, with patches of hair missing, while some remained, flowing down onto the anemic soil.

  “Oh my God,” I mumbled.

  Allie and Michael.

  It was the first time that Blake had seen what these monsters had done to our friends, and his eyes told the entire story of his emotions.

  Michael’s skull had been caved in by a baseball bat. The trauma was apparent, even in the dim light of the faux crescent moon. His face was barely recognizable, but the parted dark hair made it fairly apparent that it was him.

  What really confirmed that it was our friends in front of us was the sight of Allie.

  Her injuries were undeniable. For as long as I live, I’ll never get rid of the images of that maniac girl separating large clumps of Allie’s gorgeous locks from her scalp with her decrepit bare hands. It had been the most traumatizing event since I’d arrived in that town, mainly because I’d watched her face the entire time. I’d watched as hope left her beautiful eyes, and as she’d realized that her life was going to end in that barber chair, in the middle of fucking nowhere.

  And then I started to think about something. Things weren’t adding up.

  Why were these heads here? It’s like they’d expected us to find them.

  Then everything came to me at once. The open cellar door. The quiet town. The door to the coffee shop being unlocked, with Blake unguarded inside. The only thing that didn’t add up was how Beau had ended up getting himself killed.

  It was a set-up. They’d wanted us to run. To find the heads of our brutally murdered friends.