Headless (13 page)

CHAPTER XXIII

     He may very well be the bravest man she'd ever met. This – thing – whatever it was, seemed incredibly strong, and resilient. And truthfully, if Dougie didn't survive the Hessian's attack, she wasn't sure how Amir would fare. But she trusted him. She knew that much, at the very least. He cared about her, and he wouldn't let anything happen to her without a fight. Kat knew she had found someone special, just by his selflessness, alone.

     “Alright, get ready...” he whispered, never taking his eyes off the Horseman at the barn door. “Go!”

     He was the first to move, as he told her to run. The scythe spun in front of his body, as he turned towards the Horseman. Amir swung the scythe, at full length, and the Horseman used its axe to block the attack. She ran out into the rain. It drenched her immediately, and Kat couldn't help but notice the way the thick mud pulled at her feet, making each motion twice the effort it would have been otherwise.

     This didn't stop her, though. Hell, it didn't even slow her down. She was going to run until she couldn't run anymore. The Horseman had never even paid attention to her leaving; Amir had caught its interest. The Horseman pushed the young hero away easily, and Amir swings again with the scythe, trying to fend off the expert swordsman.

     “Why won’t you just fuck off, already?” Amir growls, swinging again.

     The Horseman catches the scythe handle near the base of the blade, and raises his axe, splitting the long handle in two. Amir stumbles back, and looks down at the tonfa type weapons he now has. He spins them around, and swings the wood one. The Horseman blocks it, but this time Amir catches him off-guard with a spinning kick to the gut, sending the mercenary stumbling back.

     Fighting styles had changed since the Hessian's heyday. He turned the axe blade, lashing out at Amir's neck, who ducks, and delivers a vicious hook across Dougie's possessed face, and the Hessian turns with the blow, bouncing back immediately. Amir delivers another shot with the wood stick, and lifts the scythe up, sticking it down into the Horseman's foot. The mercenary rears back, and Amir pulls the blade out, spinning it and cutting the mercenary's neck.

     Black ooze spilled from the Hessian's neck, and Amir grinned, believing he'd won. This victory would prove short lived however, as the ooze began to roll back up in on itself, and seals shut at the wound, as if it never happened. For the first time a gleam of emotion crosses the Horseman's face, as it smirks, turning it's pitch black gaze on Amir.

     “Mother fucker...” Amir concedes.

     The facial expression returns to emotionless, as the Horseman becomes the one to attack. Spinning and swinging the sword, Amir struggles to keep up with his speed and strength, deflecting swing after swing. Amir drops the wood half of his weapons, and catches the handle of the axe, burying the scythe half to the handle in the Horseman's rib cage. The Horseman flinches, grabbing at the scythe handle. His other hand pushes the axe down closer to Amir's face, who let's go of the scythe to reach up, and hold the Horseman's hand with both of his. Hessian’s strength was incredible.

     Amir tried to kick it again, but there wasn't enough room between them to move his leg. He was basically relegated to tapping the Horseman's shin with his toe. The Horseman grabs Amir by the throat, turns slightly, and yanks him towards it's body. Amir gasps out, his eyes going wide. He looks down, and finds the broken scythe handle stuck in his abdomen. He looks back up to make eye contact with the Horseman as the monster pulls itself off the scythe blade, black ooze dripping from the rusted metal.

     “Go fuck yourself,” Amir groans, spitting blood in his face.

     The Horseman blinks at this insult, and rips the scythe handle from Amir's gut. He throws it behind himself, the blade sticking into a wood pillar. It draws back the axe, turning the blade over in his hand, and swings upward. Amir groans out. The blade cuts with such force, and so sharply that there was no blood initially. Not until Amir's body split in two. His eyes still looking around, as one half of his physique slid down the other, before both halves slosh to the ground in a bloody pile.

     The Horseman cracks his neck, looking down at the scythe wound to his abdomen, as it heals up. The Horseman shakes the blood from his axe, and turns towards the barn door, where rain still pours in. The wind has picked up considerably, slamming the boards of the building together. The sky filled with flashes of light, and thunder echoed, but was barely louder than the pounding rain and wind at this point.

     The mercenary makes his way out into the storm, blending into the shadows and a whistle echoes back to the barn. The horse bursts from the pen, wood splintering everywhere, as it answers it's master's call.

     There's only one left.

     Katerina runs through the trees, as fast as she can, while still adjusting to the darkness before her. She left the main path in hopes that the trees would shield her from the torrential rain. To an extent, she was right. But the wind whipping through the branches may have been worse, overall. They lashed out at her in a tirade of violent snips, and cracks, catching her clothes, and cutting her flesh. These minor wounds are nothing compared to what she knows could come though, so she continues to run.

     The only thing pounding faster than her feet in the dirt, is the heart in her chest. Her breathing comes in short bursts, as oxygen struggles to reach her brain at this point, between the fear, the adrenaline and the physical exertion. Time came to a standstill in her mind, as she felt her feet give out from under her. Her toes had caught something, and her line of sight quickly found the dirt. Her chest caving in as she hit the ground, her back arching up and over her head as she felt her muscles contort in a way they weren't designed to move.

     “Son of a bitch,” she mouthed, spitting out dirt as she tried to catch her breath. The air suddenly came rushing back to her lungs as she rolled over on her back, staring up at the dark sky. Rain dripped down on her as she laid there in the dirt. Her hip ached, her shoulder pinched, and lower back throbbing. She was also sure she managed to break bones in her ankle she didn't know existed. She attempted to sit up. “Ow.”

    
Just let it come,
she thought. Being dead had to be less painful than this. But that thought only lasted a couple moments as her survival instinct took back over. She managed to sit up, and reached out, trying to find what she had caught her foot on. She found whatever it was to be soft, cold, and large. Kat worked to pull her phone from her pocket, and turn the light on from the cellphone. Old man Jenkins' body lies there on the ground. She gags and covers her mouth, pushing away from the corpse.

     “Jesus Christ!” she screams out under her hand, and that quickly, she's up and running again.

     Any thought of pain subsided as she ran. Her muscles burned as she moved, but the motion stretched them out, and the receptors in her brain blocked what would otherwise have her lying around in bed for at least a few days. There would be time to rest when she was long, long, long away from here. Her thought momentarily went to Amir, and hoping he was right behind her.
Maybe he had taken the long way along the path? He was alive,
she was certain at least.

     This train of thought was quickly followed by sunny beaches, fancy cocktails and a sexy bikini as she could only dream of getting away from here. She looked over at Amir in her vision, both sitting on beach chairs, and he smiles back at her, reaching out to hold her hand. They lean over to kiss one another, and she slides to a stop, being shook back to reality.

     Tina's impaled headless, nearly naked form sticks out even in the darkness as her soft white skin picks up just about any light that hits it. She stares at the body, holding the cellphone up, using the light to see. She cries out, as she works through who it could be in her mind.

     “Oh God, Tina...” She gasps, fighting not to cry. “I just want to go home...”

     She gags, bending over and dry heaving. However, she keeps backing up. Getting out of here remained the priority for her, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized there was no way to help her friend. As this realization came to the forefront, she began running again. The next thought that hit her was that perhaps this is the reason she hasn't seen any of her other friends.

     Tina and Dougie were dead. Were the rest? They didn't come out for the fire; they didn't come out for the screaming. Were all her friends dead?
The thing couldn't have gotten all of them. It just couldn't have!
She told herself as she kept running. And there she finally found hope, as she could just make out the bridge through the trees ahead. She was almost there.

     “Yes! Thank you, thank you!” she breathed.

     As the trees thinned, the rain grew heavier again, and the downpour soaked her as she pushed her way out of the trees and onto the dirt road. Well, it was more of a mud road at this point. The bridge sat about an eighth of a mile ahead of her, and she wasn't slowing down now. The hooves pounding through the mud blended into the sounds of the storm so smoothly that she didn't hear it coming. And she barely made out the whirling sound of the axe, as it spun towards her from behind. She turned and fell back to the mud, as the axe flew overhead.

     Kat rolled out of the way as the horse trampled over the spot that she was just lying in. She found herself falling back into the bushes she had just escaped from, and looked up to find the Horseman sitting atop the steed. It slowed, and turned in her direction, it's black eyes finding her easily, even in the darkness.

     The Horseman lowered itself from the animal, and stepped towards her. She closed her eyes waiting for the death blow to come. Katerina laid there, accepting her fate. She was so close to being out of this God-forsaken place. And she was going to die covered in mud, lying in a bush. His heavy boots dug deep, and loud into the wet ground, as it came closer, and closer.

     The shotgun blast filled the air. And for a moment, Katerina wondered if this was what it sounded like in her own head when blade split skull...

CHAPTER XXIV

     That moment passed, however, when the horseman rolled end over end across the mud from a gunshot that may well have put an elephant down for good. Katerina's ears rang with a high pitched buzz that mirrored the on setting migraine in intensity. When she finally braved opening her eyes, she found that she was in fact, for the moment at least, very much alive. And there lying in the mud motionless, was the Horseman. She sat up and her head spun as the ringing in her ears threw off her coordination. She looked from the lifeless Horseman to Mrs. Jenkins who stood there with the shotgun propped against her shoulder with one hand, a bottle of vodka in the other.

     “Go on get out of here girl. This ain'cho fight. Get back across the bridge. He can't get you if you cross the bridge. He's cursed to this God forsaken land,” the old lady ordered, never taking her eyes from the Horseman's body.

     Katerina didn't need to be told twice. She groaned, climbing to her feet and very quickly her migraine dissipated – if only due to the fact that for the first time she had a chance to feel how sore the rest of her muscles were. Her calves and quads were on fire from the running, but it didn't matter. She moved as quickly as her feet could carry her.

     The old woman limped towards the Horseman, barrel still aimed at it. As she closed in, she tilted the bottle back, taking a long drink. “You killed the only man I ever loved didn't you, you sonuvabitch? So I'mma kill you. And if I can't kill you, I'm at least gonna make it hurt. You hear me, devil?”

     She kicks the back of his head once. It isn't very hard, but she can't be faulted for trying. Old Mrs. Jenkins swings the vodka bottle down and it cracks off the back of the Horseman's relatively new skull. The gash it creates almost immediately turns back in on itself, healing over. She raises the gun up to take aim, and the Horseman's hand lashes out, fitting his finger between the trigger and the guard. She squeezes, but it doesn't go off. The Horseman's black eyes raise to her, as it moves to it's knees and she continues to squeeze the trigger against his finger.

     The Horseman grabs the barrel of the gun with his other hand, and begins to slowly, albeit easily raise the weapon up towards her head. As the barrel of the gun moves under her chin, the mercenary slides it's finger out, and she squeezes the trigger. Anything that was left of old lady Jenkins' head was splattered across the mud as rain poured down into the crevice that was once her neck. The Horseman rips the gun out of the body's hands, and with one swipe, sends the small, frail body flying off into the trees.

     He turns his attention to Katerina, who is nearly at the bridge, and walks after her.

     “Please just a bit farther,” Katerina prays out for anyone, or anything listening. God hears prayers even from cursed land, doesn't he? Not for wealth, power or fame. Not for World peace, or an end to hunger. All she needs is a bit more energy; a bit more stamina. “God, I don't want to die.”

     Her abdomen cramps; her legs burn; her vision is blurry. Survival instinct is the only thing driving her home at this point. As the rain is shielded by the roof of the bridge, she stumbles to a stop, her hands falling to her knees as she gasps to catch her breath. Katerina finds even the most miniscule, otherwise commonplace things coming to mind as reasons to live. Her mother hugging her too long in front of her friends; shitty country music; getting a speeding ticket. It was all worth living for. Every bit of it, because even in the worst of scenarios, she was still alive.

     She found herself still stumbling forward, albeit much slower at this point, as she noticed the van still sitting in it's spot on the bridge. If she could drive out of here, even better. As she limped along the wood bridge, the gunshot echoed out behind her and she hoped the old lady took the fucking thing's face off. Kat grabbed the back door handle, and yanked it open, only for Caleb's decapitated body to flop out, and on to the deck. His pants around his ankles and the condom still clinging to the tip of his penis.

     “Caleb!”

     Was it his headless body, or the penis that she recognized first? College. Things happen with friends when you're drunk in a field. She reached in, knowing there was nothing to do for him now, and grabbed his leg, pulling him the rest of the way out of the van so she could get in past him. She pulled the back door closed behind her, locking it for extra precaution. She stared down at the pool of blood that had formed along the bottom of the back doors, and gagged at the heavy scent of death that was forming.

     “Oh God...” she gagged, pushing on towards the front of the van.

     Katerina climbed over into the driver's seat, and reaches for the keys. No luck. She fumbles around along the dash, at the visor above her, and under the seat. Why did he take the keys if the van couldn't be moved anyways? She gripped the steering wheel tightly trying to fight back tears.

     “No, no, no, NO!” she screamed, beating her hands against the steering wheel until her hands hurt so badly she had to grip them, hissing in pain.

     The van shook once, and the bridge cracked a bit more under the right tire that was stuck in the hole. She paused, and sat deathly still as she worried she had caused the van to move so much. It rocked again, and again. This force was coming from outside the van. It wasn't her doing. And then the back door wrenched open. Then it wrenched from it's hinges and flew several feet back.

     “WHAT THE FUCK!” Katerina screamed out, turning towards the loud noise, and began whimpering seeing the Horseman staring in at her.

     She immediately tried to push the door open, but it slammed against the wall after opening only a few inches. There was no way she'd fit out of that. She yanked the door shut, and began cranking the handle to roll the window down. The Hessian wearing her dead friend's head climbs into the back of the van coming after her.

     Kat turns, climbing out of the driver's side window, trying to pull herself out of the window. The massive figure coming after her lowers the axe, and pulls back, swinging. She lifts herself up and out of the window just in time, as the blade sticks into the door frame. She squeals out as she hears metal cut into metal. She leans back down as the Horseman starts to come towards the window and punches him in the nose as hard as she can, causing the Hessian to stumble back on the seat. Katerina grabs the handle of the axe through the window and wrenches it free from the door frame, falling over and rolling down onto the hood.

     She groans, hitting the hood hard, but rolls over, and climbs to her knees, turning towards the interior of the vehicle. The Horseman had already moved back towards the driver's side window and was reaching out towards her. He hits the horn several times and she jumps at the loud noise. The Horseman reaches around the glass, a look of anger crossing his face. The mercenary's body is too big to fit through the window gap. Katerina looks at the axe in her hand, and then to the Horseman reaching out for her.

     “Fuck. You.”

     She jumps up, and brings the axe down, removing Dougie's head from the Horseman's body. It rocks back in shock as the head rolls under the vehicle, and the blade of the axe sticks into the bridge. The Horseman reaches out for her, rocking the van as it does so. The weight and the motion are too much, and the wood gives way. The van drops a couple feet and it rocks the Horseman back into the seat. It turns towards her in the driver's seat, and she pulls the axe from the wood, looking back in at it. Lightning flashes, and illuminates the near-psychotic look on her face, as she holds the axe up.

     “Go back to hell where you belong.”

     She raises the axe above her head with both hands, and swings down at the wood under the tire. As it splinters and cracks, it gives way under the weight and the vehicle pushes through, caving in the old wood. She falls back away from the hole, as the van disappears into the darkness below. After a moment, a loud splash, and metal crashing on rock fills the air. Dougie's head and Caleb's body follows the van down the hole.

     Katerina sits back on her hands staring at the hole, then falls back lying there a moment, catching her breath. The World spun in her head at a million miles a second. Everything was rapid-fire, but slow motion at the same time, as she let her mind catch up to her body. She climbs to her feet, and limps to the edge of the hole, looking down in it. The sound of water rushing echoes up to her. She looks down at the axe, still barely stuck in the wood, and she kicks the handle, sending it spinning down into the darkness as well. She reaches up to grab her ribs, fighting back tears. It was all over. Now she just had to live long enough to get back to civilization.

     Katerina turned, and began walking away from this God forsaken place called Sleepy Hollow.