Surviving Solitude Part 12
The flames flickered and licked at the wooden farm house, crackling a tune of warmth. Daniel, trapped upon the balcony, faced down at the mob. He withdrew his bow, which he had brung in preparation, and aimed. The few men with the remaining torches were ready to throw, when Billy shot the cardinal in the chest. The bird fell down on it's back, feathers flying about. It's short cry rang through the manifesting rain. The main group were on their way through the forests, when they turned to see what they had lost. Torches burned on the house as did on Billy. His screaming and thrashing about momentarily distracted the invaders, enough for Aiden to knock off a few. Just as the group reached the river bed, they stopped before the sheer drop to it. Marilyn slipped on the now muddy grass, falling over. Liam, half way over the ledge, held onto her leg, supported by Chase grabbing his leg. Grant had Chase by the arm, and Nate had both Grant and a large limb of a nearby tree. Marvin cowered behind the tree, eyeing down Shane with horror. Just as everyone started to pull up Marilyn, the branch broke, sending everyone into the crevice. They slid down like water down a tube. Nate, yelping as he did so, grabbed a protruding rung-like root. Shane stood at the edge, mischievously looking down upon the lot.
"Let go of them, and I won't kill you with them." Said Shane. The four under Nate's mercy begged and pleaded, while Shane slowly reached down to reveal the kitchen knife earlier. The same one he used to threaten Nate in the bedroom. Those foxy eyes were black with hate; black like the starless sky; black and empty like his love for the ram. He read them like any other magazine of males in swimwear or underwear Nate came across with.
With one, loud scream, he stated, "Never!" Shane's grin grew wider.
Daniel, resorting to the peak of the roof for safety, struggled to aim at the two men pinning down Aiden. A dragon had him on his stomach, while the other had Aiden's pants down. The cat stuck out his long, spiked member close to the bull's hole, while dragon pumped his in their victim's mouth. He gently rubbed the head over the entrance, making the Taurus scream with rage. Just as Daniel took the shot to save his only friend, the roof began to snap. It crackled, it popped, it moaned and cried as the roof gave in. As Daniel fell into the burning box of charred wood, the rest collapsed in, omitting clouds of ashes and soot into the remaining two in the field. The foggy, raining, cornstalk ridden field made visibility almost non existent. He had no direction, no sense of which way is which. He just knew he had to run. As he did, he saw what he had seen nights before this night.
The fox's arm was raised high, blade in hand, and eyes flickering with delight.
"This is how I'm going to go," thought Nate, "by the hands of the person who murdered the only family member from me? Ripping him out of my heart?" As the blade fell, so did a rock from Shane's head. The knife missed and hit the mud, making a sloshing sound. For t'was Marvin who threw the savior stone.
Picking up the knife, Shane whispered, "I'll be back in a bit." Marilyn screamed her child's name as the sly maniac ran off in pursuit of the kid goat. Marvin ran as fast as his legs could, but Shane had the upper hand. When Aiden emerged from the cloud of smoke, ash, and embers, Marvin stopped dead in his tracks.
* * *
"Look out!" I screamed, but was too late. When the little goat turned, he faced a swing across his neck. Then, the devious fox kicked the child onto it's back, and threw the bloody knife into his heart. Furious, I threw my bloody crowbar at the villainous miscreant, and charged simultaneously. It ricocheted off his now weeping face, causing him to stumble. With a mighty leap kick to the head, I heard the faint pop of his neck. As soon as he collapsed, I grasped his neck, raised him to a tree, and pounded him into the splintery bark over, and over, and over. Rage fueled my quest to avenge the innocent child sleeping behind me.
After a minute, a choir of yelps shook me from my brutal trance. Time seemed to slow down as my brain pinpointed each individual voice. Running to their aid, I came in no faster than molasses, for they fell when I reached them. My momentum pushing me over, too, I fell into the rapids feeding the patient abyss waiting a few meters ahead the current. Trying to breathe was not the difficult thing to do, or to keep my head above water. It was to rebuild my courage to say what happened to the fallen comrades we left behind.