Jim had to admit he was slightly stunned himself. He hadn’t thought Pete had it in him. He’d hoped something like this might happen but Pete wasn’t exactly the hero type.
Pete had probably surprised himself too. At least now he had a chance at getting away. He might even be able to find help before Maria decided to cut her loses. Then again who was he kidding? It was Pete they were talking about and they were in the middle of nowhere. Where was he going to find help at?
“Well, that sucks,” Maria said being the first to recover from the surprise. “I guess we better go get him. We wouldn’t want him going and bringing back help would we?” As they turned to leave Jim felt his hopes rising. Left alone for a few minutes he might be able to free himself and Jill then get away.
“Oh! Wait a minute!” Maria said spinning back around and surprising him. “It wouldn’t matter even if he did get back to town would it? Everyone there thinks he escaped from jail so no one will believe anything he said. He’ll be lucky if they don’t shoot him on sight.” Her laughter echoed throughout the house as she turned and followed Johnny out the door. The little hope Jim had was destroyed when he heard her. He’d completely forgotten about Pete’s supposed escape from jail.
After he was sure they were gone he rolled over and sat up. At least he wouldn’t die lying down if at all. He was still alive so far so maybe things weren’t over yet. He glanced at Jill hoping she might’ve woken up but saw instead that she was still mostly out of it. If they were going to get out of there she wasn’t going to be much help. He studied the area immediately around him thinking maybe there was something he’d missed that could help him. He momentarily thought of using the fire from one of the candles to burn through the ropes but was afraid he might set himself on fire in the process. Maria didn’t need anymore help killing him than she already had.
Just when he was about to give up Pete suddenly came rushing through the door. He was waving his hands around his head like he was trying to ward off evil spirits and mumbling to himself as he approached. He was only a few feet away when Jim noticed something wasn’t quite right. His hands and parts of his shirt were covered with some type of dark liquid.
“Holy shit!” he almost yelled before catching himself. “What the hell happened to you? Is that blood? Why didn’t you go get help or something?”
Pete ignored Jim’s question and began untying the knots holding Jim’s hands and feet.
“Lover boy won’t be coming back anytime soon,” he grunted. “He had an unfortunate accident with a freak and a rock.” Jim thought it better not to ask anything else. Pete looked at him vacantly for a minute then laughed and said, “Ya know it’s really dark out there. He never even saw me. I just kinda stood still and he walked right past me then, Whack! He went down and I ran back here. Those two or actually one really aren’t some of the smartest people I know.”
“You don’t know that many people anymore Pete,” Jim reminded him.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he said smiling and continued working on Jim’s ropes. He seemed to be having a problem getting the knots undone. Maria must have tied him a lot tighter than he’d thought. He hadn’t really noticed until now but he couldn’t really feel his fingers very well. The tingling sensation he felt was the only reason he did notice anything. He wanted to tell Pete to hurry up but thought it might distract him if he did so he asked him about something else instead.
“Why’d you come back? Why not save yourself or go for help?” he asked calmly not wanting to sound frantic and cause Pete to get upset.
“Couldn’t leave you here by yourself now could I?” he answered with a quick smile. “You just said I didn’t have that many friends left plus there’s no fire outside. It’s all in here. I didn’t have any. I forgot to grab it on the way out. I can’t go wandering around out there without it.”
“What do you need fire for?” Jim asked. “Maria just said that everything that’s been happening to you wasn’t done by the Goatman. It was them. Her and Johnny. Not the Goatman.”
“Oh it might have been them,” he laughed, “but he’s still coming no matter what they say. We called him whether you want to admit it or not we still did it. He’s still on his way. Don’t you doubt it. He’ll be here soon.” Pete quietly started giggling. He’d been working on the knots the whole time he was talking. Jim could feel them loosening as he watched. His fingers were starting to get a little more feeling in them and he could move his fingers freely. He was almost free. Pete was working on the last knot just as Maria stormed back into the room like a hurricane holding a gun in her hand. Pete must’ve had some kind of sixth sense or something because he was up and half way out the window, yelling something about the Goatman and how he was coming for them, when she fired her first shot. Everything happened so fast that all Jim heard was a grunt from Pete as the slug hit him in the back then he was out of view. Jim hoped he hadn’t been hit but knew he almost surely was. It would’ve been hard for her to miss at that range.
Jim couldn’t waste much time worrying about Pete. Maria was still in the room waving a gun around.
“You damn freak! You killed my Johnny!” she yelled as she continued pulling the trigger. Jim knew he was lucky he hadn’t been hit then again it might’ve been better that way. Before she might’ve just planned on killing him quickly but since Pete had gotten Johnny he had no idea what she would do. He looked at her tear stained face while he struggled to free himself from the last little bit Pete hadn’t had time to untie. He hoped he’d be able to work the ropes loose before she finally decided to turn her attention back to him.
“God damn it! Now what am I supposed to do!” she wailed. Turning her back on him she started crying. He could care less. He hoped she stayed that way the rest of the night. At least by then he’d be free. Unfortunately after only a few seconds she turned back around. Tears were still running down her face but she seemed to be done crying. “Well,” she sneered, “I guess it’s back to Plan A.”
She quickly turned around and walked into another room. He continued struggling with the ropes but couldn’t help but listen to what she was doing. It sounded like hurricane Maria had come to town. Things were being thrown all over the place. He heard things hitting the walls, scraping across the floor and one thing even went flying from the door only to land a few feet from where he was on the floor. He hoped it was something he could use but it was only an old stack of magazines. He didn’t know what she was looking for but it probably wasn’t going to be good for him. At the same time he got loose of the last knot all noise stopped in the other room. He started to stand up but heard Maria coming back his way. He quickly sat back down hiding his hands. He still needed to get Jill before he could leave. Now that he was free he could probably over power her and everything would be alright. But he had to use his element of surprise. He couldn’t give her a chance to run. It had to be quick.
Maria slowly walked into the room holding something behind her back. He couldn’t see what it was but it looked bulky.
“You know how I made it look like Tommy and Rob had been killed by the Goatman?” she began. He just looked at her. Staying silent was still the safest route. He didn’t want to provoke her any more than necessary. He knew it didn’t really matter anymore since he was free but Jill wasn’t. Maria could probably kill her before he could reach her so he had to keep her attention on him. “Well, you and Jill are going to get to join them and I’m going to do it the same way I did your friends. You get to be another victim of the Goatman!” she squealed as she moved the object she was holding from behind her back. In her hand was an axe. Not just a little hatchet type of thing but one of the big ones. Just the thing you average monster would use to dismember his victims.