Harvest

Every Christmas Eve, there is a deadly hunt through the deep woods of Charleston, South Carolina. A man in a long black trench coat loaded up his gun and counted down the footsteps. The bait was all but to spring. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. This ritual had to be carried out for him to have peace of mind.

-Three Hours Ago-

He stood on the side of the road as if to hitch a ride. He would know the targets just by their fancy candy apple red corvette alone. A few seconds before, a truck offered him a ride. He politely turned him down. The trucker gave him a puzzled look.

“You sure?” he asked. The man on the side of the road nodded once. The truck driver shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright,” he said. “Merry Christmas.” The man on the side of the road didn’t respond as the trucker drove away. Years of training aided in keeping a stoic demeanor. There was an art to hunting. One impatient slip could cause it all to go circling down the drain. He even taught himself to fight off the urge to have a smoke on this particular night. The man in black cleared his head of all thoughts as he stood by the side of the road, watching.

About five minutes later, his target car pulled down the road. He didn’t make his move until it came about halfway in his direction. The corvette pulled to a stop when he stuck out his hand. Inside, a young couple gave him strange glances. The man in the car rolled down his window.

“Need a ride, man?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” the man on the side of the road replied. The driver reached behind him and unlocked the back door.

“Hop in,” he said.

“Thank you,” the older man replied. He climbed into the back seat. The man in black glanced back and forward between the driver and other passenger. The driver appeared to be between twenty-eight and thirty-three. The fancy watch on his left wrist made the older man sneer. Reminded him of the man who murdered his mother years ago. He tried to push that memory out of his mind and focus on the people in the car with him.

The other passenger, a woman, had to be about twenty-one years old. She had her bright blonde hair in a bun. Her big rock on her ring finger doubled down on his disgust on this couple. The back seat passenger would waste her last.

“So, where are you heading out tonight?” the driver asked his new passenger.

“I’m going to work,” the man in the back seat replied. The driver raised an eyebrow at him.

“You serious?” he asked.

“They are understaffed tonight. My boss had to call me out in the middle of dinner.”

“But it’s Christmas Eve.”

“What can you do? These things happen.”

The driver chuckled. “Work, huh?” His laughter reminded the back seat passenger of an annoying donkey.

“You’re not from here, are you?” the older man asked.

“How did you know?” the driver asked in surprise.

“Your accent gave you away. Where are you from?”

“Vancouver.”

“That far?”

“Yes, we’re on honeymoon,” the female passenger answered.

“You don’t say,” the other man replied. “When did you get married?”

“Three days ago,” the driver replied.

“Oh, congratulations.”

“Thanks.” He put his hand on his wife’s knee. “I am one lucky man!” The other man nodded.

“Really?” The three of them drove deeper down the empty road. The passenger in the back seat counted down with his gun in his coat. He could tell that the wife suspected something off about him by the way she kept glancing over her shoulder at him.

“Say, where did you say you worked again?” he asked.

“Oh, it’s a private company,” their passenger answered. “You wouldn’t know it.”

“Are we even going the right way?”

“Why yes, just keep going straight and you will turn off up ahead near the creek. Will that be too much of a hassle for you?”

By now, something didn’t seem right to the driver. He couldn’t exactly put his finger on it, this passenger’s story didn’t seem to add up. “No, not at all.”

“Thank you so much. Again, I apologize for this.”

“No problem…” When the car pulled up the curb as planned, the man in back seat reached into his black coat. He mumbled something barely audible to himself. The bride managed to catch the last of his words when she glanced behind her.

“Did you say something?” she asked. The driver didn’t get a chance to turn around when he heard a click to the back of his head.

“What are you doing?!” he shouted.

“Shut up!” the man in black barked.

“What the hell?!”

“Shut the fuck up and keep driving!”

“Baby!” the bride cried.

The hitch-hiker pointed the gun at her. “Shut up, bitch!” He whipped the gun back at her husband. “You! Drive or I ruin her face!”

The driver put up his hands. “Okay, okay!” He continued on the planned path. The gunman’s eyes shifted between the couple.

“Do you have cell phones?” he asked.

“What?” the driver asked.

“Cell phones! Do you have them?”

“Yes!” the bride shouted.

“Good, hand them here! Do it now!” First the bride reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. Her husband reached into his pocket for his. He grabbed them and took out their batteries and memory chips. The phones ended up being tossed out the window.

10:28 p.m.

The man in black put in the last bullet. It felt like an old itch returning after a long time. He hadn’t done this in six years. A small smirk spread on his face. I almost forgot what this feeling was like. He rose to his feet and looked at his watch. He had given them enough time to flee into the woods.

-Out in the Woods-

The bride stood, panting. She had seen her husband since about seven something. Due to their cell phones being thrown out the window, she couldn’t contact him. The bride shut her eyes and swallowed while catching her breath.

I hope he’s okay. She shook her head. I don’t have time to think about this. The bride opened her eyes and put her fist to her chest. I just have to get back to the house and escape before he kills me. The bride headed deeper into the woods to try and get back to the cabin.

-Cabin-

The man in black headed back out into the woods. He knew this place like childhood home. In fact, this cabin was his childhood home. This exactly place sent him on the path that he walked today.

-Twenty-Nine Years Ago-

His parents never really got along. On the surface, the family appeared recluse. However at a young age, he could see that the storm from a young age. His father drank and his mother slept with different men. The little boy could remember a night where they weren’t fighting. Through the chaos and violence, his mother always turned to her son for comfort.

“You are my little gem,” she whispered in him in his bed night after night. He could never understand why his mother was always crying in his room.

“What’s wrong, mommy?” he asked on Thanksgiving night of 1984. His mother shook her head.

“It’s nothing, my sweet boy,” she said. She pulled him into her arms. “Listen to me, don’t grow up into a man like your father. Please promise me that you won’t.”

He looked at her so confused. “Mommy?”

“Promise me!”

He slowly reached up and hugged her back. “Okay.”

“Good.” She patted him on the head. Sadly, Christmas Eve would really put the boy to the test.

-Present Day-

He walked down the dead grass trail like he was heading for lunch. The two-hour head start gave him enough time to make the necessary preparations to clean up the evidence. That tacky corvette they were driving ended up being sunken into the cold lake. (Luckily for him, the temperature that wasn’t below freezing.) Three days ago, he bought two fresh cans of gasoline from the hardware store. His boss left him everything else that he would need once the job was done—surgical gloves, matches, bullets, fresh change of clothes, and a spare gun. He himself fought off the urge to smoke and turned his phone off. Finally, his boss would deal with the sunken car once the heat died down.

Only thing left to do was hunt them down.

-Out in the Woods-

The trees looked the same to her. She had no idea how much time had passed or where she was now.

“Paul?” she asked. “Where are you?” Shouting probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but she was beginning to get desperate. The bride couldn’t function without her husband. He was the one who always took the wheel. Even when they were dating, he controlled everything. That type of power was what attracted him to her in the first place. He even led her down a path of sadistic games.

10:47 p.m.

He had everything falling into place block by block. Even his darling little wife didn’t know what he did every Christmas Eve. This was the time that he pushed her to the back of his mind. In his mind, she was too precious to see this monster that he couldn’t kill every year. He first met her back in the summer of 2007. Something her appearance set his mind at ease. The attraction led to their courtship and wedding. Her family thought them to be the perfect match for each other. She became the serenity that he lacked all of those years ago. His wife grew up in a naïve, innocent world and he wanted to keep it that way. However back in 2009, she just had to ask him about his job.

“What exactly is that you do for a living?” she asked. Naturally, he didn’t really want to tell her the truth.

“I can’t really tell you,” he said.

“Why not?” she asked.

“It’s a classified job. I don’t want to get you mixed up in my business.”

His wife grabbed onto his arm. He titled his head at her, perplexed. “Sweetheart?”

Her big red eyes tore at his heart. “Promise me that you’ll never lie again.” His lips twitched a bit. Now why did that sound so familiar? Her sweet little face started to remind him of his mother.

“Sweetie…”

“Please!”

He gently patted her on the head, smiling. “Okay, you win. I promise I won’t lie anymore.”

His wife pulled him into an embrace. “I love you so much.” He held her with a dry smile on his face. Not to you at least…

His “job” every year ended up costing him most of Christmas Day with her.

-Further into the Woods-

The bride sank down the wet, ground. What did I do to deserve this? She and her husband weren’t exactly innocent victims here. He loved to make young girls and women suffer for his pleasure. When they met, they engaged in kinky sex on the first night in a cheap motel back in Canada. To his dismay, she wasn’t a virgin. He loved her as submissive, but she wasn’t perfect. As a result, in more violent rapes with some of the young girls and women in the town. Not a single case had been solved. However, his ultimate prize would come in the form of his future bride’s youngest sister.

The bride tried to push herself to her feet. What am I worried for? Paul wouldn’t be killed so easily. I just need to stay strong long enough to make it back to the house before midnight.

-Three Hours Earlier-

He forced the couple to drive up to his childhood cabin in the middle of nowhere. He looked up the smile, counting down to when the game would begin.

“Park it near the lake,” he ordered his male hostage. The husband frowned as he pulled up to the lake.

“Did you say something?” his captor asked.

“No,” the husband replied.

“Good, now get out of the car. Both of you.” He watched as the couple slowly climbed out of the corvette. “You’re not armed, are you? Empty your pockets and set everything down on the ground.” Husband and wife dug through their pockets and pulled change and a pocket knife.

“Very good,” he said. “Get in the cabin.” The couple stared at him, puzzled.

“Get in the house now,” he commanded again. He used his gun to push them along in the old, abandoned cabin. They sat on the hardwood floor of the kitchen where his mother was murdered. The husband glared at their captor.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked. “What do you want with us?”

“Shut up!” the captor shouted. He smacked the husband across the face with his gun. The wife screamed for her husband.

“Paul!” she shouted.

“Shut up!” the captor snapped. “Do you want to get smacked?” The bride whimpered as she lowered her head.

“Good,” their captor said. “Now, I know who you are. Let’s just say that my boss is well connected among the criminal underworld.” He darted a glare over to the husband as he opened his mouth. “Shut your mouth!” The husband drew his mouth closed. Their captor cleared his throat.

“As I was saying,” he said. “Instead of turning you over to the police, I have a little game for you. You have to run out into the woods away from me.” He held up his hand when the bride tried to interject. “If you make it back to this cabin alive, I will let you go.

“Just like that?” the husband asked. The other man ignored his question.

“Right now,” he said. He looked at his watch. “I’m in the Christmas spirit. So, I will give you a two-hour start.”

“What?” the wife asked.

“Five… Four… Three… Two… One!” the captor yelled. He whipped out his gun and fired the last shot in the chamber. The couple took off running in different directions at the sound.

11:00 p.m.

The bride looked up at the sky. How could that man and his boss know what they did? Canadian police had no evidence linking her husband to the rapes or the murders of two local teenage girls in their neighborhood. Each everyone around them believed that her younger sister, Elizabeth, died from alcohol poisoning. Husband and wife did their best to clean up all evidence of sexual assault.

The bride grabbed her head, panting with her heart pounding against her chest. This can’t be possible! This can’t be possible! She tried to pull herself together. I can’t break down like this! I have to get back to the cabin! I have to find Paul! The bride again made her way through the thick trees.

10:59 p.m.

He’s been watching from the trees with gun in hand. It would be so easy to shoot her and get on with it. He still had time to get back home. Yet, that wouldn’t be so satisfying. The time of her death would have to the time that his mother died.

-Twenty-Nine Years Ago-

It was Christmas Eve back then too. He was woken up by his parents shouting. In a half-awake state, the little boy wandered down the hall. He found his parents yelling at each other in the kitchen. His mother held a knife above her head.

“I hate you, you bastard!” she shouted. “I wish you were dead!”

“Oh what? You’re going to kill me now?” his father asked. “Do it! Do it! Do it, bitch! Do it if you’re not scared!” She ran forward, screaming. Their son vaguely remembered what happened next. All he saw was his mother pinned against the wall with his father’s hands at her throat. Those big hands kept crushing and crushing her throat until her neck snapped. The knife hit the kitchen floor with a clang.

“Mommy!” the little boy screamed. His father whipped around with eyes like the devil. The child backed into the living room area and ran into the woods.

-Present Day-

For many years, he lured “bottom feeders,” pedophile, serial killers, and murderers that escaped justice, into these woods and killed them with his game. Nobody in the whole state even noticed that there were certain people disappearing around Christmas Eve every year. The police couldn’t figure it out.

He remembered how this game first started. He met his future boss in the very woods that he ran to after his father killed his mother. She offered him a way to take revenge and he jumped at the chance without a thought. His father laughed at the gun in his son’s hand.

“What? You think you are a big man with that gun?” he asked. “You think you are a real man now?” He ripped open his shirt. “Go ahead then! Kill me! Shoot me! Unless you’re a coward just like that bitch!” Those words killed what little innocence his son had left inside of him. More blood filled that cabin on Christmas morning. When the damage was done, the boy fled the cabin once more. His boss took the boy under her care and trained him to be the skilled hit man he grew into. Ever since that day, he killed bottom feeders with no emotion.

Yet, he hadn’t played for six years…

12:00 a.m.

The bride wandered down the path until she spotted the cabin in the distance. Her heart flipped when she her last hope standing before her. The cabin! It’s the cabin! I made it! I made it! The bride raced the down path to the cabin. She made it to the front door before collapsing to the ground. Chuckling escaped from her lips as she crawled forward and reached up from the doorway. She paused when she heard feet shuffling behind the door. Her heart jumped in her chest.

“Paul?” she asked. “Paul, baby? Is that you?” Her face filled with terror when the door opened. He pointed the gun at her, smirking.

“Wrong, bitch!” he barked. Bang! One shot between the eyes was all it took. He lowered the gun by his side as the winner once again.

12:25 a.m.

He dragged the bride’s body around the body and dropped her next to her husband who he killed earlier in this game. The hit man smirked to himself. Heh, together in death. It makes me sick. He poured the gasoline on the bodies and stuck a match. No emotion filled his eyes as he watched them burn. Even after all of the planning, stalking, killing, and cleaning up, it still did nothing for him. The empty feeling would remain within him until next Christmas Eve.

1:37 a.m.

After washing off and changing his clothes, he climbed into his jeep and drove him. To his surprise, it was nearly two in the morning. I… I can’t believe this. When he came back within city limits, he turned on his cell phone and dialed home.

“Hello?” a tired voice asked on the other line.

“Iris,” he said.

“Dean? It’s only 1:37, I thought you had work tonight.”

“Yeah, work got finished early this year. It looks like I’ll get to spend Christmas with you for a change.”

“You mean it?”

“Yeah, I’ll pick up a little cake for you and we can share it after we open our presents.”

“I love you so much, honey!”

He chuckled over the phone. “I love you too, sweetie.” After hanging up, he drove into the city.

It’s funny, actually. For six years, Iris and Dean were in Iris’ homeland of Germany taking care of a sick relative of hers. They only came back to Charleston earlier this year. The strangest about those six years was that Dean actually felt at peace in Germany. It was as if the emptiness was left behind in America and he could just feel like a normal person. Dean shook his head to himself. I guess I’m getting soft in my old age.

Chaos Reigns