by: Marty Chrisman

Luke struggled against the ropes around his hands but it was useless, he was tired too tightly. His wrists were already rubbed raw from trying to get loose. Angie was lying on the ground a few feet away, staring at Luke with dead eyes as if accusing him of not helping her. Luke knew they’d kill him next, they had to. He could identify them. One of the men, the one with the gun, stepped out of the shadows and Luke felt the barrel of the gun pressing against his temple. “Time to die, Luke…” the man said in a cold voice as his finger slowly pulled the trigger. There was a sharp click but the gun didn’t fire. It took Luke a minute to realize that he was still alive. The gun had misfired. But there was no time to feel any relief. The man growled and threw the gun to the ground, bending down to pick up a large rock. Luke turned his head just as the man brought the rock down, slamming it into the back of Luke’s skull. There was flash of incredible pain and then nothing as the blackness surrounded Luke.

Luke awoke from the dream with a start. He was trembling and face was covered with a cold sweat. He lay there trying to slow down the frantic pounding of his heart as he remembered the details of the dream. He could vaguely make out a face on the man but it still wasn’t clear enough for his patchy memory to put a name to it. With a groan, he shoved himself to the side of the bed and sat up, still trying to calm his ragged nerves. He still felt groggy and slightly disoriented from the sedative Doc had given him.

Finally, he shoved himself to his feet and made his way to the bathroom where he relieved himself and then splashed some cold water on his face. As he straightened up, he found himself remembering more about the night Angie had been murdered. He leaned his arms against the sink and lowered his head as the memories flooded through his mind.

He had been on his way to pick Mary Anne up for a date. He was driving along old Ridge Road when he suddenly a girl running out of the woods from the corner of his eye. He recognized her as a local girl, Angie Baker. She was crying and waving her arms, obviously, needing help. So Luke had pulled over and stopped, climbing out of the General Lee to find out what was wrong. She was screaming something but he couldn’t understand her. He started to go to her when two men came out of the woods, one holding a gun in his hand and the other one holding a rifle. Luke recognized them too. They were two local roughnecks and troublemakers named Rusty Harrsion and his brother, Jamie.

            Rusty, who was holding the rifle, cursed when he saw Luke and pointed the rifle at him. “You try anything, Duke and you’re dead!” he snarled, as his brother, Jamie, grabbed Angie by the arm. Rusty motioned with the rifle for Luke to come with them. Knowing that he didn’t have much choice, Luke slowly followed them into the woods.

            Rusty stepped up behind Luke and stuck the barrel of the rifle in the small of his back. “I can’t miss at this range, so unless you want cut in two by this here rifle, you’ll do exactly what I tell you too and don’t try nothing funny.” Luke walked with them deeper into the woods towards Henderson Ridge. Luke tried desperately to think of a way to get out of the mess he’d suddenly found himself in. Luke was confident that he could take Rusty or Jamie either one in a fair fight. But as long as they had guns, they had the upper hand. Angie was screaming and crying as Jamie roughly pulled her along.

            When they reached the small clearing at Henderson Ridge, Rusty had slammed the butt of the rifle into the small of Luke’s back, stunning him momentarily and knocking him to his knees. Before he could catch his breath, he felt Rusty grabbing his hands and jerking his arms behind his back. Luke felt the rope being tired tightly around his wrists, so tightly that the rope cut into his skin. Once his hands were secured, Rusty tied his ankles just as tightly. Satisfied that Luke couldn’t interfere in their plans for the girl, he grinned and walked over to where Jamie had Angie pinned to the ground, fondling her.

            For the next three hours, Luke had laid there helplessly unable to do anything but watch as they raped Angie repeatedly. Her pitiful screams filled the air and echoed in Luke’s head until finally she couldn’t scream anymore and still, theHarrison boys continued to abuse her mercilessly. Luke tried to shut out the sound of her screams but it was hopeless, he knew he’d hear them echoing in his mind forever.

            When they got tired of gang raping Angie, they sat hunched on the ground debating what they were going to do next. Luke knew in his mind that they would probably kill him. He could identify them and they couldn’t leave a living witness who could put them in jail for a long time. Luke wasn’t afraid of death, he’d faced death before in the Marines, but he didn’t want to die like this, defenseless and unable to protect himself.

            When Rusty came over to where he was lying with the gun clutched tightly in his hand, Luke knew he was about to die. He prayed that his family wouldn’t grieve too badly and that someday the Harrison boys would pay for their crimes. He felt the cold hard steel of the gun barrel pressing against his temple and closed his eyes waiting for the shot that would end his life. He heard the loud click as the hammer slammed into the chamber but the gun didn’t fire. It took Luke a minute to realize that for some reason the gun hadn’t gone off. He opened his eyes in time to see Rusty throw the gun to the ground and pick up a large rock. Luke instinctively turned his head just as Rusty slammed the rock down onto the back of his skull. There was a moment of incredible pain, then nothing but darkness.

            Luke would never know how long he lay before he finally forced his eyes to open. His head hurt so bad that he couldn’t even think straight. He lay there for several minutes before he realized that Rusty and Jamie were gone but his mind still screamed with an irrational terror. Somehow, and he would never remember quite how he did it, he managed to get his knife out of the case he wore on his belt. He cut through the ropes around his wrists and ankles, then slowly crawled across the ground to Angie’s crumbled ravaged body. He saw the rope embedded deeply in the soft flesh of her throat and her wide staring eyes, eyes that seemed to stare at him accusingly, blaming him for not helping her and saving her from her fate.

            With a trembling hand, he reached out to touch her, jerking back his hand almost instantly when he felt how cold her skin was. Then he saw the blood smearing his hand. Staggering to his feet, he turned and stumbled into the woods. He didn’t even notice that someone had moved The General Lee from down on the road and that it was now parked in front of Angie’s body.

            Guided more by instinct then any sense of direction, Luke had found his way back to the farm and collapsed in his bed just as unconsciousness claimed him again. The next morning when he woke up, his memory was gone until now. And now, he remembered everything and remembered it much too clearly.

A strangled cry that was a combination of pain and rage tore from Luke’s throat as his memory finally returned. His eyes flashed with a cold dangerous anger, as he lifted his head. It was time to go hunting. He had a score to settle with the Harrison boys.