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After driving down a long,
narrow dirt road, Alyssa arrived at the Cattleman's Lodge. She needed a break from work
and the city. This quaint, but run-down, place looked perfect. She opened the decrepit,
squeaky door and went inside. An elderly man came out of the backroom of the run down
lodge.
"I need a room."
Alyssa said, feeling stiff from the long car ride. The mosquitoes were biting and the air
was muggy. She wiped her face with her sleeve and signed the book on the faded, yellowish
line. Setting the pen down, she rubbed her stomach.
The man jabbered a while about
the old lodge while she fidgeted for her keys in her purse. He rubbed his stubbly checks
with his cigarette-stained hands as he spoke of the ancient, local legend called the
Bloody Witch Blade Monster. "In that stream over there, the monster has taken many a
life in search of the pure blood of innocent babes. It takes 'em right out of their
mother's stomach. I've never seen it happen myself, but we've found them poor wimmen lyin'
next to the tree trunk on the bank of the river with their bellies carved open and fetus
missin'. Most die. Those that don't end up in the looney bin."
Alyssa was very intrigued and
looked at the old coot curiously. "You mean people still believe in such tales to
this day around here?" She chuckled.
"You'd do well to
remember this too, young lady." His voice was serious as he walked her to her cabin
and unlocked the warped door. "The Bloody Witch Blade lies in wait for someone like
you. Its cold, reptile blood needs the warmth of your little one. One vicious swipe of its
nasty claws and your baby will be gone. Stay well away from that tree trunk, no matter
what happens."
Upon entering the cozy cabin,
she set her bags down on the tattered, patchwork quilt of the small, twin bed. She pulled
the powdery blue curtains away from the window and caught a glimpse of the waters and
bridge. The gurgling from midstream roared and rumbled like a hungry lion. She could not
see what was in the heaving, sapphire dark waters, but something told her it was sinister.
"Are those the waters you
speak of?" she asked with interest, wiping the musty dust from the window.
"Aye," he replied,
chomping on a toothpick with his gums. "That'll be the unholy grounds alright. No one
treads upon them. Remember that."
"Thank you."
He just nodded his head and
left.
Alyssa walked over to the
battered, mahogany dresser in the corner and opened up the top drawer. The dresser wobbled
when she pulled the drawer open, causing moonbeams to dance rainbows on the chocolaty
walls. Her tall, slender shadow reflected upon the wall and bent into the ceiling.
A banshee wail shattered the
night. With a jolt, she slammed the drawer shut and dashed to the window, trying to get a
glimpse of the cursed waters. There was nothing there that fit the terrifying howls
echoing in her ears. She opened her cabin door and walked out onto the porch, searching
for the source of the sound.
"Is anyone there?"
she asked timidly. Only the wind whistling melodiously through the trees that surrounded
her cabin responded.
The harrowing yowls
reverberated through the swampy grounds yet, but Alyssa saw nothing to fit the description
of the monster. She walked to the bridge and stopped in mid-stride. What had the old coot
said about the legend of the marshy grounds and its monster? She strove to remember his
warning, but all she saw was the man stroking his stubbles and his toothless mouth opening
and closing silently.
She peered over the edge of
the rickety bridge as the blackness of night set in. The moonlight cast shadowy
silhouettes of the trees dancing upon the water. She continued beyond the bridge then
halted. Looking down in the deep waters, Alyssa stood, petrified by the sight before her.
It gushed from the water, deep grave of hell itself. Inhuman, beady eyes glowed like
emeralds; so piercing they burned through her soul. She saw those beady eyes staring up at
her hungrily. Its long, sharp, white fangs dripped with blood. She grabbed her rounded
stomach and swallowed apprehensively, wondering how its fangs could drip with blood if it
was underwater.
Startled, she lost her balance
and tripped over a pile of rocks. As the ground raced toward her, she rolled to protect
her belly and hit her head on the ground. Screams resonated around her as she lay dazed
and baffled. She looked to the left and saw the fiend from the deep.
Her stomach ached and burned
as if set ablaze. She reached down to reassure herself and met with something wet, warm
and sticky. Slowly, Alyssa lifted her hand up into the air and gazed at her own blood.
Turning, she stared directly at the creature from hell.
Its teeth oozed wine-red
within the water. As she studied the water, she realized that the legend had it wrong. The
monster did not reside in the waters nor was it a reptilian creature that lived deep in
the swamps. People thought that because they saw its reflection there.
She rolled over and there it
was. Its name Bloody Witch Blade fit it perfectly.
The screams Alyssa had heard
were her own. She hadn't known it until then. She watched bewildered as the tree scraped
her opened stomach and, with its long twigs, grabbed the fetus from her womb.
In the reflective surface of
the water, she saw the underside of what she had thought was a tree trunk. She looked
closer at the knots within the tree.
"No!" she cried,
tears trickling down her ashen face. "You fucked up bastard!"
They weren't knots but
cherubic faces of innocent fetuses; their uncontaminated blood fed the beast. She watched
as the evil, wooded fiend devoured her own fetus down his black, hollowed hole. Alyssa dug
her hands into the swampy ground, dragging herself to the fiend. Its mouth agape, she
pulled herself upon the wooded monster and slid down its gullet with her baby.
Inside, the blood seethed and
churned. The babies were hardened into the sides of its ribs; their blood drizzled down
into the crimson ocean. Alyssa swam hard in the hot, rotten hell, trying to catch up with
her child. Blood spilled into her mouth, making her retch with each disgusting swallow.
Grabbing her baby, she held
him to her chest and wailed piteously. His thin skin was tattered and ripped. As her tears
spilled upon his face, the child began to open his eyes and move. Alyssa jerked him away
and looked at her wee one. His skin had healed and become almost translucent, as did all
the other hundreds of babies attached to the insides of the fiend. Floating into the air,
they grew opaque wings from their backs. They landed into a large hand, which closed over
them and disappeared.
The demon's branches began to
splinter and burst as Alyssa's blood mixed with the pureness of the babys', poisoning the
monster. He twisted and snarled, blowing fire form his hollowed mouth. He burst into
flames.
"You sonofabitch!"
Alyssa screamed surrounded by the fire. "I got you!" she yelled triumphantly.
* * *
The sound of the blast rattled
the lodge, waking the old man. Bones creaking, he shuffled over to the window. He shook
his head in wonder as he watched the flames over the river reach higher and higher into
the night sky. When it died down, he knew that the strange woman was gone and so was the
Bloody Witch Blade Monster.
©2001 Brutal Dreamer |