SNAFU: Wolves at the Door

“You gonna’ try to kill me, Landers? I’m right here.”

“F-fuck you!”

He squatted, not five feet out of Cullie’s reach and shook his head. “I’m right here, big boy.” His voice was a calculated taunt, and Cullie knew it, but he still wanted to live and he wanted the man dead almost as much. “Prove to me that you’re really a man. Prove to me that you can do something other than torture a woman to death.” John shrugged. “Do that, and maybe I’ll let you live.”

Cullie thought hard about that, and even as he thought, he repositioned himself in the cold water. He didn’t stand, but he put most of his weight on his good leg, trying to decide if he could reach the man in front of him and hit him with the blade before John could change again.

“That’s right, Landers… What have you got to lose? You might be able to get me, might cut my throat before I can do anything about it. You know you want to. You know if you wait too long, the blood loss will do you in, so come on…Come and get me.”

Cullie pushed off with his good leg, and much as it hurt, he used his wounded limb to add a touch of support before he was airborne. John started moving at almost the exact same second. The distance between them grew smaller until, at last, Cullie brought the knife down, his aim was flawless and the blade plunged toward his enemy’s throat. John was faster than he looked. The weathered hands caught Cullie’s wrist and twisted hard before the knife could finish its descent. Cullie let out a yelp of frustration and then he let out a squeal of pain as his body was thrown down and he hit the rough stones John had been crouching over.

The impact was much greater than Cullie’d expected. His front tooth splintered as it hit the rock and he let out a grunt of pain as his nose and lips were dragged across the stone. He coughed hard and tried to roll over, but before he could, John was on him. The man pulled hard at his good foot and yanked his shoe away. A second later the maniac pulled what was left of his other shoe from his other foot and Cullie almost blacked out from the exquisite pain. While he was still trying to recover from that, John reached out and pulled at his belt until it came loose. Then his pants and his underwear were next.

Cullie bucked and panicked, convinced that the man was going to rape him. He imagined the pain and humiliation and screamed, pushing with good leg and bad alike to get away from the mad man standing naked above him in the cold waters. John’s bare foot slammed into the small of his back and knocked him back down, half drowning him before the man moved away from him.

“You stink, Landers. You smell as bad as you look.”

“You get away from me you sick fuck!” Cullie’s voice broke and he started pushing up from the water again, desperate to get away from the madman he knew was going to sodomize him.

“Not a chance.” John reached out and grabbed the back of his jacket, pulling hard. Cullie was lifted half out of the water before the ruined material let out a rude noise and fell away from him, dropping him once more into the rapidly swelling run off.

“Oh God! Please!” He was crying again, as John came closer, the knife that Cullie’d been ready to use on him now held casually in his left hand.

Cullie looked over his shoulder in stark terror, ready to do anything this man wanted him to in order to avoid what he knew was coming.

The smile had left John’s face, and the rain that fell was beginning to stick in his hair, to freeze there. He dropped down on his knees behind Cullie and grabbed his good leg, clenching his fingers and digging deep into flesh. Cullie tried to kick with his other leg, but it lacked the strength to stop his attacker.

Without another word, John brought the knife around and in two deft strokes had cut a circle around Cullie’s ankle. Cullie shrieked again and tried to pull away with the strength of his arms, but the blade had done to his good leg what the monster’s teeth had already accomplished on the other side. He lacked the power to escape.

John leaned back for a second; his face a little pale, and shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking. You think I want to fuck you. You’re wrong.”

Despite his situation, the panic level lowered itself a bit, and Cullie crawled forward a few paces, solely because John let him.

“If you were the only woman left on the planet and looked like a Playboy Bunny, I still wouldn’t want you that way.” John stood again and came closer, his flesh shivering in the cold.

“You just relax yourself, Cullie Landers. This is gonna’ hurt.” He moved forward again and this time when he grabbed for a limb, it was Cullie’s left arm. Cullie fought, he swung with his free arm and kicked as best he could with both of his legs. John pinned his left hand in the water and ignored the blows, barely even flinching when he was struck in the side of his face.

Then he started cutting, tearing through the tendons in Cullie’s wrist with ease. “Figured you deserve what you did to my girl, Landers.”