A Small Town

Chapter Twenty-Five\ Rabbit

Bax could hear the chugging sound of Teddy's footfalls close behind but the huge tree hid them from view. How long until he gets here... minutes... seconds? Bax's mind raced. A second ago he had been running, or at least trying to run... trudging was probably a better word, through foot deep snow that overtopped his boots and slipped down inside to wet his woollen socks. Sarah had been on his left, close enough to touch as he staggered along. He was carrying Lisa's limp body cradled in his arms like a child (or a new bride, he thought ruefully) but with each step, she seemed to grow heavier and his arms and back burned with the strain.

Now the wind was rising and Sarah was gone... just gone. He looked frantically back the way they had come, peering between the now constant flurry of thick, white snowflakes. Nothing back there unless she was on the other side of the tree. The blizzard had erased their footprints like chalk from a blackboard but if she was there Teddy would see her... Teddy with the scars... Teddy with the missing teeth... Teddy with the ridiculously huge axe.

As if thinking of him had caused it, Teddy called out to Bax now. "Come on Baxs-ssh! It's-ssh okay... I ain't gonna hurt you! Come on out an' we can talk it over, buddy!"

Bax stood very still, not wanting to make a sound. Sarah couldn't be on the other side of the tree then, or else Teddy would know where they were. Where the fuck was she?

"Bax..."

He wasn't sure he had heard it at first. The voice was so soft, definitely not Teddy's lispy snarl.

"Bax!" It came again slightly louder. It was Sarah. He looked wildly around, unsure where it had come from. Suddenly, something touched the toe of his boot, making him jump, and he looked down. There just to his left was a ghostly white hand sticking up out of the snow, like a rabbit peeking up out of its warren.

He fell to his knees and grasped the hand pulling Sarah up out of an almost completely concealed hole. Her head popped up, her hair covered in snow. The hole was small, barely big enough for her to fit through and if he had stepped even an inch to his left he would have broken his leg in it without a doubt.

"Come on, Sarah..." He said in a harsh whisper, trying to lift her out of the pit. "He's coming!"

She pulled back against him shaking her head.

"No! Follow me!"

Sarah's hand, cold and damp with melted snow, slipped through his fingers and she disappeared back down into the hole. Snow fell in around her and now he could see her standing about five feet below waiting for them.

Bax took another look around, not sure what to do.Then Teddy made up his mind.

"Baxs-ssh, you whoring ss-sonofabitch, I'm gonna find you ss-so why play games-ssh?" Teddy's voice was much closer now. For a moment Bax was sure he was just on the other side of the tree and at any moment would stick his head around the corner wearing a huge shit-eating grin like Jack Nicolson in The Shining... "Here's-ssh Johnny!"

Bax blinked away the image and began to lower Lisa's naked body through the hole. Sarah clasped her ankle and helped him manoeuvre the barn owl carefully down until she had Lisa in an awkward, almost pornographic bear hug with one arm between her legs the other around her chest.

Those trudging snow muffled steps were positively close now and Bax waved the girls back and clambered down into the gap feet first. His boots scrambled for purchase as he plummeted clumsily coming to a jarring stop with his chest and shoulders pinned in the tiny opening. Bax felt a sickening wave of claustrophobia wash over him and couldn't breathe. Below him, he felt Sarah grab his legs and pull hard, dragging him down.

Bax panicked then and kicked her away. He felt his boot catch a solid blow against something soft and yielding. A muffled cry rose up to him and the thought that he might have kicked Lisa drove the panic away. He twisted and turned violently, feeling the frozen ground cutting into his back and chest. He exhaled all of the air in his lungs and felt his body slip another five inches into the hole but then realized he couldn't take a breathe and the panic began to rise up again.

Bax threw his arms up over his head and if he had had any oxygen in his lungs he would have screamed for help... any help... even Teddy, but then he felt Sarah grab his legs again and with an immense tug she dragged him down into the hole. His face scraped the jagged wall brutally leaving a long nasty gash up his right cheek and splitting his eyebrow as he fell to the bottom in a heap.

He blinked blood out of his eye and saw Lisa, her naked form lay crumpled on the ground a few feet away.

"Lisa!"

Sarah clamped her hand over his mouth and pointed upwards. Snow crunched overhead and a small avalanche of flakes fell down through the opening above. There was another crunching and now Bax could hear Teddy breathing. He must be directly overhead, Bax thought.

"Come on out Baxs-ssh!" Teddy called, his voice seemed to be right next to Bax's ear and only Sarah's hand over his mouth prevented Bax from making a sound.

They waited, not daring to breathe. Time crept by, one minute then two, and Bax was sure Teddy would hear the hammering of his heartbeat beneath the snow... snow... Poe... the Tell-Tale Heart... crazy thoughts ran through his brain as Bax's lungs burned desperate to inhale.

Just when he thought he would pass out there came the muffled sound of boots tramping away. Teddy was leaving and, as quietly as he could Bax allowed himself to let out the lungful of rotten, used up air and slowly pull in a fresh one. He forced himself not to pant and moved slowly over to Lisa, who had not moved from her place on the frozen ground.

She was breathing, he could see that much, but she was still in that state of dead-eyed unconsciousness. Bax pulled off his coat and wrapped her in it, feeling the chill of her skin as he did so. She was covered in a brilliant rash of gooseflesh and her lips held a nasty blueish tint. Worst of all were her feet. They were painfully red and raw from the snow. How long had she danced around the fire, making some unholy communion with this damned forest? Bax untied his boots and took off his socks, they were a bit damp but they were real wool and he carefully slid them onto Lisa frozen feet, pulling them almost all the way up to her knees before putting his boots back on.