Day 6

The man led me inside of his house and I have to admit I was a little leery of entering , I mean he did just have a gun in my face and unless he is onto whats happening around us he may just be crazy. Two steps into the house and "SLAM" something or someone hit me in the back of my head, I remember falling to the ground and the man leading me into the house looking back at me as I fell but that was all until I started to come to.

When i did start to wake up my head was killing me , the side of my scalp had a small throb and the entire side of  my head had a pretty major one. I tried to moan but had a rag in my mouth that tasted of dirt grease and water , and no matter how hard i moved my mouth , jaw , and tongue it was only make it's fitment more uncomfortable. Legs were tied to the chair and my hands as well and i was in a very stiff old chair that was nailed or screwed to the floor, because it was not  budging . Looking down I could see red duct binding my legs to the chair and from what I could feel I imagined it was the same holding my hands behind me.

Looking around and taking stock of where I was and what the predicament was I realized the people I came to the door of weren't taking any chances with me. The room I was in was small and wooden and full of various yard care tools and I assumed I was either in the shed or the garage. Everything was fine and dandy sitting there waiting , thinking that if someone comes in I will explain it all and get untied, hell I would've done the same thing in these circumstances so how can I be mad. Then I heard the moan behind me.

Apparently I wasn't the only thing they had caught that night but being stuck in that chair not being able to see who or what was behind me or if I had the benefit of it being as tied down as me , I was beyond skittish. I started to make as much noise as I could to get someone , anyone to come in here and by moving my feet and hands as much as I could while trying some form of a yell I alerted my hosts I was active.

The door to the small room popped open and 3 men all armed with guns , possibly even mine were standing there taking full aim on me. For an instance I thought it was game over I had this gut feeling I was done , the men were staring a hole right threw me and had no expression on their faces at all....nothing.... "boom boom boom"  3 shots from the man standing in front and my heart stopped. It took me a second and then I realized I wasn't hit, I kept waiting for a pain a dullness a burn anything , , but they plugged the "thing" behind me. The man who fired stepped back a bit and one of the other men stepped forward and looked right into my eyes. Staring into my eyes he said "you ain't one of them things are ya?" . I nodded no and fell into myself , wake up calls are one thing but this was a complete mind scrub .

The man furthest back stepped between the other two , he was a mid 30s man with flannel and jeans and a look of a guy I would work with a regular do it or get out guy. He puled out a buck knife that would make Crocodile Dundee proud and started cutting my legs free. He said in a nervous voice, " sorry man but if you knew the night we were having , that thing behind you damn near ripped my dogs face off". He proceeded to cut my hands free and I spun in my seat to see what was behind me . A giant brooding thing it was curled on the floor now with most of it's head missing. The "thing" was tied down as well.

Pulling the rag out of my mouth I said " sorry about all this I wasn't trying to get killed I am just looking for a vehicle that will get me to Worcester". Then I added " if that thing killed your dog why did you tie it up?" . The man who shot it said sheepishly"we didn't know what was happening but after the past few hours we were coming in here to get rid of the both of you, luckily we could see your eyes". I would have been wasted if I was blindfolded apparently, and this was my first lesson in trusting no one and no situation, getting tied up i could have been bitten by that thing or blown away by the guys in front of me.

I asked them if they had my guns and the second man with red hair handed me them saying " no hard feelings right?" have smiling. I ignored this blurb I was not into making friends to go fishing with I needed to get back to moving and it appeared the jeep wasn't in the cards. They took me into the house and I made them all go in first, once bitten twice shy so to speak and asked them what happened on their end. The men all told a story and added to it each bit by bit making it obvious there was no b/s making it worse than it was.

Apparently they had no idea about what had gone down or what happened to people that were things they were hunting all day. When they came in they found this "thing" eating their dogs face , they were heartbroken as it was the dog is usually with them but today he wouldn't get out of bed and they left him there. Sick as a dog one guy said was his attitude , but he had wished he forced him to the truck. They said they beat this thing with all the anger you would have to someone broken into your house killing your pet but the thing kept fighting back and biting at them. One guy dragged him to the shed by his foot and the others tied him down and left him there. He said one of them and wouldn't acknowledge who shot him in the leg after tying him down and they were all in shock when it didn't even react.

After that they said i came to the door and since they never have visitors they assumed I was the "things" partner in whatever messed up crime we were into. I started telling them about my day and what I had seen and been thru and the men all looked like air was coming out of their sails. It was disheartening but I had to lay it out for them, I didn't want anyone thinking it was just a full moon.
The men all said they had a shack in the middle of nowhere that they hunted at in Maine, it was an old place no utilities and no one around and they were heading there if I wanted to tag along. I had to say no thanks , while in another situation this could be a way to have each others backs and start out in a safe haven, it wasn't what I was after, I had to see if my brother and his family were OK, and that would be where I hunker down and watch backs not here , not with them.

I wished them good luck on their voyage and told them get good maps and use back roads the highways were a parking lot, and I also told them to be wary of crowds of people. They didn't want to get a ride but they would hold you up. I started back down the driveway by the jeep I had envisioned getting me to my goal but knew I had air in my lungs and guns on my back , it wasn't perfect but it was better than the alternative in that shed.

Heading down the road I got a thought of Bill Bixby walking and that piano music and sort of smiled an uncomfortable smile.Almost made me feel guilty to have humor on a day like today. I headed down the road into the darkness and knew somewhere out there I would find another vehicle and be on my way....