And Then...

Chapter Five: “Where’s The Nearest Railway Station?”

Previous Chapter:

The Sheriff looked a little bit like Adam and Brian’s father: Big, strong and mean. A real life South Texas redneck. Hard as nails and ignorant as a mule. The twins had never once gotten a smile from their father when they were growing up. He used to say they looked too much like their “no good goddamned wetback spic mother.” for them to ever amount to any good.  

“You have yourself a nice day you hear” said the Sheriff.

“Where’s the nearest railway station?”

Henry had called 911 and told the operator that a man that needed medical attention was lying right by the storm drain three miles north of town. When the operator asked who was calling, Henry had hung up the phone. Henry and the twins had decided to walk along the highway. They thought they might get lucky and somebody might decide to give them a ride. They had been walking for two hours and the only three cars that had passed them in that time hadn’t even slowed down. They heard the car coming before they saw it. It was an old red pickup truck. The pickup slowed down and pulled right up to them.

“Where you fella’s headed” said a sun weathered man with red hair and a thick mustache.

“Where’s the nearest railway station?” said Henry.                                                                       

“Amarillo” said the man in the pickup truck.

“That’s where we’re headed” said Henry.

“Well you’re in luck, hop on in back. I’m going to New Braunfels, so I’ll be passing thru Amarillo. My name’s Jimmy.”

“Thanks, I’m Henry and this is Adam and Brian.”

The twins nodded as a way of saying hello and they all climbed on and got settled in the back of the truck. They were quiet, content just to feel the air brush thru their hair. A sense of relief came upon them the moment they realized the pick-up had actually pulled over to pick them up. The sun was setting in the west and the temperature was coming down to a comfortable level.

Jimmy slowed down as he came to a roadblock. Sheriff Bradshaw and two of his deputies were sitting on their cruiser not letting anyone pass.  

“I wonder who they’re looking for?” said Jimmy. When he looked back to see why the guys weren’t answering he realized they weren’t there anymore. The only thing he managed to catch out of the corner of his eye was a quick movement in the underbrush far off to his right.

Chapter Four: “I’m Just Looking”

Previous Chapter:

Adam hesitated then he walked towards the man with the empty eyes, leaned close to him and whispered something in his ear.

 “I’m just looking.”

The town’s business district was nothing more than the one street that had open shops. There was a pharmacy; the town attorney’s office, who also doubled as a bail bondsman; a convenience store combination gift shop; a coffee shop-bar-ice cream parlor; and on the other side of the street the town’s government offices and the sheriff’s office. It was exactly like most other small South Texas towns: drying up and dying slowly.  Adam and Henry went to look for a pay phone. Brian walked into the convenience store combination gift shop.

“Afternoon. You looking for anything in particular” said the shopkeeper, a stern looking man with thick reading glasses.

“I’m just looking. Thanks” said Brian.

“Not from around here are you boy?” said the shopkeeper.

“No sir.” said Brian in a reserved fashion.

Then he saw it. The county newspaper’s headlines read: “Father Thomas, Dean of the Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church missing.” Brian skimmed thru the article. Missing. Money. Drugs. Confession. Prison. Brian put the paper back and got out of the store as fast as he could. They had to leave town quickly. Whatever they had gotten themselves into: It was quickly getting worse.

“Where you going there in such a hurry? I’m Sheriff Bradshaw and this is my town. Welcome!” said the barrel-chested Sheriff as he held his right hand over his gun holster.

“Good afternoon Sir. I’m just walking over to meet my friends. We’re just crossing thru town” said Brian hesitantly as he turned to continue on his way.

“Wait!” Yelled the sheriff

“Yes Sir?” said Brian with a knot in his throat

The Sheriff looked a little bit like Adam and Brian’s father: Big, strong and mean. A real life South Texas redneck. Hard as nails and ignorant as a mule. The twins had never gotten a smile from their father. He said they looked too much like their “no good goddamed wetback spic mother.”  

“You have yourself a nice day you hear” said the Sheriff.

Chapter Three: We Must Call The Police!

Previous Chapter:

Adam took a few steps into the drain. The mud covering the corrugated metal pipe was slimy and foul. Whatever was making the noise was not moving, so he decided to step closer. There was not much light going in but he was able to make out the outline of the shape that was resting on the slimy floor. His heart skipped a beat. He definitely didn’t expect this!

“Guys, you’re not gonna believe it.” shouted Adam

                                        We must call the police!

“Jesus Christ! God Almighty… Give me a hand here guys” screamed Adam.

Against the glare of the afternoon sun he could make out the outline of a person lying on the floor of the storm drain. Brian and Henry went in and walked up to where Adam was standing. A  man seemingly only wearing underwear and a dark shirt was moaning as he cradled in a fetal position . He looked like he was in pain.

“Can you hear me?” said Henry as he knelt down over the man.

The man just groaned.

“Don’t worry! We’ll get you out of here” said Henry.

Henry and the twins managed to carry the man out of the storm drain. The man didn’t say anything but he screamed a lot. It was obvious he was in pain. In the light of the afternoon sun they were finally able to see him clearly: He was wearing a black button down shirt with a white collar, like the one a priest would wear. He had no pants on, just his white underwear, and he was wearing black socks and black shoes. The man was covering his face with his hands which were dirtied and covered with blood.

“What’s your name?” said Henry

There was no answer from the man, just moaning.

Henry knelt down to touch the man. He wanted to take a look at his face. As Henry touched the man his arms tensed up, the man still had strength. Henry managed to lower the man’s arms and then they saw his eyes or what remained of them. There were two bloody sockets where his eyes were supposed to be.

Henry tried to remain cool but he jumped back at the sight of the man’s missing eyes. The empty sockets looked like those cracked eggs that still had the unborn little chickens: Bloody and empty. Like the ones he’d seen at his grandfather’s farm.

“Ok, we have to take this guy to the hospital” said Henry.

“We don’t know who he is or what he’s done to get that! And don’t forget we still have troubles of our own dammit!” said Brian.

“We must call the police” said Adam.

“Are you stupid?” said Henry, “We can’t go to the police! We don’t know if they’re working with the people who are after us.”

“We’ll leave him here, and we’ll just walk into town and call 911 and tell them to pick him up” said Brian.

“What if the animals get him? We can’t leave him alone.” said Adam nervously.

“Well, you’re welcome to stay with him if you want. There’s really nothing else we can do” said Henry.

Adam hesitated then he walked towards the man with the empty eyes, leaned close to him and whispered something in his ear.

Chapter Two

End of the first chapter:

” Enrique and his partners ran. They didn’t look back. They would come back for the truck later. Then they heard it…”

                                           “I have a stomach ache.”

It had been a faint cry, something distinctly human. Enrique, or Henry as he now liked to be called, had heard it first. And it seemed to be coming from somewhere inside the storm drain. They had run thru the fields for more than an hour, the adrenalin that had kicked in when the men with the automatic rifles had shown up had given them the endurance to run the 4 miles from the Old Mission road in their western boots without even thinking. The midday sun was blazing even more intensely as they got closer to town.  

“What the fuck was that? Did you guys hear it too?” said Henry

Brian, the slightly thinner half of the twins that were Henry’s all around business partners/acolytes responded first “Sounded like a girl crying, or a baby. But I’ve also heard that coyotes sometimes sound human.”

‘Let’s just keep going. For all we know those fuckers are still behind us.” said Adam. The twin who at 240 pounds was known as the chubby one.

“We can’t just leave. What if someone’s actually in there? Go on, take a look Brian” said Henry

“Nah ah. I’m not doing it. Coyotes are vicious if they’re hurt.” said Brian

“Well, we’re not leaving without making sure it’s not a person hurt in there. Adam, remember last week when you said you’d do anything if I lent you that $100 to stay in the poker game. Well, I’m collecting right now. Go take a look. ” said Henry

“Shit. I didn’t know that was going to include walking into a dirty storm drain where there could potentially be a wild animal inside.” said Adam

“Yea well it could also be there’s someone hurt inside” said Henry

“Man, shit. I’m not paying you back you know” said Adam

“Good, now go!” said Henry as he pushed Adam closer to the drain opening.

“Oh man, I have a stomach ache” said Adam peering into the dark drain as he wiped a spider web that had brushed against his forehead.

Adam took a few steps into the drain. The mud covering the corrugated metal pipe was slimy and foul. Whatever was making the noise was not moving so he decided to come in closer. There was not much light coming in but he was able to make out the outline of the shape that was resting on the slimy floor. His heart skipped a beat. He definitely didn’t expect this!

“Guys, you’re not gonna believe it.” shouted Adam

For the next 6 days, I will be out of town. I will be in probably one of the few places where one can still claim to be out of reach: a boat in the the middle of the ocean.

So, here are the 6 phrases I will take with me to write my daily cliffhanger:

1. We must call the police.

2. I’m just looking.

3. Where’s the nearest railway station?

4. I am very bad at Physics.

5. Excuse me, do you mind if I stare at you for a minute? I want to remember your face for my dreams.

6. I love your long blonde hair.

Keep on blogging!!

Chapter One

Random Phrase of the day: “Where are you from?”

The dirt cloud preceded the big black Hummer with dark tinted windows. It stopped right in front of them. Six men got out of the Hummer, all of them wearing jeans and thick cowboy belts. Five of them wearing hats and carrying automatic weapons. One of them wearing a yellow hood over his head. Drug lords. This was an execution. Enrique knew it, although he had never seen one in person before. It would be nothing to these men to shoot three more people.

The man that had been in the driver’s seat approached. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he said.

Enrique looked at his two partners. The both looked down. ” We’re truck drivers. We stopped here because we wanted to skim some of the cargo from that one. But we looked, there’s nothing valuable” said Enrique as he pointed to the old truck

“Just a fucking little thief, eh? What’s your name pendejo?”

“Enrique, Señor. Enrique de la Peña”

“Where are you from?”

“I’m from town”

“Look here pendejo. I don’t like thieves. I think your kind is lower than addicts. Scum. You get the fuck out of my sight right now. Run! before I change my mind” said the man as he pointed his rifle at Enrique’s head.

The man with the rifle knew these idiots wouldn’t say anything. they wouldn’t want to implicate themselves with whatever they were doing with that truck.

Enrique and his partners ran. They didn’t look back. They would come back for the truck later. Then they heard it…

My first post… finally

This assignment has seriously affected my opinion of myself as someone who is good at working under pressure. Over the past few days, I watched intently as everyone in my nonfiction writing class, apparently effortlessly, setup their own blogs and started posting away. I jealously followed my classmates as they uploaded fancy pictures and witty remarks. I on the other hand was busy developing a serious addiction to online gaming (something that I had managed to avoid for 32 years). As I stared at my empty Tumblr page for hours at a time, and remained blank as to how I could build a sense of drama and urgency (As Professor Goodyear had good naturedly advised me) into my blog idea, I decided to open up a Farmville page on my FaceBook account, you know just to distract myself a little. The object of the game is to build a farm, pretty harmless right? Well, Farmville should be illegal, its like heroin for the cubicled masses. How does anybody who works in an office get any actual work done with the added pressure of knowing their is a virtual world of farming open to you just two clicks of a mouse away? By Sunday night I was still clueless as to what to do with my “Pepe the Puppy” blog but I was at level 56 on Farmville, something that I can not really attribute solely to my innate gaming talent but more to the fact that I have a Paypal account and that you can buy play money with real money. I always sneered at the reports of teenagers stealing parents credit cards to pay for virtual money and games. Well, I’m sold on the dangers now. I spent $80 on buying cartoon cows because “I needed” to go up a level. Just one more and I’ll quit. I’m happy to report that I’m clean and sober from Farmville for 24 hours. But seriously, those cows are evil. Now the drama and urgency were seriously building up: If I didn’t come up with a decent blog, I would fail the class. That was dramatic enough. ”Pepe the Puppy” would not survive. I tried everything: What if Pepe is the narrator’s voice? What if I blog about using him to pick up girls? What if I go on a hike with him and try to bait some coyotes to report on the fight! Enough. I cut my losses short and decided I would blog on a simple idea: Write a small story, build in a cliffhanger ending and try to get you interested in reading the next chapter the following day. I found a phrase random generator that I will base my daily chapters on, as well as accepting suggestions on endings an plot twist from readers. So here goes!