A REAPER SHORT STORY

BEHIND THE HOUSE ON OLD MILLS ROADTGREAPER 2006
"You sure you don't want more?" Annie Maye stood over me with a bowl spilling over with sausage gravy. I held up my hand in protest."I couldn't fit another bite," I replied. Annie found me stranded out on Mills Road after my car decided I was far enough in the middle of nowhere that breaking down was the worst possible thing that could happen. She told me of her brother the mechcanic and offered me a place out of the darkness untill he could get my junkpile working again.
I helped Annie clear the table and watched as she worked the pump that brought water into her basin full of dishes. She noticed me watching and smiled."Now, if you have to go to the bathroom, it's the outhouse out back."I didn't like the thought of going outside and using a bacteria filled shed with a hole in the bottom. But I also knew that I couldn't hold it much longer."Don't worry none if you hear anything, that's just ol' Earle and Jimbob working on your car.""You mean they're already working on it?" I strained my eyes trying to see them through the kitchen window. Earle was described to me as a big burly teddy bear by his sister. Jimbob was his short, sharp tempered life long friend. I could see some light filtering out from the barn, along with a moving shadow."Why don't you visit the throne while you have some company out there. I'll make up a bed for you."I felt a little embarrassed talking about my toilet usage with a total stranger, especially a female one, but I nodded and walked outside. "Earle, the city slicker's on his way to the throne!" Annie called out behind me. I heard a grunt and some movement from the barn. I was going to call out, but thought better of it and continued to walk towards the tiny dark shack that was waiting for me. I paused at the door, taking in one last good breath.
The stench hit me soon as I opened the door. Feces and urine and another oder. A strange one, yet unmistakable. It smelled like rotting flesh. Then I felt it. Under the floor board. Something moved. I stared down the hole into the darkness, but could see nothing. By this time I felt like I was going to burst in my pants, so I hurredly dropped them and took a seat, praying it was my imagination. Once I was finished, I reached down to wipe and touched another human hand.
The pain shot through me before I was able to move. The impact knocked me off the stool and onto the floor. I reached down between my legs and pulled out handfuls of wet sticky blood. I half rolled, half crawled out of the outhouse. The cold ground felt hard and unforgiving. I thought I could see a shadow crawling out from the hole I was just occupying. "Earle! Annie! Help!!" I cried out. It had to be Jimbob. I heard the front door slam open and footsteps heading my way."Earle? What's going on?" Annie cried. The outhouse door swung open, exposing a large man with blood and feces dripping off him."I couldn't help it Annie May, the city slicker's a slippery cuss!"I was losing way too much blood. I reached down again and felt something cold and hard protruding from beneath me, between my buttocks and nutsack. "Hold still there city slicker," Earle said. He placed his foot on my leg and reached down, cupping his hand on the weapon. He yanked it out, the pain searing through me."He screams like a girl!" Annie said laughing. Earle was chuckling as well. I looked past them into the barn, the moving shadow I thought was Earle was a row of bodies hanging by ropes. I felt arms reach around me and could feel myself being dragged. Earle dropped me on my back on the cold wooden floor of the barn. He pulled the knife that he impaled me with out of his back pocket and wiped it off with a dirty hankerchief."That's my Jimbob," he said to himself. My body was numb, and I could no longer move, I layed still as Annie lifted my leg and wrapped a rope around it. I could see that my blood had ran the length of my pants and I wondered why I hadn't already bled to death. Earle put the knife down and picked up a camera from somewhere in the room. "Pose for me pretty!" Annie fixed her hair and stepped over me, sitting down on my stomach, back to me and flexing her biceps. Earle took a couple of pictures then walked out of sight. Annie turned back to me and smiled before getting up."Hope I didn't squish you," she whispered. I felt a tug against my leg, then I was hanging in the air next to the other bodies. It happened that fast. I watched the two stop and kiss each other before turning out the lights. As they shut the door and walked away I heard Annie say something that froze what was left of my blood."Now we have plenty of meat for my sausage gravy."