A little SETX fiction on this Halloween 🙂

Katy ran swiftly through the brush near the river. Her heart pounding with fear hearing the barking of the bloodhounds as they drew closer. She surely felt her world coming to an end. Katy could probably outrun the two men on horseback but not the dogs. She might wade into the river but her demise would be evenly shared perhaps among the alligators and the snakes.

Katy ran faster and faster through the darkness finally reaching a patch of oak trees near a shallow inlet. She ran through the water splashing her way to the other side. Just then, only seconds behind her, the dogs appeared through the brush barking fanatically. All three dogs had her in their sights but stopped at the edge of the water. Katy, now on the other side, raced through more oak and cypress trees. There, now seemed to be a path that she could maneuver better.

The two men on horseback caught up with the dogs near the inlet. They noticed the dogs barking at the edge of the water. One of the men trotted up to the water’s edge to see why the dogs did not follow the girl. As he lowered his torch to the water a sudden splash and a hissing sound came from the bank. This spooked the horse and made it buck. The man fell backwards off the horse into the mud. Meanwhile the dogs, still barking fanatically, began snapping at something in the water. The man hurriedly grabbed the torch from the ground to see what spooked the horse.

“It’s a twelve footer!” the other man on the horse yelled. “Hell there’s another one over there.”

The man on the ground jumped up and staggered nervously away from the water’s edge. The dogs seemed to keep the twelve foot gator in the water, but he didn’t want to push his luck.

“Shoot the damn thing Ben!” the man said still backing up.

“Ain’t no point in it. It’ll jest pick out the bullet and spit it back at ya.” Ben said with a grin.

“Well do something dang it,” the man said now grabbing the reins of his horse.

Ben pulled out his revolver and fired two shots in the air while shouting for the dogs to get back. He figured it would be better to cross at another point then to lose three good hunting dogs.

“Mount up Wes. We’ll cross a ways down from here. Dang girl must be in league with the devil to get through them.” He said, “Don’t matter though. She’s headin’ south. I reckon them Creol’s gonna enjoy that little lassie if you know what I mean. Hell, if she makes it that far?”

Wes mounted his horse. Raising his torch he noticed the inlet was full of alligators. He counted around seven sets of eyes peering at him from the water. Being from east Texas, he never dealt with these nasty creatures before. Maybe the odd bear, or hog but not these foul monsters, surely spawned from the devil himself.

Katy, still running as fast as she could, noticed the barking dogs sounding farther and farther away from her. Then she heard the two shots in the distance. For some reason, unaware to her, she had been given a chance to escape. She knew this was a gift and she had better make good with it.

Her heart pounded and exhaustion began to set in. Katy stumbled and fell to the ground. Clamoring to get up her legs began to cramp, but she knew she couldn’t stay there or they would eventually catch up with her. Finally getting to her feet she began to limp toward a thicker patch of trees. Katy’s eyes peered through the darkness in search of where she could hide from the dogs, but there was nowhere that she would be safe. Exhaustion or not she had to move on to stay alive.

At that moment she heard a ruffling on the other side of the trees near another inlet. It sounded like as if someone was near. Told by the locals that there were possibly Indians in the area, and knowing those men chasing her, she crept silently to find out who or what was making the noise.

Katy, hidden with the trees and brush, could make out the silhouette of a person on a flat bottom boat. With the moon now peeking through the clouds she could tell it was a woman although her face was hidden mostly behind a hood.  Katy knew this was her last hope. She raced out of the brush and fell to the ground near the water’s edge.

Coming 2013

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