The Stranger - Finale

It was dark, and the rain was pouring down in icy sheets. A group of men stood on the porch, trembling with cold.

“Can I help you folks?” a tall lanky man asked from the doorway.

“Yes sir, we are in dire need of a bed for the night and hot meal, if you’d be so kind,” the first man asked.

“Of course, come on in,” the man said backing way to let the other’s enter.

“Please sit, I’ll pour you some coffee while the soup heats up,” a woman said from the fireplace.

After eating, the group huddled down under piles of blankets and the couple settled themselves down to sleep.

“Don’t move,” a deathly whisper sounded later in the darkness.

“Take what you want, you know we don’t have much,” the man said shakily to the stranger.

“Oh you have more than enough,” he chucked. A scream echoed inside the home as the men grabbed the sleeping woman and carried her to the main room.

“Move, I dare you,” the voice said.

Her screams echoed throughout the night as one man after another raped and beat her. Her husband lay in the bed as still as stone, with a gun barrel pressed into his forehead.

“Hey Buster, your turn!” a man called from the doorway.

“My pleasure,” he said. The two men exchanged places, the gun pressed hard against the husband’s skull.

Crashes and crying came from the main room. The husband began to shake slightly, his sobs were quiet.

“Move and you’ll die, and she will become our whore,” the new voice challenged.

The husband was pulled out of bed, and dragged into the main room. His wife, beaten and bloody, lay in a small pile in the floor. The strangers were laughing and joking about the raping of the woman. The man slumped in the grasp of the two men holding him, tears pouring down his face.

“Ah aint that sweet Buster,” one man said sarcastically.

“Terribly.” A shot echoed into the night.

“You can’t be,” Tom said in a whisper.

“Can’t be who?” Trevor asked seriously.

“We killed you, shot you in the head. No one can survive their brains splattering the walls,” Tom said in a shaky voice. The two men were looking back and forth between Tom and Trevor.

“No you didn’t,” Trevor said. He raised his hand slowly, and pulled the hat from his head. Long blonde hair spilled out, to frame her face.

“Oh my god!” Christopher exclaimed. Without blinking, she lifted the gun in her lap and shot both Christopher and Lester in seconds. She jumped up out of her chair, knocking over the table. She walked up to Tom gun aimed at his head.

“Let me bring you up to date you sorry asshole! I lay on that floor for two days before I came to. I found my husband, lying dead on the floor mere inches from me. All of our belongings gone, even our pots and pans. It took weeks for me to even walk again. And then I find out I’m pregnant! Not knowing if it was my husband or one of your bastards, I tried to kill myself. As you can see it didn’t work, but I lost the baby.”

“Instead of trying again, I decided I wanted you dead instead, and all of your crew. You are the last one left Tom. I’ve gotten rid of all five of your buddies who raped me and murdered my husband. Now it’s your turn,”

“You’ll pay for this bitch, my brother is sheriff. They’ll hang you,” Tom said laughing.

“Not if he’s dead he can’t. You see Tom, I did my research, I know who you have in your pocket. They are all gone,” she said dragging out the last sentence one slow word at a time.

“There are witnesses here, they will see that you pay,” Tom said with a grin.

“You think so? Hey folks, who here will stop me from killing 'ol Tom? Does anyone want to see me hang for it?” she asked the crowd behind her. No one spoke, no one moved. “See Tom, they don’t care what happens to you. Making enemies leaves you all alone in the end.”

“Get it over with it then,” Tom said sitting up taller.

“Oh no see it doesn’t work that way Tom. That would be fair, and what you did to me and mine, was not fair. You are going to suffer, and all us here in the tavern are going to enjoy the show,” she said with an evil grin on her face. “Anyone got some rope?” she asked the crowd. A roll of rope was tossed near her feet. She tied him to the chair, stripped him of every single artifact on his person. She pulled up her vacated chair and moved it so she was closer to him and sat down.

“And so you don’t worry about your dear homestead and possessions, it all belongs to me. Everything you have stolen will be returned, and I will live out my days in your beautiful home.”

“Shoot me you spineless bitch!”

“Not having fun are we Tom? Did you give Henry that choice? Or did you shoot him without him knowing?”

“I shot the bastard as he fell to his knees sobbing over you, pathetic excuse for a man!”

“Yes that’s right, a husband grieving over his wife’s body, bruised and bleeding and covered in your filth, how pathetic. It’s you that’s pathetic Tom. You have taken from everyone that has ever come in contact with you. Well no more Tom, now it’s our turn,” she said lifting her gun. Tom smiled. She shot his left foot, and he screamed.

“Do you know how many innocent people you have killed?”

“No!” Tom screamed.

“According to my calculations it’s close to fifty people! Fifty Tom! You have stolen the lives of fifty people!” she screamed.

“So what? Shoot me, get it over with!” he screamed struggling against the ropes.

“So what? Do you know how many of them had children? Do you know what they could have contributed to this world if you hadn’t murdered them? No because it's all about you Tom. All about you!” she said shooting his right food. Tom began to scream and cry, loud ear piercing screams.

“That only takes care of ten people Tom. Guess whose next?” she asked. She had tied his hands to the arm rests of the chair. She walked over, looking him in the eye and shot his right hand.

“Fifteen,” she shot his left hand, “Twenty. Now that leaves thirty, do you have thirty of anything Tom?” she asked with a maniac laugh.

“Fuck you!” he screamed in her face.

“Ah you have, and you weren’t very good Tom,” she said just before shooting him in the groin. His screams turned irrational, unreal. He struggled against the ropes and had to stop at the pain it caused. Blood was all around him. His two companions were slumped in their chairs.

“No woman will ever miss that Tom. Or you,” she said. The shot echoed inside the tavern.