A Night at Clairborne Farm

Jennifer fell against the trunk of a pine tree at the edge of the forest and tried to catch her breath. She thought her years on the college track team would have better prepared her for a run this long, but that had been several years ago. Before her, stretched a wide-open field. The clear night sky allowed the full moon to illuminate the tall grass as it blew in the summer breeze. A large house sat a few hundred yards away, but thankfully she was fast enough to have put significant distance between herself and the beast of a man pursuing her. With one more deep breath, she pushed off from the tree and sprinted across the field.

The grass was wet, and her hiking boots were quickly becoming soaked through. Although her feet kept slipping, she was making good progress. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. A light was on in one of the front windows, spilling out onto a small front porch. Reaching the porch felt like a great accomplishment, like she made it to the tag safe zone.

There was no sign of her pursuer emerging from the wood line. A red wooden door was flanked by farming implements leaning against the wall on either side. A pair of large muddy boots sat beneath the windowsill. With one more shuddering breath, she pounded her fist on the door. To her surprise it was opened almost immediately by a young girl in a nightgown.

“Evenin’, ma’am,” the girl greeted her politely. Jennifer was somewhat disappointed by the greeting. She did not expect that a little girl would answer the door and was hoping for an able-bodied farmer that could help her with her attacker.

Jennifer stooped down with a quick glance back toward the forest. To contain her own panic and not to alarm the girl, she started with an introduction. “Hi there. My name is Jennifer. Is your daddy home? I really need his help.”

An odd smile crossed the girl’s face and her blue eyes sparkled. “Oh, no ma’am, my daddy’s dead, but my big brother Vince is here! You should come on inside while I go get‘em. He really likes to help people.” She rushed off with her short blonde curls bouncing.

Jennifer took one last look at the forest before closing the door. She felt a bit safer being inside and it seemed like she had not been followed out of the woods. She needed to get to a phone. If she could get an ambulance out to the campground quickly enough, they might be able to save her husband. She spotted a phone mounted on the wall by the doorway to the kitchen. She began walking toward it when a young man entered the room.

The man looked to be in his early twenties. He was tall and ruggedly handsome but looked angry. “Who the hell are you and why are you in our house?” he asked. The girl appeared behind him, and he held her back with an outstretched arm.

“Cut it out Vince!” she shouted as she tried to push past him. “She’s a nice lady who needs our help! You’re the one always sayin’ you need to find a nice lady!”

The man glared at the girl but let her pass. “Kitty, you know you’re not supposed to let strangers in the house. They could be dangerous!”

Kitty skipped across the room and took Jennifer’s hand. “This nice lady’s name is Jennifer, and you’re stranger than she is!” she shouted and stuck out her tongue.

Vincent rolled his eyes at his sister and tried to soften his expression. “My name’s Vincent and that’s my sister Kitty. She said you needed help or somethin’. What can we do for ya?”

Irritated at the wasted time, she spoke quickly. “Vincent, I just ran through the woods from the campground down the road. My husband, Michael, and I, were attacked by someone at our campsite. Michael told me to run after the man stabbed him, so I ran. I remembered passing a house when we drove in, so I ran in this direction hoping you could help me. I don’t think he followed me, but I need to call an ambulance.”

Vincent nodded, looking concerned. He stepped toward the phone. “I’ll call for the ambulance and the police. I know the people down at the dispatch. You have a seat and Kitty will get you somethin’ to drink, right Kitty?”

“Yeah!” Kitty responded with joy. “I know how to make lots of drinks! Otis taught me to make chocolate milk. It’s his favorite. I’ll make you some of that. You’re gonna love it!” She bounded off toward the kitchen while Vincent picked up the phone.

Jennifer sat on the edge of an overstuffed armchair. She listened as Vincent repeated her story and ended the call with, “And tell Sam he better get there before the ambulance in case that guy is still out there.”

Vincent turned back toward Jennifer with a sad look. “Was this your first night in the campground?” he asked without looking at her.

“No, we stayed last night too. What does that have to do with anything? Are they sending people out? I need to get back there for Michael.” The stream of questions left her mouth without waiting for a response.

“Yeah, they’re sending out the ambulance and a couple of squad cars.” Vincent responded with anger creeping back into his voice. “Sam, my cousin, is a Sherrif’s Deputy and he should be one of the first ones out there.” “You, ma’am, aren’t going anywhere just yet,” he pointed. “Whoever was chasing you could still be there. You need to wait here until Sam calls me and says it’s safe.” Jennifer began to get an uneasy feeling from the way he tried to assert authority over her. Jennifer stood, and as she was about to respond a crash came from the kitchen.

Kitty’s screams and the sound of breaking glass immediately sent Jennifer into action. She ran toward the kitchen but was blocked by Vincent. Kitty ran into the sitting room, screaming “I’m sorry, Vincent! I didn’t mean to!” He wrapped his arms around her and hoisted her from the floor.

“It’s okay, Kitty. What happened?” he asked, trying to get through her curly hair to see her face.

Kitty sobbed, “I dropped the glass when I was gonna make chocolate milk for the lady and I knocked over the milk and the bottle broke.”

Vincent kissed her forehead and held her closer. “It’s okay. We can get more milk.”

Kitty pulled away from him and looked over his shoulder into the kitchen. “It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t seen that face in the window. Vincent and Jennifer both looked toward the kitchen when something heavy began pounding against the door that led out to the back.

Vincent quickly put Kitty on the floor. “Kitty, take Miss Jennifer out the front and around to the old barn. I’m gonna take care of this.” He picked up the rifle from the corner of the room.

Kitty grabbed Jennifer by the hand and began pulling her toward the door. “C’mon, let’s go to the barn. We got all kinda things to use as weapons out there. We’ll get that bad man if we gotta.” Jennifer allowed herself to be pulled away but took another look back toward the kitchen. Vincent had the rifle pointed at the door as the pounding continued. She glanced at the phone, thinking that they may need to call the police again, but she noticed that the cord from the wall was barely hanging out of the bottom of the base. Thinking that she must have been mistaken, she followed Kitty out the front door.

The two ran immediately right, off the porch, and down into the wet grass. They took a path around the side of the house and ran across the field toward the barn. It had been situated so that it was hidden behind the house when she came out of the woods. A gunshot sounded from behind them. Jennifer looked back toward the house and realized she could not see the back door from where they were now.

Reaching the barn, Kitty let go of Jennifer and quickly unlatched the door. Another gunshot rang out, echoing off the forest around the farmland. The two stepped into the darkness and shut the door. Jennifer could not see anything, but there was a strong odor coming from nearby. She had not grown up on a farm, so she just assumed it was the smell of animals or some other farm related thing. She could hear Kitty rummaging around nearby. The hay strewn across the floor crunched and hissed beneath their feet and they groped around in the darkness.

A bright flash blinded Jennifer temporarily as Kitty struck a match and lit a lantern that sat on a table nearby. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she began to see what was giving off the terrible odor. There were animal carcasses, at least a dozen in different states of decay, spread around the barn. She looked to Kitty for an explanation. The girl’s sweet smile looked sinister in the dim lantern light.

As if she knew what Jennifer was thinking, she spoke in a whisper, “The bad man won’t get us in here. It smells too bad.” “Besides,” she continued, “I’m sure we could get‘em with one of these.” She reached over and picked up a large knife from the table. “Otis uses these when he cuts up the animals.”

Jennifer felt the urge to turn and run from the barn when the door suddenly slammed open. Vincent stepped inside, with his rifle pointed at Jennifer. “Hey there!” he shouted. “Kitty, go open the door to the chamber. Otis will be along any minute.” A wicked smile crossed the face she had once thought to be handsome.

Kitty ran over toward a clear space in the center of the barn floor and pulled open a pair of doors. A dim green glow emanated from below and cast eerie shadows across the room. “Get over toward the chamber!” Vincent shouted and gestured with the barrel of the rifle.

Jennifer’s heart pounded in her chest as she turned toward the chamber and looked for a way out. She could not see any other doors or even any farming tools to use as weapons. Kitty had a knife and Vincent had a rifle pointed at her back. Running would not help, she thought frantically. She would be shot within a few yards. With a deep breath and hope for another exit from the chamber, she began to move forward slowly.

Stone stairs led down into the earth. In the green light, the stairs looked ancient. The centers of each step were worn smooth from use. Kitty led the way down. “Don’t be scared,” she said, trying to reassure Jennifer. “Momma was scared too, but she felt better once she saw it.”

Jennifer looked back toward Vincent. His face was a mask of determination hiding deeper anxiety. He seemed uncomfortable with the task. Jennifer felt like she might be able to use that to her advantage. Her hope was short lived as she saw a large man coming up behind Vincent with something over his shoulders.

“Get down there!” Vincent shouted. Jennifer turned and followed Kitty down the stairs. At the bottom was a tunnel filled with green glowing tendrils that writhed and pulsated. Kitty looked past her and up the stairs, smiling. “Otis!” she shouted happily. Jennifer looked up and saw the man at the top of the stairs behind Vincent. It was their attacker from the campground and across his shoulders was Michael. Jennifer’s hope faded away. The last words she heard was Kitty saying sadly, “I spilled all the milk, sorry.”