“Well look-a-here Hank! Here’s our gals!” James Pinkerton booms as he enters the restaurant, sending chills down my spine.

“There she is! We got some unfinished business, lucky ladies.” Hank makes his way across the floor. One of the straps on his overalls is unbuckled and the strap clunks against his protruding belly.

Ms. Judy J sets down our to-go food and drinks on our table and never stops glaring at the two guys. “Y’all need to git on outta here. This ain’t no place for that kinda shenanigans.”

James saunters over to Ms. Judy J and places an arm around her shoulders. The look on her face is enough for me to know he didn’t shower off the gasoline. I prepare myself for the stench to hit me, but I wasn’t prepared enough. Between the body odor, old cigarettes, and gasoline, my eyes start to water.

“C’mon Ms. Judy, y’all know that we don’t mean you know harm. Now these fine filly’s, they got some debt to make up for.”

Hank guffaws showing that he’s missing his two front teeth and the shadows in his mouth make me believe he’s on the fast track to lose more. “Yeah, c’mon Ms. Judy. We’s all friends. We’s just gotta have a little talk. Yeah.”

Kendra’s shoulders are shaking as she stares at the table. I want to reach over to her but I’m afraid of drawing any attention to her. We just need to get out of here. Safely. And without those two guys.

Ms. Judy J straightens her shoulders and stands in between them and us. “Nope, y’all can git. They don’t want nothin’ to do with y’all and ya know that. They ain’t one of your playthings. In fact, none of them ladies ever were. Your momma shoulda put a stop to y’all messing ‘round and ya daddy shoulda whooped your hides.”

James looks at Hank and they smile. Hank leans forward, his face inches away from Ms. Judy J’s and breathes his stinky breath in her nostrils. “My daddy whooped my momma’s hide.”

Kendra’s breath escalates and I can hear her chanting, “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.”

I want to touch her hand and bring her back to her normal, but I have a feeling this is messing Kendra up even more than I realize. I scoot out of the booth and stand next to Ms. Judy J. “You heard her. You need to leave this establishment and we aren’t going anywhere with you.”

“Oooooh! I got the spicy one!” James slaps his hands against his leg and then high fives Hank. Kendra flinches at the sound. “Looks like yours is more submissive this time ‘round.”

Ms. Judy J takes a step toward the guys, putting her shoulder in front of mine and completely blocking their view of Kendra. “Don’t make me whoop your asses, boys. I might be your elder but my momma ain’t raised no fool and my daddy ain’t raised a weak woman.”

Hank laughs, “Ms. Judy, y’all know that we can take you out like a fly on a table. You ain’t nothing compared to what we deal with every day. We just don’t wanna mess you up but if you ain’t gonna get out of the way to our ladies, then we gonna have to make ya.”

Hank draws back his hand and whacks Ms. Judy J across the face. Her head spins to the left and her body follows, slamming her into the table in the center of the room. When she turns to me, the blood from her split lip is already dripping down her chin.

James slaps a congratulatory smack on Hank’s shoulder blade. “Now, ma-lady, you and me gots some things to do.” His face tilts down as he stares at me with his once sky-blue eyes that have somehow turned to a shade of grey. A steely smirk forms on his spittle covered lips and it reminds me of a rabid dog.

My brain races at the thought and somewhere deep inside, a voice says, “And how do we treat rabid dogs?”

I reach behind me and grab the napkin rolled silverware. The paper tape with the Hogs Galore logo catches on my thumb allowing me the chance to peel it off quickly. James comes close to me, his greasy gasoline face way too close to mine. I turn my head, trying to catch my breath from the stench as he grabs my face with his rough hand and turns it so that I’m nose to nose with him.

“We’s got some catchin’ up to do. We was just gettin’ started back there when you’s had a little temper tantrum. I don’t take kindly to temper tantrums. I think we need to discuss your punishment.”

He slides his hand down the front of my shirt, grazing over every womanly bump I have with his cold calculated hands. Hank stands back to watch the show as James quickly finds the button on the front of my pants. Just when I think he’s going to unbutton them, Ms. Judy J pounces on Hank, knocking him down onto the floor.

Hanks head hits the floor with a loud thud and Ms. Judy J scrambles, trying to get off of him. Her flowered moo-moo dress climbs up to her mid-thigh when she pushes against Hank but Hank apparently doesn’t see this as a fight. He sees this as fore-play.

Hank grabs her arm, keeping her on top of him while he reaches his other arm up between her thick thighs and shoves his hand deep inside, making Ms. Judy J scream. He flips her over onto her back and presses his body onto hers, smothering her face with unwanted kisses as he continues to ravage her body with his hands. He reaches up and unclips the other strap of his overalls, letting the top loose.

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I fight to get free of James so I can help her, but he grabs my hair with one hand and unbuttons my pants with the other hand. I know exactly where this is going. I’ve been in this situation before, but it was with my husband, not a greasy gasoline covered stranger. I am finally able to get the butter knife out of the napkin, the fork clattering to the table. I grip the handle firmly in my right hand and buck his body away from me with my hips.

“Hey, you like this, don’cha?” James grins a black toothed grin, breathing rotten stench in my face with every breath.

“I’m going to like this next part,” I say as I whip my arm around from behind me and stab the butter knife into the side of his neck.

“You bitch!” James staggers back as he dislodges the silverware from just below where I stabbed Mike. “I’m going to make you pay for that!”

James lunges at me and I step to the side toward Hank. James falls into the booth where Kendra was sitting, but now she’s curled up in a ball under the table. That’s probably a good place for her.

I race over and weave both of my hands through the greasy tendrils on Hank’s head and yank as hard as I can, flipping him over. The motion causes him to yank his hand out from under Ms. Judy J’s dress. “Get off her!”

Hank squeals and grabs my wrist.

He has blood on his fingers.

Ms. Judy J’s blood.

Pure adrenaline courses through my veins at the realization that they’ve hurt this wonderful old lady and didn’t even care. These men are pure evil.

What do we do with rabid dogs?

That voice. Where is it coming from and why do I feel like it’s not good? And yet, it’s right. “WE. PUT. THEM. DOWN!” I scream as I reach up and grab a steak knife from the table that Ms. Judy J was cleaning a while ago. I straddle the round belly of Hank as he lays on the floor and dodge his flailing arms as he bucks, trying to get me to fall off. I hang on with my legs, getting hit once in the face by a passing hand just as I drive the knife through his left eye. He screams in pain and goes to yank it out, but I slam my fist onto the butt end of the knife, forcing it deep into his skull. Hank stops screaming, stops moving, stops breathing. His body goes limp beneath me as I quickly stand up.

Ms. Judy J is huddled in a corner, desperately trying to keep her dress around her legs, as James jumps from the booth seat. “What did you do?!? You little whore!”

“I did what should’ve been done a long time ago.” I straighten out my shirt, button my pants, and grab another knife from the dirty table behind me. “And I see another rabid dog in front of me that needs to be put down too.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, you crazy bitch?!? I ain’t no dog!”

“You ain’t no man either,” Ms. Judy J says from across the room. Somehow, in the time that I was focused on James and finding another knife, Ms. Judy J had gotten up and went behind the counter. “Y’all best git outta here or you’s gonna end up with a hole in ya head,” Ms. Judy J threatens, holding a Smith & Wesson revolver with a pink grip.

James holds his hands up, realizing that he may not make it out of here alive, like his buddy. “Now, c’mon Ms. Judy. Y’all know’d us since we was lil ‘uns.”

“Yep, sure have, but most of the lil un’s I’ve know’d wouldn’ta done what he did.”

I take the knife and drag it across the top of the table, making a scratching sound that makes nails down a chalkboard sound like a lullaby. I sway my head back and forth, stretching out my neck muscles, as I walk over to James. I drag the point of the blade down the side of his hand, down his forearm, and then poke the tip into his skin, making him wince.

“I think it’s time for you to find a new friend, and it isn’t anybody in here, James. Or you could stay and play. We have some fun things we would like to do to you, don’t we, Ms. Judy?”

Ms. Judy J seems to be on the same wavelength as me and says, “Why yes, yes we do.”

James takes a step backward and runs into the leg of his dead friend on the floor. A small tear races down James’s face as he tumbles back, falling onto Hank. Hank’s body jiggles like jelly from the force and James pushes off Hank’s belly, trying to regain his footing again. Once he gets back onto his feet, he looks at me, then at Ms. Judy J before turning around and racing out the front door.

“Lock the door!” Ms. Judy J yells to me from the counter as she points at the front door. I jump over Hank’s body and quickly make my way to the door, turning the deadbolt and locking the leftover horror inside.

Ms. Judy J sets the revolver down before resting her arms on the top of the laminate counter. She cradles her head in her hands, takes a deep breath, and then looks up at me. Weariness is written all over her face, creating more wrinkles of stories that nobody wants to know.

“Are y’all okay?”

“I think I should be asking you that.” I look down at the bloody fingerprints on my wrist Hank left behind of Ms. Judy J’s and then see Hank’s and James blood too. I’m a mess.

Ms. Judy J reaches down between her legs and pushes on the mess Hank left behind. “I’ll heal. It’s just gonna hurt for a while. I was married to an evil man too. Us women gotta stick together ain’t that right?”

“So true.” I glance over to our booth that we were sitting in when it all happened. The drinks are tipped over and dripping off the table. The fried pickle bag is smashed, and Kendra is shaking underneath the table. I race over to her and peer under the end of the table. “It’s safe to come out now.”

Kendra stares through me, toward Hank’s body on the floor. I scoot over to block her view and finally her eyes meet mine. “I-I, w-we got to g-get out of here.”

“Yes, we do.” I stretch my arm toward her and stick out my hand. She stares at it for a moment before grabbing my hand and letting me pull her out from under the table.

As Kendra stands up, she continues shaking. I look over at Ms. Judy J, “I think she’s in shock.”

Ms. Judy J snickers and says, “Honey, we’s all in shock.”

I nod my head because she’s right, but somehow, I think that Kendra is worse off than me. She was already in a bad state before this all happened. I can’t imagine how she’s going to be once we get out of here.

Kendra slowly turns to face me and then takes a step backward, away from me. Her eyes grow wide and her lips tremble. “Y-you, y-you k-killed him.”