Friends Down Low (ONC2022)

Chapter 4 - The Man in the Woods

Now that it seemed conflict inevitably loomed, I opted to go all in. "Alright," I said to the woodsman. "If you can handle those two, I'll take the last guy."

"Really? How about you sit this one out?" He phrased it like a question, but it felt like a command.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Next time there'll be a lot more of them and you can help out then."

"Next time?"

The answer came in the form of his massive hand clutching my jacket and hurling me out of the way just as the trio charged. I had assumed the man would be strong but still underestimated him. I sailed an easy ten feet through the air, bounced once, and then slid across the gravel until a pickup truck tire stopped my momentum. I laid there for a moment, letting all of my limbs report in that they were in working order, before crawling to my feet to witness the battle.

One of the kidnappers was already down and unmoving. The woodsman sidestepped a wild baton swing from Baldie before grabbing the third man. He lifted the kidnapper into the air, arms fully extended like a professional wrestler, and then body-slammed him into the gravel. The big man pinned him, mercilessly raining fists onto the unmoving opponent. Baldie rushed into the fray, landing a pair of crisscrossing blows across the woodsman's back that elicited only annoyed grunts. On the third swing, the woodsman caught Baldie's arm, twisted the baton from it, and then turned the weapon on its former master. He brought it down low across Baldie's leg, which bent with a snap, and the man went down screaming. A punch to the jaw silenced him.

Just like that, it was over.

The woodsman glanced at me. "You alright?"

I nodded. "Thanks for violently and painfully hurling me to safety."

"No problem." He patted me on the back with enough force that it almost knocked me off my still wobbly legs. "Now then, let's get this cleaned up." He reached down and grabbed one of the unconscious kidnappers by the head, his massive mitt palming the forehead like a basketball. He did the same to the other and drug both men to the Cadillac, dumping them into the doggie bed they'd meant for me and then slamming the trunk shut. His attention turned to Baldie, who was just rousing back to consciousness.

"Wake up," the woodsman commanded and cuffed him lightly across the face. The woodsman hauled him to his feet by his hoodie, the man dangling limply like an uncooperative toddler. Without the big man's support, Baldie would have collapsed, as I saw his left leg was twisted gruesomely.

"The Saint will have your head for this," Baldie snarled through bloodstained teeth. He tried to bear weight and screamed at the grinding of bones.

"I bet you're wondering why I only broke your left leg and not your right because I think you're smart enough to realize I'm the kind of bastard who normally breaks all the limbs. To quell your curiosity, I left you two good hands and one good foot so you can drive you and your companions out of here." The woodsman leaned in close. "You take your Saint a message. You tell her I know she's coming, and she's got a fight waiting for her. Finnigan Walsh and I are ready and willing to throw down. You tell her that. She better be ready for blood, because Finnigan and I certainly are."

I raised a finger to question who exactly this "saint" may be and why I was supposedly set to battle her and maybe state that I didn't believe I was ready for anyone's blood. But neither paid me any attention and I was afraid to actually say anything aloud. So, I just curled my finger back into my palm.

The woodsman drug Baldie to the Cadillac, stuffed him into the driver's seat and slammed the door. The car roared to life and slowly pulled out of the lot.

I was alone with the woodsman. I looked around the lot. "Now what?"

"Breaking all my non-violent resolutions has made me thirsty. Let's get some beers. Besides, I'm betting you have a lot of questions."

Now that was an understatement.

"You are Finnigan Walsh aren't you?" he asked.

"Well..." I mumbled, still reluctant to admit it out loud to this giant.

"Oh, knock it off. I know who you are." He extended a hand. "I'm Clancy. Clancy Kreuger."

"Nice to meet you."

"You probably won't be thinking that in a couple of days."

I was thinking that already, but I kept it to myself as I followed him back into the bar. 

Chapter Words - 2048

Total Word Tally - 8309