In the first installment i introduced you all to Myron Oxenford a 58 year old old eccentric who called rural Mississippi home.
He was employed by the county to clear the highways and byways from any animal unfortunate enough to be killed by passing trucks and cars.
A loner at heart Myron enjoyed driving around all day listening to country music as he goes about his job,scraping up the roadkill all over the couty.
An amateur taxidermist Myron every now and than would take the freshest and least damaged carcasses home to his cabin in the woods where he would stuff the creatures and place them on his mantlepiece.
The pelts he would dry near the fire whilst some of the meat was thrown on the skillet the choicest cuts were put into jars and pickled for winter.
All in all life has been good for Myron Oxenford, so far.
One summer night Myron drank a few jars of moonshine and woke feeling like a skunk had slept on his tongue but he was still keen to add to his collection.
Even though he knows that he really shouldn’t be driving Myron backs out of his driveway on a mission.
A few weeks back a stranger he met at a bar offered him a shitload of money to make his wife disappear, an offer Myron couldn’t turn down.
Ten minutes he notices his target jogging along the side of the road on her usual morning constitutional.
Sally Nulksteader never knew what hit her when she was hit by Myron’s pickup and thrown down a small embankment.
Her husband told Myron to leave Sally’s body at the scene so that it will look like your everyday hit and run but Myron can’t resist temptation so after scrambling down the slope he carried the body back to his truck.
Sally Nulksteader will soon take pride of place on his mantlepiece of death.
Arriving home Myron’s blood is pumping full throttle and he knows that he has dug himself a hole that he can never escape from but at the same time he has in his possession the ultimate display specimen.
For three hours he drank shine as he sharpened his trusty knife on a whetstone.
Finally he stood and got down to doing what needed to be done, he skinned the carcass threw some meat on the skillet and pickled the rest.
Unbeknown’s to Myron for the past five months a lone house fly has been buzzing around his cabin as he slept feeding his drool to an eagle and a misshapen cougar that he couldn’t stuff properly.
The two roadkill victims have been sitting on the mantle for months but the precious liquid the fly has been feeding them has moistened their organs and slowly but surely life is being restored.
On his last day on earth Myron woke to a commotion coming from the living room and goes to investigate.
The cougar bounds from the mantlepiece and kills the roadkill merchant with a single bite to the back of the neck.
When the big cat has eaten his fill the eagle swoops down and picks at the bones and remaining meat.
Myron Oxenford now resides in hell well and truly stuffed.
PART TWO.
Brett Nulksteader looks up at the clock for perhaps the tenth time in the past five minutes.
His wife Sally left for her morning run an hour ago and hopefully by now the deed has been done and she wont be returning.
But he waits until mid morning before he calls the police to report her missing.
The desk sergeant at the Holbrook police station tells the obviously distraught Mr Nulksteader ‘Listen Sally has more than likely stopped for some shopping or is visiting a friend’
‘We are new to the area sergeant Murhpy so Sally has had a chance to make any friends and her handbag is here so she has no money on her’.
‘Plus why doesn’t she answer her phone? I am telling you something terrible has happened’.
Please Mr Nulksteader try to remain calm because i am sure that Sally will walk through the door at any minute but if she hasn’t returned by tomorrow we will launch an investigation’
After smoking cigarette after cigarette Brett can’t stand the tension anymore and he really needs to know if Myron came through for him and with no phone reception out in the woods Brett has no alternitive but to drive out there.
Jumping into his car Brett decides to travel the route that Sally normally goes on her run every morning and a few miles from home he notices a huge wet patch on the side of the road glistening in the morning sun.
Trembling with excitement he pulls over to have a closer look, maybe the blood is from a deer or moose but than Brett notices a running shoe a few yards down an embankment.
After spending a few minutes searching no body is found and shaking with fury Brett knows that Myron must have taken Sally back to his cabin.
‘Why couldn’t the asshole just follow the plan?’
At this point Brett should of just driven out to Myrons place but his ego wouldn’t let him so he calls the cops and tells them that he has found what he believes is his wives running shoe down an embankment on Potters Road.
Ten minutes later a squad car arrives and two uniformed cops climb out.
The elder of the pair introduces himself ‘Good morning Mr Nulksteader i am sergeant Coverdale and my partner is corporal Bolin i understand that you have found what you believe is your wives shoe?
Yes officer i reported my wife missing this morning after she didn’t return from her run’
‘Where is the shoe Mr Nulksteader just point where it is’ Coverdale demands.
‘Um sorry but i picked it up and put it on the front seat of my car’
‘You really should of left it where you found it’Bolin pipes up’Now you have trampled over the scene of an accident and potentially a crime scene’
‘Sorry officer but i was just hoping to find Sally alive and well so i wasn’t thinking about a crime scene’
Bolin a slight native american relents a little ‘I understand Mr Nulksteader, we will organize a K9 unit but in the meantime just take a set in the back of the squad car while my partner and i have a look around’
Brett nods his head and takes a seat, he watches the two cops intently hoping that they don’t find any evidence linking Myron to the scene because Brett knows that the old timer would turn on him in a heartbeat.
On a rocky outcrop a mere twenty yards above the two cops a misshapen cougar sits on his haunches ready to pounce.
The stitches that Myron applied a few months back are starting to come apart and the creatures insides are beginning to poke through.
The deranged big cat is hungry but he is wary of the human activity so he turns tail and slinks away.
A K9 unit arrived soon after and six bloodhounds started running around in excitement waiting for their handler to give them the command to seek.
The handler a grumpy old army veteran named Dru Standridge has been helping the local police for years helping to locate many folk both dead and alive.
Stanbridge who some say resembles the old cowboy actor Walter Brennan reaches into a coat pocket and takes a long drink from a flask.
His dogs are going ballistic as he leads them to the blood stain and after a quick sniff the bloodhounds get their bearing trot off in an easterly direction.
In the back seat of the cop car Brett Nulksteader rubs sweaty palms on his jeans when he realizes the dogs are heading towards Myron’s cabin.
All he can hope for is that Myron has disposed of Sally’s remains out in the sticks someplace where the dogs will lose the scent and his wife will never be found.
Six weeks prior Sally was taking a shower when her cell phone rang, Brett let it ring but it is unusual for Sally to receive calls late at night so he answers and listens to the message’ Hello sweetheart i cant wait to see you again tomorrow and we can make love again and again.’
Brett deletes the message and waits to confront his wife when she has finished.
But as he waits Brett blood boils in rage and he comes to the decision that she has to go permanently and the the old man he met in the bar a few days later while drowning his sorrows.
The stranger was none other then Myron Oxenford the towns roadkill merchant and amateur taxidermist.
After hearing of his drinking buddies martial problems he agrees to make her disappear forever’ Give give me $20,000 and you will never see her again.
‘OK but make sure that she is buried deep so the wildlife can’t dig her up because if her body is found you and i will both go to jail for a very long time’.
‘Don’t worry Brett you can rely on me to do the job’ Myron responds then the two strangers went their seperate ways.
Of course Myron had no intention of burying the body, he has always wanting a human trophy to sit on his mantlepiece plus the $20,000 being an added bonus.
Now as the police cruiser follows the dogs out to Myron’s cabin Brett shakes his head at his own stupidity.
How could he have been to reach out to a total stranger to kill his wife?
15 minutes later the dogs are sniffing and whimpering outside the cabin’s front door.
When the cops arrive Brennan has bad news’ Judging by the way my dogs are reacting i am positive that you have a deceased person inside’
Coverdale and Bolin were both hoping that Sally Nulksteader was in some sort of accident and is laying in the brush somewhere waiting to be found but the dogs led them straight here so both officers draw their weapons and Coverdale being the senior partner knocks on the door.
Suddenly the blood hounds start howling and begin to round in circles with their tails between their legs ‘Officers there is something inside that is scaring the dogs maybe you should ring for backup’
‘Control your animals Mr Stanbridge’ Coverdale orders but the huge African American soon shuts up when an evil stench descends upon all present.
Officer Bolin fresh out of the academy takes charge ‘Stanbridge help is on the help so please take your dogs bacck to your van and get the fuck out of here’
The dog handler is now visibly shaking’ Officers please listen to me, i have never seen my dogs act this way before, i am telling you that something terrible has happened inside the cabin so we should go back to your car and wait for the backup to get here’
The only reply is an agonizing scream AARRRGGGG ‘Get this fucking thing off me’ Bolin and Stanbridge watch in astonishment as the huge officer is dragged away by a mangy deformed cougar.
Bolin Can’t get a shot off in fear of hitting partner but soon it is too late when with a bite to the back of his neck the big cat kills Coverdale.
There is no way in hell that Bolin is going to let the cougar eat his partner so he takes a few tentative steps forward to put the cougar down but the cat moves fast and Bolin joins his partner on the ground with his throat ripped open.
The officers blood mingles together and the dogs run to the hills scared out of their minds.
Stanbridge scrambles into the back of the cruiser next to Brett’ Holy fucking shit did you see what that cougar did to the cops? plus there is something worse inside that cabin’
All Brett can do nod his head and try to squirm out of sight then his eyes drift over to the cougar that has dragged one of the cops bodies over to an oak tree where it is feeding with relish.
‘Jesus on a stick’ Stanbridge screams’ We need to get out of here right now before that cat finishes it meal and comes looking for dessert’
Pointing a bony finger the old man croaks’ The keys are still in the ignition so climb over and drive as fast as you can’
Brett is tempted to do what the old codger says but he has to make sure that his wife and Myron are dead and if they are still he will finish them off before a troop of cops get here.
With both his Myron and Sally unable to speak against him his murderous plan will remain a secret.
Calm down Stanbridge i need to go inside and find my wife to make sure she is safe and sound’ Stanbridge knows that there is no way that anyone is safe and sound inside that cabin but the old man is beyond caring.
Brett looks over to the cougar munching on what looks like a femur bone and is confident that the cat wouldn’t leave a fresh kill so he steps outside’ Just stay calm until reinforcements get here but i need to find me wife’ and with a quick glance at the contented cat Brett hurries over to the front door of the cabin and luckily it is unlocked.
The stench of blood and human waste hit him in the chest like a tidal wave and for an instant he is tempted to escape but he has to make sure that no one is alive to tell tales so he takes another step inside.
A lone fly sits on the mantlepiece watching the intruder with interest, the insect has been lapping up the blood and other liquids from the body of the taxidermist as it slowly begins to decompose.
The fly has been drip feeding the liquids into the mouth of the stuffed and stitched human sitting pride of place beside him on the mantle just like it fed the cougar enjoying a meal outside and an eagle perched up on a shelf above a dresser.
If the fly could smile it surely would because yesterday the human’s heart began to pulse slowly.
Now the female is primed and ready to give her husband a welcome he wont forget in a hurry.
The fly rubs it’s wings together in anticipation of another fresh blood meal and it wont be long before it can dig in.
Hello Brett where in the fuck have you been?’
Brett’s head snaps around at the sound of his wife’s voice ‘Up here darling i now reside with the dead and the damned ‘ Brett looks up to see Sally looking like she has been sewn together by a drunk DR Frankenstein.
‘Sorry that i am not looking my best but i was run over by a truck, stuffed and stitched like a christmas turkey and displayed up here on the mantle like a whore in a cathouse so forgive me if i am no longer to your taste but i will savior your demise.
It takes a second or two for Brett’s brain to comprehend what the creature said to him and before the words sink in Sally springs down slamming him to the floor knocking the wind from his lungs.
While her husband struggles for breath Sally rummages around in Myron’s taxidermy kit until she finds a needle and thread’ Now hold still Brett as i sew your murderous words closed forever more and i warn you dear that if you move i will snap your neck like a chicken’
She then proceeds to use the needle and thread sewing her husbands mouth until it like the stitches on an all game baseball.
Brett gurgles in total terror and soon the fly enters the fray.
It hovers around Brett’s left nostril before settling on an eyeball then it finds its way inside his skull and begins to vacuum the vital fluids from his brain.
In a few hours Brett will be left in a permanent state, the hateful husband will spend the rest of his life under care never to utter another word.
As he dies the eagle swoops and begins to pick at the flesh but Sally screams’ No leave him be there will be lots of food for us in the future mark my words’
Police sirens are getting louder so Sally opens the front door and hurries past a terrified Dru Stanbridge still seated in the back of the cop car terrified out of his wits.
She strolls over to the cougar resting after consuming his large meal and scratches the kitty behind the ears .
The cat is annoyed having its sleep interrupted but instantly gets to its feet and follows his fellow roadkill survivor out into the night where they soon vanish from view.
After walking a few miles in a tangle undergrowth they are soon joined by a bald headed eagle that flies from tree to tree leading the way.
A fly lands on Sally’s shoulder and settles down for a long trek.
The gruesome foursome steadily stroll toward destination unknown so please keep your doors locked and your windows shut.
Part Three coming soon.
THE END.
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