[center][img]http://host24.qnop.net/~mikefury/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/chow2.jpg[/img]
[color=black][b][u]A Day Later; 5:48 AM
Outskirts of Town; Hobcaw Point, West Virginia[/u][hr][h3]ISSUE #14
ON THE ROAD[/h3][/b][/color][hr][/center]

Hobcaw Point was a backwater town hidden in the mountains of West Virginia. It's so small there's only eight last names and most people can trace their ancestry back to their great great grandparents. I didn't expect to find anything here, what with it being such a tiny place, but when I went through town I noticed people staring at me with contempt. I figured they just didn't like anyone new coming through.

But, when I parked my van just outside of town to spend the night... I realized it was far more sinister than that.

I was woken up by the sound of voices outside my van. They were trying to be quiet, so as to not wake me. They didn't do too well of a job on that. [b][color=lemonchiffon]"Ya got the rope, Charlie?"[/color][/b]

[b]"Yeah Otis, I got the rope."[/b]

[b][color=lemonchiffon]"Let's hop to 'er then."[/color][/b]

I got up slowly, grabbing the pistol next to my pillow. Keeping crouched down with pistol at the ready, I aimed it at the doors of the van. I heard the sound of them trying to pry it open, probably with a crowbar or some other sort of tool.

The door popped open, revealing two of the townsfolk, one holding a crowbar and the other a length of rope.

I took aim at the one with the crowbar, hitting him in the right arm to make him drop the crowbar, then leg to make him fall, before leaping onto the other one and bashing his nose in with my pistol. Still on top of rope guy, I flipped around and leveled my pistol at crowbar man. [b][color=black]"So... What's this all about then?"[/color][/b] I asked, slowly getting off rope guy and standing up.

[b]"Aw hell..."[/b] the one beneath me groaned. I gave him a quick stomp on the gut to make him shut up.

[color=lemonchiffon][b]"I-it ain't nothin', man! We was just gonna ask if you wanted us to fix up yer van! L-looks like Hell on wheels!"[/b][/color] Wow. It almost sounded like he believed what he just said.

[b][color=black]"Oh? So that's why you broke into it with a fucking prybar and a coil of rope?"[/color][/b]

[color=lemonchiffon][b]"No we didn't!"[/b][/color]

[color=black][b]"I hope you realize that keeping to your story isn't gonna change my mind."[/b][/color]

[b]"Fer fuck's sake, Otis, we've been made! The jig's up!"[/b]

Pinching my nose and releasing a sigh of frustration, I glare at the wounded one, Otis it seems. [b][color=black]"You can either keep quiet and I [i]will[/i] kill you, or you can tell me what you were doing and I [i]might[/i] kill you. Your choice."[/color][/b]

[b][color=lemonchiffon]"... We don't take too kindly to spics and niggers and chinks 'round 'ere. We was gonna scare ye off."[/color][/b]

[b][color=black]"From the looks of it, you were [i]actually[/i] going to lynch me."[/color][/b]

[b]"On my grandmama's grave, we wasn't! We was just gonna act like we was gonna scare ye off!"[/b]

[color=black][b]"Why do I have a feeling you're lying to me?"[/b][/color] Make them sweat, Frank. If they get scared enough, they'll tell the truth. And if they stick to this story then, well, they weren't lying to begin with.

[color=lemonchiffon][b]"Please mister, we's bein' serious! We wasn't gonna try an' hang ye!"[/b][/color]

It goes on like this, them protesting their innocence as much as they can with a gun in their face. I shake my head after a while. [b][color=black]"Alright, enough! I'm just gonna get the hell out of here. But just know that in a few weeks' time, I'll be coming back around, and if you make me stay longer than a couple of hours in this town, then I [i]won't[/i] be so lenient. Got that?"[/color][/b]

They nod their heads. I lift my boot off Charlie's chest and lower my gun. The two of them scramble away, disappearing over the horizon.

What a shit show...