32 behind. Her screams fill the world, fill the park, and, from somewhere, I hear sirens. I curse as she cuts around a tree, and I try to slow and cut her off, so close, an arm’s length, but she is gone again, her rapid gait out-pacing me. I am the Butcher. As she turns, an idea strikes me then, and I pull back my arm, and throw my hammer as hard as I can. It hits her in the back, left of the shoulder, and she goes down. Triumph soars, and I run to her, just she peels herself off the ground. With a knee to her side, she goes down, her breath stolen from her, and I have her pined. She is struggling, and I allow her to roll over, and I catch the bare fear in her eyes, I can smell it, and I have my hands on her throat, squeezing, crushing, clutching. I look at her face, red, her eyes bulging, thin lips pursing, gagging as I crush her windpipe. I am the Butcher. This isn’t how I work, this isn’t what I do, but it will have to suffice. <strong>The</strong> sirens are nearing now; I can hear them, messengers of my demise. I squeeze harder, the pain in my forearms and shoulders erupting, on fire as I press her down into the dirt, grinding her hair into the gravel. She lifts her hand up, fluttering, weakly, like a bird, how quaint, how pathetic, how- My world is pain. I fall backward, clutching at my eye, clutching as blood rolls. I can still feel her nail, though it was in my socket for only a second, it was a second of eternal pain. I hear her moving, gasping. Getting away. I reach out blindly, reaching, clawing, the hammer nearby, I know it. Nothing but grass and dirt greets me, and, through my good eye, I see
her stand, tall now, so very tall. I try to get up, rage building now. I AM THE BUTCHER. She will pay, like so many have before, pay with her life, pay with her blood, and pay with- Deep dark. I am drifting now, and from the depths, I feel the throbbing of my empty eye socket. On the top of my head, I feel the hole in the skull. <strong>The</strong> pain is dull, so very dull, and as I drift, I imagine the hammer, in her hand, bringing it down on my head, and then- My eyes open, and, through tears and blood, I watch as the woman brings the hammer down into my face. 33
- Page 3 and 4: The Haunted Traveler Vol. 1 Issue 2
- Page 5 and 6: “We’re too much ourselves. Afra
- Page 7 and 8: 5 Desperate Welcome John W. Dennehy
- Page 9 and 10: the tall soldier stepped after her.
- Page 11 and 12: found a patrol of several colonial
- Page 13 and 14: edroll. It shimmered in the afterno
- Page 15 and 16: 13 the Hessian’s back. Blood pump
- Page 17 and 18: 15 Blood Brothers Jessica Curtis Be
- Page 19 and 20: weakly gestured with one arm for he
- Page 21 and 22: saying instead, “Yeah, okay.” H
- Page 23 and 24: 21 costume. “I’m not going to d
- Page 25 and 26: 23 Years later, after Tom had been
- Page 27 and 28: 25 voice. The brim of a baseball ca
- Page 29 and 30: 27 Shoe Collection Angela Maracle N
- Page 31 and 32: 29 I Am The Butcher Logan Noble By
- Page 33: 31 like so many other sheep. I watc
- Page 37 and 38: 35 wife and I. It scares me to thin
- Page 39 and 40: 37 being a great father. When she h
- Page 41 and 42: 39 things at the end of her abdomen
- Page 43 and 44: 41 One of the advantages I realized
- Page 45 and 46: 43 funny? It’s less than 5 minute
- Page 47 and 48: 45 On Coming Carolyn Adams Three Wi
- Page 49 and 50: his words of affection did not mean
- Page 51 and 52: 49 and a large knife. She began hea
- Page 53 and 54: 51 loquacious, a breath of fresh ai
- Page 55 and 56: 53 contaminate his own. He had aske
- Page 57 and 58: 55 pulping that hateful face, as he
- Page 59 and 60: 57 Gemma climbed from her casket, a
- Page 61 and 62: David E. Cowen 59
- Page 63 and 64: possibly make more trouble for hims
- Page 65 and 66: “Hello Jane, it’s Iris here dea
- Page 67 and 68: A tiny bow-backed woman dressed in
- Page 69 and 70: 67 then fell open, landing with a t
- Page 71 and 72: her head appeared again and the whi
- Page 73 and 74: 71 The Ex-Convict and the Theatre D
- Page 75 and 76: “I want this role.” “You were
- Page 77 and 78: 75 cold in her scrubs, and as the t
- Page 79 and 80: 77 and Doctor Ryans nodded. “Plea
- Page 81 and 82: 79 protect Susan, he tried to talk
- Page 83 and 84: 81 Hush Little Baby Melissa Osburn
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Something nagged at her, a gnawing
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85 Deidre said, slipping the conten
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87 hollow thud. Deidre approached,
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89 Terms of Service David E. Cowen
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a moment to remember which Elven Lo
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un on his program. ElvenLord4589 S
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95 Hole.> As the heads began to gro
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97 Mouth and Trousers Stephen McQui
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99 ‘It’s not just the fat who a
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101 ‘Jesus, you’re disgusting!
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103 which he had been sitting, at t
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105 life.’ ‘You can’t be seri
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107 chewed and sucked, devoured by
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Our Travelers 109 Carolyn Adams - C
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Stephen McQuiggan - Stephen McQuigg
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numerous anthologies and periodical
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115 Spreading Poetry Among the Mass