Before he could put the truck in park and check the body, an angry mob of citizens came bursting around the corner. They surrounded the truck and blocked his only route of escape. They banged on the glass and screamed at Harrison. A flurry of heads and hands burst through the open passenger side window. Harrison cursed, wishing he could get his hands on the asshole who had busted the window.
With no escape, Harrison reached for the only countermeasure he could. His pistol. Someone came climbing through the open window and reached towards the back seat. His fingers grazed Tara's knee. Tara pressed her hands against her ears and cried.
Like a hungry zombie begging for flesh, the man clawed and scraped at the back seat. Several others tried to pile in as well. No one heard Harrison's one and only warning over the roar of the crowd. So, Harrison pressed the gun against the intruder's temple. When it did nothing to slow him down, Harrison did the only thing he could do.
A small splatter of bloodshot from the open window, covering the faces of some now petrified onlookers. Everyone stopped moving and stared at Harrison. Harrison did not stare back. Nothing but survival for himself and the girl now mattered.
He grabbed the little girl by the wrist and yanked her from her seat. In one clean motion, they exited the truck. Harrison kept the pistol trained on the crowd, sweeping it from side to side. As they moved forward, everyone stepped back.
"Everyone stay back or I'll shoot again. I've had it with you psychotic freaks. Look at yourselves. There are bodies piling up in this town and every one of them is on your hands." He swung the pistol over the crowd as he spoke. Several ducked or shimmied to stay out of its path. He could see the fear in their faces and he liked it.
"I have seen some terrible things in my life but nothing as awful as this. You've all become monsters."
As expected, his words seemed to have little effect on the crowd. There was no going back now. Fear had won the day. There was only one goal for Harrison, now. Find Sasha. Nothing was going to get in his way. If he had to shoot every last citizen of Carlisle, he would.
“Who’s under the sheet?” He motioned towards the body with his gun. No one spoke up. “Please don’t make me ask again.” Still, no one spoke up. Harrison, naturally, feared the worst. The idea of checking under the sheet burned in his mind like a wildfire but he knew he couldn’t. Taking his eyes from the mob for even a moment could be a fatal mistake. He had to hope beyond hope it wasn’t Sasha.
“I’m going to take this little girl and get back in my truck. Anyone moves and I will shoot, understand?” There were a few mumbles and coughs but no one spoke.
Harrison pushed Tara towards the truck, making sure to keep himself between her and the crowd. If they rushed him, he would be able to push her out of harm's way. They moved towards the truck like an inchworm hiding from prey. All at once, as if the crowd shared a collective thought, everyone began to move. Sheriff Harrison was able to fire off one round before he was swept up in a sea of people. He gripped Tara’s hand as tight as he could but it was useless. They ripped the two of them apart and began to cheer.
Harrison was kicked, slapped, and punched as they dragged him towards the body still under the sheet. He could only assume they would kill him and bury the body next to Sasha. He was tossed through the air and landed with a hard thud next to the covered figure. Without hesitation, he peeled back the sheet and felt only an awful mix of emotion. Elation that Sasha was still alive but disgust that another citizen had been murdered. Who had done it this time? Had it been the same killer? Or did the mob collectively murder this woman?
“What have you done?” He asked the crowd. “You murderers decapitated an innocent woman. How could you? What did she have to do with any of this.”
Finally, a voice broke the silence.
“Oh no, Sheriff, it wasn’t us who killed her. It was that black magic practicing whore you sold your soul to. She killed her and strung the body up for us all to see.” Carol Leighter stepped from the crowd and stared down at Harrison. She gave him a crooked smile and Harrison had to control the urge to knock all of her teeth out. If nothing else, the thought made him almost chuckle.
“Well, Carol, you’ve come a long way from gossip columns in the local paper.”
“Me? You think I did any of this? I’m just a concerned citizen along with the rest of Carlisle. We deserve to be protected. We counted on the sheriff but he went and slept with the enemy.”
“Sasha is not your enemy. She’s just a woman looking to start a new life.”
“And why is she starting that new life? Ever ask yourself that? She’s a murderer, black magic or not. She brought death to this town and we have no choice but to stop it. The law is no longer protecting us.”
“Jesus Christ, Carol, you’ve always been a pain in the ass but I always thought you were a sensible woman. I can’t believe you would join this bandwagon of lunacy.” Harrison spit a glob of blood into the dirt and a little splashed onto Carol’s shoe. She ignored the gesture.
“The only lunacy here is the sheriff not doing his job.” She knelt on her haunches and sunk low enough to whisper in his ear. “Is Sasha a witch? Probably
