Last Time: "Neither do I, Sheriff, but Cody is convinced of what he saw. Or at least, thinks he saw," Lynda said telling him, "his eyes have been glued on the front door of my shoppette since Matt and I picked him up off the floor. And, he's quaking like a leaf in a gale!"

"I'm on my way, Lynda," Sheriff Daniels informed her. He disconnected the transmission stating, "Got to love that boy!"


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When the door to the shoppette burst wide open, Cody yelled a frightened blood-curdling scream at the top of his ample lungs, "NO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!"

The volume of his shriek would have curled the straightest hair and frozen the strongest man's blood. He was in a panic.

"You didn't really think you could escape from me, did you? You worthless excuse for a human turd dropping!" the intruder frigidly demanded.

Shuddering, Cody did not respond. The invader thrust his forefinger at him, curved the appendage downward, and pointed to a spot on the floor directly in front of his steel-toed boots. Robotically, Cody immediately jumped off the wooden stool he was seated on. Steadily, he walked over to where he'd been ordered to relocate.

"You know better than to keep me waiting for anything!" he was grimly apprised.

A meaty, immense hand extended back as far as the arm it was attached to could lengthen and abruptly backhanded Cody across his face. Helpless, Matt gazed in horror as the force of the blow swept Cody across the floor. When he stopped lurching, Cody reached up with the fingers on his right hand and felt his split lip. He tasted blood.

Lynda Beckham stood behind her cash register. She reached under the counter and retrieved her Derringer pistol. She aimed the weapon at the stranger. Cody sprang to his feet like he'd been fired out of a cannon. He bolted over to Lynda and forced her hand down by her side. The gun lowered.

Calmly he said, "No, don't shoot him, Lynda. That will only make him madder than he already is. He's not going to harm you and Matt. It's me he wants."

The encroacher seized his opportunity. He reached Lynda before she could move and callously stated, "For once in his worthless life the parasite is correctamundo. I wouldn't have hurt you, Lynda, had you not pointed that peashooter at me."

He punched her squarely in the face. Lynda crumpled at his feet. He kicked her hard in the ribs, knocking the wind out of the stout woman. Cody remained stationary. The infiltrator propelled him towards the door. He did not resist.

He desperately wanted to. However, Cody knew better than to ever, under any circumstances whatsoever, disobey Earl Anthony Schroder. That defiant act only increased the severity of his beatings.

The intermeddler turned to Matt, who, for unknown reasons he'd left alone, and ferociously said, "Tell Daniels if he wants this filthy pile of pig crap back to come and get what remains of him. I'm not hard to find!"

With that, he forced Cody's right arm into a tight hammerlock behind his back. Cody most assuredly thought his arm would break. It wouldn't be the first fractured bone he'd suffered at the hands of this raging monster. He feared it wouldn't be the last either.

"Where do you think you're taking me?" Cody found the courage to ask as he was moved out the door of the shoppette.

"Either you're getting braver or you're much more stupider than you ever were before," he was vehemently reprimanded with a firm wallop to the back of his head, "you'll go where I say, when I say, and how I say. Now, head out past those cabins!"

Slowly, Cody shuffled off in the direction he'd been instructed to travel. How he wished Sheriff Daniels was there to help him, but he wasn't. Cody wondered if he'd ever see the Sheriff again? He knew the chances were real good he wouldn't.

Trapped by this barbaric predator, the defenseless boy was all alone, like he'd been for most of his life.

(To Be Continued)


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Cast of Characters:

Cody Schroder - Blond munchkin and central character of the book.

Sheriff Brock Daniels - Long time Sheriff of Astatula and Cody's Dad.

Matt Cochran - Cody's best friend.

Lynda Beckham - Owner and operator of the Buck and Doe's shoppette at Sullivan Lake.

Earl Anthony Schroder - Cody's biological sperm donor. Put Cody through ten years of hellacious physical, mental, and sexual abuse in Palo Pinto.

Chapter Word Count: 679

Book Word Count: 4,266