chapter 127

word count: 2069

if there was one thing joe tobin was not,, it was a nature boy.. put him on a city street,, any city street,, and he was perfectly at home,, he was in his element.. he could bob and weave with the best of them,, slip silently into the shadow of any given doorway,,  crouch undetected in any alley way,, slither up a sliding fire escape,, or disappear into the crowd with just the turn of a corner.. but the truth of the matter was,, none of his expertise in any of those areas had prepared him for this moment.

as he made his way through the maze of heavily laden corn stalks,, he recollected on the fact that the closest he had ever really been to a cornfield was watching one rush by the window of a fast moving car,, and it was becoming painfully evident,, he should have steered clear of them this time as well..

not only did the tall stalks of corn completely obliterate his field of vision,, but the fact that they grew so close together made it improbable that he would be able to maneuver his husky frame through the tightly packed rows of corn without crashing through them,, and thus giving away his position.. 

his inability to see more than a foot in front of him combined with the bustle created by his crunching through the stalks were rendering him all but helpless in his effort to pick up trudy’s trail.. 

for the moment, trudy held her ground.. she could hear her abductor blustering through the corn rows,, but could tell he was not yet close enough to force her to make a move.. she could feel her blood pumping like a steam engine in her chest, the very force with which her heart was beating was nearly cutting off her ability to breathe.

as she sat in silence,, consciously muffling the sound of her own breath with her hands cupped tightly over her mouth,, she listened intently,, trying to get a fix on the big guys location..  the sound of her abductor busting through the rows of corn,, made her certain that he was headed in her general direction,, and she realized that she had to make a move before he got too close.. 

trudy rolled up on to her knees and crawled as silently as possible up the narrow path between the corn stalks,, and toward what she hoped would be  the road.. in her flurry to escape the clutches of this mad man (whoever the hell he was) she had lost all sense of direction.. she could not see anything beyond the stalks of corn directly in front of her,, and had to keep her eyes trained on the ground before her to make sure she would not be crawling across anything that would make a noise loud enough to give up her location.. 

just ahead she saw a break in the thick row of corn stalks,, and took that opportunity to move stealthily between the rows.. she was able to cover a sizable portion of ground before the break in the stalks once again gave way to thick even rows..   

once there,, she paused for a minute to look up at the sky.. the sun traveled from east to west,, of that much she could be sure.. due to the fact that she knew she had not been released from the county jail until well after noon,, the fact that the sun was on its descent made her certain that in order to travel in the direction of town,, she would have to follow the sun.. 

even though she had not been paying any attention to where the driver of the car was headed (as she had allowed herself to become much too preoccupied with what he was going to do to please her once they found a safely secluded spot and climbed into the back seat in order to really get this party started) she knew the only farmland in the county was directly east on your way out of town.. 

it wasn’t long after she took up her westward course that she began to see what she was sure was a clearing.. knowing nothing about her surroundings a sense of panic set in.. should she reverse her course and stay hidden in the cornfield?? or should she try her luck,, continue on to the clearing,, and then run like hell??

she decided to make her way to the end of the cornfield,, and  have a look at what awaited her should she decide to take her chances on the clearing.. from the sound of the big guys foot falls crashing thru the corn stalks,, she felt he was a far enough distance away from her,, that if she decided to retreat back into the corn field she would be able to do so and still avoid detection.. 

as she edged her way to the end of the cornfield,, she could hear somewhere far off in the distance,, what sounded like a train.. knowing as she did,, that the train track through the center of town ran north and south,, and due to the fact that it had not passed by her or she certainly would have heard it,, she quickly discerned that the train was headed toward her,, and that if she could hear it ,, the tracks must not be far away.. 

at that moment it became clear to her that the only way to escape the clutches of this mad man(boy she sure could pick 'em)  was to make it to the other side of the tracks undetected,, and allow the train to cut her off from him long enough for her to make her way far enough across the clearing that even if he did follow her,, she would be far enough away by the time the train cleared the track that he would have between little and no chance of catching up with her.. 

with the sound of the train getting ever closer,, trudy decided she had one shot,, and one shot only,, and if she was gonna make this happen  she had to make her move,, and do it now.. with that,, trudy jumped to her feet and took off running with everything she had across the empty field toward the sound of the oncoming train..    

torbin had had just about enough of this shit.. he was never gonna get anywhere this way.. he knew he had to off her,, as she would be only too willing to give a complete description of him to the police,, but busting his way through this blasted cornfield was getting him nowhere.. 

he paused a moment while he tried to collect his thoughts.. there had to be a better way.. but what?? deep in thought he looked up past the streaming stalks of corn and stared up at the clear blue sky..  it was then that it hit him.. it was mid to late afternoon,, the sun was making its way toward  the western sky.. he had driven her into the rural area that lay just east of town.. even a bimbo like buzz’s little squeeze here,, had to be smart enough to know that if she followed the sun,, she would eventually make her way back to town,, or at least a road running back into town..

he took off running west,, as it was his thinking that if he got to the western end of the corn field first he could lay in wait,, and get a triple tap in before she even knew what hit her.. 

trudy had sprinted half way across the clearing before tobin even got to the edge of the corn field.. she could hear him yelling something at her,, but she dared not turn back,, she had one goal in mind,, and that was to make it over that train track before the oncoming train trapped her on this side of the tracks with him in hot pursuit.. 

the conductor of the train evidently noticed trudy running full speed ahead directly into the path of his lumbering locomotive,, as he began to pull hard on the whistle chain there by making sure there was no way she didn’t know he was coming through.. he knew only too well that there was no way he would be able to stop his powerful machine should she run out in front of him.. 

the more furiously he sounded the trains whistle,, the faster trudy seemed to run.. she was headed directly into his path,, and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop the tragedy that was sure to be played out momentarily right before his very eyes.. none the less.. he pulled back on the break with all of his strength,, and the sound of the wheels scraping the track in an effort to come to a stop was deafening.. 

tobin was not willing to let this whole thing fall to chance.. if for some unholy reason trudy was able to make it over those train tracks without getting hit by the train,, he knew she would get away from him,, and probably be at the cop shop spilling her guts before he ever made it to the state line.. with that thought still fresh in his mind,, he stopped running,,  took his stance,, and began firing.. 

the sound of the train screeching down the track drown out the sound of tobins gun as he expertly pulled the trigger,, so trudy was none the wiser as she kept on course running directly into the path of the train.. the distance between her and tobin made a kill shot nearly impossible,, but he continued firing in hopes that he could wound her severely enough that she would have no choice but to stop running.. 

he saw her take, what looked like a shot to the fleshy part of her arm,, but that didn’t even cause her to break her stride.. as tobin dropped the clip to reload,, he looked up just in time to see trudy run headlong onto the track directly in front of the train.. 

from his vantage point there was no way she could have made it. the screeching of the trains iron wheels against the track reinforced his suspicions,, as the engineer,, had he seen her clear the track, would surely have backed off on the break..  

there was no doubt in his mind,, that hot little brunette wouldn’t be causing him any further trouble.. and more importantly, he had got one in on that bastard buzz miller,,and without so much as getting his hands dirty..

with that,, tobin slipped his gun into the waistband at the back of his well-tailored trousers,, straightened his suit coat,, swiped the sweat from his brow and headed back toward the car.. best to get out of here as soon as possible as such an incident was sure to draw plenty of heat and gore gawkers from all around town.. 

when the train finally screeched to a halt far beyond the clearing by the cornfield,, trudy was long gone,, and well out of sight.. she kept running because she knew the clearing would soon be buzzing with cops and volunteers looking for the pieces parts of her remains..

tobin had managed to hit her in the arm,, but as far as she could see it was just a flesh wound.. she was cut and scraped and thoroughly exhausted,, but she knew she had far to go before she could rest.. she continued to run in the direction of the quickly setting sun despite the fact that she knew she the only place she had to go once she did make it to town was the hospital emergency room to have that arm looked at,, and her cuts and scrapes cleaned and dressed.. 

“oh well," she prided herself  as she reflected on her amazing leap across the tracks,, the train so close she could feel the heat of its engine and the pull of its draft threatening to suck her under, “it’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative…”

well,, that,, and it would give her a little more time to further survey her options,, and maybe even come up with a place she could go stay  for a while,, you know,, recreate herself.. become the trudy she now knew she the strength to not only dream about,, but had the confidence to actually  become..