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Detour to Doom
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: R.B. Publishing
ISBN-10: 1983101885
Type: Fiction
Pages: 145
Copyright: June 7, 2018
ISBN-13: 9781983101885
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
A lost rodeo cowgirl ends up at a western apparel store after getting lost in rural Ohio. It is there that she meets a huge girl bully who means her harm.
It’s early June and Ashley Tucker is having a horrible day the day after failing to place in a Michigan Longhorn rodeo. While driving home to Fort Worth, she gets lost on a rural road in central Ohio after getting her truck repaired. And as darkness approaches all she wants is to find someone who can give her directions and get her back on the expressway. She soon finds herself in a dilapidated western apparel store in the middle of nowhere, when she spots some boots she wants. With no one around, she decides to walk out with the boots, intending to send a check when she gets home. Just as she tries to leave, a teen girl confronts her and locks the door to the store.
A frightened and dejected Ashley is escorted to the backroom of the store, assuming she’ll be arrested. She suddenly finds herself face-to-face with an immense girl bully named Andrea who is hiding out after committing a heinous crime. Andrea dismisses the girl, along with another female worker, leaving her alone with Ashley. And when Ashley realizes the girl has no intention of having her arrested, she tries to escape with brutal consequences. It’s truly rodeo cowgirl versus girl bully in a brutal fight to the finish. “Detour to Doom” is the expanded novel version of the novelette “Cowgirl Down.”
Excerpt
Ashley staggered around. Her jaw was killing her.
“You don’t get it, bitch. I’m in a bit of trouble as it is. That’s why I’m sleeping out here in the middle of nowhere.” She stepped forward and grabbed Ashley’s collar with both hands. “And I sure as hell don’t care about some skinny little cowgirl who just wondered into my living space uninvited.”
The girl released her grip on her collar and stepped back.
“I thought it was a store,” said Ashley. “I was lost and wanted to find someone who could give me directions back to the expressway.”
The girl chuckled. “Then I guess you just took a detour to your own doom because I don’t care what happens to you. And I’m sure as hell not going to help you. Not after you tried rip this place off.”
“Let me go!”
“No,” the teen shouted.
The girl clenched her fists. Ashley raised her hands and held them out in a pleading manner.
“Please, I beg you to let me go. I won’t tell anyone what you’ve done to me, and I won’t mention anything about you being here if you’re in some kind of trouble.”
“Tell on me? Shit. You’re the one who waltzed in here and started to walk out with a free pair of boots.”
“And I told you I’d give them back.”
The girl smirked. She turned and look at something near the far wall. She then raised her arm behind her ear, pivoted toward Ashley and backhanded her across the mouth. The blow spun Ashley around a couple times; she landed on her stomach.
“Like I said before, cowgirl cunt. I don’t care who you are or why you’re here. It’s just a bad time for me and I need to relieve a little frustration.”
Ashley’s ears were ringing from the blow, so she couldn’t hear everything the girl said. She again tried to push herself up to her knees but fell back down. Andrea grabbed the back of her ponytail again and pulled her to her feet.
“Aieeeeeeee!” Ashley cried, as she tried to run toward the doorway—her hair still in the girl’s grasp. Andrea pulled her back, grabbed her shoulders, flipped her around and flattened her with a right cross.
“Can’t stand on your own two feet, huh, bitch?”
Ashley didn’t say anything as she lay on her side. She got picked up, socked and knocked down four more times—the last blow a shot to the solar plexus that left her breathless. She was now barely conscious. Her eyes were closed. She lay on the left side of her face.
“Get up!” the teen said, as she shoved Ashley’s shoulder with her shoe. Ashley couldn’t move. “C’mon.” The girl placed her shoe on her hip and shoved her again. “Get your little ass up.”
Ashley was motionless. The behemoth reached down and lifted Ashley’s head up by her ponytail again. Blood poured from her nose which now covered her chin and the front of her western shirt. One eye was severely blackened and nearly glued shut.
“This ponytail really comes in handy,” the girl said. She laughed as she swung Ashley to the left and back to the right on her knees.
“Why are you doing this to me?” cried Ashley, as she looked up with her battered face.
“Because you’re a fuckin criminal, bitch.”
Andrea pulled Ashley up and beat her some more. The brutal and bloody one-sided beating finally ended when Andrea engulfed Ashley in a front bear hug and body-slammed her against the wall. She passed out before she hit the ground.
Ashley awakened for the second time. She was now seated with her back against the paneled cash register counter.
“It’s about time you woke up, cowgirl,” said the behemoth. “You’ve been out for fifteen minutes.”
Ashley didn’t say anything for fear of getting beaten even more. What else could the teen do to her now, kill her? Probably. She said she’d been in a juvenile correction facility.
The girl laughed as she raised her huge leg and shoved her shoulder with her gym shoe. Ashley trembled. She didn’t look at girl. She was bruised, bloodied and felt humiliated getting thrashed by a high school girl, no matter how big she was.
“Next time you want some boots, you sure as hell better pay for them.”
“I’ll pay now,” said Ashley, spitting speckles of blood through her cracked lips. “I've got a credit card in the back pocket of my jeans.”
“Oh, I’ll get your payment, maybe without selling you the boots. Leave you with nothing. Strip you naked if I want. But if you think you can just pay me and leave, forget it. Matter of fact, I may not let you leave at all.”
Tears welled in Ashley’s eyes. She started sobbing.
“Cry all you want, bitch. I don't feel sorry for you. But if I ever catch you around here again, I’ll kill ya. You hear me, cowgirl cunt?”
Through her tears, Ashley saw that the girl had removed the new Justin’s and replaced them with her old pair.
“You probably killed your parents, you fat cow. You’re mean enough.”
“Maybe I did,” the girl said. “Maybe they just died a couple days ago when I cut the brakes on their car. And then maybe not. Maybe I poisoned their asses, and maybe not.”
Ashley sat there with her mouth gaped. She knew the girl was vicious, the way she was treating her. But if she had killed her parents, she was more dangerous than she imagined.
“But you aren’t going to be around to rat me out, are you bitch?”
Ashley looked up at the girl from the seat of her pants. She could only see out of her right eye. The teen stepped forward.
“Yeah. You should’ve kept your mouth shut. Now that you know the truth, I’ll have to kill you. But I’ll give you a chance to get away. A little head start if you will.” She chuckled—her triple chin jiggling.
Ashley couldn’t move. Her face was mutilated and her ribs ached. Losing a rodeo barrel racing contest seemed petty now that she was facing certain death. She’d already killed two family members. She’d think nothing of killing her, too.
A feeling of dread surged within her—now that her fate was sealed. She felt sick and nauseated. Her stomach knotted up. Ashley collapsed to her side and passed out.
What seemed like a week but only five minutes later, Andrea woke Ashley up by slapping her in the face. She then pulled her to her feet and walked her to the front door. “I’ll give you a head start, then I’m coming after you.”
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