Iron Jaw

Jayce was free.

He could feel the sun beating down on his back as he ran as fast as he could through the open, overgrown fields. Cow tails slapped against his chest and face as grasshoppers flew wildly in every direction. Every other step Jayce looked over his shoulder to see if the man was behind him. Long, thin grass cut at him like razor wire, but that’s not where the blood came from.

No, the blood came from the encounter causing this full-on sprint. An encounter with a man who murdered his friends with ease and pleasure. Jayce witnessed Clyde die, but he heard the others. Even with the vision of Clyde’s death burned into his memory and caked on his skin, the sounds of Amanda and Joyce’s horrific murder would haunt him forever. Silence would never be possible again. It would be filled with the screams. Their screams. But for all Jayce knew, his forever could be fast approaching its end and true silence would settle in.

Jayce was never a runner, in fact, he was a heavy smoker, making this escape all the harder. He wasn’t sure how long he had been running, he just knew that he couldn’t stop if he wanted to live, even though the running felt like it could kill him outright. Through pained breaths, occasional gasps for air followed by coughs Jayce pushed on.

Jayce felt the years of laziness and marijuana starting to punish him. Each beat of his heart felt like it was actively trying to punch a hole in his chest, to escape the torture it was being put through.

Each step forward came with sounds of agonized breathing from Jayce, as well as sticks, leaves, and insects crunching under his boots. Until one step brought about a new noise not heard before.

The sound of rusted metal in desperate need of oil, clamping shut. The sound of Jayce hitting the ground. The subtle sound of bones cracking. The sound of shrieking.

Jayce looked down and saw his left foot locked in the vice grip of a bear trap. The teeth had punctured his skin and it felt as though they were resting firmly against the bone. Each movement made the trap dig deeper into his skin. Immediately Jayce moved to open the mouth of the trap to free his foot, but the grip was too tight and rusted to move.

Jayce was in a panic now; he hadn’t seen the man behind him in a while. He was unsure if he was still being followed, but the beartrap couldn’t be there by chance, could it? It had to be there with the ill intent of catching a victim for this killer. The grass was so overgrown that now Jayce couldn’t see very far around him from the ground. But at least he knew he would be able to hear the man coming, as all the sticks and leaves broke under his steps. He couldn’t lay in wait however, he needed to find a way out of this trap because even once out he still had to reach safety.

Once again Jayce attempted to pry open the teeth of the trap, managing to make it move ever so slightly, only for it to violently clamp down on his skin again. This time Jayce was sure it touched his bone as he stifled a cry while punching the earth to try and buy himself some time in case the man was searching for him.

As he started to lose blood Jayce could feel a chill sweeping over his body. His lips started to go numb, and his arms felt like they were being softly touched by long bony fingers.

On his stomach he crawled forward, hoping that he would at least be able to keep moving until he realized the beartrap was chained to a cement anchor. With this realization, Jayce’s head sunk into the dirt. Hope has slipped away and is no longer in reach. Despair had washed over him and forced him to confront reality. He was going to die. Just like his friends. Miserably and painfully.

Despair led to anger however, and in one last ditch effort, he tried to remove the trap in a huff. Fueled by his rage, he opened it much more this time almost freeing himself before losing grip and once again feeling the teeth pierce his skin down to the bone. Despair did not creep back; the anger only grew inside of Jayce. That was until he heard the distant sound of twigs and leaves snapping under the heavy steps of someone walking toward him.

Hysteria took over inside of Jayce as he frantically clawed at the beartrap to set himself free. Blood was streaming from his leg and covering his hands now and the trap. The beartrap went from rust-colored to a dark crimson. Each step, each crack of a leaf, each snap of a twig got louder and heavier. Each sound made Jayce’s stomach sink lower and lower. He was coming. He needed to free himself now. Right now.

Suddenly the sound of breaking twigs stopped, and Jayce’s heart sunk lower. He held his breath and imagined the man had stopped and was surveying the field. Since Jayce had fallen from the trap he was no longer visible, maybe the man couldn’t see him and gave up? Maybe this was as far as the man was willing to take it?

Then the sound returned. Heavier. Faster. The man was running now. The rising of the sound mirrored Jayce’s rising heart rate. The man knew where he was and that’s why he was barreling toward him. He was coming to collect his prize. He knew he was trapped; he knew he was easy prey. He would never survive an encounter with this man and escape was his only option.

One final time Jayce grabbed both sides of the trap lathered in his blood and used all his remaining strength. In one final effort, the trap opened.

 Jayce was “free.”