Hey all! I was feeling in a one-shot mood so I decided to use Doug from the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes. I warn you that there are some SPOILERS in case you've never seen the movie. Unless of course, you don't really care and wanna read it anyway, then it's up to you. I don't, of course, own any of the rights to The Hills Have Eyes, including the characters or the song lyrics to "I Stand Alone" by Godsmack, which are featured in this one shot. I'm using them for my own twisted pleasure.
My thoughts were that now that Doug has lost his wife and child and the people he had once called family and now has to protect the two youngest members of the Carters, how does he deal with these new responsibilities…and the impending doom of tomorrow.
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And now it's my time
It's my time to dream
Dream of the skies
Make me believe that this place isn't plagued by the poison in me
Help me decide if my fire will burn out before you can breathe
Breathe into me
-I Stand Alone-Godsmack
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I wait.
Dawn approaches.
My mind is hardly with me. I'm not really thinking. Only feeling.
There's no heat. The desert can get cold at night. The chill is the only thing I can feel really clearly. The rest of me still feels numb.
I'm sitting directly opposite of the trailer door. The Beast lay close. I'm holding onto his chain.
He's calm. Beast is always calm. Even after delivering a human arm that he had ripped free himself. I envy him.
There is a Louisville slugger across my lap. I know it can do serious damage and I intended to use it at first sight of anything.
The radio I had acquired lays in my other hand, turned up full volume. Nothing would happen without my knowing. But it stays silent.
I'm the only one fully awake. Brenda finally let herself sleep, sitting up and leaning her head back against the sofa. A kitchen knife hung loose in her hand. Bobby dozed next to her. He held his father's gun with only a clip and a half left to use.
I don't know how else to put this without sounding completely heartless but we "cleaned up" well. We …put them in the back room and covered them as though we were putting them to bed. Yeah, now we had a system. A game plan so to speak.
That's why I was sitting up, waiting for dawn.
Even though they are only dozing not even inches from me, I couldn't shake this feeling of being alone.
The feeling started the moment I broke through the door just hours ago. I felt so completely truly alone. How could I lose everything I've ever held dear in my entire life all in one night?
Lynn was dead. Her blood…was everywhere. What was even worse though was even though her head had been damn near blown off, her heart had kept beating for only a few moments longer. She had gasped for breath one last time and then lay still for good.
Then I looked up only to find my baby gone. Her carrier was stark, white and empty. My baby…
What could they possibly want with a poor defenseless baby? Could anyone be that devoid of heart? Of course I knew the answer already.
I am shaking now. In fear: not so much anymore. In rage: definitely.
My family was ruined. Right down to the fucking dog, Beauty.
I let myself remember Lynn when I was looking over her.
Where was I? The vows we had made: In sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse? Where had I been for the Worse? I should have been there. Defending the two girls in my life that I treasured most, like any man should have.
Lynn. In life, you had been my everything. As clichéd as this sounds, you picked me up when I was down. When you would assure me, I would feel more alive than I ever felt. I regret the times I had been distant. I regret that I dulled your shine in some cases whether it had been career choices or when I was acting like a cynical asshole. If I had known how soon you would have been taken from me, I would have never wasted any of those seconds with you.
Then I looked over at Ethel. The poor woman. I don't think I ever really thanked you. You had been good to me. Your good heart had given me some faith in this family but I never showed it as much as I should have. Your undying faith in God had given you faith in others no matter how much of a lost cause they seemed to be. When she lay there on that couch, breathing though very wounded, I actually was a fool to believe that she'd pull through. I thought that maybe because of her goodness and daily prayer, God would show some mercy and let her live.
But He didn't.
At that point, Bobby had been ten seconds away from exploding and Brenda…God I don't even want to think about how she must have felt right then. Bobby had been far more decisive than I had. He was more than ready to go off gallivanting after these mutant fuckers but I know the worst thing you can do in situations like this is go off after the enemy with a head full of anger.
He called me a pussy. Those bastards had my daughter and I wasn't doing anything about it.
Maybe he had been trying to piss me off. That way I could just take up a sword and start swinging. I knew I couldn't take his words to heart. He was a fifteen year old kid who had both of his parents and his sister taken away from him in one shot. He wanted revenge. Who in his case wouldn't want it?
But his words plagued me even while sitting here waiting for sunrise.
A pussy.
Yeah, well maybe I am a pussy. A pussy, a bitch and a coward. It wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. I understood how he could have formed that notion of me. I wasn't like his father.
Yeah Big Bob don't think for two seconds I had forgotten you.
You threw a lot at me. We had been constantly at odds over everything no matter how trivial the subject. And your words irked the shit out of me because they made me feel less of a man. I wanted to help you in any way I could but you didn't accept it. Why would you? You were Big Bob Carter, all powerful champion of the Carter Clan. You could do absolutely no wrong.
I wasn't like you. I wasn't a champion or even a gritty, hardcore he-man. I wasn't really a neccessity for survival. Where did I stand? I guess that was part of the reason why I never pressed any matter with you and so earned me the title of a pussy.
But by some harsh twist of fate, you had fallen.
Ethel had fallen.
Lynn had fallen.
Those who had been meant to succeed you as leaders of the Carters had gone. It only left me.
Me the outsider.
Me the bitch.
Me who had always been raised to believe that reasoning won over physical combat.
Bob… I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I'm now the defender of your family.
Your children will now rely on me. Your legacy will now rely on me.
You had protected us all at one time, myself included. Now I'm afraid because I'm not you.
I'm a fucking telecommunications rep. I'm not a former detective. I'm completely out of my league here. If you couldn't do it, how in fuck am I going to do any better?
I dare a small chuckle. I don't want to be loud.
Was I ready to take up arms?
I had to be. My baby's life depended on it. Bobby and Brenda depended on it too.
The sun is rising now. It would have been beautiful if it didn't mean potential death. I finally stand. My legs are wobbly.
Beast rises. He conveys no fear and neither should I.
Bobby easily wakes up. I tell him to keep to the plan and to take care of Brenda. I also tell him, even though it was one of the hardest things I ever had to say, to not go after me. I tell him to not follow me. I wouldn't risk anymore lives.
Then he does the unexpected. He throws his arms around me. I'm unsure how to respond but I hold him as best as I can. I try to be assuring just like his sister had been with me so many times before.
I don't leave until I'm sure he's ready to hold down the fort and then I step outside. The heat had returned a little, but I can still feel that chill within me.
I hear the door lock behind me. It sounds so final.
My radio emits static but nothing worth my ear right now.
And then I start walking away from the trailer. Each step I take makes me feel more abandoned. More alone…
Beast leads the way for me. And I follow.
Alone.
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I stand alone
Feeling your sting down inside me
I'm not dying for it
I stand alone
Everything that I believe is fading
I stand alone
Inside
I stand alone
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