Free Creepers by Bret Tallent

anything I didn’t want to do.  And I thought you were with us.  This whole time you’ve been lying to us, you sonofabitch.  Well, if you’re not with us, then you’re against us.”  Toby glared at Yancy and said, “All this time I thought we were friends.”
    “We are friends,” Yancy pleaded, “Toby we’ve known each other since we were kids.”
    “I know we have,” Toby replied, “and that’s why I’m not going to beat the shit out of you now.  But, it’s over Yancy.  I don’t ever want to see you around again.  You better not tell anyone what’s been said either.  You get a pass tonight Yancy, but that’s it.  As far as I’m concerned you’re no better than any other nigger lover.”
    Tom piped in, “Toby; this ain’t right.  We all grew up together…”
    Toby cut him off.  “Shut it Tom,” he said, “he’s made his choice.”
    Tom gave Yancy a sorrowful glance then looked down at the ground.  Mumbling, he said to Yancy, “Bye Yancy.”
    “This is wrong Toby,” Yancy said, “You’re wrong.”
    Toby replied, “Just get out of here before I have to break my word.”
    Yancy climbed back into his car and fired up the engine.  He pulled slowly out of the clearing, repeatedly glancing in his rear view mirror.  Half expecting them to come after him, it wasn’t until he came to asphalt before he relaxed somewhat.  Yancy had wanted all of this to end, but not like this.  He didn’t mean to alienate himself or worse yet, become an enemy.  However, that is precisely what had happened.  Right now the Ungers were his enemy, and soon he figured, would be Donald Dixon.
    How had he never seen it?  Toby Unger was every bit as evil as Ricky.  He had the same hatred and loathing, even the same mean streak.  Yancy guessed that Toby had always just been in Ricky’s shadow.  He thought then of Tom and that sorrowful look on Tom’s face as he had pulled away.  Tom had always followed his older brother like a puppy, but that look said a lot to Yancy.  Tom didn’t seem to have quite the same hatred as his brother.  Yancy felt sorry for Tom just then.  He hoped that things might change for Tom, but he knew they never would.
    Things never changed in a small town, at least in this small town.  Lusaoka had been pretty much the same since before Yancy was born.  With the same hatreds and the same small minded people.  The families never seemed to change much either.  You were born into a way of life, and you died in that same way of life.  Yancy was caught in it too.  It was like a trap.  It was a trap in which he was struggling to get free.
    Yancy drove on, towards home.  It was getting late; he was tired, and he had to work tomorrow.  Today had been a very long day and so much had happened.  Yancy was also afraid.  He was afraid of what was coming and what he might have to do.  It all made his head hurt.  Yancy had severed his ties with his old ways, or they had severed their ties with him.  Either way, however it had happened, Yancy was now free of the Dixon men and the Unger boys.
    Maybe free wasn’t the right word, he thought.  He would only be truly free when he had left this town.  Perhaps a better word was untangled.  Yancy had been tangled up with Ricky and Toby and Tom since as far back as he could remember.  Once you got in you couldn’t get out, but now he was out.  He was out of their inner circle, and Yancy liked that feeling.  He took a deep breath, a cleansing breath.
    Yancy figured that tomorrow after work he would finally go and see Terri Dixon.  He no longer needed to go see old man Dixon any more than he had wanted to.   Yancy was sure Toby Unger couldn’t wait to go and tell him what a traitor Yancy was.  That was fine; Yancy decided.  It meant he wouldn’t ever have to see the old man again.  Even if it meant he would be in the old man’s sights.  Yancy smiled.
    Now he could concentrate on other things, like Terri.  He would finally