Episode 416 "Gone Fishing"

Tom Beckles, a long-lost friend of Axon's, invites Peter to join him on a fishing trip. Axon reminisces about the trips they used to take, but finds it odd that Tom would call him out of the blue after 15 years. He recalls that they had both liked the same woman - Sharon Novichek. Axon had dated her briefly but she dumped him. Not long after, she committed suicide. Axon and Tom had drifted apart - then he heard that Tom had suffered a nervous breakdown. Axon always felt guilty that he had never called or gone to see his friend after that.

On the scheduled weekend, the men are outfitted at Harley's Camping and Supplies. Axon tells Harley to expect them back early Monday morning. Tom has convinced Axon that they should leave their campsite and hike inland. As a distant, melodic cry lures them deeper into the woods, they come across the bodies of decapitated animals. Axon is baffled, but Tom seems focused on forging ahead to some unknown destination.

When they come upon an eerie rundown shack, the singing stops. Then from out of nowhere, they are knocked unconscious. Coming to, Axon discovers that he and Tom have been tied to chairs in the shack. They survey the room in horror. The walls are laden with the heads of dead animals, hung like morbid wallpaper. A shelf is stocked with old jars of preserved meat. "We're tied up in a goddam butcher shop in the woods," Tom screams, while Axon tries to stay calm - reasoning that they may have to strike a bargain with their captor to "let one of us go." Tom doesn't like the odds - he guesses that Axon will be set free, and leave him to die.

Then the singing resumes - becoming louder as their captor approaches the cabin. The shack door opens, the light pours in, and a woman, Sandra, appears, proudly carrying the freshly severed head of a dead rabbit. It's obvious that she is a recluse, and Axon realizes that it was her singing that led them here i?‚i?©ke the sirens of ancient mythology. Axon questions Sandra, but she is not forthcoming, instead playing 'cat and mouse' games with them. She taunts and teases them - pitting them against each other - and seems to sense each man's strengths and weaknesses, which she uses to her advantage. Tom's hostility towards Axon is palpable and he vows to be the one she sets free. Sandra suggests a little game that will influence what she wants from each of them. She sits on Tom's lap, and dares him to convince her to untie him. "Set me free", he tells her, and "I will kill for you". Delighted, she jumps up, but suffers a dreadful spell. Axon thinks she may have botulism, probably from the preserved food. Tom orders him to leave her alone and tells Sandra not to trust Axon. Although she's deathly ill, she ignores Axon's warnings, and stumbles away, leaving the men for the night. She returns the next morning, wielding an ax and taunting them - "when I decide which one I want, the other will end up like them" she says, nodding to the heads on the wall.

But when they don't return as scheduled, Lindsay Donner begins to worry, and traces the men to Harley's, where they started out on their fateful trip. Donner and Harley finally spot the men's original campsite. Fresh tracks show that they ventured into the woods. But Harley, all too familiar with the story of a family of cannibals that lived in the woods back in the 60s, freaks when they find a third set of tracks, and the body of a decapitated racoon. He leaves Donner to continue alone.

Back in the shack, Tom finally reveals the full extent of his rage towards Axon - blaming him for the death of Sharon Novichek - that's why he lured Axon into the wilderness. Tom believes that Sandra has been sent to set things right. Though Sandra is near death she staggers towards Tom and kisses him. Tom has won - Axon has lost. This is Tom's moment of retribution. As Sandra frees Tom, Axon can only watch and await his fate.