"Fine," Elgin echoes. Out in the parking lot, six men, slave laborers, pull a four-wheeled cart, zigzagging between the cars and stopping in front of the main doors. "Okay, let's get this shit loaded and get on our way."
He slides his arm around Zak's shoulders again and leads him away. "You still interested in that girl?"
Zak's eyes automatically shift that direction, trying to pick her out of the group.
"I'll take that as a yes." They begin walking that direction. Elgin continues. "I told you times were changing...and I wasn't lying. These bitches..." He nods toward the group of women tied together. "I'm sure you remember our usual custom, right? Food is food."
Zak shivers—it's one of the main reasons he left them.
"Well, that tradition is no more...now, we only eat the men. The women..." He shrugs. "We have other plans for them."
Zak doesn't have to ask what those other plans entail. And as if to confirm what he already knew, Elgin continues, but reveals something Zak didn't know and would have never suspected.
"You see...we need fresh vessels." Then his voice lowers and takes on a tinge of sadness. This causes Zak to look at him curiously. "We've been losing babies these last few years. Only one in ten makes it past the first week of life. Others die in the womb..." He pauses, glances around, making sure they are relatively alone and out of earshot. Most of the highwaymen are helping load the wheeled cart while the others guard the group of women. He looks at Zak seriously, "I can't tell you how horrible that is. In those cases, we lose both the baby and the mother. The council believes we're contaminating ourselves with our present breeding methods."
Zak would agree. He doesn't know a lot about how all that works, but he does know enough. And one thing he knows for certain is that when a group of people spend so many years interbreeding with one another, there's bound to be consequences. He says, "So, you're taking the women from the enemy so you can impregnate them?"
Elgin nods. "That's the solution the council came up with."
"Is that why you are at war? You give other groups the opportunity to join the Highwaymen and if they don't you attack?"
"That's pretty much it."
Zak tenses.
Continuing to stroll across the lot, he hopes Elgin didn't notice and start asking questions.
"And look at it this way," Elgin continues. "At least we can supplement our usual diet. That's one of the reasons you left, right?"
Zak nods. They've just about reached the group of women now and he spots the green-eyed girl on the far side. The sun breaks through the cloud cover for just a moment, its rays sweep in front of him and across the huddled women. On first impressions, her hair appeared to be brown, but as the light swept across, the illumination highlighted the deep, fiery-red strands as if the very light of the sun had set it alight. Zak had seen nothing like it before.
Turning to Elgin, he asks, "What do you want for her?"
The leader of the Hunters grins. "Just the baby. After you get her pregnant, when the baby is born, you bring it to us to raise."
Zak intends to do no such thing, but he nods in agreement.
* * *
"We have to have a discussion about Zak."
Chris jerks away from the window and slips to the floor. "Holy fuck, Karen. You scared the shit out of me." He takes a quick glance out the window to make sure no one heard him.
Normally, Karen would have found his quiet outburst funny, but not today.
Catching his breath, he asks, "What are you talking about?"
Karen quickly tells him everything that happened after he'd left. By the time she's finished, a fresh batch of tears streams down her cheeks. Chris pulls her close, hugs her, and rubs her hair.
"Damn it, Karen...I'm so sorry."
She shakes her head. "It's not your fault...you didn't know." Wiping her eyes, she nods toward the window. "What's happening out there?"
"Come on," he says, pulling her toward the window. He points to the opposite side, and she slides that direction as he takes the position where he was before.
"What's he doing?" Karen asks, voice barely above a whisper.
"I don't know," Chris admits.
Across the street, Zak emerges from the building, hangs a right, and strolls briskly up to another Highwayman standing behind some vehicles. Chris can't believe what he's seeing. Zak throws a roundhouse punch at the man, connects to the side of the head, and the man goes straight to the ground. Zak bends over, his body disappearing from view behind a car. When he stands back up, he holds something in his hands. A fur or something.
Next to him, Karen gasps. "Trixie!"
Below the window, one of the captive women looks up.
Thankfully, none of the Highwaymen notices the woman's reaction or hears Karen's outburst.
A few minutes later, Zak and who Chris believes to be the leader of the group walks from the grocery store toward the bound women below.
"Have you been able to hear anything?" Karen whispers, fighting through a fresh batch of tears for Trixie.
Chris shakes his head. His original plan was to be across the street by the edge of the building so he could hear. In fact, the spot he'd scoped out before was right next to the man Zak struck a few minutes ago.
At the store, the workers finish loading and lead the horses and cart toward the street. When they get about half-way across the parking lot, the horses whinny and stomp their hooves. Something is making them nervous.
"Do you see anything?" Chris asks.
"No," answers Karen, then almost immediately, changes her answer. "Wait...yes, to the left."
Below them, the bound women shuffle to the right—they converse nervously as they pick up the pace.
Risking being seen, Chris presses his head to the glass, looking to the left. Bodies sway and shuffle up the street.
"Tainted," Chris reports. He looks over at Karen. "Did you happen to barricade the back door?"
Karen's eyes widen with concern. She shakes her head.
Chris scrambles away from the window until he's out of visual range from the outside, then runs down the stairs and to the back door. The doorknob and locking mechanisms were removed long ago and the only way to keep anything from stumbling inside is by securing the door with a piece of wood wedged between two metal brackets on either side of the door.
Before wedging the board into place, Chris peeks out the door into the alley. So far, there are no Tainted. Hopefully, they stay at the front of the building. Closing the door, he barricades it, not wanting to take any changes on them stumbling inside by mistake.
He returns to the second-floor room.
Karen looks back as he enters. "There's too many," she states.
Chris rushes to the window, looks down. The women retreat as quickly as their bonds will allow.
"Where's Zak?" he asks, scanning the area but not seeing him. Outside, the Highwaymen attack the dead. Spears impale brains, bats crush skulls, and axes split heads, splashing the broken pavement with Tainted gore. Before long, rotting bodies and oily black blood covers the street outside.
Several Highwaymen lead the horses and cart in the opposite direction as a others round up the women and push them toward the east side of town. Those that remain fighting, take out a few more Tainted before turning and run to catch up with the others. In a matter of minutes, there's no trace of the Highwaymen—leaving only the dead to roam the parking lot.
"Did you see Zak?"
"No."
Below them, about twenty Tainted remain. They follow the Highwaymen east and after several minutes, the street is still.
Karen moves to Chris's side of the room and he embraces her. He can't imagine what she's been through this last hour or so. The thought of the Tainted baby in the crib sends chills up his spine, but on the other hand, it piques his curiosity.
"Do you think they're gone," she asks.
"The Tainted or the Highwaymen?"
"Both."
"I think the Tainted are...I
don't know about the others." He squeezes her again then kisses her. "Let's go find Zak...he has some questions to answer."
They move to the stairs and descend quickly to the first floor.
The door is just ahead but Chris never makes it that far. Unconsciousness overtakes him so quickly that he neither feels his body hit the floor, nor hears Karen’s screams.
* * *
Elgin draws a knife and slices through the green-eyed girl's bonds. Zak holds his hand out to her, but before she can take it, Elgin grabs her by the neck and draws her close. Her eyes widen in fright as he puts the tip of the knife to her cheek. She freezes in place.
"What are you doing," Zak pleads, taking a step forward.
"Uh, uh," Elgin says. "Don't be stupid."
Zak stops. Tears leak from the girl's eyes.
"What's your name, pretty girl?"
She mouths a word, but no sound comes out. Her eyes close, squeezing tears onto her dirty cheeks.
"I didn't hear that." He gives her a quick shake. "Now, let's try that again. I want to introduce you to my friend, Zachariah. Zak...this is..." He shakes her again, as if that will rattle her voice loose.
"A-Audrey," she says, voice cracking through her fear.
"Aww...you see, Zak? She has a lovely voice."
He shakes her for a third time. This time, it's enough to press the knife's point into her skin, drawing a trickle of blood.
"Here," he says, pushing Audrey toward Zak. He catches her before she falls to the ground.
"Remember, Zachariah..." Elgin puts the knife to his mouth, licks the blood from it, then taps the point near his own eye. "I've got my eye on you."
A new energy fills the air. Beside them, the women whisper nervously and begin to back away. Zak's eyes grow wide. There's movement behind Elgin. Tainted appear down the street. First one, then ten, then twenty more.
"Looks like we have a problem," Zak tells Elgin.
Elgin turns. Seeing the approaching dead, he shouts to the nearest Highwaymen. "Dead!"
Highwaymen appear as if from nowhere and attack. Within a few seconds, twelve of the Tainted lies motionless on the ground.
"Let's round it up!" Elgin calls, swirling his hand over his head. He turns to Zak and Audrey. "I'll be back to check in on you soon."
With that said, he strolls past them and heads up the road as if he's got all the time in the world.
Zak takes Audrey's hand and leads her between two buildings and into the trees beyond. Relief floods through him. He's glad to be moving because any movement would take him further away from Elgin and the Highwaymen.
The relief is short lived, though. That thought, that uneasy feeling still runs through his mind—what the other one had revealed, the one he struck. The significance of what the man had revealed finally hit Zak.
"...three days..."
They've been here for three days and he didn't know. How could they have been here and him not notice? They've never been adept as blending in and hiding—not like Zak. Elgin mentioned that things had changed, and Zak is beginning to believe it.
Right now, though, he must get to Chris and Karen. The Highwaymen outnumbered them five-to-one, but he likes their chances better together than apart.
He doesn't have a clue what to do with Audrey, but with any luck, he can reunite with Chris and Karen and they won't have to see Elgin or any of the Highwaymen again.
"...three days..." becomes a mantra in his mind and he increases his pace. Audrey stumbles along behind him, trying her best to keep up but unlike him, she's not familiar with the territory. So preoccupied with the implications of those two words, he never thought Audrey's struggles were due to her being without shoes.
His focus was singular—reunite with the others and get far, far away. He wanted nothing more to do with the Highwaymen—nothing!
Unfortunately, that would not be the case—he and the Highwaymen were far from through with one another.
17
Follow the followers—that's something Elgin came up with months ago. It had proven to be a good standard to practice as it kept his people in their place. His trusted followers always seemed to snoop out secret meetings and report back to him. That's when the whispers began—the belief that Elgin had developed a second sense, an ability to sniff out those that would rebel, retaliate, escape, or cause trouble. When found, Elgin dealt with them harshly—usually with a spear through the skull and their bodies prepared for the cook pots.
Despite the whispers that Elgin knew things he should not be able to know, Simon knew the truth. He was one of the chosen ones—one of the twelve secret keepers—one of the Followers.
At the moment, no one told him what to do, when Elgin escorted Zak to the supplies, Simon peeled away from the group and dropped unseen behind a half-collapsed picket fence three houses up from the house Zak said was his home. The other Highwayman, Aaron, the one Elgin secretly signaled to investigate the house from which Zak emerged, was on the opposite side of the street. So, intent on his mission, he never saw Simon drop out of line.
Simon knew everything. He knew this wasn't Zak's house. He knew about the couple Zak was obviously hiding. Simon and the others had been following Zak and the couple for three days. They knew their routes, their hiding spots—yes, he even knew about the apartment complex across from the building used for the supply drop. He could go there now to watch and wait, but that's not his job. His job is to follow—and not necessarily the enemy. Sometimes that meant following your own.
* * *
It didn't take long for the couple to emerge. They trotted quietly across the street into the house with the number six written on its door.
This was Zak's house. Clever to use it as home. It would be the last place anyone in their right mind would look. That red number six emblazoned on the door screamed danger, keep out. It wasn't worth the risk for anyone to check that house. No, best to move on.
Simon ducks low and holds his breath. The man with the machetes, Chris, appeared as if out of nowhere, almost catching him in the act of spying. Thankfully, the young man is focused on other matters. He rushes past and disappears into the thick grove of trees behind the houses on the other side of the street.
Again, he feels the need to follow Chris, but he resists the urge. He's here to follow Aaron. He turns back to the street. Now, where is he?
As if on cue, Aaron slinks out of Zak's false home and darts across the street. Even while he runs, his erection presses against the inside of his trousers, making his intentions known. All alone—or so he believes—Aaron seems determined to have the girl as his own.
These are the situations that caused Elgin to form the Followers. It's times like this, when members of their society stray from the main cause and forget the group. In these times, mistakes are made. Mistakes cause openings for enemies to exploit. What this one is about to do is just such a mistake.
Rising from his hiding spot, he makes his way behind the house and toward the house with the girl. He makes it to another position of observation in time to see Aaron carefully slide into the back of the house.
Simon is at an impasse. Should he stay and watch from here? Should he follow the other one inside? He knows one thing for sure, if he stays here, he risks losing sight of them if one or both exit the front door.
No, he needs to get closer, even if just to position himself where he can hear what's going on inside. Before he can get close enough though, the girl screams, followed quickly by a heavy thunk that shakes the house. The temptation to rush inside almost overcomes him, but Simon forces himself to stay calm, to watch, to wait.
He creeps closer, listening for signs of a struggle but hearing nothing for the next minute or so.
Footsteps, running—they start at the opposite end of the house and come closer. He presses himself closer to the back of the house; the spear clutched at the ready, in case he must use it. His one directive as a Follower is to not get discovered by other members of the group. Discovery means ri
sking Elgin's secrets—and that, in itself, was a death sentence. Simon wouldn't, couldn't, allow that. If he had to kill a fellow Highwayman to keep the secret, then that's what he must do.
However, the sound coming from inside was too light, too delicate to be Aaron. Did the girl somehow get the better of him?
Simon slinks closer to the rear door. Just as he reaches it, he hears the front door crash open. Jumping to action, he reaches the back door, slings it open and rushes inside just in time to catch the briefest of glimpses through the open front door. It's the girl. She streaks out of the yard and turns up the street in the same direction her male counterpart had traveled.
Where is Aaron?
Spear held out before him; he makes his way deeper into the house. Through the hallway’s gloomy darkness, he can see the open bedroom door at the opposite end. Aaron lies on the floor in a spreading pool of blood.
Simon turns and sprints out the front in pursuit of the girl. Despite Aaron's intensions, killing him put the girl in a new category. As he runs, a sinister grin slides across his face. He'll capture her and bring her before Elgin.
He can't begin to imagine how pleased Elgin will be when he presents this trophy to him. The reward—he shakes his head. He can't even imagine what the reward for this will be.
More determined than ever, he forces himself to slow and walk. He's in no hurry, he knows right where she's going.
18
The last thing he remembered was hurrying down the stairs. Did he trip and fall? Did he strike his head and lose consciousness? He knows he blacked out, that's a fact. But why?
He pushes himself up in a sudden, blind panic.
"Karen!"
He falls to his hands and knees as a lightning bolt of pain shoots through his head. Nausea floods through him, threatening to expel what little contents were in his stomach. He sits, legs spread out before him while he tries to take an inventory of himself. Reaching up, he gently explores the back of his scalp. There's a definite lump back there but thankfully, his hand comes away with very little blood.
Tainted Souls Page 10