by Quil Carter
But his stoned mind cared not. The anxiety that had been a dense coating on his body was dripping away like it was wax being exposed to flames. There was something about the feeling of not being afraid that was invigorating, and such joy seemed to call for verbal acknowledgement. He almost felt like singing, or at least skipping around for a bit.
Sasha flushed at the mere prospect. He may be alone, stoned, and in the middle of nowhere, but there was no way he’d make such an ass out of himself. He’d never let himself live it down, and god knows he was his worst critic.
So, he settled on swirling the flashlight beam, painting the dark trees around him with an invisible paintbrush, and then shaking the light really fast as if he was in the middle of a rave. He snorted at his own idiocy, but continued to twirl the light around.
Suddenly, Sasha heard a crack coming from inside the forest, like a fallen branch or a thick stick being broken under something heavy. His attention shot to the area where he’d heard the noise, and as he stared with an expression of horror, his heart began to throw itself against his rib cage, like a lunatic trapped inside a padded room.
Another crack, followed by the sounds of brush being disturbed.
The hairs on the back of Sasha’s neck bristled. In swift succession, as if it were ripping off a mask to expose its true form, the forest and the moonlit road turned from tranquil, to downright terrifying.
And in the center of this new, and rather cold, awareness of his surroundings, came the feeling of stupidity. Never more than in that moment was Sasha aware of the fact that it was the dead of night, with him over a mile away from the car and Jobe, and in a place where, literally, no one could hear him scream.
Sasha watched the silver-bathed forest’s edge, his feet welded to the road and paralyzed. He was too afraid to move, even though his mind was screaming at him to turn around and run as fast as he could.
But no, no, he couldn’t run. This was Vancouver Island, it could be bear or a cougar. There were huge predators living in these forests and running would trigger the animal’s prey drive. Sasha didn’t need another reason to be the animal’s midnight snack––the damn thing already had plenty.
Maybe it’s an elk or a moose? Oh, fuck, those could kill you too though.
Then, just as Sasha started to regain the movement of his limbs, there was another series of snaps, these ones close enough for Sasha to be able to pinpoint the location. It was coming from the fringes of the woods on the right-hand side, about fifty-feet from where Sasha was standing.
I need to get the fuck out of here. Sasha took a step back, the beam from the flashlight directed to the ground, and began to walk backwards, his eyes never leaving the spot where he’d heard the noise.
Then he saw it–– he saw a shadow exit the forest.
Sasha inhaled sharply, his entire chest becoming a single desperate heartbeat. He watched with horror as an outline, only visible by the moon’s glow, stood in front of a large tree, its eyes shining in the moonlight.
It was… it was a person.
No. No that can’t be possible. No one’s out here. Sasha closed his eyes and shook his head, desperately trying to blame what he was seeing on the weed. But weed didn’t do that to you, or at least nowhere outside of Hollywood.
Sure enough, when Sasha opened his eyes the man was still there, and not only that, he was walking towards the gravel road; his movements oddly graceful and elegant.
And when this strange man walked to the middle of the road, the almost full moon above him illuminating the mysterious figure in its bright silver glow, Sasha saw short black hair, a pale face, and all the more odd, he was wearing a black robe.
It seemed as if… he hadn’t seen Sasha yet. Could he be so lucky?
Then Sasha heard another series of snaps and cracks, and just as his attention turned back to the treeline, he saw a second one emerge. Without pause, this one staggered out, void of the graceful glide that the first one’s movements had mastered.
There was something wrong with that man. Had… the first one hurt him, or something? He was stumbling so badly that he’d had to grab a nearby stump to keep himself from falling. The first made no movement to help him, he only watched the second one struggle from his place in the middle of the gravel road.
The second one was so bad on his feet, he almost fell as he tried to cross a small ditch that separated the road from the trees, one the first had navigated easily. Sasha could hear an audible gasp as he fell, his hands outstretched to try and regain his balance.
The first one looked on, making no move to help his comrade stand. On the contrary, with how the second one cowered down, it looked like he was getting a lethal glare.
Who are these people? Sasha realized he had stopped taking steps backwards, and was now standing in the middle of the road watching these two mysterious men in front of him.
Then, at the same time, the heads of both of the men… turned towards Sasha.
Sasha’s body convulsed with fear. He looked from side to side, in a way that suggested a foolhardy hope that they were looking at something else, before he said through a dry throat, “H-hi.”
The two men stood side by side, the first one standing tall and giving off a look of control and authority, and the second, slumped and almost crumpled, with his hands tightly wrapped around his chest. They both looked at Sasha, their faces pale from the moonlight above them, and then Sasha heard a meek, and rather timid, Hello from the second figure.
The first one’s head jerked to the second, as if telling him to shut up. This made the second one cower down as if expecting to be hit, and a mumbled apology quickly followed.
The first turned his attention back to Sasha, and began walking towards him. But with every step forward, Sasha took one back.
“Don’t… come any closer,” Sasha stammered, wishing he could borrow some of that authority the first one seemed to have an abundance of. “I… I don’t want any trouble. I’m just going to leave.”
The first one raised a hand. “Calm down,” he said, his voice deep with a rasp to it. He took another step forward, and Sasha was bewildered to see a smirk on his lips. “How are you, nightcrawler?” As Sasha’s eyes narrowed at this strange comment, the man’s only brightened. He had strange eyes, pale colour but with a darker shade splotched on the inner iris, and though he was quite handsome, his defined jaw and shaped eyebrows gave him a menacing appearance that made Sasha’s anxieties shoot through the roof. There was something extremely unsettling about this man, and even if Sasha had passed him on the street, he had a feeling he’d be watching his back and making sure all of his doors and windows were locked once home.
The smirk on the man’s face turned into an amused smile, however his eyes remained cold. “Yes, you’re confused,” he said. He glanced to his side as the second one approached, this one with longer black hair that fell over large blue eyes, ones that shot in all directions, as if he too was fearful. “This one is named Keluva, but he would prefer if you called him Kel. And I…” The man took a step forward and held out his hand. Sasha stared down at it, and made no move to take it. “I am Kheva.”
“I’m… Sasha,” Sasha whispered, feeling almost struck dumb. He tightened his grip on the flashlight and took a step back, the reality of the situation he was in suddenly making him extremely cold. He tried to deny the tremble coming to his body, but before he knew it the beam of the flashlight was shaking.
Okay, time to stop fucking around. This is a dangerous situation and I have to get out of here. Sasha swallowed through the knot in his throat, and forced a casual smile to his lips.
“I’m going now,” he said, the sounds of rattling plastic filling the air as the strap of the flashlight hit the cylinder, all from his shaking hand. “H-have… a nice night.”
The man’s smile faded, and just as Sasha turned around to head back to the car, he saw him turn to the one named Kel.
“Keluva, the knife.”
Sasha froze. He whirled around
, and when he saw the second one reach into his black robes and pull out a thin silver knife, his body recoiled from terror.
Sasha turned and ran.
The world around him became nothing but a dizzying blur, the beam from the flashlight held so tightly in his hand adding to the disorientation that was throwing him off-kilter. He could barely see, the brief moments of illumination that the flashlight brought were quickly taken from him, and soon Sasha found himself needing to look away from it in an attempt to keep his balance.
How the fuck Sasha was still standing, he didn’t know, his world was spinning, and vertigo mixed with nausea was soon added to the swirling daze. Determined though, he kept running, his shoes slamming down on the rough gravel and his breathing rapid chokes that burned his lungs.
But it was no use, to Sasha’s horror he felt someone grab him from behind, and with a terrified scream, one that echoed throughout the forest, he was thrown to the ground.
Sasha’s head slammed against the cold road, a bright flash of light temporarily replacing the darkness as his brain reacted to the sudden impact. The flashlight was knocked out of his hand, skidding like a hockey puck on ice, before coming to a stop several feet away; its beam shining directly on Sasha, and the two robed men who towered over him.
Then, one of the men pounced, and cold clammy hands grabbed him. A heart-stopping fear embedded itself inside of Sasha, clinging to his bones, his mind, his body, like it was a living parasite. He thrashed and kicked and tried to break free of their grip, but even though his brain was screaming at his arms and legs to fight back, fight for his fucking life, nothing moved.
“No!” Sasha screamed. He was pushed onto his back, and saw that the one with the longer black hair was pinning down his shoulders.
The man… Kel…
…he looked just as scared as Sasha did.
“Let me go!” Sasha pleaded. His hands flew up and he took a handful of Kel’s hair, but there was no reaction. Sasha pulled it, feeling strands of it break away into his hand, but the man didn’t so much as flinch. Full of desperation, Sasha dug his fingers into Kel’s face and began to claw it, his fingernails digging into the flesh and leaving behind white streaks that soon filled with blood.
But it was useless. Even with blood now flowing from Kel’s wounds, he held Sasha firm, his fearful eyes blank and unblinking, refusing to make eye contact with the man he was pinning down. There was nothing for Sasha to do but scream, and that was exactly what he did.
Unfortunately for Sasha though, it was because of him being preoccupied with Kel and what the man was doing, that he didn’t notice Kheva. Kheva had knelt down beside the screaming Sasha, the silver knife held delicately in his right hand.
“Not the way I wanted this to go,” Kheva murmured. Sasha paused mid-scream to look over at Kheva, and when he saw the shining knife being wielded by the robed man, his screaming turned into gasping pleas.
“Don’t… don’t do this…” Sasha stammered, his heart slamming full force against his chest. “My… my friend will be here soon. He knows I’m missing. If you let me go now, I won’t tell anyone what happened. Please, I–” The words evaporated on Sasha’s tongue when Kheva brought the knife to his lips and licked the blade.
Then, in a rapid movement that was just a blur, Kheva grabbed Sasha’s left arm at the wrist and stabbed the tip of the blade into the soft skin of his forearm.
The scream was so loud it broke Sasha’s throat, loud enough for Kel to wince from the volume.
This is it… this is how I’m going to die; these two freaks are going to kill me.
“We’re not freaks,” Kel whispered.
Sasha stopped screaming and stared up at Kel, his large eyes fixed on the black-haired man with both confusion and wonder.
But then a sharp pain snatched away his temporary truce of silence, and a cry broke through Sasha’s pursed lips. Kheva. What the fuck was he doing? The man was in the middle of squeezing the wound he’d just made, massaging and encouraging the blood that was already dripping down Sasha’s arm.
Then, to further the confusion and terror, two powerful forces that seemed to be holding his fight-or-flight instincts captive, Kheva brought out a silver flask, one with designs moulded into the metal, and held it to Sasha’s bleeding arm.
They wanted my blood? Why? Sasha’s brain kept sending signals to his mouth, urging him to demand answers, to do anything besides lay there and scream like the useless idiot he was, but there were too many broken paths, too many roadblocks preventing the electrical impulses from hitting their mark. His mind had regressed back to its most primitive of states, and there was nothing left inside of him to help this deadly situation he’d found himself in.
But he could still scream, and as another scream broke the chaotic night air, Sasha felt a swell of energy come to him. Somehow, he managed to lurch his body upwards, freeing his arm from Kheva’s grasp enough to almost make him spill the flask.
Kheva’s pale eyes blazed, the flashlight illuminating their true colour which Sasha realized were two different shades: a pale green, with piercing yellow blotches. Sasha had never seen anything like it, and for a moment, he stared at them.
And Kheva stared back, the strange eyes hardened rock, the menace only amplified by the arch of his eyebrows.
“We’ll get the seed, and he’ll be done,” Kheva said, his gaze burrowing deep inside of Sasha. “You said you wanted to collect it, then get to it. I’ll dim him down.”
“W-what?” Sasha cried. His gaze switching from Kheva to Kel. His seed? What the… fuck?
Kheva said nothing back, but when Kel let go of Sasha’s shoulders, he took advantage of the fleeting opportunity and jumped to his feet.
He made it two steps before he felt himself get grabbed. But this time, when Sasha screamed like a rabbit being caught by a big cat, he suddenly felt a calmness wash over his body.
‘Shhh… calm down, nightcrawler.’
What? That voice… it was different, it wasn’t the one he’d been hearing, the one who was constantly degrading him. It was…
…fucking Kheva’s.
‘Calm down.’
“That’s it,” Kheva whispered into his ear, his hold on Sasha tight. Then his tone rose to address Kel. “I have him. Continue.”
Kel appeared in front of him, his body trembling. He looked down and began to undo Sasha’s belt.
Sasha’s head was swimming, like he was wading in a pool full of mud. There was fog everywhere, sinking itself into every nook and cranny and filling the world with its disconnecting haze. With every ounce of him, Sasha fought it, he tried to push it away, but just like real fog it was pointless; he only managed to stir it up, and as soon as his hands dropped, it re-formed its ethereal wall.
Something was wrong. They were doing things to his head.
Sasha felt himself get lowered to the ground. He looked over at Kheva, who had put the flask back up to his bleeding arm, before his attention went to Kel.
Who was pulling off his pants?
No… Sasha opened his mouth to try and scream, but only a stifled groan was managed, and even that sounded more like a weak, pleading whimper.
Kel drew Sasha’s pants down to his ankles, and then grabbed the elastic on Sasha’s boxer briefs. He paused though for a brief moment, and inhaled an excited breath, then he drew Sasha’s boxer briefs down, exposing a flaccid penis surrounded by untrimmed pubic hair.
Springs of fear kept erupting inside of Sasha’s mind, alarms of terror that demanded to be heard. But those ringing alerts fell on a mind that had been rendered deaf, and besides knowing that what was happening to him was wrong, terrifying, fucking insane and wrong, there was nothing he could do.
Kel took Sasha’s penis into his hands and held it, then licked his lips. “He has a nice one,” Kel whispered. “Master… can I fuck him?”
Sasha whimpered, and he tried to force himself to scream.
“No,” Kheva replied sharply, his voice holding an overabundan
ce of anger. “You’ll do what we spoke of and nothing more.”
Kel flinched but nodded. He began running his hand up and down Sasha’s penis, his eyes full of hunger.
Then, with a suddenness that took Sasha off-guard, the fog temporarily cleared away. He didn’t know how it happened, or why, but Sasha took the mental and physical freedom and fucking ran with it.
“Get the fuck off!” Sasha yelled. He ripped his arm away from Kheva and thrashed like a fish brought to the surface. As Kel gave a shocked gasp, Sasha wound back his leg and kicked it forward with every ounce of strength he had in him, and to his surprise, it connected with Kheva’s mouth.
A vicious noise erupted from Kheva and he dropped the flask, but before it even landed on the gravel, Kheva had Sasha’s leg in his arms and he roughly pressed it back.
“Don’t just fucking pet it, Keluva, get the fucking cum already!” Kheva snarled. A noticeable trickle of blood running down his milky white face. Kel cried out, cowering under the burst of anger, before nodding rapidly and grabbing Sasha’s dick again. Sasha recoiled from him, then balled his fist and took a swing at Kel, and punched him in the jaw.
“You fucking idiot; get out of the way,” Kheva snapped. He got to his feet and kicked Kel hard in the side, then again until the man scrambled away.
“Jobe!” Sasha screamed. He tried to get to his feet, only to trip over the pants that had been drawn to his ankles. He fell to the ground again and felt himself get kicked, then two feet stood on each of his arms, pinning him, stomach down, onto the sharp gravel.
“Don’t move, hold him down!” Kheva commanded. Sasha felt the hazy disconnect try to claim him again, but though it prevented him from thrashing and kicking, he found his voice was still his own.
However, it was weak. Sasha cried out, desperately searching himself for any resistance, for any control over his body. But whatever Kheva could do, he could do it well… he had nothing.
And it was only going to get worse. Sasha felt a cold hand grab his left testicle and pull it out so it was no longer tucked underneath his body, and then did the same to the right. With both testicles exposed underneath his backside, the cold air hitting them and tightening them up, Sasha sobbed and attempted to shift himself away.