Whispers Beneath the Pines

by Whispers Beneath the Pines

  “I’m coming for you,” Guz called.

  Kevin stood against the tree as he dodged a ray of torchlight. They were still after him. Eve, he had to find Eve. He listened; there were no other sounds, not a voice, not a rustle, only the sounds of the man who was fast approaching his hiding place. He had to get back over to the jeep, try and find out what was going on. Behind him, he heard a firm step crunch on the twigs beneath, then a snorting noise followed by the man spitting. He held his position and tried hard to breathe quietly. Sweat fell down his forehead and dripped into his eyes and off the end of his nose, the humidity served to make his arms feel heavy.

  The man passed him and stopped to look around. He watched the stout, gun pointing body walk off alongside the river. “I found your blood. The animals will eat you when you’re dead,” the man called.

  Kevin glanced down and saw a blackness expanding around the light coloured material covering the wound on his leg. He was nearly down, that monster was right. He had time against him. Without a thought he fumbled with the knotted material around his leg, untied it and took a look. The moonlight only showed him so much but the sticky blackness glistened in the small amount of light that there was. He flinched as a stinging pain seared from his leg and through his body. A stream of blackness trickled down his leg. Grabbing the bloody material, he tied it back up as hard as he could. Clenching his teeth, he took a moment for the wave of pain to pass. Stomach churning, breath bad with thirst, head light, he stood closed eyes for a moment against the tree, willing the pain to subside. Why had he untied the wound?

  Now, he had to go now the light had passed. He hobbled onto the path. In the distance he heard the man call again but he was too far away for the words to be identified. He shuffled alongside the river bank. As he got closer, he could hear the gushing of the waterfall. “Eve,” he whispered. No answer. With every step pain jolted up his leg and waist. He had to survive, he had to find Eve and get them out of there. The last thing he remembered was slipping into a feverish sleep. The events beforehand came back to him; they were chasing Eve, hunting her down. He remembered pounding on the cars and the jeep to try and get them away from her. He remembered hoping that she would get away and fetch help. “Eve." He called again and again, there was no answer.

  He thought of the few days that they had spent together. His teenage dream had come to life when Eve had wanted to be with him. Every moment that they’d shared had been the best of his life so far. He shivered as he thought back to when he felt her skin next to his back at the villa. Her smile, her warmth, her loving nature. He had to find her; he had to get her back. He needed her. Cautiously he approached the area where they were set up earlier that evening. Nothing but darkness and the sound of crickets that deceived the ear so well. At one angle it sounded like they were in his ear, a slight turn and they were all but gone. Rustling came from the surrounding shrubs, the waterfall crashed into the pool. Feeling the spray on his left cheek he enjoyed the coldness and found it almost invigorating. The vehicles were behind him, they had to be, that’s where they were earlier.

  “We have your slut girlfriend,” he heard the man shout. Kevin’s heart pounded and he could hear the blood pumping through his head. They had Eve, they had caught her. The voice was close. He turned and shuffled over the stumps and mangled twigs and headed towards the cars. Nearly there he thought as he dragged his leg over the rocks. 'Don’t fall, don’t trip,' he thought over and over again. “She’s very nice,” the man shouted followed by a loud snigger.

  He turned and spotted the torchlight. The prick who was after him was probably passing the clearing at that moment and heading directly in Kevin’s direction. His slow drag turned into a pain inducing jog; he had to try, for Eve. The torchlight shone straight past him.

  “Trying to run with a shot leg. Not easy,” the man shouted as he continued to catch him up. “Run, see how long you can run for,” the man shouted as he howled with laughter. The sadistic prick had spotted him and was enjoying every moment of the show.

  The car, only one car. The jeep and the other car had gone. Eve must’ve gone in a car, but where. “No, where the hell. Where the hell is she?” Kevin shouted. “Where is she? You prick?” A shovel was leaned against the boot of the car. A weapon, he dragged himself towards it. Bang, a bullet flew past his head and hit a tree stump. The smell of sulphur was close by. His stomach rolled and he leaked a tear as he bent over to shield his body behind the car. The torch beam got closer and closer before it flickered. He heard the man mutter to himself and bang it against his hand. The lights went out. Kevin knew that his eyes would take a moment to adjust.

  “I see, we have a bit of fun. No lights,” the man said. Kevin reached around the back of the car. Without being able to see the shovel, he felt his way round until he felt the wooden handle. With a swift grab he darted as low as he could back into the bushes.

  “There’s no way you can escape. You think you can take me down with that old shovel?” The man said. “Here's a question. You know how many people have been buried by that shovel?”

  Kevin flinched as he imagined people, random people. Normal people just like them. People on days out, having fun before coming to a grisly end.

  “In fact I buried one just here,” the man said as he moved closer to Kevin. “I will bury you here too, next to him and his ugly wife. She wasn’t like your girls, pretty. We can do things with pretty girls.” The man howled with laughter before breaking into a hacking cough. Kevin kept still as he heard the man rustling near him. He smelled cigarette smoke, he was close.

  Come here, come close to me, come close enough so that I can wrap this shovel around your face, Kevin thought. The man remained; smoking, spitting and laughing. He heard the gun cock as the man continued to howl.

  Chapter 40

  Buzz click. The flickering light went out. Eve envisaged the disappointed little moths dispersing before searching for an exit out of the building. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture the room that she had been studying for the past few minutes. She had to remember things, everything; but it was getting harder. Every small movement was punished with a jolt of pain, her muscles were stiff from the running earlier that night and the position she was bound in had solidified her stiff position. Numbness had now spread from her legs to her hips and her elevated arms felt non existent. Her swimsuit flapped open as she moved; she felt the bottom of her right breast slip underneath the dirty orange lycra. Open and exposed in all her shame for all to see, everything that she’d ever wanted to keep private about herself was now on display for her captors to ridicule. The room; she thought hard, don’t forget the room. Eyes tightly shut she battled with the throbbing in her head to recall the room. There was a little table, maybe it could be used as a weapon. To her left, some gardening tools were hanging up on the wall. Her head flashed a pain and her numb arms tingled; she tried to wiggle her fingers but it was difficult.

  'The room,' she yelled in her head; think about the room. Directly ahead there was a door, it wasn’t locked. They had assumed she was well and truly stuck where they had left her and they were right. Gardening tools, shovels, a lump hammer. She shuddered, all tools they could use on her if she didn’t comply. A lawn mower. Clear pots of screws and nails. Wood stain and cobwebs. Wood, lots of wood, the whole structure was built of wood with a concrete floor. Musty old wood; frail wood, oily smelling wood.

  Noises, she heard the neighing of a horse close by; there had to be other buildings. Was she on a farm? All questions, no answers. Why did her head not give her the answers? What she would do right now for a couple of pain killers, a cold drink and a comfortable bed? A drink, her mind wandered, taunting her with visions of cold water. The musty rag had rubbed the corners of her mouth sore with every head movement. The material had absorbed any liquid that was in her mouth. Dryness had spread to her throat, she tried to cough but a forced croak was the only sound she could make.

  A light beam jolted across her face as it filtered throu
gh a broken piece of the wooden structure. She shuffled and got as close to the gap in the wood as she could. Squinting and closing one eye she tried hard to focus on the light. A car pulled up at the back of what looked like a small sugar cube house. People were removing items from the car, lots of things. Eve squinted harder, the images were becoming clearer. Celile stood to the side of the car and grabbed a pair of shoes. Eve saw the dark silhouette of a high shoe followed by a bag. There was something familiar about the shape of the shoe, Selina. Selina’s pride and joy, her favourite purchase; the purple shoes. They had looted all their belongings, all their valuables and their lives, eradicating their existence. Eve shuddered as she thought about them ransacking the villa. Had they ransacked it or quietly just removed all the evidence of whom had stayed there? She watched as their bags were flung out of the car one by one. All their belongings gone. Eve shuddered; the owners of the villa would assume that they had left. Their passports, documents, identification, bank cards and money: All coming out of the back of that car.

  Eve wrenched the binds that dug into her skin to no avail; she had to get out get away. She couldn't leave their disappearance as a mystery never to be solved. Their disappearance would be met by people saying that they had left the villa, gone elsewhere, got into some sort of trouble and got lost. After all, the gang had taken their bags and belongings. She pictured the news channels at home mentioning their disappearance. It would be a thirty second slot never to be repeated and they would be forgotten forever. Harry would grow up thinking that his mother had left him. Her parents would lap up the pity from well wishers. All this would be old news within no time. She tried to wrench the binds again, pulling hard, trying to bring life back to her numb limbs. The severity of the pain sharpened her senses, awakening her determination. Breathlessly she stopped and shuffled once more towards the gap in the wood.

  Sadik slapped Mehmet, Celile unloaded something. There was no sign of the older man in the woods. Maybe it was just the three of them. She heard a shuffling sound and the main lights on the car illuminated an old woman. A bent over woman shuffling in slippers wearing a dark headscarf. Her face turned towards Celile and she shuffled across to her. Come closer, Eve thought. The old woman's features were still blurred. Celile dismissed the old woman who then began to shuffle towards the out building. Maybe this woman would help her. Eve croaked as hard as she could and tried to stamp her feet as much as the binds would allow. The woman stopped and steadied herself before continuing to shuffle closer. Once again, Eve croaked as loud as she could. The old woman stopped halfway between the car and the outhouse, the lights catching her face as she turned. The old woman who was trying to sell her the sunglasses, it was her. ‘Trust your instincts.’ What had she known? Had they been targets from the beginning? Was she part of it or was she trying to warn them? Sadik called and the old woman ignored him.

  He ran towards her and grabbed the old woman by the back of her frail arm, swung her around and pointed her in the direction of the house. The old woman shuffled away and the car’s lights went out. She listened as the car doors were slammed and Sadik dragged all their bags towards the house. She relaxed her body, and sat still, listening to their movements. The front door slammed shut.

  Her muscles twitched, her face tingled and her thirst grew stronger. She moved her tongue and flinched at the dry mesh like material of the scarf. The mustiness now overwhelmed her, it was almost like the stains from the scarf had become part of her. She closed her eyes, there was no point in crying, no point in screaming, every movement that was a waste of time was now a waste of the precious little bit of energy that she had left.

  She tried to think back to the moment when she had been dreaming of Harry pulling her along in the little truck; it would be real in her mind for now. Stillness came over the place, the horse had stopped neighing and even the crickets weren’t out. There were no insects bouncing off the light bulb and no people either. All that was left was a vacuous silence. A silence that was hard to imagine. Eve had tried to think back to a time when she had sat in total silence and she couldn’t recall one.

  Now, in this shed building it was her alone in silence. All she had was her own imagination to pass the time. At their mercy she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. She fidgeted, her bladder needed emptying. How that could’ve happened when she was so desperate for a drink, she didn’t know. She fidgeted in the damp patch created from the water that they had poured over her earlier. If only she'd have known she would be so parched now, she would’ve tried harder to drink some of the water instead of choking on it and coughing it back up.

  She heard a crunch on the earth outside the building alerting her to someone’s presence. Her body stiffened as the door handle creaked. Her breaths quickened and she breathed in the musty air desperately through the scarf. Someone was coming for her, from what she could hear someone was coming alone for her.

  Chapter 41

  Kevin gasped for air, stabbing pains shot up his leg. The Prick’s laughing got louder as he took another step towards Kevin. He could see The Prick's shadow in front of the car as the clouds passed and the moon's light shone from behind the man. The shadow neared as the hefty man moved forward a step. Kevin kneeled down and took the weight off his burning calf then shuffled backwards. He was now crouched behind the bonnet of the car. The Prick knew exactly where he was, Kevin tensed up as he heard him edge closer.

  “I’m going to give her something special from you when I get back. You would call it a present. A big present, one she won’t forget,” The Prick said.

  Kevin’s heart began to pound as he clenched his teeth. Sweat dripped over his eyes and his knuckles gripped the handle of the shovel. This Prick wasn’t going to get a chance to hurt his Eve. With all his strength, he jabbed the edge of the shovel directly into Guz’s shins, the man yelped and fired. Kevin flinched and ducked. A branch dropped to the ground missing his head by an inch, the bullet had been fired into the sky. He grabbed the shovel then jabbed again at The Prick’s shin, he watched as the metal edge tore through his trousers and gashed his leg. The Prick yelped and writhed in front of him as he grabbed the gun and aimed it at Kevin’s head. Kevin kicked The Prick hard in his gaping wound and The Prick writhed on the floor before grabbing the gun. With one hand on the bonnet of the car and one on the shovel, Kevin dragged his body to a standing position and lifted the shovel above his head. The Prick lifted up his arm and pointed the gun at Kevin’s face. Kevin closed his eyes, not wanting to see the bullet coming at him. He couldn't stop now, no surrender; putting up a fight was his only chance of escape. With everything he had, he brought the shovel down hard on The Prick’s face, flat side on. He heard the gun fly behind The Prick and land in the hedge.

  The Prick murmured and rolled his eyes back before closing them. Using the shovel as a crutch Kevin hobbled in the direction of the gun. He began prodding the ground with the tool in an attempt to part the foliage that was concealing the weapon he needed. Then he heard a crunch, metal on metal. He had found the piece. Stumbling, he fell to his knees and felt along the dusty undergrowth until he had his fingers around the gun. He grabbed it firmly and turned his head. The Prick still lay outstretched on the ground, murmuring to himself.

  Gun in hand, Kevin stood and shuffled towards the splayed out man and kneeled beside him. Keys, they had to be somewhere. He fumbled in The Prick’s pockets, there was nothing but a few shreds of previously machine washed tissue paper. “Where the fuck have you put the keys?” Kevin shouted as he shook The Prick. The slumped man responded with an incoherent snort. The Prick’s eyes were still closed. Kevin got to his feet and shuffled back over to the shovel. He yelped as he bent to grab it; every time he moved he could feel his open wound being stretched further apart. He rubbed his sweaty face with his gritty hand before grabbing the shovel and using it as a crutch.

  “Celile,” The Prick stuttered.

  Kevin headed towards the area where they had camped all evening, the keys had to be amongst
The Prick’s belongings; they had to be somewhere. As he approached the waterfall, he spotted a couple of bags positioned next to Selina’s body. He flinched as he settled the shovel against the tree and leaned down to grab the bag, avoiding the skin of his perished friend. He grabbed it and shook it, there were no keys jangling in the bag. The clouds passed once again and the moonlight lit up the area beautifully. The cascading water almost took on a bluish tinge, in the distance he saw something move, a creature, a wolf like scavenger waiting for him to leave so that it could feast on his friend’s body. Kevin kneeled as he continued to fish around in the bag and something caught his eye. A glint of something shiny, the sight of metal on a key ring wedged under Selina’s bottom. He leaned down with his eyes closed as he grabbed the bunch of keys. He opened them once again and forced his gaze away from Selina. He pulled his body back to standing and took a step. He stopped, took a deep breath and turned before taking a step back towards Selina. He removed the scarf that had concealed his friend's deathly face.

  He placed the keys safely in his pocket and stroked her head as a tear rolled down his cheek. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted. “I will be back for you,” Kevin whispered as he leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead before pulling the scarf back over her. He turned to see if the wolf creature was still around; to his relief it had gone. Wet tears spread across his cheek; he wiped them away and started hobbling with his shovel-crutch towards the car.