The Valley

by Annie Graefnitz

  “You would be stunned if you were to get hit by that. Yes?”

  “That's not funny!”

  Jay smiled back at me and walked back to the path. When I reached him, he was standing empty handed by the bag of tricks.

  “Is that all you've got, Rambo? Why do you have all this?”

  “I already told you, it’s a bad place out here. You are making it difficult for me to teach you anything, you know. Why don't you follow your own instincts?” he asked.

  Why do people keep telling me that?

  “I'm actually trying to ignore my instincts if you must know.” Those instincts told me to run screaming in the other direction.

  His folded his arms and rocked back on his heels. “I was not speaking of your fear. It is your natural instinct to protect yourself that you have not yet had to use. But it's in there. I can see it; you will feel it when it's the right time. When certain danger comes for you, it feels as if you are being crushed from the inside. You will know when it's time to just go for it.”

  Go for it? I recalled my rant to try and get him to leave; now I was very close to resorting to physical violence. Did he feel that crushing feeling then?

  “I guess if all else fails, I could always bite him,” I muttered to myself.

  Jay laughed, “Are they sharp.”

  “What?”

  “Your teeth. Show them to me.”

  He looked at me blankly, but I wondered if maybe he was only half serious. I began to awkwardly bare my teeth and he put up his hand.

  “No, I was joking with you. You don’t want to get close enough to bite,” he concluded with a grin.

  “I can't believe you, Jay. I'm trying to learn how to defend myself from a pretty frightening situation and you messing with me? How am I supposed to trust you now?” I teased.

  His smile barely hid the reddening of his cheeks and he shrugged.

  “How old are you anyway?”

  “Why?”

  “Because, I hardly think your old enough to be this calm and…fearless.”

  “Fearless?” he snorted. “Not fearless. Helpful. I am seventeen.”

  So we’re the same age, but still young, too young to be that confident in his ability to help. “Well, I’m not sure if I should be taking instructions from a kid.”

  His eyebrows furrowed, apparently I couldn't flirt in a foreign country either.

  “How about we just plan on no confrontations and finding the camp safely.”

  It sounded like a good plan to me. But then I realized, he wasn't pondering my lame comments. His head was cocked slightly to the side and he was completely still. So still that it sent a shiver up my back. Was he even breathing? He lowered his head until his nose was nearly touching mine.

  “It is time,” he whispered. The gold rim in his eyes was the only color I could see as the last twinge of light crept through the trees.

  “Time?”

  He put a finger to his lips to silence me before handing me the tube. He pulled the compact out of his pocket and slid it into my other hand. “Do you remember?”

  My attempt at a nod ended up in my head jerking uncontrollably while my eyes fixed on his. “But it's so loud!”

  “It’s all you have. Just do it as quickly as you can without cutting yourself. Do not cut yourself!” His exasperated command did little to reassure me that I could use the bizarre weapon.

  He gently lifted his bag and put his arm around the front of me. As silently as we could, we slid backwards off the path and took cover in the thick brush. I couldn't see the path anymore, nor could I hear anything. It was so still now the only sound I could hear was my own heart ready to forge a path out of my chest. Jay remained close to me, listening intently but not moving.

  “Stay here,” he whispered, rising from his crouched position.

  I grabbed his arm before he could stand. “Where are you going?” My voice was almost paralyzed in fear about what was happening. I realized that I never would have made it through this without him and I wasn't ready for him to leave.

  He peeled my fingers off his arm with his free hand. “Shh.”

  He parted the brush, climbed through and was gone, leaving me completely frozen. What was I supposed to do now? What if he didn't come back? Earlier I told myself that he was my responsibility, not the other way around, and I had just let him go. There was nothing else to do but go after him because this wasn't his fight.

  I rose just as he had, and slowly and as quietly as I could, pulled the brush apart. I strained my eyes to see where Jay had gone. Only a small section of the path not hidden under the trees was visible; somewhere high above, the moon had given me just enough help.

  I found Jay standing in the middle of the path, his hands at his sides. He took a step backward suddenly as Will appeared in front of him.

  NO!

  Will circled him slowly as if he was a cat stalking his prey. I wanted to scream-anything to distract him so Jay could run.

  Scream. I remembered the screeching dart and slumped back down, digging in the bag. I didn't care about making noise now; it was too late. Will had found Jay and if he didn't know that I was hiding in the trees nearby, he would soon. I found the compact and tube and stood again, straining to see Will. They were too far away for me to see clearly, if I tried now, I could easily miss Will and hit Jay.

  I crept slowly sideways until I found a break that would allow me a clear shot at him. With the tube under my arm, I pulled the compact close to my face and opened it. It was much louder than it was before when Jay was showing me, but I didn't have time to see if it had caught Will's attention. I carefully grabbed the first spike I could see and shoved it into the end of the tube as the screech grew louder. With the tube at my lips, I looked up just as Will lunged for Jay. I sucked in a deep breath and blew.

  Something had slammed into the side of me, sending me reeling out of control through the trees. Every part of my body made contact with trees, rocks, and brush as I flew through the air and landed abruptly against a boulder. I lay motionless, trying to figure out if somehow the tube had misfired.

  But I heard footsteps pounding toward me. I ignored my aching body, and jumped to my feet. My hands balled into fists and I held them out in front of me as if I was channeling the Notre Dame mascot, but I didn't care what I looked like. I was ready to punch the thing's head OFF. The footsteps grew louder and heavier. Whatever it was didn't see exactly where I landed after my flight through the air so it began zigzagging toward me.

  I sunk lower and held that position until the thing got closer. It was still moving back and forth between the trees. By the sound of the heavy footfall, I determined that it was a person. A very large person, and it was getting closer. My hand fumbled in my pocket for the vial. I needed it – now. But I didn't find it fast enough; the attacker jumped over the rock I'd smashed into. Just as it landed, I sprang from my crouch, right into its arms. I beat it over the head with my fists hard and with all the strength I could conjure. With every blow to the head, the attacker grunted and tried to pull me off.

  The whole scene became an out-of-body experience. I became the audience to a very off-balanced struggle. I watched the girl pummeling the giant's head and face, even poking at his eyes at one point, making him try to throw her off. But she was quicker, crawling under his arm and onto his back where the beating continued as he hunched over.

  She screamed when the giant grabbed a fist full of her hair, pulling her over the top of his head and dropping her to the ground. As she dangled from her hair, a voice whispered calmly into her ear. Bite him. That was all she needed to finish the fight. She grabbed for the trunk-like arm holding her, and pulling herself up for her first ever pull-up. Her lips found flesh and she sank her teeth into the arm.

  The beast howled and immediately dropped her to the ground. She tried desperately to purge the chemical taste from her mouth, and crawled away gagging and spitting, but the large hands locked onto her ankles and dragged her back. She clawed wi
ldly at the ground, searching for anything she could latch onto for a weapon, finding it in the form of a small tree branch.

  As she was being dragged, she twisted with the branch in hand and smashed the beast in the head again. The grip on her ankle freed and the giant disappeared into the trees.

  I dropped the branch and fell back onto the ground panting. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, because I wasn't really sure what just happened. It was so fast. The beast had come from nowhere and knocked me senseless to a point at which I'd left my body. But I was back now and utterly broken. Every inch of me was throbbing.

  I pulled my shoulders off the ground, but they were immediately shoved back to the ground, crushing weight pinning me down. I tried to repeat what I watched the girl do moments ago, and began chomping at the knee that held my right shoulder.

  “Stop that,” I heard him demand from a distance as the knees holding me down lifted and stepped away.

  Blinking desperately to see through the darkness, I growled again and jumped to my feet.

  “Will, don't you come any closer!”

  Footsteps slowly moved toward me from the other side and I swung around. “I said do not come any closer or I will kill you!” I hissed. A twig snapped and I crouched again ready to attack if I had to.

  “Oh, no you will not,” he whispered coyly.

  His tone made me want to vomit. He was playing with me now, just as he'd toyed with Jay earlier. He was silent, but I could feel him circling me. I couldn't pinpoint where or even how close he was. My eyes shut and I tried to control my breathing. If I could just keep myself quiet enough to hear him, maybe I could get him before he...got me. I lowered myself again and waited.

  He chuckled from behind me. “What are you doing?”

  I spun around, but he wasn't there.

  “Stop that!” I shouted.

  “No way. You're going to bite me, too.” He'd moved again, I thought. But then, I didn't know if he was actually moving that fast or if he was just throwing his voice. It sounded like he was speaking through a megaphone.

  “William Dalca, you coward! Stop hiding and face me like a man!” I screamed with clenched fists. My heart punched my chest. What was I saying? I didn't want him to face me. I wanted him to let me kill him and just go peacefully into the light.

  “Well, that wouldn't be very fair,” he taunted, again his voice coming from a different place.

  I stopped spinning to find him, but it was pointless. I reverted back to trying to feel his presence. Jay said that I would feel it - danger - crushing my insides, so why wasn't I feeling that. I could sense Will around me, but it wasn't crushing as Jay said.

  “What's not fair is you buzzing around me like a gnat. Show yourself!”

  The swirling around me grew louder as a funnel of wind swept my hair straight up. This is it, he's going to kill me now. I thought, bracing myself for the torture that was about to happen. “Will, please!” my unwilling voice roared, getting lost in the tornado around me. I grabbed my head and bent over to block the wind from whipping my face. I squeezed my eyes tighter and screamed, “Just do it!”

  Silence.

  “I would never hurt you, Cami,” his deep voice grumbled, closer than before.

  I jumped back, bumping against his chest. Before I could get away, his arms wrapped around me.

  “Liar!” I screamed struggling to get free. “I know who you are! You're a murderer! Let go of me!”

  He squeezed tighter. “No, no you don't understand. Just stop-”

  I threw my head backward, hoping that a head butt wouldn’t knock me out too, but I missed and he threw me to the ground. I scrambled to my feet, preparing for another attack, but he simply stood before me.

  “What are you waiting for? Just finish me or let me finish you!”

  He remained still.

  “C'mon!” I squeaked as tears began to stream down my cheeks.

  “Cami, just stop!” he thundered.

  “No!” I took a step back when he started toward me again. “Where are my parents, Will? And Jay? What have you done?” My voice strained to barely a whisper, but I had to ask, even if it meant that the answer would crush me. “Did you kill them, too?”

  He stopped in his tracks. “Jay? What? Cami-no, you don't understand. What are you doing here?”

  “I came to stop you.”

  I heard him move closer and took another step backward.

  “You came to stop me from helping your parents?”

  “Helping? No, from killing them!”

  He grabbed his hair and tugged shaking his head. “Killing them?” He asked, stepping forward.

  “Don't!” I balled my fists and steadied myself for the inevitable assault that he was planning.

  “Will you stop doing that? I'm not going to hurt you.”

  “I don't believe you. You're a killer.”

  His arms flew into the air. “No I'm not! Will you stop shouting for one second so I can explain?”

  The more he denied what he was, the hotter the fire churning inside of me became. What was the point in not telling me the truth now?

  “Enlighten me then, Will. Why are you here, if not to kill my parents? I confided everything to you about me, my family. The next thing I know, you're acting strange and then my parents go missing. The Inn is set on fire just after I leave it and then you're gone. You tried to kill us all! What am I supposed to think? Are you or are you not a hunter?”

  “No! Yes. But I didn't know about you, none of us did-”

  “Us?”

  The trees next to us crackled and shook before bursting apart, making room for the giant that attacked me staggered through, dragging something in its right hand.

  “Got ‘em,” the man beast boomed. As he neared, the object dangling from his hand began shouting and flailing around.

  “Jay!” I called.

  The hand holding him released and he fell to the ground in front of us.

  Will glanced at Jay's crumpled and cursing form and then looked back to me, wrinkling his forehead “Jay?” He bent down trying to peek under Jay's hood.

  I kicked Will as hard as I could away from Jay. “You leave him alone! He has nothing to do with this, he only brought me here.”

  Taking advantage of Will's distance, Jay stood and pushed his hood back, revealing his mud streaked face and matted hair. He must have fought with the giant as well. He turned to the giant and began mumbling fiercely.

  Will had found his footing again and was standing dumbfounded, looking back and forth between us. “Jay...” he finished his comment in the language that Jay was rattling off at a hundred miles an hour as he slowly moved toward him with his chest puffed out. Jay's eyes grew large as Will approached him and his arms flew up in front of him waving wildly at Will.

  “NO!” he howled.

  In a blur of movement, Will's arms closed around Jay’s neck and twisted until he was on his knees, caught in a full headlock.

  I ran toward them and tried to peel Will’s arms from around Jay's neck, but the giant plucked me off and pulled my arms behind my back. I tried to fight back by ramming my foot backward, only to kick the air when he shifted his body to the side. I ended up face down on the ground with my arms still held tight behind me.

  “She's quite the scrapper, isn't she?” the giant asked Will.

  I turned my head to see Will give Jay's neck one last squeeze before he dropped him. Jay sat on his knees rubbing his neck where the pair of arms had been.

  “Yeah. You should see her when she's mad,” he laughed.

  The giant put his shoe on Jay's back and gave him a slight shove. “How are ya doing there, kiddo?”

  Kiddo? Jay fell forward, holding his arms out to catch himself. He jumped to his feet and popped a fist into Will's cheek. Will laughed and grabbed Jay pulling, him into a close hug.

  I stopped struggling underneath the giant. What just happened? Were they working together?

  Will finally noticed that I was still chee
k to the ground and ordered the man-beast to let me go. As soon as his arm left my back, I took off into the jungle. “Here we go,” I heard the beast groan as I ran away. Jay was helping Will? As I ran, I scolded my self for not seeing that sooner. Why else would Jay have a bag loaded with all kinds of weapons? Silver tipped weapons to top it off. I was willing to guess now that he did know the truth about me. Will probably had him meet me and get me to trust him. His shy and innocent act was fake. I couldn't trust anyone.

  I looked over my shoulder but didn't see anyone. They were not following me.

  “Agg!” I ran straight into a clothed wall and stumbled backward.

  “Relax, kid, will you? I'm not gonna hurt you, so chill out.” It was the beast again. He'd been able to speed past me and cut me off without me seeing or hearing him. My body twitched to the right but he mirrored me. “I said stop it, or I'm gonna tie you into a pretzel. Good luck running then,” he snorted.

  Will and Jay appeared from behind him. They had run by me, too?

  I looked at the two of them. Jay was noticeably taller than Will, but seemed...weaker.

  “Jay, what's going on?”

  Will reached over Jay's shoulder and slapped him on the back of the head hard enough to make his hair flop forward covering his eyes. “Jay, huh?”

  “She call me a… um, underwear.” he muttered, swiping the hair behind his ear.

  Will and the giant lit up with laughter.

  “It fits.” The giant growled and slapped Jay in the head too. The force from his slap was much harder than Will's and Jay tipped forward cursing, and replacing the hair behind his ear.

  “Relax Jack, you're not hurt,” the giant said.

  “Jack?” I whispered letting my mouth fall open. I turned to Jay. “You're Jack?”

  Jay simply nodded and it all became clear. His strange accent was French. But wait-

  “You said he was dead!” I jabbed my finger at Will.

  “I never said he was dead, Cami. I said he was gone. And I, well you only assumed I meant dead.”

  My finger poked into his chest more forcefully. “That's terrible! How could you let me think something like that? What's wrong with you?”