“Then why are you here?” Leanin spread her arms wide. “I know why I am.” Gideon turned and walked away from her. “You don't know, do you? You're just a kid, you don't realize that actions have consequences. You get horny and you do something about it, and I'm that something, aren't I?”
He disappeared into the trees and Leanin watched him go, her chin jutting into the oncoming wind. The afternoon sun was just beginning to tilt towards evening. Her eyebrows furrowed and she stuck her hands deep in her pockets. Two paths lay coming from the meadow. One lead back to the cottage, one away toward the mountains. If she got to the edge of the forest she was fairly confident she could find their bikes.
Breathing evenly, she stood still, chewing the inside of her lip. She may have claimed to Gideon that she knew what she was doing here, but did she really? She was just toying with some version of normalcy, trying to feel what a regular life felt like. How would she feel if someone had treated Jenny the way that she was treating Rolanda? Leanin frowned. Things were too muddled here, she didn't belong. In a split second decision she turned and walked toward the edge of the forest, away from the cabin.
...
Harold and Rheannon were in the kitchen when Gideon got back to the house. Rheannon stood when he entered and came over to give him a hug, she was wearing an apron dusted with flour that puffed out when she held him. Harold turned and nodded to him, his hands busy cutting strips of meat for a stew.
“Oh, I'm so happy that you're going to be building out here,” she said. As she held him tightly Gideon thought for a moment he could see a tear in her eye. “Rolanda's in the bedroom, I don't think she's feeling well.”
“I think I'll go in and check on her,” Gideon said, unwrapping himself from her embrace and brushing off the flour that was now all over him.
Rolanda was laying on the bed with the lights on, staring up at the ceiling. Her eyes were open, her chest rising and falling almost imperceptibly. Placing a hand over hers, he sat next to her. “How are you doing? Rheannon said you weren't feeling well.”
She smiled at him, her eyes glassy. “I'm okay,” she said, and then she rolled over and placed her head in his lap. Her nose crinkled and she withdrew almost immediately. “You've got the bad smell on you.”
Gideon lifted his shirt and inhaled, the faint hint of cinnamon lingered on him. “I smell like the forest, because that's where I've been all day. Your thoughts are getting jumbled again.” He smiled largely and stroked the side of her face. Pulling the blankets around herself, she curled into the fetal position.
“It's a bad smell,” she said.
...
The sun had begun its descent by the time that Leanin reached where they had stashed their bikes. She ran her fingers over her motorcycle, passing gently down the scars and scrapes along the side. A grey mud had caked itself up around her back tire; Leanin took out her knife and chiseled it away. She bent over the front, the lines were well oiled, the tires didn't have a single crack or tear in them, the front forks sturdy and straight.
It didn't take long to get her bike ready. All her gear was already strapped on. She kicked the bike once and it roared to life. Her fingers shook as she fastened the straps under her helmet and she took a long look at Gideon's motorcycle before lowering her visor and turning away from it. Twisting the throttle hard, the front wheel bucked up a few inches into the air and she was away.
...
“Is it all just a transaction?” Rolanda asked. Gideon had stayed by her side, sitting at her feet while she lay curled in a ball.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I was bought and sold before, Gideon. I had to earn my place. They made me. It was a transaction.”
He put a hand on her hip and listened quietly.
“Is it the same way? Do I have to buy your love?”
“Rolanda,” he said, moving closer on the bed, “you have my love. You know that.”
She sat up suddenly in the bed, her hair flying in wisps around her, her eyes bloodshot red. “I have a portion of your love, but not all. I can smell that for a fact. You tell me I can't trust my senses, but Gideon, that's all I have, and that's all I'll ever have.” She kicked out and caught him in the chest with her heel, driving the wind from his body and knocking him back.
He stood slowly, regaining his composure and struggling to breathe. Rolanda looked hideous, standing on the bed before him, lines on her face, hair out of place, her teeth bared and feral. Gideon swallowed hard. He barely knew this person any more; this was a shell of his fiance. Perhaps he had never really saved her at all and she had died that first night when she was taken; died when they buried Gideon alive just for being there; died with the rest of her family. He had tried to put that thought away, to bury it deep, with the hope that if he didn't think about it for long enough it would stay underground, but all things come to the surface eventually.
...
Leanin was cresting a hill when she saw the lights on the other side. She hadn't gone far beyond the forest, hadn't even crossed the mountains walling Meadowood off from the outside world, when she saw them. Squeezing her brake lever hard she shimmied off the road, barely keeping her tires to the ground as the loose rock shuffled under her. When she was far enough off the trail she killed her engine and hopped off, opening her bag and bringing out her pistol.
The lights continued to shoot out over the hill, and with the noise from her engine gone she gradually began to hear other sounds as well. She heard the rumble of a few engines being shut off and hearty laughter. With her motorcycle hidden behind a rock she stole quietly up the hill. Her fingers twitched at the trigger, her hands shaking, her breath coming in great gasps as her heart raced. A sinking feeling dropped in her stomach as she peeked down at the camp.
A fire burned below her with figures huddled around. Their motorcycles were parked behind them in a circle, each with the number thirteen on the back of the leather armor they wore. Riders.
She strained her ears and picked out a single part of a sentence.
“...where the geolocation said her tag was,” was all that she could get, but it was enough to send her running as quietly as she could back to her motorcycle.
It was too much of a risk to start her engine, she couldn't afford to have them hear and give chase, so she shifted it into neutral and pushed it back the few miles to the forest. By the time she reached the first trees her arms were burning with exhaustion, she dumped the bike next to Gideon's and ran back to the cottage.
Harold was walking back from the chicken coop when Leanin ran out from the woods.
“There you are!” he said when he saw her. “I was wondering when I didn't see you come back with Gideon.”
“Harold,” Leanin said, gasping for breath, “we need to get inside. Something terrible is headed this way.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the front door.
“What's going on?” Harold asked.
“Rolanda! Gideon!” Leanin shouted as she stormed inside. “Akem is here.”
Rheannon was sitting at the table, her fingers curled around a cup of Harold's honey beer. “What's going on?” The corners of her mouth began to quiver.
Rolanda and Gideon emerged from the back room. They stood apart, their faces drawn and tight. “What did you say?” Gideon asked.
“Akem is here,” Leanin said. She reached for Rolanda and pulled her forward. The smaller woman resisted, but Leanin's grip was strong and insistent. “Rolanda, when they took you did they inject you with anything?”
She looked away from Leanin's fierce eyes. “I got bit by a spider,” she said before pulling aside her hair to expose the back of her neck. There was a millimeter sized puncture wound with a small cylindrical bump raised up underneath it. Leanin pulled her knife fro
m its sheath and Gideon sprang forward, catching her arm.
“Leanin, what are you doing? You'll hurt her.”
“It has to be done, Gideon, otherwise they'll just keep coming for her. They're tracking her.” She spun and pushed Gideon away with her elbow, driving him backwards as she pulled Rolanda by the hair down onto her knees. The knife flashed in the light of the stove and then Leanin was digging at Rolanda's neck. A quick spurt of blood sprayed out where the knife entered and then a shining silver capsule, no larger than a pill, plopped out of her and landed on the floor. A red light pulsed faintly in the middle of it.
His eyebrows contracting and his hands shaking, Gideon lifted Rolanda to her feet.
“You're welcome, by the way,” Leanin said. “If we hadn't found that they would have surprised us in the night and killed us all. Now at least we have a little heads up. Gideon, you should get your pistol.”
Harold pulled himself to his fullest height, towering over them all, his arms crossed over his barrel chest. “Alright, I think we need to know about your history with these people, in detail. It's time we cut through the bullshit and you tell me exactly what's going on.”
Chapter Sixteen
Rheannon held Rolanda's hand as she told her story. Gideon and Leanin filled in the gaps, taking over when Rolanda couldn't continue because she was crying too hard. They told everything, from the initial capture and Gideon being left for dead, to how Rolanda was seasoned and rented out to paying customers. Harold stood through the whole story, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, his face a mask of stone. When Rolanda finally finished telling her tale, they sat in silence for a long time, letting everything sink in.
“Akem is here,” Leanin said, “we shouldn't be just sitting around. Gideon, get your gun. They'll be coming towards this little tracker, I think we would do well to plan for it.” She unbuckled the strap on her own pistol.
Harold cleared his throat. “Plan? It sounds like you want to go on the offensive. We're simple folk, don't you get that? We don't owe nothing to you, if anything you owe us, and you expect us to help you with something like this?”
Rheannon slapped her palm down hard onto the table, making everyone jump. “Harold! What kind of talk is that? This is the next generation, it's our duty to protect them. These are someone's children,” she looked to Rolanda and then quickly away, “and they might have children themselves one day. I won't have them die out because we stood by and did nothing.”
Harold touched Rheannon on the shoulder. His face had softened, his lips pursed in worry. “We've built our entire life up here, I just don't want anything to happen to that. I love you, Rhea, our life together means more to me than anything.”
“Storm's here,” Rolanda said in a quiet hush. Her head was turned toward the window, where a flickering orange light was streaming.
Harold's face was slack as he looked out the window. The sudden sound of hoof-beats came through the walls and he pushed the door open. Animals were running from out of the woods over and around the cabin. Above the green and brown of the forest an orange light flickered through the trees. “Rhea,” Harold said in a voice barely above a whisper, “the forest is on fire.”
Rheannon stood with a jolt and joined him at the doorway. “We have to leave, right now.” She turned to the rest of them. “Alright, children, get up. We're going.”
Leanin and Gideon picked up Rolanda and followed them outside. Half of the forest was lit, the trees forming shadows against a wall of flames.
“Let's go to Beamer's place,” Harold said, “that tracking thing is inside, so they won't follow us there.” He led them around the back of the house, away from the towering inferno burning up the woods. He stopped just short of the chicken coop, a group of men stood in a semi-circle, caging them in. Their features were obscured in the darkness, standing still like shadows, until one of them stepped forward.
“Hello, Gideon,” the shadow said, gaiety in its voice. As it stepped into the light the delicate and serpentine features of Akem illuminated. He smiled, his teeth sharp, his eyes openly gleeful. The other shadows stepped forward as well, though Gideon didn't recognize any of them. They were armed with rifles, one holding a flame thrower in his hands. “I trust I find you well?”
Gideon pulled himself in front of Rolanda, Harold did the same for Rheannon. Leanin placed a hand on the pistol at her side. “I've been better, Akem,” Gideon said.
The little man stepped closer and spread his arms wide, the smile still on his face. “I suppose you know why I'm here.” He was only a few feet away from them, stepping lightly in his riding boots across the uneven ground. “I'm a businessman, you know that, and I can't have uneven books. My employers would be most displeased.”
Gideon's mouth dropped open. “You have employers?” he said.
Akem chuckled to himself. “Of course. In this world everybody is owned by somebody. I don't think you would like to meet my employers.” Akem turned his back and stepped up onto a fallen log.
Harold growled, a low and beastly rumbling that grew from his stomach to his chest, and he charged at the small man perched on the log. Too late, Rheannon tried to put a hand to his shoulder; he was just beyond her reach. He spread his arms wide and leaped toward the figure standing so calmly on the log.
Akem moved so fast his motions were almost imperceptible, ducking under Harold's arms and kicking upwards, tripping the larger man. Harold fell heavily to the ground, the air knocked out of him with a groan, and then Akem was on top of him. A flash of silver appeared and a dagger was pressed against the skin on Harold's neck.
“Careful there, gentle giant. Know your enemy before you attack him. Now,” he said, looking to Gideon, the knife still poised above the pulsing vein in Harold's neck, “I like making deals with you, Gideon. So let's make some deals. You're already in my debt for more than you know, but I'm a man who savors the little things in life. I feel this moment has promise.”
He paused and smiled, his eyes trailing over the rest with a keen hunger in them before returning to Gideon. “You sought sanctuary here, thought to try and steal from me and get away freely. Would I be right in guessing that these people didn't have a clue what they were getting into when they agreed to take you in? Did you see how this one,” he dug into Harold's neck with the knife, “tried to shield the old woman? I sense a husband and wife.” Akem looked around at the cottage and the chicken coop, the little yard with a chopping block and an ax stuck into it. “What a nice little life they must have had here! Just think big boy,” he said, ducking down and speaking directly into Harold's ear, “none of this would have happened if you hadn't taken in these stragglers. Well, no good deed goes unpunished, as they say.”
“So, Gideon, I'll give you the choice; who lives and who dies?” Akem asked. “Between the big boy here and his wife, I'm going to kill one of them. But the great thing is you get to choose! If you choose this guy, no matter what happens, I won't harm the old lady. If you choose her, I'll let this one go, but she'll be fair game.”
Rheannon gave out a cry like a wounded animal and tried to throw herself at Akem; Leanin grabbed her shoulder and held onto her.
“Keep her back, Leanin!” Harold shouted out. “That's a good girl. Gideon, give him the word, I won't have this monster harming Rhea.”
“He'll kill you both,” Gideon said, “don't you get that? You can't trust him.”
Akem frowned at Gideon. “Sad! I'm a little heartbroken. Have I ever done anything I said I wouldn't? I'm not even here for Rolanda, you've already made that trade, do you remember? I'm just here to take back what you traded me her for.” His eyes strayed to Leanin and she shivered violently. “But you involved these people with me, and this one attacked me.” He trailed the knife slowly down Harold's cheek
, drawing a line of blood out from him. “I have a right to defend myself, don't I? All I'm doing is giving you the option to do another business transaction.”
Gideon bit at the insides of his cheek so hard he drew blood. He gave the slightest of nods.
Akem jerked the blade across Harold's neck with a wolfish smile and stepped back. Harold made a few choking sounds as blood spurt out from the wound in a steadily slowing rhythm. He jerked and kicked on the ground, his hands desperately cupping at the wound.
Rheannon shrieked and pushed Leanin away from her, running to Harold's side. She propped his head up in her lap, stroking the side of his face in quick, frantic motions. “Harold, Harold, Harold,” she said, repeating his name over and over as his eyes went glassy and he stopped kicking.
Gideon was quaking with rage and fear. Rolanda held him tightly from behind, it was the only thing keeping him on his feet.
Akem clapped his hands and cackled with delight. “That was fun. Alright, on to other business. Now, let's accept that as of right now, Leanin is mine.”
Leanin cocked her pistol and pointed it at Akem. The men surrounding him responded by bringing their assault rifles up and pointing them at her. “What makes you think I'll go with you? I could take you down right now.” Leanin said.
Akem leaned forward and cocked an eyebrow at her, a wolfish grin on his face. “Do you think that you can kill me? Do you really think that a man like me can die?”
“You're flesh and bone,” Leanin said, the barrel of her pistol held steady, “just like everyone else.”
“Sure, why not. But so are you, and right now all that I'm asking for is one of you two girls. If you begin to fire that little pistol of yours, we certainly have the right to defend ourselves, and we'll kill all of you.” He directed his attention back to Gideon. “So I'll give you the same choice I gave you before. Leanin or Rolanda. I get one, you get one.” He held up a finger. “But there's something that you should know before you make your choice.”
The Woman They Kept Page 17