I lowered the gun. “Damn it, kid. What did I tell you about sneaking up on me?”
Karen grabbed my jacket and pulled me close. “Find Del Toro. Take your people, and leave. It’s not safe here, sir. For any of you.” She hunched over again.
I took her by the arms. “What’s wrong, Karen? What is The Presence? What’s going on in this place?”
She mumbled under her breath. “Bad oatmeal,” she said with a chuckle. She gritted her teeth. “We all have to evolve.” Voices became louder in the distance. Strangers were coming. “Take your people and go.”
I furrowed my brow. “Let me help you—”
“You fool. I am beyond help. Even yours.” She pulled me in and kissed me. It was a passionate kiss. A loving kiss. A goodbye kiss. She pushed me away, stumbled to the bridge, and glanced at me. “I am the third.”
She darted across the bridge.
Karen Bell was one of the strongest people I knew. And she was terrified. What could have done that to her?
Dammit, Redmann. Whatever you’re up to, I’m going to put an end to it. And you.
Augie nudged me. “What was that all about?”
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”
“What did you she tell you? Is Redmann an evil bastard or just a creepy little dude?”
“Evil bastard.”
“Do we get to kill some shit?”
“Yes, we definitely get to kill some shit,” I said, staring at the bridge. “But first, we need to play along. Get Redmann to trust us. Find out what he’s up to.” My ears perked as alarm bells rang in the distance.
“That’s the lunch alarm,” Augie said. “Someone told me about it earlier. I’m starving.”
“We should go. Try and fit in.” I started down the trail. “Where’s your sister?”
“Dude, please don’t call her that,” he said. “It’s messing with my mind. I wouldn’t want to screw my own sister. That’s gross.”
“Stop trying to get into Maya’s pants.”
“Have you seen her lately? Dude, she’s so hot…”
“Don’t fuck up the mission because you’re a horny boy with a hard-on.”
“It’s my heart, Ivy,” he said with a wide-ass grin. “My heart has a hard-on.”
“You just want to get laid.”
“That truly hurts,” he said. “It’s my heart that wants to get laid. My soul is aroused. There’s a big difference between that and being horny. This shit is real.”
“If you make a move on her, I’m going to castrate your soul.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“It wouldn't be the first time I’ve performed the procedure.”
He twitched. Ignoring me, he turned to the trail. “I’m hungry, let’s go eat.”
“That’s the first smart thing you said all day.”
Chapter 10
Family Therapy
When Augie and I reached the main bunker, we followed several people who walked behind it. There was a dome of canopies set up to make an enclosed space. It was a giant tent created to form an event space. Rows of logs were set up as seats, forming a circle. And in the center stood Redmann.
“Everyone take a seat please,” he said. “The Expulsion is about to begin.”
Maya sat near a dark-haired girl her age. I took a seat next to Maya.
Augie sat next to me and whispered. “Where’s the food? My stomach is eating me alive.”
Redmann heard him and laughed. “The food is coming, young Adam. But not before our practice.” Several of his minions wheeled in hot rocks and dumped them in a small ditch at Redmann’s feet. The whole place was becoming a sweat lodge. “Before we eat, we sweat,” he said. “We must expunge our sins into the aether.”
“Expunge our sins?” Augie said, squirming. “Aw, man. I may be here a while.”
Redmann walked between the rows of people. The whole tent area was filled with followers. It was a packed house.
Redmann’s assistants handed everyone a bowl of what looked like oatmeal. It was golden brown and smelled like cinnamon, but had the consistency of melted cheese. I didn’t trust it, especially after Karen’s warning. I glanced to my right. As Maya took a whiff, her new friend pushed down the bowl and shook her head as a warning.
The oatmeal was poison.
I glanced to my left. Augie already finished his bowl. He was licking his fingers.
Jackass.
I gave him the stink eye. “I can’t believe you.”
“Dude, I was effing starving, man. I don’t know what it was, but it was cheesy. Sooo good, bro.”
Redmann said to the crowd, “Now that we have digested the Grace, we must expel the sin.” He nodded to the young lady next to Maya. “Jada, would you like to start us off?”
She cleared her throat. “I had sinful thoughts today.”
With his hands behind his back, Redmann nodded. “There are no secrets here, Jada. Please share.”
“I had dirty feelings inside. Lustful feelings,” she said. “Of the newcomer, Adam.” Augie practically jumped out of his skin. His eyes grew like saucers. Apparently, he had a fan. “It is my new friend's brother and I know it’s wrong. But these lustful thoughts consume me. I feel so ashamed.”
Augie leaned over to her and whispered, “Always follow your feelings. Aggressively—” I poked his ribs. “Ow! That hurt…”
Redmann cast a stoic look. “Lusts of the flesh,” he said, “keep us from our true calling. They distract us and pull us into sinful ways. Away from our destiny. If you have lust, have lust for the Lord, our evolving God.”
Her voice trembled. “I’m sorry, Father—”
He sauntered over to Jada and placed his hand on the top of her head. “You are forgiven. Transgress no more.” He moved to Maya and grazed his fingers over her cheek. It took all my willpower not to break every bone in his hand. “And you? What would you like to share with us today?”
Maya fidgeted with her hands. And cracked several knuckles. “Um, I wrote a poem?”
He smiled. “Release your burdens.”
She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I let you down. Take from me this heavy crown. I died and cannot revive. I try so hard to strive.” She cleared her throat and glanced at me. “To be part of your clan, not fitting your plan. I am lost and not found. Was wandering when you came around. I know you don’t want me. This much a blind girl can see. So when your soul leaves this land, go your own way. Finally, I belong, for this soul… will stay.”
Goddammit. This wasn’t some random emo bullshit. She was giving me a message. She was telling me she wanted to stay on the Island.
Redmann rubbed his temples and groaned. “Thank you, Eve. That was a, um, very ambiguous poem. Stream of consciousness, I suppose.” He turned to Augie. “Young man, your turn.”
Augie’s knee knocked up and down. “I have two gerbils at home. A boy and a girl. But I also have a really big fat guinea pig. The guinea pig bosses the gerbils around because he’s bigger.”
He just started and I was already ready to strangle him.
He raised his voice as if I couldn’t hear him. “He tells the gerbils where to eat, who to mate with, or not mate with, and is way, way, way harder on the boy gerbil than the girl. I mean, he’d beat the boy gerbil’s ass if he did what she did. To the boy gerbil, he’s an asshole. He even stuck a tooth in the boy gerbil’s shoulder and laughed.”
Redmann scowled. “Guinea pigs can laugh?”
“Oh, yeah,” Augie said. “They can laugh. Trust me, this guinea pig has reached the upper limit of asshole-osity. No other guinea pig even likes him. He deserves an award for asshole mastery. If his asshole-ness was a land mass, it would be the size of Texas. Or the moon.”
Redmann shook his head. “I appreciate you venting your sins about your pet rodents, young man. You’ve given us all something to think long and hard about.” Redmann turned to me. “Steve? Your turn. Anything you’d like to
get off your chest? Sins? Evil thoughts? Or maybe—”
“I wish I never had kids,” I said, staring at Augie. “They’ve been a pain in my ass since they came into my life. And most of the time, they ain’t worth the upkeep. I never planned to have them. I never wanted them. They were their mother’s idea. They were accidents. Mistakes,” I said, narrowing my eyes at Maya. “I regret every second they exist.”
Maya slammed her bowl to the dirt and stomped out of the room.
Augie cast me a dirty look and followed.
I put my hands on my knees and got to my feet. “See what I mean?”
Redmann grimaced. I left the tent in search of the others. When I got outside, Maya stormed down the trail, away from the other people. Augie caught up to her and spun her around.
She shoved him and shouted. “Get back.” She turned to me, tears in her eyes. “Poe should have killed me when he had the chance. I wish I would have died in that house fire.” Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t do this. I’m not like you. When you leave, I’m not going with you.”
I touched her arm, but she recoiled “Maya, you don’t know what you’re saying—”
“I’m already making friends,” she said. Her voice quivered. “Jada is my friend. I don’t have friends back home. I almost got us caught at the campground because I failed.” She backed away. “Do me a favor and kill Poe for me. Leave when you want. But I’m staying.”
I grabbed her shoulders. “Stay away from that girl,” I said. “She’s Forever.”
“I don’t care,” she said. “She’s my friend.”
“She’s not your friend, Maya. She’s a monster. She’ll betray you the first chance she gets.”
“You just don’t trust Forevers—”
“They’re sociopaths. When they realize they’re not human, they have a psychotic break and go insane.”
“You think you know everything about them—”
“Because I do.”
“They’re not all evil,” she yelled, pulling away from me. She yanked hard and crashed to the trail. “Marcus wasn’t evil. He was good. And I stabbed him in the neck with a corkscrew.”
“They had a drained body in the RV, Maya,” I said. “Marcus knew about it. He may have even done it himself.”
“You’re lying,” she said, digging her fingers into the dirt.
“You know I’m not.”
“So what if he did? They probably made him do it.”
“Don’t be naive. You’re smarter than this…”
“Maybe I’m not.” She got to her feet. “Maybe I’m just a stupid little girl who wants to kill herself. That’s what you think, isn’t it? You hate me. You regret that I even exist.” She sprinted to the bridge.
She was a child. And completely irrational. Not something I wanted to deal with at the moment—
Or ever.
Augie scoffed. “Sheesh. Talk about a drama queen.”
I growled. “You told her I thought she might hurt herself, didn’t you?”
“It may or may not have come up in conversation.”
“Dammit. We really are becoming a dysfunctional family.” I started toward the bridge as she reached the other side. “Let’s go get her before she gets eaten by one of these monsters.”
Augie swallowed hard. “Monsters? You mean Forevers?”
“I mean large beasts with translucent skin and invisible ethereal shit swimming in the air. Whatever you do, don’t go into the basement.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said.
When we got to the other side of the bridge, I didn’t see Maya, but I heard her running down the path. So I followed.
Along the dirt path, the strange plants caught my eye. A bush of leaves sprouted near the edges looked familiar. The plants were normally only found in Australia. It was called the Gympie Gympie.
Yes, that’s the actual name.
It’s stated two times because it’s twice as lethal as saying it once. They sprouted along one side of the path.
“Careful of these large plant leaves along the trail,” I said. “They’re poison.”
“Why would I eat random leaves?”
“You don’t have to eat it to get sick,” I said. “One touch will make you vomit. And the fine hairs on the leaf will embed into your skin and burn like fire.”
“So basically the same burning sensation I got from the drunk hippie chick at the frat party.”
I crouched down and looked over the plant. “I once knew someone who fell into a bush,” I said. “He was screaming for three weeks.”
“Holy hell,” he said, moving to the opposite side of the path. “Remind me not to sleepwalk naked.”
Speaking of screams, a man hollered up ahead.
“Stay here,” I said. I raced toward the sound. When the trail split, I stopped and listened to the direction the screams were coming from.
I took a right, passing a small white-brick well halfway up the trail. After a half-mile run, I came upon Maya leaning behind a tree. Spying on something.
I moved in behind her.
A clearing in the woods lay just ahead. A crowd of people in brown robes and hoods milled around and chanted.
It looked like some kind of Satanic ritual. I expected to see a dead goat at their feet. There were about ten hooded creeps and one man in plain clothing. He was handcuffed and screaming for help.
Instead of a goat at their feet, there was a large black pit in the ground. About ten to twelve feet wide. They were about to push him in.
Maya whispered, “What are they doing? Who is that?”
The prisoner had dark hair. With thick glasses and a strong jaw, he looked like a Spanish version of Clark Kent. I recognized him instantly from his photo in the file. It was Karen’s partner and husband.
Diego Del Toro.
Chapter 11
The Brotherhood
Hiding behind a tree in the middle of the woods watching a ceremony involving robed men in a creepy ritual or murder made me feel a bit like a voyeur. I slid my hand to my Beretta. I’d rather feel like a predator. Something I was much more comfortable with.
One of the robed men waved his hands in the air.
“You have failed the brotherhood,” he said. “But in your failure, we welcome a new brother. Everyone, welcome Gary to the brotherhood.” He put his hand on another robed figure standing behind Del Toro.
The crowd chanted “Gary, Gary, Gary…”
I wondered if it was the same Gary I was bunking with. The Forever Person dickhead.
“Let me go, asshole,” Del Toro said, struggling with the handcuffs. “Or I will kill every one of you.”
The leader turned to Del Toro. “You had your chance, Del Toro. You betrayed us. Gary will take your place among our ranks.” He turned to the newly initiated man. “Gary, please do the honors.”
I was wrong. It wasn’t a Satanic ritual. It was a hazing ritual. And this was their goddamn fraternity.
The man he called ‘Gary’ approached Del Toro. But the hunter swiped a foot under him and toppled him over. Gary fell back, his hood falling from his face. It was definitely my asshat roommate.
He got up and tussled with Del Toro, clobbering the hunter with a rock to the skull. With a hard shove, Del Toro fell backward into the pit. I covered Maya’s mouth as she nearly let out a scream.
The leader raised his hands to the group. “Let The Presence feast on his blood, meat, and soul. Let him become one with the Primitives. Another addition to our army. For anyone who stands in our way…” he said, pulling down his hood, “I feel real sorry for the fucker.”
Everyone laughed.
Maya stepped back, her foot snapping a twig. Startled, she darted down the path from where we came. Eventually, I took my eyes off the leader in robes and headed on the trail after her.
She darted around the bend. And was gone. For being a little girl, she was wiry and swift.
“Maya,” I said. “Maya?”
Silence. She disap
peared. My eyes dropped to the trail. Her fresh shoe marks scraped into the dirt. As the trail curved, leaves spilled over the trail from the edge. She ran into the woods.
I followed straight into the forest area. Until I heard her. Crying.
“Ow,” she said in a whiny voice.
I scanned the forest horizon. All oak and pine trees, but not a single emotionally unstable Millennial blonde girl.
I huffed. I was done with this bullshit. “Maya, where are you?”
“Down here…”
“Keep speaking.”
“God. It hurts. Damn it all. This sucks. I think I want to go home now.”
I turned my ear to the sound and followed it. Behind a tree, under the leaves, was a hole in the ground. I leaned over it and peered down. Maya fell into a bunker.
She caressed her ankle. “I think my ankle is broken.”
Augie walked up behind me and looked down. “I wondered where you ran to.”
“I thought I told you to stay.”
“I must not have heard that part,” he said. “What’s going on?”
“It looks like our unstable princess found a hidden bunker,” I said, using my boot to scrape away leaves from the hatch. The hole wasn’t visible from the path, which was at least thirty yards away. I wonder if Redmann even knew it was here.
Augie scoffed. “What do we do?”
“I’m going down.”
Augie scratched his chin. “Dude, that looks like a ten-foot drop—”
“Don’t be a pussy,” I said. I threw my legs down and dropped to the cement floor, rolling as I landed. The drop was closer to twenty feet. Augie dangled his feet over the edge. “Just to be clear, if you hurt yourself, I’m leaving you here.”
“Dude, whatever.” After a ping pong match in his brain, he chickened out and climbed down the ladder along the side.
I took a knee and reached for Maya’s ankle.
She winced. “I think it’s broke.”
I inspected her foot. Her ankle was misplaced. I pressed on it.
She winced. “Owowow, fuck!”
“I’m guessing that hurt.”
She gave me wild eyes. “You think?”
Augie hovered over us. “What a baby. One little sprain and she’s crying for her mommy.”
Faith of a Monster Killer: Killing Forever Book 3 Page 6