“Because our homes entrance is gained by the water, there is no road by which we can move faster,” Jacob explained leaning down to wash his hands in the salty water.
“Yeah, but how far?” I asked a second time.
“Two nights walk.”
“If we leave now,” Cates added, intentionally making a point.
“Then lead the way. I’m not the only one standing around here,” I snapped glaring over at him.
“We await your move, no matter your liking of that fact, or not,” he snapped back.
“Then shut the hell up, Cates, I have a headache and my neck feels like someone took a huge chunk out of it…oh wait, they did.” Then I turned around and walked off, leaving everyone to make their own decision as to whether to follow me or not.
“Renee,” Jacob called out as my little ones started to follow me.
“What?” I replied, spinning around.
“You are going in the wrong direction. We live this way,” he said pointing down the shore, opposite the way I was going.
“Son-of-a-bitch,” I muttered, gritting my teeth with every step it took to turn and go back the other way.
***
I must have walked five miles before I spoke to anyone. I weaved through the trees on the shore line, staying out of sight of any passersby. Sydney had calmed down about the loss of his father’s boat and was back to talking to Garvin and the boys. It seemed that everyone knew that I wanted to be left alone, because they all stayed several feet back. I wanted to be back with my brother and figure out what we were going to do next. Shyanna hopped behind me, not letting me get more than two or three feet away. Once or twice she took to the sky when a flock of birds would take flight at our passing. All the papers that we had taken from the doctor went down with the boat and all my hopes of learning anything sank with it. My mind kept seeing Johnny thirty years from now acting like the rogues that attacked us, and a morbidly sick feeling gripped my stomach.
Cates and Jacob took off running into the thick pines, and the others caught up to me. Garvin explained that they were going to seek out a shelter for the day, while we continued to make our way down the shore line. Brandon and Derek kept looking at me when they thought that I wasn’t paying them any mind. I knew that they were worried that Yvette’s blood had taken my mind again. This time I wouldn’t have cared if that had been the case. I looked back at Derek the next time he looked at me and winked. He smiled so big that I could see his fangs shining in the light of moon.
“You feel better now?” he asked almost running into a tree.
“Watch it,” I said pulling him over a step to miss it.
“That was close.”
“Yeah, this is thick.”
“But, you’re okay now?” he asked again this time watching where he was going.
“I’m fine. Just have a lot on my mind.”
“I don’t think much at all anymore. I like to keep my mind blank.”
“How, Derek? I have things running through my mind that just pops up without me even wanting to think about it.”
“I place a black cloak over my thoughts and they just go away.”
“But doesn’t that harden your heart?” Tammy asked overhearing our conversation.
“Doesn’t matter, if it stops the pain.” Then he walked a little faster, until he was far ahead of us.
“I didn’t mean to upset him,” Tammy said stopping by a tree.
“You didn’t. He can say all he wants that he doesn’t think, because that just proves that he still does.”
“Looks like everyone is gathering up there, we better go see what’s going on,” Tammy added pushing off from the tree and gently running my braid through her hand as she walked by. “The sun will be up soon. I’m so tired I could just dig a hole, right here.” Then she giggled and walked off.
I stood there watching them look back at me, wondering at how strangely things had turned out. We started out as a group of children not knowing what we were doing, and now we stood strong, cutting our way through as we go and taking down all who stood in our way. My boys have grown and no longer resemble the orphans that I found on the beach in Corpus, back in Texas, which seemed like a hundred years ago. I could only imagine the changes in myself outwardly, but the inside was quickly becoming as dark as the night that we lived in. I felt no remorse for those that I’d killed and wished to seek others in need of our help. How many lay in the pits of hell? How many where being tortured as we made our way back home? And how long would it take to stop what is thought of as normal to the creatures that I became?
“Renee, please join us,” Jacob called out, waving his hand for me to hurry.
“Yeah,” I called back and ran up to them. “What ya got?”
“A cave, but, we must hurry. Cates is building a fire as we speak.”
“A cave? Is that safe from the sun?” I asked a bit concerned.
“If we stay to the very back it should be,” he replied, then turned to head into the woods.
“Your basing this on a, should be?” I called out and took off after him.
We ran several hundred yards before we broke through the trees at the base of a mountain. The opening was small, barely big enough for a good size man, which made me wonder how Cates got in. About that time he stuck his head out and said to grab wood on our way in, then disappeared back into the cave. We all grabbed a handful and entered the opening. Tammy was having the hardest time. “Take the wood,” she said handing it to Brandon. She grabbed her breasts and pushed them up and slid right in.
“These are more trouble than they’re worth,” she laughed.
“That depends on who is speaking, My Lady,” Cates smiled, causing her to blush.
“Yet, you wouldn’t place your hands on them to help me through the window,” Tammy replied tilting her head slightly, then walking further into the cave.
“Well, I guess she just told you. You know that’s the second time that I’ve seen you speechless. I think you’re coming around to my world, Cates.” I smiled then turned leaving him with his mouth slightly open and still just as speechless as he was when I first started talking to him.
The cave didn’t go back very far and made me want to rethink our stay here. I for one thought about the reach of the sun on the caves floor in front of the entrance. Jacob and Cates both assured me that little would penetrate because of the direction the cave faced, and the heavy cover of the pines. All I thought about was the way clouds broke through and could burn my flesh. The sun was rising. I found no trust in an open door, whether it’s a house, ship, or an opening of a cave. Brandon was the first to notice me checking the dirt floor in the back. What he didn’t know was that I was going over every angle that I thought the light might come in as it moved across the sky.
“You look really drained.”
“You just got used to seeing me red,” I smiled.
“Renee, I’m serious. You look really pale,” Brandon claimed stepping up closer.
“Do you think this cave is safe?” I asked changing the subject.
“Brandon, you and Derek come help me break some branches. We’ll cover the opening,” Jacob said overhearing what I had said.
“Better hurry times running short,” Garvin added sitting down and adding a piece of wood to the fire that Cates had made.
“That’s right. I’ll go with you,” I said as I headed for the opening.
“I’ll go,” Cates said stepping in front of me. “You don’t look so well.”
“I think everyone’s had a hard week,” I replied holding the soaked cloth to my neck, and doing my best to not make eye contact.
“You should rest.”
“And you should go fetch some thick brush and make it as dark as humanly possible.” I walked over and sat down by Garvin and watched as he and Jacob slid out of sight.
“They better be quick, I can barely hold my eyes open,” Sydney said laying over where he had become comfortable at the very back of the small, dr
y cave.
“I’m going to go lay down, you gonna be alright?” Tammy asked stopping in front of me.
“Yeah, I’m just tuckered out. Save me a good spot,” I laughed.
“You can have the dirt right next to mine,” she winked and headed back.
“That was good,” Sydney laughed rolling over, putting his back to the rest of us.
Sydney was crowded in with Derek and Brandon, with Tammy at their heads. Jacob and Cates were putting the last branches that were full of pine nettles, making it look like it should keep out the light, but I still had my doubts. Cates laid right down next to Tammy, actually turning on his side in a spooning fashion. I looked at Jacob who was sitting with me in front of the fire that was more for our vision than comfort, because the cold was not a bother.
“It’s getting light out…really light,” I said in an almost whisper.
“Now that everyone is in the slumber, remove the cloth.” Jacob leaned over and pulled my hand down.
I pulled my black shirt back from my upper chest and showed him where my blood had been soaking through, seeping from the bite on my neck. My arm had stopped bleeding as we walked some three miles back down the shore, but this one just kept oozing. Jacob, without hesitation bit down into his own wrist and said, “Take of me.”
“I will not.”
“You will soon fall to the call of the day,” he said moving my hair to the side. “You should have said something.”
“And do what?”
“This,” he said pushing his bleeding wrist up to my hand. “You need to feed.”
I raised his wrist to my mouth as my eyes stayed locked on his. I drank until the fire that was burning in my veins calmed, and he began to pull away. It wasn’t long until I could feel his gift giving me back my strength and the wound on my neck stopped bleeding. Jacob slid back into the curve of the caves wall and leaned his head back. I was fixing to ask him if I had taken too much when a shot of light pierced through a hole in the pines. “Jacob!” He grabbed my arm and pulled me to the other side of him, placing me in the darker part of the cave. More light penetrated and streaks ran across the first half of the floor.
“I don’t want to burn,” I whispered turning my face into the stone wall, shutting my eyes tightly, waiting to burst into flames.
“It will come no further,” Jacob said wrapping his arms around me. “The clouds reflected the rays from the setting sun and burned you. This is merely the light that grips the day.”
“Why do I feel so vulnerable right now?”
“Because, you are just a child to the darkness, and have learned things that your former self would have never contemplated.”
“Just tell me that it can’t get any worse.”
“It is not in my nature to lie.”
Our conversation ended with his last statement. I had wanted to respond, but my precious sleep took me away from it all.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I went into a state of panic when I woke, smelling something burning, thinking it was me. I began swatting at my body frantically, as my mouth let out the sounds of a frightened girl, and a not so brave breeder. Jacob turned me around and stared shaking me by the shoulders. “You are fine. Open your eyes!” He pulled me into his embrace and began rocking me like a child. I shook as the thoughts of waking in flames left and gratitude took over. I pushed away from Jacob’s chest and sat on my own, feeling a bit foolish for over reacting.
“I don’t know why it scares me so bad,” I told Jacob as I scooted closer to the fire, the one I smelled when I woke.
“It is natural to fear an enemy that you cannot defeat.”
“Never thought about it like that, but no one else seems to be as bothered by it.”
“Everyone has their own fear, and to them it is far worse than it is to others. Where you could easily slice the throat of a man who has harmed an innocent, Sydney would hesitate. It is one example.”
“Strange way to put it, but I get the point.”
“What is strange about it? Sydney fears harming another no matter the reason. I have seen him hesitate even when his life was in danger. You would not.”
“I knew he was having a hard time with the brutality of people like, Cortez.”
“The pit touched his mind,” Jacob said looking over at me. “The look in his eyes told all.”
“What do ya mean?”
“I mean, he will make a good warrior, but his heart will not be what you know now.”
“I think we’re all losing our former selves. You and Cates aren’t included.”
“And why is that?” he asked smiling at me, as Shyanna rolled over and passed gas.
“You’ve had more than enough time to get used to this shit,” I laughed. “It’s strange how we don’t have normal bodily functions anymore.”
“Your words,” he laughed with me. “We have also lived under a well-structured past. So do not think that we have not felt the change that you have brought about.”
“Is it really that different?”
“I was used to moving at the lift of a finger and standing while my master took the whip to my back. You have given us a breath of fresh air. I do not know how else to explain it.”
I laid my head on my knees and smiled at him. Those words meant more than all the gold in the world. Everything was worth what we had been through, and his words were all I needed to hear to make me want to search for others. To see the face of a being who has been so abused that their bodies were withered to nothing but a shell of their former self, is both heart breaking and a jubilation at the same time. More than anything I wanted to get back to our home. I wanted to see Johnny and the girls. It was obvious that we couldn’t take them into harm’s way, or leave them on the ship when we went inland. It was now out of the question after seeing what happened to Sydney’s boat. I was getting to the point where I didn’t know what to do about them. They could become victims far too easy.
Cates started waking up before I could talk to Jacob about moving the girls and Johnny elsewhere, because as soon as the real word got to the elders, that would be the first place that I would look. Cates roared out, coming up like a bear, stretching his arm above his head. I stared laughing at the way his shadow looked like the bear that made the sound, all being ironic because this was probably an animal’s shelter at one time. They immediately started talking about having to go up and around the open cliffs due to the tide that would be coming in close to the time of our passing under the cliffs that were a few miles south of where we were now. They explained the way that we would head out once everyone was awake. We all needed to feed, our movements were sluggish, Derek more than the rest. It could be seen as they all woke.
“They need to feed,” I said turning back to Jacob.
“I have seen no homes, much less one with livestock, since we left the last.”
“We are not far, maybe ten, fifteen miles from our land,” Cates broke in, walking up to the fire.
“Renee’s right. We need to go out and find something,” Jacob replied getting to his feet.
“I’ll go,” Derek quickly added standing and dusting off his pants.
“No! You save your strength in case we find nothing,” Jacob ordered with the explanation, then he and Cates left the cave.
“Why do I feel so weak?” Derek asked sitting down beside me.
“I feel the same way,” Brandon added.
“It’s this bite mark that hurts, feels like it’s infected,” Sydney said scooting closer to the fire.
“Mine too,” Tammy said.
I put my hand to my neck and hissed. I pulled my shirt over my shoulder and looked at the bite mark. It was swollen, not better the way the other wounds that I had had on the next day. Every one of us had one or more bite marks, and all looked extremely pale compared to our normal appearance. All but Jacob, and Cates, who had no marks at all. I didn’t seem to feel as weak as the others, giving that to the fact that I had drank from Jacob, but I still felt as if
I was getting the flu. My bones ached and I had a strong pain pulsating where the bites were.
“I think we may have a type of infection from the rogues,” Tammy added as we all got closer to the fire.
“I didn’t think we could get sick,” Brandon inquired looking down at his arm.
“It had to be something in their mouths, like rot.”
“What? What do you mean rot?” I asked hoping that wasn’t what I heard.
“They eat ravishingly, leaving flesh in their teeth to rot, over and over, creating a toxic bite.” Tammy’s explanation gave me chills in a bad way.
“So, what happens to us?” Derek asked, getting to his feet.
“I don’t know,” she replied looking up at him.
“What do you mean you don’t know? Is it going to make us like them?”
“No Derek, it’s just going to take a little longer to heal,” I said basing no fact behind my statement.
“I’m gonna be sick.” Brandon stumbled to his feet, and then to the corner in time to lose his stomach contents.
“I do not feel so well myself,” Garvin said putting his hand on his forehead.
Out of nowhere everyone, including me, started feeling worse. It seemed the longer we were awake the worse our symptoms became. Jacob came back in, then turned to pull the front end of what I thought was a dead deer. Cates slid through making it look a lot easier than it was. Jacob knelt down in front of Derek who was now lying on the ground next to Brandon. Cates soon followed by going down on his knee in front of Tammy.
“They have the poison,” he said pulling Tammy’s eye lid up.
“I’ll be back. Feed them well, and see that it stays down.” Then Jacob shot out of the cave.
***
Jacob ran like the wind heading back the way we had come. He jumped over fallen trees like they weren’t even there, landing twenty feet away, not missing a step in his stride. He made his way back to the one person who would know what to do about what Cates called ‘the poison’, and he didn’t stop until he stood in front of the old, haunted looking, colonel style home. “Merna!” he called. When he got no response, he stormed up on the porch and started pounding on the door that he and Cates helped replace.
Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others Page 16