by Palvi Sharma
She got up from her hiding place and realized that it was too late as the chainsaw came down on Sara. Jennifer screamed then and Melissa felt her limbs growing weak as Sara dropped dead on the ground.
“No!” Shane screamed, but seconds later, Melissa saw the chainsaw come down on him too.
Melissa felt something warm spray over her and looked down to see her blue colored t-shirt sprayed with bright red droplets that were quickly turning purple. Her mouth opened to scream, but she found herself unable to even breathe. The cold wind was brushing mercilessly against her, but Melissa didn’t even notice it on her skin anymore.
She stood there, watching the pool of blood spread on the ground as the riders laughed. She saw two of them reach down and throw something at the bodies.
“Melissa, sit down!” Rafe said his voice filling with terror.
Before Melissa could stop herself, she broke down into loud sobs. She covered her mouth to silence herself, but it was too late. The riders had spotted her and were walking towards her in rapid strides.
Chapter Five
Melissa felt her cell phone slip from her fingers as she spotted Sara’s mutilated body on the ground, next to Shane’s. There was some sort of dirt thrown across their faces and to Melissa it looked like dried flowers. Although why the riders would throw flowers on their victims didn’t make sense to her.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Fiona, Rafe and Jennifer get up slowly. They were caught and now they were all going to die.
“What do we do?” Fiona cried. “We need a weapon!”
“I told you to stay down!” Rafe chided, but Melissa could only stare at him in stunned silence. She wished Mark was here. Mark always carried a Swiss army knife and he even knew a bit of Tae Kwan Do. Even though his knife and limited fighting skills would do little against the maniacal slayers, she knew that if he was here, he would have protected her at all cost.
Melissa wiped a tear and smiled to herself. If Mark had wanted to protect her, he would have never cheated on her. In the end, Mark couldn’t protect her from a broken heart and tonight she was going to die because Mark couldn’t protect her from this either.
“There’s only one option left.” Rafe whispered to them. “We have to jump into the water and swim for it.”
“Are you crazy?” Fiona whispered back, her eyes never leaving the approaching riders. “The cop on the other side would shoot us dead. Besides how far can we swim in a lagoon?”
“A year ago, they were planning to convert part of the lagoon into an artificial land.” Rafe said quickly. “They were going to expand the existing islets into land. The project was stopped midway, but I’m pretty sure there’s an islet somewhere around here.”
Melissa looked towards the burning stores and saw that the flames were dying down. “It’s getting dark.” she said. “Maybe the cop won’t be able to see us if we jump into the lagoon.”
“I can’t swim.” Jennifer said. “I can’t!”
Rafe looked at her and then at Melissa. “That’s too bad. We’ll have to go on without her.”
“I’m not leaving her.” Melissa said. “How can you even think about leaving her behind?”
“Then you can die too.” Rafe said coldly and pulled himself over the railing.
“Fiona!” Melissa pleaded, but Fiona had pulled herself over too and getting ready to dive in.
“We have to do this. This is our only way out.” Rafe said.
“Jennifer!” Melissa said thinking quickly. “Jump! Then grab hold onto me.”
“I can’t! I’m too scared.” Jennifer cried.
Melissa pulled herself up on the railing and held out her hand. “Trust me! I’ll get you through this!”
“Hey!” one of the riders yelled clearly guessing their intentions.
Melissa took this as her cue to make her escape and swung her legs around, dived into the lagoon and hoped like crazy that there weren’t any large rocks underwater that would injure her. The water however was freezing and she cried out at its sudden touch.
She heard two more splashes beside her and looked up to see a silhouette of Jennifer in the dark, still standing still.
“Jump!” Melissa yelled, pedaling her legs to stay afloat. “You can do this!”
“Come on!” Fiona screamed.
Melissa spotted the dark shadow of the rider standing right behind her friend and screamed. Her screams, jolted Jennifer into action and she quickly climbed over the railing and jumped into the lagoon.
Melissa swam towards her and grabbed hold of her arm. She pulled Jennifer’s arm over her shoulder and suddenly felt herself sinking.
“Help!” Melissa spluttered as her legs slipped. Jennifer let out a surprised cry of her own as her head dipped into the water. “I can’t do this!”
A hand pulled her shoulder up in the dark and Melissa let go of Jennifer’s hand.
“Jen!” she said and reached out for her friend. When she only felt water, she could feel her panic rising.
“I’ve got her!” Rafe said. “Follow my voice. I think I can make out where the islet is.”
“Jen, are you okay?” Melissa asked. Her heart was beating rapidly when seconds passed and she still hadn’t heard Jennifer’s voice.
“I’m fine!” her friend responded finally.
“Come on guys, swim faster.” Fiona said.
Melissa turned to look behind her and whimpered when she saw the five riders staring below at them. She looked on the other side and saw that the police officer was no longer standing there.
Melissa kicked her feet harder and made her way towards the sound of Rafe’s voice. If she got out of this alive, she would forgive Mark. She would call up her parents and go to their choice of school. She would do anything if she got out of this alive!
“I’m getting tired!” Fiona called.
“It should be around here.” Rafe said. As her vision grew accustomed to the dimness, Melissa could see Jennifer’s arm around Rafe and she hoped they would find the islet soon. What if Rafe got too tired? She would never forgive herself if something happened to Jennifer.
“Up ahead!” Fiona said. “I think I see something.”
Melissa felt her legs starting to cramp and peered into the darkness to search for whatever Fiona had seen. She hoped Fiona was right and that they had already reached the islet. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep up. Her breath came out in loud gasps and the icy water around her was splashing painfully on her skin.
“We’re here.” Rafe announced.
Melissa could make out Rafe climbing onto the artificial land and started to move her arms faster. Just a few more feet and then she could finally rest. The cold water was too punishing on her arms and legs.
For what seemed like an hour, Melissa finally felt land beneath her hands. She pulled herself on it and breathed heavily. Her lungs felt smaller and her throat burned.
“Everyone okay?” Rafe gasped.
Melissa turned herself so that she was lying on her back. She wished she could just wave her hand in answer, but it was too dark for anyone to notice her gestures.
“Mel?” Jennifer asked in a small voice. “Melissa, are you here?”
Melissa coughed then and found herself unable to stop for several minutes. “I’m fine.” she managed between gasps. “Just out of breath.” Her feet hurt, her shoulders were in an agonizing knot, but what hurt worse was her head. The cold winds and the swim in the freezing water had caused her head to feel as if large boulders were weighing down on it.
“Are there trees here?” Fiona asked.
“A small forest more like it.” Jennifer stated. “I thought you said this was an artificial land.”
“So I’ve read.” Rafe said. “There was some work going on here but was stopped abruptly for mysterious reasons.”
Melissa got up on her feet and followed the voices of her new friends. She could make out trees in front of her and she walked towards them. She felt her feet kick a small heap and
Melissa bent down to feel the small mound.
“I’m glad they did, or God knows if we would have found a place to escape in.” Jennifer said.
Melissa let her hands travel over the small mound and she caught her breath when she felt a block of cement. Her fingers traced it and as they travelled all over it, an image started to form and she realized what she could have possibly stumbled upon.
“On the other hand, there could have been all sorts of amenities here.” Fiona said.
“You think anyone would have helped us?” Rafe snickered. “The police officers in this city are really helpful, don’t you think?”
“You don’t live here?” Jennifer asked.
“Moved here a few months ago.” Rafe said.
Melissa looked up at the dark figures of her friends and got up slowly. Her hands were trembling and her stomach started to churn, ready to dispose off its contents. She could feel her fear building inside her, ready to overwhelm her. “There’s something here.” She said in a wavering voice.
Rafe, Fiona and Jennifer walked over to her. “What is it?” Jennifer asked. “Mel, what’s wrong?”
Melissa felt her tears rolling down her face. She had never been so scared in her life. A gust of cold wind swept over her then and she shivered. “There are graves here!” she said. “Five of them!”
Chapter Six
“So this is where they were buried.” Rafe said, kneeling down beside her.
Fiona came to him and almost tripped over Melissa’s feet. Melissa grabbed her arm just in time and felt how wet and cold Fiona’s skin was.
“What are you talking about?” Jennifer asked.
Rafe unzipped a pocket in his jacket and brought out a small flashlight. “The riders.” he said.
“What about them?” Melissa asked.
“Everyone should have just listened to me.” Rafe sighed as he moved the flashlight over the tombstones. The inscription had been worn away and Melissa could barely make out the names written on them.
“Will you stop with that?” Fiona said. “What you said was so ridiculous. How could you expect us to believe all that?”
“Will someone tell us something?” Melissa asked, getting irritated. Why did Rafe and Fiona think it was a good time to hide things from them? They were in serious trouble and in lieu of what had happened tonight, she was ready to believe anything and everything.
Rafe got up and tried to dust the sand off his wet trousers, with little success. “It’s something that happened years ago. Five motorcycle riders were killed on this very road. The story goes that these five riders were the most feared vandals this city had ever seen.”
“So?” Jennifer asked. “What has that got to do with everything that has happened here tonight?”
“The cops could never catch them because they were that clever and fast. So they laid a trap.” Rafe said. “They only meant to catch them alive and imprison them, but something went horribly wrong.”
Melissa hugged herself and turned back towards the Promenade. It was too quiet all of a sudden. She couldn’t hear the riders talking or the sounds of their motorcycles.
“The cops had spilled some sort of grease on the road.” Rafe continued. “One of the riders was lighting up a cigarette and accidentally dropped a lit match on the road. All five of them burned to death.”
“Are you implying that those were ghosts up there?” Fiona asked and Melissa could hear the disbelief in her voice.
“Every three years, on a night when there’s a crescent moon, these… demons appear, to exact their revenge.”
“But we didn’t do anything!” Melissa cried. “We’re new here. We all are. Keith, Shane and Sara didn’t deserve to die like that!”
“No they didn’t!” Rafe said. “They shouldn’t have died like that, but they did! And it’s all because of a stupid superstition!”
“What superstition?” Jennifer asked.
“The people in the city believe that if they can offer some sort of sacrifice, the demons would go away.” Rafe said. “They planned this. I tried to warn all of them to get out of here but no one listened to me. I should have tried harder to make everyone listen to me!”
In the dark, Melissa could see Fiona put her hand on Rafe’s shoulder as he sobbed quietly.
“It’s never going to end!” he cried. “Not until we’re all dead! If those demons don’t kill us, the people in this city will!”
“We’re safe here now.” Fiona said. “We’ll hide here until dawn and then find a way out of this city.”
Jennifer walked over to Melissa and stood close to her.
“We’ll be safe here right?” she whispered to her.
“I hope so.” Melissa said. “Can we please find a spot away from the graves?”
Rafe switched on his flashlight again and led them to the other side of the land. Melissa sat down next to a shrub and looked up at the crescent moon. A couple more hours and then it would be daylight. Jennifer sat down next to her and lay down on the sand.
Melissa hugged her knees and looked at the other side of the lagoon. There were houses there and that meant there were people living there. It was a long swim, but they could probably make it. But what would happen when they reached the other side? What if the people living in those houses were hostile too?
“We should all get some sleep.” Fiona said. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
Melissa brushed her hand against the sand and looked for stones or pebbles in the dark. The last thing she wanted was to crack her skull open on a rock. When she felt only smooth powdery sand, she lay down and stared at the stars above her. She could hear Jennifer softly crying before her, but she couldn’t muster up the energy to console her, especially when she needed someone to console her.
She wished Mark was still with her. She had always felt so protected when she was near him. If they had still been together, she wouldn’t have been in the Promenade in the first place. She would have been in one of his favorite hangouts listening to him as he boasted about how his culinary skills were impeccable.
Melissa turned to the other side and stared at the shrub. In the dark, she couldn’t make out what kind of shrub it was, but it was better than staring at the graves on the other side of the land. The fact that the graves were fifteen feet from her, made her feel uneasy and she deliberated asking Fiona and Rafe to just swim across right now.
She opened her mouth to suggest it when she heard soft snores coming from Jennifer. It had been an awful night and everyone was exhausted. The swim across would probably require every bit of energy they had. Besides, Rafe would have to swim with Jennifer on his back.
Melissa started to feel her eyelids getting heavier. They were safe here for the time being and she could allow herself to rest a little. She yawned and closed her eyes. Tomorrow things would be different. Tomorrow would be safer.
Chapter Seven
The first thing Melissa heard was the low hum of an electric motor. Her initial thought was that she had fallen asleep in her cooking class and that someone was using the blender on her left. She hadn’t been doing exceptionally well in her classes and the last thing she needed was to be reprimanded for sleeping in one.
She willed herself to open her eyes, but found that she was too tired right now. It had been a long night, and she hadn’t gotten any sleep. If her teacher scolded her, she would lie to her that she had been up all night, studying.
It was then that Melissa realized that she couldn’t be in her class. Weren’t her classes for the semester over? She could sense the warmth of the sun on her skin and it felt too hot for it to be either spring or autumn.
Melissa ran her hands over, looking for her sheets and instead felt a hard surface beneath her. Her thought came rushing in then. She wasn’t in a classroom; she was hiding from the riders on an artificial land. But she was absolutely certain that she had fallen asleep under that stars and on the soft sand. Yet she now appeared to be lying on a hard surface that was gradually h
eating up under her.
Her eyes snapped open and she pushed herself up. She uttered a gasp when she saw that she was lying on the middle of the road. She tried getting up, only to realize that lying on a hard surface for so long had cramped up her limbs. She blinked quickly, trying to erase what appeared to be a dream. There were newspapers and broken glass lying on the road. One of the trash bins was on fire and filthy cardboard boxes were scattered around.
Melissa plucked up all the energy she could muster and pulled herself up. Her knees buckled, but she saved herself from falling at the last second. She looked around her and saw that the streets were still empty and that she was inside a cage. The entire street was blocked by a large fence that ran all around her.