The Reckoning Series Box Set [Books 1-3]

by West, Lee

  — 23 —

  Jeff stood on the porch of their cabin for a few moments after the others left. He could not convince himself to go back inside to lie down. Everything about the camp had changed for him in a matter of a few seconds. The fact that Chet and his henchmen would kill his brother caused a visceral response in his body. He wanted more than anything to flee the camp. However, his love for Kim kept him firmly in place in spite of everything. Finally he resigned himself to lying back down. Nothing would be gained by brooding alone on the porch. Sleep would never come, he knew that, but at least he could rest.

  He crept into the bedroom as quietly as he could. Once inside, he closed the door softly. A stirring in their bed indicated that Kim had heard his arrival.

  “What are you doing?” she said.

  “Nothing. Go back to sleep. It’s the middle of the night.”

  “I know it’s the middle of the night. Why were you out there?”

  “I just needed some air. That’s all. I stepped out onto the porch. Go back to sleep.”

  Kim would frequently give him the third degree when his answers didn’t satisfy her. He hated that about her.

  “You were gone for an awfully long time for just getting air,” she said with a hint of suspicion.

  He sat on the side of the bed, contemplating his options. He did not want to lie to her, but on the other hand, he did not trust her enough to tell her the truth. The others needed more time to get away from the camp before anyone knew they left. The bed creaked under his weight as he reclined. She moved toward him, nestling into his chest. He relaxed a little as her inquiry seemed to come to an end. Suddenly she sat bolt upright and looked at him.

  “What is it? Are you okay?” he asked.

  “You’re all sweaty! Why would you be sweaty if you were just standing on the deck? What really happened? Where were you?” she demanded forcefully.

  Sitting up, he grabbed her tightly by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. In the dim light of the room he could see that no traces of sleep remained on her beautiful face. She had been up for a while, possibly overhearing everything that had transpired between him and Joe.

  “I couldn’t sleep, so I went out for air.”

  “You said that already.”

  “Let me finish. I walked over to the Center, intending to look at the stars for a while until I got sleepier. While I was there, I saw Bruce and Noland head into Chet’s shed.”

  “Really? Alone? They aren’t allowed to be there.”

  “That’s what I thought, so I moved to a spot that would allow me to spy on them. Well, unknown to me, Chet was already inside. He told them to go pretend to go with Joe and the others to the university, and kill the three of them after they left the camp! He ordered those guys to murder my brother!”

  She sat there silently listening to him. Nothing on her calm face betrayed her thoughts as he told her his story.

  “Bullshit! You didn’t hear that right. There’s no way they’d be talking about doing anything of the sort,” she finally said.

  “I know it’s crazy. I probably wouldn’t believe it either unless I heard them myself. Chet is so intent on not allowing anyone to know where the camp is that he’d rather kill my only brother than allow the camp’s location to get out. It’s wacked.”

  Her face contorted into a tight grimace of anger as she stiffened under his hands. “At least he’s doing something to survive around here. You just sit around and let everyone else take care of things at the camp. You’ve never wanted to be here. Now everyone hates us because of you!”

  She pulled herself away from him and got out of bed. In a flash she threw on a pair of jeans and a different T-shirt in a hasty effort to get dressed.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m leaving. I’m going to talk to Chet to clear this up. It’s just a misunderstanding. I’m sure you got everything wrong, like you usually do. Chet will tell me the truth.”

  “No! Don’t go out there. I heard what I heard. You have to believe me!” he said desperately.

  Jeff wanted to prevent her from leaving the bedroom and discovering they had left. Based on her reaction, she would likely tell Chet his newest victims had made a run for it.

  He grabbed her hand and said, “Don’t go out there. Stay here with me. We need to talk.”

  He desperately tried to at least stall her. The others needed more time to make it out of the camp alive. Jerking her hand away, she glared at him with a rage he’d never seen before. He instantly realized that he had made the wrong decision. He should have left her and gone with his brother. Kim showed herself to be just as crazy as the others. Maybe she always had been and he refused to see it.

  “I forbid you to go!” he shouted at her.

  He attempted to block her by stepping in front of the door, but she pushed him aside—forcefully moving past him.

  “You forbid me to go? Really? I don’t know what I ever saw in you!” she screamed as she stepped out of the bedroom.

  Once in the sitting area, she stopped. He could see her slim form standing in the center of the room, looking around.

  “Where are they?” she said, turning to him. “Where the fuck are they!”

  “They’re gone. Far from here. I should’ve gone too, but I stayed for you!” he said, pleading to her. “I love you.”

  “That was your mistake.”

  She flung open the door and ran out of the cabin.

  — 24 —

  Kim ran as fast as she could to Chet’s house. He lived in the main house a few hundred feet outside the Center. As with the manager’s shed, he never allowed anyone into his private home. He said he needed space to call his own. Despite his rule, one day when Jeff was working on the farm, Chet had pulled her aside and brought her to the house. As she walked through the rooms with him, she imagined herself as the lady of the house at Chet’s side. Her marriage and loyalty to Jeff had been long forgotten, as her crush on Chet grew stronger by the day.

  Jeff had lied to her about Chet’s intentions. Chet would never murder anyone; he only wanted to survive and keep the campers safe. Jeff had simply overheard them talking about something else and made the connection in an odd way to his brother. She would prove him wrong.

  “Chet! Chet!” she yelled as she knocked loudly on the door.

  No one answered, so she stood listening at the door for several moments.

  “You looking for me?” said Chet from behind her.

  He stood on the front walk, looking up at her, his rugged features outlined by the moon. Her attraction to him grew as he approached.

  “They left!” she yelled.

  “Who left? Get ahold of yourself! For shit’s sake, you’re hysterical,” he grumbled.

  “Joe, Meg and that other guy! They all left. Jeff thought he heard you telling Noland and Bruce to kill them. I know that was wrong. He’s such a fool. I don’t know what I ever saw in him. I left him to find you!” she said, moving toward him.

  She placed her arms around his shoulders and moved her body towards his.

  “How long ago?” he demanded as he stepped back slightly.

  “I have no idea. I was asleep.”

  He gave her a strong shove back, nearly knocking her to the ground. Spinning around, he took off down the trail back to the Center.

  “Chet!” she screamed as she ran after him.

  Bruce and Noland sat on one of the benches around the fire ring. A bottle of scotch passed between them. Kim struggled as she pushed herself to keep up with him.

  “We’ve got a problem,” said Chet as he approached. “Joe and the others left already! We need to find them! NOW!” he screamed.

  The men stood quickly in response.

  She caught up to Chet and stood by his side. Suddenly he turned on her and shouted, “Where’s your husband? Did he leave with them?”

  “No! He’s back at the cabin. He would never do that! I swear!” she whimpered.

  She’d fantasized that Chet would
bring her into his house and bed, rewarding her for leaving her husband. Instead, he reacted with an anger she did not realize he could show toward her. The change in him scared her as much as it turned her on.

  “Let’s go! We need to find him and figure out where the others went! They can’t escape through the locked front gate,” said Chet.

  “They have no place to go! We’re all fenced in! Eventually we’ll find them!” said Noland.

  The men ran toward Kim and Jeff’s cabin. She followed behind them as best she could through the dark trails. Chet and the others raided the small cabin, screaming for Jeff.

  “He’s not here! No one’s here!” shouted Noland.

  She could hear the commotion in the cabin as she stood outside it waiting. Finally, Chet emerged from the darkness inside the cabin. Moving quickly, he grabbed her, shaking her for information.

  “Where is he?” shouted Chet.

  Noland and Bruce stood on either side of Chet, ready to do his bidding.

  “I told you! He was here when I left! I have no idea where he went!” she whimpered.

  Although in that moment he terrified her, she believed he would eventually calm down and embrace her lovingly. Instead, he slapped her hard across the face, knocking her to the ground with the force of his blow.

  “I’ll deal with you later! Dumb bitch!” he hissed. “Let’s go! We need to find them! They couldn’t have gone far.”

  The men ran from the camp while Kim sat on the ground, rubbing her cheek and wondering what to do.

  — 25 —

  Immediately after Kim bolted, Jeff ran into the living room. He hastily tipped over the recliner and grabbed his weapons. With the pistol and knives on him, he ran from the cabin. Now that Kim had clearly made her choice, he needed to save himself from Chet and the others. He ran down the path in an effort to catch up with his brother.

  Jeff had never been much of a runner. Even though he only carried the small stash of weapons, his progress to catch up with them felt painfully slow. He tried to sprint in short bursts so that he could gain distance. However, the sprints did not help his situation. Instead he needed time to recover from the exertion.

  Finally he made it to the point along the walk where he knew he needed to turn toward the forest. A commotion coming from the direction of his cabin caused him to stop and stiffen. He listened intently, only able to hear unidentifiable sounds. Unsure if the sound came from Kim, or Chet and the others, he froze. He hoped that Kim had changed her mind and decided to return to him.

  Listening closely to the sounds around him, he convinced himself that she was looking for him in order to reconcile. His spirits immediately lifted. Betrayal gave way to the hope of reuniting with the woman he loved. He turned from the forest, intent on returning to her.

  A bright light blinded him. Instinctively he drew the gun out of his waistband and pointed it toward the light. Unable to see who was walking toward him, he waved the gun wildly in a futile effort to protect himself.

  “Look what we have here!” shouted Noland.

  “We’ve got him! The traitor was too stupid to leave with his brother!” shouted Bruce.

  Through the shadows Jeff could see that Chet was walking slowly toward the men as they waited. Jeff’s life was held in the balance between freedom and Kim.

  “Jeff, you know weapons aren’t allowed at the camp, don’t you?” asked Chet.

  Jeff could not decide how to respond. Terror gripped him, causing him to feel frozen, unable to move. He continued to wave the gun at them.

  “Don’t come near me! I’ll shoot!” he shouted shakily. His voice cracked as he addressed the men, sounding like he had been crying.

  “You’ll shoot? Really? Go ahead. I suspect you haven’t shot that thing in a long time. You’ll probably end up shooting yourself, not us! That’ll save us the bullet!” Chet laughed.

  The men laughed at his expense, causing him to flush with anger. The heavy gun shook in his hand. Backing up, he tried to get himself into the forest toward the fence. Unable to watch his footing, he stumbled backward and fell onto his backside. The men roared with laughter.

  “Careful! You could hurt yourself in these woods!” shouted Chet.

  Jeff scrambled to get back on his feet. With his free hand and feet, he pushed himself off the ground, took another step back, and fell again.

  “This is getting silly. Why don’t you just settle down? We’ll go back to the Center and talk this out. All we want to know is where your brother and the others went. No one’s going to hurt you. Put the gun down. You’re only making things harder for yourself,” said Chet calmly.

  The bright light in his face prevented him from seeing the location of the men. He assumed they were clustered around the holder of the flashlight. Suddenly, a swift kick into his side told him he had been wrong. Noland and Bruce had flanked him while Chet held the flashlight, blinding him.

  The men took turns kicking his abdomen. He turned his body in an effort to shield himself from their blows, to no avail. The hard kicks rained down on him.

  “Get him up! We need to get him farther into the forest!” yelled Chet.

  Noland and Bruce each took one of Jeff’s arms. They muscled him off the ground. Jeff’s eye had swollen shut from the repeated kicks to his face. He could no longer see where they took him. They lifted him off the ground, dragging his limp body deep into the forest. In the last moments of his life, he wondered if Kim would be okay without him.

  — 26 —

  Joe ran to the fence with the bolt cutters in hand. Mike and Meg flanked him, keeping an eye on the forest behind him to prevent any surprises. Cutting the heavy-duty wire fence with the small tool his brother had provided would not be easy. He clenched the handle of the tool, trying to close the sharp edges around the fence wire. Closing the handles together, he tried with all his might to snap a hole through the fence. Instead of effortlessly cutting through the fence as he imagined, the tool rolled off the side of the sturdy wire.

  “Damn it! The fence is too thick. I can’t even keep the tool straight on it!” said Joe in a loud whisper.

  “Keep trying! Getting through the fence is our only hope!” said Mike.

  Joe refocused his efforts on the task at hand. He took the tool in both hands in an effort to concentrate his force onto one spot.

  A gunshot rang out through the forest. Then another two in short succession. He stopped and looked to Mike and Meg.

  “Hurry! They know we left! They’re coming for us!” shouted Meg.

  “Shh! We don’t want to make it easy for them to find us! I need to turn off the light. You good with that?” asked Mike.

  Joe nodded his head, agreeing. Seeing the fence had been the least of his problems. He knew where he needed to cut the wires, but the small tool would not be enough for the task.

  “This bolt cutter is way too small to get through the fence! We’re trapped!” he finally said.

  “Let me try! Maybe I’ll be able to snip them,” said Mike.

  Joe handed the cutters to Mike. Mike crouched, assuming the same position Joe had just been in. They could hear the shouts of others in the forest around them. The darkness prevented him from knowing the location of the search party.

  “There’s no use. You’re right, these won’t do it. We’re trapped!” said Mike.

  They stood for a moment. Finally Joe said, “No. We aren’t trapped. We need to go under the fence. It’s our only choice! Help me dig!”

  The three frantically clawed at the damp cold earth, trying to clear enough space under the fence for crawling. Rocks and bits of hard matter cut Joe’s fingers as he desperately dug for freedom. Mike used the small bolt cutter to snap through tree roots as they frantically dug their way out of the camp. The voices in the forest sounded as though the men were making good headway toward their location. With every sound, the three dug with all their might.

  “That should be enough! Meg, GO!” said Joe.

  She handed him her small pac
k and dove onto her belly. Wriggling, she managed to get most of the way when the waistband of her pants got caught on the fence.

  “Shit! I’m stuck!”

  “I’ve got it! Hold still,” said Mike.

  He used the cutters to hack away at her pants, enabling her to pull herself out of the fence to the other side. Joe handed her the pack and then dove under the fence after her.

  A light shone through the forest as the men came closer to them. Joe could now fully hear the voices of Chet, Noland and Bruce. It sounded as though they were moving quickly through the trees, intent on finding them. The men seemed to be heading toward a location of the fence farther south than where they were attempting their escape.

  “Come on! They’re coming!” he said to Mike.

  Mike failed to get low enough to the ground to make it under the metal fence. Instead one of the wires caught his forehead, ripping open the skin. Involuntarily he let out a yelp. Suddenly, three beams of light flipped direction, heading toward them.

  Mike struggled to pull himself the rest of the way as Joe and Meg each grabbed him under the arms, pulling him to freedom. Once on the other side, they ran as fast as possible away from the fence.

  The confusion of the situation made Joe question if they were headed toward the road or away from it. Instead of worrying about the direction they traveled, Joe merely urged them to keep moving as fast as possible, hoping they would eventually find the road.

  Bullets whizzed past them during their chaotic sprint from danger. Fragments of tree trunks flew around their faces as the bullets ripped through the solid objects.

  “Keep going! We need to get out of their range!” he yelled to Meg and Mike.

  Taking a chance, he glanced over his shoulder to see if the men had breached the fence. The distance and tree cover prevented him from determining if the men shot at them from inside the camp or if they too had crawled under the fence.

  “Are they following us?” asked Mike. “I can’t tell!”

  “Me neither! Either way, we need to keep running as far from this shithole as possible!” yelled Joe.