Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  He was tempted to go as fast as the SUV could take him, but the flat tires made steering unpredictable. The sound of rims scraping against the road was eerie and deafening. They needed to move quickly; no one would have a problem tracking them.

  Brian came forward and spoke to Jan. “Can we switch spots?”

  Jan looked at Brian curiously then slipped past him to sit beside Rebecca. He drank more vodka and stared openly at Josh.

  The longer the stare continued, the more uncomfortable Josh became.

  “What’s up, Bri?”

  “Did you catch a look at them?”

  Josh nodded. “Just shadows. Three of them. They look big.”

  “Did they look human?”

  “What?” Josh glared at his friend. “Of course they looked human. What are you talking about?”

  “I remember, Josh. We’ve never talked about it but I do. Remember the bush party?”

  “There were a lot of bush parties.” A series of images flashed through his mind, but Josh couldn’t place any of them.

  “Not like this one.” Brian stared out the window. “Grade 10, after the football game. A gang crashed it and beat the hell out of Tommy Delonki. Remember? He died a few days later?”

  Josh nodded slowly. “Sorta. What does that have to do with me?”

  Brian let out a snort. He coughed a little and then let out a long slow breath. “Either you think I’m a moron or you honestly don’t remember. I’ve struggled for years with those memories. They can’t be real but I remember them. I guess if you found a way to block it all out you’re the lucky one.”

  Josh shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He looked in the rear-view mirror to see if anyone else was listening. Matt was staring straight ahead; Jan still held his hand. Rebecca was draping a blanket over Tonia’s body.

  “Bri, I’m not really sure what you’re talking about. I barely knew Tommy Delonki. I think we had a few classes together but that’s it.”

  “You really don’t remember?” Brian turned in his chair to face him. “Tommy was your next-door neighbor. You were best friends until high school. Ring a bell? That night, at the party, you and I were doing shots when Tommy came racing out of the dark. He was all cut up and bruised wearing only a pair of jogging pants. No shoes or socks.”

  “How drunk are you, man? Are you taking those pills again?” Josh was beyond uncomfortable now. None of this was even vaguely familiar. How could he forget someone who’d been his best friend?

  Brian hit him in the arm. Hard. “No! I’m not drunk and I haven’t used those pills for years. I’ll have you know the only reason I was ever on those pills is because of that night. If you don’t believe me, ask Matt. He was there, too. He can also vouch for Tommy being your neighbor. You’re the one with amnesia, so don’t talk down to me!”

  Everyone stared at them now. Brian’s voice became increasingly louder as he went on. Josh looked over at him. Brian’s face was red and his veins were bulging, but the redness had gone from his eyes. Whatever else he was, Brian was not drunk.

  “I’m sorry,” Josh said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t remember him being my neighbor, or my friend. What happened?”

  “How can you not remember that party?” Rebecca slid forward and handed Brian a Diet Pepsi. “I wasn’t even there and I’ve heard about it. Weren’t there, like, twenty or thirty black guys in green tracksuits or something?”

  “I heard they brought guns,” Matt said. Josh was surprised to hear him speak. His voice sounded far away, like he was talking in his sleep. “I remember seeing them. Sort of. They looked eight feet tall. And he was your friend, Josh. You used to skateboard with him until he had that knee surgery.”

  Knee surgery. For some reason that rang a bell. A memory flashed through Josh’s mind: going to the hospital with a skateboard signed by everyone in his class. He could see himself giving it to a thin-boned pale boy he recognized as Tommy Delonki. His head started to hurt.

  “How can I not remember him?”

  “Good question.” Brian cleared his throat and sank back into the passenger seat, facing forward. “I’ll never forget. Tommy ran out of the woods. He bolted past everyone and went straight to you. You saw him and dropped your drink just as he collapsed. You put a hand on his cheek, like he was a lover or something, and Tommy just starts crying. ‘They came back for me,’ he said. And you? You didn’t ask him what he was talking about. You stood up and said ‘I warned them.’ Then you grabbed a log off the bloody bonfire and started off into the woods.”

  “I ran into the woods with a flaming log?”

  “Nuh uh. You didn’t run. You walked. Gave me the damned creeps. Sobered me up, too. That’s why I followed you. I saw what you did to them.”

  “What did I do to them?” Josh stared at his hands on the steering wheel. They were shaking.

  “You killed them.” Brian took a sip of his Pepsi.

  “I what?”

  Jan leaned forward. “What the hell are you talking about, Brian?”

  “I saw it. And so did a few others. Only nothing ever happened. And I mean there must have been like twenty people around. But we never talked about it. No one went to the police. How could we? See, those guys, they weren’t black guys. They had….”

  Suddenly the image came back to Josh very clearly.

  “They had wings.”

  ***

  No one spoke for a while.

  It was just as well. Josh had a lot to process. Although he couldn’t recall the events leading up to the deaths, he could clearly see himself at the party now. He heard the whirl of air and the crackle of burning embers as he swung the log. He could see his hands bashing heads, setting green wings on fire. He also remembered how expected it was. It didn’t seem strange to him at the time. He knew who they were, knew what Tommy meant by ‘They’ve come back for me.’ Now it was all a mystery.

  Brian finally broke the silence.

  “Is that what you were talking about?” Brian’s eyes glazed over. “Back there, after the crash, you said ‘I’ve got a few secrets’. Was that what you were talking about?”

  Josh shook his head. “No. Not even close. I think we need to be clear about something. Those people in the woods back there were human. They didn’t have wings or tails and they weren’t eight feet tall. I didn’t see their faces but they were definitely human. Doesn’t make them any less dangerous. He looked in the rear-view mirror. Tonia’s body bounced limply beneath the blanket. Someone had put a seatbelt across her chest to keep her upright. “Madmen are a different kind of monster. They’ll use tricks, guerrilla tactics. You just never know what to expect.”

  “What if…” Rebecca stopped and cleared her throat. “I mean, when I think of wings, I think of angels.”

  “What are you talking about?” Brian shot her a look over his shoulder.

  Josh felt blood rush to his face.

  “I’m just saying,” Rebecca sank back into her seat, pushing herself as far away from Josh as she could. “What if those things you killed were angels? Maybe this is some sort of revenge. Maybe…”

  Brian turned around. “Don’t!”

  “I know he’s your friend but how can you not see this?”

  “Rebecca, you’re trying in a not-so-subtle way to say this is all Josh’s fault. So enough of the angel crap. If it wasn’t for Josh we’d probably all be dead now.”

  Matt sank back into his seat, too. “Or we’d be at the cottage.”

  Josh felt like she had kicked him in the gut. His body went stiff, his eyes very focused on the road.

  There was a long stretch of silence again before Brian continued the conversation.

  “So what was it, then? What was your big secret?”

  Once again, Josh felt he could breathe.

  “Damn. My dad’s going to kill me. If anyone deserves the truth, it’s you guys. You know how my dad owns that garage downtown?”

  “Yeah,” Brian said. “I’ve picked you up there a few times. You
worked there during the summer in high school.”

  Josh nodded while Brian talked. “It’s a front. You ever heard of CSIS?”

  “That show on CBS?”

  “No. That’s CSI. The one I’m talking about is kind of like the Canadian CIA. My dad works for them.”

  “I take it he’s not a janitor.” Jan chewed on her thumbnail. “Christ, you’re just full of little secrets, aren’t you?”

  Josh swallowed, a sour taste in his mouth. “I would have told you if I could, Jan. It’s kind of a hush-hush thing. Dad wasn’t even supposed to tell Mom and me. He’s not even a regular agent there. He belongs to this secret organization within the company. They go on special assignments and stuff, the type that creates a few enemies. Only reason we found out is we were attacked once.”

  “See?” Rebecca’s voice was suddenly very shrill. “I told you this was his fault. Should have left him back there and we’d all be safe now.”

  “Enough of the psycho drama,” Jan said. Her voice was little more than a whisper but the strange edge to it froze everyone. “Rebecca, take a pill and let him speak.”

  Josh felt his heart skip a beat. He’d been thinking exactly the same thing ever since he saw the blade in the tire. What if this was another attack like Lebanon? Were they after him to get to his father? He shook the guilt away and tried to think of what his dad would do.

  “I wish it was all my fault, Rebecca, but I don’t think it is. I think it’s all about luck in this case. Bad luck.”

  “When were you attacked?” Brian finished his can of soda.

  “When I was 16. Dad took us on a trip to Lebanon.”

  “I remember. You brought back that stupid urn.”

  “Hey! My mother loves that urn.”

  “Josh, it’s ugly.”

  “Hardly the most important thing right now. Anyway, while we were there, this guy took a shot at my dad. Bullet went right through an open window in our hotel room. Sliced through my mother’s arm. Long story short, my father felt he had to tell us what was going on so we’d be ready if it happened again. He taught me a few things after school and on weekends. I can handle myself really well. I’ll do everything I can to make sure we get out of this alive.”

  Everyone looked to the back of the SUV without saying another word. Matt stared at his empty hands, tears falling freely down his face. His mouth moved but he made no sound.

  “Last question.” Brian looked out his window, studying the woods. “Any connection between your father’s work and those things with wings?”

  “I don’t know,” Josh said, his voice cracking. “Can’t see how. Just more bad luck or something. Can you look at the map and find the next town? We’ve been driving forever and we’ve only got a half tank of gas. If those guys are following us I’d rather not meet up with them while we’re still in the woods.”

  “Sure.” Brian bent down to the pouch on the door where the maps were held. His hand stopped before reaching in. “What the hell?”

  “What is it?” Rebecca leaned forward and put a hand on the back of Brian’s seat.

  Brian sat back up. In his hand was a single piece of white paper.

  “Where’s the map?” Josh took turns looking at Brian and the road.

  “It’s gone. All the maps are gone. This was the only thing in there.”

  Brian reached over and held the piece of paper out by the steering wheel. Josh looked down at it and hit the brakes.

  It was a crude drawing, like something a grade school kid would do. A jet black peacock with glowing eyes. Beneath the drawing were two words written in red crayon.

  “No escape.” Josh read the words aloud, icy prickles jabbing into his skin.

  “How the hell did that get in here?” Jan reached forward and grabbed the paper away from Brian. “Is this someone’s idea of a joke? Brian, did you do this?”

  Josh turned around slowly. “If you keep up like this we’re all going to die. We need to stop the hysterics and focus.”

  Jan crumpled the paper and threw it on the ground.

  “I didn’t do this.” Brian turned to look at Jan. “You know that. It was one of them. When was the last time anyone saw the map?”

  “At the creepy gas station.” Jan crossed her arms across her chest. Tears formed in her eyes. “I put it away because Josh was having trouble folding it.”

  “Right.” Josh tried to think beyond the fear he felt. Despite his father’s training, he realized he was out of his depth. “So we had the map then. That’s when they took the maps and put this little note in there.”

  Brian wiped sweat off his forehead, turned around and looked out the back window. “If they’ve been tracking us that far, they’re not going to stop now, are they?”

  “Worse.” Jan laughed and bit her lip. Tears flowed faster down her face. “We didn’t see any cars pass us, right? They went ahead of us and set up a trap.”

  “Either that or there’s more than one set of them.” Brian wiped the sweat away again. “Josh, we need to get off this road. Fast.”

  Josh clenched the steering wheel. Up the road, a white van appeared. Impossibly fast, it shot up the road. It’s engine roared, dirty and loud.

  Rebecca screamed.

  Before Josh could react, the van slammed into them. He felt a sharp crack as his head hit the steering wheel.

  Then there was nothing but blackness and pain.

  Chapter Four

  July 31st

  When Josh awoke, he was in a concrete cell. He blinked something – blood – out of his eyes. Blood-stained leather manacles bound his wrists spread-eagle above his head. His eyes traced chains from each manacle to thick metal hoops in the ceiling.

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’

  His shirt, shoes and socks were gone, his bare chest covered in bruises and abrasions. The floor was stained with red and brown smudges. Dried blood.

  The cell reeked of spoiled hamburger. Two bare bulbs swung gently on short wires from the ceiling. They splashed cold light in puddles. He shook his head, trying to clear the fog in his brain. The only result was pain. Every part of his body ached. Although he knew it would be futile, he tried to pull his arms free of the manacles. He clenched his jaw as leather chewed into flesh. As expected, he could not get his hand through. The leather held tight.

  He twisted to look over his shoulder. He was alone. The only entrance was directly in front of him. Like something from a horror-movie version of an insane asylum, there was a small window slot in the door. It was covered by a metal slab. On the other side would be a latch to uncover the window, allowing someone to look in on him without actually entering the room. He looked around for signs of a video camera. He saw no evidence of one.

  ‘Stay calm,’ he thought. ‘Dad trained me for this. Keep pulling my hand through the manacle. If I’m lucky, I’ll draw blood. Use it to lubricate the restraint and make it easier for me to escape.’

  Through the walls, he heard a scream.

  The sound was so shrill he could not tell if it was male or female. Either way, a scream like that was never a good thing. Someone was being hurt in ways he chose not to imagine. Moments later he heard another scream. He realized immediately it was Jan.

  ‘At least I know she’s not dead. If these people are after Dad, they’ll keep me alive. At least for now. No guarantee for the others. I have to move quickly.’

  He focused on his right hand, pulling it repeatedly down. Pain shot through his arm as leather bit into flesh. Maybe it was the pain or the streams of blood at his feet, but suddenly memories from the night of the bush party came back to him. He smelled charred flesh and feathers as the creatures’ wings burned. He flinched as he recalled kicking in one of their skulls. In his memory, he moved impossibly fast: like Batman or Jet Li. His father had taught him things, but nothing like this, not when he was so young.

  Then another image flashed before him.

  ***

  He sat on his back porch with Tommy Delonki. It was a ho
t day in late August, the threat of going back to school imminent. They drank red Kool-Aid from plastic Jurassic Park cups. Inside the house, his mother sang along with the radio as she made the crust for an apple pie. Two skateboards lay nearby on the lawn. Nothing he saw or heard could explain the absolute terror the memory brought to him.

  ***

  “Something happened.”

  As soon as he said the words he wished he’d only thought them. His voice echoed off the concrete walls, emphasizing how enclosed he was. It felt like a coffin. What if they did not come for him? What if they just left him hanging there until he starved to death? Claustrophobia set in.

  “Stop it,” he said. Sweat fell from his hair. The room was hot and humid, just like that day in August. “Think of something else.”

  ‘I can’t stop them. One day they’ll come to take me away and I know I can’t stop them.’

  Josh raised his head.

  Goosebumps ran down his chest. The room suddenly seemed very cold.

  ***

  “I can’t stop them,” Tommy said. “One day they’ll come to take me away and I know I can’t stop them.”

  “You don’t know that.” Josh picked up a chip of concrete that had crumbled off the back porch and threw it across the lawn. “Things don’t work that way.”

  “You don’t know them.” Tommy grabbed his Kool-Aid and held the glass against his cheek. “You’ve never seen them.”

  “Yes I did.” He put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I saw what they did to you last night. It’s wrong and it’s weird but they’re not coming back. Monsters always go away when someone else sees them. It’s a rule.”

  “Maybe.” Tommy set the cup down then looked away. “I still know I’m going to die.”

  ***

  ‘And he did,’ Josh thought. ‘In the hospital a few days after those things in the woods beat him up. Those things with wings. And I’d seen them before. How could I forget something like this?’

  The two voices screamed again.