Seth took off into the trees without another comment. With no choice but to follow, she hoisted her pack onto her back and caught up with him. “Remember my leg. I’m not racing down there.”
“Heard you before. Neither am I. Anyone ever tell you that you whine a lot?”
“Never. Actually the opposite. You must bring the worst out in me.”
She heard him chuckle. A smiled tugged at her lips. Then a branch smacked her in the face. “Ouch! Watch it, please.” He slowed and waited for her to catch up. Already her breathing had increased. What kind of shape would she be in when they reached the compound? “I’m still not convinced this is the best way in. We are going to be exhausted when we get there. Then what? Find an empty cabin to lie down in?” She didn’t make sense but then neither did any of this.
“Keep up, will you? Watch your footing ahead. It gets steeper soon.”
“What about a bathroom break? Are you open to those?” she called to his receding back. She aimed her flashlight closer to the ground, trying to avoid roots.
She continued like that for another fifteen minutes. Seth not saying a word, only a groan now and then when his feet tangled in ground cover. Already her leg burned with increasing pain. She doubted her ability to get back up the mountain but tried not to think about that now.
“Look.” Seth stopped and pointed upward.
“It’s getting light already. How can that be?”
She could see him better in the early morning dawn. “It does that every morning. Ever get up early before?”
“Not if I can help it. I hope it stays dark enough so no one sees us. Isn’t that the plan?”
“It’s not going to get light that fast and besides, we’re almost there. Stay close.” He turned the way he had been headed, leaving her to once again to follow.
The ground leveled off and the brush began to thin. Seth kept a steady pace for another ten minutes. When he stopped, she nearly ran into his back.
He raised his finger to his lips. “We’re here.”
Her legs shook. Next her hands.
She opened her mouth and spoke, “Lord, please have mercy on us.”
CHAPTER 64
The Trainer knew it was time. Time to complete his purpose in life. Might as well end his charade with all these other women. The ones who would never match up to Kate.
He left his home and crossed the yard to the building where he kept his candidates until they passed or failed his training.
So far, no one had passed.
It wasn’t that he was picky or choosy or difficult to work with. Rather, the memory of a particular girl turned woman intruded upon his thoughts. He had hoped for the day they would be together and now that Kate lived in the Bend, the timing was ordained. He couldn’t concentrate. He woke early and fumbled through his chores. Once he dropped his knife during practice—his hands shaking from expectations. So unlike him. At first, he considered seeing Doc but then decided his concerns were nothing. Just excitement over the thought of getting so close to Kate. So close.
He opened the door. A dim light from a low-burning candle outlined the coffin sitting in the middle of the room. A groan escaped him. Low, guttural. The end would come fast. Shelly lacked the strength and endurance he saw in her when he first chose her. Instead she cried non-stop, complained and threatened. The hips he thought perfect for bearing his children were bruised from lashing against the sides of her box. She didn’t understand that the more she struggled, the more he would need to train her. He checked his supplies that lay out on a long table nearby. Picked up the shortest knife and tested the blade with his thumb.
Sharp.
He stepped closer to the coffin. Peered down at the woman who now turned his stomach. “It’s time lovely girl. Time for you to say goodbye.”
Her eyes widened. Oh, he should remove the gag he had added after the last session—allow her one final scream. Sadly, she might curse him instead, and he didn’t need to hear those words today. Not today. The day he planned to acquire his final candidate.
His one and only beloved. The one he had loved since he turned twelve.
CHAPTER 65
“Wait. We need a plan.” Kate grabbed him by the sleeve. A death grip almost. He frowned.
“I told you. We check every cabin. The women should still be sleeping. If we find someone who looks like Debbie or Shelly, we wake them and take them with us. Back up the mountain.”
“What if we don’t find anyone? What if they find us instead?”
“We’ll think of something.”
“That’s your answer? We’ll think of something? How about we do that now?” She clamped her hands on her hips like a stern school teacher. Great. This far and now she wanted to argue. He sighed.
“It’s getting lighter. The fog will be rising and we’ll be bigger targets. I honestly don’t think anyone will be around this early.” He watched her sift through his words. Finally she nodded.
“Let’s do this. My feet are wet.”
His were too but he wasn’t going to tell her that. He pushed forward a few more yards until they came upon a clearing. No fence. He let out a deep breath. Part of him had feared a gate like in front of the compound. Probably no one ran once they let them roam free. But that might make it harder to convince someone to leave.
He’d read up on brainwashing. How people were subtly threatened. How cultists warned victims that they could die and go to hell if they didn’t believe the group’s beliefs were the only way. Quite often they allowed no information, controlled their access to the outside world, and acted as though they were their best friends.
How would he convince someone to leave if they had bought the whole pie? Especially Debbie who lost her entire business? She probably felt accepted here. Maybe they had her caring for the children. Nothing would surprise him. Nothing at all.
He glanced over at Kate who stood next to him. Her teeth chattered. He stretched out his arm and draped it around her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
“My parents used to say that to me all the time, too.”
He dropped his arm.
What did she want from him? He had his own reasons for taking Earl down. Not only his sister but now Amy. And future Amys who came to the Bend on a dream. One man shouldn’t be able to control an entire town with his promises of a Utopia. One man shouldn’t be able to speak words that lulled people into a false life. One man who was as tarnished as the rest of the world.
“This time will be different,” he said.
She looked at him with an unreadable expression. Like they were about to march into hell, but couldn’t stop if they wanted to. Maybe that was true. For him it was. He had spent most of his life running or chasing a dream. If he made a difference for the good in Bend . . .
“Seth?”
“Yeah?”
She moved closer to him. So close he could smell her shampoo. “You’re a good guy. You really are. I wouldn’t sneak into someone’s property with anyone else but you.” She grinned.
His heart pinged.
Did she have to go all nice on him now? Seth licked his lips. He hiked his bag onto his shoulder and pressed forward. Time was no longer on their side.
When he drew close enough to see the first building, he squatted behind a wide oak tree. He felt rather than saw, Kate do the same thing next to him. A heavy mist shrouded the compound. He spotted coals burning in an outdoor fire. Probably from the night before. At least he hoped so.
The early morning coiled around them. The only sound was his breathing.
Maybe they could do this.
“I’m going in.” Kate rushed past him, crouching low among the bushes.
She took him so much by surprise that he didn’t immediately follow. What happened to that scared girl he saw further back on the mountain? He flicked off his flashlight. Hurled himself into the foggy mist behind her. When he caught up, she was flattened against the first cabin. She motioned him to peek into the window since she was too shor
t. Would he recognize Debbie? Anyone for that matter?
She beckoned again. This time with a little more urgency.
He stretched up onto his toes. It was hard seeing inside as the rooms were dimly lit with only the morning light. Two women were sleeping in twin beds. Neither looked anything like Debbie. Kate motioned for him to follow her to the next cabin. Empty. They slipped toward one set back into the treeline. This one didn’t have any windows. She pointed to the door. Motioned him forward.
Was she crazy? He couldn’t walk in like he lived there. He shook his head no.
She raised her brows, pointed again. When he didn’t budge, she rolled her eyes and plunged straight for the door. He froze.
The woman had guts.
He gripped the end of his flashlight tighter. Hustled over to the cabin porch behind her. She glanced at him like he was a bug, then slowly turned the knob.
###
Kate’s fingers slipped on the doorknob. Steady. Turn the knob and peek in. Her instructions to herself did little to rid the unbearable fear mounting inside of her. Seth crouched next to her with his flashlight raised over his head. She wanted to laugh but her mouth had stretched into an excruciating grimace.
One turn.
Another.
Push it open.
She felt a flash of surprise at how easily the door cooperated, replaced with more fear as her eyes adjusted to the room’s darkness. A dank, dark, musty odor filled the room.
A woman lay on the cot. Her clothed back faced Kate.
Could it be Debbie? She inched closer.
A floor board squeaked. She raised her foot. Set it down softly.
Behind her deep breathing from Seth.
Or was it her own? Either way, she had to decide what to do. She made a decision. Maybe her last.
“Debbie?” Her voice came out a notch louder than a whisper. At the same time, Seth’s fingers clamped down on her arm.
The woman groaned in her sleep. Rolled over. Her arm splayed across her blonde bangs.
Eureka. They found her.
CHAPTER 66
Seth inspected the sleeping woman on the bed. Debbie. No doubt about that with that hair. He slipped past Kate. He was not going to let her surprise a sleeping woman without some protection. He gripped his flashlight tighter, squatted next to the bed.
“Debbie. Debbie.” His voice came out in a whisper. He touched her hand, a rush of thanks to God torpedoed through him that she was alive.
He must be losing his mind.
Debbie opened her eyes.
“She’s awake.” Kate dropped down next to him.
“Not fully. Sh. We don’t want to scare her to death.” He touched her hand once more. Debbie groaned, blinked her eyes. Then she jolted upward, her lips contorting into a scream.
Seth clamped his free hand over her mouth before she woke the entire compound. “Sh, it’s me and Seth. Don’t be afraid. We're here to help you.”
Seth frantically shushed the woman as he held her in his arms. Her wide eyes darted back and forth between him and Kate until he felt her breathing relax. “I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. Okay? We want to talk with you a minute.”
Debbie nodded.
Seth slowly dropped his hand. Kate joined him on the other side.
“We've been so worried about you,” Kate said. “We went to your house and saw your car door open and wondered what happened to you.”
“I guess you found me.”
Kate patted Debbie’s arm. “We came to take you home.”
Debbie stared at them as though it was they who had been locked away in a compound for crazies. “I don’t want to leave. I like it here. They promised to take care of me. Find me a husband of my own.”
Seth stopped a groan. Great. Had they gotten to her this fast? “You have a home. Remember how you said Earl was shutting you down?”
“No, no. He was only trying to show me that life could be better with my own family and children. How was I going to find that doing what I was doing?” Tears. Actual tears formed in her eyes. Even though the room was dim, he saw the glitter. His hope sank. They would never convince her.
“It’s all a lie. Earl is doing this for himself, not you. Please. Come home with us. We can take you right now.” Kate was not giving up. She hooked Debbie’s hand to tug her to her feet. But Debbie pulled back, wrapping the blanket around her.
“You better get out of here. I’m not going anyplace with you. Don’t you see? I’ve been given a promise. A promise of a better life. I’ve left everything behind for this.” She inched closer to Kate, who looked like she wanted to cry herself. “You can have that same promise. A home, a family. Kids. Don’t tell me you don’t want that.”
Kate opened her mouth. Looked at Seth.
He had to take charge. Earl might have won with Debbie but he wouldn’t let him take Kate.
###
She had been promised a family? Kate probed Debbie’s face and found peace there. But for how long? How long would this promise Earl offered give Debbie that peace she needed? How many promises would the man actually keep?
“If you believe what he told you, then come with us tonight. You can always return. Please. Remember Buster.” She hated throwing the dead dog into the mix but she was growing desperate. Seth frowned at her.
“Earl didn’t kill Buster. It was the people who wanted to destroy the Bend. He wants only good for the Bend. Can’t you see that? Write that in your newspaper. Now get out of here before you wake everyone else up.” The old Debbie they met during the interview made a quick appearance as she stood and shuffled toward the door.
Kate figured she must have been a good child care supervisor by the way she herded them. But Kate would not leave without one final attempt to persuade Debbie.
She placed both hands on Debbie’s upper arms. “You haven’t been here that long. How can you believe these lies so quickly? They’re empty promises. You were one of those people in the Bend they wanted to stop. Now they have. Are you going to let them?”
Debbie stopped tugging at her blanket.
Had she gotten through? Had she convinced this woman that Earl thought only of himself? That Earl’s end game was to uplift himself and he cared nothing about who he hurt along the way?
“It’s time you left. I will give you three minutes. If you don’t, I will scream so loud that I will wake everyone around me, including Earl.”
Ice could have formed on her words.
Seth grabbed Kate's arm. Steered her outside into the early morning light.
“Follow me,” he hissed into her ear.
She looked over her shoulder one last time. Debbie—a woman who had been totally duped into a dangerous cult—stared at them from her top step.
Kate took a deep breath, trotted as fast as she could toward the trees.
Earl had not won yet.
CHAPTER 67
Seth waited. Kate hadn’t been able to keep up with his hurried pace to leave the compound. She lagged behind as though she wasn’t going to follow him at all. What was it with her? She heard Debbie say no. The woman refused to leave. She believed Earl was the messiah who was going to solve all her problems even though he was the one who had caused them.
He would take Debbie’s advice. He would write the story—but the way he wanted to write it. He would write the piece and force Tim to print it or he would send it to a bigger paper. Surely someone would care what was happening in the Bend.
His thoughts were stopped as Kate huffed up next to him.
“You don’t have to race up this mountain. We have all day.”
She looked like she had been crying. Seth glanced to his left to find a large rock. “Come sit down. The sun’s almost up. We’ll take a break.”
She settled next to him, dug a bottle of water from her backpack. After a lengthy gulp, she leaned back with a sigh. “I was afraid this would happen.”
Seth took a swig of his bottle of water. “Indoctrinated so quickly?”
>
“For some people. Like that.” She snapped her fingers.
“And you know this how? Read a lot about cults?”
She shook her head. “Not exactly.” Kate slid further away on the rock.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to blow Earl out of the water. Write an article that Tim has to run. Maybe it will open some eyes around here to who the man is.”
“Tim will never go for it. He’s part of the Bend.”
“Then I’ll send it to Philadelphia or New York.”
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Her announcement stopped his tongue around his next word. Instead he said, “I’m listening.”
Kate wiped her hands across her face. “The bomber who destroyed my family—I knew him, sort of. Burke. He hung out with a kid in my class. I saw them together on the street a lot. He was in the tenth grade. Didn’t go to my school, though. He was home-schooled.”
“That must have made it worse. Knowing him.”
She waved her hand at a gnat. “The kid he hung out with was a friend of mine. At least he thought so. He followed me around the halls and came once to my house. I was nice to him but that was it. Nothing more.”
“What’s this kid have to do with anything? Besides knowing the bomber?”
“He got sick the day of the bombing. Didn’t show up for school or the play. Todd.” She met his gaze. Her pupils had grown twice their normal size.
“He was also a survivor of the bomber.”
“But he wasn’t there.”
“Todd tried to talk to me about the cult and his friend but I didn’t listen. All I cared about was my lunch choice. Pizza or meatloaf.” She paused. “I didn’t care about some dumb cult. My parents didn’t care either. The whole town didn’t care as far as I knew. So the cult grew. Along with its crazy ideas. Even after the bombing, the police didn’t investigate this ‘holier than thou’ church. Said the family had only attended a few times and their boy was misguided. Misguided? Enough to kill over a hundred people and himself?” She shook her head, then stood. Paced the ground. “People don’t want to see evil in front of them. They prefer to turn away and pretend it doesn’t exist. Your story will do nothing. Another back page article.”
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