by S. B. Caves
‘I don’t care about dying. I just want to get my daughter out.’
‘Easy to say. But I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.’
* * *
The pleas became more desperate with each passing hour. Joseph had paced the mansion all day, chain-smoking and necking brandy, listening to the hiss and warble of the radio. The girls had remained locked in their dorm, and now there were whimpers to use the bathroom; they knew that if they dared to soil their quarters, there would be penalties. Some cried for food and offered their services for a glass of water. Joseph ignored them all. He was stuck in a helpless pattern, waddling over to the guards’ quarters to enquire about updates before doing another head count on the remaining girls. Each time he did, he expected one of the sheep to have gone astray. It would be just his luck, the way things had panned out; if one more thing went awry, he would die of stress.
Rubbing the feeling back into his face, he made his way over to the guards’ quarters for the second time that hour. He pushed the door open and saw three guards sitting on their cots while Abraham loomed at the far end of the room, staring out of the window.
‘Anything?’ Abraham called.
‘I should be asking you that,’ Joseph spat. ‘And what’s this?’ He swept his arm to indicate the three guards on their beds. ‘Do you want me to tuck you in? Read you a bedtime story?’ He clapped his hands erratically, the sound jarring in the silence of the large room. ‘Get out there and find her! This is turning into an absolute mockery! Do you know what will happen to you if this girl is not found? Do you understand the ramifications?’
‘Hey, easy,’ Abraham said, strolling down the aisle towards him. His eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. ‘I’m resting my men. We’re going out in units. While one pack hunts, the other pack rests.’
‘Rest? I haven’t slept in almost two days and you want to talk to me about rest?’
‘Easy,’ Abraham repeated in a low voice. ‘We’ll find her. But you need to let me do things my way.’
‘Your way hasn’t produced any results. That’s the problem!’ Joseph exploded, spittle flying.
Abraham wiped saliva from his face. ‘Then what do you suggest?’
‘Let’s get something straight, Abraham. I’m not here to suggest anything. I’m here to tell you what to do, is that clear? And right now, I’m telling you to get out there and find her. All of you.’
‘We need at least one person to stay behind for correspondence.’
‘Correspondence? Don’t make me laugh. I’ve got a radio, see? I can correspond with you just fine.’
Abraham scratched his red beard with his fingertips and said wearily, ‘If that’s an order …’
‘It is. And here’s another, get her home soon or consider yourselves enemies of the Group.’
Abraham turned away from Joseph and spoke to his men unenthusiastically. ‘Okay, you heard him. Let’s hustle.’
Slowly, the other guards rose from the beds and assembled their packs and guns. Abraham stopped at the door. ‘You do realise that by sending us out you’re leaving this place naked?’
‘Oh, don’t tell me – a girl could go missing, is that what you’re implying? No, that only seems to happen under your supervision.’
Abraham shrugged, then led his men out of the dorm and into the misty night.
* * *
Autumn continued to watch the house. It was all lit up, which gave her a good view of the silhouettes that walked past the windows and across the lawn. Even at this distance she recognised Joseph’s saunter and the way he constantly patted his hair down only to have the wind blow it into a haystack a second later. He looked anxious and stressed, and this almost brought the ghost of a smile to her lips. Whenever she blinked, she saw orbs of light and colourful patterns dancing inside her eyelids. She thought that she could hear a radio playing not too far away, but when she tried to concentrate on the sound, it disappeared.
Movement on the lawn distracted her. She squinted and saw the full beams of a Jeep light up, and heard the excessive roar of the engine. Then the vehicle was barrelling across the grass, stopping briefly so that the electronic gate could open before continuing on its way. It jerked from side to side as it climbed the hill and began curling around the path, the headlights washing over the section of land where Autumn was crouched. Suddenly it fishtailed and began sliding sideways. There was a loud screech as the tyres locked, and yelling from inside the vehicle. It was less than thirty feet away from her hiding place.
* * *
‘Jesus Christ, what now?’ Abraham growled. ‘What’s the problem?’
‘I think we’re stuck,’ Davey said. ‘But I saw her. I saw her.’ He got out of the Jeep with his rifle slung over his shoulder and charged towards the trees. Abraham caught up with him on the other side of the vehicle and stopped his progress with a palm on his chest.
‘What’re you doing, Davey?’
‘The girl!’ he screamed. ‘Come on, she’s right over there.’
‘We’ve had twenty people comb this area already. If she was here, the dogs would’ve sniffed her out.’
‘I know what I saw.’ He grabbed Abraham’s wrist and attempted to swipe it away. Abraham used his palm to shove him against the Jeep.
‘Don’t act like an asshole now, Davey. Don’t let what the creep said scare you. You’re stronger than this and I need you thinking straight. We’re all tired and we all want to find her.’
‘Then come with me before she gets loose again!’ Davey sidestepped Abraham and started to run into the forest, using the penlight on the barrel of his rifle as a guide.
‘Davey!’ Abraham yelled after him. ‘Don’t you dare start shooting in there! Get the fuck back here now!’
‘She’s this way!’ he called, his voice jagged as he ran.
‘You wanna follow him?’ Dane asked, getting out of the back of the Jeep. He spat a gob of chewing tobacco onto the gravel path and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
‘He’s seen a deer,’ Abraham replied. ‘I’ll have to straighten him out when he gets back. Come on, you drive.’
Dane made his way around to the front of the vehicle and got into the driver’s seat while Abraham reluctantly returned to the passenger side, slamming the door behind him. Dane put the Jeep in drive and pressed on the gas, but the Jeep didn’t move. The right-hand side was lodged in a deep fissure, and there was a low grinding sound as the tyres fought against the mud.
‘Don’t tell me we’re stuck, Dane,’ Abraham said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘I don’t need to hear that right now.’
Without answering, Dane got out and assessed the situation. ‘We’re sunk in the mud. I think we need a push is all.’
‘I don’t fucking believe this!’ Abraham once again exited the Jeep and slammed the door behind him. ‘We haven’t been gone five minutes and we’re already stuck.’
‘It’s awful out here. Too wet,’ Dane said, using his foot to scoop earth away from the rear tyre.
‘Wet my ass. I’m gonna kill Davey when I find him.’
* * *
The window of opportunity had opened, but only a crack. It took a nanosecond of contemplation on Autumn’s part on whether to capitalise. The guard, Davey, had jogged in her direction with his rifle, his breath visible in the beam of light from the barrel. She didn’t think he could see her, as he had made no attempt to fire a shot or warn her not to move. And she could tell by the expression on his face that he was still searching and had not yet pinpointed what he was looking for.
Concealed from sight behind a wide tree trunk, she crouched on one knee, holding her position as the guard negotiated the muddy slope. In his haste, he went too fast, lost his footing and was suddenly tumbling, sliding down the hill on his stomach. His rifle swung around on the strap and lay across his back as he sprawled face down in the mud. Autumn sprang out from behind the tree and dashed towards him, jumping on top of him and pinning him down, then grabbin
g a fistful of his hair, pulling his head back and plunging the blade of her knife into his neck. He struggled and bucked beneath her weight, but this only caused her to saw away more forcefully. She felt his warm blood wash over her cold hands, and the sharp, metallic smell of it filled her nostrils.
He gargled and tried to scream, but nothing but steam left his mouth. His limbs flapped frantically as he wrestled with death. Autumn’s heartbeat accelerated. She felt strong again. She thought about Lena, Wendy, the pregnant girls in the cells, and began to saw so vigorously that the muscles in her arm seized up. She’d dreamed of this moment with astounding clarity. If there was one thing she had wanted more than to escape the house, it was to hurt one of them. She’d never thought in her wildest daydreams that she would have the courage to do it, though. But now that she had, she knew it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.
When he stopped moving, Autumn claimed his rifle.
* * *
Francine slammed on the brakes and felt the back of the car pull away. She fought with the wheel to prevent the vehicle from spinning out of control or tipping over into the ditch. Her hand snaked out and twisted the dial to shut off the headlights.
‘Subtle,’ Glenn said. ‘I’m sure they didn’t see a thing.’
A few hundred yards up ahead, a Jeep was parked sideways across the path. She could see shapes moving in front of the headlights and then continuing around to the rear.
‘Who is that?’ she whispered, as though her voice might travel out and sail on down to the Jeep.
‘How should I know? I can’t see a thing.’
‘Where’s the house? You said it wasn’t much further.’
‘It isn’t. We’re quite near, in fact. At least I think we are. It’s difficult to tell in the dark.’
‘Are you playing games with me, old man?’
‘Games? No, why would I play games with you?’
‘Then where is it?’
‘Right over that hill. I think.’
She stared out at the Jeep in silence. Then she leaned over, popped the cigarette lighter out and held it to the plastic cable tie that bound Glenn’s wrists to the door handle.
‘Ouch, what’re you doing? You’re burning me! Stop!’
The lighter melted the plastic easily. Francine got out of the car, walked around to Glenn’s door and snatched him up by his shirt collar. Ignoring his protests, she pulled him out of the car and pushed his frail body towards the trunk.
‘What’re you doing?’
She popped the trunk, clamped a hand over the back of his neck and forced him inside. He tumbled in, all arms and legs, whacking his head. ‘No, please, you can’t! I’m claustrophobic. I promise you, I’ll have a heart attack. Just wait a second, will you?’ He sounded close to tears.
Francine ignored him, bundling his spindly limbs within the confines of the trunk. He began to yell, so she smashed the gun roughly into his face – she couldn’t really see where she was aiming but was hoping to get his mouth. She felt the blow connect and heard him mewl like a sick dog, then he seemed to fold in on himself.
‘I’ll die if you leave me in here,’ he said weakly.
She removed a handful of the DVDs, stuffed them into her jacket pocket, and tossed her backpack into the trunk after him and slammed the lid closed. Then she got back behind the wheel, put the car in drive and began creeping towards the Jeep in the distance. She drove at a snail’s pace. She needed time for the scenery to unfold before her and reveal itself. If Glenn was telling the truth, then the house was just beyond the Jeep. But if that was the case, the men by the Jeep must be guards. They were the enemy.
There was no good way to go about it. She could try and snowplough them out of the way and barrel on down to the house, risking a hail of bullets, and then – providing she survived all that – scramble through the house looking for her daughter.
No, she had to stop thinking with this goddamn lottery-ticket state of mind: that she was lucky to still be alive. But the fact was that so far she’d done everything on impulse, letting her instincts take over. If she actually tried to rationalise what she was doing and paused to think things through, she was frightened that she would find a way to talk herself out of it or lose momentum.
Her palms began to feel wet against the wheel and she wiped them on her clothes. She slipped the gun back into the front pouch of her jacket. It wasn’t very sophisticated, but she could grab it quickly if she needed to. She figured she could make the action look natural if one of the men wanted to see some ID.
As she inched along the path, she was soon close enough to make out two men by the Jeep. They’d broken down, or at least that was what it looked like. They were also wearing guns. They still appeared not to have seen her car – they were too busy fussing over the rear of the Jeep. Francine watched them for a moment, chewing the skin away from the corners of her fingers, then began to reverse slowly away, pulling the car off the path and rolling it into the foliage, where it would hopefully be hidden from sight. She opened the door and stepped out. She could hear Glenn pounding away inside the trunk, begging for his freedom. The men by the Jeep would never hear him at this distance, though, so she made no effort to shut him up.
She took the gun out and flicked the safety off before putting it back in her pocket. Then she began to trudge towards the men, her teeth rattling in her mouth, her feet sliding in the mud. Lightning zigzagged across the sky and the rain began to pour down, drenching her.
26
As she got closer to the men, Francine started to pick up on their conversation. One of them agreed to get behind the steering wheel while the other went to give the Jeep a push. They were stuck in the mud, apparently. The aggressive revving of the engine shuddered through the forest, the sudden clamour setting her nerves on edge. The hard work was already done, the difficult choices made. There was no going back now, she realised. It was all or nothing. Find Autumn or die trying.
She was twenty feet away and they still hadn’t heard her approach. Their initial plan had failed and now the driver had got out and joined the other man at the rear of the Jeep, combining their efforts to try and free the vehicle from the mud.
‘Excuse me,’ Francine called, tripping over her feet, weaving along the path. ‘H-help, please. Please …’
The two men went for their guns and trained them on the dim shape staggering towards them. ‘Who’s that?’ one of them demanded.
‘Please … I’ve been … You have to help me …’ Francine whined.
‘Who are you?’
‘I’ve been attacked … You have to help me … Please don’t shoot …’ She stepped into the puddle of light from the Jeep’s full beams and stood there, reeling on the spot, squinting against the light. ‘You have to …’ As carefully and authentically as she could manage, she dropped to one knee. Let them see you’re not a threat. ‘Are you the army?’ she asked, putting a palm up to shield her eyes.
‘What’re you doing out here?’ one of the men demanded, stepping out from the cover of the vehicle, still training his rifle on her. ‘Answer me!’
‘We broke down and a m-man …’
‘What man?’
‘A crazy man attacked my husband. I think he’s dead. Please …’ She dragged the word out and made a sobbing sound, bowing her head so they wouldn’t notice the absence of tears. I don’t have any tears left for you fuckers. Not even fake ones.
‘You shouldn’t be out here,’ the man with the red beard told her.
‘Abe, this ain’t right,’ the other man said. ‘What do you wanna do about it?’
‘It ain’t nothing to do with us,’ Abe said, gesturing at Francine. ‘This isn’t our objective.’
‘You’re the army, aren’t you? You have to help me. Call the police. I’m begging you,’ Francine croaked.
‘What the fuck is going on?’ the other man said. ‘I don’t like this, Abe.’
‘Dane, get Davey on the radio now and tell him to get back here.’
Dane held the radio up to his mouth. ‘Davey, do you copy? Davey, you out there? Over.’ There was a hiss, followed by silence. Francine filled the silence with an exaggerated moan and sniffle. ‘Davey? Can you hear me? We need you back at the Jeep right away. Over.’
‘Give me that fucking thing.’ Abe snatched the radio and growled, ‘Davey, I’m not fucking playing games with you. If you’re not back here in the next five minutes then I’m gonna stop looking for the girl and come after you, and when I find you I’ll put a bullet in your fucking head myself. Over.’ He slammed the radio into Dane’s chest.
‘You aren’t the army?’ Francine asked. What girl were they looking for? Were they still patrolling for Lena? They couldn’t be. ‘Please don’t hurt me.’
‘Maybe he’s gone too far. He probably doesn’t have any signal,’ Dane suggested.
Abe looked into the pitch-black forest then returned his attention to Francine. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Francine,’ she said.
‘Francine, you’re on private property. Do you realise that you’re trespassing?’
‘We … we got lost … I’m so sorry …’
Abe analysed her sceptically, rolling his massive shoulders. His hands coiled around the grip of the rifle. ‘There ain’t nothing out here for miles and miles. How’d you find this place?’
‘Lost …’ Francine said. ‘My husband took a wrong turn. He thought it would be a …’ She covered her mouth and began spluttering for effect.
‘We’d better take her in,’ Abe said quietly to the other man.
‘Take her in for what?’
‘To stop her getting in the way of things here, for one. Go and check her out.’
Dane huffed. ‘What about Davey?’
‘What about him? Do as you’re told and let me worry about that fucking moron.’
Dane hawked up phlegm and spat it into the mud. With one arm on his gun, the other swinging by his side, he walked over to Francine. His body was shielding her from Abe’s line of fire and also blocking her from his sight. As he bent down and reached out to grab her, she pulled her own gun and squeezed the trigger in one rapid movement.