by Sharon Kleve
Scenes of being led to the slaughter invaded my mind. Among other thoughts, was as the idea that I was now a prisoner of war being led to the emperor. Apprehension grew. It soon overwhelmed me. What can I do? I thought.
The anxiety turned to panic. I stopped my march. Shaking in place, I watched Lin continue her hike to the unknown. She’s leading me straight to the killer? The thought caused my breath to stop, and my heart to skip a beat.
Suddenly Lin slowed. Though she kept a slow, steady pace, she turned her head slightly. I could feel her gaze upon me. She’s in cahoots with Red, I thought. I know it. Why else would Lin show no fear? Maybe she planned on killing me all along; and Red will kill Cali. They’re psycho-killers.
Still shaking, I heard the nearby bushes rustling their whispered thoughts at me. I looked around and simply whispered, “Oh shit.”
When I focused back on Lin, she’d made a complete stop just beyond the tree line. I could see the top of her wig slowly turn, then dart back in my direction. She stopped ten feet from me, and yelled, “What are you doing, you wimp!”
Frozen in my stance, eyes buggin’, I had no response. I helplessly shrugged.
Lin waved, “Come on, Wazmo, let’s get on with this thing.”
I nodded, while terror invaded my thoughts. What thing?
She turned and resumed her march.
Anxiety turned to rage. “Enough is enough,” I whispered. I lifted the bat and ran toward Lin. When I reached her, I closed my eyes and, with much concentrated energy, I slammed the bat down. I must have hit her in the head, or maybe it was her head and neck, because Lin fell flat, face-first, silent and unconscious. Alive or dead, it didn’t matter to me, I was once again clear in my thoughts. I knew I needed to get to Cali, and I needed to get there quickly. So, bat in hand, I ran, aimlessly. Rain rushed my face, while sweat swelled the lids of my eyes. Soon, my chest felt empty, like my lungs had been ripped from my body. How can that be? I thought, since I could feel them burning with each half-breath that rapidly plunged in and out of my mouth. Lips and mouth dry, I raised my face to collect the thundering pellets of a hard rain. It didn’t seem to help, but I left my mouth open, nonetheless.
My legs were next to fail. I could feel the muscles begin to ache, and the ache turn to fire. “Don’t stop running, Jones!” I yelled. “Don’t stop.” My thighs yearned for warmth and stillness. They cried out for me to lay down, and give up. But, I couldn’t stop.
“I have to continue!” I yelled. “Please, help me! I have to find Cali!”
Though emotionally helpful, I quickly realized that screaming was taking up way too much energy. So, I resumed my internal dialogue. I must find her before it’s too late! was my first thought. I then shortened that to I must find her, which became my mantra. I must find her, I repeated. I must find her.
Despite large plants and trees forming a green haze, and a barrier to my Cali, I kept my focus. I used the bat to knock away the brush that shielded me from my precious jewel, abducted by the grips of evil.
A quarter-mile out, I could feel Cali’s pains and aches. Soon, a feeling of pressure mounted in my head. Then, my mind could see her lips, muffled by the large hands of malevolence. Through the cruel, mangled fingers, I could hear her desperate, silent screams. Loud and clear, I heard the words: “Help me! Somebody help me!”
Her frantic cries pierced my brain, bouncing through the now black, hardened grey matter that was once light and playful. “Leave me alone!” she frantically yelled. “Why are you doing this?”
Why, I thought, trying to make sense of the ordeal, do I see her? And why is her voice so strong?
Cali’s voice soon turned to the voices of others, calling out to me. Are they the voices of the women and girls who were tortured at the ridge?
“What’s happening?” I yelled. Or, at least I thought I yelled it.
I covered my ears, but I couldn’t stop the agonized voices. They shouted out: “Why me?” and, “Somebody help me!” The staggered voices shouted for me to run to the left, and slice to the right. And then, again, they yelled, “Help me!” and, “Why are you doing this?” Finally, all at once, they yelled, “No! Stop!”
I stopped and closed my eyes. I don’t know why I thought I could stop the voices by shutting my eyes. Nor am I sure how long I held my hands over my ears. But, when I came to, I realized that I seemed to be sinking in the mud.
I began to move again, trying to break free. But each step seemed to go deeper into the mud. It was as if I was disappearing into the forest floor. Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me, reaching for me—pulling me down. “Help!”
When I finally broke free, the path was no longer recognizable. I knew I was close though, so I kept moving, trudging through the thick mud.
On the back side of a rock formation, I stopped to gather myself. “I know this,” I whispered. It seemed familiar, yet not. “I’ve been here before. I’ve been here a hundred times before.”
“Save me.” The voices started up again. My mind went blank, and I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I couldn’t see anything. I was blind—or was I?
I raised my sightless eyes to the sky. The wind and rain splashed my face, slapping me with a refreshing dose of reality. When I looked down, the voices were muted, and I could see again. I found myself standing above the muddy terrain, on a cluster of rocks.
“I am close.”
Despair was replaced by tiny bursts of jubilation. This must be the excited neurotransmitters they talk of in biology class, I thought. Whatever was happening felt great. I liked it, and I wanted it to last forever. I smiled. All the sudden, I knew things were coming together, and that I’d had this rush before. I breathed it in, and again. It seemed to charge my body with electric desire. I looked around and laughed at the new wave of pleasurable impulses I was experiencing. It brought an excitement and adrenalin that nothing else had ever equaled.
For the first time in days, my mind was crystal clear; no longer an issue was the fog and fear. They were replaced by a warm sunshine that reigned free within me. Arms out, face bright and lifted, I scoffed at nature’s rain upon me. Even the pounding wind, whipping around my body couldn’t deter the excitement.
Why do I feel so alive? Why does this race of death and life create such euphoria?
I heard a faint noise from behind. It must be her, I thought. But the elements, and my own sense of expectation, tell a different story.
“Her fate,” I whispered, “lies in front of me.”
Then, from nowhere, I heard a new voice say, “Go to her, you idiot.” The voice was familiar, loud, and clear. It was the voice of a girl. But it wasn’t Cali.
I looked around, yet I saw no one else near me. I stood still and listened carefully. All I heard were the endless drops of rain that pelted the large plants and trees. “Music it is,” I whispered. “Nature’s music—made for me—only me—the animals will die trying to take it from me.”
My eyes, once again, grew large, and I could feel my mind slipping back into the dark place. I knew I had to maintain focus, so I covered my ears, and screamed “No, Stop!” But, I blacked out anyway.
This time, when I came to. I found myself lying in the mud. I was groggy, but clear in my thoughts. “How long have I been out? No time!” Frantically, I rose. “I must continue.”
The pounding pellets of rain on the plants grew louder and louder. A new pressure started to build in the base of my brain.
“Stop!” I yelled. “Stop!” And then, suddenly, quiet ruled my surroundings.
My mind drifted. I found myself with her, though I wasn’t. I’m okay, I thought, yet I wasn’t.
CHAPTER NINE
The next thing I knew I was back on the path to Torture Ridge. Through the pounding rain, I could clearly see the ridge and where the entrance of the cave would be. I made a few more strides before I slowed to a stop.
The rain quieted, so I listened to see if I could hear Cali. I couldn’t hear Cali, but I heard a male voice.
“It must be Red,” I whispered. “I need to eliminate the redhead. Then Cali will be all mine.” I smiled. “I will be her hero.”
I lifted the bat and started my careful trek through the wet, rocky terrain. Just before the clearing that surrounds the cave, I stopped. To remain incognito, I crouched.
“What am I facing?” I whispered.
I could see Red, hands on his hips, standing near the cave entrance. Not far from Red, was Cali, lying on the ground, just inside the cave, moaning and squirming. She appeared to be chained up.
The sight made me nauseous. I felt faint, while an uncontrollable heat rose through my veins. And the fog regained control of my mind. Nervous wasn’t an option at that moment, yet butterflies frolicked between the linings of my stomach. I could tell I was going to barf again.
Then, I heard her voice.
“I knew it was you,” came from the other side of the clearing. It was Lin. She stood opposite me, just inside the brush, near the cave. She had one hand inside her backpack.
Almost directly between us was the tall redhead. With his back to me, I could easily sneak up and hit him from behind. The thought of imparting pain on Red, along with a hearty burp, interrupted the new ralph session that was sure to come.
“Perfect.”
Instead of charging, I decided to watch the two, evil perpetrators in their dance of death. “Isaiah 57 was right again—You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree— verse five has been shown—now it’s time for me to take vengeance.”
Lin pulled out a gun and aimed it at Red. “You just couldn’t wait, could you?”
As sick as the whole scene was, it had me thinking all kinds of evil. What psychotic perversions could they have committed? My first vision was of Lin hurting the girls, while Red raped them. But what if it was mutual? I thought. The video in my mind changed to a dark scene where Lin used various devices on herself and the victims—including guns. The thoughts didn’t end there. Visions of them cutting up their victims, stormed into my mind’s eye? And having so much sex, before, during, and after they sliced and diced their victims. The fantasies led to new feelings of excitement. It was as if I was there, with them, joyfully committing the dreadful atrocities.
“Oh my,” I whispered. “This is quite a surprise, I must say.”
“Stop it,” I heard a new voice say. “Kill yourself.”
Another voice whispered, “Hurry, get in there before she ruins it.”
I didn’t know how to react, so I slapped myself. “Pull yourself together!”
Lin stood, catching my attention. “I told you I could shoot,” she shouted. “And that I owned a gun.”
I took a long breath and watched Red put his hand behind his back. Does he have a gun too? I wondered. “This is good, it’s a redheaded showdown,” I whispered. “This is great.”
Without warning my brain began to burn, and reality blurred, confusing my thoughts. Why did she tell Red about the gun? That was lame. I hit my forehead. “Focus Jones, focus.”
Lin waved the gun. “Stay back,” she shouted.
Red moved back slightly, giving Lin enough room to edge close to Cali. She bent to get a look. Lin gently touched Cali’s face and whispered something to her. They both started to cry.
What did she say? I held the baseball bat close to my face. Whispering, I asked the bat, “What did she say? I need to know.”
Waiting for an answer, I stared at the bat. It was at that point I realized I was struggling to maintain my sanity. Am I losing my mind? No time to think about it. But why would she make Cali cry? Is that part of their torture on the Day of the Dead? Then the telling thought emerged. Am I supposed to be there instead?
Fighting insanity, I carefully considered my next move. Then, out of nowhere, the screams started again. “Kill him,” a girl’s voice shouted.
I covered my ears. “Who are you?” I yelled. I squinted and ducked. But the other, tortured, female voices joined in. “Why are you doing this? Please let me go. No that hurts. Don’t, you’re hurting me! Kill yourself! Just kill me! Kill him!”
I stood. Bat raised, I ran toward Red, yelling, “I’m going to kill you!”
Just before I got to Red, he turned and then I heard a loud sound.
Bang!
CHAPTER TEN
“And that’s when everything went black for good. The next thing I knew, I woke up here, in this godforsaken hospital bed, answering all these questions.”
I looked around the cold, lifeless room. Seeing nothing of interest, my glance ended at the reporter freak, who was standing just to the left of my hospital bed. At the end of the bed was a guy in a black suit, asking a lot of questions. I let out a big sigh and through a bendy straw, I took a sip of water from the plastic mug on a tray next to my bed.
“Wow.” The reporter shook his head. “That’s quite a story.”
“I know.”
“Unbelievable, if you ask me.” The guy in the suit crept close. As if to check my pupils, he looked into my eyes with a small flashlight. “Incredible.”
“What’s so incredible, suit guy? And what happened to Cali? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” the suit said. “No thanks to you.”
“How so? I don’t understand.”
“Well, Mister Jones,” the suit said, while he slid back to the end of the bed. “You’re in a lot of trouble.”
“What did I do?”
The reporter chuckled. “How about we start with murder?”
“I got him then. Right-on! I got Red. The thought of killing Red, and saving Cali, made me smile, despite this burning sensation in my chest and head.” Reaching for the pain pulsating from my skull, I noticed that my head was wrapped with cloth. “Ouch. What happened here?”
“Well,” the suit said. “You were shot in the chest and head. And you’ve been in a coma ever since.”
I cut him off. “I see, but it’s okay. I understand.” I pulled at the handcuffs that chained my right hand to the hospital bed. “But, since I’m a minor, I’ll only have to do a couple of years, and then I’ll get out, and I can spend the rest of my life with Cali. If you ask me, it was worth every minute.” I smiled again; this time in reaction to a feeling of contentment I hadn’t felt in years. “Yep, everything is going to be just fine.”
The reported and the suit looked at each other and nodded.
The suit walked close again. “We’re not so sure, Mr. Jones. Or, is it Sham? A sham is more like it.” He smirked and, again, looked at the reporter. “We think you’re an accomplice to mass murder. Linda McNally stated that the string of Halloween sex murders was executed—no pun intended—by you and a close accomplice, probably your brother. And we think there are countless others.”
“She said you confessed to her,” the reporter jumped in. “If that’s the case, you’re going to get an injection. And it won’t be like the one this hospital is giving.”
“My brother’s in the army. That’s not even possible.”
“The perfect alibi.”
“No, you have it all wrong. It was the two redheads! You’ll come to believe me. The girl befriends the chosen victim, and then the tall one seduces and kidnaps them.”
“Incredible story, Mr. Jones. As a matter of fact, there was no one else at the cave, just you, McNally, and the kidnapped girl.” The reporter turned and walked to the hospital room entrance, located on the southern side of the room, between two sterile, white walls. “I’ll make sure to write the book.”
“Wait up,” the suit said, and joined the reporter at the door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Contemplating how Lin and Red committed their murderous sex crimes, I stared at the muted TV.
Then, right on time, a short, pale looking nurse entered the room. Her white skin appeared even whiter with her shiny, black hair, stuffed inside a hat.
“Time to change, your dressing,” she said. “Turn your head.”
I looked at the window. Being dar
k outside, I could see the reflection of the nurse as she plunged a syringe into my neck. “What was that for?”
“Never you mind, hon,” she said in a heavy, almost made up, southern accent. “You’ll start to feel a little weird, then you’ll pretty much be paralyzed. And then, well?”
“Huh?” I wheeled my head around and came face to face with Lin. “Oh shit! Help!” I yelled. “The redhead is trying to kill me.”
Lin smiled an evil grin, matching that of Red. “How was your Dia de los Muertos, Jones?” Lin teased. “And what about that acid trip? Nice touch, huh? Man, you were really tippin’. I’d say you were totally insane, wouldn’t you? Since you were a little on the edge already, I got a bit concerned.” Lin coughed up some phlegm and spit it into my water jug. “Oh man, you even thought that plastic bat was a real baseball bat.”
What? “Help!” I yelled.
“You know I had to dose you twice to get it right. Oh, and yeah you did have a ‘lude. It got you a little sick; sorry about that. A necessary evil. I needed you knocked out. Then when I thought you were a little too spastic, I dosed your coffee. So really, you had two ‘ludes. Man, coming in and out of consciousness, what a trip that was, wouldn’t you say there, Sham?” Lin paused and shook her head, while her grin widened. “Don’t bother spazzin’, they can’t hear you. In fact, I can’t hear you.”
“Huh? What’s going on?” I can’t hear myself. I feel funny. “Help!”
“It looks like your lips just moved. How cute is that? You’re trying to say something, aren’t you?” Lin winked. “But hon, I’m sorry, you can’t talk. You’re just another imbecile—waiting to die.”
Lin continues to talk, but her hurtful words are fading. What’s happening? “Help!”
“Consider me a soldier of Herod, in the book of Matthew, and I’ve come to kill any male child who may be guilty of being born. You didn’t think I read the good book too, did you? You quoted it so much, it got me all buggin’, wanting the four-one-one.” Lin placed my limp arms under the sheets and tucked the bedding tight. “They say,” she continued, in a whispered voice. “That if you confess your sins, you can go to Heaven, even if you’re on your deathbed. If you’re able to communicate, I’d imagine.” Lin paused and giggled. “If not, well—who knows.” She continued to straighten out the wrinkles, and tuck the covers around me, as if I were a mummy. “But, while you’re on your journey to hell, you can be proud of the fact that you saved Cali. And I get it, you wanted her for yourself. You were going to get all forgiven, and then have the good life with Cali. Not going to happen. See, for me, Cali is the one that always gets away, and I could never let you have her. You know that Sham, come on. One way or another, Cali was always going to be mine—forever and ever.”