“Oh my God,” I said to Jason. “Is that—”
“Ky.” Jason completed my observation with appropriate disgust. Ky was one of the partially naked men fawning all over the grotesque woman.
“Chris knew…this morning…she was about to tell me where he was…she didn’t care.” I paused, and my stomach clenched. “Jason, something’s really, really wrong.”
In perfect harmony, the three seated people spoke, “We are the Prophets of the New World. We have foreseen your arrival and desire you to join the followers of the One True Religion. With us, you will find safety, and above all else, peace. We welcome you.”
“Rehearse much,” I thought sarcastically to all of my companions, hoping the cynicism might break through their fog.
“We would like to stay with you and your people for a few more nights,” Jason said, “but then we really should continue on our way.”
“A few more nights…are you nuts?” I asked him.
“No. Just wait.”
The fat woman eyed Jason appraisingly and smiled. “I am the Prophet Mandy, and these are the Prophets Mary and Cole. You are more than welcome to stay with us for as long as you like. Let us dismiss this talk of leave-taking until you’ve seen everything we have to offer,” she said, her voice turning throaty.
“Why’s she talking like she stepped out of a Jane Austen novel? And why’s Ky fawning all over her?” I asked the group. Nobody responded.
Watching the two young men caress the repulsive Prophet was making me feel sick, and not only because the display disgusted me—I was pretty sure I knew what was going on.
“How do you all feel about the Prophet Mandy? Anybody feeling warm and fuzzy?” I asked my companions.
“You’re kidding, right?” Jason said.
Chris, standing on the other side of Jason, said, “She doesn’t seem too bad. But…I don’t know…something seems…off.”
“I think she’s beautiful,” Holly said, and Hunter and Mr. Grayson echoed her thoughts.
Ben’s response was the most conflicted, convincing me that my hypothesis was at least semi-accurate. “She’s not entirely truthful, but I want to trust her. She’s just so…I don’t know. I want to stay with her. I feel at peace around her.”
“Jason!” I said frantically in his head alone. “She’s doing something to everyone. Like what Cece did to some of the guys, controlling their minds or something…except it’s working on everyone. I think I’m safe because you’re unconsciously shielding yourself from her, and I’ve been touching you since we arrived, so you must be protecting me too. And Chris is standing closest to you so she’s not quite so…enamored. But Holly, Hunter, and Mr. Grayson are practically in love with her! Plus Ky…that’s just wrong!”
“Shit…,” Jason said silently.
“Can you use your Ability on them…you know, null them or whatever?” I asked Jason.
“I don’t know how to fucking control it!” he snapped. Out loud, he said, “Prophets, do you mind if I speak with my people for a moment? Your kind offer is very persuasive.”
The hideous Prophet Mandy inclined her head regally, and Jason gathered the others close to him. He carried on a show of bland conversation, discussing the many benefits of staying with the obviously mind-controlled cult—leaving out the mind-controlled cult part—while I explained the situation in their minds. Once everyone was within a few feet of Jason, the “Mandy fog” started to clear from their heads, and they grew panicked.
“Tell them to keep calm, and stay close to me if they can. I’ll try to…I don’t know…I have no idea how to use this fucking Ability!” Jason said.
“It’s okay. It’ll be alright. I’ll tell them. We’ll figure it out…you and me, okay?” I replied, attempting to calm him down.
“What is your decision, Jason?” Mandy asked with husky familiarity.
“We’ll stay indefinitely, of course,” he answered, smiling. He was so good at masking his emotions; it was unnerving.
“Very well,” she said. “Everyone may leave—except you.” She looked at Jason. “And my Pretties, of course.” She patted Ky’s shoulder as she spoke. To my surprise, the other two Prophets rose to leave with the rest of my companions.
“She’s got to be the one…I don’t know, controlling everyone,” I told Jason, and he silently agreed.
When the yurt was empty of nearly everyone—only Jason, Jack, Ky, the other shirtless man, Mandy, and I remained—the fat woman simpered, “Why is that stringy little thing still here? Send her away.”
Jason nearly choked on his words. “Oh…great Prophet…she’s harmless, and she’s only comfortable when I’m around. Besides, you can say anything around her, and she won’t hear a word.”
Mandy stood, flinging the hands of her worshipers away, and I watched with avid fascination as her lumps and folds rearranged under her weather-inappropriate chiffon gown. It was emerald green, strapless, and way too tight, and with her hair teased into a poofy up-do, she carried an uncanny resemblance to Ursula.
“I said, send her away. If you refuse, my Pretties will kill her,” Mandy threatened, motioning for Ky and the other man to approach us.
From behind them they drew long knives with blades that shimmered like mirrors, reflecting the fire’s flames.
“Over my dead fucking body, you fat bitch,” Jason growled, drawing his sidearm and aiming it at the self-proclaimed Prophet.
At my side, Jack was snarling ferociously, his hackles raised and his lips retracted to show his gleaming canines.
Abandoning my vow of silence, I pleaded, “Jason, wait! What if—”
But Jason didn’t have the luxury of waiting. Ky and the other man would be on us in seconds. Without hesitation, Jason pulled the trigger, and slimy chunks and crimson ribbons erupted from the back of Mandy’s head, coating her throne and spattering the wall behind her. It took her massive body a few moments to collapse onto the dais, and by the time it had settled, the fog of her control had lifted completely from Ky and the other man.
Ky looked at us, his face frozen in horror, and his knife slipped from his fingers. “Oh God…What am I…Fuck!” I had no idea what he’d been through over the past nine hours, but I could tell by the horrified look on his face that it was bad—like scarred-for-life bad.
More than a few blood-curdling screams sounded from outside the desecrated Temple, and I wondered what atrocities the “followers of the One True Religion” had endured under Mandy’s manipulation. What would Cece have done in Mandy’s place? I shuddered, hoping I never found out.
“Holy shit,” Jason muttered.
The second “Pretty” had launched himself onto Mandy’s corpse and was ferociously mutilating it with his knife. The three of us just watched him, unwilling to interrupt what we could only assume was well-deserved retribution.
“You’re always telling us you want it harder, deeper…is this hard enough?” he cried out as he stabbed again and again, and blood splattered onto his body. “Do you want it deeper, Mistress?” It was almost a mercy that the monstrous woman was already dead.
I grew instantly nauseous, both from the verbal confirmation of how Mandy had been wielding her mind control and from the sloppy sound the knife made as it ripped through her seemingly endless layers of flesh. Parts of her body no longer resembled anything human, looking more like ineptly butchered cuts of meat. Finally, when his blade was clinking against bone with every strike, the man dropped his knife and crawled and scooted away from the decimated corpse awkwardly. He was headed straight for me, and I was too stunned to move.
Jason’s hands gripped my upper arms painfully as he picked me up and flung me toward Ky. I stumbled into my friend right before the man’s gore-covered body collided with Jason’s legs instead of mine. Jason staggered backward from an impact that would have sent me sprawling on the floor.
As soon as I’d fallen against Ky’s solid torso, he’d caught me in a fierce hug—he seemed to need the comfort as much as I did. The abr
uptness of being manhandled shocked me out of my horrified trance, and my brain finally processed the slaughter I’d just witnessed.
Slipping out of Ky’s desperate hold, I lurched to the yurt’s wall and vomited. It was all too much—too much blood and carnage, too much cruelty, and too much messed up behavior. The world had just become too much.
Tears streaked down my face, and as the convulsive heaves ceased, my body trembled. I wiped my mouth, welcoming the white-hot rage that had slowly overpowered my need to vomit. That woman, that vile thing, had enslaved innocent people, scarring them, claiming their lives—she deserved worse than she’d received.
When I turned to face the others, I saw Jason helping the bloody, shell-shocked man to his feet. I approached them, voicing my anger. “Jason, these people were enslaved. Not just their bodies, but their minds…she took their will. Ky’s will. This is goddamn mind-rape.” My words were dripping with revulsion. No doubt, my fury at what Mandy had done was fueled by my intense hatred for Cece, the only other mind-controlling bitch I knew.
Reaching Jason’s side, I desperately wished for a way to clean out my mouth—it tasted of bile, and my throat burned. I stared up into Jason’s eyes to find him looking at me with such despondency that I could no longer hold in my disbelief. “She wasn’t even a Crazy. She was just mad with power. God, Jason…she probably wanted to make you one of her toys.” The thought of him being used—controlled—spurred me on. “Promise me, if we find any more like her…we stop them.”
“We’ll do what we can,” he said, finding my hand and squeezing it. “We should get the hell outta here…who knows how these people are gonna react now.”
Before Ky or I could respond, the man with blood dripping from his fingertips regained his composure enough to speak. “Uh, I don’t suppose…would it be okay if I came with you guys?” His voice was surprisingly timid. “I don’t have anyone left, and I can’t stay here. It’s too…there’re too many memories.”
“I don’t know,” Jason said hesitantly, likely considering the group’s safety. However, the excuse he voiced was, “We don’t have any extra horses.”
I studied the man more closely, trying to look past the thick coating of crimson covering his body, and realized he was far younger than I’d thought. “How old are you?”
“I turned sixteen last week,” he said. Holy crap…he’s just a kid! No wonder he reacted like he did. An idea formed in my mind.
“How much do you weigh?”
He looked confused, but answered, “One forty, maybe a little more.”
“He can ride with me on Wings,” I suggested to Jason.
“But you said two people couldn’t—”
“No. I said you and I couldn’t…you’re too big. But Wings can handle this kid and me.”
“He’ll be touching you…all day,” Jason growled.
“I won’t touch her,” the kid said, sounding frantic. “Why would I touch her? Not that there’s something wrong with her, you know? I’d totally touch her…no, I mean…shit!”
“Hush,” I told the teenage boy. Under all that blood, he truly was adorable. He’d probably been a heartbreaker at his high school before the world went to hell.
“He’s just a kid, Jason,” I implored, raising his palm to my lips. “Besides, if he’s riding with me, he can make sure I don’t fall off. You and Chris both keep telling me about how I’m swaying in the saddle.”
After a moment of thought, Jason answered, “Fine, but he’s your responsibility. And if he steps one foot wrong, he’s out.” Despite his harsh warning, something in his eyes told me he was glad I’d given him a reason to say yes.
“I won’t step a foot wrong. I swear!” the kid promised.
“Thank you. You’re a very good man,” I whispered to Jason, wishing I could wash the sour taste from my mouth so I could kiss him. “Um…you don’t have any gum, by any chance, do you?”
“Uh, yeah, I think I do.” Miraculously, after fishing around in several pockets, Jason pulled out a deliciously minty stick of breath relief wrapped in its pretty foil package.
“Oh my God! You’re so amazing!” I moaned after the first few chews.
Jason chuckled but said nothing. Catching the devilish glint in his eyes, I turned rosy.
“What’s your name?” I asked the young man as we exited the yurt.
“Carlos.”
“Carlos,” Jason said. “Go wash that shit off.” He motioned toward the lakeshore a few yards away. “And do it quickly.” The kid obeyed, even though the lake water had to be painfully cold.
Eventually, we made our way back to our campsite, stopping briefly at Carlos’s tent so he could change and gather his things. The scene surrounding us was utterly heart-breaking—some people wailed and moaned on the ground, while others screamed and tore at their hair. Even the other Prophets seemed to have been set free from Mandy’s control, and they looked equally as miserable as everyone else. What did she do to these people? Will they ever be okay again? Despair, self-hatred, and guilt clouded the impermanent village, and I couldn’t help but think, Zoe would be in hell right now.
When we reached our companions, Jason introduced Carlos and said, “From now on, we avoid all groups of people larger than our own until we get to the Colony, understand?” While we’d been at Carlos’s tent, I’d filled the others in on everything that had happened inside the Temple, so nobody argued with the need to pack up and leave as quickly as possible.
Everyone nodded, except Holly and Hunter. “Sir,” Holly said, “I’m staying here.”
Jason studied her face for a long moment. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “It’s just too hard without Dalton…He was a good friend, and I really need a change. Besides, I think these people could use all the help they can get.” She was right; the crowd of strangers seemed lost, completely helpless.
Hunter stepped up beside Holly. “I’m staying too.”
“It’s your decision,” Jason said and nodded toward the horses. “You can keep your horses and a goat each, but the rest of the animals come with us. We’ve got too much shit to give up a pack horse.”
They agreed, we all said tearful goodbyes, and they disappeared among the despairing survivors. It was surprisingly difficult to watch them walk away, considering I hadn’t known either of them well. But Holly and Hunter had been there—unrequested but constant companions—for a month. Will we ever see them again?
I shook my head, reminding myself it wasn’t the time for long, introspective moments. “We should probably get going,” I said to nobody in particular.
“I know,” Jason said.
“We can still get a pretty good day’s ride in.”
“I know. Pack it up, guys.”
“It’d be nice to have some daylight by the time we make camp today…especially with that promise you made earlier,” I said, looking at Jason with wide, innocent eyes. There were several scandalous things I’d been planning to do with him in the light of day. Besides, I needed something to focus on other than the image of Mandy’s mutilated body.
“I know, Red,” Jason said, his blue eyes blazing. “Everyone, move your asses!”
“You’re riding with me, kid,” I told Carlos after everything was loaded back onto the pack animals.
“Kid?” he asked dubiously. “I’m bigger than you!”
“Stick with ‘kid’ and things’ll go easier for you. At least, as long as you’re riding with me. Trust me,” I said. Out loud I followed with, “Have you ever ridden a horse?”
Carlos nodded. “My abuelo owned a ranch in Texas. We’d visit every summer. He had a bunch of horses.”
“Well, hop up then. We need to get going.” It was definitely going to be nice to have another person in the group who knew their way around a horse.
It took us a few tries to figure out the best position for two riders, but we settled for Carlos in the saddle with me wedged between the horn and his lap—it only worked because I was petite enough to f
it. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but the young man could easily hold me in place if I started to sway. Unfortunately, Jason’s jaw clenched every time he looked at us. I was getting the distinct feeling the arrangement wouldn’t last for long.
“There are rules,” I told Carlos as the horses trudged along the snow-laden highway later that morning. “Well, it’s really just one rule. Do whatever I tell you…or Jason,” I said and felt his body tense against mine. “Don’t worry…it won’t be anything crazy. Besides, if you don’t like life with us, you can always leave.”
“I heard what you said back there…about making the big guy agree to take out anyone like Mandy,” Carlos said. “I want in. And…I won’t leave you.”
“It’s your choice,” I told him.
“That’s why I won’t leave you,” he said softly, and I nearly crumbled into tears. To have no will, no choice, was abominable. I clung to the hope that the Colony would prevent us, including the young man sitting behind me, from ever falling into such a twisted trap again.
That evening, after we’d put in another full day on horseback and had set up camp, the sun ruined my indecent plans by setting—not that it stopped Jason. At the first opportunity, he dragged me into our tent and practically tore off my clothes.
“I don’t care if I have to walk. You’re not riding in that kid’s lap again,” he stated, removing our final pieces of clothing.
“Fine.” I lured him down to the sleeping bags, pushed him onto his back, and straddled his hips. “I’d rather ride in your lap anyway,” I whispered, sheathing him inside me and savoring his satisfied groan. I spent the rest of the evening showing him just how much I really meant those words.
FEBRUARY
45
ZOE
“Wake up!” Sarah hissed near my ear. It felt like I’d barely closed my eyes when she tore the blankets off me. “Wake up!”
“Whaaaat?” I whined, peeling my eyes open. The remnants of another restless night made my head feel like an overgrown jungle of thorny thoughts. Ever since Jake told us that Clara had held some sort of power over Tanya, I hadn’t been able to shake a feeling of dread. When Clara wasn’t in my dreams, my dying mother was. It had been days since I’d had any restful sleep.
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