by Kelvin Teo
The guys looked at her and she was shivering terribly.
"I’ll … be … okay," she said through chattering teeth.
"No," said Danny, "Lizzie’s right. We need to get you out of those clothes and get them dry."
Then he looked at Ali and she had a silly smirk on her face.
"I didn’t mean it like that!"
She giggled and said, "I know."
They turned and headed up the trail, hoping to put some serious distance between the brothers and themselves.
Ali knew staying in those cold, wet clothes wasn’t going to be an option with the breeze that was blowing down the mountain.
It took about five minutes for them to reach a spot where they felt safe for a little while.
Lizzie took Ali by the hand and said, "Come with me."
They walked a few yards away, finding some cover behind a group of bushes. A few seconds later, the guys saw her bikini get laid on top of the bushes to dry in the breeze. Lizzie stepped out and asked Clark for the tarp, which he handed to her.
While they did whatever they were doing behind the bushes, Clark and Danny pulled their boots back off and set them aside to dry as best they could.
After a couple of minutes, the two girls came out from behind the bushes, with Ali wearing the tarp, which didn’t do a very good job of covering her up. Her teeth were still chattering and she couldn’t hardly walk from being so stiff from the cold.
Clark was sitting on a fallen log and he had her sit down on his lap and he wrapped his arms around her to try to help her get warm. As he ran his hands up and down her body, they were traveling up underneath the tarp.
"Hey ... bucko," she chattered, "watch … your … hands."
"Just trying to get you warmed up, sweetie."
"It’s not me … I’m worried … about … getting heated up."
Clark tried to profess his innocence and she just giggled as she squirmed around in his arms. She was obviously liking the feel of his hands running up and down her back, on her bare skin.
"You two are pathetic," said Lizzie. "I hope you’re gonna do the right thing and marry her, Clark."
All three of them laughed when they saw the look of fear on Clark’s face.
"Married? Just because I’m trying to help a girl out?"
That caused them to laugh even louder, while Clark tried to pull his hands away. Ali wasn’t having any of it and she grabbed his wrists and got him to continue warming her up.
Danny was sitting on the ground, with his back up against the log and Lizzie curled up in his arms, trying to stay warm herself.
It took about an hour for Ali’s clothes to dry enough to wear and she stepped behind the bushes to get dressed. It was about that time they realized she didn’t have her foot protection anymore.
"I guess I lost them in the river," she said as she looked back at the swirling water.
"That’s okay," said Danny. "We still have plenty of canvas."
"But no cardboard." she said.
"Not to worry," said Clark. "We’ll just double up some extra canvas and that will cover the bottoms of your sexy feet."
The guys got busy and within five minutes, had new makeshift shoes on her feet and she was ready to go.
For the second time that night, they disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
17
It’s funny how a person would never consider killing another human being, but when it comes right down to it, when you or your loved ones are in danger, killing can become quite easy.
Clark never would have considered himself the killing kind. He didn’t even like to go hunting, not even with a bow, when his father and brother took off for their annual deer hunt. He was the better bowman than either of them, but he just couldn’t bring himself to sight down the arrow at a buck, no matter how magnificent his rack was. The last thing he wanted was the head of a deer hanging on his wall, looking down at him in accusation.
However, seeing Ali tied to the altar in this meadow, with that knife poised above her, removed all doubt that he would kill another if it meant saving someone he loved.
Twice. Four times. Six times now.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was supposed to feel as if he had done something wrong, but every time he looked up and saw Ali and Lizzie picking their way through the trees, he pushed any feelings of guilt far away.
He knew, deep down, he’d kill again and again if anyone came after them and tried to hurt any one of them.
About two hours later, they found themselves standing on the hillside, looking down on the convenience store. It was still dark and they knew they wouldn’t see the sun for another couple of hours.
"What do we do?" asked Lizzie.
"Well," said Clark, "we can’t just go down there and wait for the guy to come and open the store. I’m actually surprised I don’t see any of the Satanists parked down there, waiting for us to come down the hill."
"You don’t know, Clark," said Danny. "They may very well be down there and we just can’t see them."
"That’s what I’m afraid of."
They moved back up the hill a little ways and took cover behind some boulders. From there they could see the convenience store parking lot and would be able to see any traffic coming up the road. But, with the bridge out, they didn’t expect to see anyone coming this way.
The thought crossed Danny’s mind that the store owner might not even show up and open for business. Wouldn’t be much point until the road reopened and cars were able to head over the mountain again.
Clark tapped his watch and looked at the time.
"We have about three hours until sun rise. I say let’s get a little sleep, if we can."
"Good idea," said Danny.
Clark took the tarp and laid it on the ground and settled down on it and Ali curled up in his arms. Danny got himself comfortable, sitting on the ground, with his back up against a tree and Lizzie leaned up against him.
After a few seconds of getting themselves situated, Danny said, "I hope you girls appreciate how much effort went into planning an exciting weekend for you."
Lizzie giggled and poked him in the ribs.
"Next time, let’s just go to the beach."
Ali laughed and said, "I’m already dressed for the beach."
Clark hugged her close and kissed her on the forehead.
He said, "Alright, let’s try to keep it quiet. Sound carries quite a ways up here in the mountains and we don’t want to advertise our location."
It didn’t take long for the four of them to fall asleep. It had been a long and trying day and it didn’t appear to be over.
Danny squinted as he opened his eyes and found the sun shining directly into them. Lizzie squirmed around under his arm and he looked down at the top of her head. Looking over to the tarp, he saw Ali curled up and still asleep.
What he didn’t see was Clark.
"Son of a bitch," he said softly.
This caused Lizzie to sit up and look around.
"What?"
"Clark. He’s not here."
Lizzie rolled over Danny’s lap and crawled to Ali to check on her. When she touched her friend’s shoulder, she woke up with a start and sat up.
"Where did Clark go?" Lizzie asked.
Ali looked around, as if she were just coming out of a dream.
"I don’t know," she said in a daze.
Danny creeped toward the boulders they had been hiding behind and looked down the hill. He could see the parking lot to the convenience store and it was apparently open for business.
The girls crawled over next to him and saw the same thing he saw. There were three vehicles sitting outside the store, but with the plywood over the windows, they couldn’t see anything inside. They didn’t recognize the vehicles, one car and two trucks, but Danny didn’t like what he saw.
"Should we go down there?" asked Lizzie.
"Not right now. First, we wait a little bit to see if Clark comes back."
Ali said, "We also need to wait and see who is in the store if we can."
"Right."
"Any thoughts on where Clark may have gone off to?" asked Ali.
"Not a clue," said Danny.
As they sat and watched, a car came driving into the parking lot and pulled up to the gas pumps. An old man got out of the small car and looked at the pumps before walking into the store.
He wasn’t in the store more than a minute before coming back out and heading to the pumps. He started filling his gas tank. While he did that, the passenger door opened and a woman got out.
"Looks like our trip is going to take a detour," said the old man.
"Really? What’s happened?"
"I don’t know, honey. They just said the bridge is out and we can’t go any further up the road. We’ll need to backtrack and take the road over to the freeway."
"Great. How long will that add to the trip?"
"Probably an hour, but we’ll make that up when we get on the freeway."
The woman turned around and headed into the store, while the man finished pumping gas. He walked back to the store and came back out a few minutes later, holding the door for his wife. She was carrying a bag of snacks.
As they walked to their car, a man came out of the store and called after them.
"Just be careful on those roads over there. The storm made a real mess of things back there."
"Thank you, kindly," said the man as he got in the car.
Danny and the girls watched as the car pulled out of the parking lot and headed back down the mountain.
"We should have tried to get down there and get a ride with them," said Ali.
Danny shook his head and said softly, "Something’s not right."
"Shit!" said Lizzie.
They looked back at the store and saw another guy walk out and step up next to the other. Lizzie slid back down and sat on the ground behind the boulder. Ali sat down next to her and put an arm around her.
Danny continued looking through a crack in the rocks at the new guy. A face he knew quite well,
Ricky.
"How long do you think we should stay here?" asked the first guy.
"I don’t know, Jake. Zeke said to keep an eye on this place," said Ricky, raising his voice. It was quite clear he was not happy about the whole thing.
Jake shook his head and said, "Those kids are long gone. Probably caught a ride off the mountain and are probably trying to get anyone to listen to their story. If we were smart, we’d be hightailin’ it out of here before the law comes looking for us."
"Zeke says we stay, so we stay."
Jake walked around to the back of one of the trucks and let the tailgate down and sat down on it. Another guy came out of the store, carrying a couple of beers and gave one to Jake and sat down next to him.
"This sucks," said Danny as he sat down next to the girls. "We can’t move even one inch from this spot or they will see us."
"What are we going to do?" asked Lizzie.
"We’re going to wait them out," he said. "Sooner or later they will come to the conclusion the one guy is right and we’ve already made it down the mountain."
"I wish I knew where the hell Clark went," said Ali.
"Your boyfriend has a habit of disappearing," said Lizzie.
Ali looked at her and said, "He also has a habit of coming back and saving our asses."
"I know, sweetie," said Lizzie as she put an arm around her friend’s shoulder. "I was just kidding."
For the next hour they sat quietly and prayed the guys at the store would pack it in and go home. Then they heard the sound of a cell phone ringing and Danny moved around so he could see what was happening.
"Yeah," said Ricky. "There’s been no sign of them."
He listened for a few seconds and then hung up.
"What?" asked Jake.
"He says if they don’t show by the time the store closes to come on back."
"Man, that’s another four hours unless he closes up early."
"What the hell do you want me to do about it?" asked Ricky.
Jake jumped off the tailgate and motioned for the other guy to get up. When he did, Jake slammed the tailgate shut.
"I’ll tell you what you can do about it, Ricky. You can stay here for all I care. I’m gettin’ out of here before the law comes looking for us. You coming with me, Marty."
"Yeah," said Marty. "I’m getting tired of this area anyway."
"Zeke ain’t gonna be happy," said Ricky as the other two climbed into the truck.
"Personally, Ricky, I don’t give a shit what Zeke thinks anymore," said Jake looking out the window of the truck. "And if you had a lick of sense, you’d get the hell out of here, too."
"They killed my mama, Jake. They killed your pa and brother, Marty. And you’re just gonna run like a couple of whipped dogs."
Jake didn’t say another word. He just slammed the truck into Reverse and squealed the tires backing up. Then Jake laid down about thirty yards of burned rubber as his truck hit the highway back down the mountain.
Ricky watched them go, cussing under his breath. He pulled his phone out and dialed. The three on the hillside could hear every word he said.
"Yeah, Jake and Marty just lit outta here and it looks like they ain’t coming back … How the hell do I know? Looks like we might be in this by ourselves."
He stalked around, kicking at the dirt while Zeke apparently had his say.
"Alright, I’m heading back."
He walked over to the door of the store and pulled it open.
"Don’t you even think of helping them out if they come down here! They belong to us!" he yelled at the guy inside the store.
He turned around and jumped into his car and set off down the road, leaving just one truck sitting outside the store.
"What do we do, Danny?"
"Give me a second," he said as he sat down behind the rock to think.
After a couple of minutes he said, "I can hike down there and see if there is any chance he’ll help us out. Sounds to me like he isn’t part of what’s going on around here."
As they were sitting behind the rock, trying to figure out their next move, they heard someone yell.
"Ya’ll better get on down here before they decide to come back."
Danny looked at the girls and then raised up slightly and peered over the rocks. The owner of the store was standing at the door of the store and looking right at them.
"Yeah, I know you’re up there. I’m surprised those morons didn’t see you up there, too."
Danny stood up, but told the girls to stay down. He studied the old man for a few seconds and then said, "I’m going down there. You two stay here until I call you."
"Be careful," said Lizzie.
"I will," he said as he stepped past the rocks and started down the hillside.
As he slid down the hill, he brushed his hand over the waistband of his pants and made sure the sheriff’s pistol was still there. Feeling the heavy steel weight of the gun on his back gave him a measure of confidence.
Walking across the parking lot, he saw the old guy keeping an eye on him. It was the same guy that had been behind the counter a few days before when they stopped for gas.
"Get in here before someone sees you."
Danny stepped past the guy and he pulled the door closed.
"The girls don’t want to come down?"
"Right now, they don’t know who to trust."
"I can understand that," said the guy as he walked around the counter and sat down. "Looks like someone's been using your face as a punching bag."
"Yeah, it's be a hard couple of days, ever since we left here the other day. Can we use your phone to call the police and have them come and get us out of here?"
"I’d say yes, but them boys cut my phone line and took my cell phone."
"Oh man," said Danny with a big sigh.
He looked at the guy and said, "We’ve been fighting for our lives for the past coup
le of days and it seems like this mountain is doing everything it can to keep us here."
The guy looked up at the plywood over the windows and asked, "Are you the ones I have to thank for this window?"
"Well, not us personally, but yes, one of our group did it. If we get out of this alive, I’ll be more than happy to pay for the window and whatever else was broken."
"That’s no big deal, but I really would like my bow back. I assume it was the other guy that took it. He was talking about it and saying how he shot."
"You might not want it back after you find out what he did with it."
The old guy’s eyebrows went up and there was a question in his eyes.
"Six people were killed with that bow during our rescue. Including Peaches Morgan and the sheriff."
"Holy shit," said the old guy under his breath. "Was it necessary to kill with it?"
"Well, Peaches was about one second away from killing one of the girls with a dagger. Clark shot her before she could do it. Then, the sheriff pulled his gun and threatened to kill the girl if he didn’t show himself and he got an arrow through the chest."
Danny looked around and saw a shelf with some t-shirts and pants. He walked over and picked up a couple of shirts and a couple pairs of sweatpants. Bringing them back to the counter, he set them down.
"The girls are not dressed for running around in the mountains. Keep track of what these cost and I’ll pay it when we get back to civilization."
"What do mean they aren’t dressed for this?"
"They were about to be sacrificed by those Satanists. They don’t have any real clothes on because we had to get out of there when Clark rescued us."
The old guy shook his head and said, "Get them girls down here right now and get some clothes on them."
Danny walked over to the door and opened it a little. He looked out and saw the parking lot was still empty, so he stepped out and called up to the girls and told them to come down. He saw their heads pop up over the rocks and then they started down the hill as fast as they could move.
Danny herded them through the door and when the old guy saw the two half-naked women standing there, he just closed his eyes and shook his head.