“Hmm, my Lord, what a handful you would be to any man.” He shook his head and laughed.
“Well, thank God I don’t have to worry about that right now,” I said. “One thing coming down here saved me from was the bone-numbing thrill of dating, ugh.”
“Oh, I’m sure you had plenty of suitors begging for your attention. A girl as beautiful and as fiery as you.” He half smiled at me then turned his head so I couldn’t see his face. Did he blush? God, I hoped not. He was cute but I didn’t want Mr. New Asshole to have the slightest interest in me. “So, the lady is hungry, whatever can we do about that.”
“I don’t know, food would help,” I suggested.
“Well, I’m quite certain the deer we caught the other day is ready to be cooked,” he said. “How about that? Venison for the lady?”
“Ah, I don’t know about deer.” I had never eaten deer before and wasn’t sure if I would like it.
“You don’t like it?”
“Never had it,” I said.
“You’ve never had deer? What is it that people eat nowadays then?” he asked.
“Fast food,” I said. “But I’m not really sure what’s in it.”
“Have the deer been killed off from these parts?” he asked. “Is that why you’ve never tasted it before?”
“No,” I laughed. “Why hunt when you have grocery stores full of pork and beef. Besides, there’s this big kick right now to eliminate meat from our diets entirely. Vegans, vegetarians and all that stuff.”
“What’s a vegan?” he asked.
“A vegan is someone who won’t have anything to do with animals,” I explained. “They won’t eat meat, dairy, eggs, anything with animal products or use anything made with animal products and that includes belts, purses or, um, boots.” I looked at his boots and he shuffled his feet, looking angry at my reference. I guess he liked his boots.
“How do they know what has animal and what doesn’t?”
“They read the labels I guess. I don’t know.” All this talk was frustrating me. “Let’s quit with the small talk and stop pretending to be friends. Just give me something to eat and then you can torture me for information?”
“Torture you?” he laughed. “I do not torture people unless I have to. I don’t think I’ll have to do that to you. You seem reasonable enough.”
“Reasonable enough for what?” I asked. He stepped closer to me and I could feel his breath on me. All signs of friendliness were gone.
“I believe you’ll tell me who blew up the dam on the river and I won’t have to lay a finger on you.” His eyes roamed my body and I felt a warmth rush up inside of me. “Pity though, torturing you could be fun.”
“What makes you think I’ll tell you anything?” I swallowed hard and tried not to let my voice shake.
“If you don’t,” he turned his head and looked at the red tent, then turned back to me and smiled, “I won’t be so kind to your friends.”
“I don’t know what happened to your river,” I said, still holding defiance in my voice. “I had nothing to do with it.”
“Hmm,” he said then turned away from me. “Rat, get our guest some food. I think she might want to try some deer.”
“I’m not hungry,” I said.
“Oh, you’ll eat. Rudeness is not something I tolerate,” he laughed and walked away.
I stood there, seething with anger. Who the hell did he think he was? I wasn’t going to tell him anything. If he thought I would turn on my friends he had another...
“Would you like to sit down?” A boy about my age stood before me. I didn’t even see him coming, I had been so mad at Max. I tried to focus on him. He had blond hair, brown eyes and looked like hell. I guess he could have been strong and muscular if he hadn’t been so beaten and timid. He had dirt smudged all over his body and I was sure that if it was washed off, bruises would be left behind. His clothes looked like rags and I could see fear in his eyes.
“Thank you, that would be nice,” I said knowing that it wasn’t his fault I was there.
“Follow me.” He guided me to an old picnic table that looked like it was ready to fall apart. I was positive that it would collapse as soon as I sat down but it didn’t. “I’ll get you a drink.”
“Thank you.” Two minutes later the boy returned with a bottle of water.
“Try not to make Maxwell mad,” he whispered to me and I looked at him with confusion. “He looks nice but he can be real nasty. He’ll kill your friends without even blinking.”
“I know,” I whispered back. “There’s nothing about Max that I trust.”
“I know you,” he said and I looked at him. “You don’t recognize me do you?”
“Come closer.” I studied the boy’s face and, after a few minutes, I slowly recognized him. But it couldn’t be, could it? He looked nothing like I remembered him. “Ryan? Ryan Duncan?”
“Shh!” He looked sideways but Max had disappeared and everyone else was too far away to hear anything.
“Oh my God, what happened?” I couldn’t believe that this could be the same Ryan Duncan I knew. The Ryan Duncan who was two grades ahead of me in school. The Ryan Duncan who had been the school quarterback, star basketball player and top scoring center on the hockey team. All the girls had a crush on him and why not? He was gorgeous. Then, one night, he went camping with his friends and just disappeared. It was supposed to be an all weekend grad party but it had turned into a nightmare. The police said he’d been drinking and must have stumbled away into the woods and got lost. They figured he’d died of exposure and an animal dragged his remains away. They searched for months but his body had never been found. That was two years ago.
“Oh my God, Ryan. We all thought you were dead. They had candlelight vigils for you. I went to them. Oh my God, Ryan, your mom is going to be so happy...” I trailed off, realizing that his mom was never going to find out he was still alive. She was still going to believe that her son was dead. Like my mom probably believed right now that I was dead. No, she was probably still in the stage of looking for me. My heart fell and I wanted to cry.
“My mom is never going to know what happened to me,” he said and I could feel his rage. It was the same as mine. “You can’t tell anyone you know me, please. I don’t want to make Maxwell mad. I’ve seen him do some bad things, Nicky, real bad things.”
“But I thought Pig was the bad one.”
“Pig was nothing compared to this guy,” he said. “Pig was an amateur, a pussy cat. This guy wants a whole lot more than Pig ever did.”
“Do you mean,” I tried to keep my voice low, “that Max is the one who blew up the river?”
“I have to go.” He backed away from me and made his way to the fire pit. I sat there absorbing what Ryan had just told me. Could it really have been Max who blew up the river and shot Pig? Then what was he doing with me? Was he just toying with me until he killed me? Well, I wouldn’t make it easy for him. When the first opportunity to escape came, I was gone. I would come back for Robert and Madge if I couldn’t save them now. If Max had shot Pig to take over leadership, then I had to find the others and warn them that there was a new boss in town.
Chapter 11
I ate my deer steak alone. It wasn’t that bad; a little gamey but I liked it and I was hungry. Neither Max nor Ryan made any attempt to return and talk to me. I felt sorry for Ryan; he must have been in Pig’s camp all this time and had obviously not been treated well. Knowing how Pig disliked newcomers, I was sure Ryan’s last two years must have been pure hell. Despite all of this, I was glad he was here. It felt good to see someone that I actually knew. It reminded me of home and I hoped that, maybe, he’d come with us when we escaped. I knew Marshal and everyone else would treat him decently and help him get back in shape. A healthy Ryan Duncan would be a big help when the Blood Demons came. The Blood Demons; I had almost forgotten about them. What if they were already on their way here? I took a deep breath and pushed the thought to the back of my mind. I could worry about
the Blood Demons when I got myself, Robert and Madge out of this camp safe and sound.
After I was finished eating, I was led to the red tent by two of the ugliest women I had ever seen. Like the one that had slapped Robert across the face, these two looked dirty and smelled horrible. They had messy hair and a hungry, wild look in their eyes. Both were missing teeth and neither one had any sense of how a woman should act. Twice the one with the darker hair spit huge gobs of phlegm to the side and the blond one kept scratching herself in very inappropriate places, not caring if anyone saw her. I didn’t think even a hot shower and makeover would help them. They opened the flap to the tent and I saw Robert and Madge for the first time in hours. They were untied and lying on thick blankets that kept them somewhat off the cold ground. Madge was still unconscious but, even though he had his back to us, I could tell that Robert was awake. He didn’t move as the two women roughly shoved me inside and then closed the flap and left.
“Robert, are you okay?” I crawled over to him.
“Shh,” he whispered. “They have people all around this tent. I’ve been watching their shadows.”
“I know, I saw them too,” I said. “How long have you been awake?”
“I never was unconscious,” he said. “I just pretended to be. I figured they would keep me with Madge if I, too, was out.”
“You’re probably right.” I looked down at the plump woman lying there with her eyes still closed. “How is she?”
“Not good, I think.” He lightly brushed her hair with his fingers. “She should have woken by now and her foot is swollen badly. I’m afraid it’s broken.”
“Oh.” This wasn’t good. I wanted to escape and was hoping they would come with me but that would be impossible. Madge would never be able to walk, let alone run. She would need to be carried and I wasn’t strong enough to lift her and although Robert might be able to, he wouldn’t be able to carry her very far. My only chance was to leave and get help fast. “Listen; do you know where the others might have gone?”
“Marshal probably went back home or...,” he paused, “yes, why didn’t I think of this earlier?”
“What?”
“Marshal has another hideout,” he said, a smile forming across his face. “He took me there a long time ago; I almost forgot about it. He used to go there before he built his underground home. He never talks about it because he wants to keep it as a safe house but I think he sneaks away to it and stocks it up every now and then.”
“Do you know where it is?” I asked. I was sure Marshal would be there hiding. It only sounded logical.
“Yes, I think so. It’s not far from here, just a few miles southwest if my memory is right. It’s in the trees and not far from a pond,” he said.
“Could you give me more specific directions?” I asked. I didn’t know these woods and I had no way of telling if I was going south or west. I wanted to reach the rest of them and warn them about Max and then try to come back for Robert and Madge but I couldn’t do that if I got lost as soon as I left the camp.
“If I had paper, I could draw a rough map,” he said. “Or, I could come with you.”
“You can’t come with me,” I said. “You can’t leave Madge.”
“I don’t think they’ll do anything to her until they have all of us here together,” he explained.
“You’re wrong,” I said and then told him about Ryan and how he insinuated that Max was responsible for the dam and for Pig’s murder. Robert didn’t seem to know who Max was but I was sure that if he saw him he would know him. It was hard to believe that this gang would follow someone they had just met.
“That is interesting.” He thought about it for a minute then continued. “I still don’t think they’ll hurt Madge. They know that three of us came to negotiate the river and only I have been captured. There’s been no sign of Sarah since she excused herself and Marshal has run off somewhere and they can’t find either one. Now they have you and Madge to contend with. They really have no idea how many people are out there. They’re probably convinced that we’re trying to organize some kind of attack on the camp and they’ll want to know everything. Killing Madge would do more harm than good.”
“Okay, so, maybe they won’t kill Madge but it won’t stop them from torturing her for information,” I pointed out to him.
“They’ll do that whether I’m here or not,” he said. “Best I not be here. If they were to use me to get to Madge she would most definitely talk. As long as she thinks her silence will keep me alive she’ll keep quiet.”
“You mean you’d be willing to let them hurt your wife to help me escape?” He nodded. “I can’t accept that.”
“You have to; it’s the only way to make some sort of plan with the others.” I knew he was right but, still, how could I leave this helpless woman here to endure God knew what just so I could find the others? But I wasn’t doing it for myself was I? My escape wasn’t to save just me. If everything went right, we could rescue Madge properly and get the hell out of here. Then we could regroup and plan an attack on these jerks and get rid of them once and for all. Oh, God, I really had played too many video games except this was real and real people could get hurt or maybe even killed.
“Okay, we’ll both go but we have to find a way to let Madge know what we’re doing,” I said. “Has she made any sign of waking up?”
“No, but I have a way of telling her I’ll be back for her.” He reached over to the sleeping form of his wife, reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a blue string. He tied two knots in the middle and returned it to her pocket. He pulled her blanket up and stroked her face. “We’ll leave in the middle of the night when most of the camp should be sleeping.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “What does the string mean?”
“This is not the first time we’ve been in trouble,” he explained. “We were stalked by a group of northerners once who wanted to capture us and sell us as slaves for some blankets and food. The northerners tend to run out of supplies long before the 360. They usually make some sort of journey down here to find stragglers to auction off. Madge and I were separated for days and had no idea of each other’s fate. Luckily, it all turned out well but we swore we’d never let it happen again. So, we came up with a system of communication that no one would be able to figure out. Thus the string; one knot means I’m in trouble don’t wait for me, two knots mean I will return for you, stay strong.”
“Clever,” I said.
“It was Madge’s idea.” He smiled with pride at his wife’s brilliance. “We should try to sleep for a few hours. It will take a while for the camp to settle down after all the commotion today and we’ll need the energy to escape.” I agreed and we decided to take turns. I slept first because he had been resting for most of the day. I put my head down and hoped that Barker was okay. He was alone out in the woods and I knew he would be scared. Funny, how a stray dog was my main concern as I nodded off to sleep.
“NICKY! NICKY! WAKE up,” Robert whispered loudly in my ear and continued shaking me. “Nicky, you have to get up. Something’s happening in the camp.”
“What?” I tried to focus on the man in front of me. He had a look of urgency on his face. I was sore from sleeping on the ground and tried to stretch out the kinks as I sat up. “What are you saying?”
“Shh! I don’t know what’s happened but there’s been a lot of commotion over the last ten minutes,” he said. “One of the lookouts has come back to the camp yelling and screaming, I think he’s been hurt. He’s managed to wake up the whole camp.”
“What time is it?” I sat up and started to put my shoes on.
“It must be late, you’ve been asleep for a few hours,” he said. That meant it had to be the middle of the night. I looked over to Madge.
“Has she woken up yet?” I asked.
“Briefly,” he smiled and I felt relieved that she had finally regained consciousness. “I told her everything that was going on and she’s okay with us leaving but I don’t think we c
an do that now. It sounds like everyone in the camp is awake.” I tried to hear what was going on. There were a lot of voices out there. They were all talking at once and it was hard to decipher what they were saying. One thing was certain though, they sounded angry.
All of a sudden someone started unzipping the flap to our tent and I signalled for Robert to lie down. No one knew he was awake yet and I thought it would be best if they still thought he was unconscious. I quickly ducked under the blanket and closed my eyes before one of the women that shoved me into the tent earlier poked her head in. She reached in and started shaking me awake. I slowly sat up and looked sleepily into her eyes.
“What?”
“Come on, sweetie,” she said as she grabbed my arm. I pulled my face away from her rancid breath. “Your presence is required.”
“All you had to do was ask,” I said as I pulled my arm away from her grasp. I got up and tried to straighten my hair and clothes a little. My jeans felt all wrinkly and my shirt had bunched up. I grabbed my hoodie and slipped it on as I followed the woman out of the tent.
Ugly, that’s what I named the woman, led me to the big fire pit in the middle of camp where there was a healthy fire burning. They probably never allowed it to burn out; it seemed to be their center of life. Robert was right; the whole camp was up and standing around, waiting for me. Max was front and center.
“Nicky, glad you could join us,” he smiled and bowed, never taking his eyes off me. I felt uncomfortable with his gaze.
“No problem. I wasn’t really doing anything special,” I smiled back. I could play his stupid game too. He noted my sarcasm and shook his head. I couldn’t tell if he was impressed with my nerve or angered by it.
“I hope you don’t mind answering a few questions for me?” he asked.
“Just slice the bitch and see how much information leaks out of her then,” some foul looking man yelled from the crowd of onlookers. If he thought his remark would shake me, he was wrong, it just made me angrier.
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