The wetness in their air heightened her sense of smell. She could detect the deep, natural smells of the surrounding forest. It was a delight for the senses despite the fact that at any moment someone could come hacking away at her.
She boldly picked up her pace and soon could hear crying. It was a defeated noise. The sound of someone who was resigned to their fate. Peering between the trees and shrubs, she surveyed the scene before her. The air smelled coppery. Jess was certain it was blood.
There was a woman tied to a tree before her. Her lank blonde hair hung over her face streaked with dark red streaks of blood. Her arms were bound behind her and her feet were also lashed to the base of the towering maple.
Jess knew immediately who it was. Regardless of how annoying Steph had been before, her fear was so outwardly evident that Jess felt her heart strings tearing.
Steph gasped for breath to let out a squeaking rattle. She tipped her head back, her hair falling away from her face. Strands of hair stuck in the rivers of blood mixing with drops of rainwater. Her mouth was opened and twisted in a silent scream. She wasn’t even genuinely crying anymore. Her tears had been all used up and all she could muster were the noises of the damned.
Another figure stepped into view. It was the man in the overalls. Now in the daylight and from the relative safety of her hiding spot, she studied him. He had short dirty blonde-brown hair that was spiky with mud and grime. He was wearing a red t-shirt and pale blue overalls, though very few clean spots remained. His whole outfit along with his pale white skin were covered in blood and gore. Most of it had dried as a burgundy stain or shades of a reddish black.
He was empty handed at the moment, but Jess knew he definitely had at least one weapon somewhere out of sight. He stood before Steph, blocking her from Jess’s sight. She could hear the man breathing, he was so close. She carefully made sure she wasn’t doing the same.
“I warmed you up, but he’ll be back to take care of you.”
“Fuck you,” Steph spat.
The man laughed. “I can see why he was so unhappy with you. You’re a blonde dipshit with no ability to curb your disrespectful behavior.”
Jess heard the resounding smack as he slapped Steph across her face. She let out a squeak, but said nothing else. The man laughed again. It was a dark sound that made Jess nervous to her core. The man walked out of view and as he did, Steph was vacantly staring ahead. Her eyes were unfocused and dead until she happened to make contact with Jess’s.
Steph’s face lit up with terror and pleading. She kept mouthing help, straining against her bonds. Jess put a finger to her lips and nodded. She hoped Steph would be smart enough to play along.
The man came back and Jess silently backed up to ensure she was hidden. She didn’t dare move further. A snap or a rustle and it was game over and she’d definitely die.
“You’re looking alive,” he mused. “Increased breathing, rapid heart rate, dilated pupils. What’s gotten into you?”
She heard Steph strain against the ropes. The man stood watching her struggle, then stepped back out of view. Jess dared to move just a little to follow him with her eyes. She watched him walk to a well-hidden hunting tent covered expertly with leaves and branches. It looked like a small hill piled against the base of a tree, but as he drew the flap back, she could see there was a sleeping bag and other things stashed inside.
Jess was torn between racing out and trying to attack him now while his hands were still empty, but he’d still have physical strength and size that would give him a certain advantage.
At the same time, maybe he’d leave. He was probably still looking for her. She couldn’t imagine he’d be willing to let her escape and possibly get to the police. A second more thorough search of the woods would definitely reveal his presence. The police couldn’t possibly botch it a second time, she hoped.
The rain overhead was still beating down on the woods. It was better cover than she could have hoped for. She was about to go tearing out of hiding and jump on him, when he looked up as if he’d heard something. Jess drew back once again letting the shadow of the foliage cover her.
The man looked back over his shoulder past the gap between herself and Steph. He stuck his hand into the tent and came out with his ax. The handle had been cleaned up and the head was polished to a perfect silver shine. It even looked freshly ground with a deadly, sharp edge.
He slung the weapon over his shoulder and walked between her and Steph once again. “Did you hear that?” he asked mockingly. Steph didn’t respond. “I think someone’s come to join us.”
He walked out into the forest. Jess skirted her way backward around the shrubs keeping coverage between the two of them. She couldn’t afford to have him turn around for something forgotten and find herself spotted out in the open and so close. When she was positive he was gone, she stepped out of hiding and raced to Steph.
“Oh, thank God,” Steph moaned. “I thought I was going to die. I really thought I was going to die.”
“Quiet or we will,” Jess replied in barely a whisper.
The ropes were so tight that they were eating into Steph’s skin. The flesh was red and raw with blood seeping into the fibers. Jess couldn’t even work her fingers into the knots.
Racing to the hidden tent, she threw the flap back and took a good look inside. The whole tent smelled dusty and unused like something hidden in an attic, safe and clean, but forgotten. There was a canvas sack as well. Pulling it open, she looked inside. There were a couple of cans of baked beans and a manual can opener. There was also a small, cheap multi-purpose pocketknife which she tucked in the back of her pants. She put the bag over her shoulder and ran to Steph.
Cutting as hard and fast as she could, she ripped apart the ropes. Steph didn’t even stop to take the ties off her wrists or ankles as they fled into the woods together in the opposite direction from where the man had gone.
The rain kept battering down on them and intensified into a deafening chorus. As fast as possible, their horror carried them further than they thought possible. They only stopped when they found a small rock overhang just barely big enough to fit under. The wind blew the storm in on them, but they were still taking less of the brunt.
Steph opened one of the beans and they took turns dumping the can’s contents into their starving mouths. Jess happily chewed the bits of pork she would have normally picked out and given to Chris. It was a family-size can, but the two women had it gone after about ten minutes. They rested, satisfied and a little less afraid.
Jess was glad to have company again. Being alone had been a nasty feeling, but now they could watch each other’s backs.
“Who was that guy?” she finally asked.
Steph wiped her face. The rainwater helped her remove most of the blood. Jess could see cuts all over her cheeks and forehead. Her lower lip was swollen as well. She took a good look and realized that there were small lacerations all over Steph’s body.
“Mark’s brother,” she said quietly.
Jess nearly jumped with surprise. “His brother? So where the hell is Mark?”
Steph rubbed her arms as well, sloughing off more filth and redness. “Out there somewhere,” she said gesturing to the wild forest around them.
Jess opened her mouth to speak, but had no idea what question to ask first.
Steph sighed and explained. “Mark found out his brother lost his job and invited him to stay at camp with us. Things have gotten pretty out of hand.”
“Holy shit!” Jess exclaimed feeling extremely sorry for Steph. “Is… that how the other girl… died?” The speculation made perfect sense.
“What other girl?” Steph looked truly surprised.
“Some girl went missing from her car just south of the parkway. Chris and I found her. Her throat was cut.”
“Where is Chris?” Steph inquired.
Jess put a hand over her mouth as if keeping the truth locked away inside her would prevent it from being real. Her eyes burned with tears she
hadn’t completely dared to cry and still wasn’t ready to let out. Steph respectfully waited and looked away out into the rain. It wasn’t a private moment, but neither of them dared to leave their little hovel so that the other could have a good personal cry.
Jess took a huge breath and let the words escape when she thought she could still hold herself together and not simply burst apart at the seams under the pressure of the actuality. “Mark’s brother killed him with an ax.” The words burst like water through a broken dam, exploding out of her mouth with a desperation.
Steph immediately scooped Jess into her arms, crushing her ribs and stealing her breath with a fierce hug. Jess silently wept into her shoulder. For all the faults she’d presumed about Steph, the woman had an actual caring human soul inside her and judging her had been a wretched thing to do.
“We’re going to be okay,” Steph said so reassuringly that Jess believed she meant it. “We have each other, we have an idea what we’re up against, and we are not going down without a goddamn fight.”
“Chris and I…” Another bout of sorrow swept over Jess and she broke down again. “Chris and I were trying to get out. We couldn’t find the way.”
Steph nodded. “I think Mark’s brother is wandering near the shoreline in the woods. If you were trying to get out that way, you must have been close, but he knew to look for you. If we can get to the parkway, we might be able to make it out. We can try and get to a house or borrow someone’s cell phone if a car goes by.”
Jess felt sick. They must have been close. Chris could have died just out of view of the beach. They might have been a few hundred feet away and hadn’t been able to hear the water. The trees made blocked the sound so effectively.
“We’ll make it out. I am not dying today. I am not dying tomorrow either.”
Chapter 5
The women huddled together and tried to sleep for the night. It was so cold and damp, they shivered with chattering teeth. Jess was so exhausted she had strange and feverish moments of micro-sleeping with deep intense rest for only a moment, but almost as quick, her head would jerk up and her eyes would flutter around the darkness looking for the ax man. Steph didn’t fare any better, unable to sleep at all. Neither dared to try and evacuate with the pouring rain and zero visibility.
In the morning, the sky was still mostly overcast, but the rain had stopped. It was uncertain if that was a blessing or a curse. The forest steamed like a jungle and the humidity was insufferable.
Steph led the way. “I’m not 100 percent sure though,” she added, reaffirming that neither of them was positive how to get out. Jess waved her hand and replied that her guess wouldn’t be any better.
They walked side by side with Steph sometimes changing their direction. They stumbled on following their imaginary path, until Jess put out a hand and stopped Steph.
“What’s the matter?”
“Our phones! Mine and Chris’s!” Jess raced over to where they lay on the ground and scooped them both up. Just as cracked as before. They were each dead. Both of the batteries had been used up on the lights. The rain had washed away the majority of Chris’s blood from the area, too. There were still dark stains in the soil and some of the foliage was splattered.
Jess dropped to her knees. The ice cold was back in her blood. A tunnel of darkness crept in around the edge of her vision and began to hyperventilate.
“Snap out of it!” Steph shouted stepping in front of her.
Jess realized she had been holding her breath and inhaled until her lungs couldn’t hold anymore then slowly let it out. The chill was still there at the edge of her sanity. Her heart felt clenched in her chest. “Chris is gone.”
“You told me what happened.”
“But… what if they didn’t drag him off. What if he wasn’t dead and he crawled away somewhere to die alone. I left him all alone!” The poison thoughts were killing her. She could feel herself dying from the inside as her blood stopped pumping and her body was both on fire and frozen simultaneously.
Steph crouched in front of Jess. “He told you to run and you did. In the dark. How could you possibly know what was going on? He said run. He said it. Do not let this mess you up.”
“I’m…sorry,” Jess said looking at her through wet blurry vision.
“Don’t let the panic get to you,” Steph said putting a hand on her shoulder. They stayed like that for a bit. Steph staring into Jess’s frantic eyes. Steph tightened her grip. “Don’t you fucking panic. Come on! Talk to me!”
“I’m sorry I left you to fend for yourself when we were on the walking trail that first day,” Jess sobbed. There were no tears yet and she gasped for more air. “I should have turned around and made you come with us. I should have…” Another gasp and the words were stuck, unable to leave.
Steph shook her head. “It’s okay. It’s really okay. It’s okay.” She had no idea what else to say, but slowly Jess managed to get a grasp on her breathing.
“Not like it wasn’t the first time we fought,” Steph said with a false laugh.
Jess shook her head. “Still doesn’t make it right.” Her heart was in her throat, but she could feel the ache of the panic attack leaving her body. Once she was ready, Jess stood up.
Steph gave a weak smile. The cuts on her face burned, but she was alive. “Forgiven,” she said.
Jess brightened up, wiping away the last of the eye makeup that had been streaking her cheeks. “Let’s find the lake! Let’s get the hell out of here!”
Steph nodded. Jess remembered which way she’d been walking with Chris when they stopped at the log. The log had been lying parallel to their initial path.
They were just about to start moving again when they heard something. A shout. A crow cawed as it passed through the low branches of a pine. It upset its brethren and two more joined in.
“Jess!” came the shout again, closer and clearer.
“Chris!” Jess blurted out.
Steph reached out and grabbed her arm. “Is it? How hard it is to imitate another man’s voice?”
Jess shook her off. “No, that is definitely him! He’s alive!”
“So then let’s get the cops! I thought you wanted to just leave!”
Jess looked down at her throbbing, festering shin. There was pus and scabbing. Her clothing was a muddy, bloody disaster. She wanted a hot shower and the medical attention of a nice doctor with good clean bandages and antibiotics. The pain had reached a point that it had moved from her unconscious to her conscious thoughts, always there, always agonizing.
Steph looked petrified. Like a spooked gazelle, she could go bounding away through the trees at any moment. The cuts on her skin were filthy and dark with dirt and grime. The whites of her eyes were huge and amplified by the smoldering, sloppy raccoon effect of days-old makeup.
The man yelled out again. Steph dug her nails into Jess’s forearm. “It’s a goddamn trap. It worked once to lure you in. Don’t let it work again. This is how wild animals get shot all the time. You injure one and everyone runs to help and takes a bullet to the face. Well, I am not letting you take an ax to the eyeball!”
“He’s my husband,” Jess replied. “I can’t leave him.”
“Here’s where we disagree. You do leave him. Look how easy it is,” she said gesturing toward the trees behind them. “Just turn around and walk. I can even drag you if you want.”
This time Chris screamed in mind-wrenching pain.
Jess met Steph’s eyes. Steph returned the intense look. The two women started off in opposite directions.
Jess took the pocketknife from her jeans. She unfolded the blade. It was going to make a terrible weapon and she knew it, but having it out and ready to potentially free him could make all the difference in timing. Speed might be all they needed.
As her husband’s cries intensified, Jess quieted and slowed her pace. The woods offered the same sporadic, but decent coverage as before. A well-executed covert affair would have far greater success than a loud, clumsy beeli
ne straight into death.
Jess wondered just how far away the edge of the woods was. Had Steph simply wandered straight out into the open? A few hundred feet, a few thousand? It didn’t matter. She had a ring on her finger that had made this decision for her. She still loved him and would kick all sorts of ass if she had to in order to save him. Self-preservation be damned.
With a careful determination, she picked her way through the trees, keeping herself as covered and quiet as possible. A silent assassin, quiet and seeking death.
When she finally got close enough to spot him, her stomach turned. Chris was on his knees, blind-folded with his hands tied behind his back. This was the position she’d heard that was common for executions with a gun.
Standing over him and constantly surveying the area stood Mark’s brother holding a monstrous knife. Large and long. Probably about eight or ten inches. It had back-facing serrations down one edge and a shiny silver sharp edge on the other side.
“You’re being fucking difficult. Just make some noise.” Mark’s brother dug the tip of the blade into Chris’s back. He twirled it back and forth. Chris hissed and writhed. The blade went in a little deeper, the serrated tips dragging back and forth in and out and over the flesh.
Chris screamed. The sound reverberating and silencing anything that had started moving before the last outburst.
“You’re a sick son of a bitch, you know that?” Chris howled. He fell forward, his forehead smacking into the ground. Jess could see his back was soaked with blood. The wettest, most decimated spot was in his left shoulder blade. It had to be where the ax had hit him.
Jess bit her lip and crouched behind cover. She had left him behind when maybe she could have saved him. She believed it was her fault he was in such pain, certain he was going to die. They’d keep him alive and torment him as long as they thought they might be a chance to lure her in. Steph was right. Chris was living bait and she was a fish about to willingly latch onto a hook.
She could hear him huffing and puffing for more air. He was trying to control his breathing. Jess wished he would just black out. If he’d just drop into unconsciousness, he’d probably be safe for a bit from being tormented.
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