by Nick Thacker
Ben didn't love the plan; it slowed things down, and it made their ultimate goal — getting to EKG headquarters and figuring out how to get inside — more difficult. But Clive was part of their team, and it had been half an hour since Ben had been awake, and Clive was still gone. He still felt as though Eliza was right, that Clive had left to go hunt for food, but Ben still held reservations about that idea.
First, Clive had been terrified last night after discovering the third dead body. Second, Ben knew they had enough food, sparse and bland as it might be, to get them through another three days out here without needing to head back into the village. There simply was no reason to hunt for any game out here, even for something as small as a rabbit or squirrel.
Eliza had nodded along when he'd explained this to her, and she said it made sense, but he could tell she still had some hangups.
Which meant her concerns were likely the same as Ben’s: that both of them were actually worried about Clive because they were worried about everything. They were worried that something had gotten in Clive's head, and he had lost some of his sanity and was now traipsing around the woods in semi-madness. Or, that Clive was fine but somehow determined to find and kill whatever it was that had killed these men. Neither option was good, and both options meant that they would need to go after Clive.
“Your turn,” he heard Eliza say.
Ben whirled around to see her standing a few feet away; her backpack slung over one shoulder. A strand of red hair trickled down over her forehead and into her eyes, and she blew it to the side with a puff from her lips.
“What are you talking about?” Ben asked.
“I said it’s your turn,” she said again, placing her hand on her hip. “I told you what was going on with me; now I want to know what's going on with you.”
Ben opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again. He repeated this motion a few times, feeling like an idiot. What is she talking about? How can she know that there’s something going on? How do I even know that there’s something going on?
“There is nothing —”
She moved her hand from her hip and held it up outward to Ben. “Save it, Ben. I know you are just as concerned about all of this — about Clive — as I am. But I can also see beneath the surface. My husband was like you; he was calm, reserved. But that didn’t mean he was emotionless. He had his moments, Ben. At first, early on in our marriage, I thought he was just stoic. But I came to learn that it was all bubbling up just beneath the surface, and if I didn’t pry it out of him, it would stay there, festering like a wound.”
“That’s…” Ben said. “That’s a very colorful way to describe it.”
She shrugged. “Tell me it’s not true.”
Ben smirked, then blew out a breath. “Okay,” he said. “You win. I haven’t lied to you, Eliza. And I won’t. But I also haven’t been very open with either of you.”
She nodded. “You’re talking about two nights ago. What happened?”
“How can you — how do you know anything about — ?“
“This city talks, Ben. You know as well as I do. Nothing said in a public space goes without being repeated. I would call it gossip, but it’s a bit more like everyone looking out for each other.”
“Yeah, I get that.” Ben knew exactly what she was talking about; he had experienced exactly that. He even sort of liked it; it gave him the sense that everyone in town was on the same team, rooting for one another. “So then you heard I was attacked?”
Eliza's eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth dropped open. "What? What are you talking about? No, Ben. I had no idea you were attacked.”
“Then what did you hear?” Ben asked.
“I was told by someone I ran into at the store that there was a big, intimidating man in town.”
Ben stared at her. “So I am a ‘big, intimidating man?’”
She giggled. “No, I never said you were the big intimidating man. That’s what I thought, too, at first. Instead, they said there was a big intimidating man in town who was talking to the American.”
“That makes sense. I’m the American.”
"Which means someone was talking to you two nights ago, then. And while I have no idea what 'talking' is supposed to mean in this case, it seems as though it was noteworthy enough for some locals to comment on it." She paused, waiting for Ben to interject. "So, who was he? Did you know him?"
Ben shook his head. “No, and I still don’t. But he followed me out of the bar and punched me in the gut, then in the kidney. It was… He hit pretty hard, and I went down to the ground.”
Eliza seemed impressed, but she also had a look of concern in her eyes.
“I’m fine,” Ben said, “even though I was a little sore yesterday morning.”
"But, I'm guessing that it wasn't your kidney that made you all brooding yesterday, either?"
He took a breath. “No, you’re right. It was what he said to me. He told me this — punching me — was a warning, that if he saw me out here, he was going to have to make the warning more intense or something. I don’t really know what he was talking about other than, ‘don’t go out on EKG land.’”
“You think he was EKG?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No. I don’t know. Could be, but I doubt it for some reason. I don’t think he was Grayson either, because he just had a sort of independent look to him, like he was rough around the edges and didn’t play well with others or something.”
“Definitely seems like he didn’t play well with you, Ben.”
"You got that right," Ben said. "And I don't plan on going down as easily if we see each other again. That said, I'd sure like to not have to see him again. The sooner we get to EKG and figure out what the hell is going on around here, the better."
"We still need to find Clive first," Eliza said. "But I agree with you. We need to figure this out, and this incident seems to be beyond coincidence."
Ben hesitated, considering walking outside and beginning their hunt for Clive when he looked back at Eliza. "There's more," he said. "He didn't just warn me away from this place. He seemed to think we were hunting for something; that we were out here looking for he was going to be looking for."
“You mean he is trying to find whatever this thing is that killed these men?”
“It seems so, yes. Whatever this creature is that’s running around, ripping people’s hearts out, is the same one that this dude is looking for. And he doesn’t want competition, either.”
Ben could see Eliza working this over in her mind. She looked up at the ceiling of the cave, then slung the other shoulder strap of the backpack over her arm. She cinched them tight and stepped up closer to Ben. “I think it’s another piece of this puzzle, Ben,” she said. “And I think it’s important to keep all of it in mind. But it doesn’t change our mission. Clive, then the EKG. That’s it. Whatever this thing is, even if it’s related, we need to get you EKG first to figure it out.”
“I agree,” Ben said. “And I think we need to get moving. Whoever is out there taking potshots at us, maybe this hunter guy, is probably —“
Crack!
At that moment, the sound of rifle fire made Ben jump. He heard the round hit the dirt near his feet, and he dove to the side, wrapping his arms around Eliza as he fell.
She screamed in surprise, but flew with him, immediately adjusting to the tackle. He felt her lithe, athletic body spinning to regain control of her fall.
He landed on his face in the dirt at the front of the cave while Eliza landed in a practiced crouch. His arms were still wrapped around her hips, and he extracted them while pushing himself up and to the side.
“Yeah,” he said. “I definitely think it’s time to get going.”
34
Ben
"Get down!" Eliza yelled as another shot rang through their ears, echoing in the cave. Ben was still on the ground, and Eliza suddenly broke her crouch and launched herself over Ben's prone body, landing on top of him.
Her che
ek pressed tightly against his face, and he felt her breasts pushing into his back…
They lay there for a moment, still. Ben was growing more uncomfortable by the second, and yet he knew his comfort was probably less important than not getting shot.
Still, the way Eliza had thrown herself over him… Was he reading too far into this? Is she hitting on me?
He shook his head, feeling the heat of her hair beginning to choke him. He hadn't been this close to any woman besides Julie for as long as he could remember.
Julie.
He needed to move, even if it was just to shift over to the side so they could both share the cave floor as cover. Besides, he didn’t want to have to explain to Julie how a woman was shot and killed while lying on top of him.
“We need to get out of the cave,” Ben said, his voice barely above a whisper. There was no need to talk loudly, with her literally lying on top of him and her face smashed against his.
“Okay, right.”
The voice was soft, barely audible. Gentle, too. Almost like…
He pushed away and heard her grunt in disapproval. He crawled to the side of the cave opening, where there was a large boulder over the right side of the opening. She followed behind him with her hand on his arm. He could feel it there, warm, hot even. Was it getting hotter?
Shake it off, man. This is ridiculous. You're fighting a war against a bunch of unknown enemies, and you're thinking about this?
“I think I see something,” Eliza said. “Over there, just down the hill and to the —“
Crack!
The sound of the rifle shot again made Ben jump. It was louder here, where they were closer to the source of the gunshot, without some of the rocks getting in the way. He quickly flicked his eyes that direction, following Eliza’s finger as she pointed. He grabbed for his rifle, then set the end of it on top of the boulder that Clive had been using the night before for the same defensive position.
“You think you can hit them from here?” Eliza asked.
Ben shook his head. “Maybe, but I’m not going to try. I don’t shoot things I can’t see.”
He waited for her to respond. It seems like hours passed. “Even if they’re shooting at you?”
“Yes, even if they’re shooting at me. Unless I know exactly what is behind that gun, I ain't taking any shots. It could be Clive, gone crazy, or something like that."
It was something his father had taught him and his younger brother, Zach, long ago. You absolutely never shoot without knowing what you are shooting at. Bonus points if you knew what was behind the thing you were shooting at.
Ben had, unfortunately, been in a few scrapes that involved exchanging gunfire between two sides. He had more experience than any civilian he knew, and more combat experience than most military men and women he knew, and more experience then most people wanted to know.
He had been trained over time, both by his friend Reggie and through different programs the CSO put them through, but nothing could prepare someone for battle like actually being in a battle. Still, prepared was potentially the wrong word. He had come to learn that there was no such thing as being truly prepared to fire a weapon at another human being.
There was nothing that could prepare someone’s mind enough to take a life.
At least not that he knew about.
He felt Eliza’s hand move slowly up his arm to his shoulder. Or was it just that he thought it was moving slowly? He couldn’t be sure. He knew for a fact this woman had never been in a situation like this, and he knew everyone reacted differently. Maybe Eliza’s instinctual reaction was to get more flirtatious.
He shook his head. No, that’s absolutely ridiculous. Her hand was on his shoulder, squeezing, and it was not because she wanted to sleep with him.
She was trying to tell him something. He waited, feeling her hand squeeze once more than lift up and point in another direction.
Then, almost faintly enough that he couldn’t hear, she spoke. “Over there, Ben. If we can cut across this small opening and get there, the trees are denser and there are a lot of boulders that might protect us enough to get away.
Ben saw what she was talking about. The ridge they were on — the one their cave was in — stretched mostly up and to the southeast, but there was a small offshoot of it that was set apart from the larger mass of rocks and cliffs that stretched northeast. It was about twenty yards away, certainly easy enough to sprint toward without getting hit, especially if they laid down covering fire before they ran.
He explained this to Eliza, telling her exactly what to do and when to do it. She nodded quickly, frantically. “Okay, she said. I — I got this.”
Ben looked her up and down, trying to gauge her ability to knowingly insert herself into a firefight. She was shaking, but he wasn't sure if it was just adrenaline or fear or both. If he were lucky, it would be mostly adrenaline and dopamine and a bit of fear. A healthy bit of fear is what kept humans alive, he knew.
“On my account,” he said. “One, two —“
Eliza ripped her rifle open, firing three burst rounds before Ben could finish the count. She hadn't run to the opposite side of the cave, either, before firing. Ben's ears immediately went silent; then, a second later were filled with the ringing sound of temporary deafness. He roared in pain but forced himself to hold his own rifle forward.
He pushed her sideways with his hips, still crouching so as not to be hit in the back by one of her wildly aimed bullets. She seemed to get the hint and stopped firing long enough to run over to the left side of the cave.
Ben didn’t wait for an invitation. He jumped up and forward, keeping his assault rifle aimed downhill at the ready, his finger over the trigger guard. He ran in the opposite direction, however, making a diagonal the other way toward the smaller ridge to his right. He reached it in a handful of seconds, then jumped and slid, baseball style, feet-first into a small snowbank, where he came to a cushioned yet abrupt stop. He immediately checked his sites and aimed toward where the shooter had been perched.
Eliza was still firing wild bursts in every direction, seemingly not getting any more controlled the longer she shot. He dropped his weapon for a second and cupped his hands over his mouth. He yelled. "Eliza! Now!”
She fired once more, then looked in his direction. He waved at her to follow, and he thought he saw her nod before charging out of the mouth of the cave and down the hill.
Satisfied for the moment, Ben brought his rifle back up and gazed down the sight toward the forest where their attacker waited. He saw no movement that looked human, but he kept his gun up and ready while he listened for Eliza's footsteps.
They were too fast, too wild. He had misread her earlier — she hadn’t been flirting. She was absolutely terrified, frantic and running on adrenaline and fumes, totally unprepared for a situation like this.
He had let his own ego get in the way. He owed her an apology, but that apology would have to wait until they were safely out of harm’s way.
Her footsteps were arrhythmic, almost random, and she plodded along over cracked, hard-packed ice and snow and smaller gravel and wisps of grass that had fought through the cold. When she was only about five yards away, he saw her right leg extend as it caught on a small patch of pebbles.
She slid for a brief moment, the jolt startling her and causing her to stumble and fall forward. He dropped the rifle and reached up involuntarily, catching her before she hit the ground. He quickly set her back down on her butt and gently nudged her leg straight.
“Ouch,” she said, sucking through her teeth. “Oh my God, I think I broke my knee.”
35
Ben
“It’s definitely not broken,” Ben said, trying to reassure her with his voice. He squeezed gently above and below the knee, then worked his hands toward the kneecap, trying to feel for anything out of place. “Yeah, just a bad sprain. Maybe a small tear, but you’re going to live.”
He glanced up at her eyes only to find them piercing through
him. “I did good though, didn’t I?” She asked. “I did what you said, right?”
Ben smiled. “You did… You did fine. We are alive, and we’re going to live at least for another few minutes.”
She laughed at that. A deep, guttural belly laugh that was more than a bit out of place. It took Ben by surprise, but then he remembered what she was going through. This is completely unlike any of her previous jobs, he thought. This was something wholly foreign to her, completely out of left field.
“Can you bend it just a little?” Ben asked.
She stopped laughing and nodded, bending it about an inch and then wincing in pain.
"Just leave it there for a minute," Ben said. "We are not in any rush. Our backs are up against the rocks, and whoever was attacking us will come from this direction, so we will see them before they get here."
She nodded, then pulled out her water bottle from her pack and took a long sip. He noticed that she had about half a bottle left. His was a little lower, and they didn't have any extra. If they got stranded out here, they could melt snow for drinking water so that they wouldn't die of thirst.
But he also knew the only way they would be stranded out here is if something terrible happened. If they were all severely injured, for example. He tightened his grip on his gun.
“Was it him?” Eliza asked suddenly. “Was it the guy you talked to? The one who beat you up?”
“First of all, he didn’t ‘beat me up,’” Ben said. “He just, you know… Wanted to make a point. Caught me off guard.”
“Yeah, okay. Whatever.”
Ben forced a smile but continued anyway. "Second, I didn't get a good look at them. Couldn't actually see him at all, really. I think I might've seen a flash from his gun that second or third shot, but it was all a blur after that. I definitely didn't see anyone's face or body, so I wouldn't be able to say if it was him or not."