by S A Jacobs
I didn’t respond. He was right. I was in way over my head. The fact that he was right infuriated me even more.
I leaned over him to open the door of the truck. “Now...get...out!”
He exited the truck. I grabbed a flashlight and walked up behind him.
“Down the path,” I said.
He shrugged and started making his way through the brush. “See, unless you’ve found the gold, and I mean actually touched it with your own hands, this trail is useless. It runs near the gold, that's for damn sure, but you can’t find the gold from here.”
“Just keep walking.”
We silently trudged down the trail. Something about Austin’s cockiness concerned me. I didn’t know where the gold was, and he knew it. Yet, he willingly followed along. I was missing something. That fact scared me. I was too far gone, though. I had to see my plan through no matter what he was doing.
After an agonizing walk, we made it to the shack. Austin sat down on the front edge of the shack while I took a sip from my water bottle.
“Okay, you got me here,” Austin said. “How about I make you a deal?”
“You’re the one tied up and you’re trying to make a deal with me? Fine, let’s hear it.”
“You go on and get that gold. You get the gold, bring it to me, and I let you walk out of this forest alive tonight.”
“You know I’m the one holding the gun, right?”
“I told you, you ain’t got the balls to pull the trigger. We only stopped here ‘cause you don’t have a damn clue where you’re goin’. You’re stuck, smart guy. You either have to kill me, or well… yeah you killing me is the only way you even get out of here tonight without taking my deal.”
“Don’t assume you know everything.”
“I know you still believe that your shitty knots will hold me. If I wanted to get out, I’d have been out long ago.”
His yellowed teeth shown behind his grin.
“You’re full of shit!” I seethed in anger. “Get up! We’re getting the gold.”
I directed him through the brush following the path I had gone through with Melanie. We made it through the brush and into the canopy. It was darker now, but the surroundings still seemed familiar enough for me to find our way to the rock I’d found Melanie hiding behind.
I swept the forest back and forth with the flashlight beam. I felt like we were heading in the right direction. Everything looked right, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Melanie's orange backpack should’ve been midway to the rock. When I’d carried her out of the woods, I’d left it behind. I wasn’t seeing it anywhere.
Despite not seeing the backpack, I could feel in my gut we were getting close. I just had to find that rock and wait for Spearfinger to take Austin as her victim. Knowing the entire situation was on the verge of being finished gave me the solace to continue forward.
“You know we’re walking in circles, right?” Austin said.
“Just shut up!”
He was getting the best of me. He had successfully gotten me to lose my laser-focused resolve; I started questioning everything I was doing. I kept moving forward, kept looking for the backpack. But he was right. I was certainly walking in circles now. Just as I was about to stop, the beam of my flashlight illuminated the edge of a very large rock. I’d found it. I trudged forward with Austin by my side.
“So now what, smart guy? I’m pretty sure I don’t see any gold… and if it’s buried, you didn’t bring even a shovel. Are you really this stupid?”
“Why don’t you tell me why you let me take you here. You seem pretty confident that you can escape and overpower me whenever you want.”
He looked at me with a huge grin and let out a laugh. “That’s pretty simple. I need you, or at least that coin of yours, to get the gold, but I also really want you dead. This little plan of yours is accomplishing everything I want!”
I stared out at him, unsure of what he meant.
“This trail you took me on, your forest ranger buddy has video cameras all over it. So... now there’s video of you taking me down here, tied up at gunpoint. There isn’t a fuckin’ jury in the world that will convict me for anything when I walk out of here alone.”
I stared at him in complete silence. Why isn’t Spearfinger coming? I thought. The forest was getting brighter. I could tell the sun was starting to rise. I second guessed myself, thinking maybe Spearfinger only appeared at night. I knew this wasn’t the case and quickly discarded the thought.
A chill went up my spine as I saw his arms move slightly. He shifted his weight so slowly it was nearly unnoticeable. I tightened my grip on the gun. My palms were sweaty. I couldn’t shoot him. I knew that. I was supposed to let Spearfinger have him and then shoot her. I knew he was moments away from attempting to escape, and I didn’t know how to stop it without shooting him.
The motion in his arms was less guarded. He knew I wouldn’t stop him. I gritted my teeth and took aim. My finger twitched as it hovered above the trigger. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves. As I did, I lightly relaxed my grip on the gun. No matter how much I wanted him gone, I couldn’t shoot him. I closed my eyes for a split second and the earth shook violently. In the jolt, my finger pulled the trigger and the gun fired. My shoulders slumped as I saw the empty shell eject from the gun and tumble onto the ground. I closed my eyes, knowing I’d failed.
25
“You missed! You’re standin’ what, three feet away from me, and you fire into the dirt?” Austin screamed laughing.
I opened my eyes to see him standing there. He had escaped from the paracord and raised his hands in the air triumphantly, flashing metal horns like he was on stage, but there was something else. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move on his left side. I squeezed my eyes shut quickly and shook my head. When I opened them again, my jaw dropped in shock.
Standing next to him was Melanie. She stood there stoically. Austin, in his celebration, hadn’t yet seen her. She didn’t move.
“Melanie? Why are you here?”
Austin dropped his hands and tilted his head in reaction to my words. He slowly turned to look around until he saw her next to him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. Her body was rigid and almost unnatural.
“See, I knew you were on my side. Sorry about, you know, having to threaten you and all to pull one over on David. I shoulda known you’d be on my side. No hard feelings. Just had to cover my bases.”
Austin kept looking at her, waiting for a response. None came. She stared out at me in a way I’ve never seen. Her eyes appeared hollow. There was no emotion at all. The sight made me shiver.
“Are you protecting him?” she finally said in an almost monotone voice.
“Protecting him?” Austin asked. “Baby, you know what's up. We did it!”
It took me a moment to understand exactly what was happening. She wasn’t asking Austin. She was asking me. That wasn’t Melanie.
My heart went cold. I didn’t know how or when, but Spearfinger had taken Melanie. Spearfinger herself was standing before me in human form… In Melanie’s form. Melanie had become the sacrifice. I instinctively raised the M9 and looked at Melanie. It wasn’t really her, I knew that. But no matter what, it was the woman I loved. I lowered the gun.
I couldn’t do it. I’d never be able to do it. I didn’t care if Spearfinger ruled the forest forever if it meant I needed to sacrifice her.
“Are you protecting him?” she asked again.
I needed to respond. If I said no, she’d kill him. Another victim, but it wouldn’t bring Melanie back. I wracked my brain to come up with some sort of solution. Some way to bring her back. I came up with nothing. My hands began to shake. I fell to my knees. I buried my head in my hands. Anger began to overtake the sadness. I rose back to my feet and pulled the coin from my pocket. I gritted my teeth and squeezed the coin in my palm.
“No, I’m not protecting him. Nobody is protected anymore.”
Austin
backed away from her. I could tell he was looking for an escape. I put the pistol into my waistband and approached her. Her head slowly raised as I got near. With one swift motion, I grabbed her wrist and yanked it upward.
Her face twisted into a smile. “You have no power over me. Release me now!”
As I held her wrist, I took the coin in my other hand and pressed it into her palm. The moment the coin touched her skin she winced and jerked back. Her head flung backwards, pulling me towards her. I missed her and fell off to the side, tumbling on the ground. The coin flew into the air and landed near my feet. I dove for the coin. Snatching it off the ground, I clutched it in my hand and turned my eyes toward her.
She was now winded, gasping for breath. She’d changed. The hollow eyes were replaced with Melanie’s vibrant green ones. Those eyes locked onto me. Tears began to form in them. Melanie was back. She raised the hand I’d put the coin in and inspected her palm. Her fingers began to curl inward as if she was holding an invisible ball. Her hand shook, the muscles in her fingers strained. Her breath became deep and deliberate.
“Melanie, come back!” I yelled. “I know you’re in there!”
Her head twisted at my words. She threw her hand down to her side.
“Enough!” she howled.
Her voice wasn’t Melanie’s. It was piercingly high pitched and raspy. As I looked at her, I saw the green in her eyes dissolve as darkness overtook them. Spearfinger was back.
“I don’t protect him,” I shouted. “I protect Melanie!”
“Melanie is gone.”
Her head jerked to the side as she looked at Austin. He froze in fear. I stepped backwards.
“Come here, Austin. I did rather enjoy your brother’s liver. Families should always stick together. Let me help you.”
She stepped closer to Austin. He turned to run, and in his haste, careened into the trunk of a tree. He bounced off of the tree and fell backwards. Spearfinger stepped closer, standing directly over him. She raised her hand to the sky and forcefully extended her index finger. She knelt next to him and pinned him down with her other hand. Ready to plunge her fingernail into Austin, she froze. The deafening sound of the gunshot echoed through the forest.
I immediately reached for the gun still tucked in my waistband. I looked at Melanie and watched as she slowly collapsed. Her crumpled body lay in a heap next to Austin. Austin pushed her body away from him and quickly got to his feet. He looked at me.
“It ain’t worth it. None of this is worth it. Stay the hell away from me!” He turned and sprinted out of the forest.
I dove towards Melanie and rolled her on to her back. Her head hung to the side. My hands brushed her hair out of her face. I closed my eyes as my hands gently stroked her cheeks. I took a deep breath and turned my head toward the direction the shot had come from. My vision was blurred from tears, but I was able to make out an approaching figure in the distance. There was a rifle on his back, its barrel sticking up above his shoulder. It was Gordon.
I stood up and charged at him as fast as I could. As I neared him, I dropped my shoulder and slammed into him. The force knocked him off his feet and flat on his back. He groaned in pain and struggled to breathe.
“You killed her! You fucking killed her!” I screamed.
“Wake up kid. That wasn’t Mel! That was Spearfinger! If that were Mel, she’d be alive. I shot her hand!”
I turned back to Melanie. There was a violent look of resolve on her face. She slowly got to her knees. Her dead eyes never moved from me. She slowly brought her hand up in front of her. She slowly examined her hand.
“Oh shit. According the Cherokee legend, her heart was in her hand! That should’ve killed her,” Gordon said.
“The coin,” a voice said.
“What?” I replied.
“I just thought, if you shot her hand… she’d die,” Gordon stammered.
“No, about the coin!” I yelled.
“David, use the coin,” the voice said.
“I didn’t say anything about the coin…” Gordon continued.
I’d stopped listening to him. Another voice was guiding me. It was the familiar voice of my dad. My focus was on the coin. Where the hell was it? I patted down my pockets. It wasn’t in my hand anymore. I must’ve dropped it when I dove for Melanie. I started running back toward her. As I got closer, I spotted something glowing on the ground in front of her. It was the coin. I dove for it and picked it up. I turned to face Melanie. Her eyes bore into me as I moved. I saw her hand. Gordon had shot it, but there was no blood. Just ragged pieces of blackened flesh where the bullet tore through. I grabbed her wrist and slammed the coin down into her palm. I pulled her up. Her face was within an inch of mine.
“Spearfinger, your time here is done. Leave and never return.”
I continued to squeeze the coin into her palm with all of my strength. She opened her mouth as if she was going to speak, but nothing came out. Her head began to twitch. Her dead eyes widened, and she turned to look up at the moonlit sky.
In that instant, there was a massive crash and everything turned white. It was as if a bolt of lightning struck me. I was blinded by the flash. The ground shook. There was a sound of rocks tumbling.
My vision started to come back. All I could see was a massive dark shape forming in front of me. As my vision became clearer, I saw a black cloud spewing from Melanie's mouth and forming a large rock in front of me. Suddenly, there was another crash of lightning. I was blinded again, but this time everything was silent. I couldn’t see, and I couldn’t hear. I could only feel. I immediately became aware of a warm liquid running down my hand.
My vision came back into focus. I could see blood dripping from my hand and trailing down my arm. It was Melanie’s blood. I opened my hand to see her delicate hand, now covered in blood, a bullet hole in its center. I stumbled backward. Melanie’s limp body fell into my arms. I wrapped my arms around her. Her bloody hand fell limply to her side. I squeezed her body as tightly as I could.
I laid her down in front of me. My hands touched the side of her cheek.
“Don’t leave me Melanie,” I choked out. “Not now.”
I leaned in and kissed her. Her lips were still warm but lifeless.
I held my face next to her and squeezed her body as tightly as I could. My body trembled. I couldn’t let go. I felt her body twitch in my arms. Just once. Then again. I could feel her muscles tighten. I felt her chest heave as I heard her take in a giant breath. I gently let go as I pulled back to look at her. Her chest was now alive, rising and falling as she breathed. I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her on her forehead.
“Please, wake up,” I whispered.
Her eyelashes began to flicker. Gradually she opened her eyes. Her green, vibrant eyes. Her pupils dilated as she looked at me.
“David?” she asked, confusion in her voice. “What happened? Ow! My hand! What happened to my hand?”
“Gordon, she’s alive!” I shouted as I knelt at Melanie’s side.
“You’re lucky you’re still alive after you tackled me like that,” he said.
Melanie raised her hand in front of her face, looking at it for the first time. Blood was still running down her arm. “There’s a hole in my hand. There is a goddamn hole in my hand!”
Gordon stepped up and gently grabbed her wrist. He wrapped a bandage around it tightly. “Sorry ‘bout that. I didn’t have much of a choice. Frankly, y’all should be thanking me.”
Melanie just stared at him with wide eyes and a confused expression.
“What do you remember?” I asked.
She blinked and shook her head.
“I left the hospital. I wanted to talk to you. I tried calling you a thousand times and you never picked up. I needed to explain what happened. I realized you’d come back here, so I left. I remember a fire. I saw some smoke and could smell a fire burning close by. I assumed it was you. So, I started walking towards the smell. And then… she… that thing! She was standing in front
of me. I remember her hand driving into me, and that’s it. Until I saw you standing over me. But what happened? My hand! Did you seriously shoot my fuckin’ hand?”
“Again, sorry ‘bout that.” Gordon said as he tightened another bandage around her hand. “Look, I’m all fer catchin’ up, but you’ve lost a lot of blood not to mention the infection you’re gonna get if we don’t get you to the hospital.”
“Wait, is that her?” I asked, pointing just past Melanie.
Behind her was a rock roughly the size of a person. It was clean and jagged on the edges as if it had just been set there.
“Spearfinger?” Melanie asked.
“That’s her alright. She looks exactly the same as when I first met her,” a voice said.
I looked at Gordon, who was looking at me. My eyes darted over to Melanie’s. She was wide-eyed and looking not at me but past me. I turned around. Robert stood there, a smile on his face.
“I knew I invested wisely in your family,” he said.
His lips curled as he looked at the ground. He bent down and picked up the coin. He raised it up near his face and rubbed his thumb on the top of it as if he were polishing it. Then he blew on it and flipped it. The coin spun through the air before Robert’s hand snatched it. He stepped closer to Melanie.
“Excuse me, if I may, would you mind showing me the wound.”
Gordon nodded his head and unwrapped the gauze he’d put on Melanie’s hand. Once the gauze was removed, Robert gently lifted her hand.
“Alright, this may hurt for just a second, but trust me, okay?” Not waiting for an answer he gently placed the coin in Melanie’s palm and closed her fingers around it. She winced in pain.
“Okay dear, open up your hand.”
Melanie opened her hand slowly. As she did, Robert removed the coin. Her hand was perfect. The wound was gone.
“There, see, all better,” he said as he flipped the coin again, that time towards me. “You best hang on to that. You’ll never know when you’ll need it again.”