The Skin Worshipper

by RB Schalin

Chapter 2

  Alex Read is looking out over the valley spreading out in front of him. The sun is setting behind the peaks, and the forest below with its different shades of green is dense and looks like a green carpet from up here. The view is breathtaking and for a couple of minutes he has it all to himself, then he sighs hearing the bickering of his travel companions. He turns around and looks down the narrow path he just came up. Fifty feet below him he can see the first green, yellow, and orange of his companion’s clothes. The first to make it up to where he is standing is a young Latin girl, she bends over and puts her hands on her knees and breathes heavily.

  "You are out of shape Maria, you need to run more," says Alex.

  "Callate vato, back in the barrio I would out run you in two seconds flat," she says her dark eyes flashing.

  Maria is a beautiful young woman, long curly hair, skin like cinnamon and a body most women would die for. Too bad she is a gang member, and has at two convictions for assault and battery. It’s hard to believe looking at her. She is only five feet six.

  When she is breathing normaly again she walks the last few steps and looks out, then she turns to Alex and says, "It is beautiful, but I don’t know if it was worth the climb."

  Alex just smiles at her and signals that she should take off her backpack, which she does.

  The next person to arrive is a young black man, he is in much better shape than Maria and gives Alex a high five as he passes him, and sits down next to Maria and takes off his backpack.

  "Look at the view Marlon," says Alex.

  "Man, if I wanted to see a view, I’d buy a fucking postcard."

  Marlon is a car thief, and fifteen years old. He looks at least five years older because of his height and muscles.

  The last three comes up one after the other, Jenna a white girl with long blond hair and track marks on her arms. She was beautiful once, but years of drug abuse have made her look older than her sixteen years.

  Then there are the twins, Jordi and Pepe, sixteen and gang members. They arrived in the USA less than three years ago and have already climbed high in their gang. Both are covered in tattoos mostly done in their home country, Guatemala, before they moved here with their mother after their father was shot.

  They all sit down except Alex who is still standing looking out over the valley. He turns his head towards the group of misfits and criminals.

  He works at a center for kids who are to be let out into society after serving time in a juvenile detention center, and this group is due out in a few days after this hiking trip. This is their second day on a four-day hike in the mountains and forests surrounding the center. There are miles after miles of untouched wilderness, most people never venture as far as he is planning to take them. His boss didn’t like the idea at first, but after convincing her these kids needed to spend more time together and learn how to work as a team and not five individuals, he needed the extra days.

  "OK guys, here is the plan. Pepe will be the group leader and take us down these slopes in a northwestern direction. The hike will be hard, the slope is very steep and it’s getting dark. Make sure we stay together."

  "Jefe, you know I’m not good with that GPS thingy," says Pepe from where he leans against a tree.

  "You are not good at anything," mumbles Maria.

  "Come over here mamacita and I’ll show you something that I’m good at."

  "Cut it out, we don’t have all-day; let’s go people," says Alex.

  The group stands and Pepe takes the lead with the yellow GPS in his hand. Alex has a compass as well as a backup.

  The way down is hard and they have to walk carefully, the earth is loose and covered with roots and other vegetation. A couple of times one of them loses their footing and slides down a few yards, but manages to grab something to hold on to. The sun has gone behind the peaks and darkness is falling fast.

  Alex looks at his watch and realizes he has miscalculated the time of darkness. It’s only 6P.M., but because of the peaks covering the sun and the thick green cover from the tree crowns around them it is almost dark as night. He looks down and guesses they have at least another mile to go before they reach the bottom and can make camp.

  He doesn’t say anything to the group, but he is a bit concerned now, maybe he should move up ahead and lead them down, he thinks. This is Pepe’s first hike and he might be good at running from the police, but he is out of his league up here in the mountains.

  He walks past Maria, Marlon and then Jordi and up to Pepe at the front.

  "Hey Pepe, wait up. Let’s change, I’ll lead and you fall back."

  He watches as Pepe turns his head around, but keeps walking and before he can call out a warning, Pepe walks right into a tree trunk, he slips and falls to the ground. Jordi tries to reach him, but the ground is slippery and he also falls. Before Alex eyes the two young men begin to slide down the slope on their backs. When Alex reaches the place where they went down, he shouts, "grab hold of something!"

  Jordi is the first to stop his fall by holding on to a small bush. Pepe manages to grab a tree branch hanging low but in doing so he let’s go of the GPS and Alex watches how it falls to the ground and busts open on a rock.

  By now the others have reached him and are looking down at the two brothers thirty yards below them.

  "Are you OK?" asks Alex.

  "Yeah, nothing broken," says Jordi.

  "I think I busted my foot, it hurts like shit," calls Pepe.

  "Hang on, I will come down with a rope and pull you up."

  He takes off his backpack and unhooks the rope attached to its side. He ties it around a thick trunk and then turns to the others who are standing around him.

  "I will go down to Jordi first. When I give the signal you start pulling and help him walk up. When he is up and safe you throw the rope down to me again. There are not many branches so it should be fairly easy, but if Pepe is hurt badly you'll have to pull him up without him being able to walk."

  They nod their heads and Alex turns around and carefully slides down the mountainside. When he reaches Jordi he ties the rope around his waist before telling him to let go of the bush.

  "OK, you are ready, just walk up and let them help pull you, lean back a bit so you don’t slip."

  Jordi nods his head and begins to walk. Alex stays to make sure he gets off OK. Then he slides down another ten yards to where Pepe is holding on to the tree branch.

  "How’s the foot?"

  "Hurt's like hell, but I don’t think it’s broken. I can move it and my toes."

  OK, let’s wait for the rope and then I’ll help you up."

  They don’t have to wait long before seeing Marlon throwing the rope down the slope but it gets tangled in some branches.

  "Throw it lower to the ground." Alex shouts up to him.

  Marlon gives it another try and this time the rope lands a few feet above Alex and Pepe. Alex crawls up and grabs the rope and pulls it back and when he is back next to Pepe he ties it around his waist and helps him up.

  "Pepe is hurt, but it looks like he can still walk, just make sure the rope is tight so he doesn’t slip."

  He sees Marlon wave his arm, and he says to Pepe, "lean back, and take small steps."

  Pepe manages to walk ten yards before he slips and slides down a few feet, but he gets up and continues the slow walk up to his friends. Marlon throws the rope back down to Alex who quickly moves up the slope. When he is safe he finds Pepe sitting on the ground, his left boot is off his foot and he is massaging it.

  "I think I’ll be OK in a few minutes," he says.

  Looking at the others who are standing around Pepe, Alex says, "the GPS is gone, but I still have my compass, so we will be all right for now. Learn from this and walk extra careful the rest of the way down."

  They all nod and look down on Pepe thinking it could have been one of them.

  Alex supports Pepe on their way down and after almost an hour they reach the bottom and sit down for a well-deserved break.
It’s completely dark now and they have their headlamps turned on. Alex is looking at a map to see where a good place for a camp would be.

  Maria who watches him from where she is sitting stands and walks over to him.

  "Do you know where we are?"

  Alex looks at the young girl wondering if she is afraid, but her eyes don’t show any emotions, they are just dark and calm.

  "Yeah I know where we are, but I’m not sure where we should go. According to the map there should be a small brook a mile or so from here, we should be able to camp there."

  "Sounds good, then I can clean some of this shit off me."

  Maria, like all of them are sweaty and her hands and legs are covered in mud from supporting herself going down the slope.

  "If you need some help washing your back, give me a holler," says Marlon from where he is sitting.

  Maria gives him the finger and walks over to Jenna and slumps down beside her.

  "What’s the plan?" asks Jenna.

  "Alex is taking us to a brook where we can camp."

  "Shit! I don’t want to walk anymore, my legs feel like rubber, and my feet hurt."

  "Listen up gang, we are moving out, one line after me," says Alex lifting his backpack onto his shoulders. He takes off into the forest and they all line up behind him.

  It’s easier to walk on the flat ground even though there are more trees and bushes. They make good time and after a while Alex can hear the sound of running water. He steps out into the clearing and there, maybe twenty yards across an open space is the brook. The water is moving fast. The clearing is lit by the moon and the ground looks silvery. One after the other the teenagers come up beside him.

  "This looks nice," says Jenna and dumps her backpack on the ground.

  "Let’s set up camp, you guys raise the tents, I will start dinner. No swimming and no messing around until after eating."

  They all get to it and soon four tents are up and the smell of canned spaghetti is floating in the air.

  "I never thought canned food could taste this good, " says Marlon and licks his knife and fork clean.

  "Yeah Alex, you are some chef, " says Pepe.

  "Thank you, but it’s all about the herbs I carry in my backpack."

  Maria and Jenna dig around in their backpacks and come up with towels.

  "We are going for a swim, no peeking and don’t come over to “clean” the pots and pans, " says Maria before they walk off.

  The boy's grin and Alex shakes his head.

  "Where are we going tomorrow?" asks Jordi

  "We will hike another four miles across the valley then up on those peaks over there." Alex points at some low peaks that can be seen in the moonlight.

  "Cool, apart from almost dying today I must say I have enjoyed this more than I thought I would," says Jordi.

  "Yeah, you are a regular Davey Crockett," laughs his brother.

  "Seriously, I could get into this hiking shit. It’s better than hanging around the barrio and be shot at."

  "You could take some courses and get officially qualified as a mountain guide. I could help you look into it," says Alex.

  "Great idea, I’ll join you. Then we find some isolated place and set up a weed plantation, and make some serious dough," laughs Marlon.

  They hear shrieks and laughter coming from the brook, and figure the girls have jumped in.

  "Must be freezing in the water," says Jordi.

  "You will soon find out, when they are done it’s our turn."

  They three teenagers moan, but they know Alex is right.

  That night they sleep deeply, and don’t hear the sound of the chainsaw cutting through flesh and bone just a few hundred yards away.

  The man has two bodies suspended from a tree and with precision he cuts them into pieces, and then buries them in deep holes he dug earlier. He is whistling a favorite tune and his cigarette is dangling from the corner of his mouth.

  When he is done, he throws the chain saw over his shoulder and walks back to his cabin. He has no more samples to work with, so tomorrow he is going hunting, that’s what he calls it. He drives his quad through the forest ten miles to a road often traveled by hikers and hunters. Then he waits until someone stops to take a leak, or maybe he places a few nails on the road like he did with Katie and her husband. Katie, what a wonderful woman, and what skin she had. Katie and her husband’s skins are lying in a vat in his basement immersed in salt water and there they will lie for a few days. Then he will mount them.