Deconstruction- The Complete series Box Set

by Rashad Freeman

  I tightened my grip on Grayson’s hand and plowed forward. Step after step I raced for safety, gasping in the ice-like air full of frozen needles. I questioned if each breath was even worth the accompanying pain.

  I stopped at a gap between two trees. Gripping one of the trunks, I pulled Grayson forward and narrowed my eyes.

  “It’s just down there,” I screamed, hoping everyone could hear me.

  There was a flat ledge that jutted out right above a trail that led down to the caves. It was covered in snow now, but I knew it was down there. The set of thin trees marked the spot like a flag.

  The ledge dropped off fifty feet on either side and vanished into a dense forest. The wind was blowing hard enough to blow someone right over the side and the snow made the ground slick and treacherous. We needed to hurry and get out of the blizzard, but we needed to be careful.

  Craig dropped to the ground beside me and started to rummage through his bag. He pulled out a climbing rope and tied it around the bottom of the tree trunk. He pulled out another rope and handed it to me.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “Keep it in your bag…just in case.”

  I nodded and tucked the rope into my side pocket. Craig turned back to the ledge and grabbed the rope with both hands.

  “I’ll go down first,” he screamed against the roaring gusts of wind. “Gonna tie the rope off near the rocks.”

  I nodded and he started to lower himself down the perilous cliff. It felt like time stopped, waiting as he descended into the white abyss. I shivered as the wind screeched and howled, blowing bands of frozen daggers.

  “I can’t see him anymore!” Chris yelled.

  I’d lost sight of him as soon as he stepped over the ledge. Blindly, I reached out and grabbed the rope he’d left tied to the tree. I gave it a little tug and felt the slack, meaning he hadn’t found the bottom yet.

  “Craig?” I called down to him.

  The wind swallowed my words as soon as they left my mouth. I could feel Grayson shivering wildly beside me and pure panic rose in my belly. We had to get out of the snow and waiting any longer wasn’t an option.

  I grabbed the rope again and yanked it. This time it snapped tight and I placed Grayson’s hand on it and moved him forward.

  “Craig is at the bottom. Just hold the rope while you walk down to balance yourself. Craig will be waiting for you!” I shouted over the hellish wind.

  Grayson looked me in the eye. Tears rolled down his face, turning to ice before they could be swept away in the snow. He wrapped his hands around me and buried his face in my shoulder.

  “I didn’t mean it,” he cried. “I didn’t mean any of it. I love you, I’m so sorry.”

  “I know, I know,” I told him and rubbed my hand across his head. “I love you too and everything’s gonna be okay. I promise.”

  I placed my hand over his and held the rope. “Now, be careful. I’ll be down right after you.”

  Grayson nodded and wiped his face. With a deep breath, he started down the ledge and quickly vanished in the fury of snow.

  “Cynthia,” I called. “Then Abraham.”

  “Don’t’ worry about me. Get down there with your son,” Cynthia shouted.

  I shook my head from side to side as if she could see me. “Get on the fucking rope!” I snapped.

  Once Cynthia disappeared off the ledge, Abraham was next. With Henry helping, he grabbed the rope and started to scale the treacherous mountain on one leg.

  As he passed one hand over the other his foot caught a rock. He let out a garbled cry for help then slowly tumbled backward. I dove forward and caught him by the sleeve. I grabbed the rope with my other hand and we slammed into the ground.

  I shuffled my feet as the snow and loose sand gave way underneath. The rope burned as it slid through my hands and we fell further down the steep edge.

  “Grab the rope, Abraham!” I yelled to him.

  He wrapped his fingers around the rope and dug in with his good leg. Grunting, he slowly started to push himself to a stand. I pulled myself up next to him and steadied his grip.

  “You okay?” I shouted.

  He nodded his head, shaking snow and ice from his face. I pulled the extra rope from my bag and looped around his waist then mine. I yanked it tight then patted him on his shoulder.

  “Keep moving, I’m going to follow you down,” I yelled.

  Abraham smiled then started back down the mountain. I followed behind him, carefully checking my step before I set my feet. The wind and hail was relentless and every inch we moved felt like a mile.

  Suddenly there was a loud snap and I felt a tug at the rope in my hand. I turned just as a chunk of the tree we’d been using for an anchor came screaming toward us. I could barely make it out through the snow and leaned to the side as it sailed by and smashed into Abraham.

  He let out a muted grunt as he disappeared in a cloud of ice, falling off the side of the ledge into the unknown. I gasped in horror then the rope that tied us together yanked me off my feet and I found myself twirling through the air.

  Spinning uncontrollably, I couldn’t tell up from down. I felt the harsh, icy touch of death, clawing at my face. The Grim Reaper’s foul breath, engulfing me like a sea of frozen cadavers. I felt my life fading, I felt alone, then I felt nothing.

  CHAPTER 22

  ALONE AND AFRAID

  I awoke to cold, pain and more cold. Everything else had been dulled by the temperature and even as I breathed in a chest full of air, I could feel my life slipping away.

  The vivid memory of falling from the ledge cut into me like a spliced 8mm film. Snapshots of my world spinning out of control as I spiraled into a hazy plume of ice crystals.

  I should’ve been dead. If the fall didn’t kill me, my time in the snow should have. But here I was, aching and freezing, but still alive.

  It took a moment for my senses to catch up, but once they did panic seemed to override everything else. Questions without answers swarmed in my mind and fear gripped my heart like the massive hands of a silverback.

  I was lying on my side and something hard was pushing against me from below. I wiped a thin layer of snow from my face and tried to sit up.

  “Shit!” I screamed in pain.

  It felt like someone had drove a spike through my hips. I fell back and groaned, gripping my side and as I did, I felt the rope that tied me to Abraham. It ran from my waist and vanished into the thick snow below me.

  “No!” I shrieked.

  Grunting, I pushed myself onto my stomach and crawled forward. My bag had come loose and was halfway buried in the icy white powder. I pulled it out and started to dig with my forearms as fast as I could.

  It didn’t take long. Abraham’s body was barely concealed under a few inches of fresh powder. His eyes were closed, and icicles hung from his lashes. I hoped he’d died quickly and didn’t suffer, but the look on his face said otherwise.

  I mumbled a shallow prayer under my breath. Abraham was a good man and he was a survivor. He didn’t deserve to die that way.

  I stared at his frozen face for some time, reflecting on all that I’d been through. I wanted to feel something for him, anything, but I was empty. I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t angry, I was nothing. I was tired of being in the middle of death, I was so drained I couldn’t even care anymore.

  Groaning, I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the sky. Thin, white clouds streaked through the soft, blue background. Blistering rays from the sun reached out to the heavens and somewhere in the back of my mind I wished I was dead.

  The blizzard was over, and I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out, but I was so tired of fighting what felt like the inevitable. I wasn’t sure how much I had left in me. It was so easy to just lay there, so easy to close my eyes and fade away.

  I could see the edge of the cliff we’d fallen off and the rocky trail thirty feet above. It might as well have been the far side of the moon. There was no way back up there and I didn’t have the ene
rgy even if there was.

  The guide rope swung back and forth in the breeze and I wondered if Henry or Chris had made it. Abraham’s body had broken my fall and as injured as I was, if I hadn’t landed on him I would’ve been dead. Maybe I owed it to him to keep moving.

  “Come on, MJ. Fight,” I grumbled.

  I thought about Grayson and how scared he must be. For all he knew he’d just lost both of his parents and was all alone in this dying world. I had to survive for him, I had to make it back to him.

  Clenching my jaw, I tried to sit up again. The pain was almost blinding, but I managed to force myself to stand. I steadied my wobbly knees then looked around for a sign of anyone else. In every direction, all I could see was a blank canvas of snow.

  I sighed and looked back up the mountain. There was no way to the ledge from where I was, but that was where I needed to be. Ignoring the blistering pain in my back, I started trudging forward through the snow.

  I thanked God for the beaming sun above me. It was probably the only reason I was still alive. With my arms wrapped together, I pulled my jacket tight and focused on moving one foot at a time.

  I was heading toward the Mayflower site. My only hope was that they’d headed back up the ridge after the blizzard passed. The only way down to me without jumping was where the trails converged and that was where I would find Grayson.

  A million things passed through my head as I hobbled through the white slush. Toby was never far from my thoughts. It would’ve been different if he was still alive. He would’ve stayed with Grayson, he would’ve made sure that Grayson was safe. Toby always kept him safe, I was the wildcard.

  I spent so much of my life away from both of them. I justified it by telling myself, my work was important, my work kept the world safe and some sacrifices needed to be made. Now it all seemed pointless. I would’ve given anything for that time back.

  I couldn’t count the losses that I’d sustained. Everywhere I went someone else died. Someone else’s life was irreversibly changed just by being around me. Maybe I wasn’t part of the problem, maybe I was the problem.

  In some places, the snow was hard. I found good footing and the pain in my back was barely noticeable. In other places, it was like walking through white, quick sand. My feet sank deep into the snow and I had to struggle to free them. It made my back hurt so much that a few times I had to stop all together and just sit.

  Hours passed without a change in the landscape. I started to question if I was even going the right way, or maybe I’d just walked into the wild and the snow would claim me. It was that fear that made me walk faster.

  Going on my third hour of walking I noticed something black moving up ahead. My heart leapt, and I almost cried with joy. I’d found them.

  “Over here!” I shouted as loudly as I could.

  I waved my hands and screamed again then fell back into the snow and sat down. Tears started to roll down my cheeks as I heaved in exhaustion. My legs shook wildly, and my head throbbed. It was like my body knew that I was safe, and it didn’t need to fight any longer.

  “Over here!” I called out again in a scratchy voice.

  I could tell they’d hear me. The dark mass was making its way across the snow, coming right toward me.

  “You made it,” I said to myself with a smile.

  I stared up ahead, trying to pick the individuals out from the group. They all looked like one dark blob from the distance. I was just happy to see them.

  Squinting my eyes, I watched as they grew closer and closer. The image became sharper and I figured they were running. They were moving fast, too fast. Faster than humans could move.

  “Oh shit!”

  I tried to scramble to my feet, but between the pain and the snow that had turned to goo from my body heat, I couldn’t get traction. I scuttled backward like a crab, horror seizing my body as the image materialized into a massive, black wolf.

  Before I could think, it was on me. Its teeth clamped down on my arm and shook me from side to side like a baby rattle. I let out a shriek of pain and beat my fist into the animal’s head over and over with no effect.

  I fell onto my back as the wolf bored forward. It snapped again, grabbing a better hold then continued its silent assault.

  In panic, I jammed my thumb into the creature’s eye and it let out a yelp then momentarily backed away. I pushed myself up and kicked it with all my might. I didn’t wait to see what damage I’d done. Spinning on my heels, I took off in the other direction.

  I hadn’t gone more than a few steps when I heard the wolf behind me. I tensed up, expecting to feel those greedy spears of ivory tear into me again.

  My legs cramped, and I felt a burn shoot up my spine like I was being electrocuted. As my body seized and I fell forward all I could think of was Grayson.

  I face planted into the snow and accepted my fate. I’d lost, and nature had won. I closed my eyes and let the darkness consume me. Just before I lost consciousness a sharp crackle ripped through the air then there was quiet.

  CHAPTER 23

  FOR TOMORROW WE KILL TODAY

  I awoke in a dim room, lying on a cot. My arm was sore, and my head felt like it’d been slammed in the trunk of a car, but I was warm and more importantly, I was alive.

  I turned to my side and waited for my vision to adjust. A white bandage ran from my wrist up to my elbow and an IV was embedded in the back of my hand. Apparently, I’d been through hell.

  “It’s for the infection,” Cynthia said with a smile.

  I gasped as my eyes settled on her face. “I thought…I thought I was dead,” I said with a quivering voice.

  “Craig found you,” she replied. “From what I hear there’s quite a story to go with it.”

  “Grayson!” I snapped and sat up.

  “He’s fine, he’s fine. You just relax.” She put her hands on my shoulders. “Right there.” She pointed.

  There was a cot a few feet to the side of mine. Grayson was asleep curled up underneath a blanket. I ‘d never felt so relieved to see anyone in my life. I didn’t know what I would’ve done without him. Life would be pointless.

  “Said he wasn’t leaving until you were better,” Cynthia said as her eyes hung over him.

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Only a few hours.”

  “What about Henry and Chris.”

  The door opened before she could answer. My vision was still a little blurry, but two figures were standing near the entrance talking. One of them started walking my way and as they got closer I could see Craig’s face smiling from ear to ear.

  “I thought we’d lost you,” he said and stopped next to my bed.

  “I hear you’re the one that found me. What happened?”

  “I…we saw you fall. I got Cynthia and Grayson to the cave then came looking for you and Abraham.”

  I lowered my head. “He didn’t survive the fall. What about Henry and Chris? Did they make it?”

  “No. They weren’t as lucky as you…hit the rocks on the way down.”

  “Jesus.”

  “I wish I could’ve got to you sooner. The blizzard got too bad, so I had to wait until the morning. It’s a miracle you survived out there.”

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  Craig smiled then his face slowly morphed into a frown. “The Mayflower,” he said grimly.

  “So, we made it!”

  “Yeah, but…but there’s something else.”

  “What?” I felt a nervous calm sweep over me.

  “They left us.”

  “What do you mean they left us?”

  “The ship is gone, MJ.”

  “No! No, that’s not true.” I turned and let my legs fall off the bed. I tried to stand up, but my head spun like a ballerina and I sat back down. “They wouldn’t leave. They couldn’t!”

  I thought about it over and over in my head. They needed three of us, they needed me, at least that’s what I’d told myself. But I knew deep down that as soon as they h
ad enough override codes they were leaving.

  My heart sank, and I buried my face in my hands. I’d done so much, so many things I regretted, and I lost the most important man in my life for nothing. At the end of the day, we were all doomed to the same fate as everyone else.

  “We’re all gonna die here,” I mumbled.

  A shadow moved in the door and the person Craig had been talking to started walking toward us. I couldn’t make out their face in the dim light, but there was something familiar about them.

  “There might be another way,” Craig started. “We might not die here.”

  The figure got closer and closer. I narrowed my eyes as their murky form took shape. It was a man, a man I’d seen before.

  “There’s a backup plan,” Craig said. “MJ, I want you to meet—"

  “Max Neilman,” I said in shock.

  ~THE END~

  ~Read on for~

  “Over Board: Deconstruction Book Four”

  OVERBOARD

  DECONSTRUCTION

  BOOK FOUR

  By Rashad Freeman

  Copyright © 2017 by Rashad Freeman

  www.rashadfreeman.com

  Rashad.Freeman@rashadfreeman.com

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  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

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