by Lukens, Mark
“Look, Rose,” Ray continued. “Can you put the knife down? We don’t want to hurt you. We understand you’re scared. The Dragon is scary, but he’s just a man.”
“No,” Rose said, spitting the word out, her eyes wide again, her expression fierce. “He’s the Devil, and he came from Hell to take over.”
“He’s not the Devil,” Ray said. “He’s just a man with psychic powers, that’s all. Emma,” Ray said, turning around and gesturing at Emma, “she has those psychic powers too. She can sense what the Dragon really is, and he’s scared of that. He frightens his followers into being loyal to him. He can visit people’s dreams, scare them, make people think he’s more powerful than he is. That’s all he can do.”
Rose seemed to be thinking over what Ray had just told her.
Ray turned and looked at Emma. “Right, Emma?”
“It’s true,” she said. “The Dragon is a powerful psychic, I admit that, but he’s just a man, just a human being like you and me.”
“Let me ask you, Rose,” Ray said, “have you ever seen the Dragon’s face in your dreams?”
Rose didn’t answer.
“You just see a shadow because he wears a hood. Right? And his eyes shine. That’s because he doesn’t want you to see his face. He wants you to think he’s some kind of monster. He wants you to think he’s bigger than he is, stronger than he is, scarier than he is, more powerful than he is.”
“We’re not afraid of the Dark Angels,” Josh said. “We’ve fought with them a few times already, killed several of them. They’re afraid of us. The Dragon is afraid of us.”
“We can help you,” Ray said. “But you have to let my son go. We won’t kick you out, I promise. But you can’t hurt my son.”
“The people I was with . . .”
“We can help them too.”
Ray looked at Josh. “Lower your gun.”
Josh didn’t move.
“Come on, Josh. Show her that we’re not going to hurt her.”
Josh waited a moment longer then exhaled a long, slow breath, lowering his gun down to his side.
Ray turned back to Rose. “See?”
Rose still didn’t look too certain. She still held the knife to Mike’s throat, but she had lowered it a few more inches over the last couple of minutes, her hand still trembling.
At that moment Mike did two things at the same time: he stomped his foot down on top of Rose’s foot, and then he rocked his head back, smashing it into Rose’s face. Then, in a blur of movement, he moved to the side away from the knife while Rose was too stunned to react. He spun around and pushed her back. She dropped the knife as she fell backward down to the floor, sitting down hard on her butt.
“Mike!” Ray shouted.
Mike bent down and grabbed the kitchen knife from the floor, gripping it like the weapon it had become.
“No,” Ray yelled. “Mike, no! Don’t hurt her!”
Mike was about to rush Rose.
She put her arms up in defense, her nose already bleeding from his head butt.
But then Mike stopped. He looked back at Ray with tears in his eyes.
“It’s okay, Mike,” Ray said. “Don’t hurt her. She’s just scared.”
Mike calmed down in seconds, but he still held on to the knife.
Josh had his gun raised again, aimed at Rose who still sat on the floor in shock, her arms still up and ready to ward off Mike.
“That was slick, Mike,” Josh said. “Where’d you learn how to do that?”
“Luke showed me a few MMA moves.”
“I guess so,” Josh muttered.
Ray still had his attention on Rose. “We’re not going to hurt you, Rose. I made a promise and I’m going to keep it. Okay? We’re not going to throw you out of here.”
“You hear that?” Emma asked as she looked up at the ceiling like she could see where the sound was coming from.
And then Ray heard it—the unmistakable sound of gunshots coming from somewhere outside.
CHAPTER 42
Luke
Luke waited beside a tree in the woods. Minutes ago he had come across the makeshift camp down in the clearing below at the mouth of the shallow cave, which was actually more like a giant rock outcropping that provided shelter. These people had made a temporary home here, but then the Dark Angels came and tortured them, and then eventually killed them. But not before forcing Rose to go to their cabin.
Or had Rose really been forced? Or had Rose’s whole story been total bullshit? Maybe she wasn’t with those dead people down there—maybe she’d been part of the Dark Angels all along. If so, then he needed to get back to the cabin and warn Ray and the others.
Of course that was going to be a little tricky since the Dark Angels had waited in the woods (like they’d known he was coming) to take him out.
But they’d missed and now he had escaped up into the hills surrounding the clearing and rocks below. Even up here the smell of death was somewhat noticeable. The gunshots had stopped as the Dark Angels moved in closer to pursue him.
Now that winter was almost officially upon them, a lot of the foliage in the trees and brush had fallen off, decomposing on the forest floor, and that made him more visible. But it also made the Dark Angels more visible.
Luke waited for a moment behind the thick, gnarled tree trunk, using it as cover. He had his rifle down beside him and leaning against the tree, ready to grab it in a second if he needed to. He used his binoculars to watch the Dark Angels in the valley below. Like the other Dark Angels he’d seen, these men were dressed in a mishmash of camouflage, military, and black clothing. They were all ages and sizes, moving through the woods with amateurish skill.
He tucked the binoculars back inside his hoodie jacket and zipped it back up. He picked up the rifle and raised it up to shoot, crouching down on one knee and leaning his shoulder against the tree trunk. It took a few seconds to find the closest Dark Angel down the hill—a young man, maybe in his mid-twenties, with a mean and determined look on his face. The Dark Angel brand was visible just under the edge of his knit cap that he’d pulled down tight onto his head. Luke saw the man in the scope of his rifle, tracking him slowly, his finger squeezing the trigger gently, his grip firm, his breath held for just a second, all of these movements were second-nature to him now from all the years of practice. He pulled the trigger and felt the weapon buck just a little in his hands. The gunshot echoed through the trees. The Dark Angel in the lead fell back, part of his head disappearing in a spray of blood, dead long before he hit the ground.
Luke turned around quickly with his back to the tree trunk, his rifle up close to him, trying to make himself as small as possible as the bullets flew. The men were firing wildly, probably not even sure where the kill shot had come from. A few bullets pelted the tree trunk on the other side, and other bullets tore into the ground a few feet away from him, little puffs of dirt exploding up from the impacts.
Luke waited for the shooting to die down. All they were doing was wasting their ammo. He’d already spotted his next hiding spot just up the hill—a collection of large rocks next to an ancient tree with branches dipping down to the rocks. If he could get behind those rocks he’d have a better barrier than this tree to hide behind.
But the run up the hill would be dangerous.
He twisted around to the other side of the tree and got down on his belly, pointing his rifle down the hill, but not really aiming it at anyone in particular. He shot six times, one right after the other, and then he was up and running toward the rocks, hoping his shots had backed the Dark Angels down long enough for him to get to better cover.
He made it behind the rocks just as more shots rang out, a few of the bullets pelting the rocks, one of them pinging off the top of the rock Luke had crouched down behind. He set his rifle down and tore off his backpack. He grabbed the ammo box and canteen out of his pack, reloading his rifle and then taking a few swigs of water. He also pulled his walkie-talkie off of his belt and turned it on; no sense in
staying quiet now.
“Josh, pick up,” he yelled into the walkie-talkie after pressing the button down.
No response.
“Josh, you there?”
Still no response.
He left the walkie-talkie on and clipped it back to his belt. He put his pack back on and raised his head up between two of the large rocks, pulling the binoculars up to his eyes to scan the hillside that sloped down to the valley, trees everywhere.
The sunlight glinted off a pair of binoculars or a scope about fifty yards down the hill and Luke panned over to it, spotting a man hiding in some brush next to a tree. He stuffed the binoculars down into his hoodie and picked up his rifle, finding the man in the scope of his rifle. The man was getting up and looking back to others hidden in the brush behind him, signaling at them to get up and start approaching.
Luke shot the man then panned just to the left, looking for another one of them. He got the next man in the leg as he dived back behind a tree. The man screamed, dropping his weapon and clutching his leg. Luke wondered if the people hanging upside down from the trees had screamed like that when they’d been tortured to death by these men.
“Good,” Luke whispered.
He ducked down behind the rocks again as more gunshots pelted the rocks. He couldn’t do this too much longer—he needed to get back to the cabin. He had the feeling that there were more Dark Angels in these woods, others coming from different directions.
Behind the rocks there was cover from the brush up a steep incline into some trees. He could use that cover to get up to the next ridge and then he could be off and running.
It was now or never. The dead and injured man had frozen the Dark Angels down there, and now it was his chance to move.
In a few seconds he was up and over the ridge, scrambling up the grassy incline and into the trees. A few gunshots popped off, but they seemed random, none of the bullets getting close to him, most of the shots still hitting the rocks below where he’d been a moment ago. There was a chance someone had spotted his escape through a pair of binoculars or a scope, but that was a chance he’d have to take.
Once he was in the trees, he ran back the way he’d come from. Within fifteen minutes he was back at the fallen log where he’d stopped to check his compass and inspect the signs that Rose had climbed over the deadfall.
He stopped by the fallen log, crouching behind it, listening for the sounds of Dark Angels following him.
The woods were silent.
The Dark Angels were being cautious, but they would come eventually. He grabbed his walkie-talkie off of his belt again, ready to call Josh again, but then he froze.
He heard a noise. It wasn’t the Dark Angels advancing through the woods from where he’d run. This sound was coming from another direction, from behind him somewhere. It sounded like machinery, like trucks.
“Shit,” Luke breathed out.
He was up and running again, pressing the button of the walkie-talkie. “Josh, come in. It’s Luke.”
No answer.
“Fucking pick up!” he yelled into the walkie-talkie.
What the hell? Where was Josh? Was he up in Emma’s room fooling around instead of standing watch like he was supposed to? Luke turned his walkie-talkie off now so a blast of static wouldn’t give his position away. He hooked it on his belt again.
When he got near the edge of the woods, close to the clearing where the cabin stood, he kept on rushing through the woods toward the dirt drive. The noise was coming from down that drive, and he was sure it was the sound of trucks now, then a crashing and wrenching sound, like one of them had just rammed through the metal gate.
The Dark Angels were coming and they were bringing trucks. Big trucks by the sound of it.
Luke darted across the dirt trail into the woods on the other side. He’d get through these woods to the hatch and take the long tunnel back to the bunker. He couldn’t take a chance on one of the Dark Angels seeing him enter the garage and not come back out again, figuring out that they had a tunnel in there.
There could be Dark Angels in other parts of the woods, and they might see him get to the hatch, but Luke figured that the Dark Angels weren’t being stealthy anymore—they were driving right up the driveway.
He got close to the hatch and crouched down, taking a minute to look around at the woods and clearing with his binoculars. He didn’t see anyone close, but he could hear the trucks racing up the driveway, skidding to a stop, men shouting, shooting guns at the cabin.
Luke darted to the hatch, opened it, and slipped inside. He closed it and locked it, plunged into darkness.
CHAPTER 43
Josh
Josh heard the same thing Emma had, the sound of gunshots. They sounded distant down here in the bunker, but he knew they were shooting at the cabin.
“Luke’s still out there,” Josh said. His hand brushed by his hip and he realized he’d left the walkie-talkie upstairs in his haste to get down here to the bunker. Maybe Luke was trying to call him right now to alert them, or maybe he’d been calling for help.
Ray was still negotiating with Rose. He looked at her now. “Rose, we need to get upstairs. The Dark Angels are here now. We need to see what’s going on, but we need you to come with us.”
Rose was still seated on the floor where she’d been pushed down by Mike.
“We can’t leave you down here by yourself with what you know now,” Ray told Rose.
For just a second Luke didn’t understand what Ray was talking about, but then it hit him. He looked right at Mike. Mike had told Rose about the tunnels.
“You . . . you promise you won’t send me out there?” Rose said.
“I promise,” Ray said. “We won’t do that. But I can’t leave you down here by yourself. You understand that, don’t you?”
Rose finally nodded.
Something nagged at Josh about the way Rose was acting. Ray seemed to believe her little act, but Josh wasn’t so sure.
“Rose, please,” Ray said. “We need to hurry.”
She got up and walked toward Ray. Mike fell in behind her. Josh watched as the three of them walked to the basement stairs and headed up to the ground floor.
Emma was about to follow them upstairs, but Josh touched her shoulder gently. She turned to him.
“Something’s coming,” she told him in a low voice like he had asked her a question. “Something very bad.”
“What about Rose? Can we trust her?”
“I don’t know.”
Josh sighed. “Okay. Let’s get up there and see what they’re doing. I want you to stay near the kitchen, okay?”
She nodded.
He wanted to tell her to stay in the basement, but he knew she wouldn’t. He glanced back at the bunker and the doors to the tunnels. He wondered if the Dark Angels knew about the tunnels. Could they be in those tunnels now, coming to invade the cabin? Maybe they could lock the doors somehow, or block them off, but what about Luke? How would he get back inside?
If he was still alive.
First things first—get upstairs and see what the Dark Angels were doing out there.
After Josh made sure Emma was safely in the kitchen, he rushed into the living room. Rose was crouched down behind the edge of the couch, Mike near her with the kitchen knife still in his hand. But he wasn’t watching Rose—he was watching Ray who stood at the window to the left of the front door, peeking out through the curtains with his pistol still clenched in one hand.
Josh spotted his walkie-talkie on the shorter couch. He grabbed it and pressed the button. “Luke, come in. It’s . . .” He couldn’t remember if he was “base” or “home.” Shit, hell with it. “It’s Josh. Come in. Where are you?”
He let the button go and listened, but got no response.
Maybe Luke didn’t have his walkie-talkie on. Maybe he couldn’t have it on right now.
He clipped the walkie-talkie to his belt and stared at Rose.
She knew he was staring at her.
“How many are out there?” Josh asked Rose.
Rose started crying.
Ray looked back from the window. “Looks like four trucks. Big ones. I think there are some Dark Angels in the woods, too.”
“How many?” Josh snapped at Rose.
Ray moved to the side of the window and waited for Rose’s answer.
She didn’t say anything.
“I gave you my word,” Ray told Rose. “I won’t throw you out there. We’ll help you, but you have to help us.”
“I don’t know how many,” Rose said. “A lot. Twenty. Maybe thirty. They’ve got guns and trucks.”
“Yeah, thanks for the info,” Josh said. “I think we’ve figured that part out.”
“They attacked our camp in the woods,” Rose said.
“So all that stuff you said about escaping a bad group was all a lie.”
Rose just stared at him.
Ray walked over to them. “We understand why you had to lie.” He shot a glance at Josh then looked at Rose again. “What really happened? Did the Dark Angels just stumble onto your camp?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. They found us, but they were asking us about you.”
“About us?” Josh asked.
She looked at him and nodded. “They were looking for you guys, but Zeke, our leader, he swore that none of us knew anything about any of you, had never seen you before. But they said he was lying. They took one of us, Heather, and they hung her upside down from a tree branch with her arms tied behind her back. They took turns beating her with sticks and rocks, kicking her. I could hear her bones breaking. Her screams were so loud.”
“But you knew something, didn’t you?” Emma said as she came toward them from the kitchen.
The shame on Rose’s face was unmistakable. She nodded. “Right after they . . . they hung Heather upside down, I was going to tell them. But I was afraid they were going to do the same thing to me. But I told them that I’d seen a cabin, and that I thought people might be inside. They stopped beating Heather while I told them everything I knew. I told them I’d been exploring in the woods and I’d seen your cabin in the clearing.”