4. June
Chapter 4
June
“ E than.”
My arm flopped to the right, landing in a warm, viscous fluid, the tendrils of my dreams fluttering on my lashes.
I pushed a heavy sigh through my dry lips and groaned, my eyes blurry as they opened in the dim room.
“Ethan, wake up. You’re snoring again.” I wiped the slobber from my arm onto his shoulder. “And drooling.” I groaned.
A sick, wet inhale had me turning toward him, the liquid popping and snapping in his throat.
I dropped my hand onto his shoulder and shook him. “Ethan.” Squinting, I blinked away the sleep in my eyes and gasped, my body propelled backward. Ethan’s big brown eyes stared at me, the whites prominent in the darkness. “Jesus, you scared me. What’s wrong with you?”
Turning back with a bounce, I pulled the lamp string on my nightstand and then turned back.
Deep crimson puddled beside his throat and dribbled from his gaping mouth, his hand covering part of the gaping wound.
“ AHHHHHH .”
Tossing the soaked sheets off of my limbs, I clambered out of bed, my heart detonating in my chest, stripping away my breath. The cold floor seeped into my feet as I scuttled away and jerked to a stop, my back striking the wall.
“His suffering is almost over…”
I jumped in place at the hard, gruff voice in my ear, my feet sliding across the floor as I spun around.
“... but yours is just about to start.”
A beast advanced towards me, his horns dropping elongated shadows on the walls, the black goat’s face staring at me with steadfast eyes.
I whirled on my heels with a high-pitched squeal and bolted for the closed bedroom door, my fingers grasping the cold brass.
His large hand wrapped around my wrist, yanking my control from the handle, and pressed me hard into the closed door. An arm dug into the back of my neck, pinning me tight.
My stomach bubbled as my breaths heaved in my chest.
I don’t want to die .
“Hi, June. Where are you going?” His hard voice splintered the ice coursing through my veins.
That voice…
I stomped down on his instep with my bare heel. Shooting, bright agony chased up my heel and into the back of my knee.
Was he wearing steel-toed boots??
“Let me go.” God, please . “Please.”
“Now, why would I do that?”
Thick arms enclosed around me from behind, and a gloved hand covered my mouth.
My feet left the floor as he dragged me back toward the bed and threw me on top with a twist. My back hurtled onto the wet mattress with a sickening slosh.
The beast laughed.
My heartbeat wracked against my chest in one abrupt hit, as though a knife had carved through my ribcage.
“ Ahhhh.” I drove my fist forward, using the techniques I had learned over the course of six months. My knuckles skimmed his chin, scraping against the sharp, pointed mask.
The man grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head, his other gripping my face, his fingers digging into my cheeks, my nostrils flaring.
I bucked as the beast drew closer, his features distinguished as he stopped a shallow breath away. “His death was painless, I assure you.”
With a subtle turn, he forced my head to the side, my gaze landing on Ethan’s still frame .
Ethan?
Tears boiled in my eyes, oozing out of the corners and into my hair.
“You slept right through his attempts to warn you.”
A sob snapped free. I wailed, my temples pounding as I jerked and bucked.
The man held on, my strength no match for his, the length of his body pinning mine.
“I’ve waited for this for so long.”
He pressed into me, his hips grinding against my belly, his knees sagging the bed on either side of me.
He’s going to kill me, too.
The muscle memory I’d worked months to achieve hit the vacation button as his hand sank from my chin and skimmed down my breasts.
Oh God.
I squeezed my eyes closed and breathed in through my nose.
His thumb plunged into my solar plexus, causing a burst of white-hot shock.
My eyes exploded open, and I let loose a scream straight from my toes.
“Do you know how many points on the body there are that inflict the most amount of pain without so much as leaving a mark?”
“ Please .“ I gasped, my lungs breathless as he dug deeper.
My mouth gaped open in a silent cry.
The beast flipped the black goat mask off his face—the metal clattering against the floor as my lids snapped shut.
He’s letting me see his face?
Oh my God.
He has no intentions of letting me go.
Of course he wouldn’t...
Why would he?
“I didn’t see your face. You can let me— ahhhh .“ He curved his thumb inward, the piercing pain plundering my words.
“Open your eyes, June.”
I squeezed my lids tighter and shook my head, my teeth scraping against one another as I stomached through the pain, inhaling harsh breaths through my nose. His hand on my wrists tightened, his fingers digging into the fragile bones.
It didn’t take much to break a wrist. I’d done it as a child, hyper-extending it after falling off the monkey bars.
Could he crush my wrists?
Does he have the power?
“Look at me, June.”
I shook my head, and the agony in my chest subsided as he removed his touch.
Tears dribbled down my temples. My heart rate hit my breastbone with each exerted beat.
“I could cut off your eyelids and make you see everything.” He slid his tongue along my temples, lapping up my tears.
A muted sob slipped through my crushed lips.
“Do you want that?”
I shook his touch off of my face. “No.”
“Then look at me.”
His position shifted above me, and I opened my eyes, daring a glimpse at my captor. My brows furrowed. “The…the man on the street?”
He raised a brow and cocked his head to the side. “Who else am I?”
I examined his face. Full black brows and lips, a thick head of hair, and a short trimmed beard. “I…I don’t know.”
The man jostled me, his grip taking hold of my chin. Fingers dug deep into my cheeks, cutting the soft flesh against my molars. Liquid metal tang burst against my tongue.
“Try again.” His jaw pulsed.
A parent?
Old boyfriend from college?
Kid I went to…
“C-Carter?” I frowned, and his hand slithered off my chin. I flexed my jaw and poked at my damaged inner cheek with my tongue, my stomach tumbling into a black tarry pit.
No.
This isn’t him.
It can’t be.
“And now we can begin.” Carter reached behind his back, and the air whooshed from my lungs, my hands fraught with tremors.
“You didn’t think I’d find out the truth, did you?” He pulled his hand out from under his jacket, revealing a needle, his voice harsh and cold. “You really thought you would get away with it?”
“Get away with what, Carter? What the hell are you doing?“ I shook my head, my chin trembling. “You...” My throat dried as sweat beaded down my spine, dizziness settling in my vision. “I don’t... What? What’s going on here?”
He put the needle cap in between his teeth, bit down, and pulled it with a pop. Spitting the cap on the floor, he watched as it settled, then turned back to me. “There’s no misunderstanding, June. I’ve been wanting to do this for years. I just never expected it to be you.” The needlepoint glistened in the lamplight as a bead of liquid balanced on the hollow end. “Now, hold still.”
I jerked my head to the side, my gaze landing on a lifeless Ethan, his drying dull eyes staring back at me.
“Don’t do whatever this is, Carter. I don’t know what you think I’ve done...” He hovered above, and I bucked, an upsurge of adrenaline coursing through my veins. He rocked forward, his chest landing on my face, and a solid metal bang hit the wall above me.
Carter grunted as a pinch hit my upper arm, causing me to still as though paralysis took hold in an instant. “Good one. You caught me off guard.” He sat back, blood trickling down his brow with a shrewd grin, the wrinkles deepening on his cheeks. “But now it’s only a matter of time.” He relinquished his grip on my sore arm and climbed off of me.
Where’s he going?
What did he do to me?
What was a matter of time?
I clutched my upper arm, searching for the injection site.
What did he give me?
I need to get out of here.
Carter stooped, turning his back to me as he picked up the needle cap.
Seizing the moment, I swung my legs off the bed and dashed for the door, my head swimming as though I’d spun on a tilt-a-whirl. Pain settled in my chest, my heart jumping against my breastbone.
“You won’t get far.”
I turned back to him as he slid the goat mask over his murderous face and stalked toward me with steady, long strides.
My stomach lurched with dazed nausea as I wobbled into my kitchen, ripped my key off the ring, and rushed into the night. Warm air slapped at my cheeks as I stumbled over my feet towards my car, my blood-stained fingers shuddering over the key fob buttons.
Boom .
I jumped, my hip bumping into my car mirror as I spun around. A bone-deep pain radiated across my limbs.
Carter stood at the door with his arms bowed out to his sides, his face mask in place, his broad shoulders a silhouette of the demon he personified. He stared at me as I backed away, fumbling with the car door handle.
“Leave me alone.” My tongue sat heavy in my mouth as he glared, his shoulders moving up and down in company with his breaths.
The car door snapped open, and I stumbled inside, locking it as he took his first step toward me, his boot scuffing against the cement.
Oh crap.
I pushed the button to ignite the engine.
Lights flashed on the dash. A beeping filled the panicked space. The engine remained dead.
My heart plummeted. “Why aren’t you starting?” Tears threatened to fall as my heart threatened to take flight straight through my throat and plop into my lap.
Carter walked toward me, exuding a sense of calm as though he didn’t care I’d made it to my car.
He did something to my car?
I pressed the button again, and a warning on the dash system flashed an image of a foot touching the brake.
Of course.
My barefoot smashed the brake, and I jabbed my finger into the ignition button as Carter bent over at my door, his goat mask taking over the driver’s side window, his hands tucked behind his back. Reversing out of my driveway, I sped down the road and took a right toward Edwards.
A distorted buzzing coated the back of my skull, pulling at my eyelids and dragging them down like heavy curtains.
Carter stood in my rearview mirror, watching with his hands in his pockets.
“I’m safe. I just need a hospital. ”
My tongue sat heavy in my mouth as I slapped it against my lips like a dog eating peanut butter. Lights twinkled in the darkness, the stars streaking in the sky—the signs blurring by. I squinted, my foot pushing harder on the gas pedal.
Did I pass Edwards?
Car lights drew closer from behind, the LEDs blaring in my rearview mirror.
It’s okay. He can’t hurt me in Edwards.
Why would Carter want to hurt me?
What did I do?
My heart shattered into a million fragments, the remnants threatening to cut my insides.
I swiped the swimming thoughts from my mind. My vision narrowed in, focusing on the road as my heart rate slowed, my fingers numbing around the steering wheel.
What did he give me?
A small blue sign moved into view and I stared at it, my mouth parching like the Sahara Desert.
That’s not…
I made a wrong turn?
I can’t be in…
Vail
Elevation 8,150 ft.
They say Vail had a way of turning mean this time of year. The elevation marked on that weathered sign wasn’t just a number—it was a warning. Like clockwork, the population took a nosedive every ten years, dropping faster than flies on a frosty night.
Murder and mayhem had a way of sneaking in, and by the time anyone noticed, it was too late. People packed up and fled, leaving behind empty houses with darkened windows. And here I was, driving straight into the heart of it as if I’d been invited to the dance.
The hillside belched plumes of smoke into the air as a raging fire devoured the pine trees and sagebrush. By the winding river, another house smoldered, its frame barely visible through the thick, choking haze.
Take the exit and turn around.
With a heavy foot, I veered to the right and took the first exit, my vision narrowing. To the left, a woman stood her ground against two menacing masked men, a knife gripped in one hand, a pistol in the other, a dead body at their feet. One bore a gold bird clutching a metal bat in his bloodied hands, while the other hid behind the dark threat of a black wolf’s mask.
It’s starting...
My stomach lurched, bile searing the back of my throat, my head turning into a static TV as I turned away from the deadly scene.
Why the hell can’t I feel my fingers?
My car kept going, the road blurring as my hands slid down the steering wheel, numbness creeping from my fingertips up to my wrists .
A heavy weight settled in my skull, dragging my head forward. The seatbelt snapped tight as the car slowed, jumped the curb, and slammed into a tree on the water’s edge, stopping me from plunging into the shallow river. My head hit the steering wheel, causing my tunneling vision to tighten.
What did…he…give me?
I groaned and held my head with the back of my wrist, my hand flopping and useless. The dark water called to me, the silence broken by my thudding heart.
Car lights beamed into the darkness as I sat back, my head flopping against the headrest.
My thighs sunk into my seat, and my feet refused to move as though suctioned in heavy sand at the ocean when the tide recedes.
Then, out of the shadows, he appeared—the beast at my door. His horns curled back like twisted branches, and with a deliberate tap on the window, he made the darkness come alive. “Unlock the door, June.”
My shoulder rocked toward the door, but my hands remained in my lap, unmoving, my tongue heavy in my mouth, my jaw numb.
What’s happening to me?
Carter huffed and bent over. When he straightened, his arm swung up—the rock in his hand crashing through my window, shattering glass into a rain of sharp shards.
A screech locked in my throat as he reached through the crumbling remnants and unlocked the door, swinging it open .
“The hunt is the best part of all of this, so don’t forget to fight me.”
His voice dropped, taking on an eerie quality as if he’d recorded it on a vinyl and played it backward. With a cold efficiency, he reached inside, unclipped my belt, and dragged me out of the car—my legs like rubber beneath me.
His voice reverberated in my mind, echoing and pulsing with a maddening intensity, then fading to a distant murmur as if he’d sprinted miles away and shouted from a valley’s edge.
My eyes rolled to the sky as I slumped against him, his powerful arms wrapping around me, the darkness eating away at my consciousness.
“Right on time.”