Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
FOREST
Tucker lands another blow, his knuckles cracking against the side of my face.
He’s straddling me, his knees digging into the mud.
Another first. Another cracked bone in my face.
I reach up to claw at his throat, but he quickly knocks my hand away.
For my attempt at saving my life from this beast, I’m greeted with a pair of filthy hands around my throat.
And yeah, I’ve always been a fan of being choked.
Not like this, though.
I claw at his hands, desperately fighting for air.
Zeva’s screams echo through the sky like thunder, distracting Tucker long enough that I can maneuver my knee just enough to land a blow against his balls.
He recoils and falls to his side, giving me enough time to jump to my feet.
I leave him there in the dirt, but I know you can’t keep that man down for long.
He’s like a fucking machine, takes pain like it’s a vitamin.
Wouldn’t surprise me if he just jizzed in his pants from it and that’s what is taking him so long to get up.
I follow Zeva’s screams and find the five of them—Zeva, Bash, Darius, and the brothers—standing in front of a tree. Hanging from that tree is Pearl White—Tucker’s mother. She’s nude, her stained white dress piled on the ground. A large stone lies beneath her, her toes just barely brushing over it.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Zeva says, voice cracking. “What the fuck are we going to do?”
“She’s fucking dead, Zeva!” Bash screams.
I jump to Bash and cover his mouth, and with gritted teeth, I warn him, “Keep your goddamn voice down. Tucker is somewhere out there.” I release him from my grip. “We need to figure out what the hell we’re going to do before Tucker sees this.”
“We’re all dead,” Darius helpfully points out.
“No shit,” Jediah says. “We have to get rid of the body.”
“Hello,” Zeva says, gesturing with her arms held out to both sides. “We’re in the middle of the wilderness. That won’t be hard.”
“At least try to pretend you’re upset, Zeva,” I seethe. “This is all your fault. Funny fucking note of yours.”
She points to her chest, and I know she wants to scream, but she knows better than that.
“I’ll cry about this when we’re out of the woods, but right now I’m trying to think of a way out of this.
This isn’t like all the others. This is your father’s wife.
Fuck Tucker! I’m not worried about him. I’m worried about the madman who you call your father. ”
She’s absolutely wrong. She’s worried about the wrong damn person. My father doesn’t love anything or anyone. Tucker, for all the macho bullshit, will break in two.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Darius’ skinny frame climbing the tree with a knife gripped between his teeth.
“Mom,” Tucker screams, emerging from the shadows behind us.
He collapses to his knees in front of the tree, sobbing.
I’ve never seen him like this. We all found a gun once and played a game of The Wilds Chooses.
We all saw one of our friends shoot themselves in the head with that gun, and he was the only one unphased.
Death is nothing new around these parts, but when it hits this close to home, I suppose it’s different.
I don’t dare comfort him. Not right now. Not like this.
I search the scene and spot Darius cutting the rope. There’s not enough time to object before the rope breaks, Pearl’s body pounding against the muddy forest ground.
Tucker peeks over his shoulder, eyes glistening under the pale moonlight. He rises slowly to his feet and turns around with a broken shrug. “I’m not supposed to be here.” He walks through the space between Bash and I, disappearing into the shadows. “I should go home.”
I turn in a quick circle to give chase, but the scent of something familiar steals my attention back to the scene of the crime. Gas. It feels like the world slips into slow motion as Bash douses Pearl’s lifeless body with gasoline from an iron flask.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask.
“In the end, we’re only ash,” Bash says deadpan. “The wilds have called Pearl White home. Forever, a part of the wilderness.” He tosses the flask onto the ground and strikes a match. “May your soul return to us in harvest.”
Slow motion. Again. A horror film that can’t be looked away from.
The lit match falls like a feather, blues enveloped in reds as Pearl White’s eyes inch open.
My mouth falls as she ignites.
And I stand there motionless, unable to do anything to save her, as she screams into the night.
My eyes snap open as I jump up from the bed, fully alert. Sweat drenches my face, dripping onto the hardwood floor beneath me. I lean my head against the window as I steady my breathing. My stomach is slick with sweat too, wetting my underwear.
The night we killed Pearl White has haunted me since the day I left this godforsaken place. Still, I could never piece it all together. I still can’t but the fogroot has offered some clarity. Some things are best left not remembered.
Outside the window, a shadowy figure walks down the tree-lined path leading to the village. I glance over my shoulder to find Tucker’s side of the bed empty, the blankets rolled up to the side.
So much for not letting me out of his sight.
The bedroom door creaks as I open it inward, the moonlight from the windows behind me spilling into the hall.
I peek around the corner as if I’m a teenager sneaking out of my room in his tighty-whities.
The front door slams shut downstairs, pulling my attention to the banister which overlooks the den on one side and the foyer on the other.
I consider calling out for Tucker, but I’ve seen enough horror movies to know better.
Instead, I do the ‘smart’ thing and head down the curved stairwell, my body hugging the wall.
Investigating a strange noise or something.
As I near the bottom of the landing, I notice a shadowy figure standing at the bottom.
I come to a sudden stop.
The man wears a black cloak with a dulled grey wolf mask shielding his face.
In his right hand is a hunting knife that catches the glow of the moon.
I size him up; he’s half a foot taller than me and probably has an extra fifty pounds.
The cloak could make him appear larger than he actually is, but it’s also black and everyone knows the color black slims a figure.
I do the ‘smart’ thing and attempt to run back up the stairs. The sound of the cloak rustling behind me catches me right before his hand catches onto the back of my briefs, pulling me backwards. I stumble, losing my footing and land with a crack of my spine against the landing at the bottom.
“Fuck,” I groan in pain as I scramble to my feet. “Is there any way we could not do this right now?”
He answers with a kick of his boot against my chest, sending me barreling backward against the wall.
He lunges forward with a knife in hand, and somehow I’m able to dodge just enough to the right so that the blade stabs into the wall.
I duck underneath him as he begins to pry the knife from the hard surface.
My next attempt at fleeing up the stairs—with the intention of getting to the gun that’s packed at the bottom of my duffel bag—ends as well as the last. I’m met with a blow against my throat,
I turn to the right, make a beeline for the pool wing, throw the door open and slam it shut behind me. I lean against the glass door, catching my breath. The entire fucking wall is made of glass.
What are the odds it is bulletproof?
He picks up a vase off the end table and launches it forward. I shield my eyes from shards of glass as it shatters against the wall.
And he’s on the move again, his boots crunching over the debris as I back away, searching for a way out.
“You know I’m going to kill you, right?” I taunt him with words, but I’m without a weapon and defenseless. “I’m going to make sure you feel it, too.”
He comes to a stop, tilting his head slightly. His fingers dance on the grip of the knife, and then he steps forward. It’s a slow dance to the melody of a warning. He doesn’t just want to kill me. He wants to draw it out for as long as possible.
I run again, cutting around the far end of the pool.
He gives chase, running this time.
He grabs me by the waist and tackles me forward, but instead of landing on the deck, we land in the water with a violent splash. Water flares into my nostrils, and I swallow a little too much water. When I break the surface, I gasp for air and scream…
“Tucker!”