6. Something is Off #3
They were hundreds of demons watching the road from the dark. The sight of them crawled up the back of my neck.
Good. Let Akiro's men meet a forest full of nightmares.
A truck idled at a crossroad with its lights dead. A line of islanders moved the other way down a side path, carrying bundles with their heads low as they hurried for the boats.
The last needing to evacuate. Hurry up. I don’t need you all to be ghosts too.
And then. . .suddenly. . .under the cart’s engine. . .I caught a feminine scream.
What?
Yoichi loudly cleared his throat as if he heard it too. And then oddly slowed the cart.
I quirked my brows. “Did you hear that?”
Kenji looked at me. "Hear what?"
Yoichi loudly coughed.
A woman screamed.
I went still and strained against the noise of the night.
Kenji turned to Yoichi. “Why did you slow down? Speed back up. We don’t have time.”
“Sorry. I just have something in my throat.” Yoichi began to loudly cough and clear his throat like a maniac, yet still I caught more screaming and her painfully crying out, "God, no," or "Please."
It’s definitely a woman.
Granted, the scream was a bit muffled.
Thinner this time.
Wait. I know that voice. . .
In fact, I would know it anywhere. Recently, I had built half my sanity around the sound of that voice laughing in the kitchen.
That voice soothing me to healing.
Nyomi.
I dropped my mask and it fell onto the cart’s floor.
Our Tiger is screaming!
Rising, I planted a hand on the cart's rail and fast vaulted upward.
The moving vehicle became nothing more than a stepping stone beneath my feet.
For an instant, I rode the wind itself. My body twisted through the night air, hair flaring, and then I landed atop the cart's roof.
The impact rang through the metal with a sharp clang.
The cart never slowed.
“Hiro, what the fuck?!” Kenji yelled from within the cart. “Get back here!”
“I hear Nyomi.”
Yoichi growled. “Hiro, she’s fine. Get back in the cart.”
“No.” I widened my stance and easily balanced on the roof as the cart sped down the winding path. “How would you know if she is fine?”
“Get back in the cart!” Yoichi growled. “She’s with friends. They will protect her.”
“Then, why is she screaming?” Wind rushed against my clothes, tugging at my shirt and whipping strands of hair across my forehead.
“Screaming?” Kenji’s voice rose. “Are you sure it’s Nyomi?”
“Yes.” I leaned toward the direction I first heard it. The moon spilled silver light across my face and hands, turning my skin cold and ghostlike against the darkness.
Then I heard it.
Another scream.
Faint.
Distant.
Muffled.
As though someone had wrapped silk around a bell and struck it anyway.
I tilted my head toward the sound as the cart rattled beneath my boots.
“Get back in!” Yoichi hit the cart’s ceiling. “Hiro, we are almost there!”
Another cry reached me.
Thin.
Strangled.
Smothered.
Yet it reached me all the same.
Someone’s hurting her, and I’m going to fucking kill them.
"Hiro!" Kenji's voice cracked across the dark. “Where do you hear her screaming coming from?”
"Guys, she’s fine!" Yoichi shouted.
Kenji and Yoichi began to argue. I didn’t even pay attention. The cart lurched as Yoichi hit the brake.
And with that, I leaped off the cart and raced off into the forest, tracking our Tiger’s screams.
Yoichi yelled, “Hiro!!”
I ignored him and sped away, faster than I’d ever run before.
The forest opened before me. Roots twisted across the earth. Branches reached overhead. Moonlight spilled through the canopy in broken silver pieces.
More of Nyomi’s screams hit me.
I sped up so much, my boots barely touched the ground. The wind caught my clothes and pulled at them.
The night rushed past.
Trees became streaks.
Shadows became blurs.
The world narrowed to one thing.
Nyomi.
Another scream drifted through the darkness.
Faint.
Muffled.
Her.
My heart slammed harder.
No!!
I pushed faster. My legs burned. Leaves exploded beneath my feet. Low branches whipped against my shoulders and snapped behind me.
The island flew past.
I flew with it.
The wind became my companion. It wrapped around my body and carried me forward. It whispered through my hair and pressed against my back.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster.
Another scream reached me.
Closer.
Stronger.
A strange sound hid beneath it.
Odd chanting.
Many voices.
What the fuck?
I vaulted over a fallen log.
My boots struck a boulder.
I launched from it.
For one brief instant, I soared through the darkness.
The wind held me.
Then gravity remembered me.
I landed and kept moving.
The scream came again.
Our Tiger.
Rage ignited inside me.
Cold.
Sharp.
Beautiful.
The sort of rage that belonged in our bloodline.
The sort that ravaged empires.
The sort that buried enemies.
Someone touched her.
Someone hurt her.
Someone made her scream.
I would repay that mistake with generations of suffering.
Far behind, Yoichi’s yelling chased me. “Don’t, Hiro!!! It’s not what you think!!”
What is he talking about?
“Hiro, come back!!!” Yoichi yelled again. “She chose!! Don’t ruin this!!”