Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) (10 page)

* * * * *

The screams.

I can’t get
Ms. Burgess’ screams out of my head. Her screams are blood-curdling and loud.
Every now and then a shrill cry bursts through and cuts through the air. I
almost welcome the thought of the aliens hearing her and coming to get us. At
least then she would be rescued from the Tanners.

It happened
right after dinner. All three of them stood around her and declared her as
their wife. Then before we could figure out what was going on, they dragged her,
kicking and screaming, into one of the cabins and there was nothing we could do
about it. Not with our hands tied behind our backs and ankles tied to together.
And if that wasn’t enough, Holt had staked the ropes securing our arms into the
ground.

Wade keeps beating
his fists into the dirt. Even from where I’m sitting, I can see blood dripping
from them. Ian is lying on his side, curled into a ball with his hands over his
ears, trying to block out the screams. MJ is pulling at his ropes, trying to
unearth the stake. Shayla and Mia are doing the same as me, crying hysterically.
But I’m also rocking on my butt, holding onto my knees, praying that they let
her go.

I don’t want
to think about what’s being done to her. I just want it to stop. I’m also
worried about the rest of us girls. They said they didn’t want anything to do
with anyone not white, but I doubt it. They’re animals. They’ll turn on us too.
Those will be our screams next.

Panic starts
to replace the scary thoughts. I won’t go without a fight. I’m small and I know
I won’t be able to hold them off for long. But I can’t let them take me to one
of those cabins, but what’s to stop them?

Weapon
.

I need a
weapon. I won’t find a knife or gun, but a stick, I can get a stick. A sharpened
stick will come in handy when the Tanners come for me.

I wipe my eyes
on my shirt, clearing my vision. But even so, the tears are still flowing and I’m
sniffling, trying to catch my breath.

Pull it
together
.

I scan the
ground behind me, where I find the majority of sticks. They’re from the area
that surrounds the cabins, probably kicked closer during the course of the
Tanners coming to and going from the woods.

I twist,
contorting my body uncomfortably. With my legs extended, I hook a handful of
sticks with my shoes and pull them closer. More determined than ever, I do it
again, pulling more sticks my way. By the time the Tanners come for me, I’m going
to have so many weapons they’ll think twice before messing with me. I don’t
know how I’m going to sharpen them into spears, but that doesn’t concern me
right now. Surviving does.

That’s when I
see it. A glimmer of movement to my right. I blink and what I thought was there
is gone. I stare into the woods, wondering if the aliens have finally found us.
I’m not going to yell out. I’m just going to let them come and take us. These
sticks I planned to make into spears would slow the Tanners down, but aliens…no.

Just when I’m
about to look away, I see it again.

White
.

I squint
harder. Squinting, trying to make out what I see under the blackness of night
and through the trees.

A t-shirt
.

Into view steps
a Caucasian boy…no a man. He’s young, maybe in his early twenties. His hair is
hanging just above his eyes. I can’t quite make out the color, but it looks
dark. He’s got something written on his t-shirt in bold block letters, but I
can’t tell what. He creeps out of the woods and glances around.

What is he
doing out here?

I can’t believe
there’s someone else in these backwoods besides us.

As he comes
closer, I can see him more clearly. “Booty Inspector” is what’s written across
his shirt. I frown. That definitely seems like a poor choice of clothing for an
alien invasion. Who would want to die with that written across their shirt?

He snaps his
fingers, bringing my attention back to his face.

He mouths
something that I can’t make out. I shake my head.

He creeps
closer. I notice a few other things about him. Like the gun that he’s holding
in one hand and some kind of knife in the other.

My eyes widen
in understanding.

He’s here
to save us.

I peer to my
right and left. No one else is paying attention to him. I turn back to him.

“Where are
they?” he mouths again.

I nod toward
the cabin where Ms. Burgess is screaming.

“How many?” he
mouths.

“Three,” I
mouth back to him.

He nods and
goes back into the woods.

No
,
I want to yell.
Come back, don’t leave us here
.

I’m about to
do just that when he returns with another man, this one older, but similar looking.
They creep closer to us, their eyes scanning everything around them. As they
come closer I see the rifles strapped across their backs, the guns in shoulder
holsters, the knives strapped around their legs and pistols in their hands. I
want to cry.

If anybody can
save us from the Tanners it’s them.

The tickle of
a tear is on my cheek. I use a shoulder to wipe it away.

I don’t say a
word as the younger one crouches behind me and uses his knife to cut through
the ropes that bind my wrists. The other man goes behind MJ to do the same. I
see him whispering something to MJ and MJ nodding in response. Once my hands
are free, he moves down to my ankles and begins to saw away at the ropes there.

He glances up
to me, his eyes focused squarely on mine. I have a hard time looking away and I
think that’s his intention. “What’s your name?”

Instead of my
name a cry escapes my lips.

“It’s going to
be okay,” he says, still sawing away at the ropes. He takes a quick peek to his
right, where the other man is working to free MJ’s feet. “My name is Jason, but
all my fraternity brothers call me JC.” He attempts a smile. “You can call me JC.”

“I…I’m not your
frat brother,” I say, in a stutter, as confusion clouds my mind. “I’m a girl.”

Why did I
point that out?

“Really? I
hadn’t noticed.”

“Huh?” I’m as confused
as ever.

With my feet
free, he crawls quickly up to my side.

“Are you still
with me? You look like you’re about to freak out and bolt.”

I nod.
Yes
I’m okay and yes, I’m going to run
.

“Stay with me
sweetheart,” he says, in a rush. “I’m going to give you this knife and you’re
going to free the other girls. After they’re free, I want you to take them
where you first saw me, okay? Behind those trees are some backpacks, you wait
there for us. Do you hear me?”

Yes.

“Answer me. Do
you understand what I want you to do?”

“But what if
you don’t make it. They can kill you,” I whisper. I can’t cover up the fear
that is smothering me.

The smile he
gives me this time is genuine, not at all forced, and all I notice are the deep
dimples in his cheeks. “We got this.”

And for some
reason I believe him. “Okay.”

I want to cry
again, but he’s counting on me. Mia and Shayla are counting on me. He’s braving
certain death to save us and I have to be strong. I can’t act like some kind of
damsel in distress.

Well…I am…but
still.

He presses a
cold handle into my hand. “Good girl.”

I peer down
and notice that the knife he gives me doesn’t look like any kind of knife I’ve
ever seen before. I guess I was expecting a kitchen knife, the kind I had
before. But this knife has a black handle that fits nicely in my hand and a
double-sided, irregular blade. It’s so shiny the light from the fire bounces
off the blade.

“Go on now,”
he coaxes.

Without a word
I roll to my knees and, holding the knife with a tight grip, I crawl over to
Mia. I work hard to free her hands. She’s crying and begging for me to hurry. I
do everything I can to go faster while also trying not to cut her. Once I
finish her hands, I move to her feet.

“Who are
they?” she asks.

“The younger
one is JC.” I shake my head, remembering that he told me that in jest, trying
to get me to think about something other than my impending death. “I mean Jason.
I don’t know the other one’s name.” Once her feet are freed she scrambles to stand.
She peers around wildly and tugs on the sleeve of my shirt. “Come on, let’s get
out of here.”

I pull away
from her. “No, we have to get Shayla.” Mia sticks by my side as I crawl over to
Shayla. On the way, I notice that Wade is free and all of them are around Ian,
waiting for Jason to finish his feet. Jason looks over to me and I think he winks.
But I’m not sure. I don’t know what else to do but nod. If he has winked I want
to let him know that I haven’t forgotten what he wants me to do.

I hurry with
Shayla’s hands.

“I want to
kill those bastards,” Shayla says, over and over again.

As I work on
her feet, the guys are heading toward the cabin where Ms. Burgess’ screams have
not let up. I want to get done and away before they confront the Tanners. Every
ounce of my adrenalin is poured into freeing Shayla. After she’s free, Shayla
jumps up and tries to run after the guys. I don’t let her get far. I grab her
by the back of her shirt and pull her back.

“No,” she growls.
“I’m going to kill them.” She’s almost hysterical as she pushes me away.

I fist my
hands in her shirt and pull her close to me. “That guy, Jason, he wants us to
wait for them behind those trees.” I nod in the direction we’re supposed to go.

“But I want to
get them,” she cries, and her knees buckle.

I hold onto Shayla
and Mia grabs her other arm.

“Tanners will get
what they deserve,” I say, as I lead her to the trees. “Those guys have a lot
of weapons.”

We find the
backpacks and wait for them. The cries become louder before they finally abruptly
stop. We hold our breaths and each other’s hands.

“Bow your
heads,” Shayla says. We do as she says without asking any questions. Shayla
begins to pray and I repeat each word she says and, as I do, calmness washes
over me. I don’t know why Ms. Burgess has stopped screaming. I don’t focus on
the two most obvious reasons, she has been saved or she is dead.

Shayla is
praying for everyone’s safety and for God to strike down the evil Tanners. Mia
is saying “Amen” after every sentence. She’s never been religious, but she says
the word with such conviction it reminds me of when I used to go to church with
my grandmother. She would say it like that after Reverend Lewis did a sermon
that Grandma deemed was “straight from the Lord”.

Shayla keeps
praying, even as we hear approaching footsteps. Fear grows as the steps come
closer, weighing on my shoulders and making each strand of hair stand on end. I
want to peek between my lashes to see if it’s the guys or the Tanners, but I’m
too scared. Shayla’s prayers become louder as the steps come nearer. She’s
praying that the steps approaching us are feet sent from God to help us return
home safely and I repeat each word she says, as Mia says “Amen”.

A strong hand grips
my shoulder and I want to cry out but, just as my body begins to shake
uncontrollably, I feel a reassuring squeeze and hear a deep, “Amen,” from Wade.

“Thank God,” I
cry. I bend over as relief washes through me. Wade wraps his arms around me and
pulls me to my feet. I turn into his chest and let out every tear I have inside
of me. He holds me, rubbing my back, promising me that everything is going to
be alright from now on.

“We have to
keep moving,” Jason says.

He’s right. I
turn to him and he’s got his eyes on me. I turn my gaze from Jason to the other
man. He’s holding Ms. Burgess like a baby. She’s turned away from us, sobbing
lightly, her face buried in his chest. I step away from Wade. I want to go to
Ms. Burgess and let her know I’m glad she’s been saved.

“No, not right
now,” Wade says, holding me back.

I glance back to
him. “Was she…did they?”

“No,” he says.
“She was fighting them off.”

Thank you,
God
.

“Let’s get out
of here.” The older man picks up the backpacks and tosses one to Jason. He turns
and heads down a trail and we all file into a line, following him, with Wade and
I bringing up the rear.

“What happened
to the Tanners?” I ask.

“They’ll get
what they deserve,” he says in a cold and controlled voice.

I don’t know
how I feel about that. I wanted them to die, but I don’t want murders on our
hands. “Who killed them?”

“We didn’t
kill them.”