Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) (9 page)

Mia tries to
pull her arm out of his grasp, but the man won’t let her go. “Stop. I want to
go with her,” she says, pointing to me.

He vehemently
shakes his head. “You don’t belong over there.”

Mia struggles
against him. “Why? Why are they over there?”

“Mia, stop
before they hurt you. We’re over here because we’re black,” I say. “It’s okay,
stay with Ms. Burgess.”

Mia frowns and
eyes the men up and down. “That is not okay. This is America.”

“Aw crap,”
Shayla says under her breath, as she sits on the other side of MJ. “She’s going
to get us all killed.”

The new man
points over to Ms. Burgess. “I’m not going to tell you again. Get over there
with your kind.”

Mia lifts her
chin defiantly. “I’m Columbian. My mother and father moved here when I was
younger.” I swear the Latin accent that I haven’t heard since we were kids is back
and thicker than ever.

The men
exchange glances of bewilderment. Mia, with her dark brown hair and light skin,
stands defiantly with her chin raised and a hand on her hip. “What does that
mean?” Eddie asks the others.

She squints,
looking the men up and down. I can almost feel her temper rising. “That means I
belong over here.” She strides to us and drops to her butt next to me.

“So now that
you’ve pissed off the children, what are your plans for us?” Ms. Burgess asks
exasperated. “Why don’t you just let us go so we can be on our way?”

“Be on your
way where?” the new man asks, with a sinister chuckle.

“I already
told the other
gentlemen
, that we’re going back home to Michigan,” Ms.
Burgess says.

The new man swings
his gaze to Eddie and his friend. “Didn’t ya’ll explain where we was takin’ ’em?”
he asks the other men.

“We told her
she ain’t goin’ back to Michigan,” my assailant says.

“Jon-Jon don’
told you right,” the new men says. “Them aliens is everywhere. We’re goin’ ta
take ya’ll back to the hills. Right, Eddie?”

Eddie leans
and spits out another disgusting wad of spit. “Yep.”

WTF?

Although I
wish I wasn’t right, they really are the people from
The Hills Have Eyes
.

“You just said
that aliens are everywhere.” They look at each other. Ms. Burgess rolls her
eyes. “So that means…they’re in the hills too,” she says slower.

“Naw, they ain’t
goin’ ta find us where we are.” The new man indicates with his gun at us.
“Where yer gonna be too.”

“Thank you for
inviting us to hide out with you, but we’ll take our chances by ourselves.”

“You just don’t
get it,” Eddie says, laughing. “We need to stick together. Shake them ideas of
goin’ to Michigan cause there ain’t nobody there waitin’ on ya’ll but aliens.”

Ms. Burgess sends
a glance our way. “Stick together?” she asks, raising a brow. “You’ve just
separated us.”

“Oh don’t
worry about them. They can come too, but they won’t be helpin’ us repopulate
the world.”

I almost laugh
out loud. I’m not even bothered that he doesn’t need Mia, Shayla or my help to
repopulate the world one bit.

Thank God
they don’t want me for that.

“Thank you,
but no thank you,” Ms. Burgess says in a terse tone.

“Let me put it
another way.” All three men raise their guns and aim them at Ms. Burgess. “If
you ain’t with us, yer against us,” Eddie says in a growl.

“Well then.
Since you’ve put it that way,” Ms. Burgess replies.

Somewhere in the hills

April 19
^th
, 2012: Day 28

The walk up the
hill, following the path, wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t worn out, like the other
paths we found in this area, so I could tell not a lot of people have come this
way. Normally I wouldn’t have any difficulty following along. That is, if my
ankle wasn’t bound to Shayla’s with rope and the other wasn’t tied to MJ’s
and
if my hands weren’t tied behind my back.

The smart-ass
in me can’t help but be sarcastic about our situation.

So, yep, pretending
that this is some kind of leisurely stroll up a backwoods trail is a whole lot
better than the reality. I don’t want to focus on how I’m tripping over rocks
and tree roots. Or worry that an alien could jump out from behind one of the
trees to get us. Because I’m pretty sure if that were to happen,
The Hills
men would run away and let the lizards take us in their space ships to do God
knows what.

Yep, a leisurely
stroll
.

I almost feel as
if I should be whistling or something, just to set the mood.

“What are you
thinking about?” MJ asks me.

I shake my
head. “You really don’t want to know.”

“If it’s a
plan to get away from these fools, then I’m all ears.”

“I don’t have
a plan.”

“Who has a
plan? You have a plan, Sin?” Shayla asks.

I turn my head,
peering over my shoulder at her. She’s practically on my back. Her face is just
a few inches from mine.

“I don’t have
a plan.” She frowns and looks down, as if I crushed all of her hopes. “I wish I
did though.”

Eddie pulls on
our rope, making me stumble into MJ. “Stop talkin’ back there! I don’t need ya’ll
tryin’ ta hatch-up a plan.”

I fall ungracefully
onto MJ’s solid back, knocking my face against his shoulder blades and biting
on my lip in the process. He’d put a foot forward, bracing himself so I don’t
knock him over. “Ouch.” The metallic taste of blood coats the tip of my tongue.

“You okay?” he
asks.

Using my
tongue, I feel the hole in the inside of my lip and the swelling that has
begun. “Yeah. But now I really wish I had come up with a plan.”

Once I regain
my footing, he starts walking again. “Me and you both. Someone’s going to end
up breaking a bone out here.”

And I can’t
help but pray it isn’t me.

This is how we
spend our morning, walking up the hill, being pulled by Eddie and trying to
come up with the plan that I said I wasn’t thinking about. We can worry about
the aliens when and if that time came. Eddie and his crew are in the here and
the now. And we have no idea what they have planned for us, but it’s not good.
Who ties people up and leads them away like prizes?

People who
aren’t right in the head, is what I’m thinking.

When we break
through the trees to a clearing, I assume this is their home. The five log
cabins, built in a circle around a campsite, have that hillbilly appeal. I look
up and can clearly see the sky. It’s like they don’t care if the lizards can
see them. “Why haven’t the lizards got them yet?” With their cabins so visible
it seems these men would be easy pickings.

“Your guess is
as good as mine,” MJ says.

As they lead
us into the center of the campsite, I start to wonder if the men get their own
cabins and if so where the other two people are. I can’t spend too much time
trying to figure this out before Jon-Jon stops me and, with a hand on my
shoulder, pushes me to the ground. I sit without a fight. Shayla and MJ sit
next to me and Mia plops down on the other side of MJ.

Along the way,
I found out the third man’s name is Holt. Holt’s already made Ian, Wade and Ms.
Burgess sit across from us. We’re still divided, with a fire pit between us. I can
only guess they’re going to keep us separated from now on out.

“Do you mind
if the children eat now? It was a long walk and we’ve all missed breakfast.”
Ms. Burgess asks.

I’m surprised
by how steady and calm her voice sounds when I know she’s just as nervous as we
are. But the fact that she keeps addressing us as children makes me speculate
that she’s trying to draw some kind of compassion out of them.

Jon-Jon
chuckles. He throws my small black bag and our food bags toward one of the
cabins. “The
children
will eat when we see fit.”

So much for
having compassion
.

Ms. Burgess
lets out a sound of disgust. “Then at least tell me where we are.”

Eddie smiles,
like she just asked him the million-dollar question, and throws open his arms
in a grand gesture. “Welcome to the Tanner homestead. This is where we’ll ride
out the alien invasion and, when the government comes a-calling, we’ll join up
with the Army and help fight them sons of bitches.”

How will the
Army feel about the Tanners when they learn we’re being held here against our
will? It seems as though someone should point this out to Eddie. I glance
toward Ms. Burgess and raise a questioning brow. As if knowing what I’m thinking
she shakes her head, as if to say “let it go”.

Eddie hooks
his thumbs in his pants and walks around us, as he does his boots kick up dirt.
“We have a couple of rules here. But the main one is that, no matter what, we
keep Tanner land clear of any and everything unholy.”

He’s talking
as if we willingly signed up to join his team and we’re here because we want to
be.

“But, Eddie,” Jon-Jon
says, interrupting him. “We got them on our land.” He nods in our direction. I take
it that “them” are people of color—or whatever other name they want to
call us. “Ain’t they unholy?” Then he glares directly at me. “Ain’t
she
unholy?”

I peer at him
through the slits of my eyes. What’s unholy is three grown men taking people
hostages.

Eddie raises
his hands up to the sky. “I’m talkin’ about the Goddamn aliens, Jon-Jon. We got
bigger shit goin’ on right now.”

Jon-Jon nods
as though he now understands, but I know he doesn’t because of the blank look
in his eyes. I don’t think Eddie is fooled either, but he doesn’t spend any
more time trying to get through to Jon-Jon. How do you get used to stupid? I
don’t even know. Eddie continues, “Tanner land has been in our family since
before the Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower.”

Huh? What?

I look at Mia.
What the hell is this idiot talking about?
is what I wish I could say
out loud. But I don’t need to, because she’s giving me pretty much the same
look.

Ms. Burgess
clears her throat. I know the teacher in her wants so bad to point out that
before the Mayflower, Tanner land belonged to the Native Americans, but she keeps
her mouth shut while Eddie rambles on like he’s giving us the orientation for
our first day at work. I liken this to the ‘history of the company’ part.

“What did we
promise Pa?” Holt and Jon-Jon straighten, as they realize Eddie is expecting an
answer from them.

“Keep Tanner
land in Tanner hands,” they both recite.

“Oh, Jesus.” I
can’t help but let it slip from my mouth. This is too crazy for words.

Eddie points
to one of the cabins. “Pa would roll over if’n he had an inkling of unholy aliens
patrolling our woods.”

We all turn to
the cabin he’s pointing to.

Mia scrunches
her face in confusion. “I don’t understand,” she whispers.

“Pa is dead,”
Eddie continues. “But his teachings is still with us.”

I frown, as I
keep watching the cabin where Pa is, or was.
I’m so confused
.

“Just tell me
one thing,” MJ says, under his breath. “Do these fools have their dead Pa in
that cabin?”

“I have no
idea,” I reply.

Jon-Jon raises
a fist in the air. “We ain’t gon’ let nobody or no alien take over Tanner
land!” he yells vehemently.

“Damn skippy.”
Holt makes the most disgusting sound ever in the back of his throat and then spits
on the ground. “That’s why we’re going to protect this land with everything we
have. We’ll go down dying before we let anyone take our land from us.”

The aliens
have taken over Earth and the Tanners are worried about a plot of land in the
middle of nowhere. Clearly their priorities are off kilter. What do they
expect? Once the aliens have a stronghold on Earth, they’ll leave the Tanners
alone? I shake my head in disbelief. They can’t possibly be this stupid.

“Umm…what
about us?” Ms. Burgess asks. “We’re not Tanners and we don’t belong here.”

Jon-Jon whirls
around to face her. “Not yet, you ain’t.”

Holt begins to
giggle and Jon-Jon slaps him on the back.

“How you think
we is goin’ to keep Tanners goin’ for generations?” Eddie asks.

Wow. The
gene pool needs to be snuffed out here.

Ms. Burgess
recoils, with a look of pure terror on her face.

“I told you I
would figure us out a plan!” Eddie yells over his shoulder to Holt and Jon–Jon,
who both laugh and giggle uncontrollably.

“Too bad we
ain’t got no preacher here.” Jon-Jon shrugs. “But the chilrens won’t be
bastards ’cause we’ll claim them at birth. That is, unless they look like one
of them aliens.”

Eddie shakes
his head. “We ain’t claiming no alien bastards.”

“They are sooo
crazy,” MJ mutters.

“I’m so glad I
told them I was Columbian,” Mia murmurs.

“But Ms.
Burgess…” I hiss.

“And ya’ll.” Eddie
points to Ian and Wade. “Ya’ll ain’t Tanners but we can find you some nice white
women. But until then, ya’ll can help us fortify our land and protect us from
the aliens.” Eddie turns to the “colored group” and points. “And ya’ll help
with the protection and cooking and cleaning.”

Oh great,
back to slavery.

“While I can’t
fault your ingenuity I will have to object. I don’t want to marry you, and
holding us against our will is illegal. Just because aliens have invaded Earth
doesn’t mean that all laws are thrown out the window.”

“Yes it does,
little lady,” Eddie declares.

Ms. Burgess
opens her mouth then closes it again, as if trying to talk sense to the Tanners
wouldn’t do any good.

“You know what?
Bump all the crazy,” Ian says, as he tilts onto his side.

“He just does
not know when to shut up,” MJ says.

Ian struggles
to his knees. “You know what MJ? Screw you and screw them too!”

MJ leans back.
“Sure. Go ahead, speak your piece, because that’s clearly what’s needed right
now.”

“Listen boy,”
Eddie says to MJ. “Don’t you dare disrespect one of yer betters.”

MJ’s eyes
squint, showing a glint of anger between the thick eyelashes.

“MJ,” I snap.
“Let it go.”

MJ rolls his
eyes and looks away, but just when I think the argument has passed, Ian starts up
again.

“I think I’ve
heard all I plan to hear from you,” Ian says. “I’m not staying with you to help
you guard a piece-of-shit land that nobody wants anyway. I’m going home and, when
I get there, I’m telling my father what you’ve done to us and what you tried to
do to us and when this is all over, he’s going to come here and bulldoze this
place and put up a mountain retreat. And as for your Pa—”

Jon-Jon is on
him before he can finish his sentence. The crack of his fist on Ian’s jaw echoes
off the trees.

I cringe as
Ian falls flat on his back and Jon-Jon jumps on him, raining punches on his
face. “Don’t you ever talk bad about Pa! He ain’t done nothin’ to you.”

“Get off of
him!” Everyone except for MJ yells out.

“Dang, he got
his butt kicked by a chick and now by a hillbilly,” MJ says.

Holt grabs Jon-Jon
by the back of his shirt, pulling him off Ian. “He learnt his lesson.”

Jon-Jon lumbers
to his feet, wiping his nose with his hand. “I couldn’t stand hearing him
talkin’ about our Pa like that. He was a good man. Gooder than this pussy bitch
will ever be.”

“Pussy bitch,”
MJ mutters. “I must remember that line.”

“Cool it. We’re
in some serious trouble here,” I say. If these guys kill us out here, no one
will ever know it.

MJ tilts his
head to the side. “No. Out there is serious trouble. In here we cook and clean
and watch Ian get the cat-mess beat out of him.”

Mia sniffles.
“Stop it.” Tears stream down her face, leaving clean tracks through the light
coat of dirt there. “Ian can be a jerk sometimes but he doesn’t deserve this.”

“No, he doesn’t,”
I agree.

Jon-Jon rocks
back on his heels and massages his stomach. “I done worked up an appetite.” He glares
over at us. “
Must
Eddie explain your duties to you again?”