Beautiful Death (Bella Morté Trilogy Book 1) (22 page)

Trish looked around. “Where are we going now?”

“The same place. This is just another way to get there,” he told them.

“Okay, but can we please slow down.”

Alex looked around, rushing to keep up with his pace. “Where is that?”

He shrugged. “Through the woods.”

“How far do we have to walk through the woods?”

“It’s a lot further than where we were, so keep walkin’.”

Amber followed closely behind him. “What happens if we see more people, or those creatures?”

He shrugged. “I pick up a big stick an’ kill their ass.”

“What do we do?”

“What you do best. Get up a tree.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re just full of ideas.”

“You’d probably get more walkin’ done if ya didn’t talk as much.”

“No need to be rude.”

The girls didn’t say anything and walked in silence. Before long, they heard something running through the woods in their direction. Everyone stopped and looked around. There was a distinct horrific smell getting closer as the sound charged at them. It sounded like a stampede.

Sixteen

Mark stopped, looking around on the ground and picked up the biggest stick he could find. It would make a great piece of wood for the fire, but not so much for a weapon.

Amber sniggered. “I didn’t think you meant it literally. Do you think a big stick’s going to do something?”

“It’s better than standin’ here empty handed.”

Trish looked around terrified. “What the hell is that?”

Trina’s eyes shot around, searching for the source. “What should we do?”

“Get up the trees,” he told them, pointing to the closest one.

“What a trip this is,” Amber said, running to the tree. “I’m spending more time up the trees than anywhere else.”

“Yeah. Who knew we’d spend more time in the trees than on the ground,” Heather said sarcastically, pulling herself up to safety.

“While camping, no less,” Trish agreed.

“Maybe you’d rather stay on the ground an’ fight an’ I’ll worry about protectin’ my own ass.” It was obvious he was annoyed with them. “Get up the fuckin’ tree!”

Amber settled on the limb. “Oh no. You’re doing a great job.”

The stampede broke through the clearing staring at Mark.

Shocked, Trish looked down. “What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know, but I’m glad we’re up here,” Heather said, fearfully.

Mark stood in the open. He held the stick in his hand and looked as ridiculous as he felt. “Oh shit. Heroism is for the fuckin’ birds!”

What looked like a hairless bear stood tall. It looked like the raccoon only a lot bigger. Pus-filled sores oozed from his hide. It roared at him, showing off sharp fangs while tapping the ground with claw-like talons.

“I think it’s a bear,” Trina exclaimed.

“
That’s
a bear?” Amber asked, shocked.

Alex pulled her feet up high on the limb. “Are they usually that big?”

Heather hugged her tree, groaning. “What the fuck happened to it?”

Cringing, Mark shook his head. “Keep talkin’. After he kills me, he’ll climb the fuckin’ tree an’ get
you
. Why couldn’t I have been an ass an’ left you?”

Amber smirked. “You claiming you aren’t an ass is funny.”

“Watch out!” Alex yelled as the bear danced back and forth. “It’s winding up or something.”

“Bears do know how to climb trees, don’t they?”

“Again, you girls did claim you’re college girls right?” He asked surprised, not taking his eyes off the bear, while trying to do his best to keep its attention on him. “It’s a bear. Of course it knows how to climb.”

“You’re our hero. You can do it,” Trina said, trying to encourage him.

“Yeah, Sir Mark to the fuckin’ rescue. I don’t feel like a hero, more like a snack.”

The bear ran at him and then stopped directly in front of him, standing on hind legs. It towered over him at over seven feet. Slamming the stick into the bear’s side as hard as he could, it did nothing but break in half. The bear looked at him and dropped down to four legs. Growling, he showed his fangs.

Wincing, Trina screamed. “Watch out!”

“Oh shit,” he groaned. “This is gonna hurt like hell.”

All it took was one swipe. The bear knocked him off his feet, slamming him against a tree. When it charged him, Mark grabbed it by the side of his neck. It was all he could do to stop it from biting him. It didn’t matter. The bear used its claws. Mark screamed out in pain as he felt every claw dig into his back, which made the bear toss him away.

Amber watched the battle. “This is better than Animal Planet. Shit. Too bad we don’t have popcorn. I’m betting on the bear.”

Turning back, it pounced on top of him. There was a long line of drool dripping from the bear’s mouth. It threatened to drip on Mark. The bear reared up to pounce again. When it did, Mark rolled out from beneath it. He grabbed a bigger stick. When it came for him, he tossed the stick and sidestepped the bear. As the bear ran past, he leaped onto the back of it.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Heather asked, shocked.

“Now’s not the time to go for a ride,” Trish said, with furrowed brows.

Amber smirked. “Oh. I think he’s a dead man now.”

The bear roared, struggling to knock him off. It tried dancing, stomping, and rearing its head back and forth. Mark held on like a champion bull rider. Reaching his arms around the bear’s neck, being careful of its mouth, he used every ounce of strength he had left and twisted. The snap sounded like dry limbs being stepped on. The bear dropped to the ground, tossing Mark once more into the tree.

He bounced off the tree, landing on the ground. He was bleeding from his arm. Sitting up, he leaned against the trunk of the tree, trying to catch his breath. “Yeah, fuckin’ heroism’s for the birds!” He growled.

Trina was the first to climb down and ran over to check on him. “Oh my God, are you okay? You killed it! I told you that you could!”

He winced. “Go me.”

“Ooh, that doesn’t look good. Let me see it.”

“Just leave it the fuck alone.”

“Shut the fuck up and raise your shirt.”

“What the hell are you gonna do?”

“I’m a nurse’s aide so I’m trained to know how to deal with shit like this.”

Pouting, he lifted his shirt. “Oh, well now that ya put it like ‘at.”

“Men.” She looked at the area and blinked in shock.

“So, how bad does it look?”

“Um, it’s okay.”

“Well don’t sugarcoat it doc, what’s up?”

Arching her brow, she nodded, looking it over. “Well, it’s already infected. I could try to put stitches in it, but it’s already leaking pus like a bitch. It’s not really bleeding anymore.”

“So then it’s not a problem?”

“No, actually it is a problem.”

He turned away from her, retching and puking on the side of the tree. When he finished, he rolled back over, holding his stomach. “I swear I’ve been run over by an eighteen wheeler.”

She cringed, trying not to look at the puke as she reached in her pocket. Pulling out a bottle, she handed him two pills. “Here, take these it will help with the pain.”

He looked at them. “What the hell are they?”

“It’s Percocet, perhaps you’ve heard of them? When you start feeling pain let me know and I’ll give you two more.”

“I don’t wanna take your pain pills. Ya might need ‘em.”

“I have a hundred twenty of them.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“See, I guess heroism does have its rewards.”

He smiled, swallowing both pills. “Thanks. Now help me up so we can get movin’. The smell o’ that thin’ is really gross.”

“So do we still think the woods are the best way to travel?” Amber asked, sarcastically.

“Well, it’s a lot shorter to cut through the woods, but no I think we should go by water since the animals don’t like it. Plus I can get this thing cleaned out.” He stood, groaning in pain. “That of course means we need to go back the way we came.”

Shoving the pills back in her pocket, Trina walked beside him. She helped him by putting her arm around his waist. “How do you know where we are? I’m like totally lost up here.”

“I’ve worked here for a long time. You can’t lose me in these woods.” Groaning, he wiped the sweat that dripped down his face. “It’s really hot out here!”

“It’s probably the Percocets. They tend to make people feel hotter, but they’ll kick in and make you feel better soon.”

“God, I hope so.”

They made it back to the road without any issues. The man had long since deserted the carcass of the woman, and was nowhere in sight. They walked across the road, climbed over the guardrail, and slowly moved back down the hill to the rocks.

Amber looked around curiously. “Wait a minute.”

He turned to look at her. “Yes?”

“We came this way to travel by bus. So where are the buses?”

He pointed to an empty clearing. “You see that empty parkin’ lot over there?”

She looked. “Yeah.”

“The bus isn’t there so we go back the way we came.”

“Meaning this was a huge waste of time!”

He continued down the hill. “One we didn’t know until we came this way.”

“Just great.”

Dropping the backpack, Mark dove in the water. He settled down, resting with his arm and back submerged. “Damn that cold water feels good.”

Trina felt the water, arching a brow. “Yeah, we should dunk your head and arm often.”

“That feels like heaven.” After a few minutes, he stood. Walking out, he picked up the backpack. With his good arm, he shouldered the pack and started walking again. “Okay, let’s go.”

Amber groaned, looking around at the woods. “Would now be a good time to tell you how much I hate the wildlife?”

“No, I think we figured ‘at out. You don’t like much, do ya?”

“I like a lot, just nothing about nature.” She shrugged, nudging Trina. “Give me one of your pills. I want to be high to have to deal with this shit.”

She turned, shaking her head. “No, he needs it worse than any of us, sorry.”

“Oh come on, just give me one. It’s not going to kill him if you give me
one
fucking pill.”

“No, but you don’t need it. Someone else might need them and you never stop at just
one
fucking pill.”

“Jesus, you really think he’s going to choose you over all of us if you give him your pills?”

“It has nothing to do with that. He’s in pain. You’re not. He needs them, and you don’t.”

Amber shook her head. “He isn’t going to care about you. It will be just like the Craig Affair.”

“Shut up, Amber.”

“Remember Craig? The guy who only went out with you for your pills and to get closer to me?”

“Bitch.”

“So why not just hand over the pills now so you don’t feel that heartache again.”

“So what. I fell for a guy and his stupid lies. Well, guess what? I don’t give a fuck! In case you haven’t guessed, the world has changed. Your type isn’t going to get ahead of the rest of us when there’s no money for you to throw around. I seriously doubt he will take you over
any
of us.”

He smirked, pulling Trina closer, putting his good arm around her shoulder. “So, what’s a nice girl like you doin’ hangin’ out with an ultimate bitch like ‘at?”

“I can hear you, you know,” Amber said, angrily.

Trina chuckled. “I had to.”

He looked confused. “You had to? Why’s ‘at?”

Amber sighed. “I’m not happy being the topic of your conversation either, so talk about something else!”

Trina exhaled, putting her arm around his waist. “Well, we were on the same cheerleading squad in high school and we had to get along. So I became friends with her. The fact that I had all these Percocets for sale also smoothed the way.”

“You’ve known ‘er since high school? You poor thing.”

“Yeah. Now we’re in the same sorority in college. She’s a big pill popper. I got even though. I charged her twenty a piece for them and they normally go for ten so I had my way of getting even with her.”

“I wouldn’t think you’d be friends with her kind.”

“Don’t you have friends that aren’t all there, but you’re still friends with them just because?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. When ya work with a bunch of turkeys, but you’re an eagle ya learn to soar with the rest of ‘em.”

“That’s exactly my point!”

“Trina, we’re gonna get along fabulously.”

“Mark, I couldn’t agree more.”

“God, I think I’m going to be sick,” Amber said behind them, rolling her eyes.

Seventeen