“
That’s not going to be
easy,” I said. My body was wobbling as it was. Had Dex not had his
hands on both my arms, I probably would have fallen over ten times
by now.
“
You can do it. If anything,
blame it on last night.”
“
Then
what?” I asked fearfully. The idea of seeing Sarah again, knowing
now what she
was
,
made my heart pump loudly in my ears. I wanted to
vomit.
“
We can get through this,”
he said.
“
At
least
you
sound
confident.”
“
I don’t have a choice,
Perry.”
I gave him a small smile.
If it wasn’t for Dex, I’d hate to think where I’d end
up.
“
Okay,” I said, mustering a
bit more effort into my voice. I made my way to the bed, picked up
the duffel bag, and carefully placed it on my shoulder without
making myself tip over.
He picked up his stuff and
gave me a firm nod. I nodded back.
Go time.
He opened the door and we
walked down the hall. It was dark save for the light coming from
downstairs. The pictures on the wall were barely visible in the
grainy dim. I studied them as I had before. Everything seemed to
take on importance now. The mundane details always stood out when
you thought they might be the last details you’d ever see. Even
someone else’s photographs became something more than wall
decorations.
Now, these photos told so
much: Sarah’s smiling face back when she wasn’t blind, her
sparkling eyes, her relaxed body language as she draped herself
over a giddy and less portly young Will. I compared to the later
shots, Sarah with her big dark glasses, her stiff posture, Will’s
sad, beaten demeanor. It was all too easy to blame the change on
what happened to Sarah. She went blind. That’s enough to change
anyone’s marriage, their personality even. But from these simple
photos, there was an energy radiating off of them, hinting at a
story that was yet untold. Something told me we were close to
finding out what that was.
We got to the stairs and
made our way down. Dex reached for my hand and held it as an act of
solidarity. I knew we were done with the charade. This was just us
being us.
Down below, Shan and Miguel
were sitting on one side of the dining room table, while Sarah and
Will were on the other. They were quiet, waiting for us.
We stopped at the bottom
and smiled uneasily.
Will stood up.
“
I know you two probably
wish to be on your way after all this. But I think Fred, our
Sheriff, is going to want your cooperation.”
I glanced at Dex. He seemed
to be expecting this and was nonplussed.
“
We’ll do whatever you need
to help out,” he said. “Just figured Perry and I better be all
packed and ready to go, just in case.”
“
In case of what?” Sarah
said. I looked at her, conscious now that I had avoided looking in
her direction the entire time. I didn’t want to speak or move
further lest I end up saying something that would give my
“drugging” away.
Dex knew this. He squeezed
my hand and eyed her. “In case we’ve overstayed our
welcome.”
He looked back at Will. “I
think this is the only way we’ll find Bird and Rudy.”
Will nodded quickly,
obviously relieved. It seemed his present company hadn’t felt the
same way.
“
OK.” He wrung his hands.
“Sarah and Miguel will come with me. Dex, you don’t mind if Shan
rides with you? There’s not enough room in my truck.”
Dex nodded on autopilot.
The room started to spin again. My heart thumped so loudly in my
ears that I could have sworn someone was stomping around on the
floor above us.
Shan? In our
car?
I wanted to scream, run,
protest, hide. But I couldn’t do any of those things. The only
thing I could do was squeeze Dex’s hand even tighter. It must have
turned blue.
I caught a quick glance
between Sarah and Shan as everyone started to leave the house. Odd,
to see glances from the blind.
Will hung around by the
door as Dex and I were the last to step out into the gloomy
evening. The air smelled tense, rain-filled, like the sky was ready
to let go at any moment. It was much darker than
earlier.
We waited on the porch as
Will shut the door behind him and looked up at the sky.
“
Looks like a storm. We
need it,” he said sincerely.
He pulled his collar up
against the wind that had suddenly picked up and hurried towards
his truck with Sarah and Miguel following. Shan stood in front of
us, expressionless and waiting. Even in the dim light, he looked
more youthful and vigorous than before. Powerful.
Will called over his
shoulder, “You remember how to get there? Do you need to follow
me?”
Yes, we need to follow
you, don’t you fuckers let us out of your sight,
I thought. But Dex said: “No, we’re
good.”
I wanted to kick him. And
judging from the brief wince that passed over his brow, I knew he
immediately regretted it. This was not the time to hold onto our
pride.
Regardless, Dex smiled at
Shan.
“
Shall we? My rental chariot
awaits.”
I was relieved to see Dex
acting as if everything was normal, or at least as normal as it
could be. I hoped Shan bought it.
I climbed in shotgun, Shan
went in the back right behind me. Dex put the car on the road, but
already Will and his truck was quite a way in the distance, a
meager blue blot against the hazy dying light.
The tension in the car was
unbearable. I didn’t know what to do. I knew Dex wanted me to play
it cool but I could not play it cool with a fucking skinwalker
sitting behind me. Every inch of me was on edge, my breath was
short and shallow, the hairs on my arms and neck were sticking up,
and I knew that Shan knew it. I kept silent, my hands
fidgeting.
Dex controlled the
conversation. Anyone that didn’t know him that well probably
couldn’t tell that he was feeling apprehensive, but I could. I
hoped Shan couldn’t tell something was amiss.
“
Do you get big storms here
this time of year?” Dex asked, eyeing Shan in the rearview mirror.
I looked out at the graying road ahead.
“
Usually. It’s been pretty
quiet so far this year. The rain goes a long way here, providing it
isn’t a flash flood.” Shan sounded calm and collected. Not that
that was unusual.
I couldn’t stand it. Will’s
truck was out of sight now and it was growing darker by the minute.
What were we going to do? Did we really expect to make it all the
way to Rudy’s place without anything happening?
There was a brief moment
where I thought that maybe we were overreacting. Maybe Shan wasn’t
a skinwalker after all. I mean, he didn’t give me any drug tea,
that was all Sarah. I kept pondering that over and over again like
it was a washing machine on spin cycle. It was at least keeping me
sane, and kept my fidgeting to a minimum.
Dex continued his small
talk with Shan about the weather. The more that Shan replied in a
casual manner, the more I started to think that maybe we actually
did have it all wrong. Maybe we were paranoid to the max and Shan
really was just a loyal rancher.
“
So,” Shan said. I could
hear him leaning forward in his seat so his breath was right in my
ear. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly was Rudy trying to
do with you?”
Dex popped his nicotine gum
in his mouth and chewed vigorously before saying, “He had some idea
that we should be cleansed with a sweat session.”
“
Do you know what that
means?”
Dex nodded, keeping his
eyes on the road, his hands gripped tightly on the wheel. I didn’t
like seeing him nervous. It destroyed what little confidence I
had.
“
I see,” Shan said
thoughtfully. “And I bet Rudy told you it would keep you safe from
whatever is going on over here?”
There was an odd tone to
his voice. I saw Dex’s eyes move to the mirror and frown. “Yeah.
Actually he did.”
“
Did you believe
him?”
“
Of course I did. And I
do.”
I could feel Shan’s eyes
turn to me. They burned like lasers into the back of my skull. I
was unable to contain a shiver that ran through me. It was like he
was sucking the thoughts out of my head. I had read that
they
could do
that.
“
Did you believe him,
Perry?”
I wanted to look at Dex, I
wanted to see what he thought but I couldn’t do that. I needed
every shred of control and fearlessness I had left. I turned my
head to the window and stared at the dark clouds above the barren,
bone landscape.
“
I wanted to,” I said,
trying to keep my voice level and my words clear.
I heard Shan sit back in
his seat. I closed my eyes and breathed out.
“
That’s interesting,” he
commented.
“
How so?” asked
Dex.
“
Rudy’s not a stupid man. To
trust that a bunch of white kids would have any faith in what he
was doing…that was quite the risk.”
Dex and I didn’t say
anything. There was a moment of heavy, ominous silence before Shan
spoke again.
“
Do you feel your lack of
faith is what killed him?”
Shan’s words cut through my
very core. Killed him?
Dex gripped the steering
wheel even tighter and nervously eyed our surroundings. There was
nothing but dry pastureland for miles. The lights of the city were
coming closer but not close enough.
“
Did I say something wrong?”
Shan asked. “That is what happened to him. Is it not?”
I couldn’t breathe. What
was Shan saying? That Rudy was dead? How did he know Rudy was dead?
I wanted to ask but I was afraid of what would happen to us if we
did ask. I wanted to play it cool, I really did but the wooziness
of the drugs just made my heart pump harder. I wanted out of the
car right there and then.
And then, it was like my
wish came true. Before either of us could say anything to Shan, the
car started to slow.
I looked at the road. It
was a straight shot with nothing in front of us.
“
What are you doing?” I
asked Dex, slurring the last word a bit. I hoped Shan hadn’t
noticed.
He shook his head, staring
at the dashboard in confusion. “Nothing, I’m doing
nothing.”
The Jeep came to a crawl
and all the lights on the panel died along with the engine. The car
just
died
. We were
engulfed in darkness. It reminded me of scenes from alien abduction
movies and that did not help my courage at all.
“
How old is the battery?”
Shan asked.
Dex shrugged, flustered,
and hit the steering wheel. “I don’t know. It’s a rental car, it
shouldn’t be more than a few years old!”
“
You never know,” Shan said
and opened his door. “I’ll go take a look. Can you pop the
trunk?”
Dex quickly reached under
the wheel and the hood unlatched with a clang. Shan stepped out and
walked around to the front and lifted the hood. Once he was
obscured by it, I turned to Dex.
“
What the fuck?” I
whispered, panicking.
His brown eyes were as wide
as saucers as he watched Shan work. His chewing slowed
down.
“
I don’t know, I don’t
know,” he said trying to keep his voice hushed.
I leaned further into him.
“He said Rudy was dead! How would he know that? Even we don’t know
that!”
He nodded quickly. “I don’t
fucking know.”
I didn’t know if he got the
urgency. I reached over and grabbed his arm, hard. He looked at me,
fear brimming on all his features.
“
He’s going to kill us,” I
hissed.
“
You don’t know that,” he
mustered.
“
We have to do
something!”
“
What can we do? Our car is
dead.”
“
Yeah. Coincidentally it
died at the right time.”
I looked at the hood and
could see Shan’s faint figure in the crack between it and the rest
of the car. It was almost nighttime, the sun had set somewhere
behind the black pillows in the sky. The wind was out and rocking
the car gently. It was cold. We had nowhere to go. We were stuck in
the desert with a supernatural being that wanted us to go the same
way that Rudy did.
“
I think I’m going to puke,”
I whispered. I put my hand to my mouth. I wasn’t lying. It was too
much.
Dex put his hand on my head
and held it there.
“
Stay with me,” he said
determinedly.
He opened the car door. I
grabbed for him but he pushed away my hands and shut the door. I
wanted to scream but I didn’t dare. I watched him walk around to
the hood and say something to Shan. Then he nodded and went around
to the trunk. He opened it and started rummaging through stuff. I
turned and watched him. I didn’t want to say anything but his eyes
met mine. I wished I could have read them in the darkness. I had no
idea what Dex had planned.