Silent Ground: Part 1

by Quil Carter

  Excitement rushed through Sasha, or what he thought was excitement. As he stood back and waited for Kheva to finish dressing, a tightness grew in his throat, and a strong gathering of apprehension that did all but scream the stupidity of Sasha’s plan.

  A plan that, if he was caught, would have him beaten within an inch of his life,

  If he was lucky.

  But no… he had to do it. He had to escape. He fucking had to get out of this place.

  And what Kheva had just done to him solidified that knowledge, and the drive inside of him to be brave and push through the fear.

  He wasn’t a coward… he wasn’t insane, he was a fucking nightcrawler. Even though this experience had been horrible, and he’d endured all types of terrifying abuse, if there was one thing he would walk away with… it was the knowledge that he was something powerful.

  And he could develop those powers on his own, his way.

  I’m finally going to stand up for myself.

  It was about time.

  Sasha held back the drool as Kel set down Kheva’s plate of food. There were two pan-fried trout, butter-fried in a coating of flour, salt, and pepper, and on the side, was rice with butter melting over the puffy white grains, and broccoli with cheese sauce.

  Kheva took a bottle of China Lily soy sauce and put a generous amount on the rice, and then some salt and pepper.

  “I’m happy we both share a love of soy sauce,” Sasha said. He waited eagerly for Kheva to finish putting the last touches on their dinner, and said a thanks to Kel as he poured Sasha a glass of cranberry juice.

  “Any man who doesn’t love soy sauce on rice is no man,” Kheva said. “Our love for it runs in the family. You won’t meet a nightcrawler or a first gen who doesn’t like it.” Then his eyes shot past Sasha. “Jye!” His voice snapped the air like a whip, making both Sasha and Kel jump, both automatic reactions to what usually meant they were both in shit.

  The serval, who had his paws on the kitchen island and his head outstretched to smell the frying pan, shrunk back. He turned around, his ears back, and after a fleeting look, he went through his cat door to the outside.

  First gen…

  “What do you mean by first gen?” Sasha asked, his mind filling with questions.

  “They’re a different type of nightcrawler,” Kheva explained patiently as he drizzled the soy sauce onto the fluffy white rice. “Older than us, much older. They have some qualities we don’t, we have some qualities that they don’t. However, we do not get along with them.”

  “What – what do you mean?” Sasha said, both his eyebrows raising. “How are they different?”

  “Dinner time, nightcrawler,” Kheva said, picking up his fork. “All will be explained in due time.”

  Sasha was disappointed at this. He’d always wanted to learn more about nightcrawlers, and the fact that there were other kinds out there was flooding him with even more questions. However, Sasha knew his place, and there was no way he was going to fuck up dinner tonight. He’d have to find another way of getting the information… because soon he was fucking out of here.

  The trout was one of the most delicious things Sasha had ever tasted. He got to eat the entire fish and half of everything else on Kheva’s plate. It had been a while since he’d pissed Kheva off enough to not feed him, and his energy had been coming back to him. That and the medicine for the migraines currently inside of his stomach, he was in a good state health-wise.

  But remembering those migraines reminded Sasha of another thing. What was he going to do three days from now when they came back? He was going to have to find a way to… store Kel and Kheva’s fluid. Was that even possible?

  Sasha, who was now watching TV with Kel, felt his spirits dampened as he remembered this. All he could do was try and bring a good supply with him and… fuck, figure something out.

  I have to get out of here. I might not know all the answers right now… I just know I have to escape.

  The times he’d helped Kel in the kitchen, he’d seen frozen pucks of semen and blood in a Ziploc bag. He could steal that blue cooler, that store would be enough to last him at least three to four months.

  Sasha let out an excited breath. He looked over at Kel, and then past him towards the kitchen. It was all coming together… it was all fucking coming together.

  A shiver went through his spine. Soon he’d be starting a new life, a life without the constant fear of being beaten on or raped, a life without judgement and ridicule. With people who wouldn’t even know who he was. He could be anyone.

  Tonight – Sasha decided – he was going to break into Kheva’s office.

  Sasha glanced to the left and watched Kheva. He wasn’t tuned in to his thoughts, and he had to keep it that way until he fled. If Kheva knew what he was going to do… he’d be fucking beaten to death.

  At midnight, Kheva rose to his feet and turned off the television. “Bed,” he said, and walked up the stairs. Sasha got up and so did Kel, then he went into the downstairs bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth.

  Usually at this point, Sasha would grab his blanket and pillow and curl up on the patio lounger, his anxieties on high, anticipating one of them sliding open the door and commanding him inside. But not tonight… tonight he was sleeping upstairs.

  Sasha walked up the wooden steps. His pulse quickened with every stair he ascended until he started to feel lightheaded. But he persevered, and reached the top of the second storey.

  With how his body was responding, one would think he was anticipating walking in on a murder scene, but when he turned right and walked to the bedroom door, all he saw was Kel already lying in bed, and Kheva walking towards it, dressed in a beater and boxer shorts.

  “Hi, Sashy,” Kel said. He was on the left-hand side of the bed. “Good thing we have a king size bed. What’ll we do if more come, Kheva?”

  “Add another storey onto the house,” Kheva said. He shut off the bedroom light and got into bed. It looked like Sasha was going to be sleeping on the left side. Perfect, that’s the easiest way to slip out once they both fell asleep.

  “Could that storey just be one big bedroom?”

  “Sure.”

  “Awesome.” Kel could be heard yawning. Sasha got under the covers and laid down on his side, he got comfortable and closed his eyes. It sounded like it might be safe… they were just casually talking.

  Then he heard some rustling of blankets, followed by a kiss.

  “No.”

  Sasha smirked as he heard Kheva say this in a flat voice.

  “Please, Master? Please?” Kel begged.

  “We’ll be going to town tomorrow for supplies and I need to take care of some errands. We have a busy day tomorrow, you can wait until we come back from that,” Kheva replied.

  Town tomorrow? Sasha’s eyes opened. He could scout out some places to hide out in, a hotel or something, and see what town they were talking about. Also, he’d be able to tell how far it was to the highway.

  This… this could work. Sasha could put off going downstairs until tomorrow, and then take off as soon as he got his hands on what he needed in Kheva’s office.

  “Town!” Kel said in an excited whisper. “Can we go to the sex store? Can we get fast food?”

  “We’ll see,” Kheva mumbled.

  “Am… I going too?” Sasha suddenly remembered his social anxiety. After only being around Kel and Kheva for the past week, he’d completely forgotten the obstacles that were lying in wait for him.

  “Yes.”

  He was going to have to… talk to people.

  Springs of anxiety erupted all around Sasha’s body, but he remained determined. He had to do this… he had to escape this place. He couldn’t let Kel and Kheva abuse him anymore.

  Sasha rubbed his sore nose, even now his face hurt as it laid against the pillow. Their abuse was getting worse, and the only reason they haven’t full-on raped him again was because he’d been sleeping outside.

  And according to Kheva, that was
n’t going to happen.

  So, it was time to leave.

  Tomorrow would be the trip to the store, and that night… he was going to steal Kheva’s cellphone, fill the blue cooler, and take as much money as he could.

  And he was going to escape.

  CHAPTER 14

  “You need to look nice,” Kel said sternly. He clipped the tweezers together like a bug warning a potential predator that it was dangerous. “Stay still.”

  Sasha rubbed his eyebrows, his eyes watering. “Stop yanking out five bloody hairs at once and maybe I’ll be still then.” He looked up at Kel, who had already primped and primed himself, but couldn’t help flinching when the tweezers came closer. “I don’t see a point of this.”

  “The point is to not look like a homeless person,” Kel said. He grabbed some of Sasha’s eyebrow hairs and yanked them out, Sasha recoiled and grunted his disapproval. “This is only bad once, and then just maintenance. You’ll look handsome after and ready for the public.”

  Sasha grumbled but stayed still on the bathroom stool. He’d never had his eyebrows done before, Jobe did, Lex too, but who did he have to look good for?

  But then again, Kel was happy and he wasn’t beating on him, so Sasha let him do what he had to do. Kel was buzzing around with excitement because of their town trip, and it looked like he needed an outlet.

  When Kel was done and Sasha’s eyebrows were throbbing, Kel let him look in the mirror. Sasha could only see a swollen red ring around his eyebrows, but not wanting to wipe the look of pride and approval on Kel’s face, Sasha forced a smile.

  “They look excellent,” Sasha said. Kel was just so full of happiness, it would be like kicking a puppy for being excited about the leash coming out. “Thank you, Master Kel.”

  Kel styled his hair after that, using hairspray and a comb, then the two of them walked out to the living room.

  The office door opened behind them and Kheva walked out. He glanced in their direction before doing a double take.

  “The swelling better go down before we hit civilization,” Kheva said with a shake of his head. Then he walked towards the glass door, raised his hand and beckoned them to follow him.

  Everyone piled in the truck, Kheva was driving, and then it was Sasha in the middle of the two, and then Kel. The black Ford truck rumbled to life before being thrown in reverse, Sasha held back the smile when he saw Jye sitting on the porch watching them go with a look of mild curiosity on his golden face.

  It would be the first time in a week that he was getting off of the property… but if all went well, he would soon be permanently leaving this place behind.

  Sasha looked out the window intently, planning on locating markers he would pay attention to so he’d know how close he was to the road. All he knew was that they were deep in the forest, not even where it was on the island.

  There was so much forest here. In some sections, it looked to have been logged, which would explain the roads that would sometime branch off into different directions.

  Left at that fork in the road… Sasha tried to memorize the location, every time Kheva took a turn, he watched.

  Kheva… was taking a lot of turns…

  Sasha felt uneasy when he started paying attention to just where Kheva was driving, and realized with how the roads just weaved into each other… it was going to be really easy to get lost.

  But no… the road Kheva kept following seemed to be the most well-kept… Just remember left at that fork…

  Even though it was growing like a stage 4 brain tumor, Sasha refused to let the doubt consume him. He forced himself to be optimistic and continued to pay attention to the path they were taking back to civilization.

  By the time they hit the highway, over an hour and a half of rough terrain, twists and turns, and endless forest lay behind them. It was a long way to walk, but Sasha was determined. He might get lost a few times but…

  Sasha glanced up at the sky.

  … it was northeast. Just keep walking northeast… and eventually he’d be free.

  Kel was vibrating with excitement, to the point where the air around him seemed to be electrically charged just from his radiating energy. He had his face plastered against the window and had been told twice by Kheva to stop waving at the other cars.

  When Kheva turned into a Wendy’s, Sasha really feared that Kel was going to suffer a stroke.

  “Stop talking. They’re going to think I broke you out of the god damn asylum!” Kheva said sharply, after Kel had started reciting every item on the menu in a futile bid to help him choose what he wanted.

  Kel bit down on his lips, his eyes bright and brilliant and his hands kneading into each other. He stayed silent though, but it seemed to be causing him physical pain to do so.

  Sasha tried not to smile at this. It was difficult to ignore those endearing qualities in Kel. But even if there were positives to these people, the fact of the matter remained that they were both psychotic and dangerous.

  “Calm down, for fuck sakes, Keluva. It’s a triple cheeseburger not the Holy Grail,” Kheva hissed after Kel had squealed upon hearing Kheva’s order. “This is why I leave you at home.”

  “You know what would really do him good?” Sasha asked nonchalantly. “An energy drink.”

  Sasha glanced over to see Kheva giving him a flat look.

  Kheva pulled up to the second window and got their food, and after marvelling about how delicious the hamburger and fries looked, and how his chocolate milkshake tasted, Kel filled his mouth with food, and finally… finally… the vehicle was quiet.

  And what was better? Sasha got to feed himself again. He enjoyed his own triple cheeseburger meal and started looking for landmarks that would tell him where he was.

  As Kheva drove deeper into the city, he started to see just how big it was. This definitely wasn’t Cranden, that was for sure, or even Courtenay… it kind of looked like…

  “Nanaimo? Is that where we are?” Sasha asked. He’d inhaled his food and was now sucking on his milkshake. Kel’s meal was long gone and he was now digging around the paper bag for loose fries.

  “Correct,” Kheva said. He handed the rest of his fries to Kel and dug out a piece of gum from a plastic container in a cup holder. “We’re going to be food shopping, then I’m dropping you off at a movie while I do some personal business.”

  “A MOVIE!” Kel exclaimed. Kheva groaned and rubbed his temple but remained quiet.

  But anxiety was already humming below Sasha’s skin. He looked outside, watching the other cars speed down the highway, and behind those cars, large shopping plazas and office buildings. There were so many people, the city so huge…

  Sasha started to feel the anxiety grow at a quick pace.

  And when Kheva pulled into a Walmart, that panicked feeling had bred and multiplied, enough for him to grip his seatbelt when Kheva turned off the truck.

  Sasha swallowed. He hadn’t been in a Walmart in four years. There were too many people in there, in such closed quarters, with their shopping carts and horrible attitudes. What if they talked to them? He was wearing nice clothes, a leather jacket, grey button-down, and black pants, his face was all done up… they’d be more inclined to stare at him now. He wouldn’t blend in.

  And with Kel being excited about things… Kheva telling him to be quiet…

  The panic began to bubble over, to the point where when Kheva and Kel exited the truck, Sasha stayed where he was.

  Kheva glanced up at him as he put his wallet into his pants pocket. “Get out of the truck,” he said.

  Sasha gave the entrance to the Walmart a scared look. “Can’t I stay here?” he asked quietly. He wondered if Kel and Kheva knew about his social anxiety. It had been obvious that they’d been stalking him for some time, but how much about him did they actually know? “You… I don’t really like being in public places.” He rubbed his nose nervously and stared at his feet, knowing full well that this would earn scorn and anger from Kheva.

  And he was rig
ht. Sasha was surprised to feel an electric spark tickle the outside of his brain. His brow furrowed at this and he rubbed his head, then glanced in Kheva’s direction.

  Kheva was glaring back at him.

  “What are you afraid of?” Kheva said, his voice so cold a shiver went up Sasha’s spine. Kel was several meters behind Kheva, looking anxious to get into the store. Sasha didn’t understand it. He was more isolated than all of them, and yet he couldn’t wait to go in.

  “I don’t… like people,” Sasha whispered. He could feel himself breaking out in a cold sweat.

  “Come on, Sashy!” Kel called. Kheva’s head snapped towards Kel and the excited man suddenly became quiet, his smile fading also.

  “You… don’t like… people?” Kheva’s voice dropped; he’d said and enunciated every word like he was spitting out something disgusting.

  Sasha cowered, going over every detail of his shoes. Black Doc Martens, he’d never owned a pair before but Kel had put them on his feet. They had… four holes in the front for the laces, yellowy-orange laces, tied with bows…

  “Look at me, nightcrawler!” Kheva suddenly snapped.

  Sasha sighed and looked up at Kheva. Those strange eyes were green flames with a golden coin on top, and they were in the process of trying to engulf Sasha and burn him to a pile of ash.

  “Get the hell out of there,” Kheva said. He reached out and grabbed Sasha’s arm and pulled him out of the truck cab, then whirled him around until he was facing the front of the grey brick building with the big blue sign.

  There were people walking in, some pushing shopping carts, others holding the hands of small children. All of them not thinking twice about going out in public, or speaking to people. Hell, some of them even initiated conversation.

  “Who are you afraid of?” Kheva said harshly. “The fat woman in the motorized scooter? The two-year-old in the shopping cart? Tell me, nightcrawler, are you afraid of the teller who won’t remember who the hell you are twenty seconds after leaving? You are a god damn nightcrawler whose worth surpasses all those but me and him. Stop embarrassing yourself.” He clenched Sasha’s hand and started walking towards the entrance.