Dark Justice: A Supernatural Thriller

by Donnie Light

  Frederick was still lying on the ground, moaning softly. Tobias knew he may not survive the punishment for having attacked Frederick and decided immediately, that he must run for his life.

  What he had not noticed was the large pool of blood accumulating on the ground behind Frederick’s fractured skull.

  § § §

  “I asked you a question boy. What’s your name?” Luke stared into Tobias’ eyes, eager to know if this was the slave that killed Richards’ field boss.

  “Karmanna,” the slave said.

  Luke looked at Vince. “Is this the one?” he asked.

  “I didn’t hear the name,” Vince said. “But I’d bet my bottom dollar that this here’s the slave they’re lookin’ for.”

  “Then I’ll be guessin’ there’s a reward out for a renegade slave like him,” Luke said as he looked Tobias over again.

  Luke walked back toward the fire and dug into one of the bags. He pulled out a bottle and held it up over his head for Vince to see.

  “I been savin’ the last few swallows for a special occasion,” he said as a grin spread across his face. “I guess that this may be the one!”

  Luke pulled out the cork and put the bottle to his lips.

  He had just begun to rub his ample belly when Tobias heard a thin sound from the woods. Luke dropped the bottle and yelled out, spraying liquor as he fell to the ground. It happened so fast that Tobias did not see the arrow sticking out of Luke’s side until Vince ran over to see what the yelling was about.

  Vince also did not see the arrow in Luke’s side until it was too late. Just as he saw it, another arrow pierced his own back, just to one side of the spine. He also screamed and reached frantically behind himself. His hands searched for the cause of the pain, but could not reach it. Another arrow pierced Vince’s side, this one causing him to fall to his knees. Before Vince could fall over, a third and fourth arrow also found their marks. Vince was dead when he landed facedown in the dirt.

  Luke was still alive. He squirmed around on the ground, blood beginning to flow from his mouth. He was reaching for Vince’s gun as another arrow flew into the light. This one ended what little fight Luke had left in him.

  Tobias looked around, frantically, hearing noises from near the horses. He watched as several dark shapes lead the horses deeper into the woods. Three young Indians entered the circle of light from the campfire and began rummaging through Luke and Vince’s things. They gathered the bags, took the guns, and looked around for anything else that might be useful. One of them found a hatchet and hefted it a couple of times to get the feel of it. The other two Indians headed back into the woods, carrying their booty. The one with the hatchet took a couple of practice swings, cleanly cutting the air.

  Tobias sat quietly, afraid to utter a sound and thought he may go unnoticed. He was then horrified as the young Indian with the hatchet made a quick run toward him, drawing the hatchet back behind him, as if readying a blow. Tobias closed his eyes and screamed.

  – Chapter 9 –

  Galen cautiously approached the ditch where the first car had come to rest, flipped onto its top. Two teenagers were struggling to free themselves from the wreck. Cries of pain reached out from someone still in the vehicle.

  Galen helped the two kids crawl out of the shattered windows and instructed them to move away from the wreck and to lie still. He looked into the car and saw the shapes of two other passengers. Quickly opening the med kit, he withdrew the small flashlight used to check pupil reaction. The tiny light threw just enough of a beam to see the other occupants of the car.

  The driver, a young boy, was hopelessly crushed behind the steering wheel, his chest visibly collapsed by the impact with the concrete wall. Galen checked for a pulse and other signs of life. Finding nothing, he moved to the other side of the car. The person on the passenger’s side was a girl. She was conscious and in a lot of pain. She moaned loudly, then screamed as if reliving the moment of the crash. Her head was cut badly, but Galen could not remove her from the wreck without risking further injuries. He tried talking to her, in an attempt to determine her level of consciousness. She made no coherent replies to his questions but seemed to be breathing steadily. He shined the light into her eyes. The pupil of her left eye reacted. The right eye was fixed and dilated.

  “Damn!” Galen shouted. He felt frustrated. He looked at Audra’s med kit, which seemed hopelessly inadequate for this situation. He placed a dressing on the girl’s head and held pressure on it for a moment while he thought. The best he could do was to triage the patients in order of severity and hope that the emergency crews would get there soon.

  He heard the sound of a motor running on the road. A moment later, a man scrambled down into the ditch. “What the heck happened?” he asked as he looked at the wrecked car.

  “Lost control,” Galen said. ”Can you come over here and keep an eye on this one?” He instructed the man to hold pressure on the bandage and to try to talk to the girl. He also instructed the man to call him if the girl stopped breathing.

  The man watched as Galen picked up the med kit. “You a doctor or somethin’?” he asked.

  “Paramedic,” Galen said. “Now keep an eye on her!”

  Galen trotted back over to the two kids who had climbed out of the car. A boy and a girl, they sat under a large tree about twenty yards from the wreck.

  The girl seemed to be in better shape, physically, but was sobbing uncontrollably. “Are they dead?” she asked as Galen approached. “Are they?”

  Galen told her he did not know yet and asked her to sit back down. He had personally seen many accident victims walk away from the wreck only to die later of spinal, internal, or other critical conditions. The flow of adrenalin would keep them going for a while, but eventually, the injuries would manifest themselves causing a worsening condition or death. They called them the walking wounded.

  “Please, just sit still. The ambulance will be here soon,” Galen said, as he turned his attention to the boy. “How are you doing?” he asked. The boy was favoring his left leg and complained of a sore neck, but otherwise seemed as if he would make it.

  The other car had crashed about fifty yards further down the road, but could not be seen from where Galen was.

  Galen shouted to the man who was watching the girl in the car. “How is she?” he asked.

  “Still breathin’, but actin’ kind of out of her head,” he replied.

  “Keep watching her,” Galen shouted as he began to make his way to the other car. He jogged toward the other wreck. He saw headlights coming down the road and hoped it was Audra.

  It was.

  She saw Galen running toward her and stopped her car. “How are they?” she asked, concern covering her face.

  “Looks like one dead, one pretty bad, and two will be okay.”

  “The ambulance and fire department are on their way,” Audra said as she followed Galen into the ditch.

  The second car had flipped end-over-end, evident from the shape of the wreck. Audra had grabbed a regular flashlight from her car and they looked inside.

  There were three kids in the car, all boys, and none of them seemed to be conscious. Galen began checking for a pulse on the driver and Audra ran to the passenger’s side. Most of the windows had been shattered by the impact, the broken glass covering the ground like tiny gemstones.

  Galen again found no pulse on the driver. He slumped over in the front seat, his legs a twisted mess crushed beneath the dash. “What’ve you got over there?” Galen asked as Audra surveyed the other front-seat passenger.

  “I don’t think this one made it,” she said as the horrible look of the knowledge spread across her face.

  “What about the one in the back?”

  Audra looked into the back seat. The passenger back there was moving slightly, lifting his hands.

  “He’s moving,” Audra said.

  Galen tried to gain access to the patient through the twisted metal of the wreck.

  “Can
you reach him from your side?” he asked Audra.

  Audra attempted to wriggle a little further into the wreck, being careful not to injure herself in the process of reaching the victim.

  “I can only get a hand on him,” she said. “The roof’s going have to come off to get to him.”

  Galen nodded his head in agreement. “Damn,” he muttered in frustration. Galen was not accustomed to being on the scene of an accident without the aid of the fire department and their rescue equipment.

  The man who had been keeping an eye on the girl in the other car began to yell.

  “Hey! This girls startin’ to spit up blood!”

  Galen looked at Audra and told her to stay with the patient in the back seat.

  He began to run back to the other vehicle. The man was waving his arm wildly, calling for Galen to hurry. Galen could hear the wail of a siren in the distance, noting that it sounded like a police squad car.

  He reached the other car and took a place beside the girl. A trickle of blood spilled over her bottom lip, mixed with saliva.

  Galen took a close look, and realized that the inside of her mouth was cut, probably by her teeth.

  “She’s still breathing okay,” Galen said, wishing he had a portable suction unit. “You’re doing a great job,” he told the man. “Has she said anything to you?”

  The man shook his head. “She just started to spit up that blood and I thought she was gonna die or somethin’.”

  Galen glanced over at the other two kids still sitting beneath the tree.

  “You guys still okay?” Galen asked them. The boy had his arms around the girl as he cried into his shoulder. He nodded to Galen that they were okay.

  Galen began to walk over to them, but was distracted by a strange buzzing sound. He stopped and listened, having almost forgotten about the ball in all of the excitement. He strained to hear the strange sound. It was difficult to hear anything over the sound of the many sirens in the distance. He looked intently toward the woods, the dark silhouette of the trees visible below the star speckled night sky.

  He saw a small branch quiver then fall from the tree as if it had been clipped of by a pair of shears. Just before he turned to run, he saw the faint light of the ball moving steadily toward him. He turned and scrambled up the ditch to the road. Reaching the road, he turned toward the other wreck. He noticed flashing lights cresting a hill about a half-mile away. He began to yell as he ran toward the other wreck.

  “Audra! It’s here! Now!” he shouted as he ran.

  Audra nearly cracked her head on the wrecked car as she pulled out to listen to him. A feeling of dread quickly crossed over her. She realized that she had also nearly forgotten the thing during the excitement.

  Galen looked over his shoulder as he ran toward the car. The thing angled toward him. It was still glowing faintly, an orange aura beginning to grow around it. It moved at a steady rate. He got to the car and yelled again, hoping that Audra was coming - fast.

  Galen jumped into the driver’s seat of the Mustang and groped desperately for the ignition switch. He cursed beneath his breath when he realized the keys were not in it. In the rear view mirror, Galen could see the ball approaching directly from behind him now. He glanced around to look for Audra, who was just scrambling out of the ditch and onto the road.

  She saw the thing when she reached the road, merely a few feet in front of her. Fear grabbed her. She came to a stop, not knowing what to do. The ball continued on a path toward the car and she could see Galen opening the door. She tried to yell, but the sound that left her was no more than a tiny squeak. She was frozen in place. Her mind screamed for her to run, but her body was paralyzed. Galen leaped out of the car. Their eyes met for an instant. She stared in amazement as she saw what appeared to be ghostly-white snakes slithering beneath the ball. The ball was now between the two of them and continued to move on a course directly toward Galen.

  Galen turned and began to run. He could see the fire trucks coming down the hill ahead of him. He ran up the road about a hundred yards and turned left onto a dark road that went into the woods.

  Audra’s paralyzing fear finally turned her loose. She ran for her car realizing she had habitually pulled the keys from the ignition when she parked it along side the road.

  She saw Galen turn off the road and disappear from sight. The faint glow of the ball was barely visible. The white, snake-things were just a slight glow on the black road. She started the car as the fire trucks began to slow down, approaching the scene of the accident. She sped past them, driving on the shoulder of the road, hoping to catch up with Galen.

  Both sides of the road Galen had turned onto were lined with trees, casting darkness over most of the route. In this rural area, the few streetlights were a considerable distance apart.

  Galen’s pulse was racing and his breaths came in deep pulls. He ran directly down the side of the road, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds trying to locate the ball. This was all like a dream, he thought. One of those dreams where no matter how hard and fast you run, you never seem to make any progress.

  The ball disappeared from sight when he turned the corner as it angled on an intercept course through the woods. After about a quarter mile, Galen saw it directly behind him again. He stepped up his pace a bit, knowing he could not hold it there for long. The ball never wavered from its path. Galen lost sight of the ball’s faint glow as it was washed out by the more powerful street light. The road ahead of him was clear of traffic and seemed to cut through farmland. A cornfield flanked his left and pastures to his right. He looked over his shoulder again and noticed the ball cutting the corner and coming across the pasture toward him. His pace was wearing down and a stitch in his side was a painful reminder of how exhausted he was.

  The sun, still below the horizon, was turning the sky pink in the distant east. He slowed his pace, physically unable to maintain it. Soon, his pace had slowed to no more than a brisk walk. He turned again, and watched the orb as he moved along. It was gaining on him and had closed the distance between them to about thirty yards.

  Galen kept his eye on the glowing sphere as he walked backward. Breathing deeply, he hoped to capture a little more energy with which to run.

  The ball began to flicker and the strange, orange halo again appeared around it. It shone brightly in those last minutes of morning darkness and the halo began to change shapes. Galen scanned the road before him hoping to see the Mustang.

  He turned back to the ball again. Less than fifteen yards behind him, he saw a sight that stole his remaining breath.

  A wall of bright orange flames was creeping silently toward him. Its many tendrils seemed alive with fury, reaching into the air, swirling feverishly. Galen felt no heat from the flames, but was mesmerized by their beauty, while at the same time, terrified of their approach. He watched the wall of fire come nearer, the flames licking out at him, trying to draw him in. The wall of flames was wider than the road, engulfing the ditches on both sides. Galen noticed shapes in the flames. Only slightly darker than the flames themselves, the shapes flowed within them, moving, writhing, churning about. He continued to walk slowly backward, eyes locked on the vision before him. He tried to identify the shapes within the churning fire. The wall grew closer, the shapes moved more vigorously.

  Galen stopped.

  One of the shapes moved forward from deep within the flames. Galen recognized the shape as that of a person whose body was burning violently. He instantly realized the other shapes were also those of people. He could see them more clearly as the wall approached. As they grew closer, he could make out hideously deformed faces enshrouded in the flames. The mouths were gaping holes and the flames were pulled in and blown out as they breathed. The eyes were a pair of dark spots in the flames, the fire rushing over them in hot streams.

  The faces could see him, Galen was sure of it. They silently begged him to deliver them from the flames, to save them, to stop the incredible pain. They reached out to him, pleading. T
heir mouths sucked in and spit out the flames as they cried for his help.

  Galen was totally unaware of his surroundings. He could only focus his attention on the shapes within the flames. They were close now, very close. He started to walk slowly backward again, unaware that he was doing so. His chest had tightened to a point that he could scarcely breathe. The sweat that poured over him turned instantly cold.

  He peered into the flames. Another shape moved to the front of the flames, a smaller shape. He watched as it became evident that it was the shape of a child. Galen could not tell the sex of the child, but it was clutching the burning, blackened shape of a teddy bear. His heart ached to help this child. He wanted to dive into the flames and pull this child from its clutches. Instead, he cried. Galen had just smacked the “wall,” head-on. Too much had happened. His warm, loving heart could not withstand any more pain. The vision of the child was simply the final blow.

  His attention was pulled from the burning child by a light so intense that it could not be ignored. Its brightness was such that the flames seemed drab in comparison. It was about chest high, and merely a few feet away. It moved toward him, slowly but steadily, and Galen had to squint his eyes to see it.

  Galen stood his ground, unmoving.

  A hand grasped Galen from behind, nearly pulling him from his feet. He spun around, his nerves at their ends. He was momentarily blinded from looking into the bright light in the flames.

  “C’mon, Galen, run!”

  Audra dragged him backwards. He seemed lethargic, almost in a stupor, hardly moving on his own. Half running, half stumbling, she managed to push him into the car. Galen fell across the passenger side bucket seat with his legs still hanging out the door. Audra leaped across to the driver’s side and stepped on the gas. Gravel spun from the rear tires sending a spray of rocks and dust into the air as the Mustang shot forward.

  Galen had enough presence of mind to grab onto the console between the seats and drag himself fully into the car. He reached for the door handle and pulled it shut. He sat staring through the windshield but saw nothing but the burned-in images of those horrible blazing faces.