“What’s with you?” he asked, still looking ahead as he reached across my thigh to slap the horse’s rear with the reins. A spark of electricity shot through my body at his touch which just made me angrier causing my laughter to subside.
“Oh, it’s nothing.” My response was curt. The underside of my thighs were sweating against my crumpled dress and the horse’s back.
“You shouldn’t be out in the city. It’s too dangerous for a girl.” I noticed there was something different about the way he spoke. The timbre of his voice was almost musical. I started to wonder—is this boy for real? He was just too perfect.
All I wanted to do was try to figure him out, but my mind flooded with guilt and my thoughts shifted to worry over my mother who was in critical condition. “I know. I wouldn’t have gone to the city, but it was an emergency.” I rolled my eyes, uneasy with the way his calm demeanor contrasted with my edginess.
I was surprised how well he rode bareback on an unfamiliar horse. Most of the school boys I knew before the downfall of the U.S. knew nothing about animals. They were all city boys. My mother who grew up in the mountains had taught me how to ride.
He squeezed the sides of the horse with his heels and legs to get it to run even faster. Then he made a high pitched kissing sound with his lips, the kind that only experienced riders used to command horses. “What happened?” His silky voice was low and smooth.
“Um, well… while my mother was gathering greens and other fresh edibles, a human stabbed her and took her food.”
“Oh,” his tone was careful. I could feel the vibrations of his body as I held onto him.
“I have to give her these antibiotics.” I tapped the plastic bag in my dress pocket even though he couldn’t see what I was doing.
He sighed. “People are desperate for food. Life has become unimportant.”
“Tell me about it,” I responded gravely.
“I’ll take you to her. You shouldn’t be out alone.”
“Thank you.” I didn’t want to show him where I lived, but I figured, considering that my mother had been stabbed on the island, I might be safer with this strange boy than I would be alone. He was swift and strong. I would take a chance on him. At that moment, something inside of me told me that I could trust him. “Just follow the trail to the canyon.”
I was nervous about my mother’s well being. When I left her in our cave, she was unconscious though the bleeding had stopped. I assumed she would refuse the antibiotics because she believed in natural healing methods, but we didn’t have time for that and she wasn’t strong enough to heal herself.
The rest of the ride we were silent as the horse galloped onward. White clouds waded above in the black sky. The gelding panted and snorted as he ran homeward. The closer we got, the faster he ran whinnying occasionally to the clan of horses in the canyon. A cloud of dust followed behind.
The boy tightened the reins as we entered the notch in the earth, slowing the dark haired creature to a walk.
“Cross the ravine there and at the end we can let the animal go,” I spoke quietly so to not bring attention to us, but the gelding snorted and threw his head in excitement.
We dismounted at the edge beside the woods and set him free.
The boy gazed ironically at me lifting an eyebrow. “You live way out here?”
“Actually, I live past the trees on a small island out at sea.”
He chuckled and shook his head as he helped me out of the canyon into the woods. When we got to the shore, he said, “You have a boat?”
My face reddened and I looked at him uncomfortably. “I swam.”
“You swam all the way from the island?” His bright eyes widened and he chuckled some more. “Ok, let’s go.” The look in his gaze sparkled with determination.
Though I usually leave my clothes at the tree, I didn’t want him to see me naked so I decided to leave them on. “Maybe you should stay. I’m a strong swimmer and you might slow me down.” At that point, I considered ditching him.
He laughed again. His smile turned crooked. “I can keep up.”
His confidence amazed me. “Ok.” My voice was skeptical. Then I started to rush into the ocean figuring I’d lose him in the waves. Nobody could keep up with me in the water.
“Whoa—wait a minute there.”
I turned to him. “What?”
“Give me the antibiotics. We can’t have them dissolving in the ocean.” His face was hard now.
My eyes widened. “You’re right.” I blushed, quickly retrieving the bag from my pocket. They were still dry.
There was a new seriousness in his expression. “I can hold it above the water as I swim.”
“Really? What? Are you some kind of superhero or something?” My voice was sarcastic and condescending.
“Just give me the medicine.” He took it from me, but he wasn’t smiling anymore.
I looked at him trying to read his face, but he was expressionless now. “Follow me,” I said and then dove into the water.
He pursued behind closer to the surface. It was true—he was an unusually strong swimmer. I couldn’t believe he was keeping up. I reasoned that my dress must be slowing me down.
It was pitch black out at sea, but the sky was clearer now and the stars and moon lit the surface in twinkles and shimmers. I loved the ocean. The cool water felt soothing to my dry skin, but I was anxious to get to my mother.
When we reached the island, I directed him to swim with me to an isolated side near our cave where my mother and I hid from the dangers of thieving, murderous humans and from the serpent people who had not infiltrated the island yet.
We climbed into the tide pools, stepping over starfish and sea urchins and from there onto dry land. Palm trees rustled in the hot wind. The warm sand bit at my legs.
His black pants and t-shirt clung to his lean, muscular body. He must have left his shoes on the mainland because he was barefoot now like me.
I was concerned that he might injure his feet. Another one of my strange deformities was that I had very thick skin on my lower appendages that was almost immune to minor injuries.
I motioned him over to the cave. We entered through a camouflaged access hidden by brush and young palms. But, once inside, I saw that our cave had been ransacked, my mother’s makeshift bed was blood soaked, and she was gone.
I looked at the boy, terror in my eyes. A fierce expression spread across his face. At once, he grabbed me by the hair and threw me to the ground.
3
A man was coming at me from behind with an axe. The boy grabbed the weapon from his hand with perfect precision and side swiped his legs out from beneath him causing him to fall onto his back where the boy jumped on top of him holding the blade to his neck.
“Where is the woman?” the boy demanded.
I scrambled to my feet.
“The serpent people want her. We just needed the money. Nothing personal.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s just outside tied up at the lagoon. We didn’t take her to them yet.”
“How many of you are there?”
“It’s just me and my wife. My wife’s watching her.”
The boy shook his head in disgust. “Is she conscious?”
“Yeah—she’s alive. We really just wanted the girl. She’s worth more.”
“Stand up and take us to her.”
The man stood up, rubbing his shiny balding head. He was shorter than the boy. His body sagged from his sleeveless shirt.
“Keep your hands up or I’ll kill you.”
“Hey, hey, hey—we’ll give her back.”
We followed him through the trees to the lagoon. My wet dress clung to my body, but the hot air was drying it fast. As we walked, I twisted a strand of my long wet hair in my fingers as I often did when I was nervous. The boy stepped carefully over the stones and twigs upon the ground apparently trying to protect his bare feet.
When we got to the lagoon, the man hollered out, “Vataka—
they caught me. Come out with your hands up. We’re giving the woman back.”
“I ain’t giving her back for free,” the woman hollered through the trees blocking the lagoon from our line of vision. If they want her, they have to pay me.”
Suddenly, the balding man lunged at the boy trying to grab the axe from his hand, but the boy swung the axe across his neck in one clean slice. His head fell to the ground. Then the boy charged through the trees and grabbed the woman by the neck twisting her head in one slick motion. She fell lifeless to the ground.
Though I had seen a lot of death and brutal fighting in the city before we took to the island, I had never witnessed such agility and precise combat skills first hand as this boy possessed. I felt like I was with a dome cinema hero.
We rushed to my mother. She was tied up as the man said, but she was conscious. Her long sandy blonde hair draped over her body, but it fell to the side of her injury. The knife wound in her thigh looked infected, but it wasn’t bleeding.
“Praise God, I’m Ok,” she nearly whispered. Her voice was weak and scratchy. “Cordellia, when I woke up and you were gone, I was so worried about you.”
“Oh, Mom!” I held her in my arms and didn’t want to let go. Even with everything she’d been through, she still smelled of delicious herbs and spices. “You look better than when I left.”
As I released her, the boy untied her carefully.
“I’m fine,” she wiped her blood shot hazel eyes. They just took my herbs and other supplies. I need to kill the infection.” Her forehead was sweating.
“This is…” I looked at the boy realizing I didn’t even know his name.
“Hi, I’m Shaul Hainsworth,” he said politely shaking my mother’s hand as he released the last knot. The rope fell from her body.
“Patravia Dressemme.” She smiled weakly at Shaul. “How did you learn to fight like that?” Her face was flush from fever.
“I’ve studied combat since I was a tyke.” He looked down at his hands examining them on both sides.
I looked at him perplexed. “Why’d you do that?” I felt like he wasn’t telling us something. It just seemed so odd to study such advanced sorts of fighting as a toddler. Where would he find someone to teach him how to kill like an assassin?
“It’s a long story,” he smiled to himself. “I’ll have to tell you about that when we have more time.” He looked up at me through his dark eye lashes.
I couldn’t gage his thoughts. Was he flirting with me?
“It’s good to have someone like you around,” My mother whispered and laughed softly. “Thank you for saving my life,” she sighed.
“It’s a pleasure.” He looked at me with that disturbing crooked grin that made my pulse speed up. Then he reached into his pocket. “Take this.” He handed her an antibiotic pill while still looking at me unwaveringly.
“Antiboitics?” she questioned.
Shaul nodded, now turning his gaze to her. “There’s no time to gather herbs. That injury is too infected.” He paused for a second as he looked at the injury and then back at her. “The pain’s intense, but you’re going to be Ok.” He sounded sincerely empathetic. “I wish we could heal this wound naturally for you, but the infection is too strong at this point.”
I was surprised how unfazed he was by my mother’s inclinations toward natural healing methods over the dogmas of science as she put it. Most boys our age thought her ideas were kooky and incomprehensible. But, the way he spoke so casually about it, it seemed like he was familiar with the practice.
“You’re right,” she agreed. “At this point I have to take the antibiotics. God has brought the cure.” She swallowed the pill. “How did you get them?”
“I went to the city, Mom. I traded them for seafood.”
Her eyes widened. “You shouldn’t have done that. It’s too dangerous.”
“I know. Shaul saved me from a close call.” I clenched my fists when I said that. I still wondered if he had been the one watching me from inside the bushes earlier. Had he followed me all the way to Sunset Boulevard? If so—how?
My mother shook her head in disapproval.
And if Shaul hadn’t followed me earlier, I wondered what he was doing on Sunset Boulevard at night. It seemed like a strange place to be.
Before, I had a chance to ask, my mother looked over at him. “Thank you for taking care of my daughter.” She hugged her chest and sort of rocked back and forth slightly. I think she was more traumatized than she let on.
He was gazing at the dead bodies. “How did your bed get soaked in blood?” he asked, not looking up from the man’s decapitated head that had rolled through the trees and lodged itself between some rocks near us.
“That balding man had a partner when he first came to get me. They got into a disagreement about what to do with me and he stabbed the other man several times upon my bed. He and his wife dragged the dead man out of the cave before they stole all of my supplies.” My mother shook her head at the memories.
“Some other man paid the man and his wife for my things.” She stuck her hand in the lagoon weakly, swirling the black water with her fingers. “This place is not safe for us anymore, Cordellia. They were talking of other people who know of our cave now.”
“What are we going to do?”
Shaul reached into the dead woman’s pockets and took the gold pieces she must have received from the dishonest transaction. He handed my mother the coins.
Looking first at me and then at her, he said, “I’m headed to a community down south past San Diego in the deep woods of Seneca Mountains that hasn’t been discovered by the serpent people.” He brushed his shiny black hair out of his eyes. “There are supposedly lots of water sources and though the conditions are harsh and dictatorial, the people are assumedly safe.”
“I used to swim in the lake there as a child.” My mother looked away and shook her head. “We can’t go there.”
“Mom,” I turned to her in disagreement. “Where else are we going to go?” I didn’t want to go with Shaul, but we had no better alternatives. Under the circumstances, even if he was a stalker, he seemed like the best bet in this hostile environment.
“I don’t know,” she said wearily. “We’ll travel down south with you, Shaul, and hope for something else along the way. How were you planning to travel?”
“A hydro-cruiser leaves port from the Malibu docks every other morning at 4:00AM. I have a connection. We can gain entrance and hide out in the storage area. I was planning to make my move tonight.”
I looked at him in surprise.
“If we get going,” he continued, “…we can make the departure early this morning. It glides all the way to San Diego.”
I looked to my mother, hopeful.
“Once in San Diego, we can stow away on a cargo turbo train heading further south. They’re not monitored very closely these days, but they still transport supplies for the serpent people. There’s a stop in Pine Valley. From there, I have enough gold to pay for land transportation for all of us to the edge of the mountains.”
“Wow. You have this all figured out,” my mother said faintly. Her sad eyes brightened, looking impressed with Shaul. “Do you have parents?”
“I’m on my own now.” He looked up at the stars twinkling through the trees.
She ran her hand down her neck, empathy in her eyes. “I need to anoint my leg with oleaver balm and wrap my wound in a papus leaf. You two find me a walking stick.”
“We don’t have time for that, Mom.” I looked at Shaul. “We need to get to the Malibu docks by four.”
Shaul lifted his eyebrows. “Your mom can’t swim with that wound. We’ll have to build a raft and take it to the docks.”
“We have one hidden in the bushes near the shore of the island,” my mother said.
Over the next half hour we found my mother her papus leaves and oleaver balm. Shaul managed to make her a decent walking stick though he insisted on carrying her.
It was strange ha
ving dead bodies on the ground while we prepared to leave, but I had no desire or time to bury them. My mother wanted to, but she was in no condition to dig graves. Instead, she made us cover them with leaves. She said some prayers in Hebrew for them.
We got the raft out of the bushes near the shore and we all got on it. But, just as we were about to push off, Shaul said, “I have something I have to do first.” He stepped off the raft into the shallow water. “I’ll meet you at the dock.”
Before we had a chance to object or question him, he gave our raft a big shove and we were out to sea. It made no sense and I was angry with myself for feeling this way, but I was afraid I would never see him again. And that frightened me more than the possibility that he had been the one watching me from inside the bushes.
I bit my lip so hard that it started to bleed as we drifted away from this unfathomable hero with black hair and penetrating silver eyes.
4
The makeshift raft was difficult to maneuver, but I managed Ok. I wished we could just swim to the Malibu dock. My body yearned to jump into the ocean and glide through the black gentle waves, but my mother needed me.
I laughed when she insisted on rowing. With such a stab wound in her leg, she needed to reserve her energy for our travels down south. I was surprised how much stronger she already looked.
It was peaceful at night under the splendorous constellations that lit the dark sky. There were no other boats out, but we could see the dock in the distance bright with flood lights, the massive winged hydro-cruiser tied to it.
I paddled through a school of jelly fish.
“How beautiful,” my mother said, leaning over the side of the raft.
There were hundreds of them. They shimmered in the darkness in phosphorescent dance.
“Don’t push me in,” I joked with her.
“Oh, boy, would that hurt!” She gazed out at the horizon. “You really shouldn’t have a boyfriend yet, Cordellia. You haven’t even reached puberty…”
Girl Possessed (Book 1 of The Girl Trilogy) Page 2
