Jude jumped up and paced in a circle like he was lost.
“I came back from looking for firewood to find you having a fight with someone who wasn’t there. Whatever it was, drained you physically. It didn’t take much to get the knife from you, but you were a mess. You slept the whole day, restless, but sleep.”
“I don’t remember any of this.” Jude balled up his fists and pounded his forehead. “Why can’t I…How can I…”
He breathed heavily, his chest heaving in and out. With each deep breath, the forked veins on his muscular hands pulsed.
With a gentle, unhurried, and almost maternal voice, she said, “We rarely do. There’s nothing I can show you that would make this any easier. That's why we can’t waste our lives with those who don’t love us. And that’s why I’m here to help you get back to the one you love.”
She could see his eyes holding back, the corners reddening. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. A new person appearing once Jude was done. Gone was the fear, replaced with determination.
“Then we need to get going. We don’t have much time to—”
“Already got it covered.” She said, motioning to the packed bags. “Eat something, and we can go. Just do me a favor and use the crutch for at least the first half of the day. To keep the weight off your foot.”
“Crutch, what crutch?”
“Just do it. I’m still tired of arguing with crazy.”
Jude stuck his tongue out at her, then wasting no time, scooped up the food from the fire, and began eating it with his bare hands. Marisha watched him lick his fingers dry and pick his teeth with the bone of the freshly devoured trout. As gross as it was, she was glad to see him back to his old self, even if he was fading away.
She watched as he rubbed his arms and slipped the thick, heavy jacket over his shoulders. He flung the pack on and propped the crutch up under his right arm, leaning against it.
“Let’s go. We’ve already wasted too much time today.”
She had better get ready. Jude wasn’t going to stop until he found Kisney.
Colleen
It didn’t take much convincing to get Colleen to get out of the saddle and off her horse for the day. In between throwing up what was left of a lunch of rabbit, and mushrooms that tasted an awful lot like chicken, she tried to sleep or at least close her eyes for a few moments. She wanted to fight the nausea, tell herself she’d be alright. She quickly mounted her horse, only to immediately slide off to go throw up again. Eventually, she passed out, only to be awoken by the sounds and smells of a freshly fueled morning fire.
“You want some breakfast?” Lito said, barely able to hold back a smile, “I’ve got plenty left over. You just tell me how much you'd like, and I’ll—”
Colleen tossed her boot, letting it sail over his head.
“You missed!” he laughed, running his hand through his hair.
“I didn’t miss. I knew exactly where I was aiming. Now next time, you better watch your head.” She said with a sarcastic grin.
They were on the road as the sun had peeked through the Douglas firs, Colleen confidently in the lead, Jackson, as always, riding in his sling.
‘Vancouver fourteen miles,’ read the familiar green mile marker. Her mind flashed back to a time only months before, only then she was blind, on foot, and trusting the instincts of her best friend to lead the way. That very trip had led her to Marisha, just like today, the only difference being, back then, she had no idea what might lie in store for her.
At her side, Colleen felt Jackson squirming. His nose sniffing the air, looking for something. He let out a low whimper.
He wasn’t scared, he smelled something. Something he recognized.
“What is it, boy? What do you smell?”
His wet nose perked up, never settling on anything. Jackson pawed at her saddle, letting her know he wanted down. She unlatched his sling and let him down. Immediately the poodle bolted toward a spot on the side of the road. Colleen jumped down to inspect, but the closer she came, it appeared to be nothing of note. Letting out a low, curious growl, Jackson dug at a spot in the grass. She tried to pull him back, but he bounced back to it, searching again. Feeling with her hand, she was about to give up when her fingers settled on a bit of fabric, stained with a single drop of blood. There was no way to know if it was a good sign or not, but it was a sign to keep going, no matter what they found. She patted the pistol holstered behind her hip and gripped her freshly cleaned blade.
Colleen would be ready.
Marisha
“Jude, we need to stick to the main road now. We’re going to run out of cover the closer we get to the city.”
He let out a grunt to let her know he had heard. He had held on to the crutch longer than she had expected him to. It had already begun to bend under his immense frame. She was about to ask again, but he crept up to the road, looking behind every few seconds.
The sign read, ‘Vancouver eight miles.’
Marisha was beginning to see the ruins of the city coming into view. After several miles of old gas stations and burned-out fast-food restaurants, it was a welcoming sight. She was never so happy to see steel skeletons of ruined monolithic glass buildings. The impossibly tall bridges and overpasses created a maze of concrete, weaving in and out of each other. The orange barrels splashed with red paint and saw horses wrapped with barbed wire at one time might have signaled ‘do not enter’ but those days were long gone.
Normally she would have expected to see signs of settlements on the outskirts of town. Things like smoke rising from snuffed-out fires, but there was none of that. No animal bones, clothing, or signs of anything having happened recently. It was as if this place were empty. Empty of life and yet devoid of death as well.
Why was this freaking her out so much? They certainly weren’t foreign to an empty world. That’s all she had ever known, and yet this one was too empty.
She cupped her hands around her mouth and was about to yell when Jude belted out, “This was a bad idea, get back to cover, now,” following it up with those dire words, “someone is following us.”
Marisha stood there for a second, looking around, seeing nothing. Jude darted back and grabbed her by the arm, jerking her along with him toward the side of the road. She stumbled forward, almost losing her balance. She got her feet under her as he kept pulling toward the overgrown areas.
She looked back and saw absolutely nothing alarming. What had Jude seen?
They continued down the crest of the pavement and ran behind an enormous sculptured arch wrapped in honeysuckle, covered in late-blooming flowers. He dropped to the ground, yanking her down with him. Marisha jerked back her arm, providing it with some relief. She pressed a thumb into the soft area below her rotator cuff and massaged.
“I heard nothing. Are you sure—”
Jude cupped his meaty hand over her mouth, his long nails digging into her cheeks.
“I heard them,” he whispered in a hauntingly low, troubled voice, “They were right behind us.”
“Who?” she said, prying his hand away enough to speak.
“Them!” his tone becoming more shrill and impatient. He was all over the place. She had heard and seen nothing, and now Jude was convinced they had been followed.
Marisha jerked her head away. Now face to face with Jude, she poked a finger into his chest, and whispered, “Tell me who you saw.”
“It was him, Quinn. He had her. I have to get her back.”
She let out an annoyed sigh and rolled over to her back, digging her fingers into the wet soil, hoping to calm down. The switch was still in her pocket, so she slid her hand inside and began to flip it back and forth. The satisfying click soothing her.
Slow and intently, she spoke, “So, you say that Quinn, who we have yet to see since the bridge, has Kisney?”
“Yes,” his eyes were wild, darting back and forth.
“Jude, you said Kisney was in Vancouver. How would he have her now?”
Mar
isha had seen these eyes on Jude before. The night before, right before she disarmed him.
“I don’t… I don’t know. But... he does, and we have to get her.”
He tried to get up and look again but saw he suddenly looked terrified. Morphing into a little boy, now too afraid to check.
“You stay here while I look, okay?”
“But he’s going to see—”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
Marisha slowly stood up, taking precautions just in case Jude wasn’t entirely out of his mind. She raised her knife, slowly turning in a circle.
There was nothing. Not even the sounds of crickets or running water. In frustration, she called out, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer, “Quinn! Show yourself!”
“Stop!” Jude growled at her, “he’ll find us.”
“There’s no one here. There never was. It was all in your head, again.”
She motioned for him to stand up.
“No, no, no, no, you don’t know that. You’re just trying to mess with me.”
It was sad seeing a once powerful man revert to an almost childlike state of fear.
“Why don’t you let me take over for a bit.” Being careful not to upset him, “What do you say? Give you a break and let your nerves settle down. You don’t want to be all strung out when we see Kisney, do you?”
“No, I guess you’re right," he said, as a boyish grin spread across his face, his eyes lighting up at the mere mention of her name.
Marisha tossed back a drink of water and led them ahead, but this time she did so with crippling sadness in her heart. Even if they found Jude’s love, what would be left of him for her to have?
Sixty-Two
Colleen
The trail had run cold over the next few hours. Colleen had let Jackson walk alongside them after he last caught the scent of something they never found, but now even he had lost interest. She let him smell the hair tie once more, hoping it would stir something in him. He perked up and put his nose to the ground, but quickly gave up.
“How did we lose her?” She sighed, nervously chewing on her thumb. “There’s absolutely no sign of anyone anywhere. All that blood has to lead somewhere.”
“Maybe it’s a good sign,” Lito said. “For all we know, they got off the main road to keep their heads down. I wouldn’t blame them, especially if someone in their group was hurt. Judging by that blood, I bet it was more than one person. You might need to be prepared for the worst.”
She cut her eyes at him, her nose turned up, “Where the heck did that come from? I hope you know that’s not as helpful as you planned on it being.”
“What I’m trying to say is, this doesn’t mean she’s hurt.”
She pulled the reins, stopping in the middle of the road. Lito pulled up beside her, but she motioned for him to pass her by. Something felt like it was breaking inside of her. Her tenuous grasp on paper-thin sanity was about to be rent asunder. Here she was in a futile attempt at finding a needle, in a stack of needles. Her body was tired, pregnant, and her mind was racing between every dire scenario. What she needed right now was a mother to tell her it was okay. The one thing that literally had no chance of happening.
Lito stopped and called back, “You okay?”
“Yea,” she sighed out, then leaned against her horse.
Jackson, as always, knew when she wasn’t feeling herself. He stretched his neck out, pressed his wet nose against her fist, and then burrowed it in between clenched fingers. As he licked, she wanted to pull away.
He knew best. He knew when her core was about to bubble up, and it was almost to the surface.
Her mother hadn’t crossed her mind in... she didn’t know how long. She hated herself for having taken so long to broach the subject of mom’s memory. Each day those memories became more distant, more hollow, but each day it became harder to want to relive them. And here she was, about to be a mother herself, doing her best to make her mother's memory disappear through unintentional apathy and fear. She promised herself that if they found Marisha alive, she would not let her mother's memory die.
Colleen let her callused fingers slide over her face and cracked her neck, feeling the tension dissolve. She reached down and picked up Jackson, helping him back into his side sling. She prodded the lethargic horse and weaved around Lito, allowing her to retake the lead. Once they reached the top of the steep hill, the horses would need a break. Gently easing up, they started back down, careful to protect the horse's already weakened legs.
She noticed something off in the distance, maybe half a mile in front of them. Sitting up straight in the saddle, she leaned forward as if that would make the distant view clearer. Perhaps it was the late afternoon sun playing tricks on her, but she could’ve sworn she saw two people walking, more like shuffling. Silently, she beckoned Lido up to her.
“Tell me I’m not seeing things.” She said, pointing to the two figures blurred by the setting sun.
“Depends,” he laughed, “What do you think you see?”
“I think I just found my needle.”
“Your, what?”
“What we’ve been looking for.”
Marisha
Marisha hadn’t noticed that Jude had slowly drifted further and further back. His steps had become little more than dragging his feet along the asphalt. When she finally noticed, he was facing the opposite direction, staring off into the distance. She snapped her fingers, hoping to get his attention, but he just stood there slack-jawed, gawping at empty space.
“Jude?” Her words were soft but full of concern. “Are you still with me, Jude? Come on, buddy. Did I lose you again?”
She gently placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a subtle shake. He just kept staring. Trying several more times with increasing vigor.
Without warning, he jerked his hand up and grabbed hers, twisting her around.
“They’ve found us again! He’s been watching us this whole time.” His words were wobbly in between ragged breaths. “We have to go!”
He darted forward, violently dragging her toward the side of the road. The muscles in her arm screamed out. She finally jerked her arm back, causing him to stop. Once again her heart had been sucked up into her throat—the vessels in the back of her skull, drumming to the beat of their panic.
“Stop it! Just stop it. You’re doing it again! There’s never anyone there, and there never will be. It’s always all in your—” She drew circles in the air with her index finger, “crazy head. I can’t keep doing this, keeping you safe from yourself. You are going to have to recognize that if you ever expect to see Kisney again.”
As Marisha looked into his eyes, there was no sign that any of what she said was registering. He was a blank slate, filled up every few minutes and then erased, only to start all over again. Jude reached out a meaty hand, grabbing hers once more, enveloping it in a death grip. She screamed out, yanking back her arm. It felt like this would be the moment her arm would finally pull from its socket. Pound after fatigued pound, she beat against his fist as he dragged her further off the road. His face was stuck in permanent fear, maybe for her or for himself, or perhaps for the one he loved.
Crack!
The dirt kicked up
She screamed out at the top of her lungs for help, hoping to break through to him. Not out of fear for her own wellbeing, but maybe, just maybe, he would stop.
Crack!
The sound echoed around the valley, drawing his attention from Marisha. His grip lessened. Marisha looked up to see the recognition in the man’s eyes as she pulled back her arm. But this time, there was something else—disappointment. As her eyes drifted down, she could see the red mark quickly blooming outwards from the single gaping wound in his chest. His body folded like wet paper, collapsing to his knees, then dropping face-first into the ground.
Sixty-Three
Lito
Lito's second shot had been right on target. The guy crumpled to the ground like a poorly made shelter. H
e didn’t even have time to return fire. It might not have been what Lito wanted, but it had been the right choice. That guy was going to kill the girl, wasn’t he? Just look at the guy; even hundreds of yards away, Lito could tell he was literally twice her size. He’d make the same decision if he had to do it all over again.
“What…did you do?” Yamuna said, each word getting successively softer.
“The right thing,” he said, his words a little less sure this time.
A wave of realization came over him, remembering Colleen was right beside him. He looked over, watching her glare ahead, her eyes full of disbelief. In an instant, she was off and blowing past him on her horse, barreling down the decline.
He looked down the hill to see the terrified girl pop up and sprint towards the woods. Her arms and legs swinging back and forth. Suddenly she hit the ground, disappearing into the brush next to the woods. He thought he had caught a view of her after she entered, but from this distance, he couldn’t be so sure.
Colleen was halfway down the hill before he had saddled back up. She had cut right, galloping off into the brush, calling out to Marisha. Colleen jumped off her horse and waded deep into the thick foliage, thrashing around, her already weak voice calling out to the girl. In a matter of seconds, she was out of sight.
He tried to follow, but was already far behind. It didn’t help that Yamuna was squeezing him so tight he could barely breathe. There was no way to tell just how thick the growth was until he rode into it. He was only a few feet off course when the lush fall plants were already up to his calves. A few more steps and the weeds were now brushing the tops of his thighs. His horse reared back, refusing to go any further. He would have to take it from here.
Lito turned around in the saddle.
The Maddening: Book 2 in the Terror Saga Page 34
