Chosen (The Urban Legends Series Book 1)

by R. S. Broadhead

  Without making a sound, I crept back the way I’d come and through the back door. Once outside, I wasn’t sure how to handle this. Everyone in this town was in on whatever was going on. They weren’t going to let me leave. It was just as I had suspected, yet refused, to make into a concrete thought, telling myself I had watched too many crime shows, that I had reported too many vicious attacks in the city. There was no way my feeling could be right. Things like that were few and far between.

  It would never happen to me.

  I was wrong.

  I gasped for air. My lungs didn’t want to cooperate. My chest ached as it heaved, desperately pulling air in. The night was chilled, already turning my cheeks cold. My head slumped, trying to focus on the dark ground. It was fuzzy, distorted. I blinked to clear my vision. Nothing worked. I leaned forward, placing my palms on my knees for support. If I passed out here, they would find me. Harold and those men would be back any minute. I would have no chance for escaping. Footsteps from inside jerked me out of my hopeless state. My back went rigid. In fact, my entire body froze, desperately trying to figure out if they were coming outside.

  “Come with me,” a voice came from the front of the building, causing me to jump. A slender silhouette stood in the shadows, under the overhang of the roof.

  I didn’t say anything. My hands clenched ready to fight. No one was taking me without a fight. The figure took a few steps toward me, making me tense even more. The yellow halo from the streetlight hit wiry, gray hair as Mae came into view.

  “Mae?”

  “We have to hurry. Or you’re going to die tonight.” She looked up at the sky. “It’s almost time. They’ll be looking for you any minute.”

  “Why are you helping me?”

  Then it hit me. Her daughter hadn’t died in an accident like Jensen had said. She wasn’t the crazy town drunk. She was a mother still mourning a daughter who’d been taken from her and murdered by the people of this town.

  “They need to be punished. If he doesn’t get his ‘what belongs to him,’ he will punish them.”

  Sounds from inside made both of us fall quiet. I even stopped breathing.

  “Let’s go!”

  She turned and ran, and I followed. What else could I do? She was the only one who was willing to help me. I had to get out of this town, or I would die. Through a patch of woods, she climbed into an old beat-up car. I practically jumped over the back end and yanked the passenger side door open. She started the engine and slammed it into drive.

  “They won’t think to look for you at my house. It’s on the outside of town.”

  I tried to focus on what she was saying, but my mind wouldn’t stop reeling from everything I had learned. The vision that I had of my grandfather at the home. The promise he had been forced to make to that thing … was me. He’d promised me. Of course, he hadn’t known what had been wanted at the time; he’d just needed to save his brother. That promise had backfired on him. Twice. He’d lost his brother anyway, and now, despite everything he had done to prevent me from coming to this place, here I was. I could have left earlier, but I had been too stubborn. I couldn’t leave well enough alone.

  My grandfather hadn’t wanted to share his past with me for a reason. I should have trusted his judgment. Awful things had happened to him here, and now they were about to happen to me. I didn’t want to die in Hell tonight. I wanted to go back home to New York, and never come near this place again. Well, except maybe with the National Guard. This community needed to be exposed for its awful ways. I glanced in the side mirror watching for headlights as the miles were put between us and the town. We slowed down and came to a near stop.

  I tensed and looked at Mae. “What are you doing?”

  We turned down a dirt drive before she looked over to me. “I live down here.” More than anything, I wanted to keep going, but at least I wasn’t in the heart of town anymore. I had to hope that Mae was right that they wouldn’t ever think to look for me here. Maybe I was safe. I just needed to survive the night.

  We pulled in front of a small house and stopped. I followed her into the rundown living room. It was cluttered and looked as if she hadn’t cleaned it in years.

  “Find a place to sit. I’ll get you something for your head.” With the rush of adrenaline, I’d forgotten about the bloody mess I must have been. I pushed some clothes to the side and sat on the edge of the cushion. Every sound made me jump. I glanced out the window, searching for any movement in the yard.

  “Here.”

  I jerked around. “Sorry. I’m jumpy.”

  “You have a reason to be.” She placed a bowlful of water down in front of me with a towel next to it. She dipped the towel in and wrung it out. “May I?”

  I twisted, allowing her access to the wound. The water turned to a deep red as she wiped the spot on my head. It burned, causing me to wince.

  “That’s as good as I can get it. Someone knocked you pretty damn good.”

  “Harold.”

  She didn’t say anything; she had probably expected it was he.

  “Mae, can I ask you something?” I tugged on my sweatshirt, and dirt from Harold’s house wafted up.

  She shuffled around the room, humming a tune I wasn’t familiar with.

  When she didn’t respond, I decided to press on. “Your daughter was killed by them, wasn’t she?” I thought I would start with something personal. Something that touched her anger and would make her start talking.

  “They took her and offered her to him for their own selfish needs. They say that we have to be prepared to sacrifice one of our own when the children can’t get an outsider.”

  “The children? The ones with black eyes?”

  She nodded.

  “They bring people into the town to give to him?”

  “Yes. They’ll go from house to house until someone lets them in. Most people can sense something is off about them, but the ones that feel bad for them because they’re kids … Well, it doesn’t end good for them. They get brought back here and given to him.”

  “Who is … him?” I could picture every detail about him. Both versions. The seductive one who lured me in and the one who was terrifying.

  “According to the religion, his name is Birsha, the devourer of souls.” She leaned back against the chair, locking eyes with me.

  I swallowed hard, thinking back. I hadn’t let the children in, so that didn’t make sense in my case. “Is that what they want me for?”

  “Oh, no. You’re different. If you’ve seen the children, it’s only because they’ve been sent to watch you. Make sure you found your way here. Or take care of anyone that was a potential danger to your life or keeping you from coming here.”

  My father. That last night, I never knew who’d taken him. The shoes. Those had been children’s shoes. They’d taken him because he was beating me. My grandfather. He hadn’t wanted me here, hadn’t wanted me around him. Sent me away as soon as I’d graduated high school.

  “Why am I different?”

  “He doesn’t want to eat your soul. He wants to claim it to own, like the children you’ve seen. Those are souls he claimed to help him. That’s their only purpose. You were promised to Birsha. Years ago, Frank’s parents were selected by Harold’s parents to be the first sacrifices. Our town was dying. They struggled with their crops, and everyone was starving. Harold’s parents called on that thing and it’s never left. Birsha requested the year of the Black Moon that the Chosen would be brought here to him. That Chosen One would join him for eternity. Your grandfather was cursed with that. The first girl born with his blood was the one he claimed. You. He came to visit you, didn’t he?”

  “I’ve seen him in the mausoleum if that’s what you mean…”

  She shook her head. “No, before you got here. No one knew where Frank had sent you. He possessed another’s body to find you for the kids to watch.”

  “Ben Ryser!”

  “I’m sure he touched you.”

  I nodded, brushi
ng my fingers along my arm.

  “At that point, you were linked.”

  “That’s what made all the visions start.” Everything was finally coming together. The pieces fit. A thought hit. A ray of light in all the doom. “Nolan.”

  “Huh?” Mae asked, her brows knitting together.

  “I called him from the diner. If I go missing, people will know where to look.” There was hope. Even if something happened to me tonight, maybe it could be stopped from happening to someone else.

  Mae’s laughter dampened my short-lived joy. “What?”

  “The phones in this town only call the locals. My guess is even though you put in his number, someone other than your friend answered. Did he sound different?”

  I thought about it. Gravelly voice. I nodded.

  “The people here knew what was happening with you after you were linked to that thing. I’m sure whoever it was shared personal information with you just so you would think it was this Nolan person you were talking to.”

  He’d mentioned the breakup. Yes, Nolan and I had broken up, but in my heart I knew he would never be that harsh to me in a time of need. We had been together for years. We cared about each other. But something didn’t make sense in what she said. “Mae?”

  She looked at me.

  “If I’m linked to him, wouldn’t he know I was here?”

  Before she answered, lights flooded the living room. Mae’s eyes went over my head. I cowered at the side of the couch, peering through a pair of dusty sheer curtains.

  “I have to get away from this place.” I couldn’t keep my voice from shaking.

  Mae’s lips pressed together, forming a tight line. “Stay here. I’ll get rid of them.” She grabbed her sweater, wrapped it around her, and left me alone with a slam of the front door.

  I inched closer so I could see the porch.

  Mae stood at the top of the stairs, leaning against one of the poles. “What brings everyone out tonight. It’s been so long since I’ve had visitors.”

  A man stepped up to the bottom step, letting his foot rest there but didn’t come any farther. “You know why we’re here.”

  I squinted. The sheriff.

  “We need the girl.”

  “Girl? What girl?” Mae looked down at her nails, acting as if picking something off.

  “Don’t give us that shit, Mae. We know you’ve got her. You’d be the only one stupid enough to try something like this. You know what night it is,” someone from the group behind the sheriff said.

  She stood up straight, her back going rigid. “What’s in it for me?”

  I swallowed hard, letting the curtain fall between my fingers.

  “You want the girl. I want something in return.”

  “What?” the sheriff asked, ascending the step.

  “I want my girl back. If he wants her so bad, he can have her, but I want my girl back. Surely, he has the power to do that.” She bent forward slightly, putting a hand across her midsection as a sob escaped. “Do you know how hard it is?”

  The sheriff climbed another step. He was now only two under her. “I know. The things we sacrifice aren’t fair sometimes. That’s why we need her, so he doesn’t seek vengeance on us for keeping what’s his from him. I’m sure if you tell us where she is and come with us, he’ll grant your request.”

  Mae stopped and ran a quick hand across her eyes. “You think so?”

  The sheriff stepped up directly in front of her. “No.”

  In one fluid motion, he grabbed under Mae’s chin and twirled her toward the front of the house. Then he pulled out his gun.

  Her eyes went wide, meeting mine for a second. I didn’t think her brain had enough time to register what was happening to her because, just as her hands reached his forearm to struggle, the trigger was pulled.

  The pop of light and bang caused my ears to ring. I took two steps back, twirling before lunging into a sprint. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door burst open. People flooded the living room as I rounded the corner into the kitchen.

  He’d killed her. Splattered her brains all over the rotting wood of her porch. I blinked rapidly, stretching my eyes to keep from crying. I fumbled with the lock on the back door. It flung open. I surged out, leaving the house behind as I headed for the woods.

  I crashed through the trees, not caring where I went as long as it was away from those people. Branches caught my hair, tearing it from the roots. My feet crunched the decaying leaves on the floor of the forest. I had to be running parallel with the road. Once I made it far enough, I could cut back to the blacktop. My breath burned in my throat, becoming more ragged the longer I ran. But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t take that chance. Someone could be right behind me. A figure appeared in front of me. I dug my heels deep into the ground and came to an abrupt stop. I twisted, shifting my direction.

  “Piper!” Jensen called out.

  I stopped, bouncing on the tips of my toes, ready to run again at a moment’s notice. My chest heaved as my heart pounded.

  He stepped forward, and I took two back. Jensen attended that church. He was in on this.

  His hand rose, his body not coming any nearer. “I’m not going to let them hurt you. Once I found out that you were the one last night, I didn’t go back. Please … my truck is parked out there. I can get you away from here.”

  Sharp cries and answering shouts rang out from the distance. It was impossible to tell which direction.

  “They’re getting closer.”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  “You shouldn’t. I wouldn’t. But — I like you. I don’t want to see them do this to you. You’ve been through enough. Now please let me help.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could, someone lunged out of the darkness. I stumbled back and fell.

  “Over here. I’ve found her!” His papier-mâché mask seemed to glow against the moonlight, pooling across the ground from above. He stalked forward.

  I pushed back against a tree, trying to stand. I tried to scream, but no sound came from me. I kicked a leg out, which he easily dodged, laughing manically. This was a game to him. I was a mouse, and he was the cat playing with his prey.

  A loud crack sounded off, like a shotgun. The man stood for a moment, took two staggering steps forward, and collapsed.

  Jensen dropped a large rock to the ground.

  I looked between the two. The man on the ground had lost his mask in the fall. He was the man who’d been spying on me in the motel that night.

  “We don’t have much time,” Jensen said.

  I nodded.

  He ran, and I followed. We darted in and out of the shadows, staying low and quiet. Finally, I caught a glimpse of an opening. Only it wasn’t the blacktop. My eyes bulged. I stood facing the clearing behind the barn of the Mazer house. Mae’s house … It must have been where Gerald Harrison had lived years ago. Only the woods between the houses had grown over time. The chair was positioned on the platform now … waiting for me. I licked my dried lips, and fought to get words out.

  “You led me here?”

  “Don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be,” he spat.

  The Jensen I had gotten to know over the course of being in this town was gone. Or had he ever been there? It seemed I had been in the presence of a very talented actor. One that had me fooled all the way till the end.

  “But you killed that man…”

  He shrugged. “A casualty to get you to trust me. He was worthless anyway. Couldn’t even get a simple job done correctly. All he had to do was watch you to make sure you didn’t try to run. Harold should’ve never put him in charge of that.”

  “So, you did it? Babysat me to make sure I didn’t leave?”

  “Someone had to keep you entertained. Otherwise, we would’ve had to lock you up. It was easy, really. You wanted to know about your grandfather so badly. I merely suggested it, and the doctor convinced you it was what you needed to do. Then you just became too nosey.”
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  “Jensen. Please—”

  There was no use. His face lacked any remorse. An aggravated growl erupted as he walked toward me. I tried to fight as much as I could, but I was worn down. I was out of options. There was no reason to run anymore. They would catch me. No one was here to help me, and I couldn’t help myself. It was a hard truth to face. And somehow I knew what I was about to endure. I had seen it. The vision in the hospital had not been a hallucination from medicine. It had been a premonition.

  Jensen clenched my throat, his breath washing over my face. The ice in his eyes was far from the warmth they had once held. Cold gray stared back at me. The eyes of a killer.

  Fear flared in my stomach.

  “Walk.” He let go of me.

  I doubled over, rubbing my neck and gasping for air. I looked back at the woods, thinking of making one final attempt, but that thought was crushed.

  They were everywhere I looked. A mass array of different colors blurred together as their dingy robes danced about their bodies. I had nowhere to go. They closed in on me, pushing along to the platform. I tripped and hit the ground.

  The circle closed in tighter, making me cringe. I shuffled across the dirt, wishing a hole would appear that I could fall through.

  Someone lunged at me, bending at the waist, putting them at face level.

  I dipped low, tucking my chin to my chest to keep his mask from scratching my cheek.

  They all wore the same thing, only decorated differently. This one was dull ivory with black embedded in the creases, showing its age. Red marks were slashed across the long, pointed beak. The sockets were hollowed. The person’s eyes glowed with excitement behind it. Their sadistic nature was even more palpable as a cackle, sounding like a call, escaped their thin-lipped, painted-on smile. The others in the group seemed to get more excited as each one joined together to chant.