by Hunt, Jack
“Am I what?”
“Speaking from experience. Have you had desires for others while married to Sara?”
He could tell he had just opened Pandora’s box and there was no way of closing it now. “I think we should catch up with Beth.”
She stabbed a finger. “I knew it.” She chuckled.
“Knew what?”
“You have. You’ve had feelings for others while married. That’s the only reason why you are not bouncing off the walls, and the only reason why we are heading back to the Manor.” Landon stopped walking. Dakota continued for a few more steps before turning. “Well, am I right?”
He lifted his gaze to the baby blue sky and narrowed his eyes. “You’re too smart for your own good,” he said grinning.
She laughed. “C’mon then, who was it?”
“Look, I didn’t kiss her. I knew where to draw the line but…”
“But…?” Dakota asked fishing for details.
“I got emotionally involved. There. You happy?”
She nodded, grinning. “Details. More. I want to know.”
Landon continued, “For someone who shuns it you sure seem to be eager to hear about it.” He waved her off. “Maybe later.”
“There might not be a later. Why not confess your sins now?” she said jokingly.
He roared with laughter. “Dakota, you are something else. But I think I’ve already said enough.”
“Oh come on, you can’t leave me hanging now. So you didn’t kiss this woman. Who was she? Where did you meet? How did it end?” She peppered him with one question after another. He groaned.
“I was away from home a lot, okay! Sara and I were going through one of our rough patches. The woman, Emily, worked at the same place as me.”
“The ferry business.”
“Yep. I met her a few times and… I don’t know… something seemed to connect between us. She was funny. Attractive. She didn’t want anything from me. And I guess I felt under the thumb at home. Anyway, Emily had just got out of a bad relationship with another guy and maybe we were able to relate on some strange level.” Dakota listened intently as if his tale was like some daytime soap opera. “It started out as very innocent. Just two co-workers enjoying chatting. I found myself falling for her. I couldn’t get her out of my head. I wanted to talk with her every day. Just seeing her smile made my day. Then like any fool who gets lost following his heart, I started to think that perhaps me and Sara weren’t cut out for one another. That there was a future with Emily and I.”
“So it became an obsession?”
“Obsession is too strong a word. Fascination. Lust. Desire. Whatever makes us go a little crazy. And believe me, the only time I have acted like a fool is when I’ve been in love.”
“So you loved Emily?”
Landon pulled a face. “Love? What is that anyway? A feeling? An action? It seems everyone and his uncle has their ideas about what love is. All I know is that I had strong feelings for her. I wanted to be with her. I just thought if we could meet that I would be able to tell. You know. Like if she was right.”
“Hold on a second. You never met her?”
“No. I met her multiple times just not at that time when this happened. Our communication was through the phone, messaging and whatnot.”
Dakota grimaced. Landon didn’t blame her. As he looked back on it now, it was kind of stupid to lose his head over a woman but the truth was she didn’t seem like any old woman. Emily was something else. The conversation flowed effortlessly.
“Hence the emotional tie,” Dakota said. “Got it.”
Landon continued as they strolled past the bay and several locals on horses rode past them. One of them he recognized as Pat Stephens, an old friend of his. Pat waved and he gave a nod.
“Anyway, I figured if I had such strong feelings for someone other than my wife that I should do what was best and end it with Sara.”
“But you didn’t.”
He shook his head. “No. No I didn’t.”
“Then how did it end? I mean with Emily?”
“Emily was younger than me.”
“Aren’t they always,” she said rolling her eyes.
“Hey, she wasn’t that much younger. We’re not talking half my age. A few years max.”
“That’s a first,” she replied. He wondered why he was telling her all of this and what good could come from it. But he noticed that it was helping him. It had weighed heavily on his mind for years. Even though he hadn’t kissed or slept with Emily he couldn’t help but feel a sense of guilt, that he’d kept this a secret from Sara.
“So…?” Dakota asked.
“She did what any woman who was single would do. She used her common sense and started dating someone else. And made it very clear that I was not in her future. In some ways she did me a favor. Who knows what level of stupidity I would have dropped down into had I followed through with what my heart was telling me.”
“Was it your heart or that thing between your legs?” she muttered, a grin forming.
“Hey. I’m a hot-blooded man like anyone else. But it wasn’t about that. I mean maybe it would have been, had it gone further, but I genuinely enjoyed her company.”
“The woman you never spent time with.”
“I know. I know. It sounds stupid. But when you talk to someone as frequently as we did because of my work, well, you might find yourself falling for them especially if you connect over your mutual relationship issues.” Landon shrugged. It made sense to him.
“But you were married.”
“Ugh. Forget it. Some things people either understand or they don’t.”
She stopped walking this time and he kept going. It was only when he noticed she wasn’t coming that he cast a glance over his shoulder. “What?”
“Just because I haven’t had that experience it doesn’t mean I can’t understand it.”
“Well you seem like you’ve already judged me.”
“Oh and you haven’t judged your wife?”
Landon shook his head. “This is why I didn’t want to get into it. You’re getting all high and mighty about it now. The next thing I know you’ll be throwing scripture at me.”
“I don’t have a religion.”
“That’s good to know but it hasn’t stopped you from throwing shade my way,” he said. Their conversation had now made its way to Beth’s ears. She had stopped walking and was looking at them having a spat. Dakota hurried to catch up with him. He could tell this wasn’t going to end well. “Look, Dakota, can we just drop it? I really don’t need this right now.”
“Yeah. Sure, but don’t treat me like some naïve little girl without any experience. Believe me I’ve dealt with my fair share of troubles.”
“Really? Like what? And don’t say losing your husband and child as I think…”
The words shot out of his mouth so fast and he immediately knew it was wrong but she was pushing his buttons — making him feel guilty for what millions had done all over the world. Of course, those who had an idealistic view of relationships wouldn’t agree but he hadn’t shared it with the hope that she would teach him the proper way to be in a relationship. He already knew. Relationships could be beautiful and ugly all at the same time. A mixture of lofty expectations and tragic letdowns.
“You want to go there?” she asked.
“Might as well, as I haven’t heard a peep out of you about what you’re going through and yet you are all so eager to know how I was coping with losing Ellie, or what I think about Sara’s mistake.”
“Maybe it wasn’t a mistake. Have you thought about that? Maybe she wants to be with Jake. Are you prepared to walk away if that’s the case?”
He chuckled. It was hard to believe they were arguing about something that had nothing to do with her. They must have sounded like an old married couple to Beth who had now made her way over to intervene. “Guys. Guys. Can you hear yourselves?”
“I can hear myself very well. Dakota, I’m not so sure. S
he sure loves the sound of her own voice.”
“Oh nice. Who’s judging who now?”
Landon shook his head and picked up the pace to put some distance between him and her. Thankfully Dakota didn’t push the issue any further. They continued on the rest of the journey in silence, arriving at the Manor a little later than he had hoped for but that was to be expected with all the bickering.
As they came up the driveway, Landon stopped walking. Standing outside tending to a horse was Jake. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered under his breath. He considered turning around and heading back but Jake saw him so he continued on.
Jake must have felt the awkwardness of the situation as he was quick to point out that he wasn’t staying and had just dropped by to update the home on the meeting for the evening. Landon just smiled politely and walked into the house. He heard Beth outside talking with Jake as he made his way down to the kitchen.
“Landon,” Rita said. “You’re back.”
“Yeah. Not sure for how long,” he muttered looking over at Sara who was nursing a cup of coffee. In all truth he couldn’t blame her because to do so he would have to tell her of his own mistake. Then again was it a mistake? Perhaps Dakota was right. His relationship with Sara hadn’t exactly been a bed of roses, more thorns than anything else. They had good times but he wasn’t sure there was enough there to hold them, especially after seven months apart.
11
Escape was impossible. They were tied to posts in the center of the camp, always under scrutiny from the campers. If it wasn’t for the fact that they weren’t dead, he might have been worried but as it stood they had been kept alive for a reason — he just hadn’t figured out why.
“This is so humiliating,” Eddie said, going red in the face.
Max cast a glance sideways to see his pant leg soaked. Eddie had told them he needed to go for a piss but they just thought it was a ploy to escape.
“Ah, could be worse,” Max replied.
“How could it be any worse?”
“You could have shit yourself,” Max replied without a smile.
“Really? Really, Max. I don’t think this is the time to be cracking jokes. This is serious. We might die out here and no one will ever know.”
“You should have thought of that before you charged ahead.”
“Oh this is on me?”
“You wouldn’t listen,” he said observing some blonde who had been eying him since he’d arrived. She was sitting by a fire using a knife to sharpen a stick. There was something very primitive to their way of life, yet he hadn’t observed anyone eating wild game. In fact he saw them eating out of MREs.
“You mean to your great plan to sneak in here under the cover of darkness?”
“Could have worked.”
“Could have, would have, you’re not helping!”
“Just saying…”
“Don’t say it.”
“I told you so.”
“I told you not to say it,” Eddie replied.
He would have shrugged if his restraints weren’t so tight. Both of them had their hands tied behind an eight-foot wooden post jammed into the ground. He had no idea what it was for as there were three of them but they were spread about four feet apart and close to the firepit where the campers could keep a close watch on them.
“I’m just saying walking in here wasn’t a smart idea.”
“Oh that’s right, you’re the king of being tactically sound. Go ahead, why don’t you beat your chest and tell me some of your war stories, oh great leader,” Eddie said. “Oh that’s right! You don’t have any.”
“You don’t need to have been in the war to know that they weren’t going to listen,” Max replied. The blond girl smiled at him and he returned the gesture hoping that it might give him leverage. He watched her lean in to a girl with braided red hair beside her and they both looked over and chuckled.
“And yet you agreed to go with me,” Eddie said.
“Well, what kind of friend would I be if I just let you go alone?”
“What? Am I supposed to be grateful?”
Max smiled again at the girls, and Eddie must have noticed this time as he was quick to jump all over that. “You’ve got to be joking. Are you flirting?”
“Maybe,” Max said, a smile dancing on his lips.
“Well don’t! Besides, there’s no time for that. We need to figure out how to get out of here before that lunatic Caine returns and decides to peel the flesh from our bones.”
“What do you think I’m doing?” Max replied giving his best ‘let’s hook up’ eyes.
Eddie’s eyes bounced from Max’s to the girl and back again. “Huh. Come to think of it, that might work.” He smiled too and the two girls scowled at Eddie. Max burst out laughing.
“Seriously, you need to work on your game.”
“Game? I’ve got game,” Eddie spat back.
Caine emerged from a tent and made his way over. He had an apple in his hand and was chewing in a sloppy fashion. Eddie immediately went into some spiel about why can’t we all just get along and let bygones be bygones. It was quite amusing.
“I’ve been doing some thinking about the cache. How did you end up with it in your possession?”
Eddie shot Max a look. “Does it matter? They’re yours. Enjoy. Now if you could just untie this—"
“Shut up!” he bellowed in Eddie’s face, covering his face in spit and chunks of apple. “I wasn’t talking to you.” He looked back at Max and got a little closer. “For someone that is in a very precarious position, you don’t look at all scared.”
“Should I be?” Max asked.
“Very much so,” Caine replied.
Max pulled a face. “I guess in seven months I’ve come across my fair share of dicks, what’s one more?”
Caine sneered and removed his knife in an attempt to intimidate him but it wasn’t working.
Despite his reluctance to go into the camp with Eddie, Max really didn’t give two shits whether he died or not. It was the reason why he agreed. Sure, there was Beth now but from his experience, nothing good that was worth a lick of salt lasted in his world. And this whole event had only proven that.
“Where did you get the weapons?”
“From your mother,” Max replied. Caine smiled then lashed out striking him in the face with a hard fist.
“You want to go down that road? Oh I can accommodate.”
Max spat blood on the ground. “Does that accommodation come with a jacuzzi because I’ve always been fond of…” Before he could finish, Caine struck him again then lifted the knife to his neck.
“Go on. What were you going to say? I’m just aching to do it.”
Blood trickled out the corner of Max’s mouth. “And yet here I am. Still alive,” he muttered, taunting him before spitting out a mouthful again. Caine snorted then pulled back his hand to strike him again when the girl with blond hair hurried over and whispered something into his ear. Caine took a step back and they had an exchange. Max tried to make out what they were saying but could only catch a few words. Certainly not enough to get the gist of it.
He shot Max another glare and pointed at him. “We’ll continue this later.”
“I do hope so. Maybe you can remember to bring someone who hits harder.” He smirked, flashing red teeth. Caine stormed off, yelled to some of those in camp and they disappeared into the forest. The blonde stood there for a moment before turning to him.
“You know you really shouldn’t taunt him.”
“Why because underneath that rough exterior he’s a big teddy bear?” Max replied with a grin.
“Actually he is. The name’s Lindsay.”
She smiled and shifted her weight from one foot to the next, her eyes looking him up and down like an ice cream.
“I also come in three other flavors,” he said. “But we can talk about that when you loosen these restraints.”
She pursed her lips. “Um, I can’t do that.”
“
Come on. You can’t honestly agree with this?”
“I don’t but it’s for our safety.”
“We’re unarmed.”
She stared at him. “Roughly a month ago we had a group stroll into camp. A lot like you two. They just wanted a bed for the night, some food and they’d be on their way the next day. It nearly cost us the life of a friend of ours.” She motioned to a bearded fellow across the way who was peeling potatoes. He had a black patch covering one eye.
“They killed one of ours, and carved out his eye while we were sleeping. Had it not been for the quick actions of Caine, they might have done a lot more damage.”
“Sorry to hear that,” he said in the most unenthusiastic manner. “And forgive me if I don’t shed a tear but welcome to the blackout. Shit happens.”
“That’s right. And that’s why you’re tied up,” she said turning to leave. “And if I were you I would be careful what you say to Caine. You’re lucky you’re still alive.”
“Lindsay.”
She looked over her shoulder.
“We just wanted the weapons.”
“Everyone wants something,” she replied.
“And you?” he asked. That got a confused look out of her.
Her brow furrowed. “I’m not sure I follow.”
“What are you all doing out here?”
She turned back to him and reached into her pocket and removed a stick of gum. She unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. “Everyone you see here has lost a parent, a brother, a sister or an entire family to disease, hunger, but mostly brutality. Caine brought us together. He created this place. Somewhere that’s safe. Off the radar of towns and cities. Most people don’t come here. You really have to go out of your way to find us. It’s safe. People respect him for that.”
She went to walk away and he said, “I lost a sister. Who did you lose?”
Without looking back she replied. “Everyone.”
“So was it a success?” Colonel Lukeman asked Bennington.
“We shall see.”
