Virgo's Vice

by Trish Jackson

  “Is he playing some kind of dumb game with us?” Billy sounds pissed.

  “No. He said he would be here.” I stroke Jake on his head. “He would never leave Jake for so long. Something’s wrong.”

  “What?” Jared says with a shrug. “Nothing’s wrong. He’s testing us. It’s all part of the fucking game.”

  “Did anyone manage to see inside when he dipped his wings?” Billy asks.

  Everyone stares at him blankly.

  “I did. There was only one person in the airplane. I’ll swear on the bible there was only one—the pilot.” He turns his gaze to me. “Does Old Man Dockery have a pilot’s license?”

  I shake my head slowly, too angry to talk. When I get a hold of that old man I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind. I don’t care if he’s my boss.

  “Fuck it!” Billy aims a vicious kick at a rock. He follows it, picks it up, and hurls it into the air in the direction the airplane took.

  We start trudging back to camp. I’m so deflated. I’ve known something’s wrong the entire time and now I know I’m right.

  “We’re gonna need some food,” Stretch says. “I’d give anything for a sandwich right now.”

  “Can’t go fishing if they’re all swimming in the fishing hole,” Billy says. “I reckon I’ll take a look at Rodriguez’ traps and see if I can figure out why they’re not working.” He drapes an arm around my shoulder and nuzzles my ear.

  I giggle. “That tickles. Stop.”

  “It tickles nice though, don’t it? I made you laugh, anyhow.”

  He’s right. It is good, and I smile to myself when I think of how he always does seem to manage to make me feel better when I’m down.

  I’m still fuming though. We all are.

  Back in camp, we all drink water, and then Jared and Billy go to check out the bird traps. Stretch busies himself gathering firewood while I fire up my camera and set it up in front of me to film myself. I stare into it.

  “This is the fifth day we’ve been here. We heard an airplane this morning and we were sure it was the Old Man—Allan Dockery that is. Where is he? I can’t believe he’s deserted us like this. And with people dying, I just want out, and I’m not alone. I think I speak for everyone here. If he’d left us with a sat phone like he said he would, at least we would be able to call for help.”

  I get up, turn off the camera, and then blow out air.

  Jake pushes his nose under my hand and whines. I know he’s saying something like, “Cheer up, Lexie. It’s not that bad.” His fur is soft and warm and he makes me feel a little better. I kiss him on his head. “You and Billy are such blessings for me. I don’t know where I would get the strength from if either of you weren’t here.”

  Jake stares at me with his big brown eyes and wags his tail like he understands. I put my arms around him and hug him. Tears spring from my eyes. I don’t care if Stretch hears me. I bury my face in Jake’s soft neck and sob.

  A hand rests on my back, and Stretch sits beside me on the log. “Hey, Lexie. It’s okay.”

  I swipe my hand over my face and blink a few times and sniff.

  “I’m sorry,” I say at last, holding his gaze. His brow is wrinkled and he looks worried. “It’s just . . .”

  “I know. Everything is screwy. I also wish I knew what Old Man Dockery is thinking. The only reason I’m here is because I could use the million dollars. My son has cancer and we can’t afford all the medical fees. Yeah, I made a lot of money when I played basketball, but fortunes go easier than you would think, and I made some dumb investments. My health insurance doesn’t cover half of what has to be done.” His voice breaks and he glances down at his huge hands, which are clasped together.

  “Oh, Stretch, I’m so sorry,” I sniff, and I really, really mean it. It must be horrible.

  “We’ll find another way, but I wish I could get away from this hellhole so I can start searching. You know what I’m saying? There ain’t gonna be any prizes now with those people lying dead.” He points with his chin in the direction of the gravesites.

  I realize I have nothing to gripe about when I compare it with his life, and I’m almost ashamed. “I shouldn’t have let myself go like that.”

  He gives me an encouraging smile. “It’s okay. I understand how frustrating it must be for you. We all feel the same way.”

  Billy and Jared come mooching around from the long grass, where Rodriguez has set his bird traps made from dental floss.

  “Did you . . .?” I ask when we hear a loud squawking and cackling, and the two of them run back to the area they’ve just come from, with Jake on their heels.

  “Yeah,” I hear Jared yelling, and Jake is barking.

  I jump up and rush in their direction, vaguely aware of Stretch galloping behind me.

  “What is it?” I yell, and then I see Billy holding a guinea hen up by its feet. It’s still making a racket. He turns away so I can’t see what he’s doing and when he turns back, the bird’s head is off and blood is gushing from its neck.

  “Let’s all move back to the fire. We may catch another one.” Billy sits on a log and starts plucking the feathers out.

  “We are gonna feast tonight,” Jared says. “Rodriguez didn’t have the traps set up right, and we have corn now. Billy kept some last night.”

  Sure enough, it’s only about twenty minutes later when we hear more squawking.

  At the same time I see Lela’s head over the long grass.

  I’m holding my breath until she’s close enough for me to see her face. It’s calm. Everyone must be okay. I blow out air.

  “Wow, it’s so good to be clean,” she says as she flops down in front of the fire. “What you got?” She peers at the plucked bird in Billy’s hand. She smells of soap and the dirt stains have gone from her face.

  “Guinea hen. Do you have the knife?”

  Jared comes back carrying another bird. “We’re gonna feast tonight,” he chants again.

  “We picked some mushrooms,” Trip says. “That’s about all we have to go with the birds.”

  “Aren’t wild mushrooms poisonous?” I say.

  “Some. You have to know what you’re doing.” Trip drops the black bag on the ground.

  “I asked him the same question,” Sam says. “He says he knows which ones are good. I’m not eating a mushroom until I see Trip eat it first,” she adds.

  Faith goes into the shelter and comes out fresh and clean. She’s combed her hair again and put it up and her clothes still haven’t gotten wrinkled. “You should have come along,” she says.

  I almost glance behind me, but then I realize she’s talking to me.

  Rodriguez finally makes it back into camp, and Billy holds up two birds. “We tweaked the traps a little and they worked,” he said. “That and the corn.”

  “Did anyone hear the airplane?” Everyone stops talking and stares at me. “It flew over us in camp, and then it went down to the airfield.” I point. “We all ran down there and it wasn’t Old . . . Old Man Dockery.”

  Mark stares at me. “You mean, an airplane flew over the airfield but didn’t land?”

  I sigh. “Yeah. I’m still bummed. I was so sure it would be him.”

  “I can’t believe we didn’t hear it. So it just flew away again?”

  “He waggled his wings,” Stretch said. “There was only one person inside it. And then he left.”

  “How come you didn’t hear it?” I say.

  Mark shakes his head. “Beats me. Maybe he didn’t come over us, or we were too close to the waterfall and it drowned out the sound of its engine. It must have been someone the Old Man sent ahead. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

  “Yeah. He did a pass over the bush landing strip out that way.” Billy points. “He must have been checking to see it was still
okay.”

  “I wish I could be as confident as you sound,” I say.

  That night, Billy helps Faith rig up a pole above the fire and he threads the two guinea hens onto it. The smell makes my mouth water. Faith cooks the wild mushrooms in one of the pots.

  We make Trip eat the mushrooms first and wait a while before we feast.

  “So,” Mark says, licking his fingers, “Old Man Dockery will surely be here tomorrow and we’ll be able to go home. I’m sorry none of you can get the million dollars, but the thought of home feels pretty great right now.”

  Chapter 34

  We sit around in camp for half the morning, afraid we’ll miss Old Man Dockery if we go anywhere.

  It’s probably around noon when Billy taps me on my shoulder. “We need food. I’m gonna go catch some fish. I reckon I’ll have a swim, too. You coming?”

  It’s real hot and sweat trickles down the inside of my shirt. It would be nice to wash again, or even to swim in the cool of that water.

  Mark is sitting beside me. “Go,” he says. “I’ll be sure to come get you if the Old Man shows up.”

  Trip has overheard us. “I’ll go back to that deserted village and see if I can get some vegetables. Anyone coming?” He stares at me.

  I hug myself. All I can see is Andy and Kelli lying there dead with a skeleton between them. “Ugh.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Lela says. “I’m not afraid of ghosts.” She stares pointedly at Sam.

  “I’m not scared either. I’m coming.”

  Stretch has decided to stay in camp, so the three of us head down the now familiar pathway toward the creek. Jared walks in front and I’m in the middle with my backpack slung over my shoulders, with Billy taking up the rear. Jake trots beside me as always.

  Billy tickles the back of my neck with a stem of grass and I swat at it. He laughs. “Got ya,” he says, but in the fleeting glance behind me I see something flare in his eyes. Passion and desire.

  Jake charges into the bushes after a rabbit and after a few minutes we hear it cry and know he’s managed to catch it.

  “He got it. Fucking dog got the rabbit,” Jared yells.

  We let him eat it. His food is almost completely depleted.

  “That dog won’t starve when his Kibbles are all gone,” Jared says.

  When we reach the creek, Jared strips off his clothes and leaps into the pool. I watch the whiteness of his skin through the water as he surfaces, and he breaks through, grinning. “This is awesome,” he yells. “Come on.” He strikes out toward the rocks in the center.

  Billy is staring at me with one eyebrow raised.

  Everything suddenly seems to catch up with me. “If the Old Man had come we would be on our way home by now. It seems all wrong that we’re out here swimming and having fun when people are dying all around us. And Trip is gonna come after me, Billy. He’ll do whatever it takes to get you out of the way. The only reason he hasn’t done anything yet is because of Eve and Andy and Kelli dying, and having to bury them and everything, and he didn’t get a chance, but he will—and what if he hurts you or even worse, what if he kills you? I couldn’t bear it if he did something to hurt you.”

  I drop into the grass and sit cross-legged. I fight back the tears. I don’t want to be a baby and cry again. I pick a straw of grass and chew on it. I avoid Billy’s eyes.

  He sits down beside me and puts his arm around my shoulders. “Lexie, I promise you I won’t let that sick asshole hurt you again and if he is the killer, he won’t get me. I’ll be ready for him if he tries anything, and I can take care of myself.” He pauses. “Anyhow, I thought dudes who mess around with little girls didn’t like grown up women.”

  “They don’t usually, but . . . it’s like he thinks he owns me.”

  “I still don’t get it. Why would a full-grown man want to rape a kid of five? It’s too fucking sick.”

  I swallow hard. “He didn’t only do it then.”

  Billy stares at me with a furrowed brow. “You mean, when you were older, too?”

  I sigh and I can’t stop the tears now. “He did it again. Don’t you see? He did it again and again and again for seven years. Whenever he felt like it. I was trapped in that house with him for seven fucking years,” I yell. “I was a kid. I lived with Aunt Jess. He lived with us and he said he would kill her if I told her.”

  “Oh fuck, Lexie. I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.” He pecks my cheek and licks away the tears, and then he holds me close to him and stokes my hair and holds me like that until I stop crying.

  “You gonna be okay?” he says.

  “Yes,” I sniff. “It was a long time ago, and I’ve been in therapy for a bunch of years now.”

  I don’t tell him about how I’ve become so dependent on Zoloft. Jared is still splashing around somewhere in the middle of the pool. “I think I’d like to swim now.”

  Billy moves away and strips off his clothing, throws it on the grass, and smashes into the water, wetting me with the spray. I go behind a bush to take off my clothes. I hesitate before I strip off my bra and panties and run and jump in. Billy swims strongly toward me. I try to escape, but he grabs me and drags me toward him.

  All of a sudden I get that tingly sensation. His face is close to mine and I watch his mouth come down on mine. The feel of it gives me an electric shock and I hear myself moan. He breaks the kiss and turns me and wraps his arms around me and holds me tight from behind. His hard body pressing up against me makes me gasp.

  His hands slide over both breasts and his breathing quickens. He pushes his tongue into my ear and I melt into him. “If he wasn’t here I wouldn’t be able to stop,” he whispers. “I want you so bad,” he pants. “It’s like a fire that’s burning up inside me.”

  “I want you too,” I whisper, and put my hands over his hands. “Let’s go someplace private.” He’s trembling now and I want him. I want to feel all of him.

  “Yes, please.” Billy leads me through the water towards the bank. He stops to kiss me again, deep and long, and his hand slides down between my legs. We get to the shallows and he takes my hand and leads me up the bank and into a private copse behind some thick bushes.

  I sink to the grass and savor his mouth hot on mine. It slides down to my breasts and he takes a nipple into his teeth. I want to scream with the beautiful agony of it. Every nerve end in my body is screaming for more. I have never desired anything more in my entire life.

  He slides his tongue down my body and does things I never dreamed could bring so much—so many waves of pleasure to me, and then he’s inside me and we move together. I want what we’re doing to keep going on forever but I feel him jerk and quiver, hear his soft whisper. “Oh God, oh God.”

  My heart is beating so fast I can hear it in my head. We lie there on the grass for a while.

  “Hey. You guys,” Jared yells. “Someone’s coming.”

  We jump up and retrieve our clothes and hastily dress. Jared is doing the same.

  “There you are,” Stretch says. “I decided to come anyways since I’m the only one who hasn’t bathed.”

  He stares at us and I wonder if anything shows on our faces. My lips are bruised and I know my hair is messed, but it’s probably always messed.

  Reality comes back with a jolt. “The Old Man didn’t come, did he?” I ask.

  “Not yet.” Stretch is stripping off his clothes. “You caught any fish yet?”

  “Haven’t tried,” Billy says with a cocky wink at me.

  Jared has put on his shorts and he’s busying himself with the fishing gear.

  “We can fish upstream, so you’re good,” he says to Stretch.

  That evening we eat fish again. Faith has cooked more of the wild mushrooms, and Trip found more corn and a green vegetable that looks like a weed.


  Mark crouches by my side and whispers in my ear, “After we’ve eaten we need to talk in private. I have something to show you. Something I caught on camera without realizing it.” He glances across at Trip and then moves off and sits on the log a little way away from me.

  The food tastes good but the rice is running out, and it’s not enough, and I lick my plate so I can get every grain. I set the plate down on the ground and stare into the fire, wondering what Mark wants to show me. Billy sits real close beside me, the warmth of his body reminding me of my passion each time he moves. In his eyes I see longing and desire flaring up. His hands tremble when he strokes my leg and I try to act normal even though my breath is coming faster and my heart is pounding.

  Suddenly Mark doubles over and lets out a loud moan.

  I leap to my feet, me and everyone else, and I rush to his side.

  “What is it?” I grip his shoulder, trying to get him to lean back.

  A gurgling sound comes from his throat. He throws up, then pitches forward onto the ground and almost into the fire. Billy grabs his arm and drags him a safe distance away. He lays Mark on his back, presses his fingers to his throat to search for a pulse, then straddles him, and starts pressing on his chest with the heels of both hands, trying to revive him.

  I, together with everyone else, stand and watch in shocked silence.

  Billy pauses to check for a pulse again and redoubles his efforts. “Come on, Mark. Don’t give up on me.”

  After what seems an age, Billy stops and sighs. His shoulders are slumped when he seeks me out and stares into my face.

  Chapter 35

  “No,” I hear myself say as if in a tunnel. “No. Not Mark. You can’t let Mark die. He has a family.” I’m yelling now.

  Billy slowly closes Mark’s eyes and stands up, his jaw tight. The shocked silence lasts another few moments before everyone starts talking at once.