Virgo's Vice

by Trish Jackson

  Could one of the others really be the killer? It may have only been six days, but we’ve been living in very close quarters. That element kind of speeds things up. I think I know each and every one of them fairly well. Even Trip. As much as I hate him, it’s still hard to believe he really could kill another human being in cold blood like that, almost in front of our noses.

  Or is there really some kind of monster? And is it stalking me?

  Billy slid out of bed, trying to hurry. Panic clawed at his chest. Every movement he made reminded him of all his bruises and scrapes, but they were nothing compared with the pain in his knee. It wouldn’t support him at first. He waited impatiently with gritted teeth for the pain to subside a little. It didn’t, but after a few minutes he got used to it and was able to hop to the fire.

  Trip was sitting on the log, smoking his pipe as usual.

  “Have you seen Lexie?” Billy said.

  “Nope. Isn’t she inside?”

  “No. She and Jake are gone. Are you sure you don’t know where she is?”

  “What kind of question is that?” Trip asked, raising his voice.

  Billy stared at Trip, wondering if he had done something bad to her. “I think she’s gone for help. Didn’t you see her leave?” Billy grunted with pain. He slid down onto the log, thrust the leg out in front of him, and rubbed his knee.

  “No. I wasn’t up when she left. I can’t believe Lexie would have gone off on her own, though, even with the mutt. She’s scared of her own shadow.”

  “I need to make a crutch,” Billy said. “Where’s the axe?”

  Trip stood up and fetched the axe and laid it beside Billy.

  Faith emerged from the shelter. Billy stared at her. The way her hair stood on end gave her a wild appearance. She had always had it tied back or up somehow, but now it was flying around all over the place. Her clothes had started to get crumpled now, too. He hadn’t noticed before, but she had lost so much weight she was like a skeleton. Her eyes were sunken into the sockets. They had all lost weight. Not surprising. They only ate one meager meal a day. He stared down at his own arms. They were still fairly well muscled, but they probably had gotten a little thinner.

  “I wish we had more coffee,” Faith said. “There’s only enough left for this morning.” She set the pot on the fire. “We need food.” She directed her gaze at Trip.

  “If I make a crutch, I’ll see if I can help Rodriguez with his traps. He doesn’t seem to understand how they work.” Billy stood, and using the axe for support, he hopped to the outskirts of the camp, where the saplings grew. He found a perfect branch, which he chopped down, and cut to size. It was forked and he made it just long enough to fit the fork under his armpit when it was standing on level ground.

  He used it to get back to the logs by the fire, and tossed the axe back under the big tree on his way.

  Maria, Rodriguez, and Stretch were up, and sitting by the fire drinking coffee.

  Billy went back into the shelter and stared down at Jared.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  Jared moaned. “It hurts everywhere. I feel like I got run over by a train.”

  Billy nodded grimly. “I’ll bring you some coffee.”

  He took the two mugs to the fire and Faith poured coffee into each one. It was weak. She was obviously trying to make it go further. Soon it would run out and they would only have water. If Trip went to fetch it.

  He set Jared’s mug beside him and slid painfully onto one of the trunks.

  “Lexie’s gone.” He ran his fingers through his hair.

  “To get help?” Jared said.

  “Yeah. I guess. I wish I could have gone with her. This really sucks.” Billy tapped his knee. “She snuck out when I was still asleep. Normally I would have woken up but Maria insisted I take three of the Ibuprofen pills. They knocked me out and I didn’t hear a thing.”

  Lela stretched and moaned at the other end of the shelter. “Ouch. My arm hurts,” she said as she struggled into a sitting position. “I gave her my knife.”

  “Who?”

  “Lexie. She told me last night she was gonna go for help and she asked if I still had my Swiss Army Knife.” Lela scratched her head.

  “So she has a compass.”

  “How would she know which way to go?” Jared asked.

  “She’ll follow the creek. I told her that’s what I would do.”

  Lela rubbed her arm and groaned. “I wish there were more of those pills. Is there more coffee?”

  “She’ll do it,” Jared said. “Lexie. She’s a strong woman.”

  “You think so?” Billy said.

  “Sure. She’ll make it okay.”

  Billy stared at him for moment. “I asked her to marry me. Isn’t that crazy? I’ve known her for, what, six days now and I already want to marry her.”

  “Did she say yes?”

  “No. She’s not sure. I can’t blame her. I mean, I know for certain she’s the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

  “She’s beautiful.”

  “Yeah. She makes me feel good when I’m close to her. I hate being away from her. It’s . . . hard to explain. I guess that’s what love does. That’s why I’m so fucking down today. I should be the one getting help for her. She’s scared of things like snakes.”

  “Coffee?” Lela said.

  “Sorry, Lela, you should probably go check yourself. You can walk faster than me.”

  “You know what? Lexie will bring help,” Jared said. “She’s tougher than she seems.”

  “Billy, can you come out here a moment? I need to check your injury and make sure the bandage is not too tight. It will have swelled up overnight,” Maria said from the doorway. She peered past him and spoke to Jared. “I’ll be in to check yours in a few minutes.”

  Billy obediently followed her to the fireside.

  “Lean on this tree if you want. I’m glad you made the crutch, but you’ll need to rest as much as possible.” She unwrapped the bandage, rolling it as she went. Billy stared down at his knee. It was red and twice its normal size. Lines and indents from the bandage crisscrossed his puffy skin.

  “If only we had some ice,” Maria said. “Were those painkillers any help?” She applied a rub made for arthritis. It hurt like hell, but her hands were gentle, and after a little while the heat from the ointment soothed it.

  “They made me feel pretty good for a while, and I slept.”

  “You can take more if you want.

  “I’ll pass on that, but Lela might be okay with taking them.” He hoped there would still be enough for Jared until help arrived.

  “There. Try to rest.”

  “Thanks, Maria. I wish I could help you.” He leaned on the crutch and hobbled to the fire side. His leg felt a little better after she had re-wrapped the bandage.

  “I need someone to help me here,” Trip was helping Jared out of the shelter. Billy limped over. Jared couldn’t stand on his pulverized feet but he needed to relieve himself. He was down on his knees, crawling on the ground.

  “My knees are gonna get torn up now,” he said with a grimace, “but I got to go.”

  Billy could see him shaking with pain with every forward move. His own pain paled in comparison. “Your knees are already pretty messed up,” he said with a grin, hoping to lighten the mood. “Might as well do a good job of it.”

  Come on Lexie, he thought. Come through for us. For Jared.

  Chapter 44

  Tomorrow, Billy figured, he would be able to make it to the creek and see if he could catch some fish. He was able to get around okay with his makeshift crutch, and there was nothing wrong with his other leg and his arms, besides which he wasn’t the kind of person who could sit and idle the time away. He had already seen to it that there
was enough firewood for the day.

  His thoughts turned again to Lexie, as they did every few minutes. He hoped she was safe. How far would she have gotten by now? She had been gone around four hours, so she couldn’t have gotten that far. He wondered if she had remembered what he had told her about following the watercourse. She was a smart girl, so he believed that’s what she would be doing.

  Everyone seemed to have settled into whatever it was they were doing in camp. Rodriguez was watching his traps, Faith was helping Maria with Lela’s splint in between boiling water. Stretch had gone with Trip to haul water and search for more food. Stretch still held onto his shoulder everywhere he went, so Billy didn’t think he’d be much help.

  He sighed and went to check on Jared. He was asleep, but he was restless and moaning. Maria had told Billy the antibiotics had run out now and she didn’t think the dosage she had already given Jared would be enough to keep infection at bay.

  Billy spotted the camera lying in the box. What had Lexie said about it? Oh yes, she thought Mark might have gotten some incriminating footage of the murderer. He had wanted to tell her something the night he was killed. Lexie figured that was why someone had taken the other camera. But they didn’t know it was the wrong one.

  Billy picked up the camera and went outside. A strong gust of wind picked up his hat and blew it around. He turned his gaze up to the sky. The clouds appeared to be building. Darn it. A storm might be heading their way. What would Lexie do for shelter?

  He hobbled to where his hat was lying on the ground and picked it up before he sat down and examined the camera. It took only a few seconds for him to remember what Lexie had shown him. He managed to bring into the viewer the footage of what had already been filmed. He messed around with the buttons until he found the rewind, and started watching. He was searching for the day Andy and Kelli were murdered, when that group were at the deserted village.

  “What are you doing?” Faith asked, staring over his shoulder.

  He hoped she didn’t see him jump. He felt like a schoolboy caught with a joint. “Oh, I was bored and figured I’d see if I can operate this thing and continue the job of recording what’s happening here. With Lexie and Mark both gone, someone should be doing it.”

  “I didn’t know you knew how to use that camera,” Faith said, still watching the footage over his shoulder.

  “I don’t, but I’m teaching myself. There’s still a lot I don’t know.” He shut the camera off and smiled at her. “Better not waste the battery now that the solar charger is missing.” He pointed at the sky. “Do you think there’ll be a storm?”

  The wind gusted, sending swirls of dust and leafy debris around.

  “I hope not,” Faith said. “I don’t think the shelter will keep heavy rain out.” She was still staring at the camera on his lap.

  Lela arrived and settled herself on the log. Her arm hung close to her side in a makeshift sling. The dark rings under her eyes emphasized the paleness of her face. “Maria’s changing Jared’s dressings.”

  Billy stood, positioned the crutch under his arm, and took the camera back to where he had found it. Hell and damnation! I’ll never get enough privacy to go over that footage. Everyone is so darned nosy around here.

  Jared was sitting on the bed and Maria was bathing his feet by pouring water over them from a mug. They looked bad. They were very red and puffy and just . . . there was no structure to them. They were blobs of swollen flesh at the end of his legs. Billy couldn’t bring himself to stay in the shelter and watch. He almost thought he was going to retch. One thing for sure. No doctor would be able to put them back together again. Jared was gonna lose his feet. He’d be okay though. He was young enough to learn to walk with prosthetics as if they were his own feet. A lot of dudes did it. If he lived.

  Rodriguez shouted, and a bird started squawking.

  Billy hobbled across to the long grass. “You get one?”

  “Yeah, I got two,” Rodriguez said. “Two in one noose. Help me get them or they’ll escape.”

  Billy moved as quickly as he could and the two men managed to capture the guinea hens. Faith handed the knife to Billy. He sat on a rock and started pulling the feathers out. Rodriguez settled himself beside Billy and plucked the second bird.

  “Man, I am so hungry I could eat a whole entire bird,” Rodriguez said. “I wish my traps had worked better, but tonight we eat like kings.”

  Billy’s thoughts went back to Lexie. She probably wouldn’t find anything to eat. Would she have the strength to keep going without any sustenance? “Fuck it!”

  “What’s wrong?” Rodriguez said, his eyes wide.

  “Everything. Old Man Dockery will have a fucking lot to answer for when I get to see him again.”

  “Your girl, Lexie. You’re worried about her. She’ll be okay. She’s a tough one. The quiet ones always are.”

  Billy sighed heavily and shook his head. “If it wasn’t for this fucking useless knee I’d have gone for help. Stretch could have gone, but he was worried he wouldn’t be able to defend himself if something attacked him. How does he think a little girl like Lexie is gonna do it? It’s not right that she had to go.”

  Once the birds had been dressed, Rodriguez limped across the camp and handed them to Faith. “I think I’ll cook them now,” she said. “It’s hot and humid today, and they won’t keep for long. We need this protein and I don’t think we should wait until tonight.”

  “What about Trip and Stretch?” Lela said.

  “We’ll keep some for them. It won’t go off so quickly once it’s cooked.”

  “If those two come through with some fish we’ll really be feasting,” Billy said.

  The pilot had said the locals had moved away because they feared a monster. How far away had they moved?

  He hauled himself up. He didn’t think there was a monster. Someone, one of these people here, had killed Eve and Andy and Kelli. Was it a different person who poisoned Mark? Or did the same person kill all of them. But why? The answer must be somewhere on that film footage in one of those cameras, but there were more pressing needs to be attended to. “Let’s go reset the traps,” he said to Rodriguez.

  When they had set the traps and hidden in the long grass for a while, they limped back to the fireside. The cooking birds had started to smell really good, and Billy’s mouth was literally watering.

  He heard a shout. Stretch appeared on the trail, carrying two water-filled condoms under his good arm. His concussion didn’t seem to have done him any harm. All the more reason he should have gone for help in place of Lexie.

  “Yo,” he yelled again, and Faith hurried toward him.

  Billy heard them talking animatedly before they both approached the camp.

  “What is it?” Billy said. “What’s wrong?”

  “Trip’s gone.”

  Chapter 45

  It seems like I’ve been walking forever, but I can still clearly see the hill where the rockslide took place, so I know I haven’t managed to get very far. I stop to take another drink. The water bottle is leaking where it’s bumping the side of my backpack. They’re only made of canvas and they don’t hold water if you bump them. My water’s getting low. I comfort myself with the memory of Billy drinking straight from the creek. He hasn’t gotten the runs or anything. A lot of the others have, in spite of the boiled water. It must be the change in diet. Or rather the very strict weight loss diet we’ve been on. I’m lucky I’ve always had a strong stomach.

  I check out my legs. I don’t know how much weight I’ve actually lost, but I know they’re thinner than they used to. And my arms. I’m always hungry.

  Thinking of Billy brings a smile to my lips.

  What was that? It sounded like thunder in the distance. The wind has freshened. I stop and scan the sky. Thick clouds are amassing on the horizon b
ehind me.

  Jake pushes his nose against my leg. It’s his way of letting me know he’s right here for me. I pat him on his head. “Looks like there’s gonna be a storm, boy. I don’t know where we’ll shelter. I hope you’re not scared of thunder.”

  The terrain is getting hillier. It’s strewn with boulders and dotted with flat-topped, umbrella-like trees. I’m still following what Billy said is a trail made by the animals as they move about during each day. It runs parallel to the creek, and that’s what Billy said he would do. Follow the creek. Funny, I’m not scared of the animals anymore. I know they won’t hurt me unless I threaten them.

  I keep going, putting one foot in front of the other.

  I’m more afraid of the murderer. Trip. It has to be him.

  I’m forced to deviate off the trail to get around some tall boulders. Where’s the trail? I can’t lose it. The creek is still close on my right side, but I can’t see it. I can’t walk through this thick stuff. Oh. I just have to push my way through until I get back to it. Here it is again, I think. I’m so tired but I must keep walking. Billy and Jared and the others will die if I don’t get help but I have no energy. My feet are dragging. I need food.

  The wind is getting stronger. It’s nice. It’s cooling the sweat that’s all over me. I wish I had more water. That’s thunder in the distance. My feet hurt, and I’m so tired. I have to stop to rest.

  I’m so thankful Billy is okay. His knee will heal. Making love with him, with Billy, was so different and so beautiful. I never imagined sex could be so amazing. Am I in love? I think I must be.

  The storm clouds are building all around me now, but they’re thicker in front, the way I’m headed.

  Something’s not right here.

  They were behind me before. I check back toward the way I have come from. That tree looks almost familiar. No. It can’t be. Oh, crap, there’s the piece of my shoelace that broke off when I retied it. I must have walked in a circle when I had to deviate from the creek. Where’s that compass? If I’d been smart enough to use it I would have known I was going in a circle.