“You okay?” she asks, breaking me out of my internal war.
“Yeah, here you’re going to ride behind me.” I sit down on my bike and get comfortable before I reach over for her. “Put one foot here and swing your other leg up and over the back. Be careful of the muffler.”
She gets on without any trouble but she is too far away from me. One good bump and she will fly off.
“I know it’s a lot but you need to get much closer to me if you plan on staying on the back of this bike. Wrap your arms around my waist and hold on tight.” I grab one of her arms and pull her tight against my back. I turn around and put my helmet on her. She clicks the lock together and wraps her arms around me again. When she snuggles against my back her small hands balling into my sweater, I know she is ready to go. “Hold on tight.” She nods and we take off.
I try to think of anything besides the fact that she is right behind me but with every turn and every bend I feel her body mold further into mine. I can’t help but wonder what she’s like when she’s not broken down like this. The girl has gone through so much in the past few years and she has made it out when there are so many that will never make it out. I want to know more about her and not just all the horrible trauma, I want to know what kind of person it takes to make it out of that nightmare in one piece.
9
“Okay, I’ve looked up everything that I could find about the Children of Gaia. There was a large following back in the seventies but then it died out. I don’t know if it’s the same rules or beliefs but based on what Dela has told us, it is. This Emerson has some fucking balls to think he can run a whole fucking cult without anyone figuring it out.” Cody drops a few sheets of paper down in front of me.
“What did they say happened to the last cult?” I ask, trying to get an idea of everything going on.
“He was killed,” Cody replied matter-of-factly.
“Sounds like Emerson is on the same path,” Spark replies this time. “Where is Dela? Is she okay?”
“I let her take a shower. You know I only have the outdoor bath at the cabin. I let her change but she couldn’t wash. At least here there is indoor plumbing.”
“Thank god for that,” Dela says as she walks out of the side room where the shower is. Her hair is wet but it’s a completely different color than it was when I first met her. It’s a deep blonde almost pinkish red color. Her eyes are light green but there are little flecks of brown in them. Her face is cut in a few places but even the abrasions don’t take away from her beauty.
“Wow, don’t you clean up nice,” Cody says from the side of me. It’s his clothes that she is wearing. Out of all of us he is the smallest.
She smiles slightly before she looks away, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It is. You look very nice,” I say, my voice huskier than normal.
“We are going over what we know about this specific cult. Do you want to come over here and help us?” Brendan speaks again, the brusqueness of his tone shocking the smile right off Dela’s face.
“Sure. I will do whatever I can.”
There are a few pictures that Cody was able to find of what the inside of the cult community house looked like in the past. Of course, no one knew that Emerson was operating one here so there are no pictures of that one.
“This isn’t where I’m from.”
“No, this community was formed back in the seventies but maybe some things are the same or similar?” I open up the photos wider so she can see all of them.
“This.” She points directly at one of the photos of a statue. “We have one of these in every room. I don’t even know what it is.”
“It’s a carving of what folks believe the goddess Gaia looks like.”
She shrugged her shoulders and looked back at that photo. “I guess that makes sense, I don’t know what we were supposed to do with them but Emerson made sure that we all had one.”
“Did you know that you were joining a cult when you got with him?”
Dela looked at Brendan with complete disgust. “Are you trying to say that I intentionally got myself kidnapped and held captive?”
Brendan knew when he was barking up the wrong tree. “No, not at all. Maybe your religious beliefs are similar, that is all I meant.”
“No, I didn’t know it was a cult. I knew that he was heavy into protecting the environment and that he really wanted kids but that was the extent.”
“Wyatt, do you think they will come here for her?”
“He will, or he will find someone to come for me,” Dela answered for me. “You think it’s only the few in the trees over there but I’ve seen so many believers.” She threw up the air quotes to let us know that she didn’t believe it. “They weren’t just extremist, these were lawyers, politicians, police. The Children of Gaia’s reach is far.”
“That’s why you don’t want to go to the hospital or the cops.”
She shakes her head. “This isn’t the first time I’ve broken out. In fact, this is number four. The first time, Emerson caught me. I didn’t know where I was and I was still a bit drugged out. The second time I thought a police officer found me and was going to take me home, instead he just brought me back. I can’t tell you how fucking deceptive these people are. I just want to get far away from here.” She dropped her head down.
“Hey, there is nothing for you to be ashamed of. You should be fucking proud. You made it out.”
All my brothers look at me. It’s not like me to try and give anyone a pep talk. Yeah, I will take a bullet for any of them but I don’t do so well with the hand holding or pats on the back.
“I’ll be proud when all this is over.”
“What are we going to do to get ahead of it? Are we just going to take this to the bureau?” Spark asks.
“I think we need to figure out exactly what we are working with. It’s time for us to go hunting.”
“What the hell are we even fucking looking for?” Cody asks as we walk along the area where I originally ran into Dela.
She said the house was big enough to hold at least three dozen people so that is what the fuck we are looking for,” I replied, sweeping my eyes over the horizon. The problem is White Mountain has some serious terrain. It’s almost impossible to see for any clear distance without getting a direct line of sight. It is quite possible that there is a house hidden in these hills and we’ve just never seen it.
“I think she is talking bullshit.” Cody pushes a branch out of his way.
“Are you kidding me? Did you see her fucking back? You think she did that to herself for kicks?” Brendan says, clearly annoyed at the bullshit that was spewing out of Cody’s mouth.
“Who knows maybe she liked shit rough and now she’s just running away.”
“Cody, shut the fuck up. She didn’t like any of what happened to her. Now fucking focus so we can get this shit done.” I push past my little brother and take his place in the line.
We comb our way up this steep ass mountain and we get to the spot where she said that she and the rest of the women were taken to bathe and pick herbs. We did see quite a few footprints but there was no cabin large enough that would hold even half of the people she said were there.
“It’s getting late, there is obviously nothing going on over here.” Spark turns and is ready to move. I’m a bit disappointed that I’m not able to prove Dela is correct right away.
“Shhh.”
My eyes whip to Brendan, he is stock still and has his head cocked to the side as if he is trying to listen for something.
“Bre . . .” Spark tries to talk again but Brendan just throws his hand up into a fist indicating that we should all stop.
“Step lightly, ladies. Please be careful,” someone said in the distance.
“Oh shit,” Spark mouthed as we all dropped down into some form of cover.
Finally, we would see someone but where the fuck did they come from? There was nothing around here.
I shuffled forward quietly trying
to get a good view of what was going on. Down by the farthest bank of the river there are three younger women, an older woman, and one man. None of them look particularly stressed and none of them have on chains or cuffs. If I were just strolling through the woods it would look like they were all on some sort of family outing. This shit was just weird as fuck.
“Hurry now, we don’t want anyone getting sick.”
None of the young women answered, they just moved along like they were on autopilot.
“We can’t just fucking leave them.” Brendan turned toward me, whispering harshly.
“Follow my lead,” I say so my brothers can hear me. If there was no need for violence, then I wouldn’t bring any hostility but if I had to bash this man’s head in with a rock then that is what the hell I would do.
I close up my jacket so that no one can see the gun at my side.
I walk straight toward the man, if he has a gun this is about to be a fucking stupid idea.
“Please help me. I’m lost. Please.” I stumble slightly giving the impression that I’m tired and about to keel over.
The women by the bank all gasp and the older woman puts herself between me and the women. The one man is dressed in a dark green robe and even in the dim sunlight I can see the utter surprise on his face.
“Stay away!” he grunts, his shoulders hunching down. He doesn’t know who I am but he’s already ready to attack.
“I’m not trying to hurt anyone.” I stop and put my hands up waving my fingers forward a bit, letting my brothers know they need to move forward.
I hear shuffling behind me, so does the man standing in front of me.
“Heathen! You will not disrupt Gaia’s plan.” He takes a step in my direction and my hands instinctively twitch toward my side where my gun is still safe in the holster.
“I don’t want to disrupt anyone’s fucking plan. What I do want to know is why you are forcing these women to bathe in a damn river. Where are their shoes?” I point in the direction of the women by the water. None of them have tried to run. It’s exactly like Dela says.
“Your simple mind would never understand the workings of the goddess. You’re not chosen.” The man’s voice dropped slightly as he regarded me like a pathetic child instead of the grown man in his face.
I keep my eyes trained on him but take a step toward the women. If he wanted to stay up here and pray to his gods that was his problem, I on the other hand had to make sure that these women were okay.
“Don’t you come near them.” Quicker than I can adjust the man in the green robe charges me.
“Wyatt!” Cody screams out but the man is already on top of me. I quickly use my forearms to dislodge him.
“What the fuck?” I shout, something sharp sticks into the exposed flesh of my skin. A needle. I put my hand up and knock it out of my skin before he has the chance to press the plunger. He didn’t stop his attack, his fists and elbows raining down on me in no real organized fashion. It’s obvious that this guy isn’t a fighter but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to do his best.
Fighting for whatever he believes in.
“Get the fuck off him!” Cody demanded his Glock pressed firmly against the man’s head.
“Shoot me. I will gladly sacrifice my life for my cause. It is my calling.”
I look at the man and can tell he is telling the truth. His arms are relaxed and his eyes are closed. He already has accepted that he is going to die and he will gladly meet that fate. It makes him all the more dangerous. If he isn’t scared to die, there isn’t much that any of us can do.
I quickly pull my arm to the side to throw him off balance before I bring my head up and slam it into his nose.
“Damn it!” he cries and rolls to the side.
I leave him there with my brothers while I rush over to the women. I had to convince them that it was time for them to leave.
“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you. I know you’re scared but you are all free to go now. Come with us and we can take you to safety.”
Not one movement.
“You think we want to go with lowlife scum like you. These women were all chosen by our goddess. You have no right to come between their blessings,” the older woman in the off red smock said.
“Blessings? Are you fucking insane woman?” Cody asks from where he is standing keeping watch over the man.
“Ma’am, I understand what you think is happening but I promise you. All of you have been lied to. This Emerson is only using you for his sick twisted fantasies.”
“Liar!”
“Non-believer!”
“You’re just jealous.”
All the women backed up from me. None of them wanted to believe that I was telling them the truth.
Apart from throwing each and every one of them over my shoulder there was really nothing that I could do to get them to leave. They were truly brainwashed.
“Leave now, or things will get bad for you,” the older woman warns me.
“Are you really over there threatening us?” Spark asks incredulously. I have no choice but to smile myself. What did these frail looking women think they would be able to do to us? We already have taken out their one security guard.
“Wyatt. We need to bug out,” Brendan calls from the back.
“We can’t leave them here. What the fuck are you thinking?” I spat out, even if they were confused there is no way I’m just going to leave them there.
A low whistling sound flew past my ear the second I turned my face.
An arrow landed with a thump in the chest of the man whose nose I had broken.
“Oh shit! Ambush!” Spark yells.
I run over toward my brothers.
“Fucking hell! Where did it fucking come from?! Where are they?!” I quickly look around from side to side trying to catch a glimpse at whoever fucking shot the arrow.
A low gurgling sound catches my attention, the injured cultist lay in front of us seizing with white and green colored foam bubbling up out of his mouth.
“What the fuck?” Cody asks his attention on the man as well.
“They fucking poisoned him. They took him out so he wouldn’t fucking talk.” Brendan turned, pressing his back to mine so that he watched our six.
“Smoke!” Spark called out and sure enough to the side a small plume of smoke started to rise up and get bigger. It was a pungent egg smell.
“We have to move!” Spark called out immediately, putting his hand to his mouth. “We can’t breathe this stuff in. We have to go now!” he ordered.
We all stood in a crouched position and started to make our way.
“Wait! What about them?” Cody asks. The women had already turned and started to run deeper into the woods.
“We can’t help them if we’re fucking dead.” I pull Cody and he accidentally bumps into Brendan.
More smoke starts to rise around us and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe.
“God damn it! Let’s move!” I shout.
A low whistling sound catches my attention but I’m too late. I push Brendan out of the way but not fast enough. An arrow slices through the air and lodges in Brendan’s leg. Pushing straight through.
“Fuck!” he screams and falls down to the ground.
“Brendan! Fuck! Oh shit! Brendan.” Spark drops down to grab hold of his brother, so he doesn’t take a tumble down the hill.
“We need to move him! Now! Let’s go!” I scream at them now, this shit is turning into a fucking shit show.
Cody and Spark each grab Brendan under his arm and basically drag him behind them. I stare in his face as I run behind them.
“I’m good. I’m good. I don’t think it was laced,” Brendan says through gritted teeth.
Cody turns for the briefest of seconds, his eyes catching mine. He was thinking the same thing that I was. The last fucker we saw get shot with one of those arrows started shaking and foaming at the mouth. That shit can’t happen to Brendan. Not today.
The run back to
our bikes is much quicker than our run out.
“You good? Can you ride?” I yell out to Brendan.
“Yeah,” he grunts and gets his legs over the body of his bike, I can see the sweat pouring down his face. He isn’t alright. “I got this, let’s get out of here.”
“Bullshit, he’s not going to make it all the way home,” Spark says, reaching over and securing his brother on his bike.
“Fuck that we just need to get out of this area, then we can make further decisions. We have to move!” I order and on cue. An arrow slices the air right by Cody’s head.
“Motherfuckers! Who the fuck do you think you are messing with?! This isn’t the fucking wild west.” Cody pulls his weapons and starts popping shots in the direction the arrow came from. They brought a bow to a gunfight, fucked up shit was they were winning.
“Cody, let’s fucking go!” I order and crank my bike up.
We pull off, peeling out of the fucking area like my damn life depended on it. It did and so did my brothers. After thirty minutes on the road, Brendan couldn’t go any more. We stopped in a truck stop area and called for our backup. Unfortunately, our backup was only Winnie.
10
“Brendan, we have to get you to the fucking hospital. I’m pressing with all I fucking have and this shit is still leaking.” Spark throws another blood saturated cloth to the side. He picks up a clean one and continues to put pressure on the wound.
We hear the engine of the pickup truck and Winnie pulls in behind our bikes and hops out with the first aid kit that we told him to bring. Dela hops out right behind him.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” Spark growls out.
“What? I mean there is no one back at the clubhouse. I can’t just leave her. Y’all told me to keep my eyes on her.”
“He’s right. She would be unprotected there. Dela, come.” I put my hand out and beckoned her.
Twisted Steel: An MC Anthology: Second Edition Page 33
