The Skin Worshipper

by RB Schalin

Chapter 6

  Maria looks up when the first raindrops hits her head. The clouds are dark and ominous, and the forest has become darker around her now that the sun is gone.

  "Hey Alex, didn’t you say the weather would be good?" she calls.

  Alex is up-front and when he hears her he stops and the group gathers around him.

  "Yeah, I have no idea where this came from. Maybe it’s just local and will pass us soon."

  There is a rumble of thunder and the few drops, turns into a downfall.

  "So much for that, we will get drenched. How far do we have to go?" asks Marlon.

  Alex pulls the plastic wrapped map out of his leg pocket and unfolds it. Using his compass he makes some calculations and says, "another two hours I think."

  "You think? Look Jefe, I don’t want to sound like an asshole here, but do you know what you are doing? asks Jordi.

  Alex looks at him and says, "yes I do, and I don’t need any bullshit from you or anyone else, is that clear?"

  "Look, we are all a bit shook up by Jenna’s death OK, all we want is to get back to the center," says Jordi, looking at the others.

  They all nod their heads in silence.

  "Fine, let’s go then," says Alex and pockets the map and continues walking.

  Kerry is behind them to the left, hiding behind a tree trunk. He has his crossbow in his hands and has just loaded a bolt. He takes careful aim at the last person in the line, it’s the twin brother of the one who just spoke.

  The crosshairs lands on his neck, and Kerry breaths out slowly, and lets the bolt fly. In the rain the group can’t hear the thud the bolt makes when it hits the boy in the nape of his neck. He just drops to the ground, twitches a few times and becomes still. The group continues walking like nothing has happened.

  Kerry straps the crossbow over his back and moves to the next tree, following them. He can move faster now since the rain covers any sound he might make. He looks down at his body. The mud is coming off his skin, but he doesn’t care, he doesn’t need it any longer.

  Alex sits down on a big rock, and looking back at the kids behind him he notices one is missing.

  "Hey Pepe, where is your brother?"

  Pepe turns around and looks behind Marlon to see where his brother is. He doesn’t see him and turning back to Alex he says, "don’t know, maybe he is tying his shoelaces.’

  "Well, just don’t stand there, go back and get him, hurry up."

  Pepe takes off as fast as he can, making his way through the underbrush. After a while he sees his brother lying on the ground.

  "Hermano, what are you doing?"

  His brother doesn’t answer, so he shouts, "hey asshole, get up, we are all waiting for you."

  He wipes some rain from his face with his hand and when he gets closer he sees something sticking up behind Jordi’s head. He bends down and then pulls back and stumbled on a root. Sitting on the ground, he shouts, "Alex! Alex!"

  The others hear the scream and come back to see what’s going on, and when Pepe hears them arrive he just says, "he’s dead. Someone shot him."

  Alex moves past the kids, and kneels down next to Jordi. There is an arrow or bolt sticking up from his neck. It’s made of some metal, maybe aluminum, and has plastic feathers.

  He stands up and says. "Turn around, and run as fast as you can, don’t stop just run."

  At first, nothing happens, so he screams, "run!"

  They all turn around and run through the trees, Maria stumbles and falls, but gets up fast. Marlon takes off his backpack and drops it so he can run faster. Alex does the same.

  Kerry smiles, how he loves a running prey, so much more fun than a sitting one. He gets up from his kneeling position and follows the group. He runs hunched down, in a looping way, moving from one tree to the next. Soon he sees the back of the other brother, and he pulls the crossbow from his shoulder. He increases his speed and soon he is no more than ten yards behind him. The others are a bit further on, but not much. He cocks the weapon while running and loads a bolt. He stops for what seems like a second, aims, and fires.

  Pepe feels a kick in his back and stumbles, but regains his balance and sees something is sticking out of his chest. The razor sharp point of an arrow is sticking out about an inch through his jacket. Suddenly he feels weak, his legs don't want to carry him, he tries harder, but to no avail. He stumbles and hits the ground headfirst. He tries to turn over on his back so he can scream for help, but the bolt sticking out of his back doesn’t let him, instead he ends on his side. He tries to scream, but no sound comes out. Suddenly there is someone beside him, thank god, they came back for him, he thinks. He looks up and what he sees makes him try to scream again.

  The man is naked, and his skin is taught over the strong muscles playing under it. His eyes are cold, like a wild animal. He doesn’t say a word, just looks at him, and then carries on after the others.

  Pepe coughs once, and feels something warm in his mouth, then he coughs again, and everything goes black.

  Alex looks ahead and sees Maria to his left, and Marlon on his right, he takes a chance and looks over his shoulder, no Pepe. He thinks he sees something move behind him among the trees. When he turns his head forward, he has no time to change direction, and he runs straight into a thick tree and hits his head hard against the bark. He falls to the ground and the rainwater begins to seep through his clothing. He tries to sit up, but he feels faint and lies back down again.

  Kerry arrives as the man lies down, he is bleeding from his head. He kneels down next to him and the man opens his eyes and looks at him.

  "Help me," he moans.

  Alex looks at the face of the man next to him, he doesn’t move, just stares at him. Then his head turns slightly to the right, and his nose twitches. His head turns back to Alex and he puts his hand on his throat. Then fear sets in as sharp nails dig into the skin, and he knows he is bleeding.

  Kerry looks into the other man's eyes, and rips out his throat with one single movement. The man gurgles and blood squirts over Kerry. He looks at the skin and the flesh in his hand turning it around. Then licks a little of the blood, and throws it away. Standing up, he smells the air, the rain is slowing down and there it is, that wonderful exciting smell of fear. He takes off after the other two, using his lopsided style of running.

  Maria is crying, her tears mix with the rain coming down her face. Her lungs are burning, and her legs feel weak. She can barely see Marlon making his way a little to her right and a few yards ahead of her. He is running slower now, more like a tired jog. "Hey, we got to keep going," she manages to shout.

  He waves at her and she notices how he gets some extra strength from somewhere and his pace increases. Maria pushes her lungs to their breaking point and manages to pick up some speed too.

  Kerry aims the crossbow and pulls the trigger. He is aiming just a little ahead of the girl, and he is only fifteen feet behind her to the right. She should run straight into the bolt.

  Her head snaps to the side and Maria looses balance, she falls headlong to the ground, and her head hits a rock, a flashing pain and then everything is black.

  Kerry moves up and looks down at the body. The bolt is buried in her cheek at and angle going up. He kicks the body, and it doesn’t move. Dead.

  Hanging the crossbow over his back, he takes the bamboo tube and loads a spike from his leg. He sets off to the left, moving incredibly fast. Gone is the lopsided gait, now he is running like a jungle cat, low to the ground, and long steps. He looks to the right and sees he is parallel to the black boy. He increases his speed and turns slightly to his right.

  Marlon chances a look behind him, no one. All his friends are gone, and Alex too. He looks forward again and is just about to try to run faster when a figure steps out from behind a tree a few yards ahead of him. Marlon stops, and looks at the figure. He doesn’t move, and he is holding something to his mouth, like a long tube.

  "Hey man, help me. My friends are back there, they are all dead."
>
  The man doesn’t say anything, just stands there. Suddenly there is a stinging pain in his chest, Marlon looks down and sees a thin piece of wood sticking out from his body.

  "What the fuck-, " and everything goes black.

  Kerry puts back the tube on his back and walks up to the boy on the ground. He is big for his age, he thinks. Bending down, he checks his pulse, good, still alive. He takes the body and lifts it up, placing it over his shoulder. The arms hang down on one side of his head and the legs sticking out on the other. Hefting the body a bit higher up, Kerry takes off in a fast walk back to his cabin. He isn’t worried, he has carried bigger men, longer distances than this. The black boy will make a great addition to his otherwise white family. He wonders if his skin will sing to him the way the white skins do.