Black Ribbons

by Chris Slusser

  Only Shae stood by now. He sort of looked wide-eyed as well. He was wondering if she would run. He was afraid to take his eyes off her in case she did.

  She seemed unsure herself of what she should do. Just then a shaft of morning sun shot across from the horizon. It startled Shae. His back began to smoke a little and he ran to his tent. He lay inside with his head toward the opening. He kept watching her.

  She was free now, she thought. The daylight was here, and it could protect her from the men if she wanted to run from them right now. But what were her odds of surviving? She'd seen them chase down and overpower deer. They could run faster than her. They could see in the dark. She had no idea how deep in the wilderness they were or how far they were from even a road.

  She sat down next to the tree, still holding her sleeve to her neck. She really was still trapped. She began to quietly cry. Shae watched her silently, still afraid to look away or close his eyes. She ignored him.

  She would stay then, she decided. It would only be 'til they reached their destination. Then they would abandon her. Rowan and Shae would protect her from the others. And she could run away if she was attacked again. Even run to Shae, or Rowan, if needed.

  She let out a sad sigh. Shae unclenched his hand as if he wanted to reach out to her, but the sunlight was out. Abigail walked back around the tree, to the river again. She rinsed the bonnet in the river and pressed the cold wet cloth to her neck. The cold slowed the bleeding considerably.

  She was only in her nightgown now. She rinsed the bonnet again and continued with her bath, with Shae quietly watching.

  * * *

  Another week and a half went by. The men killed more deer and became increasingly quiet and steely. Determined. Shae had gotten in the habit of sometimes holding her hand as they walked. Whenever he caught one of the men glancing at her with hunger.

  She was grateful, but even Shae was getting edgier.

  One morning, just before dawn, they had been walking all night without one kill. No deer had crossed their path. But in the dark quiet of the woods they came upon a hunter. An old man, portly, wearing a red jacket and a red hat. He carried a rifle.

  The men stopped silently. The man had not seen them yet. Abigail became afraid. She felt the hunger in the air as the men eyed the hunter.

  The man stopped to listen. He thought he'd heard movement in the woods around him.

  Slowly the men came forward, in their black cloaks with their hoods up. The man didn't know what to think at first. He raised his rifle, but didn't know where to aim. They were everywhere.

  They quietly surrounded him in a circle. Even Shae. Even Rowan.

  Abigail stepped back into the shadows. She wanted them to forget she was there, forget she existed.

  The man pointed his gun at Argot, but he didn't fire. He glanced around himself nervously. Obviously he knew if he shot one of them, the others would swarm on him.

  The tension grew as the men stared him down with blood lust in their eyes.

  “No...” the man said weakly, looking around at them.

  Then like a rubberband snapping, they all at once dove at the man. They tackled him to the ground and each bit into him, drinking as much blood as they could.

  “OH!” the man cried when they pounced. Then, “No... no...” each “no” smaller than the last, 'til there was silence.

  Abigail ran as the men finished drinking. She knew she was next. The tension was too much. Obviously they craved human blood like they were addicted to it.

  Her muscles began to be sore, and one calf started to cramp. She could hear footsteps now in the woods behind her, gaining on her. She ran 'til she couldn't breathe anymore, but kept running, limbs aching.

  Her pursuer was whipping through the trees rapidly. One would catch her, then they all would feast on her like they had with the hunter. Hot tears started streaming down her face.

  A hand reached out to grab her cloak. He pulled her back, then tackled her to the ground as she screamed loudly.

  “Shhh!” Shae said to her and clapped a hand over her mouth. She was on her back on the ground and he lay on top of her. There was blood on his lips.

  He too was afraid the others would pounce on her. He had felt the same blood lust they had felt and knew what they were capable of.

  “Shh...” he said more quietly.

  She nodded. He removed his hand from her mouth. But he didn't get up. He was listening.

  There was no sound in the woods around them. They had not been followed. He rolled off of her, onto his back and lay beside her and breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment.

  He would have to hide her. There was no way they could travel with them anymore. It was not safe.

  Still they did not know what to do. They sat up. Abigail brushed dirt and pine needles off of herself. Shae was staring off into the distance, still listening, and by instinct she brushed the dirt and pine needles from his back too. Then she realized what she was doing and stopped.

  He turned around, looking surprised that she had done that. And a bit shy about it too. She was embarrassed and looked down.

  He reached up to touch her chin gingerly, which made her look up, into his eyes. Finally she smiled and so did he. Then she looked down again.

  Just then they heard footsteps approaching. They both leaped up and turned toward the sound.

  It was Rowan. Abigail breathed a sigh of relief.

  He stopped before them. Had he seen what he thought he had seen as he approached? Affection between Shae and the girl? This would not make things easier for any of them.

  Finally Rowan said, “I have spoken with the others.”

  Shae gave him a questioning look.

  “It is safe to come back,” Rowan said. He absentmindedly wiped blood from his lips.

  “I would keep her with you at all times,” Rowan said to Shae. “For both your sakes.” He walked off quickly, back toward camp.

  Shae was silent, looked down and wiped the blood from his lips.

  Abigail felt a pang go through her heart. Both their sakes? He had seen their tender moment. She shuddered inwardly. Why was she being so kind to a member of the group that had killed her family? She let that thought shiver through her as Shae took her hand and started leading her back toward the camp.

  Chapter 8

  Rowan had promised the men they would kill one more family. Shae and the girl did not know this as they started traveling the next day.

  The way they had all been so desperate for the hunter's blood disturbed Rowan. They were becoming savages. This he had heard of too, about Earth. He was afraid if they didn't take another family they would just start wildly and brutally hunting people. And killing the girl. Bringing Shae's wrath to whoever did it. And his sorrow.

  They would probably have to tie the girl up if they decided to go into a house. They would deal with that as the situation arose, Rowan thought.

  Shae and the girl were holding hands again. Shae was leading her through the woods. On nights like this with no moon the girl could barely see. There was so much Rowan had not known about humans before he came here.

  After many hours of walking they came to a clearing in the woods. Or so they thought. It turned out to be a road. Old and broken down. It felt safe to walk along it. No vehicles passed as they walked.

  Soon they came to a small town, nestled in the mountains. It was quiet, no lights were on. It felt wrong.

  Abigail could almost see outlines of buildings around them.

  “There's no one inside,” Nephah said as they passed the first house.

  “There's no one in any of them,” Gregor said. “What is this place?”

  Abigail knew what it was. It was a ghost town. She said nothing.

  The sun was just beginning to light the sky. It was now dark blue instead of black. The men were walking desperately down the main road of the town, stopping to stare at houses. Getting frustrated with each one being empty.

  “How can this be?” Zephan
asked.

  Rowan had no answers.

  Shae was fuming silently. He could see what had gone on while he'd been away with Abigail. Rowan had promised the men another kill.

  Abigail saw it too, what they were doing. She held Shae's hand tighter and the two of them shrank back away from the group so they were trailing behind.

  Rowan was trailing a bit too. Shae grabbed his sleeve, “Are they looking to kill again?” He was angry, but spoke so the others wouldn't hear.

  “Yes,” Rowan said flatly.

  Shae stopped in the street and stared at Rowan.

  Rowan turned and said with a little more emotion, “Shae, we are all becoming savages. What will happen to you or the girl if I don't let them kill again?” He let that sink in.

  Shae looked at Abigail. She looked at the ground.

  Did this mean an entire other family would have to die just to save her? That made her feel so much worse.

  “Another incident like the one with the hunter could happen,” Rowan continued.

  Shae said nothing, just quickly walked past Rowan and pulled Abigail with him.

  The men walked the town and stood near every house and felt no presence of living beings anywhere. The sky was starting to turn pink.

  “We may as well make our camp for the night in one of these houses,” Rowan said wearily.

  All of the houses were old and broken down. The men chose a tall one with white peeling paint near the far end of town.

  The door opened easily enough and the men went back into the bedrooms, which were dark with curtains drawn.

  Abigail stopped in the living room. Shae turned to look at what she was looking at. Huge windows on three sides of the living room. South, east, and west. She'd be safe from the men in there. Safe in the sunlight. Shae nodded and squeezed her hand and gave her a weak smile.

  She smiled back at him and he left the room to find a darker part of the house to sleep in.

  Abigail walked around the room and opened all the curtains wide. Then she lay down on her cloak and covered herself with another, and tried to go to sleep.

  She hadn't been in a house since the night her family was killed. Being in one reminded her of that night. She let tears leak out of her eyes as she forced herself to go to sleep. She needed the rest.

  She slept fitfully and had bad dreams, replays of the night her family died. Flames surrounded her family’s home. She was sure she was in the house now and it was on fire. She woke with a start and sat up. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows. It was later in the day. The yellow sunlight must have woven the image of fire into her dreams.

  She lay back down on the cold floor and waited. She grabbed what she called jerky out of a pocket in her cloak. She knew it wasn't proper jerky, but she tried to make it similar. She needed something that would last and sustain her.

  She drank a little water as she lay there and felt like a baby with a bottle, which made her laugh. Good Heavens, when was the last time she had laughed?

  * * *

  They were traveling again, down the same road that had passed through the empty town. It was going in the right direction according to Rowan's compass and map. He estimated they were two or three days journey from their destination. But it was hard to tell distances on this map. It was made on Earth, and Rowan didn’t understand their measurements. One of his kind had drawn the locations for the hidden ship on the map, as well as landmarks to look for when they got near it.

  Sometime in the middle of the night they passed through another clearing in the woods, along the road. In the clearing was some sort of store. For buying fuel and supplies Rowan theorized. It was closed at present.

  They stopped to rest for a moment. Rowan inspected the outside of the store. Was it wrong that human culture fascinated him? He almost felt he shouldn’t get to enjoy it after all he'd done. Just then he heard a whooping and hollering from the men. Three deer had just crossed the road and they were pursuing them.

  Rowan just watched them go. He would drink from the animals once they had caught them. He saw Shae reluctantly drop the girl's hand and sheepishly run off into the woods after the others.

  She was not alarmed. She simply sat on the concrete edge of a step to rest.

  Rowan took a few steps and noticed a large box with a window in it. Inside there was a stack of papers. Newspapers he knew them to be. He spoke the language of these humans, they were his ancestors after all. The men all spoke several languages, having had centuries to learn them. Most of them were Earth languages. But he knew their English would have grown and developed differently than the humans'. And he was right, the spellings and phrasings were a bit different as he bent over to read the paper through the glass.

  Just then he realized what the big black letters near the top of the paper said. “Missing Amish Girl Believed to Be w/ Black Ribbon Killers.”

  Their situation was worse than he thought. They would have to stay away from humans for the rest of their journey. If they could.

  Chapter 9

  They made camp after all the men had drunk. Abigail was given meat to cook on a fire. They would not sleep here. They just needed to stop so the girl could make food from the deer. Then they would travel on.

  Rowan stood away from the others, leaning against a tree. He looked at the girl. He knew her name now. Abigail. He had read as much of the newspaper article as he could through the glass. But he would not mention her name to anyone. She had been silent with them, and he wanted to protect that. The others didn't need to know her name.

  After Abigail had finished her work and put out the fire, the men began traveling again. Down the road. At some point the road turned and they had to go back into the woods. They made a place to camp that night. The men were sort of antsy and restless. The thrill of a group hunt, chasing the deer, had energized them. But the deer blood was not satisfying enough. So they were restless. Rowan was wary of what they might do. He kept his eye on them for a while, from his tent.

  It was morning twilight, before sunrise. He heard one man stir. He watched as Piah crept quietly out of his tent and over to where Abigail lay.

  Rowan climbed out of his tent, “Piah.”

  Shae opened his eyes and leaped out of his tent.

  Piah had stopped to look at them. They stood staring at him sternly. Piah laughed a little bit crazily. Then he turned and wandered back to his own tent.

  Shae took Abigail's hand and gently pulled her to his own tent. She did not argue. The incident had frightened her.

  She climbed under Shae's shelter and he climbed in next to her. Her back was to him and he had to be right up next to her for them both to fit under the cloak tent. He threw his arm around her protectively. It kind of felt wonderful to her, which upset her a little bit. He was a killer. She almost understood why he killed, but it was her family. She tried not to think about how she felt about him. He was her protector and she was grateful for that. She let herself fall asleep.

  * * *

  Later when she woke, daylight was still in the sky. Usually she wandered the woods at this hour, did her washing if she found a stream. Went to the bathroom far from the others. Wandered through the woods, seeing animals, being alone without the men.

  But this day when she woke, Shae was already awake. He was lazily running his hand down her back, over her hair. She even felt him carefully undo a snarl in her hair at one point. She just lay there enjoying it, not knowing if he knew she was awake or not. She actually fell asleep again.

  When she woke again, Shae was dozing. So she carefully climbed out of the tent, making sure no sunlight hit him. Then she wandered the woods as usual, found a stream, and sat down near it. She washed and soaked in the sunshine. She was in a more open space. There was a clearing around the banks of the stream.

  From inside the darker woods she heard a noise. She turned to look, thinking she would see an animal. But it was Piah, standing at the edge of the dark woods with his cloak on, hood up, staring at her m
enacingly.

  She put her boots back on, which had been off, and stood, staring at him. He was ten feet away, at the beginning of the clearing. She was in full sunlight. She felt protected. But she still feared him.

  Then all of a sudden he charged at her, sunlight and all. She was shocked. The cloak protected him and he pulled her back into the dark forest. She screamed as he did this. He only laughed. He knew the others couldn't get to him in time, and most of them wouldn't be brave enough to try to stop him.

  Shae had heard her scream, but could not see her. He saw that Piah's cloak was gone. He knew what must be happening. He quickly put his own cloak on, keeping his hands and head covered, and ran toward the sounds of struggle.

  Piah had pushed Abigail to the ground and was lying on top of her, drinking her blood. Shae shoved him off. Then he kicked him. Abigail scrambled away, crying.

  Piah got up and tried to run after Abigail. Shae punched him. Then he shoved him out into the sunlight. The cloak started to smoke a little bit. Shae was a little alarmed. The cloaks didn't protect as much as they thought. Maybe only when propped up away from their skin and with the shade of trees above them.

  Piah scrambled back into the woods. Shae shoved him out again. Piah ran back into the woods a few feet away from Shae. Shae leaped over and grabbed Piah's cloak. It partially came off him. Piah gasped in shock, and tried to pull it back on. But Shae pulled it completely away from him and shoved him back into full sunlight.

  Piah's skin started to flicker and smoke and he screamed and dove for the shelter of the trees. Shae kicked him in the chest, back out into the sunlight. Piah fell to his knees in the sun and burst rapidly into full flame. The flame consumed him much faster than flames of a normal fire. It burned light purple and white. Then vanished as Piah's ashes fell to the ground. But the dried grass of the clearing had caught on fire. Abigail ran over to the stream. She was sobbing. She grabbed her pouch of water and quickly watered down the flaming grass where Piah had died.

  There was another scuffle in the woods. One by one the men had joined Abigail and seen what Shae had done. They were arguing with him. Zephan was shoving him. Rowan yelled at them and broke it up. He was angry.