Black Ribbons

by Chris Slusser

  Finally she reached the road and crossed it. The fire swelled up and swallowed the trees she had just been in. She stopped, out of breath, and set her bag down. The fire was stalled for now. She stared at it, so bright, flickering and dancing at her.

  It was a fire made by Shae, she thought. It was part of him, his fire. She had once told him he could kill her. Her family was gone now. Shae was gone. What else did she have to live for?

  It was like the fire was calling to her. She started walking toward it, slowly. As if mesmerized by it. She wondered if it would hurt. She wondered if it would consume her as quickly as it had consumed Shae. It was a vampire fire, after all. Though the flames were orange and gold and red now. No longer purple or white.

  She could feel the heat of it as she stepped near enough for it to lick at her with flames occasionally. It was right that she should die, she thought. Her family had died and she was meant to die with them. Shae had stayed behind so she could live and it had killed him.

  She was certain now. This was the right thing to do. Her tears had stopped. She felt a moment of clarity. Then she jumped toward the fire.

  But something stopped her. Something ran into her and knocked her back onto the road, knocked her down. She looked to her right. There it was. A deer. A doe. It was running down the road. Spooked by the fire. It had saved her.

  Abigail sat in the road and burst into tears again. It was obvious to her now that she was meant to live. Could God have sent a clearer sign? She sobbed into her hands in the middle of the road. Out of sadness and relief and a very small bit of hope.

  She heard the crackling of trees as they broke in the fire. She got to her feet quickly and ran back to her bag. She picked it up again and started trudging down the road, away from the fire. She held her cloak to her mouth to avoid breathing in smoke. She went the way the deer had gone. In the direction of the ghost town.

  Chapter 15

  Abigail walked all day. The fire stayed far behind her as she walked along the road. At one point she saw a small plane in the distance carrying a giant pouch. It dumped a pink liquid on the fire. She also heard sirens and dove into the woods and saw two fire trucks go by. She passed the little store. It was open. Cars were there. She realized there really was traffic on this road. Just not after dark much. It was day now. She walked through the woods out of view of the store.

  She decided to walk in the woods for the rest of the journey. She became exhausted and hungry. Her head hurt from crying. She wasn't crying anymore. But every now and then her eyes would leak out a few tears. She only drank water and kept walking.

  Then, because of lack of food and sleep, she tripped on a tree root. She couldn't even stop herself from falling. It was late in the day. She lay there in the dirt for a few moments, not even caring. Twilight was just beginning. The thing that might have saved Shae.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, and only a few tears escaped. She sat up and drank some water. She decided she had better eat. And that the bag of cans was heavy, so she may as well empty one of those cans.

  She brought out another can of chili and looked around for some rocks. She found one big sharp rock and slammed it down on the top of the can. It made a huge hole. She slammed it down again, making another. She kept pounding the rock into the can, getting her frustration out on it. When she was done, she threw the rock hard at a tree about ten feet away. It made a loud thump and some bark chipped off of it. She was so angry at everything.

  She picked the jagged lid out of the can and carefully reached in and scooped some chili out. Then she ate out of her hand. The whole can of chili. Then licked her hand clean. Like a dog would do, she thought. She put the can in the bag and got up. She intended to walk all night 'til she got to the town.

  It seemed to her that it took four or five hours. She walked into the town under the light of the moon. There was actually a haze in the air now from the fire miles away, it had gone on so long. The moon was a haze of yellow.

  She stumbled into the brown house she and Shae had shared. She dropped her bag in the front room and lay down immediately to go to sleep. It took a while. Her body was still revved up from walking and it was hard to calm down. She lay with her eyes open. Staring at the wall in the dark. Suddenly a shape formed, the black silhouette of a man. He took a step toward her. In the moonlight from the window she could see his face. It was Shae.

  He crouched down in front of her and smiled a small smile. He reached down and touched her cheek with his hand. She was so happy. She could feel all his love for her, like it became the air in the room. Then she suddenly felt her body jerk and she woke up. Apparently, she had been sleeping after all.

  It was still dark outside, but getting lighter, near morning. She closed her eyes and went back to sleep. She dreamed of fires and blood and deer and smoke, and Shae.

  She woke up to bright sunlight shooting through the window. She hadn't bothered to close the curtains when she went to bed. She used to open them at night when Shae went out, and close them before dawn. She'd never seen the room in full daylight before.

  It was dustier and dirtier than she thought. The furniture was more worn out and torn than it had been in candlelight. She sat up. Her muscles were sore. She stood up and wandered into the kitchen. Then she saw them.

  The crowns of flowers she had made for herself and Shae were still lying neatly on the table. Dried and mostly still yellow, but brown in places. The image of them cut through her like a knife. She didn't think anything could make her sadder. She touched them gently with her hand, then let them be. She could never live here. Shae was right, she had to go home. She had other family in her village. They were probably worried about her. And she could not stay in this house without Shae.

  She had a quick breakfast of deer meat, berries, and bread. Then she lifted up some loose floorboards in the living room near where they had slept. She put her cloak and boots and one water pouch under the floor, then replaced the boards. She didn't want anyone to find this proof of Shae and his clan.

  Then she took the remaining cans of food and placed them in the cupboards. Some other person wandering by and stopping here could use them.

  She searched for her bonnet, but couldn’t find it anywhere. She realized she'd left it in her cloak pocket, the one she'd given Shae to shield himself. She did her best to get cleaned up. She washed her face and hands with water from the pouch, and ran her fingers through her hair.

  She took one last guzzling gulp from the pouch, then buried it under the floorboards too. She put the canvas bag in the cupboard. Then, barefoot, she went out into the yard. The rusted bicycle was still propped against the shed.

  With nothing in the world but her worn-out white nightgown, she began riding back toward the little store on the bicycle.

  It took a few hours. The air was clearer now, not filled with as much haze as the day before. Though she noticed a bit of ash all over the ground, a very light dusting.

  Breathing in smoke the day before made her cough now, and riding the bike made her thirsty. She pulled off the road and set the bike aside once or twice to walk carefully to the river to take drinks from it.

  Finally the store was near. She pulled off the road and walked the bike into the woods and left it there, leaning against a tree. She didn't want to explain how she had it. She didn't want to explain anything.

  She walked barefoot up the road, about 100 feet 'til she got to the store. She looked down at her nightgown. Torn in places, grass stains, dirt, a little gray from smoke. And for the first time she realized she still had Shae's blood on her sleeve.

  She found herself stopping outside the store, about ten feet from the door, unable to move. She wrapped her arms around herself in the light breeze. She was panicking, almost unable to breathe. There were no customers here. It was late afternoon, maybe early evening.

  Shae had killed a man in that store. She had loved Shae. She was so afraid she would be condemned for this. She couldn’t go in.

  A woman b
ehind the counter saw Abigail standing outside, perfectly still, except for her hair and nightgown blowing gently in the breeze.

  “Oh, my God,” her friend said.

  She'd been afraid to go to work alone since her coworker had been killed. She brought a friend with her whenever she could now.

  The woman stepped out from behind the counter and slowly walked toward the door.

  “She looks like a ghost,” the other woman said.

  The cashier gently opened the door anyway, and stepped outside.

  “Are you okay, sweetie?” she said to Abigail.

  It took all the strength Abigail could muster not to burst into tears right then. They were going to be nice to her. Thank God.

  Abigail took a deep breath and said, “Could you help me get home?”

  “Of course, sweetie,” said the cashier.

  The other woman had joined her outside. She said, “It's her. It's the Amish girl.”

  The cashier turned to her friend and said, “Go call the number in the paper.”

  Abigail still hadn't moved.

  The friend went in to call the number and the cashier looked out in the distance. Abigail didn't follow her gaze.

  “Fire season started early this year,” the woman said.

  Abigail gave a little nod, but didn't turn to look at the line of gold flame in the distance. She just quietly started to cry.

  “Come on,” said the woman, holding her arm out. “Let's get you inside.”

  Abigail hesitated, then slowly walked to the woman and let her lead her inside.

  * * *

  Days later Abigail rode in the back of a police car back toward her village. She was cleaned up and dressed in new Amish clothing. Someone had given them to her at the hospital. The police had taken her there to have her checked out. They'd kept her for two nights. For observation.

  The police had interviewed her. She'd told them a group of men had taken her and that they’d started the fire with their campfire, and that they had all died in the fire. She didn't tell them they were vampires. She didn't tell them about Shae.

  Abigail looked out of the glass as the scenery whipped by. It was only the second time she had been in a car. The first was when they had driven her to the hospital.

  Finally they entered her tiny Amish village. All her friends and neighbors, and everyone in the town it seemed, were gathered along the road. Some crying. Some smiling. Some waving. She put her hand to the glass as she passed them. She couldn’t believe it.

  Then the car drove up to her aunt and uncle's house. They were standing in the yard. Her uncle looked stoic, but her aunt looked anxious. The car stopped and a policeman got out to open her door.

  She stepped out gingerly and her aunt burst into tears and held out her arms to her. Abigail ran over and hugged her aunt. Her uncle patted her back and she could hear him sniffling too.

  Then she heard squeals and hollers from the house as all of her cousins came running out to crowd around her and hug her too. Her aunt and uncle had six children. Little ones hugged her legs. Bigger ones threw their arms around her shoulders, and she laughed she was so happy to be home.

  * * *

  Rowan stood across the counter from Abigail now in the library. He had a pained expression on his face.

  “I know I have no right to ask it, but I must know,” he said. “Is Shae alive?”

  “No,” she said quietly.

  He dropped his head. “I suspected as much,” he said under his breath, sadly.

  Abigail almost felt herself tear up and wanted to avoid that. “Is that all you wanted to know?” she said, as steely as she could make it be.

  He looked up. “No,” he said. “I'm sorry. I don't want to waste your time. You must despise me, but—”

  “I don't despise you,” she interrupted.

  He paused to look at her. “But I need your help,” he said.

  She raised her eyebrows.

  “I know you've been studying my kind,” he said, “looking for them on Earth and I... I came back here to do the same thing.”

  She was confused. She shook her head. “Why would you want to find them?” she asked.

  “To retrieve them,” he said. “Take them from your planet to mine.”

  “Rowan,” she said, “Earth vampires have had years to become desperate and savage. Some of them were even made here by stranded people from your planet. They might not be fit for... civilization anymore.”

  He thought for a moment. “Right,” he said. “Of course.” He paced again, then stopped. “But some can be rehabilitated,” he said.

  “And the others?” she asked.

  He said nothing.

  “I was planning to… kill them,” she said as tactfully as she could.

  He looked a little stunned at her boldness. “I hadn't even thought of that,” he muttered. “Have you... met any yet?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “Only your family.”

  He paused to ponder her words. “Will you help me find them?” he asked.

  She thought for a moment. It had been many years since she'd seen this man. She'd changed a lot since then. He'd changed her a lot. She let everything he'd said sink in.

  “Yes,” she said finally. “I will help you find them.”

  ###

  Other novels by Chris Slusser:

  Mandra

  (romance)

  Fugue

  (thriller/suspense)

  Paranormal Activities Unit

  (sci-fi/fantasy)

  www.chrisslusser.com