Page 42

FOURTEEN

ASTER

Rodney, Kaila, Sandy, and I all ran like hell in the opposite direction and towards the cafeteria.

We passed Cabin Six and just kept running until we had no choice but to stop and take a breath.

I leaned against a tree off the path and tried to calm my breathing.

Rodney leaned forward and used the axe to rest his head while Sandy began to panic.

“Why are you guys stopping? We have to keep going!” she shouted. “We can’t just sit here! Did you not see what just happened to Solomon and Wolfe? They’re dead!” She started to hyperventilate. “They’re fucking dead!”

I mean, she wasn’t wrong.

Kaila rushed to her friend’s aid and tried to help her relax.

“Hey. In and out, okay?” Sandy listened and did as Kaila said.

“Good. Just like that. Just, take a minute to focus on your breathing, okay?” Sandy nodded, and Kaila looked back at me.

“Sandy isn’t wrong. Even if we did make it back to the cafeteria, then what?

Those people are still out here. And two of our friends are dead. ” The words stung.

Rodney sat up and stretched his back. He then lifted the axe and held it firmly.

“Then, we protect the campers. We hole up in the cafeteria and wait out the storm or until the sun rises. Whichever comes first. If we can make it until then, we should be safe.” We nodded in agreement.

“Alright. I’ll take the lead. You guys stay close, and no one strays from the path. Understood?” We all agreed. “Let’s go.”

The three of us followed closely behind Rodney as he led the way. Kaila held Sandy close while I kept my hands tucked into the jacket Willie had given me. My fingertips traced the tiny twigs fastened together, and I slowly lost my train of thought.

Sabbath said they needed six to complete their ritual. If we can make it back safely, then only two people have died and The Order would have failed. But then what? What happens to them? What happens to The Redwood? The Ancient One? Or Sabbath?

Whispers broke through the trees as the feeling of being watched weighed heavily on my back.

The whispers crept along my skin and slithered into my pores as I tried to shake them, but they burrowed deeper and deeper until I felt them scratching at my soul.

“Guys,” I spoke softly. I couldn’t move, and I knew something was wrong.

Kaila stopped and made a face. “Aster? What’s wrong?” Sandy did the same. My heart pounded in my chest, and I tried to shake the whispers from my head. “Aster? What is it?” The two women walked back towards me.

Rodney noticed something was up and stopped. “Aster?”

Spitfire.

Sabbath’s voice silenced the whispers, and I gasped at the reprieve. Everyone stared at me like I was crazy, but I knew what it meant. He found me. They were here. “We need to go. Now! Run !”

Everyone sprinted off in the direction we were heading.

Rodney kept the lead and carried the axe while Kaila, Sandy, and I followed close behind.

Fear and adrenaline pumped through our veins, and we booked it as fast as we could.

Rodney had sprinted ahead and was just out of sight.

We tried to catch up, but then we heard a loud metallic snap, followed immediately by Rodney’s scream.

No.

“Aster! Help!” Kaila screamed as I finally caught up. Her face was filled with horror and splattered with his blood. Same as Sandy. “What do we do? What do we do?”

Rodney was on his back, screaming in absolute agony.

His legs and torso were soaked in blood as a large bear trap was snapped and embedded around his leg.

The metal teeth were pressed deep into his leg bone, which was also sticking out, and I knew there was no way we could fix this.

Rodney was rolling in pain and bleeding out.

“Aster!” Kaila screamed.

“Let me think!” I looked around and noticed the bear trap was attached to a long chain that stretched into the dark woods.

I tried to look closer at the trap itself, but every time I touched it, Rodney screamed from the painful pressure.

“I could try to pry it open, but if I do, he’ll lose a lot of blood. I mean, his leg is obviously broken!”

Sandy stood and grabbed her head. “We can’t just leave him here to die!”

“I never said that! I just—I just need a minute to think!”

Snap.

We all froze and shot our heads in the direction of the sound we heard. It came from deep within the woods. And it scared the hell out of us. The chain attached to the bear trap slowly moved and made a faint jingle-like sound.

Kaila rose and raised her arm across Sandy as they both stepped back. “Aster,” she whispered. “Look.” She pointed to the chain. It was slowly moving away from us and into the woods.

Rodney’s eyes widened as he realized the chain was attached to the metal trap stuck deep into his flesh. “Aster.” His voice quivered. “Aster, please.” He reached out to me, and I grabbed his bloodied hand. “Don’t let them take me!” The chain began to move a little quicker. “Please!”

“I got you, Rodney!”

Suddenly, the chain stopped. We all looked at one another as thunder rolled above in the night sky. “Are they gone?” Sandy whispered.

Rodney looked at me and smiled. “Thank God—” The chain yanked Rodney straight into the darkness, and his hand slipped right through my fingers. He screamed out for us and clawed at the earth as the darkness consumed him. The woods fell into an eerie silence.

“Rodney?” I cried.

Kaila’s arm shook, and she shined the flashlight into the darkness. There, standing in front of a tree, was a plague doctor. It was standing over Rodney’s still body, holding an axe. “Rodney!” Kaila screamed.

Rodney looked up at us with weary eyes. The plague doctor with the broken eyeglass raised the axe high and struck it deep into his back with a loud squelch. We all gasped and cried out as life faded from our friend’s eyes.

No! Rodney!

Just then, a second plague doctor appeared.

The one with the all black mask. We all backed away slowly and watched as they grabbed the same axe Rodney had dropped and dragged it along the ground and over to his body.

They raised the axe and with one single swing, they cut his head from his body.

We all screamed as they kicked Rodney’s head across the wet ground in our direction.

The plague doctor then looked back at us as if they were putting on some sick show of power and just what they were willing to do to us.

“No!” Sandy screamed. The first plague doctor yanked the axe from Rodney’s back and slowly looked up at us. “Run!”

The three of us wasted no time and quickly ran away as we all cried and shouted for help.

The two plague doctors weren’t far behind, and we knew we needed to lose them before reaching the cafeteria.

“Kaila!” I shouted to her as we ran. “Thirteen!” I pointed towards our cabin.

She made a face, and I repeated myself. “We can lose them at Thirteen!” Sandy nodded along and together, we strayed from the path and made our way to Cabin Thirteen.

Within minutes, we seemed to have lost the plague doctor.

And soon, we were standing just across the way from the dark and empty cabin.

We all tried to catch our breaths all while making little sound.

I motioned for them to crouch, and we all huddled together.

Sandy was crying, and Kaila held her close.

“Okay,” I whispered. “We need to try and get inside the cabin. Once the coast is clear, we can make our way to the cafeteria and wait there.” Sandy continued to cry.

“Hey, I know. I know it’s a lot, Sandy. But we have to pull ourselves together. ”

Sandy stared at me with swollen and tear-filled eyes. “You don’t get it! I’ve known these people since I was a kid, and everyone is dying!” Kaila tried to politely shush her, but Sandy ignored her. “Why is this happening to us? Why?”

Snap.

We all stiffened at the sound. “Kaila. Leave the flashlight. We need to be as fast and unnoticeable as possible.” She nodded.

“Sandy?” The woman looked at me with red eyes.

“You’re going to survive this. I promise.

” She nodded and wiped her tears. “Now, we wait for the next flash of lightning, check the surrounding area, and if everything is clear, we go. Okay?” The two women nodded.

We silently shed our extra gear and waited in the tall grass. A good twenty minutes or so went by before the next strike of lightning. We held our breaths, and I scanned the horizon for any sign of The Order. But there was none.

Thank God.

As the world melted back into darkness, I nodded to the others. We all held hands and quietly made our way towards Cabin Thirteen.

The three of us quietly stepped onto the porch and clung together.

Kaila opened the door, and it started to squeak.

We all froze. “Fuck,” she whispered. My head snapped around and looked out into the night.

There was no sign of anyone else. So, Kaila opened the door some more.

It continued to squeak until it was opened enough for us to slip inside. “Let’s go,” she whispered.

We all moved into the cabin without making a sound. I turned to slowly shut the door when lightning flashed again. And there, out across the way, was another fucking plague doctor. “Fuck!” I slammed the door shut.

“What? What is it?” Kaila asked.

“They’re outside! Quick hide!”

Kaila and Sandy scrambled around the cabin. “Where?” Sandy asked. I searched the cabin, but aside from a few windows and the front door, there was nowhere to go and nowhere to hide.

“Get under the beds! Quickly!” Sandy and Kaila exchanged a look before they crawled under their bunks. I ran to the back window and opened it.

“What’re you doing?” Kaila whispered across the cabin.

I shushed her and rushed back to my own bunk when I noticed a burnt rose sitting on my bed. “What the fuck?” I picked it up and knew exactly what it meant.