Painted Red Read online

  Nikia and I go off to the right while One and Two search for the fencing material. “Where would concrete be in this place?”

  “You do realize there are signs hanging at the ends of the aisles right?”

  “Oh,” she says, her cheeks filling with red. “That makes sense.”

  I find the aisle housing large bags of cement and sling two over my shoulder. Nikia lifts two and carries them without strain. She looks over at me and raises an eyebrow. “What? Did you think I was some kind of a damsel in distress?”

  “No I just—”

  “Then let’s go.” She marches towards the exit we came from in long strides. We throw the bags into the back of the truck bed as One and Two come out of the store.

  “Now that’s a good haul,” Nikia says lowering the tailgate. They toss several dozen metal rods and wound up chain-link fence into the back of the truck. “One of you will have to ride in back to make sure these don’t fall out.”

  “I got it,” Two says tossing the keys to One.

  “Wait, we’re not going back for more?”

  “Can’t trust the quiet out here,” One says opening the driver’s side door. “That’s when things go really bad.”

  “Wendigos come in groups. Better to not get greedy and leave than go for another load and get eaten,” Two says shrugging his shoulders. “Besides, we have several crews that have been doing the same thing we just did for the past couple month or so. No worries—”

  “Movement,” Nikia says nodding her head to the once vacant parking lot. A herd of black stalks across the barren asphalt. They don’t see us yet. “Let’s go.”

  We all climb into the car when I hear a shout from the group. One starts the truck and peels out of the parking lot back towards the winding roads in the woods.

  “That’s barely enough material to do a fence around the entire perimeter of your house,” I comment looking over my shoulder at what we scavenged.

  “I’m sure the other groups brought in just as much, if not more,” Nikia responds. “What we have is enough for a start. The guest house in the back had a chain link gate that we never figured out what to do with. We’ll work on it everyday until it’s finished.”

  “You mean Two and I will work on it until it’s finished.” One glances at me in the rearview mirror with furrowed brows. “That is, if silent boy back there won’t help.”

  I look away and shake my head.

  “I’ll take that as a yes then.”

  Good Fences, Good Neighbors: September, 2014

  I hammer another support into the ground. The hot weather makes the fence building even more difficult, but we all knew it needed to be done. “Xavier,” Doc says sliding another metal pole into the cement. “Over here.” I push my wheelbarrow towards him and grab another wooden support to put next to the metal pole. I crack my neck and begin hammering.

  “This was a damn good idea of yours,” he responds holding the pole steady. “If those wendigos come through while they’re still setting in the concrete though—”

  “We’re dead.”

  Doc nods his head and looks off into the woods at the two members of the house patrolling. I grab another support and hammer away until it’s in place. Doc lets out a sigh and adjusts his feet. “Days are getting shorter,” he comments.

  “Not good for hunting,” I respond grabbing another wooden support from the wheelbarrow.

  “Good fences make good neighbors, right?” he responds nudging my shoulder. I nod my head and finish hammering in the last piece. I look off in the direction of the fort and watch the smoke plume above the tree line. “Hey, don’t get your head stuck over there. We’ve got work to do right now.”

  “Right,” I say pushing my wheelbarrow to the next hole. Doc lifts up another metal pole and pushes it down into the hole.

  A youngin’ comes by with a bucket-full of cement and pours it around the metal. “The last run got enough barb wire to surround the house, but a gang caught them back at the store and chased them off before they could grab more chain link.”

  “Damn,” I respond. “So what are going to do?”

  “Pray,” Doc says shrugging his shoulders. “Unless we can go on another supply run—the guest house and doctor’s room is screwed for now.”

  I nod my head and grab a supporting post from the wheelbarrow and hammer away.Don’t even think about it, Xavier.Hayley’s voice scratches at my eardrums making me wince.Remember the last time you went into town by yourself?

  “How could I forget?” I mutter and reach for another wooden post. I look over my shoulder and watch several older men attach barb wire to the top of the chain link fence. “I hope this holds.”

  “I think it should—”

  “We’ve got movement,” one of the guards says from the other side of the fence. I snap up to standing and scan the forest. My heart pounds in my ears while everything else goes silent.

  “On your left,” Two says tossing me a rifle. I grip it by the muzzle and flip it into my shoulder. We edge around the fence and crunch into the tree line.

  “Stop right there!” One says from farther ahead.

  “Please, I’m begging you,” a voice croaks from deeper in the woods. I squint my eyes and catch a glimpse of a girl with dark hair. My heart sputters in my chest.

  “What’s your name?” I blurt out. Everyone turns and looks at me with frowns. “Say your name!”

  “Rosie,” she says. My shoulders slump. It would just be too easy for it to be Hayley. I inch forward to the front of the line and bring my rifle back up to my shoulder. “Please. I need help.”

  “Listen here,” Two says. “You’re going to have to go through our screening if we’re going to let you into the house. Doc will take a little bit o’ blood and we’ll make sure you’re clean.”

  She comes into full view and there’s a collective gasp. The girl clings on to her arm in a half hug. Her body is littered in bite marks—bite marks that look human. My find flashes to Mr. Henderson. The two brothers run to her side and lay their weapons down. Doc follows close behind them. I lower my weapon and stare at them all as they walk their way into the house.

  The girl looks over her shoulder—there’s a slight tremor in her neck.

  * * *

  “Where were you coming from?”

  “I—I don’t know,” the girl says as Doc draws blood from the vein in her hand. “I’m not from around here.”

  “What happened?” Nikia says folding her arms across her chest. “Why are you covered in bites?”

  “Um,” she says, looking down at the needle as it fills with blood. “There were men—” Doc takes the vile of blood and heads into the back room where the science equipment is.

  Why the hell can’t she give us a full answer? I cross my arms and let out a sigh. Nikia glances up at me out of the corner of her eye. “I hope Doc gets that blood test back soon,” she whispers. “This girl is rubbing me completely the wrong way.”

  I nod my head and look her up and down. The tremor in her neck is more prominent now. It may just be from shock—she must have lost a ton of blood walking here. But Mr. Henderson’s arms trembled like that. It was like he had no control over his muscles. The tremors added with the confusion only brings me to one conclusion—these are symptoms.

  “Nikia,” Doc says from the doorway. “Can I speak with you in private?” He looks at me after addressing her and shakes his head. I switch my gaze back to the girl.

  I sit across from her at the table and rest my rifle at my side. She trembles in her seat while staring at some spot on the floor. “Are you going to kill me?” she whispers.

  I let out a sigh and shake my head. The ticking of the grandfather clock scratches at my eardrums. The desk rattles in sync with the tremor in her leg. She starts muffling sobs into the palms of her hands. I slam my hand down on the table between us, and she jumps. “Stop,” I say. Her arm and leg on her right side still trembles. “They’re testing your blood. There’s no need to be nervous
.”

  She glares at me, tilting her head slightly. I sit forward in my chair and stair into her green eyes—her pupils dilate in seconds. She lunges for me with a yelling growl sending the table between us crashing onto my sternum. My rifle clatters to the floor while I brace the table between us. She swings her arms wildly but my pressure on the table top keeps her from reaching me. I shove with all my strength, and she flies off of me across the landing cracking her head against one of the columns. I grip my rifle and aim at her chest.

  Nikia and Doc burst through the door wide-eyed. “What in the hell is happening out here?” he shouts.

  “She attacked me!”

  “No, no,” the girl mumbles. “I didn’t—”

  “You’re lying! You lunged at me from across the damn table!”

  “I swear I don’t know what he’s talking about,” she says to Nikia. Nikia glances at me and then, back to the girl.

  “Xavier, put your gun down,” Nikia says.

  “Not a chance in hell—”

  “You’re scaring her! Just give her a chance to explain herself.”

  I shake my head and think about Hunter’s and I’s chances on splitting tonight. If they decide to keep this psycho here, there’s no way we’re staying anymore. They can finish their damn fence on their own. I let my rifle fall until it’s aiming at the girl’s legs. Less of a target, but it’ll slow her down if she snaps again.

  “Hey,” Nikia whispers inching towards the girl. “I know you’re scared, but we need answers before we can help you.”

  The girl looks up at Nikia and then to my rifle. “I don’t remember how I got here,” she responds, her eyes darting around the room. “I was being held captive in a house. But I got loose one day, and they chased me. I had these bites from them.”

  Nikia swallows and nods her head. She looks back at me and grimaces. She turns back to the girl and whispers, “Can you rest here for a minute for me? Can you do that, Rosie?”

  She nods her head and leans back against the column. Doc and Nikia head toward me while all of us keep the girl within eye shot. “What did her blood say?” I already know the answer though.

  “Doc’s test results aren’t good,” Nikia responds.

  “Does she have something?” Both Doc and her look at each other and sigh.

  “We don’t know what it is,” Doc says, looking at the girl slumped against the column. “From what I read in the medical textbook, it could be anything. Rabies, HIV, Lyme Disease. But her red blood cells—they look like they’re on crack.”

  “So what does that mean?” I say gripping my rifle tighter.

  “Did she really attack you?” Nikia asks nodding her head towards her.

  “Yes. It was like a switch flipped. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this.”

  “Yeah,” Nikia says. “Same here.”

  “Either this girl has an extremely unique situation with her blood,” Doc says rubbing the back of his neck. “Or our myth just came true.”

  “You’re telling me she’s a wendigo,” I respond. I can’t deny it. She could turn on her rage with the flip of a switch. I cringe at the thought of a normal girl in that body. “What do we do?”

  “We can’t make her leave,” Nikia says. “She knows where we are now.”

  “I never thought I would say this,” Doc continues. “But wendigos are expert hunters of humans according to the lore. She’ll find us no matter where we drop her.”

  There’s only one more option that I can think of. I tighten the grip on my rifle and aim at her chest again.Xavier, don’t. Hayley’s weak attempt at stopping me fades almost instantly. I let my finger graze the trigger.

  “Do it,” Nikia says.

  Break

  I drag the girl’s body out the front door and onto the other side of the fence. The ground is wet with rainwater—should be awesome to have to dig into it. I grab the shovel and chop away at the heavy mud.

  So, you’re going to keep burying things and hope they go away.

  “Seems to be working so far.”

  You murdered that girl.

  “Hardly.” The wood handle of the shovel rubs my hands raw. I dig faster trying to drown out Hayley’s voice. The shovel hitting the mud makes a tink sound with each attempt of me thrusting it into the ground. Why can’t I at least stop hearing her? It was painful and refreshing to hear her back when it was just me and Hunter.

  But now—now, it was like I was tearing in two. One half of me wanted nothing more than to hear her, but the other half wanted the real her. The one I could comb my fingers through her hair, the one I could hold—not some imaginary person that yells at me from inside my head.

  I hope you don’t plan on burying us in a hole like that somewhere in here.

  “Shut up!” I yell throwing my shovel against the ground. “You don’t think I miss you? You don’t think I noticed how easy it was for me to shoot that girl? I don’t even feel anything, and I’m digging her grave. She didn’t deserve to die. She didn’t deserve to get shot with a rifle. But it’s easier shutting off and dealing with things that way! It’s the only way I’ll get back to you two!” I breathe heavy into the humid air. My breath wheezes from my chest.

  “Xavier,” a voice says from the direction of the house. My head whips in its direction. Nikia zips up her slicker and shoves her hands in her pockets.

  I let out a long sigh and pick the shovel back up—I wonder how much of that she heard.

  “Need help?”

  “No.”

  She kicks rocks with her shuffling steps and stands next to the girl’s body. “Your hands are bleeding,” she comments.

  I glance down at the handle of the shovel and spot the shiny red running down the wood. “Oh.”

  “Go inside and clean those out,” she says reaching out for the shovel from me. “I can handle digging a grave.”

  “Why do you always do that?” I say. I slam the shovel into the ground and scoop another pile of dirt aside.

  “Do what?”

  “The way you carry yourself around me,” I respond. I shovel another mound of dirt from the girl’s grave. “Am I that fragile that you have to baby me?”

  “You just killed someone—”

  “You know how many people have had that same fate at my hands?” My hands slip along the handle of the shovel. They throb with each beat of my heart. “Killing is a necessity in this world.”

  Nikia scoffs and folds her hands across her chest. “You know what I’m tired of? I’m tired of you pretending that this entire world we live in doesn’t effect you.

  You can keep digging this grave until your hands fall off for all I care. But it’s not gonna make you forget the sound of that gun firing. The sound her body made when it met the concrete in the archway. You may have killed, but you’re not a killer. And that will haunt you.”

  “Why do you continue to defend me? You don’t know me. You definitely have no right to take a guess at who I am.”

  We both sit there taking in the silent summer air. She looks away into the forest and closes her eyes. “I’m just saying Xavier, that you don’t have to turn off anymore,” she says without looking at me. “It’s why I started what we have here. It’s why people can be human again.

  I know you spent a year out there with Hunter. I can only imagine the things you did. But it’s over—”

  “Then why am I burying someone?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do—the humane thing to do,” Nikia whispers from just in front of me. “You have to let the past go. We don’t have any choice but to move forward.”

  I can feel the unfamiliar weight of guilt start to creep back in. Memories rush my head making my chest hurt.Just let them in, Xavier. I try to push them all down, but Hayley’s voice opens up a floodgate.

  “Are you all right?” Nikia puts a hand on my shoulder.

  “No,” I respond rubbing my temples. I push past her and run into the house to my room. My knees give out the second I close my door
. Hunter hops out of the bed and lays down in front of me. “Hunter, how can you even look at me straight after everything I’ve done.”

  I hate myself completely now—maybe this is my chance to start from scratch.

  The Floodgates: November, 2014

  “We know you’re out here,” a voice growls from underneath me.

  Somethings not right. I can feel it in my gut.

  I run along the tree tops until I can make out the gray stones of the fort. I push myself faster toward it, but the cannibal’s screech only gets closer.

  When I look behind me, a decaying man gains another step on my pace. I look up and see the front of the house. Nikia stands in the open doorway waving me toward her. I flip my gaze to my right. The fort’s front gate appears to be miles away.

  “Xavier!” Nikia yells. I look at her panicked face. “Come on!” I almost take off toward her, but then, I hear the loud creaking of the fort’s entrance and my feet freeze.

  I return my gaze to the fort and see the front gate open. A small hand reaches around the corner.

  “Hayley—” I’m tackled to the ground from behind, my face smooshing into the mud. A growling fills my ears before I feel teeth sink into the nape of my neck.

  But I don’t try to fight it. My gaze remains on the fort’s gate and the small hand gripping the door, before my vision tunnels out.

  * * *

  “Xavier!” a voice yells followed by a slap to my right cheek.

  I reach out and grip onto someone’s skin. My eyes shoot open to Doc’s wrinkled face. I let the breath that was choking me out.

  “You all right, friend?”

  I grunt in response. “I had a rough night—”

  “We all did,” he responds. “The whole house is petrified.”

  “They should be,” I comment. “I don’t want what’s out there to come into a place like this.”