Doing some rapid basic reasoning, I knew I didn’t have but two choices I could make right now.
One: stand here and do nothing.
Two: keep moving.
I chose the latter. The sky was already an ocean of darkening blue. It wouldn’t be long before it was cocooned in the inky blackness that came with nightfall. If I was going to be wandering through the woods associated with a bunch of psychopaths, I preferred not to do it in total darkness.
I walked along the path watching either side of the tree line that bordered it. The air was warm and thick with an ominous kind of quiet. There weren’t any chorus of crickets or fluttering from birds. Even my footfalls seemed to get sucked into a void of silence.
I could typically tell when some bad shit was coming my way, though, and I didn’t have that feeling right now. For all my alertness, I still failed to notice the small gap in between the trees a few feet ahead. I was practically right on top of it when a tall figure suddenly emerged.
I didn’t take one second to stop and think, I simply reacted.
My fist whizzed through the air, narrowly missing whoever had just stepped out onto my path.
“Woah! Chill out!” He reared back, nearly falling over his own feet.
Who the hell was this? I let him regain his balance, making sure the space between us was a reasonable distance.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he implored, adjusting a pair of thin glasses.
“Where did you come from?”
“I got knocked out and put in a hut thing back that way. Where did you come from?”
“Same as you. My cabin is that way.” I motioned in its general direction.
“Have you seen any of those people running around in masks?” he peered over my shoulders and searched the opposite tree line as if he expected them to come bursting through at any second.
“Not recently,” I replied slowly, wondering if that was a trick question.
He shook his head and adjusted his glasses again. “I don’t know what’s going on around here or who those crazy ass folks is, but all I want to do is find my girl and get the fuck outta dodge.”
“Your girl?”
“Yeah. Have you seen her? She’s your height. Has long dreads. Round piercing in her nose.”
“I haven’t seen anyone but you,” I replied bluntly. I wasn’t going to pussyfoot with him if he was really looking for someone.
“This is all so fucked.”
He lifted an inked arm to rub the back of his neck and I noticed there were scratches on his otherwise smooth, dark skin. Seeing where I was looking, he was quick to offer up an explanation.
“We had to ditch our rental and run through the woods. That’s where they knocked my ass out. Mo was still running when I went down.”
I studied him critically. He gave off a kinda nerdy vibe. If I had to guess I would say he was the same age as me. He was tall with an athletic build. Not super muscular, but not scrawny either.
His navy shirt had bits of leaves stuck to it as did his jeans. This coupled with the scratches had me inclined to believe he wasn’t lying. But who was to say he was really telling the truth?
He took a small step back and held both his hands up as if he were surrendering. “I don’t mean you any ill will, ight?”
“I don’t take strangers’ words at face value these days. Especially one I just met in the middle of the woods.”
“That’s fair. Smart, too. But I’m not gonna hurt you, okay?” His arms lowered back down. “What do we do now?”
Um. Did he just say we? I had planned on leaving him right where he was. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea. What if he was important? I could only assume that either he or this missing girlfriend of his had been taken to serve some purpose for one of the founding families, hell maybe even mine. But that meant he was either as in the dark as I was or planted here to eventually fuck me over.
This didn’t help me decide what to do with him, and I couldn’t stand around trying to figure it out. Every minute mattered.
“It sucks about your girlfriend, but I need to keep moving. I’m looking for someone too. You can do as you wish.”
I took a few steps to the side, keeping him within my sights until I felt okay with turning around. When I glanced back a few seconds later, he was following me, which is exactly what I’d expected him to do.
CHAPTER FOUR
Flawless city streets and next level architecture. It was spread out before me like a giant chessboard splattered with invisible bloodstains. With the sun now nowhere to be found and nightfall having set in, the glow from the city’s streetlights were more like a beacon.