Page 16 of After the Fall

“No. He’ll have adrenaline running through his body. We should get him down before he seriously injures himself.”

“This was a mistake.” Atticus sidestepped to hide behind a neighboring tree. “We need to get rid of the traps. We can’t be constantly monitoring them, and if a human is killed in one of them…” Atticus’s voice trailed off.

“They’re trespassing,” I grunted, but knew that Atticus was right. “How are we going to capture Joe Davis without traps?” As the words came out of my mouth, I knew the answer. And I didn’t like it.

We would have to use Harper as bait.

“We’ll think of something.” Atticus’s gaze was focused on the flailing man in the hiking pants, but his lips were drawn into a tight line. “I have an idea, but let’s get this guy down first. Did you bring the darts?”

“Of course.” I slid the pack off my back and handed Atticus the long tube and darts. Atticus pulled the bottle of forgetting serum from his pocket and started to unscrew the bottle. “Wait.” I held up my hand. “Maybe he has some answers. What if we wait a bit before we wipe his memory?”

Atticus screwed the lid back on the bottle and returned it to his pocket. “He’s gonna fight us.”

“We’re rescuing him. He’ll be happy to see us.”

Atticus raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. It’s that, or we’ll drop him on his head and give him a nice little concussion.”

“I like option two.” Atticus interlaced his fingers and stretched his hands in front of him.

I slipped my arms into the straps of the backpack and stood. “That can be our backup plan. You stay here.” I didn’t wait for Atticus to agree, and stepped out from behind the tree, breaking into a jog.

“Whoa. Dude. What happened?” I shouted to the man as I approached.

“T-trap. Leg. Stuck.” Leaves fell like snowfall as his flailing returned. His voice sounded strange, like he was struggling to find the words to describe his predicament. But fear and adrenaline can do weird things to the human body.

“Hold on. I’ll get you down.”

Luckily the man wasn’t as big as one of us, not even close. I was able to use one hand to lift him higher, taking the pressure off the rope. The man screamed as he was tugged a foot higher into the tree canopy. If I couldn’t see with my own eyes that it was a man on the other end of the rope, I would’ve sworn that itwas a wild animal – a fox, maybe. Their screams are terrifying, and sometimes mistaken for human babies. “Chill out, man. I’m getting you down. Whoever tied this did a good job.”

The rope stilled, and the man watched me with wide eyes as I lowered him to the ground. As soon as his body touched the forest floor, he ripped and tore at the rope around his ankle.

“Let me help you.” I reached for the knot, which had cut into his skin, but he shimmied backwards, his fingers, blooded from trying to free himself, leaving crimson dots on the moss. “It’s okay. I’m here to help you.”

The man backed to the tree and his eyes darted like prey, trying to find an escape route. I held up my hands. “I have a first aid kit in my pack. Let me help you.”

He held up a hand and pointed a finger at me. “One of them.”

“Wha—”

I didn’t have time to ask what he meant. Atticus stepped around the tree and knocked him on the head with the butt of his knife. “It was time for plan B. Let’s get him back to the house and see what he knows.”

“I could’ve calmed him down.”

Atticus shook his head. “No. There’s something wrong with this one. He smells like Harper’s freaky father.”

Inhaling, I hated to admit that Atticus was right. It was subtle, but the unconscious man smelled eerily similar to Joe Davis. “We better tie him up then.”

“Or we could always leave him here.” Atticus touched the man’s neck. “He’ll survive.”

“No. We need answers.” I tied the man’s hands behind his back and roped his ankles together.

“Rock, paper, scissors for who has to carry this dude back to the car?”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re the one who enacted plan B. With my plan, this skinny hipster would be walking on his own.”

Atticus groaned and flopped the man, who couldn’t have weighed more than 150 pounds, over his shoulder. “Should one of us stay out here and disassemble the traps?”

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