Page 101 of Sinners Retreat

After stumbling around for a few minutes, I come across the body of the Cattle my victim killed. Flies buzz around the drying blood and land near the wound in his side. He’s been stripped of his yellow jumpsuit, but I search around and find his shoes nearby. Just as I suspected, the right one is drenched.

“Turn around slowly, and give me your weapons,” a feminine voice says behind me.

I follow the first command, but she’s lost her mind if she thinks I’ll give up my gear. She stands about ten feet away from me, with most of her body tucked behind a tree, which is smart. The head is a much harder target than a torso.

“This doesn’t have to end in more bloodshed,” I say. “You’re wearing a yellow suit. I don’t have any problems with you.”

She points a shaking finger toward the man on the ground. “But you had a problem with mydad? Why did you kill him? We were going to get out of this together.”

I take a step toward her, and she screams.

“Don’t come any closer!” she screeches, but she needs to shut the fuck up. She isn’t just dealing with serial killers in this jungle. There are worse fates than death.

I stop walking and hold my finger against my mouth to quiet her. “Listen to me and be quiet. I didn’t kill your father. Someone else killed him for his jumpsuit.”

“His jumpsuit? I don’t understand.”

“Some of us killers are picky. We only kill people who we feel deserve to die. Yellow jumpsuits are less of a target than pink and red.”

“You’resick! All of you are sick, sick, sick!”

I roll my eyes. “Look, you have two options. Shut up and move along or keep screaming and I’ll shut you up.”

“Sick! You’re sick! Someone, anyone, help! Get me out of here!”

She appears from behind the tree. In her hand, she holds a stick—a very long stick with an incredibly pointy end. She’s crafted a spear, which proves she’s resourceful. Unfortunately, she’s also out of her goddamn gourd.

I grip the handle of my dagger as she begins her charge. She’s wild, unruly, and uncalculated, which works in my favor. As she pushes the stick forward, I simply step to the side and stick out my blade. It catches her in the abdomen.

Now the incessant screaming starts. Having realized her mistake, she looks down at her stomach. Fat pink intestines poke from a gash, which runs about nine inches across her gut. My placement wasn’t the best, though. If I’d gone a little higher and a little deeper, I would have snagged an artery.

She drops to her knees beside her father. Blood drips from the wound and patters against the leaf litter.

I won’t pretend I don’t feel bad for the girl. Whatever she’s done, it didn’t warrant this kind of death.

I step closer and drop the dagger in front of her. “You’ll take a long time to die from that. If you want a quicker exit, there’s the door. You were never my target. Whatever you did, it isn’t my place to hand down your judgment. You forced my hand.”

She reaches for the dagger and clutches it against her chest as she silently cries.

I’m not worried about her coming after me. The blood loss coupled with the pain of disembowelment will make her easy enough to overpower. I couldn’t just leave her to suffer, though. That would have been cruel, and I try to treat people with at least a modicum of kindness when possible.

I’m not Ezra.

Leaving the girl with her dead father, I slip back into the jungle and eventually find a path. It might be no more than a game trail, but it’s something. Animals need fresh water, and if I keep following this path, I’m sure to come across it. If I can findthe water, I can find the waterfall, and if I can find the waterfall, I can get the fuck out of this jungle.

Not that I want to see that waterfall again. It’s a reminder of happier times.

After walking for what feels like forever, the trees begin to thicken around me, and I lose the trail. Backtracking is pointless. Everything looks the fucking same! Brown tree trunks and greenery stretch for as far as I can see, and if I sit still and listen, I can only hear the wind. No rushing water. No voices. No footsteps.

Feeling more hopeless than ever, I lean against a tree and catch my breath. That’s when I spot Ezra.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Ezra

I’ve been walking this side of the jungle for over an hour, but I’ve seen no sign of Kindra. Knowing my luck, she’s gone over the bridge. Which meansIhave to go over the bridge.

With a deep breath, I turn in that direction. The path is hard to find, but I get there in the end, and now I’m heading toward my greatest fear.

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