Page 44 of Twisted Hearts

I didn’t know if what had crawled onto me was a snake, a rat, or some other woodland creature that ate human flesh. A stabbing chill ran up my spine, and I fought a shiver as the thing lingered at the back of my left thigh. Was it burrowing itself into my leg? My mind exploded with panic.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What is it?

Adrenaline pumped through my body so thickly, I’d become one massive heartbeat. I couldn’t help my reaction. I couldn’t lie there and give the thing time to decide what part of my leg he wanted to take a chunk out of.

I heaved my body sideways, gritting my teeth with the force and effort I’d put into the turn. My movement sent whatever the hell it was on my leg someplace else. My ears perked at the sound of it scurrying away, its claws scratching the ground as it ran into the darkness.

As soon as I was rid of my attacker, a loud series of body damaging cracks sounded in the distance. I nearly twisted my neck off my body, my head snapped around so fast, scanning for where the sound was coming from. I prayed that it wasn’t Aaron who had received that bone-breaking strike.

Loud angry grunts sent my head to the back of Aaron’s truck. Two green figures were back there, fighting. Their loud heaves and grunts echoed through the dark. Their pounding fists connected with flesh and registered even louder as the two glowing green masses continued to scuffle.

I didn’t know if it was instinct or blind luck, but when the hairs on the back of my neck stood like a ghostly hand had passed across them, I turned and found a green form creeping its way in my direction with his weapon aimed and at the ready. Aaron’s sharp words replayed in my brain, “If you see anyone that’s not me, shoot.”

So, I aimed. And I shot. The person stood frozen for a moment before they dropped to their knees. They appeared to be holding their neck. A gurgling sound followed, confirming that I’d shot them in a place that affected their breathing. I lifted the gun to shoot again, but the body tumbled forward and remained still. To ensure it stayed down, I shot again at the unmoving mass on the ground.

I turned back to the fight that was still in progress behind the truck. Since it was difficult to tell one person from the next, I couldn’t tell who was winning the fight, Aaron or the bad guy.

An unworldly squeal sounded and brought my stabbing chill right back. One of the green figures repeatedly jammed a sharp instrument that must have been a knife, into the head and neck region of the other man.

A loud throat rattling humph followed each stab. The stabber kept stabbing until his adversary stopped making sounds and then hunched low next to the victim. The only logical explanation was that it was Aaron waiting for the rest of them.

My nerves were wound so tightly, I didn’t bother to slap away a buzzing insect as it fussed near my ear. My roving eyes remained on who I’d convinced myself was Aaron until he eased up and ran deeper into the woods. His silent stride didn’t match the energetic movement of his body. The large dark body of the truck obstructed him the further away he went, causing him to disappear from my view.

A quiet moment that felt like a lifetime passed before an eerie series of moans floated through the darkness, but there were no green figures in sight for me to match with the sound. The sound grew more intense and heart wrenching. The haunting cries filled the air with a creepy stillness that had goose bumps running up my arms. I knew that sound. I’d heard it before. A death moan. Someone was dying, and I prayed it wasn’t Aaron.

On the verge of calling out to Aaron, I pinched my lips shut. My eagerness to go searching for him intensified, but I fought it and inched my body lower behind the packed dirt of my hiding place. My body ached with the need to see if Aaron was okay, but I had to believe that he was alive.

Another moment of chilling silence enveloped the woods. The insects stopped singing, the animals stopped calling, and even the leaves had stopped their low chorus of swaying melodies. I held my breath for what seemed to last a lifetime as only the sound of my fluttering heart registered.

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