“Glad we had that conversation,” I said to him. He took a deep breath and didn’t respond.
“Hmm, you aren’t going to ask for Ava?” Makwa asked him.
“Why, so she can walk cold through the woods? No,” Caspian answered. Then for a blissful stretch of ten minutes, there was silence. All this non-stop chatter was giving me a headache. The ten minutes ended far too soon.
“Sunny now, won’t be later,” Makwa said in entertainment. Caspian and I both groaned. “Tell me,Ben, think we’ll be out after dark?”
“No,” Ben responded. Makwa chuckled darkly.
“I do so hope we are. I love the dark.”
“Why is that, ghost?” Ben asked with an unimpressed tone.
“Sun is a bit harsh with these eyes of mine. Don’t worry. Don’t worry at all,” he said with a deep rolling laugh.
I reached down and patted my gun, thankful they let me keep it after realizing I had no bullets. They might be able to withstand my voice but they still felt naturally repelled by me. I’d have been mad if they took my favorite gun.
I also managed to grab a few other strange items they had lying around camp before I’d been captured. I wasn’t one to let an opportunity for free stuff pass me by. I’d lived my whole life as a scavenger. So yeah, I took the muzzle. Would we need a muzzle? No idea but I wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
6
We were being followed. It didn’t appear anyone else was aware, though it was hard to know what Mothman could sense and I couldn’t care less what Makwa was capable of except fucking off.
The humans were oblivious, their eyes scanning the trees as iftheywere the hunters. Something was watchingthemthough. A cold presence that slunk around, eyeing each step they took. The leaves fell from the trees despite it being summer and they crunched under our feet—dry husks of what they should be.
The creature followed us as we went higher up the mountain, the day wearing on. Sometimes I almost heard its heavy breathing bearing down on our necks. Its movement in the air brushed my skin, making me alert.
This thing following us was an apex predator. He was moving cautiously but fearlessly as if there was simply nothing in these woods for him to fear. He was cautious only to avoid alerting his prey.
It was Brandon.
I could smell him, feel the way he moved. His smell was the same—a piney male musk. We’d been bandmates for years, seeing each other almost daily as we pushed ourselves to climb to the top—to get a label, to be seen. It was grueling and that meant we’d seen each other far too much because we had all been highly motivated, though for different reasons.
Brandon wasn’t moving in his normal way, the loud stomping swagger I was used to. He was slinking quietly in the forest—slowly committed to his hunt. He was following like a starved mountain lion, weak and single-focused. I could hear the brush of his jeans and occasionally he would tap one of his rings to his belt buckle in a beat, a drummer’s fidget.
He did it now.Tap, tap-tap, tap, tap. The humans looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. At the same time they gave up looking, he did it again.Tap, tap-tap, tap, tap. I could see the hairs rising on their arms but they didn’t know why.
Cold, chilling power leaked out of Brandon like an open wound bleeding out. The closer he followed, the colder we all got. The humans tugged on the collars of their fleece pullovers, their breath coming out in white clouds as Brandon got dangerously close.Tap, tap-tap, tap, tap.
The entire forest was shivering, the animals scampering away, and the leaves shriveling back.
Brandon wasn’t human anymore. The coldness he leaked settled into my chest. I rubbed at it, uncomfortable with my concern for someone who wasn’t Ava. I didn’t like caring about others. I didn’t likeempathizing. It itched uncomfortably compared to the detachment I was used to. Caring for others made life more complicated and left more opportunities for pain.
It confused me that I’d care for Brandon of all people. We were each other’s antagonists. Then again, Ava cared for him. Anything she cared about I would protect. I wanted her to be happy, thriving with life, smiling. Apparently, I also loved to see her in pleasure even if I wasn’t the one giving it to her.
I shuddered and looked over my shoulder at her. No, not her,Makwa. This possession was fucking with my peace of mind even more than my apparentcarefor Brandon and begrudgingly Mothman.
I knew in my head Makwa wasn’t her but my instincts screamed it was Ava and I couldn’t brush off that sensation. The horrible part was that Makwa knew or was at least suspicious of it. I was concerned what a monster like him would do with that knowledge. Undoubtedly, try to abuse it any way he could.
Hadn’t he already? Clearly,hewas the one who asked me to kill Ben. I felt Makwa’s eyes on my back as I walked, like he knew I was thinking about him.
I didn’t trust him. There was somethingwrongwith him. I got the creeping sense that even if he was helpful now, at any moment the other shoe would drop. That he was biding his time.
There was a reason he was trapped in that cave surrounded by dead bodies. The fact Ava wasn’t more worried concerned me about how much Makwa was whispering in her head. It was also strange that the cult was ignoring the black-eyed creature walking freely among them. Ignoring the monster that had killed several of them with a smile stretched across his face like he’d won the lottery.
Sure, killing was pleasurable but Makwa appeared to be foaming at the mouth for it. Like heneededit.
Did they really think a handful of salt would save them? It appeared to be working now but Makwa didnotact like he’d been defeated. He acted like he was about to munch on his favorite snack.
