The group was down in numbers after Makwa’s killing spree. He looked to have taken about five people out, dwindling them to ten. They were moving around, someone was making sure the fire was killed.
“Come on,” Victoria said, grabbing me off the ground. She sighed and undid my shackles before tossing a fleece sweater with bloodstains at me. I worked it over my head. The chill had managed to slither into the space blanket overnight. Coldness felt engraved into my bones, making me wonder if I’d ever feel warm again.
Victoria moved me outside the cave where the yellow rays of sun snuck over the mountains. When camping, the early mornings were quiet but still alive—the sound of morning birds chirping, the rustle of squirrels jumping in the trees. Mother nature was stretching, coming out to face the day.
There was none of that here, an unnatural quiet seeping from the woods. The woods looked withered as if it were late winter. Piles of dead leaves and other foliage sat in fat heaps on the ground.
The forest felt dead. No movement. No sound. A carcass of life left to decay. It made me feel on edge like something nefarious was lurking close. A silent predator getting ready to attack that the forest had sensed before it shriveled up, hiding away until the threat left.
“Ava,” Makwa whispered. “You need to do something. They’ll kill us both.” Ben and the others were following us out, gathering around with a quiet unease about them. Ben gripped his strange book in his hand, strangling it in his grip.
“You can’t exorcise him,” I blurted as he walked over, Victoria digging her fingers into my arm.
“I can,” he said.
“No, you don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. “I have a curse. Without him, I’ll die.”
“He’s lying to you,” Ben said, reaching down to grab my arm and tug me from Victoria.
“Ava,” Makwa growled.
“He’s not lying. It’s real,” I shoved my blackened hand in front of me as Ben dragged me into the center of his group. His eyes briefly went to my hand.
“He’s whispering whatever he needs to.”
“He’s not.Please,” I begged as he thrust me towards the middle of the clearing in front of the cave. The sky was pale with white-pink clouds and desaturated oranges. I pulled cold air into my lungs and my throat ached with the temperature.
Ben took a few steps back and cracked open his book, the binding wheezing.
“Ava!” Makwa growled.
“Ben, please. I’m serious. I’ll die. What good will I be to you then,” I tried. Makwa growled in frustration at me, pacing inside my head like an agitated tiger in a cage. Ben slammed his book shut and stomped over to me.
“You’re no good to me possessed,” Ben snarled, getting in my face. I sucked in a breath and stepped back, surprised by his swift change of character. I stood there shaking as he opened his book back up.
“Makwa,” I whispered. “Tell me what to do.”
“Fuck,” he hissed. “Run.”
“What? I… how?” I asked, looking around the circle of people.
“Kill someone if you have to but you need to get away,” Makwa insisted. A sudden flash of memory burst in my head—the feel of a pickaxe sinking into soft brain tissue. The memory of killing someone made my mind shudder. I pressed my shaking fingers to my eyes and tried to control my breathing.
“Ava, it’s okay,” Makwa murmured in a surprising display of care, not even the slightest curl of entertainment to his words. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not!” I snapped, tearing my hands from my face and looking around. “You can’t!” I barked out to Ben. He sighed in annoyance and kept scanning the page in front of him.
“This is for your own good. It’s tainting you,” Ben replied, his patience for me wearing thin.
“He’s keeping me alive. I’m cursed. That’s why… you can’t,” I said, trying to impart to him this couldn’t happen.
“He’s tainted your mind, Ava. It’s a lie.”
“It’s not!” He didn’t respond to me anymore. He didn’t want to hear it. He was determined to get Makwa out of me. Ben began to speak strange words. The others held burning clumps of sage, the smell potent, making my eyes water. Makwa shifted inside me in discomfort.
“That rock,” Makwa said, his voice strained. I looked to my left on the ground. I knew what he wanted me to do. Grab the rock and run, hit anyone in the head who tried to stop me.
I lunged before I could think too hard about it. Before anyone might see the look of planning in my stance. My fingers wrapped around the rock, it was cold in my palm, my finger shook and I tightened my grip. I darted towards the space between two people, the dead forest just beyond them.
