Pain formeda quick headache as I started to come to. Recognition tried to rear its ugly head at the forefront of my mind, trying to remember what had happened as I felt soreness blast from the back of my head.
I remembered waking up and being with Arze at the RV, the short introduction with Myers, and then we’d said goodbye. Right, and then I’d heard that weird noise outside the RV. And then I’d gone investigating and then…nothing. Which begged the question: where the hell was I now?
My eyes fluttered at the same time my ears started working again, the darkness lifting from me as I came to completely.
I could hear some light chatter around me, but nothing super distinct. My eyes were squinting from the blaring light, careening my head to the side until I was able to make out the tops of the trees. In fact, there were a lot of trees as I moved my neck down.
The forest came into painful clarity, my head still working to outdo the torment I’d been afflicted with. I was in the middle of a clearing, completely enveloped by the forest. Whether or not I was just outside the RV park or in an entirely different section of the woods, I wasn’t sure.
I was more surprised that I hadn’t been tied up in any way. But I guess with so many people around, they figured that they would have spotted me if I had dared to run.
A slew of people were nearby. Humans. I realized that they were, at least in part, some of the people that had just recently arrived to the RV park. They were a part of the same group that had just arrived, the ones that had been making a loud racket when Arze and I had our talk by the picnic area. They varied in every way, a melting pot of the human existence represented. Although, they were almost entirely male in appearance. I spotted a few women, but whatever or whoever this group was, they were dominated by an overwhelming presence of men.
And every single one of them looked hateful, wearing the same even snarl that made me think they hadn’t taken me in order to celebrate some unforeseen event. There had to be about thirty people ambling about this damn clearing, aimless and seemingly waiting for further instructions on their next move.
One of the nearby people was a man with a gnarly mustache, one that was upturned and long, like he was a fucking cartoon villain. He was covered in tattoos that traveled the length of both his arms, and he caught my squinted gaze. His eyes flared as his mouth dropped to speak.
“Hey, he’s awake.”
And then suddenly I was surrounded by about twelve different men. They were staring at me like I was some kind of threat, which was rich, considering the predicament I’d found myself in.
“What do you want?” My voice was gruff and gravely as I spoke.
Gnarly Mustache grunted, turning to one of his comrades. “Tell the boss he’s up.”
He remained with me, along with one other man that had a well maintained beard but was completely bald otherwise. Therest of them scattered, going to deliver the message to this ‘boss’ they were referring to. Who the hell would want to capture me? And for what? I was one of the least threatening people ever. And on top of that, I wasn’t even a true citizen of Phoebe. What would the townspeople have against me?
Then it hit me. These people had just settled in the RV park, implying that they too were from out of town. Again, I had no enemies that I knew of. None of this made sense.
Through the crowd of people hustling to get the person in charge, I was able to peer through their movement to see Arze about twenty feet from me on the opposite side of the clearing, blinking rapidly from the spot he was kneeling on in the grass like he too had just woken up.
“Arze!”
His eyes found me through the mass of people. I could make out the terror as he took me in, mirroring his position in the grass, also kneeling and being guarded by a pair of goons.
Gnarly Mustache stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Arze. “Shut the fuck up. No one said you could talk, did they?”
I kept my mouth shut, but I gave him what I hoped was the most intense death glare he’d ever received in his life. When this, whatever the fuckthiswas, ended, I was going to unleash some havoc on these people. Not only had they taken me but they’d taken Arze. That fact charted a course of wanting to inflict immense bouts of pain on them all that wouldn’t be satiated until they were unconscious, bare minimum.
More movement behind Gnarly Mustache blurred by, until he finally finished obscuring my perspective and my mouth dropped at the person standing before me. The last person I would have expected to see come into the clearing, at this exact moment, washim.
His blue eyes shone with determination, not a single strand of his blond hair ruffled or out of place.
“Lincoln?” I managed to say, still dumbfounded that he was here. “What are you doing here? What’s going on?”
“I’ll take it from here.” Lincoln gave the men surrounding me an easy smirk. “Make sure everything’s ready. Bring that Orb closer so we can get things started.”
They all gave him a nod and started moving now that they had acquired their next orders. Lincoln bent down to my eye level, balancing on his bent legs as he stared down at me. He had that same edge in his eyes as he had that day when we’d been in a very similar clearing near the RV park, and it made my headache at the memory. Or maybe that was the fact that I’d obviously been knocked out and hadn’t quite recovered.
Actually, as I looked around, glancing behind Lincoln, this clearing looked hauntingly familiar. My heart quickened. If this was the same clearing, then we weren’t really that far from the RV park. We could get help, or at least escape, and aid wouldn’t be that far from us.
“Krueger.” Just my name passing his lips was enough to make my stomach churn with disgust. I was so fucking glad I had distanced myself from him before things had gotten more involved. Clearly I’d had the right idea. “I’d like to say I’m sorry about this, but honestly, I’m not.”
“What the fuck is going on?”
Sharp suffering met my cheek as Lincoln slapped me, making my head turn away from him. Flashing anger streamlined through me as I turned back to face him, doubling in the earlier disgust as he met my gaze again.
“Watch it.” He said. “You’re not in charge here.” He stood back up, wiping imaginary dust off of his acid wash jeans. “I am.”
