CHAPTER TWENTY‑NINE. CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER TWENTY‑ NINE

“No fishies, ” Lander said. He sat down next to the body in the sheltering bushes where he’d left it hidden. “None at all. Casey has struck out. ”

He unbuckled her belt, and tried it on. A snug fit. So he used her knife to bore a new hole near its tip. It fit fine, after that.

He sliced through the thong at her throat, and held up the necklace for a closer look. The ornaments were dark with her dried blood. He counted them.

“Ha! Lander would’ve been thirteen. A baker’s dozen. Oh, villainy! ”

He jammed the knife into her belly and pulled it out.

“Curious. If you prick us, do we not bleed? ”

Tossing the necklace aside, he knelt over her. No more than a trickle of blood oozed from the wound. He cut into her again.

“Oh, this is wondrous strange. ”

He slowly carved his name in the skin of her belly. Then he sliced a frame around it. He peeled the skin off, and held it up.

“Lander in the flesh! ”

CHAPTER THIRTY

“One’s coming through! ” Neala said.

Robbins hurried through the doorway. He grabbed his rifle. Dropping to one knee, he took aim. He watched the girl stagger among the crosses, bumping into some.

“She drunk? ” Sherri asked.

“Something’s sure wrong with her, ” Neala said.

Robbins lowered his rifle.

“Well shoot her, for Christsake! ”

“None of the others are coming, ” he said.

“So what? ”

“She looks crazy, ” Neala said.

Robbins stood up. He stepped into the sunlight.

“What’re you doing? ” Sherri asked.

“Just a second. ” He ran to the corner of the cabin, and checked the Krulls at the side. None were approaching.

“Johnny, what…? ”

He ran to the rear, looked beyond the barrier, and returned to the front. “It’s okay, ” he said. “She’s the only one. ”

“You aren’t just gonna let her come, are you? Look at that fuckin’ sword. ”

“That’s just what I’m looking at, ” Robbins told her. “I want it. ”

The girl tripped, smashing through half a dozen crosses before she sprawled facedown. She raised her head. She got to her hands and knees. Bracing herself on the sword, she stood. She looked back as if to see how far she’d come. Then she faced the cabin. She squinted, and raised an arm to wipe sweat from her forehead.

The motion lured Robbins’s eyes to her breasts. They were large, for such a slim girl, and shiny with sweat. Robbins felt a warm rush of arousal. He lowered his gaze to her belly, to her dark wedge of pubic hair.

“Look at that, ” Sherri said. “She’s got bathing suit lines. ”

Sherri was right. The girl’s breasts and pubic area were pale.

“That’s Cordelia! ” Neala gasped.

Robbins studied the face. It was swollen and bruised and marked with cuts, but it did resemble the girl who’d been with them last night.

“Cordelia? ” he called.

Her head nodded slightly.

“Holy shit, ” Sherri muttered.

Cordelia staggered forward. She stepped high over fallen pikes, then ducked to pass under the crossbars of those ahead.

“God, what’ve they done to her? ”

“I think she’s in shock, ” Robbins said.

She stumbled again, and fell to her knees.

Robbins slung the rifle across his back. He started forward.

“Johnny, it might be a trick. ”

“Maybe, ” he admitted.

He pushed his way through the crosses until he reached her. She was still on her knees. She stared up at him. Her eyes looked wide and blank.

He slipped his hands under her armpits, and lifted her to her feet.

“It’s all right” he said softly.

She raised the sword high.

“Johnny! ” Neala cried.

His hand slid up, and gripped her feeble arm.

“It’s all right, ” he said again.

His other arm circled her back, and he pulled her against him. Pressing her tightly to his body and still clutching her arm, he swung her around and carried her through the fallen crosses.

In front of the cabin, Neala took the sword from her hand. Robbins carried her inside. He lowered her to the floor. Rolling onto her side, she drew her legs up to her breasts. She held them there. Her mouth sucked on her knee.

“Cordelia? ”

She didn’t respond.

Robbins turned to Neala and Sherri. “Maybe we’d better just leave her alone for a while. ”

He went toward the doorway, Neala at his side.

“I’ll stay with her, ” Sherri offered. “She might need–”

“Fine. ”

They left Sherri beside the girl, and went outside. They found shade at the rear of the cabin. There, they sat together. They held hands, and talked softly.

Neala lay on her back, and rested her head on Johnny’s lap. He stroked her hair. When she yawned, Robbins told her to sleep. She shook her head. Her eyes were full of sorrow. “We have so little time, ” she said.

“We’ll have years, ” he told her.

Tears came. He brushed them from the corners of her eyes.

Neala opened her eyes. She was lying on her side, her body against Johnny, her face touching his bare chest. She felt as if she’d been asleep for a long time. A breeze moved over her skin in warm, fluttery waves.

There had been no breeze, earlier. With a start, she rolled onto her back. The cabin’s shadow stretched a long distance. “Oh God, ” she moaned. She turned to Johnny. “It’s so late, ” she said.

“We’ve got a couple more hours. ”

“I don’t want you to go. Not without me. ”

“You’ll be safe here. ”

“I don’t care if I’m safe. I want to go with you. ”

“Well, we’ll see. I just…”

“Hey guys! ” Sherri called through the wall. “You’d better get in here. ”

“Right in, ” Johnny said.

Neala sat up. She didn’t look toward the wall. All afternoon, she had kept her eyes away from it. If Sherri was spying again, she didn’t want to know.

She and Johnny got dressed. They hurried to the front of the cabin, and entered its open door.

Cordelia was sitting up.

“She wants to tell us something, ” Sherri explained.

“Yeah, ” she said. “It’s what they sent me in here for. You’re supposed to come out. ”

“Surprise surprise. ”

“They won’t kill you if you come out. ”

“Sure, ” said Sherri. “I’ll just bet. ”

“No, it’s true. They’ll take you in. You can join with them. They won’t kill you. ”

“Why not? ” Neala asked.

“They need you… They’ve got too much in–”

“They want us for making babies? ”

“Yeah. ”

“What about Johnny? He’s hardly capable…”

“He can come, too. ”

“Stick to the truth, ” Johnny warned.

Sherri turned to him. “You know what she’s talking about? ”

“I know they’ll accept women, sometimes. Young ones. Pretty ones. For recreation. And breeding, I suppose. That may be why they don’t want the Barlow people fooling with them. They don’t take men, though. ”

“Is that true? ” Sherri asked Cordelia.

The girl nodded.

“You mean they’d kill Johnny? ” Neala asked.

“I suppose”

“You bitch! What’re you lying for! ”

“I’m sorry, ” Cordelia whispered. She held up her left hand and plucked a filthy rag away from it. “See what they did? ”

Neala glimpsed the stump, and looked away.

“One of them bit it off. As a lesson. To show what they’d do to me if I didn’t get you two to come out. ”

Sherri laughed once, harshly. “This sounds like a great outfit. First they fuck us, then they bite off our fingers. ”

“And they kill Johnny, ” Neala added.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass, ” Sherri said.

Cordelia looked up at each of them. “If you don’t come with me, you’ll all be killed. ”

“They can’t get to us here, ” Johnny told her. “If they could, they wouldn’t have sent you to talk us out. ”

“It’s not them. It’s… someone else. ” The fear in her eyes chilled Neala. “I saw him last night” she said. Her voice lowered to a hoarse whisper. “He killed Ben. He put Ben’s head on a pole. He put all these heads on poles. They call him the Devil, and they won’t come to get you because this is his cabin, and he’s coming back. ”

“When? ” johnny asked.

“Maybe tonight. ”

“She’s trying to trick us again, ” Sherri said.

“No, honest. He’s real and he’s–horrible! ”

“We were here last night, ” Johnny said. “He didn’t come then. ”

“He was out killing. He killed Ben. He would’ve got me, but I hid. ”

“If he comes, ” said Sherri, “we’ll just hide. ”

“You’re crazy. He’ll kill you all. ” She pushed herself to her feet. “I’m going back. I’ll tell ’em you aren’t coming out. ”

“Don’t go back, ” Johnny said. “Stay here. We’ll all get out. ”

“Oh no you won’t. I’ve seen… I’ve seen him. I’m going back. ”

She stepped unsteadily toward the open door.

“Cordelia, don’t. ”

“You’re fools, ” she said. She pointed through the doorway. “Your heads’ll be out there, by morning. ”

Her sword was propped beside the door. She reached for it.

“Leave that here, ” Johnny said.

“Okay, ” she said.

Then she grabbed it, whirled around, and attacked.