No Service (10 page)

Mark shoved the ax back into Kevin’s hands and backed up. “I do understand. As soon as that girl went missing the other day, that’s when I knew. You didn’t have to say a goddamn word. I knew before you ever told me. If that’s not saying something, then I don’t know how you expect me to get your fucked-up mind by butchering people.”

Jess thought that Kevin was going to lay into Mark, maybe even take out his violent temper on him. Chris let out a pitiful moan at their feet. Kevin kicked him hard enough in the side to turn him over.

“You shut up a minute,” he said down to Chris. Leaving the ax in one hand he approached Mark. “Dearest brother, I would like to repeat myself one more time. You could have just left, ran to the cops yourself, but you clearly want more. You know you’re just like me.” He placed his free hand on Mark’s shoulder and gave an encouraging squeeze.

Mark brushed him off and stood, dejected and staring at the ground. “Fuck you.”

Kevin lashed out again and brought a strong backhand across his brother’s face hard enough to throw them both off balance. The crack of the force startled the birds and Jess jumped. “You do not speak to me with such vulgarities. We are brothers, and we may fight, but you save your filth for talking to the trash of this world.”

Mark clutched his jaw looking fearfully into Kevin’s eyes. Jess could only see Kevin’s back, but knew from Mark’s expression there must be fire and destruction in the face that she couldn’t see. Her will was faltering and she couldn’t think of anyone that evil and vile she’d ever actually met in her life.

Kevin turned away. “I’m going to pay your girl a visit. Found her wandering around again. Bring this pompous meatbag back with you. I’ll give you a lesson in something that might strike your fancy.”

As soon as Kevin was out of sight, Mark knelt down next to Chris.

“I’m sorry, but… I’m sorry.”

Chris kicked himself away from Mark. “Get the fuck away from me.”

Mark stood back up. Weakly he said, “Hold still or I’ll gag you again.”

Chris rolled over and tried to push himself up to his feet, but couldn’t manage to get past his knees without Mark pushing him back down. He rested an elbow on Chris’s back. “Come on, man. You heard him. You heard what he’s doing here. Every few years Kevin’s got to taste a little blood, get out his frustrations. If you’re lucky your stupid wife will have gotten out of here. Maybe if she gets the hell out of here, you’ll stand a chance. It’s like Russian fucking roulette.”

Jess gauged Mark one more time, assessing what would be best. The ax had left with Kevin. Mark appeared to be empty handed. The terrifying knife was sheathed and tucked into Mark’s back pocket on his jeans. Chris groaned as he circled him and began to tie his feet. While he was absorbed in the task, Jess arose once more from her crouch. Silently, she edged her way right up to the two men.

Her rage boiled inside. She was so completely over and done with it all. Mark was an absolute loser with no backbone for anything but causing pain to those weaker or incapacitated. Jess was confident and dangerous.

With a guttural growl she lunged from the trees and did her best field goal kick right into Mark’s stomach. She could hear the wind get kicked out of him. In one smooth motion, she brought down the open pocketknife. It took less than a second and the blade wasn’t particularly sharp having been made so cheaply, but she tore through him fast and hard.

The wide handle of the knife was the only thing that stopped her from pushing it all the way through to his lungs and out the back. It had been repulsive to hear the flesh give way to the knife and even more disgusting to have felt the initial puncture as it burst past the layers of skin. Mark fell back onto the ground and she fell with him, keeping the knife in his chest all the way to the hilt. She straddled him and grappled with his flailing arms with her free hand.

Pulling the blade back out, she let out a hiss of air between her teeth as she drove it in one more time. Mark was clawing at her, his fists hitting her. A solid punch connected with her left cheek so hard she saw stars, but her fury couldn’t be contained and she slapped him with her left hand. Even being the non-dominant hand, it left a ferocious red mark. Still not done with her hate, she swung her arm back the other way and hit him on the other side.

Her wedding ring gashed into his jaw. Blood flowed freely down his chin in a twisting river of red. She twisted the knife knowing it would hurt. Wanting it to hurt.

“If this is how I have to serve justice,” she thought, “then so be it. His brother will know hell before ever meeting the Devil.”

Mark was kicking and thrashing. He kept trying to swing his knees into her back, but she was leaned too far forward over him. He kept grabbing at her right hand as she pulled to get in a really solid punch. Jess couldn’t believe how ruthless she was. It was like being disconnected from her own body. Her limbs did all the work and her brain simply stood to the side as a bystander observing the events from afar.

Chris was trying to turn around while lying on the ground. The rope was still tangled around his ankles and he was facing the complete opposite direction from the main action. Chris kept shouting at her. “What’s happening? Jess! What’s happening?”

Mark was bellowing so loudly that Jess was absolutely certain Kevin could hear it. Everything in the forest would hear his guttural screams. Jess didn’t make a sound. Like a deadly mercenary taking out a target during a clandestine mission, even her breathing was controlled and perfect.

Mark couldn’t get a solid grip around her arm or the handle of the knife. His blood was everywhere and his hands were too slippery to grab on. He finally had the foresight to reach for her shirt, something he was able to get a hold of. His fist balled around her collar and he tried to throw her off. His pain and adrenaline fueled his strength, but she had the same hormone flooding through her body driving her with equal fervor. Her legs were clamped on so tightly around him he couldn’t unlatch her.

While still holding her shirt, he thrust a hand up into her chin driving her head back. She leaned back as he stressed her neck backward. When she leaned back far enough, he drove his knee right into her spine. The force knocked her forward and threw her off balance just enough that he was able to throw her away. She landed in a heap.

Mark jolted to his feet and began to run. The knife dropped to the ground. He took a running leap over Chris who was still trying to roll over. He sprinted like an Olympian. His feet propelling him almost supernaturally. He was clutching his stomach, but it didn’t seem to slow him down any.

Jess took off after him, snatching the blade as she ran. She wasn’t going to let her prey get away. She was a tiger and he was a scared little rabbit. Hurdling over her husband, she flew through the woods like the wind itself carried her. Mark spared a glance over his shoulder and screamed again putting his arms up to shield his face as she jumped on him and hit him with the knife again.

Jess drove the knife in several more times. She couldn’t even keep track. Her mind simply blanked out as she destroyed the coward.

All of a sudden, she realized that he was dead and Chris was calling out to her frantically. He was far enough away that he’d been unable to watch her. She wondered if he would know it was a blessing he hadn’t seen.

She looked down at herself. The scent of her kill was vivid in the air. It was an overpowering, sickening stink. The slimy feel of all the viscera that covered her was slick and hot. Her whole body was splattered in crimson, she could even feel it on her face. She spared a glance at the body under her and felt ill that she could have possibly done what was before her.

The stab wounds were numerous and wet. His face was mostly intact, but his hands were sliced up quite severely from trying to defend himself. She had ripped apart his chest and stomach. His shirt was barely clinging in shreds and his torso was almost akin to fresh ground meat.

Jess fell backward off of him still clutching the knife. Trying to drive the image of what she had done from her mind she raced back to Chris. He took one look at her and his wide eyes told her how horrified he was.

“Is he dead?” Chris asked hesitantly. It seemed stupidly obvious to ask, but he wondered if by some miracle Mark was still slowly dying out there in the woods.

Jess opted to not speak. She needed a minute to try and process everything. She nodded and left it at that. Chris seemed happy to do the same.

She carefully cut the ropes that had bound him. He rubbed his wrists as they sat down together.

“I was really scared for you,” he said.

Jess shrugged. She hadn’t been scared for herself at all. She had been a little scared for Chris perhaps, but mostly she’d been so angry. Maybe it was the lack of food over the last several days. Maybe it was just reaching a point of uncaring for herself. All she knew was that a bloodlust had taken hold of her and she’d let it do exactly whatever it wanted to.

After a short rest, she finally found her voice. “You have anything to drink yet?”

Chris nodded. “Yeah, he gave me water to wake me up. What about you?”

“Pond water.”

“How’s your leg?”

Jess turned so that he could see. It had become really painful, but until they got out, there wasn’t a lot that could be done about it. Chris didn’t even touch it and didn’t look that closely.

“So did you figure out which way is out?” he asked optimistically.

Jess smiled. It felt foreign and absurd. Smiling was something that hadn’t occurred over the last couple days. Her face had been a constant cinched up frown most of the time. The smile was heavily pained.

“Yeah, but there’s business to take care of,” she said in a grim tone.

Chris looked startled. “You don’t want to leave?”

“They’ve got Steph.”

“I thought you didn’t like Steph.”

“I didn’t, but we each manned up and sorted our shit out over a can of beans in the rain.”

Chris raised an eyebrow, but didn’t press further. They both sat in a contemplative repose, then Chris turned to her and said, “So… you think Kevin has really low blood sugar?”

There was the smile again and this time it was accompanied by a full-blown laugh. It was wildly inappropriate to find something like that so funny, but the more she thought about it the more hilarious it became. The laughter intensified and she soon thought she might crack a rib. It was what she and Chris had always referred to as the Church Giggles. It meant that it was the worst possible time to laugh and that only made it funnier and harder to stop, such as an outburst during a religious sermon.

Chris grinned at her as he wiped a tear from his eye. A few stray chortles escaped, but he was largely under control once again. Their eyes met and he snorted, but held it together.

“I wonder if that will still be funny when we get home,” Jess mused.

Chris put his hand on top of hers. “I like that you said that.”

“Said what?”

“You said ‘when we get home.’ I’m glad you still can talk like that.”

Jess hadn’t realized she’d said that, but felt relieved herself to know that it was close. The goal was in sight and she wanted it.

They rested a bit more. Chris was insistent after what she’d done that she take a minute to calm down. Her adrenal glands wouldn’t be pushing out any more epinephrine, more commonly called adrenaline, and she’d probably feel all sorts of aches and hurts that it had blocked in the heat of battle. Sometimes people vomited after coming down from the natural high. All sorts of things could happen after the rush and he didn’t want her running off to try and chop up a murderer when she might unexpectedly short circuit.

With his arm around her, she nestled in close and they both laid down. It wasn’t comfortable, but having each other they felt more secure and relaxed. Chris was proven right when he heard Jess’s deep rhythmic breathing as she fell asleep. He’d seen the dark circles under her eyes and knew he probably had a set of his own that looked just as much like a raccoon. He didn’t sleep though. He couldn’t stand the thought of how stupid it would be to be caught out unawares in broad daylight.

Brushing his fingers against her hair, he let her sleep. Steph might need help, but warriors needed their strength.

Jess woke with a start and shoved away from Chris kicking and scratching. He screamed and she snapped out of it quickly.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I had a bad dream.”

He took a deep breath. “Well, I can’t blame you. What did you dream about?”

Without a word, she looked past him to where Mark’s body lay among some tall grass. There was a trail of red leading to the area, but the foliage blocked her view of the carnage. It was as if a dye pack had burst in that spot. Jess was glad she couldn’t see the body lying there.

Her face sagged with the weight of what she’d done. It had felt so right in the moment, but now she wondered if it had been the best choice. Maybe Mark hadn’t really wanted to go along with what his brother had done, but he was too coward to shut him down. She wondered if she’d taken her aggression toward Kevin and lashed out on Mark in his place. She had possibly removed the wrong person from the planet.

“It’s okay. What’s done is done and he had it coming.”

“But did he?” she asked with a bit of a whimper. Her face screwed up like she was about to cry.

Chris pulled her in toward him. His shoulder burned with the movement, but he let her sob into his chest as long as she wanted. She had always tried to do what she thought was best for him. It was only fair that he returned the favor.

With her crying fit under control, she wiped her eyes and her face hardened against what she knew had to come next. She still planned to take down Kevin.

“The way out is that way,” she said, pointing off to the west. “Go get the police. I’ll take care of business here.”

“Are you insane? I’m coming with you!”

Jess shook her head. “You can’t fight with a shoulder like that.”

Chris stood up, wobbly and unbalanced, but trying to assert just how okay he was. “You might need help. It’s a grown man with an ax! You have a Wal-Mart pocketknife!”

Jess laughed, although she didn’t think she was supposed to find it funny at all. “I have to save Steph and you have to get help. That’s the only way I can see this working.”

Chris remained stoic as she got to her feet. “No,” he said adamantly. “I’m going to help you and we’ll all hobble out of here together.”

Chris also stood. She faced him. Her head fell at the height of his chest. He was more muscular, stronger, more physically prepared for the task ahead, but she could see that he simply wasn’t ready for what they’d be rushing in to.

“He may have the physical advantage,” she thought to herself, “but I have the guts.”

Chris stared down at her hard. His back was slumped a bit from the pain of his wounds, but more than that, he looked like a man defeated and walking to his fate. They were both aware that he wouldn’t leave her side.

“This could turn out like absolute shit,” Jess said quietly.

“If you’re rushing back in, then let’s do this thing,” he replied with no enthusiasm. He spoke calmly like a man awaiting his walk to the gallows.

Jess forged the path ahead and Chris followed just behind her. Their movements were careful and calculated. Jess was certain that Kevin had the wherewithal to spy on them, but she just kept moving on in the direction she thought they might find Steph. If he was prepared for them, their survival odds went down drastically, but at the same time, she felt confident.

She’d heard a myth a long time ago that in cowboy stand-offs, the person who drew second actually had a better chance of making it out alive. Supposedly the second person that pulled their gun was so frantically on edge they’d have faster reflexes. She had no idea if it was true, but it gave her some hope that if they were being watched, her reaction time would be increased.

Jess hated the feel of Mark’s blood drying against her skin. She’d only barely cleaned her own off and now she had what amounted to a stranger’s innards hardening on her skin. It was itchy and grimy, but at the same time, it felt a little like war paint. Jess didn’t have any siblings, but she could imagine the response that seeing the death of your family member painted all over their murderer. She wondered just how much of a monster she looked like. She was certain that her face was still slathered with a thick layer of drying Mark blood.

Dropping to a crouch, she listened to the sounds of their surroundings. The usual natural sounds were still there in the background, but she was concentrating for anything else that wasn’t normally there. Chris knelt down beside her as she focused. There wasn’t anything noteworthy, but she couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched. She wondered if she’d driven herself into paranoia and was only imagining it all, but at the same time, she knew it was so likely they were being monitored that not believing it would be a fatal mistake.

The sky was still bright and the summer sun from behind the clouds was baking the moisture out of everything. Jess was worried that sunset would still catch them at the wrong time.

“Tonight or tomorrow?” she asked Chris after sharing her concerns.

“Let’s do this tonight,” he replied. He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible and the more they delayed, the more their wounds would become infected and painful. He was especially worried about how bad Jess’s leg was looking.

Jess bit her lower lip in consideration of what to do next. Chris watched her as she thought. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she formulated a plan and made a strategy. She was beautiful and terrifying, and he couldn’t understand how anything could possibly happen to her. She was kind and wonderful and didn’t deserve to die out here. Mother Nature or God or someone else needed to look down on them and see that Jess was an integral part of how the world worked. Now that she’d found genuine strength and bravery like only the most devoted soldiers, he couldn’t imagine a world without her.

Jess raised an eyebrow at him and he realized he was staring. He shrugged and she motioned to continue on. They were just getting ready to give up thinking they weren’t going to find the small camp that Kevin had likely set up. Steph was completely silent. There was concern she might even be dead.

Jess suddenly smelled smoke in the air. It was faint, but it was perceptible.

“Do you think we somehow circled back toward the campsites?” Jess asked.

Chris frowned. “No, I don’t think so.”

Jess wondered if Kevin was maybe cooking himself something to eat. Her thoughts darkened and she imagined him using the licking flames and heat to torment Steph. She immediately rejected the idea because the imagined victim wasn’t making a useful peep.

The smell was strangely comforting, like it normally was on any other given morning of their normal camping trips. It tingled the nose and ignited a slew of pleasant old memories.

“There,” Chris said nearly under his breath. He pointed over her shoulder at the nearly imperceptible cloud of grey rising up toward the leaf canopy of the trees. The heat left wobbling visions of the small clearing. Jess and Chris crept up on the scene.

Chris dared a glance at the site.

“There’s a little brown pup tent. A campfire. I can’t really see much else.”

Jess nodded and leaned forward for her own look. She couldn’t see a single sign of Kevin’s recent presence besides the fire, which was more like a smoldering mass of old logs. She couldn’t see Steph.

Jess wondered if he’d already killed her and buried her in a shallow grave somewhere, but there was no way to know. It had become a waiting game and their side was at a distinct disadvantage. Chris sat down tucked into the bush to wait. Jess wanted to stay crouched and alert, ready to leap from her toes into a sprint at a moment’s notice of danger, but found that trying to stay balanced and prepped was exhausting for her legs. They muscles quivered until she had no choice, but to plop down next to him.

They spared occasional peeks through the thin branches and thick leaves, but there wasn’t much to see. Kevin wasn’t ready to reveal himself and they weren’t going to walk around looking for trouble. He’d come back eventually, they figured. There was no chance he’d let them leave willingly and definitely not with what they’d seen.

Dusk began to fall and the sun cast golden shades of orange across their secret location. The trees were more spaced out in the area they sat in. The sky was more welcomed in this place, which Jess found strange considering how secluded and dangerous the whole rest of the forest now felt to her. She wasn’t sure she’d ever manage to go camping again. It didn’t seem like an enjoyable activity anymore.

She knew for sure she wouldn’t be able to bring herself back to this specific campsite. Regardless of its convenient location in relation to home, it wasn’t an exciting place of adventure and burnt marshmallows like it once had been. Now she’d always look at this place and see the face of the murdered girl. The slashes all over Steph’s body. The wallowing terror of Mark’s face before she ended his life. It was a place full of negativity and darkness.

As the sun fell completely under the horizon, the darkness spread like a threat over the landscape. The sky was alight with a million billion little stars, easily viewed without clouds. All the light pollution of the city wasn’t an issue out here.

Chris and Jess looked up at the heavens. It was incredible and inspiring.

“I love you,” Chris whispered.

“I love you, too,” Jess replied. Despite knowing that she was covered in another man’s blood and looked like hell, she leaned in and kissed Chris deeply and passionately. It felt like their souls were reignited.

They gazed into each other’s eyes for a bit, just white spots hardly visible in the blackness. The campfire in the center of the site had died out almost completely. A small amount of sizzling and crackling was still audible and there was a faint glow from inside the circle of rocks that surrounded the logs.

The sound of footsteps shocked them back into reality. A fresh log was thrown on the pile creating a cascade of bright orange sparks that danced upward into the trees. In the brief flurry of glowing embers, they could see Kevin standing tall and menacing over the building blaze. With light cast from below, he looked demonic and vile.