The Dark Inside (A Human Element) (7 page)

I sat down beside the rock wall. I tried to hide into it like I did my comforting tree, but it was cold and lifeless. I wanted to disappear, as I had often wanted to disappear growing up in that house across from my tree. I had hurt there, although not of my own doing.

"Hilary!" My name rose over the wind and my uncle came around the side of the house.

I shrunk into the jagged rock and hugged my knees to my chest. I wiped my face on my muddy jeans.

"Hilary, what the hell are you doing?" My uncle hovered, hands on his hips.

"Nothing."

"You're filthy." He sighed and grabbed my arm, pulling me up. "We've got to go. I said we could only stop in Coopersville for a minute."

I shook my arm off and walked ahead of him. Perhaps he was my guardian now but he couldn't control me.

"Wait, I want you to get that mud off before you get in the car."

I kept walking.

"You wanted to see your tree didn't you?" I turned to stare at him. "I could have told you it wasn't here."

"Why?"

"I was the one who cut it down."

I glared at him and crossed my arms.

"So it couldn't hide you anymore."

My uncle strode ahead of me and opened the back of the car. He pulled out some rags and threw them at me.

"Wipe your pants off and your face too. We never should have stopped here. It's been ten years since your parents died. You're seventeen now. This place doesn't matter anymore."

I stared at the rags on the ground. Today, I cried inside–not for my parents but for a tree.

My uncle half smiled as he moved toward me. He picked up the rags. I stared at the bald spot on his head. He wiped my cheek gently, but I grabbed the rags away from him. He would not touch me again.

His eyes shrunk into tiny pits of blackness. "Get in the car."

I looked back at the empty space where my tree had been. It had been my only shelter on nights when my uncle visited my bedroom. I hid myself then under its bowed arms and leaves, terrified he would find me. Summer had been my savior from him when the leaves grew. And then one night he did find me.

I watched him get in the driver's side but I didn't move. I turned and ran. Back to that empty space. I scrambled over the rock wall and ran through the orchard.

"Hilary!" I heard a car door slam.

I felt like my heart would leap out of my chest to quiver and die right there upon the earth. My heart had nearly died in that house. It never blossomed again, but lay dormant and shriveled within me all these years.

"I hate you!" Ragged branches tugged at me. I stumbled then and fell. I was wet and cold but didn't get up. I suffered on the muddy earthen floor. I had suffered for so long.

Finally, I stood.

I didn't want to suffer anymore.

"Hilary."

I saw my uncle's head move closer. And then in my dark world I saw beauty. White crocuses poked their heads up in a joyful burst next to me. I picked them and held them to my face, breathing in their sweetness. I wet them with my tears and spread their softness on my cheeks. Next to them I saw wood and wire. An old farm fence. A reminder that we needed to be walled in. That there were places that had boundaries. I wished for a place like that now.

I grasped one of the rotted stakes from that fallen fence. I tugged at it. It was sharp at the top, like an arrow.

"Hilary! You can't run from me, dear."

I didn't answer.

"I know how you feel. Don't you think I miss my brother?"

Liar. He had me all to himself now. Like he had always wanted. I tugged harder and the stake loosened. My uncle crunched on dead branches and leaves. Barbed wire wrapped around the stake like the prickly necklace of a wrinkled woman seeking to be beautiful once again. It looked beautiful to me.

It came free and I slipped behind a tree. I saw him. His head bent, picking his way around muddy spots. He hated getting dirty. He hated me getting dirty. But he was the one who made me dirty.

I shrunk behind the tree and waited. Held that stake like a sword. The barbed wire cut into my hands. I held it tighter. I was ready to claim my heart again. My uncle's boots snapped on a twig. It echoed loud in the lonely woods. He was so close I could hear him breathing.

And it was then that I decided I would hide no more.

The Beginning

After They Left

Adrian

The silent dark hung under a star-filled sky. Adrian picked up his bag and scanned his crew across the field, counting quickly. Seventy-five. They understood their duty and accepted it. They were chosen by him in secret. None would return. There was nothing to go back to except death.

His son, Caleb, stood across from him, waiting as the others did. Their pale faces glowed like orbs within their gray hooded robes. It was too dark to see if his son's face held scorn or doubt. It was usually one or the other. Especially since he had deceived Caleb about this mission–and his own intentions.

The group waited for his instruction. "We head toward town."

Caleb opened his mouth as if to say something. His black hair, like his face, was a constant reminder of his mother. Adrian frowned and his son shut his mouth and nodded, stepping in behind him. Rain fell soft, cold and lifeless.

The dark deepened as they headed into the forest. Ancient conifers towered over them, blocking out the moon. Adrian allowed his senses to guide him. The nearest town of Benevolence was five miles northwest. He smiled to himself. It was the perfect town for a stolen new beginning.

He stopped after a while and opened his mind's eye for guidance on which way to go.

"Father, how much further?" Caleb called. "Some of the younger females are struggling."

Caleb's dark eyes stung him through the mist that rose up from the forest floor. How he wanted a son like himself, instead of one so like his wife. All that sadness and longing in her eyes, the day he'd left her to die in the well. That pity.

"Two more miles. Arrange for some of the others to take on the baggage of those in need."

"Can't we stop for a bit and rest?" His people grumbled audibly. They looked wet and tired, a sea of gray flowing down from him. Such weakness. He would have to drive that out.

And he would breed another to take Caleb's place. He already had a female in mind for the job. She smiled at him in the crowd, holding the promise of submission. But time was running out to groom a new son.

"We do not stop." Adrian's voice rose over the line of people before him. "You all took the oath to come here. Hard work lies before us in breeding our new community. Understood?"

He didn't wait for a response but turned around and plunged faster through the woods. His people followed in silence, as he knew they would. If they didn't they knew the consequences. As did Caleb. His son had no special privilege here.

At last Adrian stepped out onto a paved road. It stretched far into the distance, where welcoming lights beckoned them across the final mile. They reached the main intersection of town. A car flashed by, radio blaring. Faces stared out at them. He realized how out of place they looked, this robed group out late at night. He motioned for his people to follow him single file down the sidewalk. A handful of people sat behind windows drinking. They pointed at Adrian and his people as they walked by. "Gillian's Bar" flashed in neon green above the doorway in the late evening hours. A man and woman, heading into the bar, stepped back from the sidewalk to watch them pass.
Freaks
, he heard the man say. Adrian erased the memory of the encounter from these strangers' minds in the seconds it took to pass them.

"Father," Caleb hissed in his ear. "Where are we going?"

A large building rose at the far end of a parking lot. "Ray's Lots" blinked over and over.

"Here is where we go."

A fat woman pushed a cart filled with bags to her car, the only car left in the lot. She stopped and stared at them. Her hair framed her face in tight curls. A blue and white striped dress strained to contain her breasts and belly.

"Good evening, brothers." She nodded to them.

Adrian motioned for his group to stop. He smiled at the woman's assumption that hidden in these robes were church folk. She smiled back.

"Good evening, madam," Adrian drawled.

"God bless you." She grabbed his hand. Repulsed by her bloated, clammy hand he forced himself not to pull away. Perhaps he could use her for those who did not obey him by forcing them to breed with her. He almost laughed and then looked at her with a serious face.

"And God bless you, my child," he said.

"What church are you with? Are you having an event in town?"

The woman fingered a cross at her neck. A church. It hadn't occurred to him until then what a perfect word this was for their procreation. "It's the Church of Elyon."

The woman frowned. "Never heard of that one. You're not one of those crazy cults are you?"

Caleb stepped to Adrian's side.
Let me work her mind, father
. "What's your name?"

"Sally."

"I'm Caleb." He smiled at her and shook her hand, taking Adrian's cue. "We're just folks who follow God and Jesus. We seek food and a place to stay nearby. Our bus broke down outside of town. Can you help us?"

"What a nice young man you are. Of course I can help you!" She abandoned her cart and pulled Caleb toward the store. "My cousin runs this superstore and can stock you up with food. And the Mercenary Motel is just down the street."

Impressed with Caleb's mind control of the woman, Adrian followed them into the store. His people streamed in behind him. Sally dragged Caleb to a counter where a short red-faced man scowled at them. "Ray, these folks are here in town from a wonderful church! Their bus broke down and they need food."

Adrian probed Ray's brain, took easy control of it, and within seconds the man's frown changed to a wide grin. "Come in, come in! I was just closing up anyhow." He flicked the sign on the front door and shut off the lights outside.

"Thank you," Adrian nodded. "I need food here for my flock before we find a motel."

"Help yourself to anything you want." Ray ran his hands over shelves. "Pretzels, baked beans, cereal, Ding Dongs." Sally and Ray beamed at them.

Adrian quickly directed everyone to gather snacks and drinks then set about his first experiments in Benevolence. Sally and Ray stood by the counter, their minds blank except for what Adrian put in them.

"Ray, I need all your money now."

Ray clapped his hands together. "Of course!" He pulled out a bag and money from a nearby cash register.

When Adrian's bag was full he smiled at Ray and Sally. "Time to go now, my new friends." He motioned his people out the door. Ray and Sally stood with stupid smiles on their faces as the group filed out into the parking lot. All except Caleb.

"Come on, Father." His voice held a warning. "Our job here is done."

"Not quite." Adrian moved toward the smiling cousins. "Ray, isn't Sally lovely? Look at her."

Ray turned to Sally. His pants bulged and Sally's eyes widened. She tugged on her dress top.

"Have your way with her Ray, you know you want to."

"Father," Caleb whispered angrily, clutching at him. Adrian stayed his hand.

Ray licked his lips and nodded again.

"Sally, unzip that fine dress and show Ray what you've got."

Sally stepped out of her dress. Her belly oozed over her thighs and her bra cut into her heavy breasts. Ray panted, tapping his hands against his skinny legs.

Caleb moved toward the door.

"Stay son, I want you to watch this."

"I won't."

"You
will
or you know the consequences."

Caleb, stopped and sighed, looking down at the floor.

"Look."

Caleb looked up. Hate spewed from his eyes and his jaw twitched with anger. Adrian thrived on his hate. He wanted him to hate. Adrian nodded, pleased, and turned back to his playthings. Ray was panting, massaging his crotch. Sally moaned, squeezing her mammoth breasts and stepped out of her underwear.

"Take her Ray. Bend her right over that counter. Dive into all that lushness."

"Lush, yes!" Ray moved toward Sally, unbuckling his pants. She giggled and bent over the counter to receive him, her white bottom spread like a pitted sea of blubber. Ray mounted her and they rutted like dogs. He slapped up against her in his glory.

"Lordie, Lordie!" Sally sang out as she bounced up and down.

"Now that's wholesome entertainment!" Adrian laughed, poking his son. Caleb jerked away. "They're both enjoying it."

Caleb clenched his fists and shoved them in his pockets. "Can we go now?"

"Yes, son, just one other thing to do."

Adrian pulled out a pocketknife he had picked up in the hardware section. He placed it next to Ray on the counter. Sweat flicked off the man's forehead as he ecstatically plunged into buttery flesh.

"Ray, enjoying yourself?"

Ray grunted and grabbed on to Sally's hips, sinking into her expanse. She moaned again, her undulating buttocks shuddering in delight.

"Good. When you're done fucking, kill the bitch."

Adrian strode out the door, pulling Caleb along with him.

"Father, no!" Caleb struggled against him, but Adrian shoved him hard through the door. His people parted for them. Some looked questioningly at him. If they came to doubt him, he would deal with them later. He was both law maker and enforcer.

"Watch. Anyone who turns away will be considered weak. And the weak shall die."

All eyes turned toward the store. The carnal scene played out desperately before them.

"I hate you," Caleb whispered, watching the forced lovers before him.

Adrian smiled at him in satisfaction.

Ray arched his back with a groan and finished his business. Sally squealed and pressed up against him. And when he raised the knife and plunged into Sally in new ways, she squealed again. And again. Her blood ran onto scuffed tiles and still she squealed. And then she stopped.

Adrian laughed.