You Only Die Twice

Chapter TWENTY-SIX





When they arrived at the wetlands, it was pitch dark, but because of their goggles, they could see everything in harsh, bright greenish hues enhanced by the light of the moon.

Along the way, they came upon a few small animals―the skunk Ted mentioned they might see, a cat with a mouse in its jaws, and also a fox, which slinked past them in a blurry flurry of red due to the heat the animal gave off.

This is what Kenneth liked about the goggles. Because they were armed with infrared technology, they could look around and seek out heat sources at long distances. It gave him a sense of hope. Spotting the shape of an animal was as easy as spotting the shape of a human. When they came upon Cheryl, he felt they would be alerted of her presence dozens of yards before they actually were upon her. Then, they could become stealth and hopefully remain quiet enough that when they did approach her, she wouldn’t hear them until it was too late. And even if she did hear them and chose to run, which she would, she’d be running blindly in the dark, unlike them.

Either way, it was a win for them. They just needed to find her.

“But you won’t find her,” Maria said. “I told you. You’re going to fail.”

Kenneth stopped for a moment and looked behind him. What he saw wasn’t just Maria’s body, outlined in green because it conducted no heat, but dozens of other women standing behind her, most of whom he recognized, some of whom he didn’t, all of whom he was certain had been sent to hell by him and Ted.

He steeled himself against them and blocked out their cacophony of ridiculing voices. He couldn’t let them in, regardless of how close they were to his back. He turned back to Ted, who now was several feet ahead of him, working his way through the woods, and quickened his step to catch up with him.

Ted was his elder. He was in control of the situation and he needed to honor that. It was how He planned it. Ted said he was having hallucinations, but he didn’t agree. The dead were with them. They’d always be with them because they were responsible for their passing. For whatever reason, Ted couldn’t see them, but Kenneth could

(because I’m the Chosen One),

which was good because they were conspiring against them. They said that they already had reached out to Cheryl Dunning and were there to protect her. What that meant, he didn’t know. But he knew he had to act as if they weren’t there. He knew he had to press on. He knew he could disrupt what was happening now or he would just anger Ted. So, he shunned them even as they cackled at his back.

“You’re going to lose, Kenneth.”

“Both of you are.”

“You may have taken us out, but we’re about to take you down.”

“You raped me, and then you put an ax in my head. You did it alone. You set me up. Do you think I’d ever forgive you for that? I’m going to haunt you forever, Kenneth. And I’m going to make sure that you either die or go to the chair for what you’ve done to all of us. You think you’ll find Cheryl Dunning? You’re wrong. You won’t find her. We’re ready with a plan to get her out of here alive.”

But ahead of them, in the far distance, emerged an orange horizontal blob, as if someone or something was lying on its side. He reached out and touched Ted’s arm.

“Do you see that?” he whispered.

Ted nodded.

“That’s no animal.”

“Doesn’t appear to be.”

“It’s her.”

“No, it isn’t,” Maria hissed. “You’re wrong. That’s something else.”

“Tell him what it is!”

“Tell the freak!”

“It’s a serpent,” Maria said. “It’s the devil. Right there. Curled up and waiting to strike the moment you disturb it. That’s the end of you. That’s your death. Go forward and welcome it. Then you can be where we’re not―in hell. You’ll rot there.”

“He’ll burn there.”

But Kenneth knew that hell was the last place he’d go. Confident, he removed his cell from his pocket.

“What are you doing?” Ted asked.

“I’m sending her a text,” he said. “We’ll see if she moves. Get your gun ready. Because if she does move when I hit the button, we’ll know it’s her. If it is, we’ll need to act fast.”