You Only Die Twice

Chapter THIRTY-SIX





The shots startled her, a bullet chewed through her, but when she looked down to see where she was hit, it was only a knick. Left arm, close to the shoulder, blood flowing, but not severely.

Lucky.

But still terrified. She looked ahead and watched one of the running bucks slam its rump against the man in its effort to escape. It knocked him so hard to the ground, she saw his feet kick up as he rolled over, where above him, sheets of fire roiled across the sky.

But she didn’t see him get up.

Confused and frightened

(who is he who is he who is he who is he),

she ducked low out of sight, pressed her hands against a pine tree to steady herself and felt how moist and sticky it was.

Sap, she thought. Sap!

It was so hot in the woods, the fire was heating the trees that hadn’t yet been affected by the flames. The sap was thinning in the heat. It was sweating through the bark. It was starting to run.

With her father and her grandfather cheering her on in her heart and in her head, she took a filtered breath of air, held it, pulled down her shirt over her nose, mouth and shoulder, and smeared a handful of the sap over the wound in an effort to seal it shut.

It stung like hell, but it worked. Once, when her grandfather was gutting a deer, he cut himself so badly, he did this until they could get him to the hospital. She’d likely get an infection from it, but she wasn’t concerned―at least not yet. If she could get out of here, antibiotics would knock it out in no time.

She exhaled, made the mistake of inhaling, and started to cough from the smoke. She pulled her shirt back over her nose and mouth, felt like gagging, but willed herself not to.

She looked for him, didn’t see him, but what she did see caused her to pause. Cutting through the smoke was a laser beam. It swung left, then right. It was attached to his gun―had to be. She stepped left, away from it and into a thicker dense of woods that helped to conceal her. There, she huddled down and wondered if he could hear the snapping of twigs and limbs over the fire’s roar as she sank into position.

There are two of them, she thought. Two.

So, where was the other one? The older one? The one who chased her earlier? Was he behind her? Somewhere beside her? Were there others she didn’t know about? She didn’t know, but in spite of everything her father and grandfather taught her, there was no way she could still the panic rising in her now. Either the fire or the smoke or the lack of water or one of these men would be the end of her. She was certain of that now. She watched the laser sweep left, then right. She watched it scale up, then down. Worse, it was growing brighter, which meant he was getting closer.

And then he spoke: “Get the f*ck away from me, Maria. Now. Or I’ll shoot you, too.”

Who was Maria? Cheryl hadn’t seen a woman.

“All of you. Get away from me. I’m warning you.”

All of them? There was no all of them. She would have seen others.

“You can stand in my way, Maria, but you and I both know that I can and will walk straight through you. You said so yourself. She’s going to die for her sins, then she’ll be with the rest of you whores.”

Die for my sins?

“No, you’re wrong. Sorry, that’s just not true. She’s a whore just like her friend who, by the way, I raped last night. Jealous, Maria? I thought so.”

Cheryl felt sick to her stomach and closed her eyes. He’s the man Patty drove off with. He raped her. Did he also kill her?

“All of you are whores. All of you met your deaths for reasons that are in the Bible. You want proof? Fine. From Corinthians 6:9: ‘Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders’ will find God, Maria. That’s why you’re dead. I made sure you wouldn’t inherit His kingdom because you’re sexually immoral. That’s also why the others are dead. And it’s why she’s going to die, so I suggest you get out of my way so I can find her and put an end to this before the fire comes any closer.”

He’s insane. There’s no one there. He’s crazy...

She could hear him start to walk again. Quicker this time. Angry footfalls on the forest floor. She looked up and saw that the fire was nearly upon them now. Maybe one-hundred yards to her right. Closing in fast.

How could she defend herself against him?

Quietly, she started to pat the ground for something, anything, to protect herself. She found a rock. Clutched it. She was left-handed and the bullet wound had weakened her arm and thus her throw, but if he came close enough without seeing her, there was a chance that she could surprise him by throwing it at his face. Once, when she was young, she had been a perfect shot while playing ball with her father. But now? With a wounded arm? She’d probably miss, but what else did she have? Her stick? Not good enough. He’d shoot her dead first. So, what else?

At that moment, in the distance, she learned exactly what else.

Just above the noise of the fire came the distinct sounds of police and fire sirens.