Barren Crossroads

Take the Demons Away

She looked over to Rick again, the sun turning his dark hair amber, and settling in the lines worry had left on his face. He was still handsome, and her heart twisted in à strange mix of longing and guilt, and Jace's piercing gray eyes filled her mind.

She opened the book and tried to remember any of the cross streets they'd passed as they came up to the building. The book was one that started small and slowly expanded the farther into the book you got, so when she finally recognized à street- Stochast, she was able to figure out where the office was. They were in à small county near Springfield, MO. Downside, they were still several states over from Arizona, and it would take at least two or three weeks of heavy and constant movement, possibly finding à car. Upside, she'd gotten à lot farther in her fevered state than she ever thought, and had even mostly been heading the right direction.

Rick still snored against the wall, so she stood and walked to the office bathroom. It wasn't glamorous, given that plumbing and running water weren't à thing, but she stepped into one of the stalls and relieved herself. Then she stood in front of the mirror. She swallowed another of the antibiotics she'd been given dry. Already, the torn skin around her eye appeared less red, and felt less hot to the touch. Or maybe she was going crazy. At this point, it wouldn't surprise her.

Her flesh was tattered, a deep vertical gash where her eye had been, and now that there was nothing leaking from it, it was just a black hole of nothingness and no matter how much she strained, she couldn't see à thing, not even flashes of light. She tried to comb her fingers through the tangles of her hair, and then tied it back into à high ponytail. She tried to rub some of the exhaustion from her face, but it was no use.

She came back to the office, and then leaned down to nudge Rick awake. She shook his shoulder and he grunted. She chuckled, and then shook it rougher until he came too with à start, sitting straight up off the wall. "What?" he said in a loud, rasping voice, and her heart clenched again.

"Time to get up, princess," she said with à laugh. "We have à lot of ground to cover before I can return you safely to your people. And then I'll never bother you again."

He grunted and stood, tugging his shirt back down, and then picking up his gun and putting it back in place at his waist. He fiddled around à bit, tightening his shoe laces again, and looking around for his gear. He packed up, and he didn't look at her and it stung. She sucked in à quiet breath, and then copied him, picking up her gear, and slinging her back pack over her shoulders.

They made their way to the front of the building, and the door they'd come in, and Rick reached for her wrist. His fingers were warm against her skin, and her flesh rose in goosebumps. "I didn't say I wanted that."

She turned his words over in her mind. "Wanted what?" she asked, and she hoped she knew the answer he was about to give. She didn't know why she hoped it at all. Maybe because he hadn't looked at her in hate, when she told him the truth. Not really. He'd looked at her with à kind of grief that wasn't just for his lost daughter, but seemed to be for her too, and as much as everyone had pitied what she'd been through, no one had ever looked like that. Like they understood why she was the way she was, but it was still sad.

"I didn't say I wanted you to leave me alone."

He didn't look at her, but his bearded cheek twitched like he might smile and that was enough. She shifted the conversation. "I think we're only à couple weeks of swift walking away. I could run, for à while, but after I shattered my leg, I can't keep that up for long. And, you wouldn't be able to keep up. I thought I had an idea of how many Hunters were left, but there is no way of knowing if the person who took me apart and then made them made more that I wasn't aware of."

"What makes you think they'd mess with us? The ones you did know, I understood, because you'd given them those orders. You said they were really only good for that, and wouldn't go against what you said. So maybe they were still carrying it out, maybe they were trying to look for you. But, if you think there could be others, what makes you think they'd bother us if they found us?" he asked, she pointed her hand to indicate à turn up ahead. She'd pulled out the relevant maps and tucked them in her pockets.

She considered his question à while before answering, watching as the rising sun melted the frost off the ground and glittered in the light. It felt à bit warmer today, less crisp, and she had no way of knowing what date it was but she wondered if they were getting close to spring. Their shoes crunched, and she focused on the sound for à bit.

"I really, truly don't know," she said, and it wasn't à half truth at all. "I'm a Hunter, but I'm not a Hunter the way they were meant to be. I don't know what motivates them. When I was- lost, I had motivations because they were given to me- revenge on my friends for allowing me to be captured, destroying people because I was told to and I had nothing better to do. You're right, the ones we ran into at your camp were there because those were some of the last orders they had from me. Some of them are looking for me, maybe à few others still are after my friends- I sort of set them on them. But ones that were made that I didn't know about? I don't know what would motivate them at all. Boredom? Starvation? Killing? I don't know. But I know they won't be nice if we meet them."

Rick nodded and they carried on. It was quiet, and more than à little boring, and Kaelie hoped it might stay that way. She hoped she was bored for à long time. The hours passed by slowly, and she walked fast. Rick didn't say anything, but she knew he was struggling to match her pace. His breathing was heavy and as darkness spread across the sky like an ink stain, she started to look for another place to camp. She was hoping they'd find another building, but they mostly seemed to have entered à lot of farm country.

The last house she'd seen was several miles back and she didn't want to turn around. She heard rustling around them, but she couldn't see anything, and she didn't want to say anything to Rick. She didn't need to worry him with her paranoia, but every step she took, she heard more sounds, felt more and more like something was watching them, and she cracked her neck.

"We need to stop soon," Rick said softly into the quiet, like he was afraid of being too loud. She wondered if he was hearing the same things she was.

"I know," she said in the same softness. "I'm looking."

"Afraid we'll freeze in the open?" he asked.

"Afraid I might not be the scariest thing that goes bump in the night," she returned, scanning the ever darkening laptop. She could see in the dark, but it still wasn't as good as it could be. In the distance, maybe another half mile ahead, she saw the orange flickering glow of à light. Maybe an older lamp, or candles. She couldn't be sure, but it only made her more nervous.

"I think I see à light," she told Rick. "There's a house there. If it's empty, we can stay."

"You think it won't be?" he said.

"I think that there is no electricity, and a candle or anything else would have run out of fuel by now. Whoever left it there might be coming back. I don't know if we'll want to be there when they do. We cannot stay out, so that's our option for now," she said. Rick seemed to sense the anxiety that was filling her voice and his hand dropped to his gun.

They were at the house in a few more minutes. There were candles, flickering in the windows and Kaelie tensed. "Stay back, I'll clear it out," she said, putting her hand on Rick's broad chest to stop him. "Get out of sight, too. I don't know if it's human or Hunter in there."

"I'm not doing that," he said and she made à quiet laughing sound.

"Yes you are. Because, I can in fact, make you."

He grunted, but stepped off to the side, crouching in the overgrown grass behind a pile of chopped firewood. She crouched to, but moved forward, creeping to the house on light feet, swift and silent. She climbed the wrap around porch, and her breath came easier when the old wood didn't creak. She ducked under the sills of the large windows, and barely peaked her head over to peer inside. She found herself looking into a modest farm house living room, with à worn rug and à sofa. There were more candles, and she could see into the edge of the kitchen. She didn't see anyone right away, and risked pressing her face more fully against the glass, but it still looked empty.

She turned to Rick, and found him peering around the edge of the wood pile. She motioned for him to stay and then tried her luck at pushing the window. It didn't budge and she shrugged to herself. Too easy, she guessed.