Barren Crossroads

Figures in the Dust

She was still gagged, so it came out as a garbled and mumbled mess. Her skin felt cold, but she felt hot and flushed, and her hair stuck to her neck in à cold sweat. She pulled her hands from behind her back and lifted them, going to stand. "No, no. I wouldn't do anything I don't tell you too. I might just get bored and shoot you both anyways. This is the way it is- you stole from me. You stole from someone in à world where every single possession I have is more valuable than gold. So this is how it goes- only one makes it out alive, and it grows more likely by the second that neither of you do. Rise," the woman said in her same flat voice.

She did sound bored, not tired, not angry, just bored, like they were a t.v show filler episode she was playing in the background. Kaelie braced her hands in the soft, cool dirt, and stood. Her head pounded, throbbing immediately and she stumbled. So, a blow to the head then, she mused, as the pain seemed to radiate from à spot near the base of her skull. She lifted her hands to pull the gag out.

"Let him go. It wasn't his idea, it was mine. I'll stay, I won't fight, you can do what you want with me," she tried, even though she knew it wouldn't work. It never did, not when these kinds of ultimatums were given, but she had to try any way. She had to stall, she had to do something so she could think, so she could get them both out of this.

The woman laughed, but even that sound was flat and without inflection and it made her skin crawl with goosebumps. She tapped her chin as if she was in thought. Kaelie felt sick. "No. Get started." She lifted the gun again and Kaelie now recognized it as Rick's. She'd taken it. She gestured with her other hand to a shovel laying next to the pile of dirt.

Kaelie had to wonder how long the hole had been here. If she'd been gone digging it, or she'd simply been able to keep them unconscious long enough to drag out of the house and dig it. That thought alone made her more afraid than anything else, but Kaelie wasn't sure how she could have done it, at least without waking her sooner. But the gun glinted in the light, and she didn't have any ideas yet, or any element of distraction or surprise.

Kaelie picked up the shovel, the worn wood handle was smooth in her palms. She looked down at Rick. "I'm sorry," she mouthed. I'll get you out, she thought to herself. She scooped up à shovelful of dirt, and when she moved to toss it in, Rick's cool blue eyes met hers, and she saw acceptance, and forgiveness and it hurt more than if he'd looked at her with hate and betrayal. She closed her eyes when she tossed the dirt in, ànd Rick coughed around the dust that billowed up.

The gun stayed trained on him, but the woman's eyes stayed fixed on Kaelie, and she picked up another shovelful of dirt. Over, and over, and over, she dumped the dirt in, and soon she couldn't see Rick's face at all, and she tried to think of how long he could survive in that hole under all the dirt, as his oxygen dwindled.

"You've made your point," she said. "Please. Stop this. We'll go. We'll never be back. Just stop!" Her voice cracked as spoke, and dark fear shivered up her spine at the lifeless look in the women's eyes as she watched.

The woman smiled, but it looked more like à grimace. "Keep going," she said, tilting her head to the remaining pile of dirt.

"I'm begging you, please, please, don't make me- I don't want to kill anyone," Kaelie said, and her voice rose higher and higher, and the dread clenched around her heart and froze her hands. The dirt wasn't shifting with Rick's struggles anymore and she couldn't hear him breathing. He'd passed out, or it was too heavy, but she was running out of time. "Just let him go, you don't need him, you don't need this, please."

"No. Finish."

Kaelie screamed and then she did something very stupid. She leapt across the hole and swung the shovel wildly at the woman's head. There was à sharp clanging sound as she ducked, and the shovel made contact with her shoulder. The wrong shoulder, because the thunderclap of à gunshot rent the apart, and her ear rang even as her upper arm burned, and hot blood leaked from the deep graze left behind.

She stepped back and swung again as the girl stood up and corrected her aim to point the gun at Kaelie again. "Foolish, aren't you?" she said. "Wasting time. How long do you think you have to fight me before the dirt clogs his throat and he dies?"

"Enough for you, I think. You have no idea who I am," Kaelie spit and she charged her again, this time bring the shovel down so hard, and so fast that it sank deep into the arm that held Rick's gun, and ground against the bone. The woman screamed, and Kaelie felt joy at the agony in the sounds that she made. À savage smile split her own face.

The gun fell to the ground, and Kaelie kicked it away before wrenching the shovel back out of her arm and kicking at her thigh, hard enough to break the bone and she fell to her knees. She looked up at Kaelie, and now here dark eyes weren't lifeless at all, they were scared, pupils dilated, and sweat dripped down her temple. The copper scent of her blood burned at Kaelie's nose, and she stepped forward, grabbing her chin in a crushing grip.

"I gave you your chance. I even offered you the life you so badly wanted to claim," she said in à soft voice. "I didn't want to- no. No that's à lie. The second I woke up, I wanted to kill you and watch your blood spill across the dirt. I wanted to hear you scream, and cry, and beg for my mercy. But I'm not trying to be that monster anymore, and so I was willingly to spare you, if you let him go. I'd have hurt you after he was gone. Maimed you, left you to figure out if you would live or die, but I wouldn't have killed you. I guess I've changed my mind. Isn't that what you said?"

The numbness spread over her now, like a damp blanket over the spreading fire of her fear. It was a necessary balm over the dread that every second she took to deal with the woman was another second closer to Rick's death. She welcomed it now. "Please," the woman started and Kaelie scoffed.

"Really? You're going to try begging now? If it didn't work for me, what makes you think it would work for you?" Kaelie said cruelly, squeezing her jaw tighter.

"You're different," the woman tried and Kaelie did laugh then.

"Different? No. Not really. Just smarter. Mercy isn't in my nature anymore." Kaelie released her jaw and raised the shovel again. She hefted it's weight and then looked down again. "Well. Goodbye, then. Thanks for your hospitality."

She swung the shovel once more, as hard as she could, and it whistled through the air. There was a sick, wet sounding thunk as it found purchase in the woman's neck. It was only for a second before the shovel was clean through and the woman's head plopped into the dirt. Her blood splattered across Kaelie's face, and Kaelie's chest heaved. She kicked her body away, and then turn back around.

She dug in a frenzy, frantic and fast and the blankness that had spread over her as she made her kill faded just as fast, and her breathing was stunted and over loud. It felt like it was taking hours, but she dug the hole back out in just under à minute. The silence spread around her like a blanket and her panic tasted like ash in her mouth.

"Rick?" she said, like à question. "Rick?" She said it again, and this time it was à scream. She dropped down into the hole, and clawed the rest of the dirt away from him. He was pale, but not cold, his lips parted, and dirt streaked across his face and clumped in his hair.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she muttered, and she rolled him to his side, thumping on his back. Nothing happened for à moment, and so she reached her fingers into his mouth and tried to pull out as much dirt as she could. "Come on. Come on, come back, come back."

She went to thump his back again and then a great shuddering gasp broke the silence. "Rick!" She smacked his back as he coughed, choked, and sputtered, and his hand reached for his throat. He leaned over and retched and spit out bile and dirt. She rubbed circles into his back, but held her breath against the smell.

"How? How did you?" he asked, and his deep voice was à harsh rasp.

"Hunter. Jesus, fuck, I thought you were gone," she whispered. She stood, and pulled him to stand in front of her. She supported his weight as he swayed on his feet. He gasped more air in and lifted hands to wipe dirt from his eyes.

She moved in closer and tried not to react when he flinched à little at her touch. "I'll lift you out."

"And you?" he asked.

"I can climb," she said. And then she put her hands on his hips, and bent her knees, bracing herself. With à grunt, she lifted him straight up until his hands caught the edge of the hole, and then she moved to push at his feet until he was able to crawl out of the hole. À few moments later, she was crawling out beside him and laying flat on her back, looking up at the stars.