Fort Oakley | Part One

20 | Human Sacrifices Are So Last Season

The night air is cold and heavy as Vance follows me up the steep incline of the old foundry bridge's collapsed structure. The metal creaks under our weight.

"If your father could see me now," Vance says, slightly out of breath.

I pauses, squinting down at him. "What do you mean?"

He doesn't say anything so I climb further. When we both settle on top of the bridge, he finally speaks.

"I grew up here, you know."

Surprised, I swivel my head towards him. "You grew up in Fort Oakley?"

"Yeah." He offered a small, wry smile. "My parents were divorced. My dad lived here; my mom lived in a normal-sized town a few hours away. I went to school here during the year and spent my summers with her. My mom got me into a summer program in her town, and that's where I met your father."

Never would I have guessed that one of us could make it out and become a big shot FBI agent.

"Darren was the kind of guy everyone noticed—mysterious yet charming, and very reckless. We became fast friends. One summer, I asked him if he wanted to come back to Fort Oakley with me for a while. He agreed." A faint smile tugged at his lips. "That's how he met your mother. Jade and I were best friends growing up. I introduced them, and together, we showed Darren everything there was to see in Fort Oakley. Very quickly, we ran out of of town so headed for the woods. Of course, this bridge was one of our favorites."

Vance gestures to the rickety platform we were seated on, hos voice softening. "Darren always dared me to climb it. He wanted to impress Jade because he was crushing on her, so I let him. I always stayed behind, pretended that I was too scared to climb it. Jade knew what we were doing though—she and I had climbed it numerous times before. She always had a habit of seeing right through people."

We sat in silence for a moment, staring out at the dark expanse of trees.

"What happened to them?" I finally ask. "My parents, I mean. You're always talking about them in the past tense, so I assume they died."

Through the darkness, I can see Vance's expression sour. "Jade grew up in The Order. Her parents didn't want her to, but they knew it was hopeless. The Order doesn't let people leave. So Jade grew up knowing what was expected of her."

"What was expected of her?"

"The Order has this...rule they established when the cult wasn't increasing with members. The woman were matched off with men, and they had to get pregnant before they turned eighteen. The woman have to keep giving birth to children until she has a daughter. Once they have a girl, or if the first born is a girl, the women are sacrificed after they've given birth."

Goosebumps break out on my skin. What the hell was wrong with these people? They were horrific.

"The cult had deemed Darren worthy, so they got pregnant with you. You were Jade's first born daughter, Charly. The Order would've sacrificed her right after you were born."

"Would've?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Darren had a plan," Vance says. "He was madly in love with jade and would do anything to protect her. He threatened to expose The Order if they sacrificed her. The believed him, of course. His mother was a well-known news anchor with a wide audience, so they took his threat seriously."

My heart pounds in my chest. "What happened then?"

"Darren made a deal with The Order. They always keep their promises even it it isn't in their favor, because they believe Oktia will win in the end no matter what. Darren told them that you'd get to live a normal life without their influence until you turned eighteen. In return, both Jade and Darren would get sacrificed after you were born. Darren said he wouldn't live without Jade, so he'd go with her."