Split in time

Chapter 14

©CRGangell aka Whitesabretooth

Chapter 14

The merks had entered the settlement around midmorning and ordered everyone out of their homes. They searched every room making sure no one was hiding. "She's sick," Michel said when they came across Ashley.

"Everyone out," the man demanded and pulled the blanket from Ashley exposing her bound leg. He didn't ask what happened to her leg, he just dragged Ashley from the bed using her hair to control her. Once they were outside Ashley was thrown to the ground, jarring her wounds, she stifled the cry of pain as she lay huddled on the hard cold ground. She didn’t move, she just stayed down and tried to make herself small. She shivered in both fear and cold as she wasn’t dressed to be outside.

“It was a mountain lion…” Michel stated watching Ashley intently, “I killed it myself, it didn’t turn human so it was a true lion not a Were.”

“Shut up.” The leader growled and slammed the butt of his rifle into Michel’s stomach. Michel curled over and was shoved onto his side. “We can’t take the risk.” He glanced around the villagers were watching intently. “We don’t know if Were haven’t figured out a way to hide that they are Were when they die. She could turn and kill you all.” He said, rationalising why he was going to kill Ashley although he knew someone was going to die today, to cow the group and make them easier to manipulate.

Michel glanced around trying not to be noticed, hoping beyond hope that Amy would come, that the pack would come and protect them.

“We found these…” A new group of merks said as they walked Piper and the children forward. They held baskets in which had the foraged items they had found on the way here. Piper was glad they had picked more of the special plants which masked Were scent and covered the more important bottles of cough syrup Ghan had taught Eva to make.

“Why were you out in the forest?” The leader asked.

“Foraging…” Piper said as she limped over to hug a little girl in her group who was shaking, the cold made her leg ache in a way like no other.

“What were you foraging?” The leader asked.

“Some plants that the herb woman said would help ease coughs, she also stitched Ashley up before she moved on.” Piper said firmly mixing fact and lie together to weave a believable story.

“Do you know which way she went?” The leader asked seriously, as people who knew plant medicine were becoming more important now that they were down to the last of the pharmaceuticals.

Piper shook her head, “left in the middle of the night.”

“Piper?” A man said as he approached a little hesitantly.

Piper tensed as she came face to face with her brother, shit… she thought to herself, she was fucked and not only that but the whole village now was fucked because of her. She didn’t answer, she didn’t know how to, did she pretend or did she acknowledge.

“I was told…” He began before he realised what he had done, not only to his sister but to the people of this village, he had consigned them all to death. His sister for being alive when everyone knew the caravan she was in was attacked by Were, and the entire village would be slaughtered for harbouring her.

“You were killed.” the leader said lifting his gun. “By Were.” He finished as he cocked his gun, he was going to kill her before she had a chance to blurt out that it was humans who had attacked her caravan. The village was tainted, they would know what happened to Piper and he could not allow her or them to tell her story to his team and more so to his second, her brother. The villagers were going to be killed.