Blood Meridian

Chapter 1

When I pulled up to the house, I knew something was wrong. It sat lifeless and dark when it was normally lit up like Mardi Gras. I killed the ignition and sat in my car trying to think back. Did I get the conversation wrong? Just a few days ago D told me to come through on Friday...which was today. So why was I sitting in the dark all by myself surrounded by a chorus of metaphoric crickets? I pushed open my car door and the Summer heat rushed in to overtake the air-conditioned oasis. I watched the house for a few moments hoping someone would open the front door to greet me. No one did so I made my way towards it.

The house had one of those back in the day, wrap, old southern porches. Only thing missing was a swing. The wooden stairs leading up to the front door protested under my footsteps as I climbed them. I glanced over at the large picture window overlooking the porch. Cupping my hands against the glass, I could see nothing inside but more darkness. I shifted towards the door. Standing in front of it with my hand raised to give it a pound, I felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to move. That's when I heard the chick-chick sound of metal sliding against metal.

Not today Jee-zuss.

I stepped out of the way a split second before the shotgun blast blew a hole through the front door. The sharp smell of gunpowder stung my nose as chunks of wood showered me along with the porch. I took a stunned moment to shake the image of my head impersonating ground meat, then went into full on WTF!!! mode. So much for a relaxed evening catching up with my good friend Darnell while I nursed a goblet sized glass of red wine. Something was seriously messed up here, and my quick trip down to Louisiana had suddenly turned into a shit storm.

In case there might've been more welcome by shotgun blast, I stayed planted against the wall between what was left of the door and the picture window.

"Darnell! It's me, Ash for God's sake!" I called out as I heard the quick shuffling of booted footsteps.

"Ash? That you?"

I expected a deep baritone, but a familiar female voice called out to me instead.

"Yes, dammit, YES! So don't! Freakin! Shoot!" I yelled.

"Oh God!" she said.

The locks turned over and the front door swung open. Darlene, Darnell's fraternal twin sister, came rushing out onto the porch. She held the shotgun like she meant it. Her hair was disheveled and her big brown eyes wide like saucers.

"I'm sorry. I thought you were one of them," she said hugging me tight with her free hand and trembling full of fear.

I had never seen her like this before. A petite little thing at only five-two, Darlene didn't scare easy. But here she stood, a trembling, frightened mess in front of me. Before demanding more details, like what the flipping hell was going on, rustling in the trees that edged the property around the house made Darlene swing the shotgun back up, ready to unload.

"Hurry, get inside," she commanded. "They might still be out there," she said lightning fast while backing up into the house after me.

Darlene slammed and locked what was left of the door - although I didn't know what difference that would've made on account of the huge gaping hole large enough for someone to step through. She turned to me and quickly looked me over.

"You need a weapon," she said breathlessly then disappeared like a ghost into the darkness of the house.

I heard her manically dashing from room to room searching for one as lights came on within the house. I had been here many times before so I had no problem finding the light switch. I reached over to the side of the wall and flicked it on. Sweet Jee-zuss. I was standing in what was left of the living room. It was clear there had been a struggle here because everything was upside down. Overturned and broken furniture, shattered glass, holes as big as fists in the walls. The place was devastation. Taking it all in in disbelief, I slowly turned doing a full three-eighty. Okay, I needed answers. Like now.

"Please tell me what's happening here?" I called out to her.

Finally, Darlene came swooping back into the living room clutching an enormous butcher knife. Really? She ran all throughout the house looking for a weapon and that's the best she could come up with? Holding it out to me with a shaky hand, I took it from her so she wouldn't chop herself with the damn thing. Also, now that the lights were on, I saw the full and complete state of her. In the clear light of...well, electricity...it had gone from bad to worse. Her clothes were more than disheveled. There was blood splatter on her shorts and t-shirt. Now this was about the time panic would begin to set in for a normal person. Unfortunately for me, I've been through a lot of crazy in my life, so it takes a lot to get me to that point. However, if Darlene didn't start talking, things were about to get even more lit up in here than they already were.

"You really going to make me ask again?" I said with a dark edge to my voice.

"They took D," she belted out.

I waited for her to continue with an actual explanation that made any kind of sense. Instead, she kept staring at me like I was supposed to understand who they were.

"Who took him?" I said trying not to lose it on her. I almost failed.

My question seemed to stump her as she struggled to do a simple thing like explain to me what had transpired. She continued to stare at me, eyes wild with dumbfounded desperation.

"Come on, it's me. What's going on?"

"It was a crazed gang. They just tore in here and dragged him out! I couldn't stop them," she blurted out finally.

Huh? A crazed gang...seriously??? I mean, we were standing in rural Louisiana, not the streets of Compton for God's sake. Plus, she was holding a freakin' shotgun. She damn near took my head off with the thing a few minutes ago. I didn't understand how that piece of hardware did not stop whoever it was from taking D. My patience was already threadbare and I wanted to throttle her senseless. But that would've been very bad on account of the fact that sometimes I don't know my own strength. From this point on, getting any more details from her, I realized, would take baby steps. So instead of laying into her for lying to me, I went with her ridiculous pseudo-explanation for a moment.

"When did this happen?" I said with a sweet, inside voice.

"I don't know," she said shaking her head. "A couple of hours ago, maybe?"

A couple of hours ago???!!!

Ok. Being a city girl and all, I understand down south moves at a different pace, like slower than molasses, but surely someone from the sheriff's department should've already been here by now. Something about this entire scenario was off and for whatever reason I didn't know yet, she was holding a whole lot of something back.

"Darlene? Why haven't you called for help?" I made sure to keep a sweet tone to my voice. She couldn't look me in the eye and that definitely wasn't like her. At all. But before I could really go in on her, her eyes began to pool. Then, alas, a river as she suddenly burst into tears.

"The police are no use, Ash! They wouldn't believe me anyway and neither will you." She cried out, then she crumbled to the floor in sobs.

Alright. Finally.

"Try me," I said, kneeling down beside her.

It took almost an hour for her to tell me everything.

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Author's Note:

Did you enjoy the opening chapter?  Get the entire ebook for free at www.enidmariereynolds.com.