Feeding Frenzy (Watty Award Winner)

The Scene of her Crime: Chapter Forty-Four

Tonya scolded her friends. "You promised to leave."

"Is Lynette okay?" Priya's voice trembled.

"She's breathing but I can't wake her." Tonya stumbled over a rock at the side of the road.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" asked Ducky.

Tonya could make out his frown amidst a blur of coloured light. She still had dragonfly vision, although now images from her own eyes superimposed themselves. The kaleidoscope of colour underneath was distracting, but at least she could see.

"I'm fine. Lynette needs a doctor." Tonya felt her knees buckle, her adrenaline spent.

"So do you." Priya pulled Tonya's arm around her shoulder.

"The car's this way." Ducky took the lead with Lynette in his arms. Tonya walked behind, supported by Priya. They kept their heads low, gasping for air. Between the smoke and tears and her strange compounded vision, Tonya let Priya direct her steps.

Her black thoughts returned, visions of Pompeii's dead by the hundreds. She pictured stacks of ancient bodies, now with familiar faces: her parents, Aunt Helen, kids from the dorm, cute boys from her classes, plus Zain, Ducky, and the other Ninjas. It seemed like a premonition. Everyone who meant something to her would soon be Waldock's victim.

Tonya hurried to catch up, supported by Priya on her left side. Ducky carried Lynette on her right.

Sirens approached but the fire truck was obscured by smoke. She fervently wished they could save the Ash tree but not the Entity buried under it. Faint hope. The volunteer firefighters would be lucky to save the town.

She suppressed a giggle rising inside her, the terrible guffaw of one who found everything incredibly funny. Who did these little people think they were? Who were they to thwart His victory? They were mice. Less than mice. They were insects, and He was about to perform an extermination.

Despite the pain of moving her blistered face, Tonya giggled, chuckled, and then burst into whoops of laughter.

"I'm relieved help is here too," said Ducky. He moved closer. "I don't blame you for getting hysterical. Not many women could have carried out Lynette like that."

Tonya looked into his eyes. "If you want out alive, get away from me as fast as you can." How to explain she heard Waldock in her head? That she felt her mind and his melding?

"Not a chance." He smiled.

Before Tonya could respond, an ambulance pulled up with a tire screech. Three burly attendants rushed out and came after them, probably sent by Donna.

"Whatever you do, don't get in the ambulance," she told her friends.

Tonya guessed Waldock wanted to deliver them to his agents in the hospital. By association with her, Priya and Ducky were in trouble. "How far is the car?"

Suddenly, charred branches and stones on the road came into focus. No more dragonfly vision. Why would Waldock allow her to see clearly now? When she understood, her legs buckled but Priya caught her. She had perfect vision because Waldock was looking through her, right at her friends.

"We have to run," said Tonya, but smoke inhalation made her too weak to do it.

The three attendants blocked their path and ordered them to walk into the forest.

Her friends just stood there, puzzled. "You want us to go into the fire?" asked Priya.

Two attendants knocked down Ducky and grabbed Lynette out of his arms. Priya set after them, shrieking and yelling.

"Run away!" Tonya yelled after her. "Save yourself!"

"Stay with me." She put a hand on Ducky to hold him back.

Priya wouldn't give up. She pulled at the attendants' arms but it didn't even slow them down.

Tonya guessed what was happening. Waldock could kill them discreetly in the fire. Her friends would be discovered later and blamed, arsonist victims of their own crime. It would seem like justice to the town, and leave Waldock's cronies looking like heroes.

Tonya appealed to the third ambulance attendant. "Leave them, they don't know anything. They just saw me by the side of the road and came to help."

"Liar." The voice was familiar. Looking past the uniform, Tonya recognized the farmer who kidnapped her.

"Where's your dog?"

"Sniffing around. That hound could track you over 100 miles." He grabbed her by the shoulders and squeezed hard. "Give up."

Tonya stomped on his instep, but he stepped away laughing.

"Nice try, Sweetie. I'm wearing boots. He pulled a hatchet out of his belt and threatened Ducky. "Quick march, both of you!"

There was no choice, they had Lynette. As they began to move she said: "You aren't going to be able to breathe in there. I barely got out alive."

"The firefighters are putting it out," he said.

Tonya watched jets of water, spraying into the inferno, but if it were making a difference she couldn't see it. The whole forest was aflame on one side of the road. If they couldn't extinguish it before the wind changed, it would spread over the road to pastures, farms, and beyond to the Town of Loon Lake.

"Shouldn't you be rescuing people?" Tonya stopped and faced the farmer, hands on hips, the skin on the backs of her hands smarting as if they were still in the fire.

"Justice first. You did this. Now pay."

Tonya's will to fight drained away. Her aunt's shop would burn, and it would take more than a band of volunteer firefighters to save the campus. What had she done? She thought the fire would burn the Entity in the ground and prevent him from taking over. Instead, he was unharmed and in control, while she caused the damage. People would lose their homes because of Tonya, and the firefighters could lose their lives.

"I know what you're thinking." The farmer grinned, his teeth icy against a berry brown face. "You dying in the fire today, would be the best thing for Loon Lake."

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