The Executioners Three

Interlude: Theo

"What're you gonna do with it?" Theo snuffed his out too.

"There's a trash can by the cars." She smiled slightly. "Don't wanna litter and all that."

"I can take them then." Theo plucked the cigarette from her hand and pushed to his feet. "I want a walk anyway."

"Thanks," she called after him.

He didn't respond. Tonight words just weren't worth the effort.

Theo aimed for the dark trail that led to an abandoned logging road. He didn't know how Davis had found this place. He didn't know how Garrett had gotten the grain alcohol either. Two months ago, when he'd still been new here, Theo would have panicked at that. He couldn't stay on top if the popular kids found other sources for their booze. But now...

Now, none of it mattered. He wasn't long for this town anyway.

Theo tromped over pine needles. The full moon leeched the woods of color and depth, but he had no trouble seeing where he was going.

He wondered what Freddie was doing right now.

Theo reached the cars, his own Silver Sweetheart and Tyson's Wrangler. Beyond them, Theo found the trashcan. It stank like death. Like someone had left a carcass in there to slowly decompose.

Or, so he thought, but when he actually lifted the lid to drop in the butts, he found the metal canister was empty.

Chills slithered down Theo's spine. He thought back to Wednesday night. To the baby raccoons and the figure he'd seen by the road.

There were noises in the woods now too. Hard to distinguish against the ceaseless wind, but there all the same. Rhythmic and steady.

Someone was walking this way.

Then a scream split the night. Theo jerked around—it was so loud, so bloodcurdling and close. A woman's vocal cords stretched to their ends.

And deep, deep in the back of Theo's brain, a single word unfurled: Come.

So without thought, Theo went.

He strode into the woods, moving toward the scream. Moving toward the strange word that fired from neurons at the base of his skull. A word that coiled around his muscles and commanded them. Not once did he find it strange; not once did he really consider.

Theo Porter simply moved.

His feet thrashed over unseen roots and saplings. His ankles rolled. Branches sliced at his cheeks, and the screams grew louder with each step. Until finally he ran into Felicia, sprinting through the pine trees toward him. At the sight of Theo, she screamed again.

This time, there were words though. "Body!" she shrieked. "There's a body in the woods!"

"No head," Tyson stammered, stumbling up behind her. His enormous eyes gawped at Theo. "He's got no fucking head."

Of course not, said the voice in Theo's mind. But he didn't hear that voice, so much as obey it.

"Go," Theo told them, detached. "Go back to the car."

Felicia and Tyson needed no urging, and though the front of Theo's brain told him he ought to chase after them, the back of Theo's brain thought otherwise. Those neurons would not let his body comply, and his feet just kept on carrying him into the trees. Over more unseen roots and saplings, through more razor-sharp branches.

Until at last, Theo stumbled from the trees and into a moonlit clearing.

Where a massacre met his eyes. Blood everywhere, sprayed on tree trunks, splattered across the fallen leaf carpet. And at the center: a rigid male body leaning against a fallen pine.

A male body without a head.

And just like that, the cool detachment fled. The voice that commanded Theo released him, and the reality of what waited before him whooshed in.

He staggered backward, unable to control his gag reflex. His vision blurred. He shouldn't have come—why had he come?

And now other people were running this way. He could hear them approaching. They shouldn't see this, though. No one should have to see this.

"Stay where you are!" His voice cracked. He tried again, louder. As forceful as he could make it. "Don't come this way! Go back to the cars."

Then he saw Madison through the trees, and beside her was Davis—a hulking linebacker.

"Go back!" He shouted again, and this time he hurried toward them. "It's not safe!"

He reached Madison, who was asking, "What is it? What happened, Theo?"

Theo just shook his head and pulled his phone from his pocket. He should have done this from the start. He never should have followed those screams.

Theo plugged in 911, and the call connected. "911. What's your emergency?"

"There's a body," Theo said, and Madison clapped a hand to her mouth. "It's by the lakeshore in City-on-the-Berm county park—"

Theo didn't get to finish. Davis slammed into him, so hard Theo crashed to the ground. The phone went flying through the woods.

"What are you doing?" Davis roared. He climbed onto Theo, drunk and wild-eyed. "You can't call the fucking cops!"

"There's a body in the woods!" Theo tried to shove off Davis, but Davis was twice his size. He just buried his knee in Theo's chest.

"We're out here drinking!" Davis shoved harder. "D'you wanna get us all arrested again?"

Of course Theo didn't want to get arrested again. But there was a fucking body in the woods. Before he could bellow this at Davis, though, red brake lights flooded the forest.

Which meant Tyson must be fleeing.

Theo used the moment—the brief surprise on Davis's face—to swing. A hard left hook to the jaw, then a bucking of his hips. Davis tipped sideways, enough for Theo to flip Davis onto his back.

"Call 911," he told Madison in the brief moment he had before Davis swung. Then Davis's fist connected with Theo's nose, and suddenly Theo was punching back too.

He and Davis rolled. They writhed. They clawed and wailed and Theo lost all concept of how many hits he landed—or how many hits he took. It wasn't until a shrieking Madison shoved between he and Davis, and then Garrett thundered in too, that Theo finally managed to break free.

He dragged himself away, limping and panting. Everything was on fire. His face, his ribs, and above all, his brain.

There was a body in the woods. A hundred yards behind them—a fucking body with no fucking head.

And something still sparkled at the nape of Theo's neck. A single command he didn't quite hear.

"The cops are coming," Madison said, pitching her voice over Davis's swears. "I called them," she added, "and we need to leave before they get here. But your car is the only one left, Theo. Are you good to drive?"

"Yep," he muttered, even though he wanted to leave Davis here. Even though he wanted to see that rich prick get arrested all over again and deal with some fucking consequences for once in his goddamned life.

But Theo knew that would only make his own life hell in the long run. So after wiping blood off his face and knuckles, Theo shambled to his Civic and drove everyone—including Davis—back to campus.

He didn't sleep that night.

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And, if want more epic friendship, then consider checking out Truthwitch, the first book in the Witchlands series (on which Freddie's and Divya's RPG is based!).

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