The Road to Nowhere

Chapter 65: Arrival

Chapter 65

"They're coming! We have to run now or we're all dead!"

Those words bounce around in my head so fast that I feel like my brain is rattling. I know immediately what she's talking about. I don't know if anyone else in my group does but I do, and it makes my body go cold with fear.

Can it be? How on Earth did they find us? We took the implants out of her before we got to Moen– before we even took the drive here. There's no way they could have followed us here. No way.

How does she know they're coming? I've been keeping a close eye on her since I learned about the murders. There's no way she could have seen them outside of Moen. Maybe someone told her– but who? No that's not possible. No one knows about them other than my group. Did we ever tell Naomi about them? I don't think so. There's no other reasonable explanation other than her making it up, or she's somehow feeling them. She's been having bad dreams; maybe she's remembering things from when she was taken. I doubt it. The nightmares that I was having were manifesting because of my fear– I think.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to get the pain coming from my head to go away. It doesn't work. It's left throbbing as I watch Jaw walk passed the platform, and towards Brianna and the guard that took the tape off her mouth. The guard is still kneeling in front of her. His rifle is hanging off his shoulder by the leather strap. It's tip poking into the dirt next to Brianna's head. She's still laying on her side, tears falling off her cheeks. As Jaw approaches them, she holds her breath. The guard shuffles to his feet while repositioning his rifle to rest on his shoulder better and nervously moves his long brown bangs off his forehead.

Jaw's eyes look at the guard with complete anger. With his eyebrows furrowed, he lets out a strong sigh. "Why did you take the girl's tape off?"

The guard's fingers quickly intertwine with each other. He lower's his gaze away from Jaw's eyes. "I– I don't know." He stumbles over his words. "I thought she could have– uh heard something. Maybe the dead but–." He raises his head and when he sees Jaw's face, his lips stop moving.

Jaw shakes his head as he fumbles with his pocket knife in his hands. The action causing the guard to tremble. In a swift movement, Jaw turns around to the rest of the guards. Many of them are standing in a scattered group by the corn's edge. I don't know how many there could possibly be– maybe a few dozen. However, there are a few stragglers standing behind the rest of my group, pointing their guns at their heads.

Jaw's chin lifts to the sky, the feathers on top his head slightly moving with the motion. "Does anyone know what happens when someone does something without my permission?"

Jaw stares into the crowd looking for an answer. When the guards don't give him one, he turns around to face the fire and points at it with his knife. "You end up like the last person who didn't follow orders!" Jaw's scream echoes over the crackling of the fire.

The nervous guard clears his throat, causing Jaw to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Taking off the girl's tape certainly isn't as bad as leaving bodies in Moen for the villagers to find. As the last guy did." He lets out a quiet laugh in an attempt to lighten the situation.

Jaw laughs back, but the tone of it more mocking than agreeing. "Oh, it certainly is not!"

Not understanding Jaw's tone, the guard replies with a lighthearted chuckle. This one being more out of happiness and ease than the last one, which was out of fear. A slight smile forms on his lips as he lets out a sigh of relief.

"Sadly," Jaw takes the blade of his knife and runs it along one of his pointer fingers. "That doesn't make you off the hook." His left hand slowly grips around the handle of the knife. Just as fast as his arm swings out, it's plunged towards the guard's neck. The guard doesn't have any time to react. All his body can do is reach at his neck in horror. The smile that was on his mouth before contorts, terror taking over his features. He falls to his knees, hands gripping the knife. With his face becoming ghostly white, he plucks the knife from his neck and it falls into the dirt with a thud. Blood starts to spit out of the wound like a water fountain. Most of it lands in the dirt, making a puddle of gritty paste. But, some of it spurts onto Jaw's black shirt. He doesn't jump back. He lets the blood fall onto him, a smile creepily appearing on his lips. The guard melts to the floor, the light in his eyes getting darker with every second that passes.