The Untouchables: Blight

Chapter Four

Lori

Josh had brought me food like he said and tried to comfort me, but nothing could help prepare me for the night. I had asked what everyone could do, but he told me it was best I did not know, that being unaware would allow me to persevere. I have no idea how, but he is the only one talking to me so I had to go with it.

Elizabeth came in and out. She would grab different things and leave, or sit down and work on random things, she acted like I was not even there. I just sat on the bed; it was all too much and now I am about to be hunted. 

It was late when Josh came and got me. The sun had set hours ago. I had heard everyone throughout the day; I knew when meals were happening, all the voices seemed to mumble together and got loud. I had not gone to meals, it was just Josh bringing me food afterward. The house was quiet, it had been for a while, and I made no attempt to fix that.

Once we were outside Josh spoke, "I'm sorry you have to go through this." There was a large amount of space between the house and the tree line.

"Then why are you letting it happen?" We kept walking towards the tree line. I refused to look at him, he had not tried to stop it.

"It's complicated. I'd like to say that this is a democracy, but it's not. Dealing with them," he sighed, "it's easiest to just go along and not start problems."

"So you'll let me risk my life because it's 'easier'."

Josh stopped walking and turned to me, "Devon, the Triplets, and Mahdi. That's more than half of us, but you don't even need all of them. Any combination of them, or even just the Triplets, it will be a brawl to try to say no."

"So they just get to dictate all of you?"

"No, we could say 'no', but then the likelihood of you lasting the night gets smaller." I looked away. "If you want to talk "risking your life" staying in the house without everyone's approval is the fastest way," he reached out again to me. I moved away, "Look, you can make it through the night, just focus. Focus and fight, fight to get through, don't try to fight any of them physically, you won't win." We continued walking towards the tree line in silence. When we reached the trees he stopped again. "Breathe," I took a deep breath with him, "don't try to go back to the house, it won't end well if you do. I have to leave, hopefully, I'll see you tonight, or maybe hopefully not." He smiled then turned and walked away. He stopped just before entering the forest, "And Lori?" my eyes stayed focused on him, "you control yourself and you control how this goes." He then turned and disappeared.

It was just me.

I was alone. 

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I was expecting to be able to see, the moon was large and bright by the house, but the trees masked the light and I could barely make out the shapes of the trees. I wandered aimlessly for a long time, praying I would avoid everyone, trying to find the moon floating across the sky. I kept making turns moving in random directions at random times, anything, anything to keep me alive.

It didn't work. I was still walking when I heard a voice, "Well hello there," I turned around immediately and saw a shape, but it was too dark to see clearly who it was. It was one of the boys, I knew that. I had heard Josh's enough to rule him out. And Mahdi had a very distinct voice. Two down, Clayton or Devon, Clayton or Devon.

"Who's there?" I asked.

"I'm hurt that I didn't make a lasting impression this morning, but then again when you leave Josh to do things, he isn't going to do you justice." Devon. Josh introduced Devon. He had only stared at me. I tried to step closer to see him clearly but then thought better. I had little to go on and my only option was to trust Josh's advice: don't try to fight them. I began to back away.