Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 32 - Where Ends Fall Short of the Means

Kasper's truck clanked to a halt at the mile marker Gore had specified.

They'd dumped the coach's unconscious form just inside the trees on the edge of town, then phoned for an ambulance. This would all be over with by the time the woman even regained consciousness. Luke didn't concern himself with the ramifications of what had happened, trying to focus his mind on nothing except Oaklynn.

He glanced down at his phone as they stopped. A text flashed up from Kenny: 2 mins away.

"Alright, everybody out," Kasper told them, slinging the driver's side door open and sliding out into the dark. Luke followed suite in the passenger seat. Behind them, Gabi and Kyan clambered out into the gloom. Night had well and truly fallen now, and only some struggling street lights kept this part of the highway illuminated.

Flashlights sliced into the gloom, swiping across the treeline. It didn't take them long to find the dirt track road that Gore had mentioned, though if they hadn't been looking for it Luke doubted they ever would have noticed it. The track would barely fit a car on it, and the mouth of the road was half covered in foliage – deliberately, he suspected.

"This must be the place," Kasper muttered, sweeping some of the branches aside and peering up the track.

Luke moved up beside him, casting his torch up the road. He swallowed hard. Nothing about that dark, muddy path looked inviting, but he noticed the fresh tire tracks that cut through the loamy earth. Even to his untrained eye he could see more than one set – several even – a lot of trucks carrying a lot of people.

Gabi leaned in over his shoulder and shook her head grimly. "Another horror movie you didn't see, huh? Nothing good happens down dark tracks in the woods."

"Oh, thanks," Luke replied, giving her a withering look. "You sure you want to be here?"

"Somebody's got to keep an eye on you."

They loitered at the entrance for a few minutes until Kenny emerged from the dark further down the highway, legs pumping on a bicycle. He slewed awkwardly to a halt, dismounted, and gave the bike a rough shove to send it into the undergrowth with an unceremonious crash of broken twigs.

Dusting himself off, he walked over to them, his stride jerking with nervous energy as he unslung the air rifle from off his shoulder.

"Party's here," Kenny said, giving them a thumbs up. He inclined his head to the dirt track. "That it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Awesome, awesome. Let's get going."

Luke could see – hell, he could feel – the anxiety rolling off of his friend, evident enough by the way his hands were strangling the grip of the air rifle. He took a step forward and took a grip of Kenny's shoulder. He could feel the tremble there.

"Take a breath, man," he advised. "You okay?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm good." Kenny gave him a bobbing nod. "I just really want this night to be done with. Then I want to wake up tomorrow, have a cup of coffee, bury myself in a pancake stack and try not to think about all this shit."

"Save me a seat," Kyan chuckled, tapping the baseball bat against his shoulder. He glanced at Kasper. "Gang's all here, man."

"Stay behind me." Kasper turned and trudged off up the path without another word, and the four college students quickly scrambled to keep up with him.

Luke quickly realised why everything felt so eerie here as they walked into the dark. It was too quiet. Their footsteps crunched weakly against the dirt track, but there was no ambient noise, not this far from Lasquette. No humans, but also no wildlife. Even the wind seemed to have taken the night off, leaving them sneaking along in an uncomfortable silence.