Blood Games (20 page)

    Cora climbed into the car and knelt on the back seat. Abilene kept the door open by leaning back against it, her legs braced.

    The others passed suitcases to Cora, and she stowed them in the rear. She placed the wet, loaded towels on the floor in front of the seat. ‘Is that it? What about your camera, Fin?’

    ‘I’ll keep it, thanks. I’m not about to leave it in an unlocked car.’

    ‘You’ll leave your purse, but not your camera?’

    ‘Maybe we ought to take our purses,’ Abilene said.

    ‘Shouldn’t have left them here in the first place with the car unlocked.’

    ‘Good thing we did,’ Cora said. ‘They might’ve ended up in the pool.’

    ‘Well, I think we’d better keep them with us from now on. If we lose our money and credit cards, we’ll really be up the creek.’

    Cora hunted around, and finally handed out the purses. She was holding a roll of toilet paper when she climbed from the car. She tossed it to Helen. Abilene stepped clear of the door, and it fell shut with a solid thud.

    After gathering their things, they trudged uphill past the side of the car. Vivian, holding the lantern, halted. ‘Where to?’ she asked.

    ‘First off,’ Cora said, ‘let’s kill the light.’ She reached out and twisted the knob at its base. The hiss went silent. The brightness faded until the only light came from the hot mantles. They looked like a pair of small, net sacks, glowing white then dimming to red.

    ‘If we’re not going to use the lantern,’ Finley said, ‘why don’t we leave it in the car?’

    ‘We might need it later,’ Cora told her.

    ‘You’ve got the matches?’

    She patted her belly. She had no pockets, so Abilene supposed she must’ve tucked the matchbook under the elastic of her shorts. It was out of sight under the hanging front of her tank top.

    Turning to Finley, Cora said, ‘This is your idea. You want to lead the way?’

    ‘Sure.’

    Cora offered her a flashlight. Finley accepted it, said, ‘You take this,’ and handed the video camera to Cora. ‘Be careful with it.’ Then she started walking. She kept the flashlight off.

    They followed her along the pavement that stretched in front of the porch. Where it met the main driveway, she headed to the right. Away from the lodge.

    ‘Just in case anyone’s watching,’ she explained, ‘we’ll make it look like we’re actually taking off.’

    Abilene turned around. As she walked backward, she gazed at the lodge. With the moon out of sight behind it, the building was masked in black shadow. Someone might be watching -from the porch, from the doorway, from a window, from anywhere. But she saw only darkness.

    She faced the front again. Soon, the driveway began sloping. downward. Gravity pushed at her back as if it wanted to send her running for the bottom. She shortened her strides. Her legs trembled, but she supposed that the shakiness had more to do with her fears than with the exertion of trying to control her descent.

    ‘Are we going all the way to the road?’ Helen asked.

    Finley looked back. They all did. The lodge was out of sight. Abilene could see nothing except the dim, rising lane of the driveway, a few patches of sky through the tree tops, and the dark woods on both sides.

    ‘This is good enough,’ Finley said. She strode to the right and stepped off the driveway. Her sneakers crunched dead leaves and twigs on the forest floor. She ducked under a low branch. Cora went after her, followed by Vivian. Abilene cast a final glance up the deserted lane, saw nobody, and followed Helen into the trees.

    Ahead, she glimpsed a flashlight beam. It dug a bright tunnel through the darkness to the right, then slipped aside and disappeared.

    They trudged along in single file, traversing the hillside, Finley leading them around brambles, boulders and massive trunks that loomed in their way. Nobody spoke. Abilene stayed close to the gray smudge of Helen’s back.

    There was no breeze. The heavy, sweet air felt nearly as hot

    as the water in the pool. It had to be much cooler, but it sure didn’t feel that way. She was sweating. Dribbles tickled her face and neck, her chest and sides. The back of her blouse and the seat of her panties were wet and clinging.

    In spite of the heat, she trembled.

    She supposed she ought to feel safe, surrounded by the woods. After all, the chances of being found in here were remote.

    Unless the guy had somehow followed them.

    Awfully unlikely.

    But if he had followed them, he could be close enough to reach out of the darkness and grab her.

    Would’ve heard him coming, she told herself. No one could possibly tromp through all this without making noise.

    The thought didn’t reassure her. She was scared. She supposed the others were scared, too.

    
It’s my fault we’re here
, she thought.
God, how stupid, picking up the shorts like that. The damn keys were probably right inside the pocket till I did that.

    
If only I’d taken my time. If only I’d been more careful
.

    It’s little mistakes like that…

    
We’d be safe in the car right now, tooling along the road, a nice wind coming in through the open windows. Out of here. Gone
.

    Never should’ve come here in the first place.

    Helen must be nuts, bringing us to an abandoned lodge in the middle of nowhere.

    
We were just as nuts, going along with it.

    
I could’ve been home right now with Harris. Watching some TV, having some popcorn and a Pepsi.

    
It wouldn’t be this damn hot, either. And if it was, we’d have the fan going, a nice breeze blowing against us.

    Nobody put a gun to my head, she reminded herself.

    They’d always had great times with their adventures. They’d done stuff that was a lot more crazy than coming to an old lodge. Though Abilene regretted some of the things they’d done, nobody had ever gotten hurt and they’d always gotten away with their stunts, no matter how wild and dangerous.

    
We’ll get away with this
, too, she thought.

    This time tomorrow, we’ll be in a nice motel.

    
If we find the damn keys.

    
If we don’t, we’ll hike out.

    
Either way, we’ll be gone from this place.

    Abilene suddenly realized that she was walking uphill. ‘Hey! ’ she called in a loud whisper. ‘What’re we doing?’

    Finley halted. The others continued toward her. As Abilene approached, she noticed that neither flashlight was on.

    ‘We’re going uphill,’ she whispered.

    ‘Yeah,’ Finley said. ‘I know. Have you ever tried sleeping on a slope?’

    ‘But we’re heading back toward the lodge.’

    ‘Where the ground is level. Don’t worry, we’ll stay in the trees. As long as we keep quiet and don’t use our lights, nobody’ll be the wiser.’

    ‘I don’t want to get any closer to the lodge.’

    ‘We’re almost to the top of the hill. Just a little bit farther, then we’ll find a good place to sack out.’ Without waiting for approval or more objections, Finley resumed her trek up the slope.

    Cora followed. Vivian shook her head and Helen shrugged.

    ‘We should be going the other way,’ Abilene muttered.

    ‘I knew this’d turn into a Goddamn campout,’ Vivian said, and started after Cora.

    ‘At least we won’t have so far to walk in the morning,’ Helen said.

    ‘We keep this up, we might as well sleep on the front lawn.’

    ‘The whole thing was a big mistake. I wish we hadn’t come here.’ With that, Helen turned around and hurried to catch up with Vivian.

    Abilene stayed close behind her.

    This is what we get, she thought, for letting Finley take the lead.

    Before she could get too annoyed, however, she found that the group had come to a halt.

    ‘Are we close enough for you?’ she asked.

    ‘It’s nice right here, don’t you think?’

    Abilene looked around. They were in a small clearing surrounded by a wall of trees and low bushes. There appeared to be barely enough room for the sleeping bags. Peering into the darkness, she could see no trace of the lodge. ‘I guess it’s okay,’ she whispered.

    ‘Okay? It’s perfect. Perfecto.’

    In silence, they set down their things. They opened the sleeping bags and spent a while arranging them. Three could fit side by side. Two fit crosswise.

    Finley’s bag was in the middle between Abilene’s and Helen’s. She dropped down on it and crossed her legs. ‘Great, huh? Now, if we just had some margaritas and chips.’

    ‘Feel free to go back for them,’ Abilene said. ‘I’m sure we’re not far from the car.’

    ‘Did anybody bring food?’ Helen asked.

    ‘We should’ve,’ Finley said.

    ‘But we didn’t,’ Abilene said.

    ‘Geez.’

    ‘You’re trying to lose weight,’ Cora reminded her.

    ‘That was before.’

    ‘You can survive till morning,’ Vivian said.

    Helen sighed. ‘Yeah. Sure.’

    ‘Just forget about it,’ Cora said. ‘Let’s brush our teeth and get some sleep.’

    ‘And take a leak,’ Abilene added.

    ‘Not necessarily in that order,’ Finley said.

    They gathered their toothbrushes, paste, the big plastic water bottle and the roll of toilet paper. Helen passed the roll around, and they each tore off some paper.

    ‘We go that way,’ Abilene said, pointing back the way they’d come.

    They crept into the trees. A short distance from the clearing, they crowded together in a circle to share the water while they brushed their teeth.

    Then they separated. Glad that she’d changed into a skirt instead of shorts, Abilene slipped out of her panties. Poor Helen, she recalled, was still in her swimsuit. Everything would have to come off. While she squatted close to the ground, she heard the others nearby: footsteps mashing forest debris, muttered curses, splashing sounds.

    Done, she backed away and stepped into her panties. She didn’t go looking for the others. Instead, she made her way to the clearing. Cora and Finley were already there. As she was putting her toothpaste and brush into her toilet kit, Vivian returned.

    Abilene sat on her sleeping bag. She was pulling off her moccasins when Helen came slouching out of the trees.

    ‘What a pain,’ Helen muttered. She carried her swimsuit and Bermudas in one hand. She wore only her blouse and shoes. The blouse hung open, its front bouncing and swaying with the motions of her loose breasts.

    ‘The Tipton girl,’ Finley said.

    In spite of Helen’s miserable appearance, Abilene found herself grinning. Helen really did look like some kind of bizarre parody of the Tipton shirt commercial that, during the past year, had made Vivian something of a national celebrity.

    In the commercial, Vivian strides languidly across a veranda, leans her shoulder against a pillar and gazes out at swaying palm trees, combers rolling in toward a deserted beach. A breeze caresses her thick, auburn hair and stirs the front of her white Tipton dress shirt. It is a man’s shirt, too large for her. Its sleeves are rolled partway up her forearms. Its tails drape her buttocks and thighs. She seems to wear nothing except the shirt. Only a single, closed button prevents it from blowing open.

    The camera slowly circles her as she enjoys the tropical scenery. Then a sleek, handsome man, dressed only in slacks, crosses the veranda. He wraps his arms around her, kisses the side of her neck. The voice of the announcer says, ‘Men prefer Tipton shirts.’

    ‘Men prefer Tipton shirts,’ Finley said.

    ‘This is J.C. Penny’s,’ Helen muttered. ‘And it’s wet.’ She dropped onto her sleeping bag. ‘Everything’s wet.’

    ‘You should’ve changed when you had the chance,’ Cora told her.

    ‘Your stuff would’ve gotten soaked, anyway,’ Abilene said. ‘Unless you don’t sweat.’

    ‘Hotter than a huncher,’ Finley said.

    Vivian shook her head. ‘We could’ve been in an air-condi-tioned motel room right now.’

    ‘Tomorrow night,’ Abilene said.

    ‘If we can find the keys.’

    ‘We’ll find them,’ Cora said, and lay down on top of her sleeping bag.

    Finley stretched out on hers, too. ‘Let’s all go to sleep, kiddies. The sooner we fall asleep, the sooner morning will come. Maybe Santa will leave us a nice set of car keys under the tree.’

    ‘I don’t care where he leaves them,’ Abilene said, ‘as long as we find them and get out of here.’

    Vivian sank down beside Cora, rolled over, and rested her face on her crossed arms.

    Abilene was about to lie down, but remained sitting, curious, when she saw Helen take off her blouse. Pale in the darkness, Helen leaned forward. She spread her blouse, swimsuit and Bermuda shorts over the top of her sleeping bag. Then she got to her hands and knees. She pulled down the zipper at the side of her bag and struggled to crawl inside.

    Finley, also watching, said, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding.’

    ‘You’ll cook in there,’ Abilene added.

    ‘Leave her alone,’ Vivian murmured.

    Abilene heard a rip-like sound of the zipper sliding up.

    ‘Maybe she’s planning to sweat the pounds away,’ Finley said.

    ‘Ha ha, very funny,’ came Helen’s muffled voice.

    Abilene eased down onto her bag. Its slick fabric felt cool through her blouse and against the backs of her bare legs. She folded her hands under her head. Her hair was tangled and wet. But lying down felt very good. The thickness of the sleeping bag cushioned her from the ground. If there were twigs or rocks beneath her, she couldn’t feel them. She stretched, and sighed softly.