The Lost Hearts (27 page)

And then she saw Trevor.  She could imagine for a moment that he would never learn what had befallen her or his friend.  That he could live happily in his ignorance, go on with his life as he intended the day he rode out of the village.  But her heart burst at its seams, and she wished with desperate aching that she could tell him that she loved him.  That he was part of her, as her blood and bones, and every cell that made her.  

“Hey, over here.”  Solomon waved a hand.  “You’re not feeling sorry for yourself, are you?” he snickered.  “It’s too early for that, yet.”  He pulled out a flask from the depths of his pants pocket.  He spun the silver cap, tipped his head back and took a long swig.  He exhaled loudly with satisfaction and twisted the cap back.  “Now,” he said through rotted teeth.  “We have to figure out exactly what we’re going to do with you.”

Solomon flung the flask on the table and fell to the ground.  His eyes oozed obscenity.  He was on top of her now, his spindly legs pushing as he unfolded her from her fetal curl.  Alexis convulsed beneath him, opened her mouth to scream, but his palm clamped over her face tight.  “Now, now,” he said.  “I don’t want to hurt you.  Can’t you see that?”  He licked his lips, smiling with big gums and yellow teeth. 

“Anyone ever tell you what a fine woman you are?”  Just imagining the contact of his hands against her flesh made her wretch.  “Oh, I’m not so bad.  You’ll see,” he whispered with whiskied breath as he maneuvered her flat against the floor.  She felt his hand pull at her shirt, the brittle-boned fingers squeezing her stomach. 

I’d rather die,
she told herself without a second thought, and she thrashed against him like a wild animal.  She saw the black chasm of his decaying mouth open, and he lowered himself to kiss her.  He grunted, gripped by ferocious need.

Alexis kept her mouth closed like a vice.  “Open your mouth,” he ordered.  Against every impulse, she obeyed, parting her lips.  “That’s right,” he hissed profanely and his tongue slithered inside her mouth.  She sucked at his lip, pulling it between her teeth.  She opened her eyes to
watch him.  He was excited.  His lids fluttered with pleasure, and he started to grind against her when she bit down hard.  First she heard the crunch.  Like an apple.  Then she heard his scream.  It sounded like fire. 

“You fucking bitch!”  The words detonated in the shack.    Solomon spooled back, his hands clutching his mouth, blood oozing between his knuckles.  He grabbed her throat and wound up his fist.  It shattered her cheek.

The door swung open.  Through bolts of white pain, Alexis saw Duval.  She had never felt such relief to see such a horrid human being.  “What the fuck do you want?”  Solomon boomed. 

“Sorry, boss.”  Duval sputtered as he took in the terrifying gaze of Solomon’s eyes.  “I wouldn’t a come, but there’s a problem with the men.”

“What are you talking about?”  Solomon’s voice was still raging at full volume. 

“A couple of the men seem to be t
urning…uh…saying we ought to give them more of our share.  I heard some talk of them going without us altogether.  You better get down there, boss.  This fire needs to be put out right now.”  Duval scratched at his beard.  He couldn’t manage to conceal his nervousness.  Everything they’d planned for months was on a ledge and Solomon had lost it for this woman.

Alexis felt what seemed like all the blood in her body flow against the drums of h
er ears.  She could hardly discern the meaning of the words exchanged between the men.  The adrenaline was a thunderous roar in her brain, and it muffled her senses.  Was she to fight?  Or was she safe?  It wasn’t until she saw Solomon kick the chair against the wall that she understood his plans had been thwarted.  Alexis dared to breathe.

He swooped in low and growled, spit and blood spattering against her face.  “By the time I’m done with you woman, you will wish you’d killed me just then.”  Solomon shot for the door, hand over mouth.  He fixed her dead in his gaze.  “Oh, don’t worry.
I’m coming back for you.”

Chapter T
wenty-Four

They had been gone for hours.  Alexis watched the light, its color, and the angle at which it filtered through the cracks of the dilapidated structure, and guessed it must be early evening.  All morning she had lied in filth and her own tears, letting the tentacles of defeat and self-pity curl around her.  She wanted to give up.  She knew that the next time Solomon came he would rape her, then snuff her out of existence. 
Might as well
, she thought.  But flashes of her life and those she loved so dearly fired cruelly in her brain.  She fought them.  But she could not stifle the sorrow she felt for her father.  Nor could she strangle Trevor, whose presence expanded exponentially in her heart.  They nudged her until she felt she owed it to the universe to get out of that room.

Alexis sighed, a reserve of strength and determination compelling her upward.  She sat up to examine her situation.  The room wasn’t the problem.  She needed only to stand and walk a few feet to the door.  It was the unknown on the other side of the door.  It was the expertly knotted rope around her wrists and ankles.  She grimaced at the sight of the angry raw flesh.  She could only imagine what the rest of her looked like. 

Alexis stretched along the length of the bed linens, coaxing the flow of blood back into her legs and arms.  She wriggled them in the rope, but there was no give.  From her side, she curled and rolled onto her knees, and summoning all the strength from her depleted body, swept herself up onto her feet.  The blood drained from her head and she swayed dangerously, her knees threatening to buckle.  Whatever moisture remained in her body burst from her pores, and the bloodied clothing instantly clung to her frame.

Alexis inhaled deeply.  Slowly she hopped toward the window.  The exertion sapped her and she breathed noisily from her mouth.  When she reached the frame, she let herself sag against the wall.  Black spots appeared in her vision.  Alexis lifted her head and pushed it against a window shutter until it creaked slightly open. 

Her spirit plummeted.  She saw nothing but an impenetrable wall of green.  By all appearances, she was stranded in the thick of the jungle.  On the other hand, she wasn’t convinced her chances of escape or help would be better if they were part of a community complicit in the horrific crime underway.  Alexis sighed.  These parts were totally alien to her.  She remembered the men from the jungle.  This was their territory.  They would find her in an instant.  She knew she had to find her horse. 

Alexis peered out the window again.  She would have to circle the shack to get a better idea of an escape route. 
I have absolutely nothing to lose
, she reminded herself.  Hopping inches at a time, Alexis made her way to the door.  She pushed at it with her head, and when it gave, saw that it was tethered shut from the outside with a coil of rope.  Alexis groaned.  She had to find something to cut her binding.  She scanned the room.  There was nothing but an astonishing lack of clutter for two of the shabbiest, unkempt men she’d ever seen.  “There must be a tool shed,” she said aloud as though she had the camaraderie of a partner.  She turned to face the room.  On every side, light bled through the cracks of the hut.  Every side but one.  Alexis smiled. 

Weighing her chances and the timing, she hopped back to the window.  She leaned on the wooden table beneath it, squirming until she had managed to worm her body onto its surface. It shuddered beneath
her weight.  She thrust her head forward and the shutter swung open wide.  Alexis gulped hard and she threw herself over the ledge of the window.  The ragged wood of the frame pulled and ripped at her flesh with its splintered teeth.

Alexis gasped when she hit the ground with her shoulder.  Her brain pounded black and white.  Alexis raised her head, spitting out a mouthful of earth.   The air was cooler and moist, and it replenished her lungs which seemed to shrivel in the stagnant, decaying air of the shack.  She rolled herself onto her knees and then to her feet. 

The jungle was alive with wildlife, but not a whisper of human activity.  She could not see more than a few yards past the banana trees which enclosed the perimeter.  She hopped to the corner of the shack and peered around the other side.  She almost squealed with delight when she glimpsed an ax resting aside the adjoining shed.  Panting, she stumbled forward blindly until she reached it and pushed it onto the ground.  She lowered herself so that the length of the handle rest firmly between her thighs and buttocks, the head of the ax behind her. 

Gingerly she felt at the blade with her fingers and splayed her hands as far as she could manage, grinding the rope against its sharpened edge.  Puffing furiously, she let out a cry of relief when she felt the rope give.  Her arms hung lifelessly at her sides.  She
shook her torso, her arms swinging limply until they burst with blood.

Close by a branch rustled in the brush.  Alexis snapped her head in its direction.  She felt as though she were on a theater stage in a packed auditorium trying to remain unseen.  She cleared her throat, grabbed the ax and pulled it from under her.  Bleeding sweat, she ground the blade at the ropes on her ankles until they fell open.  Her blood pumped maniacally through her veins and she fought the urge to bolt into the web of trees and tall grass.  She knew if the timing wasn’t right, she’d kill any chance she had of surviving.

A bundle of twigs snapped.  Then another.  Alexis’ throat closed, her eyes wide like a doe in the sight of a rifle.  She gathered the rope, shot to the window and sailed over the ledge onto the table.  It trembled and groaned under her. 
God please
, Alexis begged as she fell clumsily onto the ground.  She could hear two voices taking shape as they neared.  Furiously she tied the rope around her ankles, and then her wrists behind her back.  She buried herself in the putrid bed clothes and faced the wall.  She closed her eyes. 

The men stood outside the door.  “Jesus.  Eat something and take a rest, then.”  It was Solomon.  “We’ll have to go back in an hour to see the men are ready.  You get the ammunition ready, and I’ll saddle up the horses.”  The door jerked as they untied the rope.  Alexis’ pulse exploded in her neck.   “Now let’s
see how our guest is doing.” 

***

The purple haze of dusk filled the clearing.  Every blade of grass seemed frozen in place, and the scene eerily resembled a photograph.  He had slowly tracked the path of two horses riding north from the village the moment the sun had lit up the sky.  Everything added up.  The testimonials of the villagers that Lewis and Alexis had left just days before, that they had intended to gather supplies up north before heading west again.  They had wanted to know more.  Mulmulum had stared gravely at the hut floor as Trevor tried to explain there wasn’t time. 

Now he crouched in this clearing and he knew in his bones that the pair had crossed it.  Why did he feel such foreboding in this place?  Binda snickered and huffed at his neck and he reached his hand
back to caress her ear.  The grass was still bent ahead, and Trevor followed its trail.  Suddenly the fluid path broke and fired into frenzied disarray. 
Something happened to frighten the horses. 
Trevor pulled at Binda’s reins and she followed him silently to the edge of the clearing where he could tether her in the cloak of the forest. 

He returned to the spot, and squatting low, followed a thinner path of human footprints.  The light was fading quickly and panic flushed through his body. 
Keep it together,
he told himself.  The first trees of the forest line offered no evidence.  He squeezed his eyes, imagining what they would have done in a threatening situation.  Trevor spotted a cluster of trees and sprung forward.  His heart fell.

Between the trees and under the foliage he saw a pair of familiar boots.  Trevor winced and a splintered cry escaped from his mou
th.  It was Lewis.  His body was twisted, his hands grasping the frayed edges of a mortal wound.  His shirt was soaked and caked with dark blood.  Trevor knew he was gone, but he couldn’t help but lean over his friend and press an ear to his chest.  No pulse.  “Oh, Lewis,” Trevor’s voice trembled.  He rested his hand against his heart.  “I’m sorry to leave you now, brother.”  Trevor stood slowly and wiped his eyes.  “I’ll come back for you.”

Trevor raced to
Binda.  Whatever had happened, it was by the hand of men, and it had happened two days before.  Trevor shuffled through the countless possibilities of Alexis’ fate.  There was no sign of struggle other than the dark fate met by his best friend.  He prayed that the sight of a beautiful young woman had intrigued her captors enough to keep her alive. 

***

It had been just an hour since the men returned, but to Alexis the hour had stretched like an infinite band of elastic that seemed to span a lifetime.  They hadn’t bothered to rouse her, or to inspect the sloppy evidence of her plan.  The shutter had remained wide open, and she could feel the blood on her fresh wounds begin to congeal.  She was laden with guilt that their minds were occupied with mass murder rather than to toy with their prisoner. 

The shack was still once more and Alexis opened her eyes.  It was pitch black. 
No matter,
she thought as she unwound the rope from her wrists and ankles.  She stood on unsteady feet, and felt along the wall.  She pushed at the door, but it was tethered from the outside.  She climbed the table and swung her legs over, pushing herself from the ledge.  A lone bird cried from the treetops. 

The moon was high and bright, but the canopy of trees was so thick she could barely keep a steady pace. 
Alexis closed her eyes and whispered a silent prayer that her memory of shifting light in the shack as the sun had crossed the sky would prove to be a faithful compass.  She circled the shack.  On the other side, she saw a path cut directly south into the forest.  It was the only hope she had.  To return to the village.  She knew she may well be walking along the warpath, that it could take days to reach safety if she was lucky enough to escape unnoticed.  Suddenly she felt the rough earth and dried twigs beneath her bare feet.  It would be impossible to move quickly.  Alexis shook her head and almost laughed out loud.  To be faced with nothing but impossibilities. 

Alexis stepped onto the path and crept along until her eyes adjusted to the darkness.  Plants and trees began to reveal their forms.  Alexis looked down at her pants which gaped open from the innumerable tussles and scrapes.  She ripped them clear at the knee and wrapped her feet, tying a knot over the bridges.  She smiled as she tried out her new footwear.  She could stay off the path now.
 

She inched along the jungle floor, feeling her way cautiously and desperate to avoid making a whisper of sound.  “I can’t believe you forgot your goddamn pistol, Duval.  We leave now, you got that?”  Alexis saw a lantern bob, and the light glowed ghostly on the two men behind it.  They were climbing the path to the shack.  Alexis fell to the ground.  They would be no more than a few feet from
her once they passed.  She held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut in a soulful prayer. 

“I’m sorry, boss.  You didn’t have to come with me, though.”

“
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, boss.
” Solomon mimicked, his voice high and insane.  “Of course, I had to come with you, you useless sack of shit.  I have to do everything.  It’s like working with children.” 

“Just
sayin’...”

“Jesus, shut up, will you?” Solomon returned.

In an instant, they were gone.  Alexis sucked at the air.  It was now or never.  In just two minutes they would know she had escaped.  Alexis leapt onto the path and bolted blindly into the dark.  Behind her she heard the shack door splinter against the hut and the thunderous boom of Solomon’s voice sweep over the hill. 

This was it.  The hunt.  Alexis felt all of her insides thrust upward and compress into her throat until she could barely brea
the. 
Think,
Alexis
, her brain screamed. 
Think.
  With all her focus she managed to inhale deeply and stay the adrenaline pumping chaos through her mind. 
If I move too quickly, I’ll make noise.  And they don’t know how far I’ve gotten. 
Alexis gulped.  She let her arms stretch out like nets, feeling tentatively for bushes.  Her feet moved without leaving the earth’s surface. 

“I see tracks this way, Boss!” shouted Duval.  Alexis snapped her head b
ack.  A hundred yards up on the hill she could see a lantern glow between trunks and leaves. 

Steady now,
Alexis told herself, fighting the instinct to bolt forward in a blind craze.  She evened her breathing and felt the solid body of a tree with quaking hands.  She maneuvered herself behind it and peeked around into the black.  Now there were two lanterns, and they had grown in size.  They were onto her, and unlike her, they were not afraid of making noise.  They had closed the distance at three times her pace. 
Oh God,
she whimpered inside. 
Think
, she commanded herself. 

If I make the slightest sound, they will
pounce, and that will be the end. 
Alexis swallowed.  Her throat felt stuffed of chalk.  She knew she had to hide.  Even then, her chances were nil if they managed to follow her tracks.  She had to try.  She patted the tree for knobs and branches.  She curled her arms around a limb and lifted herself, praying that the rustle of leaves would not betray her.