Copperback (3 page)

I
had never seen the mark before either, except on posters or the news. It was
the shape of an eye, but in one continuous line. It started around as an almond
shape and flowed into the pupil. All slaves had the marks burned into both
hands to let us know that they were not to be trusted. They had hurt so many
when they came, and never tried to fit in. They were no better than any animal.

He
turned and walked toward us. Derrick was right behind him, keeping at his heels,
waiting for him to make one wrong move.

“You
had better not drop any of those,” Derrick said as he shoved him hard in the
back. I could see the Sayner lurch forward, but he managed to maintain his
balance and walked up to Chase, carefully handing him the box. He was so close
that I could feel the fear building in me, but I tried not to move. I was still
curious about him, but the thought of him being this close scared me.

As
he turned back to get the next box, he looked up at me, making eye contact. For
a brief moment, his dark brown eyes with their golden glimmer showed not anger,
but humility. Even though I could see it, I was still caught up in my own
fright, and jumped back away from him, nearly falling over my own feet. The
only thing keeping me upright was my grip on the doorframe. The hinges strained
as I held on tight, using it to support my weight. He immediately looked back
down at the ground, like he had just done something terrible, and walked back
to the truck.

Apparently
Chase thought the encounter was funny, and couldn’t help but to make jokes
while still holding onto the crate. “Aww, I think he likes you. Maybe I can ask
him for his phone number for you.”

I
think I had made some disgusted face, because I saw Derrick, not at all humored
by this, yell for the Sayner to get back into the truck. He did as he was told
without question, and sat back in the same spot he had arrived in. Once he was
seated, Derrick came back over to me.

“Are
you ok? Did he scare you?” He was obviously overly concerned about it, but I
just brushed it off like it had never happened.

“I’m
fine. Just a little startled. No harm done.” I faked a smile, but my heart was
still pounding so hard in my chest, I was surprised no one else could hear it
but me.

“I
want to make sure he doesn’t ever hurt you. I can protect you – if you want me
to, that is.” He was standing a bit close for comfort. He apparently had not
been told about personal space.

“Thank
you. I appreciate that.” I glanced back at the truck, still shaken. The Sayner
was still as ever, and probably had no idea what he even did.

 Derrick’s
words were kind. I knew he had been interested in me for a while by the flirting
he usually attempted every chance he had, but this was the first time he had
actually made mention of it. I already knew my answer. He was a good looking
guy, and did well for himself, but if I ever planned to escape, it was not
going to be with him. He was forever chained to the small-town life, and that
wasn’t something I was willing to commit to until I had seen all my options.

As
Chase finished moving the last of the crates, he announced, “I’m not going to
make it for dinner tonight, Emily. I have some plans to go out right after work
and hit the bar. You’re not going to be too upset, will you?”

Having
Chase go out was just fine for me, since I wouldn’t have to play chef to him.
It gave me a chance to catch up on reading, and not have to worry about
entertaining guests. The thought of my cozy couch was already waving off the
pang of fear still in my head and filling it with more peaceful thoughts.

“You
have a great time. Stay out of trouble this time.”

“Sure
thing, sis,” he said, heading back out to the truck to finish the load that the
Sayner wasn’t going to carry. Derrick still had not made a move to help,
leaving Chase on his own. Instead, he stayed close to me, working up the
courage to ask me something.

“Would
you mind if I stopped over sometime next week? Maybe we can go to a movie, or
dinner?”

I
could tell he was a little embarrassed to ask, by the way he stared at his feet
while talking, kicking at the gravel with his boot. It had been a long time
since I had been on a date with anyone. I didn’t have the heart to tell him no
outright, knowing if I said it, he might take it out on Chase the rest of the
day. I would never hear the end of it.

“I’ll
have to see what my schedule is like, but sure,” I lied.

The
excuse was going to be easy; all I would have to do was tell him I was busy
that night, and every night till he stopped asking. Eventually he would get my
drift and move on.

He
smiled back at me, elated I hadn’t turned him down. In his excitement, he
nearly skipped back to the truck. I saw them pull away back down the small road,
spraying gravel behind the row of houses. It had turned out to be an
interesting day. As intrigued as I was about meeting my first Sayner, I was
pretty sure I never wanted to meet another one again. Even though I came away
unscathed, I worried what would happen if I ever met one without Chase or
Derrick around. That look was still haunting me, and I needed a bath to wash it
away. I was already looking forward to the quiet night alone.

I
could feel the tension melt away in the tub. Marinating in the hot water, I tried
to forget about everything that had happened during the day; the sickeningly
sweet couple, Derrick asking me out
–
but
most of all, the Sayner. I had never been so petrified. The look on his face
when he stared at me was a lasting memory.

I
was relieved that it was over and I didn’t have to deal with it for the rest of
the night. Tonight was my time. I could fall asleep in the tub if I wanted, immersed
in the bubbles. With my eyes closed, I was so close to it, anyways.

I
could hear the faint sound of “MMMBop” playing in the background. It took a
moment to pull myself away from the edges of sleep, to figure out it wasn’t
just in my head that I was hearing Hanson. It was my phone ringing, and Chase
was calling. I couldn’t have chosen a more annoying song to remind me how I
wanted to pull my hair out sometimes when I talked to him. He managed to pick
the most inopportune time to disturb me, while I was steeping in the heat. He
probably wanted to take another jab at my response to the Sayner earlier today.
It really was the last thing I wanted to talk with him about. I was trying to
relax, and there was no way I was going to be interrupted.

The
phone fell silent after it ran through the chorus a couple of times. The
voicemail could pick it up, and I’d deal with him tomorrow. I didn’t feel like
rehashing the day’s events with him. I closed my eyes again, breathing in the
steam from the lavender-scented water, trying to go back to my peaceful state.
The chorus picked up again on the phone, blaring the voices of three little
boys who hadn’t even hit puberty yet. I think one of them was still in diapers
when they wrote the song. I knew that if Chase was going to insist on calling
me over and over, I was going to have to answer – or at least get out and turn
off the phone, preventing him from continuing his banter. My moment was ruined,
and the phone was on its third cycle through. If I was getting out, I was going
to make sure he knew how livid I was.

Quickly,
I threw on a towel, trying to keep from slopping water all over the floor. The
chill from the central air running on high throughout the house raised goosebumps
on my skin. I wasn’t concerned about a nosey neighbor peeking in a window,
considering I hadn’t opened them in years Most of the blinds were weather-worn
from the sunlight, and I suspected they would fall apart if I made an attempt
to open them now. I felt the water run down my legs as I made a dash across the
worn carpet. I managed to grab the small phone with one wet hand on the fourth
time through. I was going to have to change the ringtone after hearing it that
many times.

I
could hear Chase breathing heavily on the other line. I had heard this sound
before when he had been in trouble, or had done something he was about to ask
me to get him out of. I knew I was going to have to give up my night of
solitude and tend to his mistake. Worst case, it would be getting him out of
jail from a bar fight he managed to get involved in again.

“Emily!
Oh, thank God you’re there! Oh my God, I don’t know what to do.” There was no
hiding the panic in his voice.

“What
did you do, Chase?” I was blasé in tone in comparison. I’d done this dance too
many times.

“There
is so much – Oh my God, it’s bad. I was drinking and he – and I – I’m so
scared. You have to help me,” he said, his voice in hysterics.

“You
need to slow down. I can’t understand you. Did you get into a fight? Were you arrested?”

I
was waiting to find out which station I would need to pick him up from. From
past experience, I knew that getting worked up over these things was pointless.
Chase usually panicked enough for the both of us.

“No.
No police. Please don’t call the police. I can’t go to jail. I can’t. My job.
Oh God! I didn’t see him. It was an accident.”

“If
it was an accident, you need to call the police; they can–”

 “I
hit the Sayner with my truck! He’s in really bad shape. I think he’s alive, but
he won’t wake up. I can’t tell Derrick. I’ll lose my job. I can’t call the
police, or they’ll arrest me for drinking and driving.”

I
felt my jaw drop open in shock. Chase had gone beyond the usual brawl, and had
dived into deeper waters than even I could tread. I had just spent the last
hours trying to forget about my encounter with the Sayner, and now I was being
pulled into a possible whirlwind of trouble over him. I had to think quickly
and make sure Chase took care of this on his own. I wanted no part.

“What
am I supposed to do? I’m not a doctor. If it’s that bad, you need to take him
to a hospital. They can fix him up. I’m sure he won’t even tell them who you
are.”

Before
he could even say it, I knew that he was going to try to bring him here. Chase had
always brought home wounded animals when we were kids, asking mom and me to fix
them up. Sometimes it would be a bird with a broken wing, or a squirrel with
part of its tail missing. On occasion, the house felt like a zoo, keeping so
many wild animals in cages. Sometimes they made it, and we could set them free;
other times, we had to explain to him they were just too far gone. He had never
done well when we lost one, but it never stopped him from trying again and
again. This was just another injured animal he wanted me to clean up and send
on its way.

“They
are not going to help him, and you know that,” he said. “All the hospitals
around here are run by the Vesper. He has a better chance being left in the
parking lot than there. I’m almost to the house, anyways. Please, just come out
and tell me if you can do anything.”

I
wanted to tell him to just leave him in the parking lot. Maybe some poor sap
other than Chase would find him and do whatever needed to be done. There was a
pleading in his voice, though, that I always had a hard time of turning down. The
last thing I wanted was to keep telling him no. The second to last thing I wanted
was a disgusting Copperback in my house. I knew that if he was almost here,
there was no way to get him to take him somewhere else. If Chase had been
drinking that much, it was a good idea for him to bring the Sayner here, anyway.
It was better than him driving all around town at this time of night and getting
pulled over –or worse. The cops could overlook a bit of alcohol, but they would
never overlook a body in the bed of the truck, even if it was a Sayner. I could
at least see how badly he was hurt. It was probably just a few scrapes, or a
bump on his head that had knocked him out. Chase had a knack for over-exaggerating.
I could clean him up and deposit him back on the Carter property before they
even knew he was gone.

I
gave in. “Okay. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Thoughts
of how this would play out ran through my head while I was dressing. Although
earlier the Sayner had not shown that he would threaten me, I still had no
trust for him. There were enough horror stories surrounding Sayners that went
on killing sprees. People had been attacked when they least expected it because
they thought they could trust them. Chase was putting too much faith in thinking
that this was a good idea.

I
was willing to look, but there was no way he was to stay here past the length
of time required. I didn’t want to end up on the 10 o’clock news as another
murder victim.

By
the time Chase got to the driveway, I had managed to at least track down shorts
and a T-shirt, throwing together anything I could find at the last minute. As
he started backing up, I noticed that, for his inebriated state, he was
actually driving fairly well. He managed to narrowly miss the shrubs dividing
our driveway from our neighbors – a task he had issues with even sober. He also
was able to get the truck relatively close to my porch, although at one point,
I had to throw my hands up to stop him from turning my Cavalier into a heap of
metal under his pickup.

The
humidity clung to my skin and started to make me sweat all over again. My hair
was still soaked, but I didn’t have time to do anything with it except pull it
out of the way into a ponytail. It was going to be a tangled mess in the
morning. I hadn’t even turned on the porch light. There was no reason we had to
alert the neighbors to our late night errand. It would be hard to explain to
them what we were doing.

The
Sayner was difficult to see, but there was enough light coming from the kitchen
to catch a glimpse of the blanket-covered body in the back of the truck when Chase
pulled the tail down. Maybe this creature had already died, and all this was
for nothing. Chase hopped up into the back to pull back the blanket, checking
for any sign of life.

“Is
he breathing?” I asked. I crossed my arms, hoping Chase could see my disapproval.

“I
think so, but he doesn’t sound good. I think we can roll him over and use the
blanket to carry him in. I need your help. He’s a lot heavier than he looks.”
He had already started to lay the blanket out to use as a stretcher.

“Wait.
Where exactly do you think you are going to put him? There is no way I want his
blood on anything.”

“He
can go down in the basement. We can pull out the sleeper and put him there for
now. You were going to toss it anyways.”

Actually,
he was supposed to toss it. He had complained that I took up too much space in
the living room with my “girly” things, and needed some privacy. I had always thought
that was what his bedroom was for. The basement was full of junk that had been
collecting over the years, but he managed to clear enough to make a small room for
himself at the foot of the steps, complete with a sofa and TV. He had even gone
to the trouble of erecting bare drywall – to partition it off from the damp
laundry room, with its stacks of dusty boxes  – and hanging a dim light from
the ceiling. It had been a work in progress that he never finished, another
project I had to clean up after.

Since
he had moved out, the sleeper sofa was too heavy for me to move out to the
curb, and he promised to get it out one day. It actually came in handy a few
times, when he decided to crash over for the night, seeing as he took all his
belongings to his apartment, including the bed. I never bothered to bug him
about it. I figured I would one day, when I had decided to clean everything out
down there. However, I wasn’t ready to sift through those memories boxed up in
the dark just yet.

I
hadn’t moved any closer to the truck to help him. I could feel my heart beating
hard in my chest, just like earlier that day. Even though the Sayner wasn’t
moving, I was still scared that he would jump up and attack the both of us in
the moonless night. Chase could see I wasn’t going to help unless he gave me
some kind of reassurance that it was safe.

“He’s
passed out cold. If it makes you feel better, you can take his legs, and I’ll
stay up by his head, in case he wakes up.”

Chase’s
words weren’t the most comforting, but this was going to take longer if I just
kept standing there. I pulled myself up into the back with them. The shadows
covered most of the body, and I could only make out the silhouette. The two of
us were able to flip him over onto the outstretched blanket and pull up the
corners around him. Sliding him out of the back was the easy part, but Chase wasn’t
joking about how heavy he was. We nearly dropped him out the back end on his
head, a sure way to kill him. I considered letting it happen for a moment.

We
dragged him across the concrete just to get him to the door. The already worn blanket
tore along the bottom where it was scraping. The smell was nauseating, to say
the least. I wasn’t sure if it was the blanket or the body that was putting out
the odor. The blanket in his truck had been used for who knows what, and I was
trying to banish the thought of what it may have come in contact with since it
had last been cleaned.

I
was surprised that Chase was even able to get him into the truck by himself. I
could feel the sweat pouring down the sides of my face just from the weight.
The heat of the night made it worse. Crossing the threshold, he slid well
across the linoleum the few feet to the basement stairs. It was a bit tricky
walking backwards down the staircase, holding my end of the bundle, but it was
better than hitting his head on every other step if Chase were to have done it.
Besides, there was no way I was taking his end.

Dumping
him on the floor, I waited for Chase to pull out the bed, but was still too
scared to pull back the tattered blanket. My imagination was running wild over
what would happen if I did. It was best to leave that to Chase, once we got the
body up.

On
the count of three, we hoisted him up onto the bare sheets. The comforter and
pillows had been stripped, and more than likely were residing at the apartment
Chase occupied now.

The
Sayner was too long for the bed, and his mud-encased boots hung off the end.
There was a fire burning at my back and arms and legs from all the heavy
lifting. I was sure Chase didn’t find it nearly as difficult, considering he
lifted things this heavy almost every day. During the entire process, we were
both quiet and focused on the task at hand. I had to break the silence, or I
was going to worry myself to death. I was in no hurry to see what horrors lay
beneath the blanket.