Virgo's Vice (25 page)

Chapter 48

I stop and drop to the ground to rest and take my bearings. I drain the last of my water. I can’t believe I went round in a circle. I wasted all that time and so far I’ve seen nothing, no indication of human life anywhere. The grass has become shorter and scrubbier, and the landscape more bleak. I’m going down into a plain. At least I can see the tall trees that follow the creek now. I’m so tired, but I have to go on. I have no energy and I’m sweating and hot. And hungry.

Hunger is a burning, gnawing thing that I will never get used to, and I know the only chance I have of surviving is to find a village or town, and they, whoever they are, will have food.

The thought spurs me on. I pat Jake and struggle to my knees and haul myself back onto my feet. “You’re out of Kibbles, too, boy. I know we’ll find someone, though, so don’t worry.”

Jake lets out a low growl and the hair on his back stands on end.

“What is it?” I glance nervously around me. I don’t see anything. I stand very still and listen. All I hear is birds singing, and crickets in the grass.

I stroke Jake, and start walking again. “It’s okay, boy. We’ll be okay.” I don’t know what’s bothering him, but I have to keep going. Have to put one foot in front of the other. I never ever thought it could be so hard.

“Wait up, Lex.”

Oh, my God. No
. I swing around. Trip has a disgusting smirk on his face. “What are you doing here? Don’t they need you in camp?” I can’t believe he’s caught up with me so soon. I thought I was walking fast. If only I hadn’t gone in that circle. If only I had used the compass.

“I’m not gonna be nursemaid to those losers. You and I are heading out. As soon as we get to civilization, we’re out of here.”

My heart is pounding. It can’t be my nightmare again. It can’t happen again.

“What are you talking about? I wouldn’t go away with you if you were the last person on earth.” Billy told me to stand up against him and he was right. I have to.

Trip smiles again. “Come on, Lex. You know it was good then and it’ll be better now. You and me are meant for one another. You’re my girl, the only one for me. I know you better than anyone else in this entire world. I know every nook and cranny of your body. You know I’m right.” He reaches out to touch my shoulder.

I slap him hard across his face. The impact stings my hand and Trip’s face goes red. Jake growls and snarls and pushes his way between us.

“You’d better get that mutt under control or I’ll kill him.” Trip holds up the knife, Sam’s knife. “I mean it.”

“Jake, it’s okay, boy.” I drag him back by his collar. “Hurt this dog, and I’ll kill you. I should have killed you years ago like I wanted to. You disgust me and I will never go anywhere with you.”

Trip breaks into a chuckle. That turns into a laugh. A laugh that chills me to the bone.

Riaan couldn’t be sure he was seeing people moving down below. He thought he had spotted something bright reflecting for a short few moments. Something metallic, maybe. When he made a second pass, it wasn’t there. There was something like a pink ribbon in the trees though. Hendrik had mentioned that he had seen that when he flew over. This had to be their camp.

He flew over to the air field he had prepared what seemed like a lifetime ago. He made one pass over it. The bush hadn’t overgrown it yet. There was no telling from the air if anything had dug holes in it, though. He had to hope they hadn’t.

He set the airplane down with his heart in his mouth. It bounced a little, and then settled. The ground was a little bumpy but he was down and he hadn’t hit a hole. He taxied to a halt, slid out of the door, and scanned the sky.

The storm was following him and the freshening wind worried him.

He hammered in some stakes and secured the plane before he headed up the hill towards the place where he had seen the ribbon in the trees and, possibly, movement.

Billy cursed his bad luck over and over. He was so worried about Lexie, and his progress seemed to be so slow. If his knee was good he would be running, and he was fit. He could run a long way without getting tired. Now all he could manage was this half jog. Every step he took jarred his knee, and the makeshift crutch was beginning to chafe his underarm, but he would not let it slow him down.

Images of Lexie filled his mind. What would that asshole, Trip do if he caught up with her? Billy had no doubts in his mind that that was what Trip intended. He had seen the way Trip leered at Lexie. Add what Lexie had told him. Billy saw red every time he thought about it. He should have killed Trip. Maybe he would have if things had been different and they hadn’t been caught up in that rockslide.

Yeah. He should have snuck up on him at night when he was sleeping and cut his throat, just like Eve, and Andy and Kelli. An asshole like that should be made to suffer, though. One quick knife cut wasn’t near enough for him. He deserved to have his balls cut out.

Billy knew he needed water. He maneuvered his way down the bank. He couldn’t bend his knee, and the only way he could get to the water was to lie on the ground beside the stream. He slurped greedily at the running water, knowing he couldn’t stop for another drink. It would take up too much time. He was already wasting too much of it now.

He scrambled painfully up the bank and studied the sky. The swirling clouds were getting darker. Standing still like this he could hear the distant thunder. At least rain would cool things down.

A few drops of rain splashed onto his face as he continued on his hobbling half-run. He had to get to her before it was too late. Before Trip took Lexie and disappeared.

Chapter 49

I can’t let Trip stop me from my mission. I have to find someone to go back and help Billy and the others. Jared could die if I don’t get help. And now with Trip gone, how will they manage? My legs, my whole body is shaking, not from fear but from anger. Trip actually believes I want to be with him. What do I have to do to convince him, to make him understand how much I loathe him?

“Why do you think I would want to be with you? You’re a monster. I hate you for what you did to me.”

“You don’t mean that, Lexie. That’s a hateful thing to say. I’m not a monster. I love you. Can’t you see how much I love you? I can’t live without you. I want to be with you forever. You don’t know how hard it’s been for me not to see you, and not to touch you.”

Bile rises in my throat. I grab Jake’s collar, turn my back on Trip, and start walking again. I can’t stop him from following me.
Got to keep moving. I’ll figure out a way to prevent him from forcing me to go with him when we reach civilization. I won’t let him take me. I won’t. I would rather kill him.

“You don’t understand. You took away my childhood. I had no childhood.” I keep facing forward as I speak.

“Of course you had a childhood, Lexie. I took real good care of you. I bought you ice creams and candies and took you to the movies and to Disney World.” He’s following close behind me.

I snort. What planet does he come from? “That’s not what I mean. You only did that for sex. That’s all you wanted from me and you still want it. I hope you’re proud of yourself for raping a helpless little girl and making her your sex slave all those years.”

He grabs my arm and I shake it off violently and glare at him through narrowed eyes, daring him to touch me again. Jake snaps at him with bared teeth and I have to hold onto him tightly because I’m afraid Trip will kill him. He doesn’t care about animals. He doesn’t care about anyone or anything except himself and his own sick sexual needs.

I push forward again. “We have to get help for the others.”

“For that dumb cowboy. That’s who you want to help, isn’t it, Lexie?”

I keep a restraining hand on Jake’s collar. I glance back. Trip has a deranged glint in his eyes. “We need to get back to civilization where you can get your senses back. This place has made you crazy.”

I turn to walk again. I have to think. I have to find a way to lose him. There must be something I can do.

Without warning, he grabs me from behind, turns me around, and drags me into him.

Jake snarls and leaps at him.

“No, Jake!” I yell. “Stay.”

Trip is trying to force his lips onto mine. I struggle but he is so much stronger than me. He always has been. I see the naked lust in his eyes and that’s when I realize that my nightmare has never really ended.

Was I dumb enough to believe I was free of him?

Jake is growling and barking and snapping his teeth.

“I warned you to get that mutt away from me,” Trip hisses into my face.

“Jake, go get help. Go, Jake.” I don’t know if he’ll understand but I can only hope he’ll move away. I can’t let Trip kill him.

Trip keeps me in a vise-like grip and stares into my face. I know the look in his eyes. I know he’s going to rape me, just like he used to do. I struggle and yank at my arms and pummel him with my free hand and fight him as fiercely as I can. He’s so much stronger than me.

“Get down on the ground,” he says through gritted teeth as he’s pushing me down.

“Never. You’ll have to kill me first.”

Riaan trudged up the hill toward where he thought they might have made their camp. The thunder was getting louder and closer. Hendrik was right. He shouldn’t have flown in this weather. He should be heading back.

He crested the rise and squinted. Yes. There. He hurried toward the brightly colored ribbon flapping in the breeze. As he drew closer he saw a person moving about.

“Hello,” he shouted.

The woman had wild hair and a skeletal body. She whipped around and stared at him. What was that on her face? Blood stains? She couldn’t be one of the people who jumped out of his airplane how long ago? It was only seven days. Only seven days.

Logic told him it had to be one of them. “My name is Riaan. I’m a pilot. You probably saw my aircraft fly over. I’m searching for a group of people I left out here.” Was that woman carrying an axe? Riaan stopped. He jumped when another person, the tall black man he recognized stepped from a makeshift shelter. He was carrying a log in his hand and holding it up like a weapon.

Riaan backed away and put his hand on his holster, glad he had his gun. He always wore it in case he came across a puff adder or other poisonous snake. “Is everything okay?” Had these people gone
Lord of the Flies
or what?

The black man started to speak, but at the same time the woman charged him, the axe held high. She emitted a high-pitched scream.

Riaan’s blood ran cold. He yanked the gun out of its holster and fired a shot into the air. The woman whipped around to face him. He was shaking all over. Was this the monster the locals ran away from? Some crazy woman? And what about the black guy. Was he also nuts?

“Hold it,” he said. “I don’t want to shoot you, so you stop right there and put the axe down.”

“She’s flipped her lid,” the black guy quietly said in a deep voice.

“I think you should put down that axe,” Riaan said. “Then we can talk.” He noticed two more people peering out of the shelter.

“Miss, please give me the axe.” He held out his hand.

She stared at him almost like she was looking right through him. Nobody spoke. The shrill screaming of the cicadas and the distant boom of thunder faded into the background. Riaan’s mind worked overtime trying to figure out what to do. He had never shot a person and he wasn’t about to start now. Maybe he should fire a shot in the air again. No, that might trigger something in her and she could hurt someone—or herself.

The standoff seemed to last for an age.

Finally, the slumped to the ground and started to cry.

“I was only playing,” she blubbered. “Everyone thought I was serious, but it’s a game. It’s all a game. That’s why we came here.”

Riaan lowered his gun and was about to relax, when she lifted the axe high and threw it at him. He jumped away from it, and watched it fly past his leg.

“Jesus! That was close.” He was breathing hard and his heart was beating wildly when he bent to pick it up. He kept his eyes on the woman, wondering if she was going to make any other moves.

Through the corner of his eye he saw the tall black man and another ease their way out of the shelter. The black man had his right arm bandaged. The dark-skinned guy was limping. A woman came up behind them. She had blood on her face and her arm was bound with clothing. They were covered in blood. What the fuck had gone on here?

“Are you the people who jumped out of my airplane a week ago?” He put his revolver back into the holster, but he kept his hand on the grip. And he kept his gaze on the crazy woman, who was sitting on the ground muttering, “It’s a game. Only a game.”

He wasn’t one hundred percent sure if the black guy was friendly or not. A tall blond woman slipped out of the shelter with her arm in a makeshift splint.

“We are the same people.” She had some sort of accent. He remembered her. She had been attractive when he met her last, but now she was pale and haggard.

“Old Man Dockery never came back, and he didn’t leave us a sat phone as he had promised. We were caught at the receiving end of a rockslide.” The black guy pointed to the tall kopje a few miles east of them. “There’s one dude in the shelter whose feet are getting gangrene. He needs a hospital right now. We also lost four people. They were murdered.”

A bright flash of lightning and a loud crack of thunder heralded the rain, which came on fast, and within a few seconds was sheeting down hard. The woman who had been brandishing the axe hauled herself up.

The others retreated into the shelter. “Come on,” the black guy said. “It’s far from waterproof, but it’ll help a little.”