Brought to Light

I pulled Linden across the road, trotted up a small hill, and then put on a burst of speed, sliding down toward a creek lined by tall trees whose leaves flashed dull gold. The leaves rustled, too, a low susurrus that sounded like a chorus of whispering voices.

They didn’t sound friendly. Fuck. Whatever was wrong with me was apparently still in full effect.

I skidded to a stop on the muddy bank of the creek and flung Linden up against one of the trees, taking a couple of quick steps back as he sprawled against the trunk. It was gloomy as hell under the trees, what with the lack of sunlight to begin with. His pale face looked ashen gray, and his lips were white.

“Don’t fucking move.”

I pulled the gun and thumbed off the safety, slipping my finger around the trigger, pointing it right at his midsection. Linden nodded jerkily, his fingers curling against the tree behind him.

Warning Jesse had to be next now that I had a hand free, because in a situation like this, minutes were the difference between life and death. He had a plan for this, I knew that; I just didn’t know exactly what that plan was, a safety precaution to make sure I couldn’t be tortured or drugged into betraying him. I pulled my phone out of my pocket with my left hand, opened a new message and — hesitated. Was this worth throwing away everything we’d built up, worth forcing Jesse to abandon his life completely?

Yeah, yeah it was. The presence of another hitman on the scene meant we were truly fucked. The client didn’t trust us, and wanted to tie up loose ends. We were dead men if we didn’t run, even if I finished the job — and we might be dead men anyway if we did run.

Forgot to check the oven, I typed quickly. Make sure it’s off.

Next I’d need to tear the phone apart and make sure it couldn’t be traced, but…what the fuck was that sound? The whispering had risen in both volume and intensity, and the leaves…the leaves were shaking. There wasn’t any wind. And the leaves writhed like snakes over our heads.

“What the fuck?”

I looked at Linden. He didn’t seem surprised. And his mouth was moving, silently, but somehow I knew his lips were tracing the same sounds the trees were making. I opened my own mouth to say something else, to demand answers — answers to what, though? What the fuck was the question, even? — when the sound built to a shout, a shout made entirely of hissing and rustling and the roar of wind through branches, even though there was no wind.

The tree behind Linden shivered and shuddered, and its trunk grew and faded all at once, graying out into an expanding mist.

Linden slid backward, falling into it, being absorbed within it.

The phone fell from my hand, and I lunged, seizing a handful of Linden’s t-shirt and holding on with all my strength as he pulled away from me. The t-shirt tore, and I dived after him, wrapping my arm around his waist and falling with him, the mist swallowing us both.