Page 23 of The Cult

With a shake of my head, I answer her before turning to walk toward the door. She’s got a meeting with Micah, and if she’s smart, she’ll play it exactly as I told her to.

12

Lara

I followNash as disappointment fills me. I’m not convinced Rina isn’t here somewhere, but if he hasn’t seen her, maybe I’m wrong. She wouldn’t be someone who’d just swallow all this mumbo jumbo about some light, though. I know my sister. She’d listen because she’s craving something positive in her life, but I just can’t believe she’d buy into the stuff these people preach. She’d ask questions, and in this group, that would make her stand out.

This place is a cult, and Rina Simpson isn’t the type to give up everything just to walk around in a daze and pledge all she is for a few catch phrases that belong on a middle school inspirational poster.

As I walk beside Nash toward the door, I look him up and down and see an attractive man with short, dark hair and brown eyes that have a hint of caring in them. Like Nadine’s men, he’s clean shaven. Big and definitely someone who can handle himself, he reminds me of that bouncer at that club Rina and I go to in Wilmington sometimes who took a shine to her. My sister liked him too, but for some reason, they never ended up going out on a date.

I study him for another moment or two and wonder if Nash believes all of this Golden Light nonsense. I doubt it, but he stays, nevertheless. Why?

Maybe he gets some benefit other than feeling that he can have anything he wants in this world. Whatever that is, he’s clearly someone the leader believes in. This Micah person wouldn’t have sent him to deal with me if he wasn’t.

Nash stops as he sets his hand on the doorknob and turns his head to look at me. “Remember, no questions. Speak only if Micah asks you something directly. If you mess this up, I don’t know what will happen to you, and I’d hate to see you have to deal with Nadine and her men again.”

I want to say he could help me with that, but I keep my mouth shut and simply nod my understanding. Nash isn’t my savior here. He’s merely some guy following orders. I can’t rely on him to help me once we walk out of this building.

Satisfied I know how to act, he throws open the door and we step out into the blinding midday sun. I squint and follow him down the stairs as the heat of the day hits me like a brick wall. Summer in the mid-Atlantic is always a bit humid, but lately it’s been downright suffocating.

“Whew. Any chance this leader of yours has air conditioning in his place?” I ask as we walk toward a small group of women.

He snaps his head around to glare at me. “What did I just tell you? Woman, I swear you’re going to get yourself hurt.”

I lean away from him, a mixture of fear and embarrassment filling me. “I was just making small talk about the heat. I can’t even do that?”

Nash nods his head to a group of women as they pass us and remains silent until they’re far enough away they can’t hear him. Looking down at me, he says, “Do not say this leader of yours. He’s everyone’s leader, including yours. If you don’t get that through your head right now, you’re going to have a very hard time here.”

His words frighten me, as I suppose they’re meant to, so I don’t say anything more until another group of five women pass by. They slowly nod to him, and he does the same again. No words are spoken, but I can’t help but notice this bunch like the last have that vacant look about them.

“Why are all those women wearing those tan dresses that look like feed sacks? And why do they look like zombies?” I whisper as we continue to walk together.

Nash doesn’t respond. Instead, he gives me a dirty look. I guess I can’t ask about the ugly clothes every woman here wears or why they look like someone’s sucked out their brains either.

Frustrated, I ask, “Are there any men here who aren’t like you or those goons who would have done God only knows what to me if you hadn’t shown up?”

He doesn’t answer, and when I begin to ask again, I see why. Another group of women come out from behind a rundown-looking building, and they look even more like zombies than the others. They don’t even notice us as they walk by in the same direction as the last two groups did, making me wonder where everyone is going in this heat. I hope it’s somewhere cool, or there are going to be more people dropping dead.

The memory of Anna makes me stop for a moment, and I take a deep breath in to stop myself from crying. I don’t know why I’m so emotional about what happened to her. I barely knew the woman. We just met for the first time yesterday, for God’s sake. She was barely more than a stranger to me.

Even as I tell myself all of that, I know the real reason why thinking about her dying while I slept just a few feet away from her tears me up. What if that happened to Rina? I’d hope someone would care enough about her as a fellow human being to mourn her passing.

Lost in thought about Anna and the horrible possibility that my sister has met the same fate, I don’t notice Nash has continued walking and left me standing alone in the center of the compound. When I see him storming back toward me, I recoil in fear.

“What are you doing? Is it that you don’t understand simple instructions? I told you not to do anything to be noticed, and not five minutes later here you are standing alone in the middle of the compound? It’s like you want to be punished,” he snaps.

Rage fills his dark eyes, and I see in him what I saw in those four henchmen of Nadine’s. Why the hell is he so worried about what I do? Even as I silently ask myself that question, I can guess the answer. He’ll probably get in trouble if I step out of line. I doubt it’s because he’s concerned for my welfare.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about Anna and got lost in my head for a few seconds there. There’s nobody around to even see me, so I don’t know what the hell you’re so freaked out about. Anyway, I doubt a single one of those women even noticed me. They aren’t exactly looking sharp, if you know what I mean.”

He shakes his head and then moves his eyes to look at all the buildings around us. “There are cameras everywhere, so you’re always seen here. Never forget that. Not just indoors. Outdoors too. Wherever you are on the farm, you can be watched. If you don’t remember that, then this is going to be the last time we talk.”

“Why? Because you don’t want to risk being seen with a troublemaker?” I ask sarcastically, tired of his stressing out just because he wants to save his own hide.

He leans down and gets into my face so I can see the yellow flecks that circle the pupils in his brown eyes. “No. Because you’ll be dead. Now shut your mouth and keep it shut the rest of the way.”

We stand there staring at one another for a long moment before he grimaces and turns on his heel. “Come on. Let’s go.”

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