Page 7 of The Cult

Rushing over, I thankfully find nothing but a single winter coat hanging on a rod. I close the door, shutting me in the darkness, and crouch down to make myself small, silently praying to God no one finds me.

As I listen, I hear the first man continue to angrily complain about someone screwing something up. His words don’t make sense, but I can clearly understand he’s enraged. The second man joins him, but he seems less unhappy and more confused about why the first man is so upset. It’s hard to make out every word because they’re too far away in the dining room, but something bad has happened.

Pressing my ear to the door, I strain to hear their conversation, but then their words come through loud and clear when I assume the two of them stop right outside where I’m hiding. Suddenly, the man’s anger becomes all too real, and I shake, terrified he’s going to find me.

“I swear I’m going to lose my cool one of these days,” the angry man grumbles.

The other man chuckles. “You have to learn to calm down, man. Remember the golden light?”

A sound like a growl fills my ears, followed by the first man’s response. “Somebody better tell Maren about the golden light. Her screw up is going to fuck us all, you know.”

“All we have to do is get her and the girl and bring them back to the farm. Let’s not make it harder than it has to be.”

“It wouldn’t be hard if Maren hadn’t fucking gotten rough with her. You should have heard how she sounded on the phone. I’m not sure what the hell we’re going to find when we get up there.”

The heavy sound of footsteps going up the stairs makes hearing any more of their conversation impossible. I don’t know what they were talking about, but it doesn’t sound good. It certainly doesn’t sound positive.

No cute cat posters in this place.

I need to get the hell away from here and figure out what to do next to find Rina, so I wait until the footsteps are only on the second floor and then bolt out of the closet. Adrenaline courses through me as I tear through the house and out the kitchen door. I’ve never run so fast in my life, and a few seconds later I reach my car.

Still terrified someone may have seen me, I get into my car and throw it into reverse to back out of the parking spot. A man appears in one of the upstairs windows, and even yards away, I see the rage in his eyes. God help the woman who has to deal with him up in that room. I wish I could help, but all I can do is drive to the police station and tell them what I heard.

I slam my foot onto the gas pedal and speed down the access road, leaving a cloud of dirt and dust behind me. By the time I get to the main road, my heart is beating so fast I think I might vomit. I don’t know what I just heard, but I think someone is hurt and may be in danger from at least one of those men.

Glancing at my watch, I see it’s just before two. Good. I’ll include that in what I tell the police. I’ll tell them that farmhouse is connected to The Golden Light, whatever the hell that is.

Self-improvement and positivity my ass. Something very bad is going on at that house and with these golden light people.

4

Nash

As Adam focuseshis anger on Maren for being stupid enough to bring a new recruit here because she wanted to get some before handing her over to us like she’s supposed to, I watch out the window while a car speeds away from the farmhouse. I didn’t see anyone but us and Maren with that chick upstairs, but someone must have been hiding downstairs.

I stare at the driver, trying to memorize her face in case she shows up again, but she’s too far away for me to make out her features. She has light brown hair that reminds me of that girl I liked in high school. It’s odd that I should notice that since most of the time the way a person’s hair looks doesn’t make much of an impression on me.

“What the fuck are you looking at, man?” Adam snaps at me. “A little help here would be nice.”

He’s such a dick. As if handling a woman who weighs no more than a buck twenty is work. It’s not like the other one is giving him any hassle anymore since he knocked her out. He’s as big as I am, and I could carry both of them out of this house with their arms and legs flailing the whole time.

I slowly turn around and look down at him sprawled out on the floor with Maren slapping her hands off his chest. How hard would it be to simply pin her arms above her head to calm her down? Maybe if he didn’t make everything a fucking hassle this wouldn’t happen to him.

“Which one do you need help with?” I ask and then chuckle. “The unconscious one or the one doing her own idiotic version of shadowboxing?”

Angry, like always, he shoves Maren into the wall before standing up. “Take this bitch. I’ll handle the other one.”

He grabs the unconscious blond girl and throws her over his shoulder before storming past me. Her head bounces off the doorframe, but he doesn’t notice or doesn’t care and keeps walking to the stairs.

Maren sobs in the corner, so I slowly approach her to avoid upsetting her even more. She stares at me with madness in her dark eyes, looking like a wild animal someone made the mistake of trapping.

Great. Just what I need today.

“Calm down,” I say as I stop in front of her. “There’s no need to freak out. You know we have to go back to the farm. Just take it easy, and we’ll be fine.”

She shakes her head as she wipes the tears and mascara that have run down her face. “I don’t trust you. I saw you beat the hell out of someone in the great room the other day.”

I nod since she’s right. I did have to punish someone, but it’s not like I was beating on a woman like her. The guy was nearly my size and had to be at least six feet tall, so I wasn’t exactly picking on a helpless victim. Anyway, he broke the rules and knew what would happen when he did. I was just the one who had to impose the penalty.

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