Page 9 of The Cult

Relief seems to wash over her, and although she has nothing to be happy about at this moment, she gives me a tiny smile. “Thank you.”

Personally, all I can think of is how relieved I’ll be when we finally get in the car. At least then I’ll know she’s accepted what’s going to happen.

When we step out onto the porch, the heat of the day hits me like a brick wall. Summer in the mid-Atlantic is always steamy, but this is stifling. Thank God I don’t have to do anything physical today. I don’t think I have it in me.

No wonder Maren’s terrified of the box. It’s going to be over a hundred and ten degrees in there.

Her foot hits the first step on the way down to the yard, and in an instant, she’s off like a shot across the grass before I even realize what she’s doing. Damnit! And here I thought she understood how this had to go.

I watch her run like a madwoman for about ten seconds before breaking into a sprint to go after her. Sweat pours down the sides of my face because of the heat and humidity, but there’s no way I’m going back to the farm without her. I’m not going to suffer because she’s lost her goddamned mind.

“Maren! Don’t make it worse than it already is. Stop right now!” I call out, but she keeps running.

Son of a bitch! She’s going to be lucky if I don’t let that fucker Adam handle this when I finally get a hold of her.

From around the side of the house, I see him come bolting past me and know this isn’t going to end well. I yell to her to stop once more, but it’s no use.

This is out of my control now.

A moment later, I watch Adam take out his piece and my heart sinks. He’s going to say we were justified in doing it, but Micah isn’t going to be happy about her dying.

“Adam! We can catch her,” I yell to him, but it’s like he can’t hear me. “Just get her and put the gun away!”

My words get lost in the heavy air that’s making it hard for me to keep running, and a second later, the sound of a gunshot pierces the silence. Maren drops to the ground like a hundred pound sack of dirt. I keep running because I don’t know what he’ll do to her if he gets to her first. My heart slams into my chest and my thigh muscles feel like they’re going to explode from under the skin, but I have to beat him to where she lies.

Thankfully, his passion for inflicting pain evaporates once he sees her go down, and I blow by him. When I reach her, I know she’s dead. I still crouch down to check her pulse because something inside me says that’s what I’m supposed to do.

My fingers press against her neck, but I feel nothing. Not even a faint heartbeat to cling to for a few moments.

Behind me, Adam grunts out, “Serves her right. Fucking bitch. Scoop her ass up and take her to the car.”

The sight of Maren lying there lifeless turns my stomach. Even though I’ve killed before, something about seeing her dead in the green grass with the bright sun shining down on her feels wrong.

Slowly, I turn around as bile inches up into my throat. Adam looks particularly pleased with himself, which pisses me off more. I want to smack that smug smile off his face right now.

“You do it. You killed her.”

As I begin to walk away toward the car, I hear him grumble something, so I spin around to face him. “What? If you have something to say, say it or shut the fuck up.”

I don’t know where this anger is coming from, but if he wants to push me on this, he’s going to be surprised. Adam stares at me in shock, probably confused because I’ve never pushed back against anything he’s ever told me to do, despite the fact that he’s not my superior, and I see in his expression that he understands he’s standing just on the line. If he wants to step over that line, he better be ready for what’s coming at him.

Like a fever breaking, he laughs and shrugs. “Fine. I don’t care. It’s not like it’s a lot of work for me to carry her to the car. Whatever.”

He lifts her in his arms, and her lifeless head flops over his bicep. Her eyes are still open, and it’s like she’s staring into my soul and silently indicting me for letting this happen to her. I look away and start for the car, sick and tired of this fucking day already.

Adam returns to barking out orders, but I’m not listening. All I can hear is Maren’s soft voice in my head asking me to tell Micah she never stopped believing.

5

Lara

Officer Staley looksacross his desk at me like I’ve just told him my lunch order and he isn’t impressed with my choice of a turkey club. There’s no sense of immediacy in his behavior. He heard me say someone is in danger out at that farmhouse and reacted with nothing.

No shock. No worry. Not even a widening of his eyes with a tiny bit of surprise.

All he can muster is leaning back in his chair far enough that I’m sure it’s going to topple over and dump him onto the floor. I say do it, chair. At least it would make me happier than I am now trying to figure out how the hell to get him to give a damn about what I heard out at that farmhouse.

“You’ve always had an active imagination, Lara. I bet it’s why you’re good at your job. Are you still at that online magazine? What was it called again?”

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