Page 46 of The Executioners Three
Madison flicked ash onto the beach. “I heard you made out with that Berm High chick.” She grinned sideways. “Trying to break her heart?”
Theo didn’t answer that question. He just drew in another long drag and held it there. Smoke poisoning his lungs and shredding his tonsils.
The truth was, he had no idea what had happened between him and Freddie Gellar on that stage. And he had no idea what had happened between him and Freddie Gellar at the water mill either. He knew absolutely nothing about her, yet he’d barely thought of anything else for the past three hours.
Which wasn’t right. She was the enemy. She had gotten him arrested. She was the reason his entire future had dried up in a single night.
He was supposed to hate her for that. It made no sense to him that he didn’t.
Theo exhaled, a haze to hide the dark waves and darker sky. Beside him, Madison fell into silence. He appreciated that, and they reached the ends of their cigarettes without conversation.
“Give me your cig,” Madison said, after rubbing hers out in the cold sand.
“Why?” Theo snuffed his out. “What’re you going to do with it?”
“There’s a trash can by the cars.” She smiled slightly. “Don’t wanna litter and all that.”
“I’ll take it, then.” Theo plucked her cigarette from her hand and pushed to his feet. “I want a walk anyway.”
“Thanks,” she called after him. He didn’t respond. Tonight, words just weren’t worth the effort.
Theo aimed for the dark trail that led to a nearby abandoned loggingroad. Here, the park’s trees hugged close to the shore, and soon pines crossed over him.
He didn’t know how Davis had found this particular spot. He also didn’t know how Garrett had gotten the grain alcohol. Two months ago, when he’d still been new here, Theo would have panicked at that. He couldn’t stay on top if the popular kids found other sources for their booze. But now…
Now, none of it mattered.
Theo tromped over pine needles. The full moon leeched the woods of color and depth, but he had no trouble seeing the way. He wondered what Freddie was doing right now.
Theo reached the logging road and the cars, his own dented Silver Sweetheart (still running, but not worth fixing) and Tyson’s brand-new Wrangler. Beyond them, Theo found the trash can. It stank like death. Like someone had left a carcass in there to slowly decompose.
Except when he actually lifted the lid to drop in the butts, he found the metal canister was empty.
Cold snaked down Theo’s spine. He thought back to Wednesday night. To the baby raccoons and the figure he’d seen by the road.
There were noises in these woods now too. Hard to distinguish against the ceaseless wind, but there all the same. Rhythmic. Steady. Someone was walking this way.
A scream split the forest. Theo jerked toward the sound—it was so loud, so bloodcurdling and close. A woman’s vocal cords stretched to their ends. And deep,deepin the back of Theo’s brain, a single word unfurled:Come.So without thought, Theo went.
He strode into the forest, moving toward the scream. Moving toward the strange word that had fired from neurons at the base of his skull. It coiled around his muscles and commanded them.
His feet thrashed over unseen roots and saplings. His ankles rolled. Branches sliced at his cheeks, and the screams grew louder with each step. Until finally he ran into Felicia, sprinting through the pine trees toward him. At the sight of Theo, she screamed again.
“Body!” she shrieked.“There’s a body in the woods!”
“No head,” Tyson stammered, stumbling up behind her. His enormous eyes gawped at Theo. “He’s gotno fucking head.”
Of course not,said the voice in Theo’s mind. “Go,” Theo told the others. “Go back to the car.”
Felicia and Tyson needed no urging, and though the front of Theo’s brain told him he ought to chase after them, thebackof Theo’s brain thought otherwise. Those neurons would not let his body comply, and his feet just kept on carrying him into the trees. Over more unseen roots and saplings, through more razor-sharp branches.
Until at last, Theo stumbled from the trees and into a moonlit clearing, where a massacre met his eyes. Blood everywhere, sprayed on tree trunks, splattered across the fallen leaves. And at the center: a rigid body leaning against a fallen pine.
A body without a head and a bloodied axe several feet away.
Just like that, Theo’s cool detachment fled. The impulse that had commanded him released, and the reality of what waited right there rammed in.
He staggered backward, unable to control his stomach. His vision blurred. He shouldn’t have come—why had he come? And now other people were running this way. He could hear them approaching. They shouldn’t see this.Noone should see this.
