Jessica’s
drool had glued her face to the jeep window, and when the door was jerked open,
it felt like half her face was ripped off. She howled as she fell out of her
dream and toward the ground.
Strong hands caught her
up, and then she was pressed into someone’s body. Jessica gasped in a breath
and caught the smell of familiar cologne…Jamie! With a squeal, she wrapped her
arms around him and clung like a creeper vine.
“Hey, kid. I missed you.”
His arms squeezed her just like they used to, back when he’d still lived at
home.
“Jamie! You won’t believe
what’s happened! I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t think you’d care-”
“Jamie,” someone cut in,
voice sharp. Jessica looked over her shoulder and saw Wanda tapping one foot in
a fast staccato. “It’s cruel to talk like this first. Just get it over with and
then we’ll meet and greet.”
Jamie nodded. “Jess,
there is something I have to do. It’s important. Do you trust me?” He looked at
her, eyes searching her face for answers.
Jessica hesitated. He was
an Evil Genius, and the plants could be
– probably were
– his
inventions. He’d never hurt her before…but she’d never been a part of his
experiments before, either. In the second she’d deliberated, a shadow of hurt
flickered in Jamie’s eyes. Slowly, not sure if she was being completely honest,
she nodded. “I trust you.”
Wanda stepped forward.
“Good. Now let’s get this over with.”
“Get what-” But Jessica
was cut off again, this time by a gag. Jamie knotted the bandana at the base of
her skull, and while Jess reached around to jerk the smelly rag off her face,
Wanda took the opportunity to tie her hands with
– was that a
vine?
Jessica struggled, but
her efforts were too late. The gag had distracted her, confused her. And Wanda
was wicked fast. Jessica kicked at her brother, nailing him once in the shins,
but Wanda tackled her and they both ended up on the ground. Jamie cursed from
somewhere above them, and Jessica hoped she’d broken his stupid leg.
Whatever was happening,
it wasn’t in her best interest, and her own brother was behind it. Because he
was Douchebag Genius. Something she would have to keep in mind from now on.
Unable to bite or use her hands, Jessica was quickly pinned on her stomach, a knee
on her back to keep her from escaping. That didn’t keep her from screaming
against the bandana, but Wanda and Jamie ignored her.
“Get the other vine,
Jamie. We have to do this – you saw her eyes. She’s
more than half-gone by now,” Wanda said. That she huffed in gasps between her
words made Jessica proud.
But that smugness drained
out of her when she focused on the ground for the first time. An eyeball was
staring up at her. A single, detached, eyeball. Jessica screamed and thrashed,
fear lacing her limbs with strength.
She managed to buck Wanda
off and run three or four steps before she was tackled again, but this time she
landed in red-brown goo that smelled like rust. Something pink and slimy was
next to her face, and she screamed when she recognised it. Intestines – someone’s
guts.
Jamie slipped another
vine-rope through the one tying her hands, and then yelled, “Velvet! Tank! I
need a little help. Hold her up, but don’t eat her. Please.”
Don’t eat her? Cannibals?! Jessica thrashed and kicked again, but
it didn’t do any good. One minute she was on the ground, the next her arms were
all but pulled loose of their sockets.
Her feet dangled at least
three feet off the blood-soaked grass, and, when the taut rope twisted, she got
a good look at the living plants holding her up. One was thick as a tree.
(Tank?) The other looked rather feminine. (Velvet?) Tank had blood all over his
leafy body.
Tears streamed from
Jessica’s eyes and pooled under the bandana, and Jamie winced when the rope
brought her back around to face him. “Jess, don’t cry. I’m not going to kill
you.”
He said it with a wealth
of hurt in his voice, like she should believe him. “You’re infected by a new
type of organism – one I invented. But I don’t want that for
you, and I’m going to cure you.” Wanda whipped out a knife from her boot and
passed it Jamie. “But I won’t lie, it’s going to hurt.”
Jessica screamed and
kicked as he walked toward her. One of the plants wrapped a vine around her
legs, immobilizing her completely. Jamie stopped right in front of her, the
pain in his eyes seeming to say this is
going to hurt me more than it hurts you, and she screamed and cursed
against the gag, hating him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and
then cut her.
At first, the pain wasn’t
sharp – it was surprising, but more like a bee-sting than
a slicing pain. But then hot red blood poured down her left forearm, filling
the air with a new-rust smell that was overwhelmingly metallic.
“You should have started
with her legs, Jamie. Now you’re going to have work down with blood getting all
over you.”
“Are you critiquing my
methods, Wanda? Really?” She didn’t answer, and he brought the knife up again.
Jessica sobbed when he
positioned the blade right below her left elbow, and she shook her head trying
to beg him to not hurt her – but it was useless. This
time, the pain was immediate. More red gushed out of her, and her throat ached
from screaming and yelling against the bandana. But the rust smell wasn’t as
rusty; a flowery scent lingered just behind the metallic tang.
“Smell that? You’re
getting some of it.” Wanda moved closer, so that she was just behind Jamie.
Jamie didn’t say a word.
Instead he moved the knife to Jessica’s other forearm, his hand never once
wavering. He sliced down and Jessica moaned, her arms throbbing with more pain
than she’d ever endured. More of the flowery smell filled the air, but she
didn’t care. Dots were flashing in and out of her vision, and her head felt
light.
The slice below her right
elbow brought her fully awake again, and she saw Jamie’s face in minute detail.
Sweat beaded under his nose; bags smudged the underside of his eyes. A few
strands of grey were scattered near his temples. But then the details faded,
and Jessica closed her eyes.
“She’s fading. You’re
taking too long.” Wanda’s voice sounded very far away. “Let me do it.”
“I’m her brother,” Jamie
said. “I should do it.”
“Oh, give it here.”
Jessica didn’t care who
did it. That didn’t matter. Nothing did. The heat of her own blood was
scorching her skin and the lights winking in and out of her brain were
fascinating. Pain mingled with darkness, and she couldn’t open her eyes…
Someone poked her. Hard. The jab happened over and over
again – first on her ribs, then on her stomach. Pain seeped through her,
following the pokes. When they moved lower, to her butt, and then to her legs,
Jessica didn’t mind as much. She could barely feel them.
But her nose twitched.
She couldn’t open her eyes any more than she could turn off her nose. Someone
was holding rotting flowers in front of her face
– like a
midden-heap, it smelled of poop and decomposition with just a hint of dead
roses.
“Most of the gold is
gone, Wanda. We need to clean her up before it’s too late.”
“Shit!” Wanda’s voice was
close to Jessica’s face, her breath chilly compared to the hot blood soaking
Jess. “Get the pack from the car. I have several kinds of blood and some new
derma-glue. Grab the green antibiotics kit, too.”
Minutes, hours, days, and
years passed before Jessica heard anything else; her body was numb and cold,
eyes sealed against the sight of her brother and his knife. Every sense was
swallowed by the absence of what she had been. Only flickers of dreams darted
through her consciousness.
But the flickers brought
ripples of pain, singeing the numbest parts of her. Her arms burned; her legs
crawled with flames. And through it all, Jamie’s voice murmured to her,
reminding her why she was trapped in darkness.
“I hate you!” she
screamed, over and over. But her throat was scorched, just like the rest of
her. The only sound she heard was Jamie, his voice a mere whisper in her mind.
“You’re doing good, Jess.
You can do this,” he said. “It’s over – you’re healed. All you
have to do is wake up, sis. Open your eyes for me.”
The pain increased with
the clarity of his voice, and she knew he was causing it. The agony was his
fault. The darkness was his fault. He’d hurt her, cut her, killed her! Betrayal fuelled rage, and she vowed to haunt his
Douchebag Ass for eternity. Dying hurt!
How dare he kill her! His own sister!
“Wake up, Jessica. You’re
almost there; I can see your eyelids moving. I know you can hear me…” Jamie’s
voice was louder now, each word causing her head to throb . “Open your eyes,
Jess. You can do it.”
Jessica wanted to slap
him for having the nerve to tell her what to do. He thought he could stab her
and then coax her over to the Dark Side? No way in hell.
“Let me try,” Satan’s
redheaded helper said.
Jessica wanted to snarl,
but before she could even try, a heart-stopping jolt to her chest brought her
body up over the ground in a perfect bridge. She stayed arched for an eternity
before falling to the side and convulsing.
“Damn it, Wanda! Was that
really necessary?”
“Yes. She’s wasted enough
of our time, Jamie. Look. Her eyes are opening.”
And it was true. Even
though she would’ve sworn she was dead, Jessica’s eyes were working. Something
sticky tried to fuse her lashes together, but green and brown were visible
through the spiky prison bars.
Jamie’s face popped into
her line of sight and she jack-knifed away from him, a scream lodged somewhere
between her gut and her throat.
“Easy, Jess. I know you
probably hate me right now, but we need to leave. Let me help you get into the
jeep. There’s a giant tree heading toward town and-”
Jessica shook her head
and crab-crawled backward. “Get away from me, you freak!”
“As I think I’ve
mentioned, we don’t have time for this.” A hand grabbed Jessica’s hair and
pulled her up, yanking more than a few strands loose. Jess screeched and swung
her elbow back to hit Wanda, but it never connected. “Jamie, grab my stuff.”
Jessica was shoved into
the backseat of the SUV, red and brown staining the leather under her. Jamie
tossed two bags into the passenger seat before climbing in. Wanda slammed her
door seconds later. Jess tried to open her door and escape, but her fingers
trembled and her arms felt more like wet noodles than workable limbs.
“Head to Main Street
“Let’s hope we find him
before he gets there…otherwise there might not be a Main Street
