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Authors: Richard L Hatin

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BOOK: Evil Agreement
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3

 

 

“Julia, Julia, wake up, you’ve got to come and see this.”

Sitting up in her sleeping bag, she rubbed her eyes and tried
to focus on Michael, who was knelling beside her.

“What is it?”

 
“C’mon, hurry, before
they’re gone.”

“Who’s gone?” she said as Michael quickly exited from the
tent.

Knowing him, he would just pester her until she went along
with whatever was consuming him. She reached inside her sleeping bag and pulled
out her hiking boots. She crawled from the tent and was greeted by the chilly
night air. She suddenly had an urge to pee.

“Hurry up, Julia.”

Because of the light from the nearly full moon she could see
him moving over to the large flat rock. She stood up to follow him.

This had better be quick,
she thought,
I’ve got to
go.

In a moment she was standing beside Michael who was about
halfway across the large flat rock. Even with the moonlight, they had to be
careful to not get too close to the edge. Distance can be deceiving in the
woods at night.

“Look down there and tell me what you see.”

Julia tried to focus her eyes upon the black void below.
Directly below and to her left, which would make it about two miles northeast
of their position, there seemed to a string of twinkling lights moving slowly
in unison.

“Well?”

“I don’t know Michael, it looks like a road or something and
a line of cars in succession. Big Deal!”

“Wrong, now look at it again through these,” he said handing
her his binoculars. He was excited.

She took the binoculars and looked through them. It took her
a moment to locate the lights and to steady her gaze. She slowly turned the
lens into focus. It was unmistakable, even from this distance. The lights were
coming from a long line of people climbing a path through the woods. Many of
them were carrying lanterns or powerful flashlights. She thought she could even
see children mixed in. There had to be over a hundred people making this
curious trek. The trees shielded many of the people from view.
  

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“People climbing in a sort of procession right?”

“I suppose so, I’m going to go and pee.”

“Uh-huh,” said Michael who had reclaimed the binoculars from
Julia and was now using them to examine the curiosity once again.

She went back into the woods and was relieving herself when
Michael called out to her.

“Julia, you have got to see this!”

She soon returned and he handed her the binoculars again.

This time she had no trouble locating the moving lights. They
weren’t moving in a line any more. Instead they were formed into a circle
around what clearly appeared to be a bonfire.

“Neat, huh?” he seemed to ask.

“What time is it?” asked Julia.

“Oh, it’s uh...nearly
two
o’clock
in morning.”

“Curious, what would kids be doing on the side of a mountain
in the middle of the night watching some bonfire?”

“That’s what I was wondering,” said Michael.

Even without the binoculars, one could make out the crowd
around a now fully engaged bonfire.

“I’m going back to bed Michael.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

“Say, Julia, would you be interested in ...”

“Don’t you dare ask me what I think you’re going to ask me
Michael
Delvecchio
.”

“But...”

“The answer is no and I mean it.”

Later that morning, after breakfast, they resumed their hike.
Michael was persistent in pestering Julia to accompany him on a minor detour.
He desperately wanted to explore the area where they had seen the bonfire
earlier that morning. His intense curiosity combined with his ability to get
his way soon prevailed upon Julia. They would pursue this little sidebar
adventure, which Julia estimated would take the better part of the day provided
that Michael agreed to let her chart their course for the rest of the hike. He
quickly agreed to her terms. His hiking pace quickened once they had struck a
deal.

By
ten thirty
that
morning, they had reached the valley below. In this valley was a swiftly moving
stream which was seemingly impossible to cross. Alongside the stream, on their
side, was a hard packed dusty, dirt road. Michael moved along the road heading
south by southeast. After a couple hundred yards the road curved to the left
across the stream by the means of a professionally built wooden bridge. They
were soon across the bridge following the road, which was now fading into a
well-worn logging road.

A pair of unfriendly eyes watched as they crossed over the
wooden bridge and moved along the fading road. The eyes belonged to a young boy
who was no more than thirteen. He was wearing coveralls over a white t-shirt.
He also wore an old camouflaged colored army surplus hat. He was carrying a
30-30 caliber Winchester lever
action open sighted rifle. Once the couple disappeared along the road, the boy
took off at a full run back down the road. He needed to tell the warden there
were strangers lurking along the sacred path. The warden would know what to do.
Maybe this time the elders would let him participate in the cleansing.
 

Michael was moving along at a faster pace. He kept looking to
his right and left searching for signs of what the two of them had witnessed
earlier this morning. The road, or what was left of it, was reduced to two ruts
in the ground, which kept winding its way ever higher. Michael stopped and
looked back towards Camel’s Hump.

“What do you think, Julia?”

Julia was the better orienteer between the two.

She consulted her compass and shook her head.

“We’re still too far south and we’re not high up enough. I
really can’t be certain of the elevation.”

“Okay, let’s go then.”

They pressed forward. After about a half an hour of climbing
and following the path, Julia stopped and pulled Michael to a stop as well.

“Do you smell that?” she said.

“What?”

“I think it’s coming from in there. It smells like burned
wood.”

Julia left the path and headed directly up the side of the
mountain from their position. Michael followed close behind.

“Look, Michael, the branches are broken, and see the scuffed
up pine needles. Lots of people went through here recently.”

“God, Julia, you’re good.”

“Save your gratitude for later. I’m just trying to get this
detour adventure over with as quickly as possible.”

About a hundred yards from the path they came into a
clearing. The grass was all matted down. In the center of the clearing they
spied the charred remains of a huge bonfire. The bonfire had been set up inside
a ring of huge boulders. To the high ground side of the fire ring sat an altar
made of weathered stone. Michael carefully approached the stone altar. The
surface was smooth and measured about three feet by eight feet. The surface seemed
heavily stained. Julia bent down and retrieved a swatch of white cloth, which
was trampled into the grass next to the altar. The piece of cloth was a strip
about one inch wide and ten or so inches long. One end was jagged as if it had
been torn.

“Julia, what is that?” asked Michael as he left the altar
structure and headed over to the nearby woods, on the upper slope.

“What do you see?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wait for me,” said Julia.

When the two of them reached the edge of the woods they stood
before a wrought iron gate. Beyond the gate was a small graveyard. There were
several headstones visible from where they stood.

Michael opened the gate and stepped inside the graveyard. The
gate opened silently.

What, no creak or screeching sound?
thought Julia.

Michael went silently from headstone to headstone. He seemed
to be reading the engravings on each.

Julia walked quietly behind. The place gave her the creeps.

Tapping Michael on the shoulder she said, “Can we go now?”

“Julia, did you notice what these headstones have in common?”

“Besides marking someone’s grave?”

“Yeah. Look it seems that everyone buried here comes from one
family, and according to the engravings, they all died on the same day, October 31, 1843. Humph! That’s All
Saints Eve you know, Halloween. Isn’t that fascinating?”

“Michael, please, I want to get going.”

“Okay, okay”

Michael stood up and they headed out of the graveyard.
Michael closed the gate’s latch. They walked past the altar and the site of the
bonfire and headed down the slope, to the woods and the path that lay beyond.

Since the graveyard, Michael suddenly couldn’t seem to take
his eyes off Julia. Now walking behind her, he couldn’t help but notice her
tight-fitting jeans. He felt an erection coming on.

A guy can’t be expected to hike up and down mountains with
a boner,
thought Michael.

“Hey, Julia. Let’s stop for a while and grab a snack and a
drink.”

“Okay, Michael. But only for five minutes, then we have got
to move on. I want to put some distance between us and this place.”

Once she removed her backpack Michael moved in on her. He
felt a keen sense of arousal at just the sight of her. Kneeling behind her he
began to rub her neck with his powerful hands. Before she could resist he had
his right hand inside her shirt groping her breasts. She looked up at him and
he bent over and embraced her in a passionate kiss. She could feel his erection
pressing against her back. He began to unbutton her shirt.

“Michael, not here, not now, please!”

“Julia, where’s your sense of adventure?” he said with a
leering grin.

“But...” Julia felt herself exploding with a sense of her own
sexuality. She had never felt this way before.
 

Before there could be any more conversation they fell into
each other’s arms and were soon engaged in removing their clothes, everything
except for their hiking boots.

Michael sat down and pulled her on top of him. He pushed up
against her while she pushed down upon him. They could feel each other’s heat.
The experience was dizzying.

In the nearby woods stood three pairs of eyes, two men and a
thirteen-year old boy watched the young couple with growing anger. The young
boy felt another urge as well. He noticed he was becoming aroused. He didn’t
want the elders to notice so he closed his eyes and struggled with his
condition. He didn’t want them to think he was weak.

Meanwhile, Julia had been placed on her back against the
gentle slope of the ground. Michael spread her legs and slowly entered her. His
rhythm was slow and deliberate. Julia was looking up directly into the sun. It
was blinding in its intensity. Despite her own rhythmic passion Julia was
developing a feeling that someone was watching.

She turned her head to look to the woods, nothing!

Michael pressed against her with increasing energy. He leaned
over and began a long, tongue-probing kiss.

Julia responded to him, but couldn’t escape the rushing
feeling that someone was watching them. She opened her eyes and was startled to
see, standing behind Michael, the large figure of a man silhouetted by the
bright summer sun. She immediately saw this figure was swinging something at
them. Before she could warn Michael, she felt a heavy blow to Michael’s head,
and the force caused their heads to knock. Michael’s entire body suddenly went
stiff.

Pushing with all her might she rolled Michael off of her. She
sprang to her feet and found herself facing two men. One appeared to be a game
warden while the other was dressed in coveralls and a sweat stained gray shirt.
She glanced down at Michael.

Why doesn’t he get up?
Michael is lying on his back
fully naked, still erect, with his boots on and with his eyes closed and his
tongue sticking out.

“Michael!” she screams.

She tries to cover her nakedness by quickly picking up
Michael’s shirt and holding it up against herself.

The man in coveralls used his right boot to turn Michael
over. Sticking out of the back of his head is a garden hoe blade buried half
way into his skull. At the end of the blade is a small broken wooden shank,
which was once part of the hoe’s handle. There is blood pouring out of the
wound along with gray matter that could only be one thing, Michael’s brain.

“Michael,” she screams again.

“He’s dead, Walter,” said the man in coveralls who is holding
the now broken remainder of the hoe’s wooden handle.

“Well, Bob, you know what you’ve got to do.”

From the look on their faces Julia knew exactly what they had
in mind. They were now going to kill her. She turned and ran back up the hill
across the clearing where the bonfire had been. The two men ran off after her.

She stumbled once and as she got back to her feet she could
feel a hand touching her shoulder. She twisted away and scrambled to her feet.
She sprinted to the altar. Soon the three of them were circling the altar. She
had to duck underneath the altar once to escape their grasp. She desperately
wanted to talk to them, to perhaps talk her way out of this nightmare. During
the pursuit, they never spoke a word.

Her body was glistening with sweat. Her heart beat thundered
inside her chest. She was very near to a full panic. The men were also getting
out of breath. They were slowing down. She saw her chance. She broke back down
the hill. Running downhill could be tricky, especially when one was as tired as
the two men were. She glanced back over her shoulder. They were at least
fifteen yards behind. They were splitting up, as if to flank her. She now felt
she could increase that distance easily.

As she turned to look downhill once again, a gunshot rang
out. A single bullet pierced her throat. The shot came from the boy’s 30-30
rifle. The bullet’s path continued upward before exiting out the back of her
skull. In the brief moment before she collapsed and died, her eyes caught sight
of this young boy standing about twenty yards in front of her with his rifle
pointed straight at her.

BOOK: Evil Agreement
10.53Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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