The Fourth Ceremony: The Sacrifice Trilogy (33 page)

A quick scan of the area proved that no more men had followed the one that found her. She was worried about how many of them might be in their little hunting part.
Hunting
. Thinking of that made her remember that they most certainly had captured Camden. She was
n’
t sure if they would kill him on the spot or not.

She climbed down from her hiding spot in the tree. She approached the body. In his right hand, the man held a knife. She shuddered to think what he might have done with it if she had
n’
t shot him. On his waist, she noticed a small holster that the knife must have come from. Ignoring her reservations, she took the knife and holster off of the body. She was sure that a knife would prove useful in the woods with enemies hunting her down.

She shook her head at herself. Moments ago, she was terrified of taking a life. Hours ago, she could
n’
t bring herself to do it. Now, she was planning on the next one. She suddenly understood what people felt like when they were desperate. She was desperate. Desperate to live. Desperate to thrive. And desperate to be with Camden.

Alessa determined that she had to go look for him. She had to find their party. If Camden was alive, she had to find a way to release him. There was no way she would ever find the SDL without him and she had no idea how to survive in the woods on her own. She could
n’
t allow herself to think of any alternatives.

She started off by heading in the direction that he went when he left their clearing. She tried to stay in a straight line so that she would
n’
t get noticed. Every so often, she looked for something distinctive that could guide her back.

Alessa crouched down behind a tree. She was sure she had heard a noise. She strained her ears and willed her heart to stop pounding in her chest. Then, she saw them. Four men surrounded Camden. His eye was swollen and blood trickled from his lip, but he appeared to be walking fine and looked madder than sh
e’
d ever seen him. His hands were secured behind his back. Alessa allowed the group to get almost out of her sight. She was terrified to follow them, but did
n’
t have any other choice.

As they disappeared around a bend, Alessa began to trail them. She stayed back as far as she dared. They were obviously looking for her. Alessa heard conversational exchanges amongst the men about where she might be. She took great pleasure in that none of their speculations allowed for her to be following them.

Alessa was
n’
t sure what she was going to do once they stopped. She would only be able to shoot one of them, the noise would get the others involved immediately. Camden would
n’
t be able to help her if he was
n’
t free first. She fingered the knife on her hip. She did
n’
t think that she could use it to kill someone. It was impossible enough for her to use the gun.

Not sure what she was going to do, Alessa continued to follow. The party appeared to circle around and backtrack. Alessa wondered if they had a certain area of the woods they were
n’
t to venture into.

The group walked on and on with their silent follower for what Alessa was sure was hours. Alessa was hungry, tired, and weak, but she kept moving. She knew that both her and Camde
n’
s survival depended on her figuring out a way for them to escape this.

“
Look, Earl, I think sh
e’
s gone
,”
one of the men spoke into the silence, his voice startling Alessa into a halt.

“
She ai
n’
t gonna be goi
n’
no where, Ted. Ho
w’
s she gonna be getti
n’
away? Sh
e’
s not ever been outside the Capitol, sh
e’
s not ever gonna know where to be goi
n’
without this one
,”
answered the one Alessa presumed to be Earl. He punctuated his sentence by jabbing Camden in the gut. Camden stepped up to him.

“
What you thinki
n’
you gonna be doi
n’
all tied up, boy
,”
Earl said to Camden with a mighty laugh.

“
Will you all shut up
?”
A third man said angrily. The laughter died out and the men stood almost at attention facing the one who spoke. Alessa guessed he must be in charge.

“
The sun is setting. She will become very cold and very hungry soon and she will make a mistake. As long as we keep her away from the boy, she has no chance. We will find her. Remember, we are to bring her in alive. They do
n’
t care how hurt she is, but she must be breathing. The Sacred Ocean must take her last breath from her body, no matter what. Now, le
t’
s settle down and have a nice,
quiet,
and relaxing evening, understood
?
”

The man was answered with an echo of respectful assents. Very methodically, Camden was tied to a tree and the men sat down to camp. They pulled food out of their packs and Earl started a fire.

“
I bet you be wanti
n’
some food there, huh boy
?”
The man called Ted said to Camden. Camden did
n’
t respond, he only glared at his captors.

Alessa was
n’
t sure how Camden was faring, but she was very close to starving. This needed to end and it needed to end soon.

“
Well, if you ask us real nice like, we might give you a bit of somethi
n’
. Of course, we might just feed your hide to the wild animals. I
t’
s not like we really need you, we just need you not with her
.”
Ted guffawed at his own joke. The other men laughed quietly, all except for the leader of the group who ate in silence.

Alessa sat impatiently watching the group as the sun descended behind the trees. Time passed slowly as she crouched in her hiding place behind a tree and accompanying bush. She shifted occasionally to stop a cramp, but did
n’
t want to move too much for worry of sending out a warning sound. Her legs ached unbearably and her stomach rumbled for food. She hoped that an opening would present itself soon.

As dark fell over the makeshift camp, the men pulled out rolled sleeping bags and, one by one, bedded down.

“
Ted, yo
u’
re on first watch. Keep a good eye on the captive, h
e’
s smarter than you think
,”
the leader said.

Ted grumbled, but propped himself on a tree facing Camden and held his gun in his hand. Alessa watched as the other men went to sleep. Earl snored loudly. The man who had
n’
t spoken did
n’
t make a sound in sleep either. But she was most unsure about the leader. His face was away from her and his body remained stiff. Alessa started to formulate a plan. If she waited until everyone but Ted was asleep, maybe she could use the knife to cut Camden free. The only flaw was, she was
n’
t sure how far they could get when Ted raised the alarm. She decided to take it one step at a time. Surely Camden would figure something out once he was free.

Eventually, and not believing her luck, Ted started nodding his head and falling asleep. He occasionally woke himself up and would raise his gun to Camden, but he was certainly tired. Alessa slowly began to make her way around behind Camden. She hoped that she would
n’
t startle him. She thought that it was dark enough behind him that no one could see her behind the tree he was secured to. Alessa crept around the trees. She moved painstakingly slow, squinting in the moonlight to see obstacles in her path. Every small sound she made caused her to freeze and reassess the camp, but the men seemed to all be asleep. Finally, Alessa was about two feet from Camde
n’
s back.

“
What the hell do you think yo
u’
re doing
?”
Camden whispered. Of course he knew that she was there. She figured h
e’
d stay alert and ready.

“I’
m saving you
,”
Alessa replied, her whisper barely a breath.

“
You should be as far away from here as possible
,”
his whisper was barely audible, but angry.

“
Look, you heard them, I ca
n’
t survive without you. The
y’
re right. I do
n’
t know where
I’
m going or what
I’
m doing out here. But most of all, I do
n’
t want to do this without you, Cam. Plus, you promised me a bunny or something,
I’
m starving. Now, tell me what to do
.”
Alessa heard Camden sigh softly.

“
You have to work on the knot holding me. Then, once
I’
m free, we have to kill them. All of them, Alessa. If we leave them alive, they will just continue to search or get reinforcements. They do
n’
t have any communications devices that
I’
ve seen, they must be out of range out here. I think if we eliminate this bunch, w
e’
ll be in the clear
.
”

Alessa shuddered at the thought of killing four more men, but she knew Camden was right. She was going to do what had to be done. She was going to do what she needed to in order to save herself and to save Camden. Eventually, it would matter. Eventually, the SDL was going to tell her their great plan to stop the Sacrifices and it would all be worth it.

“
I have a knife
,”
she whispered
,“I’
m going to cut you free
.”
Alessa began to saw at the rope binding Camden.

“
Where did you get a knife
?”
he asked quietly as she worked.

“
I do
n’
t want to talk about it
,”
she answered. Alessa continued to work. Suddenly, Ted woke himself up again and pointed his gun at Camden. Alessa did
n’
t dare to breathe. The tree Camden was tied to was
n’
t big enough to obscure her completely, but she hoped that the dark helped to cast shadows that would cover her. She heard a soft snore come from Camden. He was pretending to be asleep. She hoped it would fool Ted and h
e’
d relax again.

It did
n’
t work, Ted arose and began walking towards them. Alessa did
n’
t move. She was sure if she ran that they would catch her immediately. She did
n’
t think she could take all four of them out without Camde
n’
s help. Aless
a’
s chest began to squeeze in panic. Then, Ted bent down to the sleeping bulldozer that was Earl.

“
Earl, watch the boy, I gotta go relieve myself
,”
Ted said quietly while shaking Earl violently.

“
Huh? Oh, yeah, whatever
,”
Earl answered, his eyes still closed.

“
Earl, you awake, I gotta be goi
n’
now
.
”

“
Yeah, yeah, I got it, get goi
n
’”

As soon as Ted cleared the camp, Alessa sighed a breath of relief. Earl rolled himself to face Camden, but was back asleep within seconds. Alessa began working on the ropes again faster than ever. Finally, she felt them break free and Camde
n’
s hands pulled away. He did
n’
t move from the tree though.

“
Alessa
,”
Camden said quietly
,“
how many shots have you fired
?
”

“I’
m not sure
,”
she replied.

“
Think carefully, this is life and death, how many shots have you fired
?”
Alessa thought back. She had fired one shot in the house. Then, she tried to remember how many times she had shot at the man while she was in the tree. Closing her eyes, she remembered that awful moment. She shuddered involuntarily at the thought.

“
Six
,”
she answered
,“
once in the house and five a little while ago
.
”