Chapter 11

Olivia watched the beat up squad car cautiously as she and Noah loaded their bags, and Hayden, into their vehicle. The car had pulled up an hour ago and luckily all the two creeps inside had done so far was stare at them. Hayden was still fairly doped up though and he was not thrilled about the decision to leave now that he had a grudge to settle.

“Fucking cocksuckers!” he yelled from behind her as Noah tried to get one of his wayward legs into the car.

“Shut up,” Olivia snapped at him, but she doubted he heard her through his haze of pain pills. Hayden had told her what the cops had threatened to do to the both of them and she was ready to ice either of these bastards if they so much as stepped towards her.

“I’ll be back for you two,” Hayden shouted, fighting Noah as the poor guy tried to calm him down.

Olivia tensed as the driver side window of the cop car rolled down. A fat hand, middle finger raised high, was all that emerged. The slamming of a door behind her announced that Noah had finally wrangled Hayden into the back seat. This was not going to be a fun car ride.

As she pulled out of the motel lot, she kept an eye on the two cops that had been watching them. The car did not move as she pulled away from Doumont and soon she’d left the place behind and was hurtling west as fast as she dared to into the pitch black Louisiana night.

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Jonathan watched from the gas station across the road as the young man he’d met a few days ago and his two friends left the only motel anywhere near Doumont. He’d noticed the cops watching them go as well as the tense exchange of expletives and hand gestures between the two parties. These outsiders had stirred something up, that was for sure, but they were gone now. A shame really, though it was probably for the best.

Watching the police car full of fake policemen head back towards Doumont a few minutes after the car full of outsiders had left, Jonathan reflected on just how alone he was in all of this. Most everyone else in the town had either been put under some sort of spell by whatever was lurking out in the swamps or didn’t seem in-tune enough with the area to know anything was wrong. Jonathan doubted this would save them, but it definitely meant they weren’t going to be helping him any time soon.

Securing his gas cap, Jonathan got back into his truck and headed home. He’d had quite a busy day even without witnessing what he just had. He’d been out to the Church this afternoon and while it hadn’t been occupied, what he’d seen there confirmed that it was the place he’d been looking for.

Now all he needed was a plan. He would never let Doumont fall into the hands of darkness. Not while there was still breath in his body. Jonathan was a warrior of the light. This was his purpose, his sacred calling.

None could stand in his way.

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Tyson crouched low in the center of the camp, the woman at his side, as they waited with the others for the attack they knew was coming. Things since the meeting in the swamp just over two weeks ago had not gone well for Ty and his mother. He had done his best to bring people to the woman to fill out their ranks, but something was wrong. Most of the people he brought couldn’t pass her tests and ended up being discarded into the swamp. The rest were unwilling to serve her or had joined up with her enemies.

Ty wasn’t sure exactly how the woman’s influence worked, but it seemed like whatever signal she was putting out to attract more adherents was getting drowned out by her rivals. Even after all this time, they’d only managed to grow their party to around thirty in number and most of these people were young like Ty, sick in the head or too weak for their enemies to show any interest in. Still, these newcomers served a purpose; they made runs into town for food and supplies, scouted the unknown areas of the swamp so Ty didn’t have to and kept watch for enemies during the long, dark nights.

At least they had until the killings started.

It had been about nine days ago when Ty had found the first body just outside their camp. It had been a half crazed older woman who had been running in and out of town fetching water for them since she’d arrived early on in their recruitment effort. She had been beaten beyond recognition and clearly left to send a message to his mother. After that the numbers of bodies had continued to rise, forcing his mother and her band to relocate their camp several times, but it never seemed to keep them safe for long.

By the time they'd reached this place, a small fishing community away from town and the highway, the woman had started vocalizing what Ty had felt all long; they were losing this war and would die if they continued on this course. The options of surrendering to his mother’s brother or simply fleeing the area were ones he did not vocalize twice. Both had sent her into a rage that had almost broken the spell he knew she had over him. Yet each time she lost control like this, she would collect herself just before going too far and reaffirm her love and care for him. He understood what was happening, that none of what he felt was real, but the sensation was like a drug, at least he assumed it was. As long as she could keep the pain and fear out of his mind while replacing it with a mother’s love and warmth, he would never leave her side.

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With surrender and retreat off of the table, Ty had begun trying to come up with a plan of his own. The woman’s plan, as he saw it, was to use the rest of their party as cannon fodder until a better option presented itself. After tonight though, that strategy was likely to be off the table.

So far Ty only had two ideas for how to keep his protector alive. The first was for him to take things into his own hands. If he could infiltrate either camp and assassinate the Baron or the man in chains, their forces would dissipate. The plan was a risky one, suicidal even, but he kept it in the back of his mind just in case all other options failed. His other idea, his best idea, was to find new allies, ones that didn’t need the woman’s gift or influence to join them.

The options for this plan were slim; the only people in town not yet pulled into one of the three camps were either too old, too young or seemingly unaffected by these things. Very few of these people would do though. Jonathan, the guy that owned the voodoo shop just outside of town, was a possibility, but he doubted the man would join them. He was a little sick in the head and from what Ty had gathered so far, thought this was all related to voodoo or something equally ridiculous. A fool, if a resourceful one. These creatures might seem like beings from those old stories, but none of the powders or amulets in that man’s shop would save him if he got too deep into this mess.

Ty had considered trying to bring the man he’d met outside Jonathan’s shop to the woman, but his courage had failed him. The man had known something was wrong in Doumont and that had scared Ty. So far all of this seemed to be happening in a hazy place that only seemed real half of the time. That man asking him if something bad was out in the swamp with him had made it all seem very real for a moment, which it was of course. He just hadn’t appreciated the reminder.

` Now none of that mattered though; the man and his friends were gone and Ty was all out of options. The Baron’s men, a problematic mix of police and local thugs, had made sure of that. If they showed up here tonight, things would be over quickly. They had most of the town’s guns in their possession and of the fifteen or so people left in their camp currently, only two had firearms and both were old and had limited ammunition. A straight up fire fight was not likely to go in their favor.

Luckily, in one sense anyway, that probably wasn’t going to happen. The Baron’s men currently seemed content to hold Doumont proper and the surrounding areas. Only the northern swamp was considered out of bounds for them. This was the man in chains’ territory and tonight it was his forces that were most likely to strike. They weren’t as heavily armed as the Baron’s men, but there were a lot of them, well over a hundred his mother thought, and they were driven solely by fear. In their weakened state, Ty’s camp was the perfect target for this latter group. The man in chains would relish the opportunity to destroy them while the Baron was likely holding out hope that his sister would come around. Knowing she never would, Ty readied himself for the man in chain’s forces to arrive.

“They’re here,” the woman whispered and Ty tightened his grip on the old kitchen knife he’d grabbed to defend himself tonight. He could have had one of the guns of course, but the shotgun was too unwieldy for him and the pistol was old and he didn’t trust it not to blow his hand off if he tried firing it after so many years of dormancy. Peering into the night, he saw nothing, but he knew his mother was right. She was always right.

In preparation for the night’s assault, she had had them use the six trailers that made up the village’s living quarters to create a sort of barrier that sat in a half circle around the camp, leaving only the dark water to their backs. They would never be able to hold off whoever was coming, regardless of who it was, but they weren’t going to let the assault go unpunished. Ty had helped the woman rig up a nasty surprise for their visitors to make sure of that.

The first attacker Ty saw was a middle aged man who appeared as he climbed over the top of one of the middle trailers. “They’re here!” Ty shouted to his allies just as a shotgun blast sent the intruder flying backwards into the night. Suddenly the once silent swamp was alive with the sound of screaming voices as an unknown number of assailants rushed the trailers, causing them to slide backwards in the mud with the sheer force of their assault.

“Now?” Ty asked, reaching for the flare gun at his hip.

“Let more of them come sweet boy,” she cooed, her own dagger out and ready in her hand. In this setting, she seemed far more dangerous than she usually did. Normally she seemed to glide around the camp like a ghost; now she seemed coiled and ready to strike like a viper.

Ty held his ground as more and more people crested the roofs of the trailers and dropped down into their camp. As they rushed forwards, Ty could see the crazed looks on their faces. Each of them looked as if they were as afraid of what was behind them as they were of what lay before them.

“Baku is here,” the woman hissed as her small mass of followers rushed forward to meet the oncoming mob. “Can you make the shot from the boat?”

“I can,” Ty said as he watched two men cutting down one of his allies with shovels. “Can we go now? Please?” He would stay here and die if she commanded it, but that did not mean he wanted to.

“We can, my love,” she said and soon she was tugging him backwards towards the small boat they’d chosen for their escape. The motor was fairly new, even if the boat was not, and Ty had made sure he understood how to operate it well before tonight. “Do it,” she said as soon as they had boarded, “and be gone from this place.”

Ty didn’t think twice. Taking aim at the trailers he and the others had doused in gasoline after stuffing them full of as many gas cans as they could, he fired the flare gun. The ball of light was blinding and Ty was grateful for that. He knew his own people were burning alongside their enemies and the thought pained him slightly as he engaged the boat’s motor and got it humming.

“You did well my son,” the woman said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as they left their former camp in flames. “This is only the beginning.”

Ty smiled at her praise, even as he felt a warm tear running down his dirty face, and he piloted the boat off into the night.