Jon Fore - Black Water

They met Shannon in the sporting goods department where she was collecting sleeping bags and other camping items. In no time at all, they had a camp set up in a large area between aisles complete with steaks in a pan on a camping stove, a radio, and bright gas-powered lanterns in case the electrical service should happen to fail.

Ethan went shopping after turning the cooking over to Shannon. He collected a complete set of clothing and a large pot to heat water in so they could wash. It had been a couple of days since his last shower, and he looked forward to getting some of this grime and rotting stink off him. He could smell the cooking meat throughout the store so he did not linger.

Shannon was just forking the meat onto a tin camping plate when he returned. He filled the large pot with water and put it on the camping stove to heat while they ate. Kayla was already on her third pack of Twinkies and second can of soda. She seemed more comfortable, more accepting of their situation—that or she had completely gone mad and did not realize their peril any longer.

The radio statically whispered some form of country music, almost indecipherable over the background noise.

Ethan looked down at the radio as he took the plate from Shannon. “That’s not a local station, is it?” he asked almost hopefully.

“No, Philadelphia. That’s why it’s so hard to hear.”

“Well, its music and proof that society continues, at least somewhere,” Ethan replied as he sat on a sleeping bag next to Shannon.

“Kayla, would you like some steak?” Ethan offered.

“No, thank you. I don’t eat meat,” she said in a very adult voice. She washed down her fifth Twinkie with a sip from her soda. She put the can down, kicked her shoes off, and worked her way into a sleeping bag decorated with a square, spongy cartoon character.

Ethan ate his steak in silence, trying to ignore the bum who was trying to explain the living conditions of cattle before they slaughtered them for his meal. Shannon had cooked it a bit overdone on the outside and not quite done on the inside, but it was far and above one of the best steaks he had ever eaten. Twinkies and soda followed the steak along with some of the chocolate ice cream.

“So, we try the other road in the morning?” Shannon asked over the soft sounds of Kayla’s snoring.

“Yeah, you know where it is, right?”

“No…but maybe Kayla does. I only know it is in the direction of Black Water Mountain.”

“I’m sure we will find it,” Ethan said as he rose and went to the gun counter. He found a couple more boxes of 40 S&W ammunition for the handgun and a pump shotgun with a couple boxes of shells for it. It took him some time to get the locking chain off the rifles, but he felt better having a weapon more powerful than the Glock.

When he returned to the makeshift camp, Shannon was washing herself with a dishtowel, squatting nude before the stove. Her body surprised Ethan, her skin so flawless with the exception of the bruising and scratches of the night before. Her back was slender and delicate, ending with a full bottom, topped with lengths of wet blonde hair. Ethan found he was becoming quickly aroused and turned his back out of respect for her as well as what she had been through the night before. He would have made a pass at her had she not been so brutalized—hell, he would have considered her bathing like this a pass at him if not for the rape.

He sat and loaded the shotgun with as much as it would take, then placed it alongside his own sleeping bag. He could hear Shannon getting dressed again, and he waited a bit before turning back. She was briskly rubbing her hair dry with a towel, and when their eyes met, she smiled broadly.

“I feel like a new person.”

“I bet. You look like a new person, too.”

“Thanks,” she replied brightly. “I don’t know if it is because I used to work here or not, but I feel safe enough to sleep, and sleep I’m gonna.”

“You should. I will watch over you two,” Ethan promised softly as he began to wash himself. He wondered if a woman could ever overcome a rape like the one she had suffered and still lead a normal life or have normal relationships. He doubted it but found himself hoping nonetheless.

“Wake me at some point so you can sleep, too; no need for you to be exhausted,” Shannon offered as she climbed into her sleeping bag.

“Sure,” Ethan answered reassuringly.

When Ethan was satisfied with his bathing, he unfolded a chair and sat with the shotgun across his lap. In moments, Shannon was breathing deeply and evenly, finally having found rest. Ethan began to prepare himself for the boredom of sitting in a chair all night and watching other people sleep. The fear was still tight in his belly, even with the sudden arousal of seeing Shannon washing, and he hoped that would be enough to prevent him from falling asleep. If it got too bad, he could find some coffee. If cellophane could keep Twinkies fresh, perhaps a can could keep coffee fresh.

He stood and stretched a bit before walking a circuit around the store, near the windows to see the swirling darkness just beyond and to make sure the doors remained closed. The hateful baying from the mountain now was easy to tolerate in the large store, barely more than a thin whistle from the outside. When his circuit took him to the campsite again, he sat heavily in the fabric and metal tube chair. His head grew heavy and his eyes ached for sleep. He decided he had better find some coffee and a percolator or he would soon be snoozing.

Before he gathered enough resolve to go and seek out some caffeine, the broken music suddenly went silent on the radio, the cracking and popping fell into dead air. The silence was shocking and unnerving at the same time.

Ethan stared at the radio for a moment, trying to decide if it had lost the signal or the batteries had died, but a soft sensual voice eased from the speakers like the warm breath of a lover just satisfied, “Ethan…”

He knew immediately that it was Madison’s voice—that sultry, exclusively female voice, which always seemed to beg for attention. His body was suddenly electrified with both desire and bald fear.

“I am coming, Ethan…” Her voice urged from him his attention. “It was you that I always wanted, Ethan… I was waiting for Abby to free you, waiting for so long… Now is our time; now is my turn…”

“She wants some Ethan meat…” The bum whispered in his sour, rotting breath from over his shoulder.

“Ethan… Come outside where I can see you…”

Ethan reached over and turned the radio off. That was enough for him. He did not even consider getting coffee now, the idea of Madison searching for him, pleading with him to come out and be with him was just too terrifying an idea for him to find sleep.

Shannon found herself running headlong down a dark street, desperate to get away from the animals following her. She did not know what had happened, what had driven them insane, unless it was that screeching call from some animal on the mountain. All she knew right now was those men following her meant to kill her, rip her apart like the bodies she was skipping over in the street.

She had just finished a rather boring day at the boutique, not many customers interested in her trendy wares, when the town seemed to have gone crazy. It started with a simple fistfight, still shocking in this yawn-burg of a town. The police had come, beaten the two fighters into submission and then hauled them off to some barred room somewhere. Right after they left, another fight broke out, this time a little down the street, and this time with a knife. That is when she decided to close the shop early.

She was in the middle of locking the front door when someone threw a child against the plate glass window of her shop. He did not go through it, but slid a bit before falling onto the sidewalk. Shannon boiled with emotion, wanting to help the child, afraid to interfere with someone callous enough to heave a child like that. Before she could make up her mind, the child stood, screamed in unbridled rage, and charged the woman that had thrown him.