Chapter 41

“You’re joking me,” I choked, watching Austin on his hands and knees, burrowing through the soft mud. “Ian told you to do this?”

“Yes.”

I knelt down next to him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want Helena and Ryder getting involved.”

“What, like I didn’t want you to get involved?” I said, placing my hand on his arm.

He stopped working for a second to look at me. His pupils were so dilated. As our eyes met, I knew that I should be feeling something for him, but how could I after all this? How could I ever feel something good, knowing what I had done? It was strange but the only person I felt attracted to was the only person who didn’t make me feel guilty.

“Ian didn’t go back the dorm to bury Lexie, did he?” I asked, reading the expression on his face. “What is he doing back there?”

Austin shrugged his shoulders, worry lines still scrawled across his forehead. “He just told me to make sure we destroyed the bones.”

A chill ran down my spine as concern filled my head. Was he experimenting? Was he sacrificing himself? The seconds were ticking by. What we did now determined his fate. I was wasting precious moments of Ian’s life.

“Well, come on- dig!” I cried, grasping the wet soil and throwing it aside. “Faster! Dig!”

Thick grey lumps of clay-like mud filled my hands as I pushed the material aside. The rain had ceased yet the ground was still sodden and squelching. The hole got deeper and deeper. My arms eventually disappeared in the cold darkness. I grinded my teeth and frantically ripped through the earth. I was so out of control. I wanted it to be over so much. I craved it to be over. My bloody fingers stumped something hard in the mud. Without hesitation, I curled my fingers around the lid and tried to rip it out of the ground.

“Hey-” Austin said, taking my hands of the box and cautiously stepped over it. “Slow down, we have to dig it out first.”

“Well hurry!” I cried, scratching at the mud and pulling it away from the dark wood underneath.

After a few exhausting minutes, we’d successfully dug the coffin into a ditch. There was now plenty of room to lift it out of the ground – but neither of us had the nerve. The cold wind chilled our backs as we leant forward over the edge. A bead of sweat ran down my temple as Austin and I looked down at the coffin and then at each other.

“How do we completely destroy bones without leaving any trace of them?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Is it even possible?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “How long do you think he’s been down there?”

“Since 1903, I guess. Surely the bones would have decayed by now?”

I gulped. “There’s only one way to find out.”

In unison, Austin and I reached for the lid of the coffin and held onto the cold wood. Looking at each other for support, our hearts thudded deep inside our chests. The last thing I wanted to see was a juicy, half rotted corpse, lying there in the darkness. Who buried him out here? Why would you bury someone out here? Austin lifted the lid from underneath me whilst the questions circled my head. My eyes eagerly gazed inside the dark hole before my brain even acknowledged that the coffin was open. A foul stench filled the air around us. The tension built pressure in my skull in particular. I could feel a strained stinging sensation hit my eyes as the blood rushed to my head and my vision became blurry. My heart stopped for a split second and then pounded against my ribcage. I squirmed uncomfortably at the smell and pushed myself backwards.

Images of the empty coffin, except for the multiple silver blades, thrown into the woodwork that by right should have fully decayed by now, lingered in my mind. Austin slowly reached in, groaning as he struggled to pull out one of the knives.

“They’re Mina’s missing knives. Remember when Helena’s painting got ruined?” he said, holding one up.

I nodded, watching the moonlight bounce from the blade. Blood dripped from the edge as he tilted the handle around to read the writing carved into the steel.

“We’ve got a problem.”

“Other than there are no bones?”

He turned to look at me and then handed me the knife.

“What?” I said, cautiously taking it from him.

On the handle, someone had scratched something in the plastic. The outline of the name was sharp as I ran my finger across the engraved word in the dim light. Austin was already pulling out another knife as I read the name upon the black handle. Lexie.

“I-I don’t understand.”

Austin handed over another one. “Rain.” He handed me another. “Mina.”

I balanced the three knives in my hands, well aware of the blood either dried or dripping on each one.

“It’s the knives used to kill everyone. Look, they’ve all got their own labels.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I gasped. “Mina drowned-”

“Bryony’s knife-” he interrupted, holding the long carving knife up into the air.

I snatched it from him, glanced at the label and then to the dark tree line from where we just came. “No, no we just left Bryony. How can someone take a murder weapon, dig up a grave and bury it in a matter of minutes?”

“We’re not talking about someone,” Austin explained. “We’re talking about something.”

He took out another knife and lifted himself to his feet.

“Whose is that?”

“No ones.”

I stood up and approached him. “Don’t lie to me.”

There were no more knives in the coffin. Austin’s eyes gleamed as he turned back to look at me. He looked as if he was about to cry.

“Is it yours?”

He slowly shook his head.

“Is it mine?”

His eyes gazed down at the name as he decided whether or not to tell me. Aware of the time, I moved closer towards him. “I have a right to know, Austin. You have to tell me. Tell me, Austin! We’re running out of time!”

In panic, I went to grasp the knife. Austin flinched and moved the blade away, catching my arm. Blood poured out of my wound onto the knife as I cried out and fell to the floor, trying to cease the pain.

“Kira! I’m sorry!” Austin apologized, dropping onto the floor next to me.

Pain exploded in my infectious arm as shooting pains ran through my veins. Seeing the excessive bleeding, he threw his jacket from his back and ripped off the sleeve, using his foot as a weight. I wrapped it around myself frantically as the dark liquid oozed onto my clothes. Suddenly, I caught sight of something that made my muscles lock in shock. Austin had dropped the knife onto the floor and right in front of me, the handle revealed the name that he had tried to hide from me.

“Ian,” I read out loud and turned to him. “Ian? This is Ian’s knife?”

Austin instantly seemed to have the shakes. He desperately scrambled to get the knife away from me and physically turned my head to look at him. “Listen, it’s too late. We have to go, right now. The blood is on the blade-”

“That isn’t his blood.”

He froze. “I know what you’re thinking but please, take Laura’s advice.”

“Laura’s advice? I won’t leave him out there to die, Austin!”

“You can’t save everyone. I know it’s hard-”

“Get away from me!” I snapped, pulling away from him and standing back up. “This is nothing. This was an accident. This isn’t Ian’s blood!”

“Who says it had to be? Look, there’s nothing we can do.”

“You talk as if he’s already dead. You talk as if I’m used to watching my friends die!” I screamed, moving as quickly as I could into the woodlands again.

“No!” Austin yelled, running after me.

We got as far as the third tree before he caught up with me and grasped me by the waist and tried lifting me. “Kira, you’re not thinking straight. You’re not going back-”

“Let go of me!”

Falling to the floor, we both scrambled to our hands and knees as quickly as we could. Suddenly, a pale face appeared amongst the dark branches of the woods. We froze in perfect unison. There was a momentary pause when I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me. The white face turned in our direction and grinned. Panic struck me in the pit of my stomach. The Malevolent slithered in our direction, locking its eyes on mine in particular.

“Ki,” Austin whispered hoarsely, rising to his feet. “Come on.”

He slowly held my hand and pulled me back the way I came. I couldn’t move. I was so scared. My heart pounded. Time stopped.

‘He’s here. He’s here,’ my head screamed. ‘He’s come for you.”

My throat became so incredibly dry. I couldn’t scream even if I wanted to. Pressing myself against the tree Austin had guided me to, I tried to calm down and breathe.

“What do we do? What do we do?” I choked, my voice high and squeaky.

Austin poked his nose around the thick bark and then dragged me back towards the clearing. Before we had chance to hide behind another tree, the wind whistled in my ear and the dagger flew in between us. I screamed as Austin and I threw ourselves onto the ground in separate directions, just as the knife hit the tree in front of us. The blood ran down the dark bark to the soil below. Ian’s name stared at me in the eye. I felt sick.

Twigs snapped as the heavy boots of the Malevolent approached. My stomach turned. I struggled to get to my feet and pull out the knife from the wood.

“Kira, come here-” Austin cried, seeing what I was doing. “Leave it!”

I had to be strong. I had to be brave. Too many people died because of me. I needed this knife. Propping one leg on the tree trunk, I desperately pulled on the handle.

Austin attempted to hit the Malevolent in my defence. As he threw his fist towards him, the Malevolent seemed to separate like air, sending Austin crashing to the floor behind him. He tried again but it was no use; he went right through the Malevolent’s body every time. A twisted grin spread across its white face the entire time as if Austin wasn’t even there.

To keep my mind off the pain as I pulled, I opened my mouth and let out an echoing yell, concentrating on nothing but the knife. Finally, I jerked backward with the dagger fully in tact and clasped in between both of my fists.

A yelp escaped my mouth as I turned back around to see the Malevolent’s face staring right at me, only a few feet away from me. I stood my ground, bottling all my fear and raised the knife.

“Get out of here, Austin.”

“No.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll catch up. Get across the grave whilst you have to chance.”

“No!”

“God damn it!”

“Kira, I won’t let you take this on, on your own.”

“I don’t have a choice. Please, go.”

“But-”

“Just GO!”

With that, the message seemed to sink in and hesitating, he ran towards the clearing, claiming to bring help. No one would believe him in that state though.

I turned my attention back to the Malevolent once again. The cloaked figure slowly walked towards my shaking dagger, torturing me with the belief that the chase was over. I felt like running but my legs wouldn’t budge.

“W-W-Why?” I whimpered. “W-Why are you doing this to me?”

He didn’t answer. The sheer power this hideous figure had over me was overwhelming. Terror stumped every emotion in my body. Soon, that face was only a matter of inches away from me, and I still hadn’t moved. Revealing its rotting teeth, the Malevolent scorned at my knife and hit me so hard across the face I flew back a few feet into the mud.

My jaw clicked and an explosive pain filled my head. This was it. I’d lost. I was already beginning to drift away. I could feel my finger tips disintegrating. Suddenly, through my blurry eyes, I saw a small figure running towards me.

“Stop!” a familiar voice cried.

Laura, with arms spread out widely, stood strongly over me to protect my battered body. The world spun around me. I couldn’t control the fear that had taken over me. As soon as Malevolent saw Laura, he studied her in confusion.

“Get up, Kira. Go find Ian. I can’t hold him long-” she said, her voice distant.

I stood up, grasping my cheek in pain. Laura would be fine on her own. What more could he do to her? I had to follow her every word. In the blink of an eye, I was running as fast as I could into the woods. I had another chance. I had another chance to save Ian. I longed to see his face again. It was almost over. This whole nightmare was almost over. The pain, the suffering, the fear- it would all be a distant memory come next year. I just had to run- run like the wind that so cruelly whipped my cheeks. The sky was so dark. The world was so brutal. There was nowhere to hide. I couldn’t go back on this now. It was now or never.

I had to keep moving. I had to keep believing. I had to keep breathing…

To be continued...