Page 122 of Into the Mist

Blood spurted in a wide arc, washing the eager beefsteak tomatoes while Moira’s body gurgled, spasmed, and fell to the side between two huge, fruit-filled plants.

Mercury felt Karen’s body tremble through their joined hands. She had to quickly swallow the liquid that filled her mouth as she forced herself not to puke.

“You heard what the mayor said. Bury her over there by the potatoes. And hurry up. It’ll be dawn in an hour, and some of the new people at the school are ridiculously early risers.” Amber turned to hand Ron the knife, but the man’s body was wracked with coughs. “Jesus Christ, stop it!” She hissed the words at him. “You’re going to wake someone. Wes, maybe you should finish this on your own while Ron reports to the clinic.”

Ron nodded jerkily and tried to speak, but his cough turned into scarlet vomit. His blood mixed with Moira’s as he fell forward on his face. His legs kicked spasmodically, and then he was still.

“Well, shit. Now I’m going to have to help you bury Ron’s dumb ass, and I’ll probably break a nail. Go get another shovel and tell the mayor what happened. She’ll need to drive herself home while we clean up all of this.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Wes said before he jogged to the exit.

Mercury and Karen ducked back under the lip of the roof.

“We need to get out of here. Now!” whispered Mercury through lips that felt numb with fear.

“I’m coming with you,” Karen’s face was drained of color, but her voice was firm.“Now.”

Mercury led the way back down the stairwell from the roof. She looped the chain around the handles of the doors on the ground floor so that they appeared to still be locked. Then the two women sprinted in their sock feet to their classroom and burst through the door to see Ford stop, mid-pace.

“There you are!” He pulled Mercury into a fast hug. “Stella woke me. Said we were going to go soon, but we had no idea where you two were.”

“Th-they killed her. Slit h-her throat!” Karen spoke through teeth that chattered with fear.

“Her?” Stella asked.

“Moira,” Mercury said as she went to her cot and pulled on her boots. “Karen and I were up on the roof talking when Ron and Wes, Amber and the fucking mayor dragged her into the courtyard. She was duct taped. Couldn’t talk. Couldn’t run. Couldn’t do anything except wait on her knees.”

Ford shook his head and genuflected.

“You were right, Stella. I am so, so sorry I doubted you.” Karen passed a trembling hand across her brow. “They know. She called Moira a green blood. Said they couldn’t let her go because of it, and then—” Her words broke off as she sat heavily on her cot and sobbed.

Mercury went to her and rested a hand on her shoulder as she told Ford and Stella. “And then fucking Amber wrenched Moira’s head back and slit her throat. You know those delicious tomatoes we’ve been gorging on?Moira bled all over them.And she couldn’t have been the first person—the courtyard was filled with bed after bed of supersized vegetables.”

“Did you see the mounds?” Karen looked up at Mercury as she wiped at her cheeks.

“No, I was too busy staring at Moira,” said Mercury.

Karen shuddered and rubbed her golden crucifix between her thumb and forefinger. “There were mounds all over the courtyard—body-sized mounds. It’s where they’ve been burying people.” She looked at Stella. “The mayor said even the green bloods’meatis valuable. She was talking about women—about the bodies of women.”

“We go. Now,” said Stella. “Ford, I know you’re feeling a lot better, but trade packs with Mercury again. We can’t afford you getting dizzy and weak. We need to move fast. Mercury, get that pistol out of your backpack. Is it safe to put it in your jean’s pocket?”

Mercury nodded as she opened her backpack and fished out the revolver. “Yeah, it’s holstered and the safety is on, but it’s better in my jacket pocket.”

“As long as you can access it easily. Ford,” Stella said, “how do we get out of here and back to the truck?”

“We return to the park and keep going past it, heading east. Eventually we’ll come to Willow Creek. It winds through Madras. Three years ago there was a drought, and I used the dry bed of the creek as a hiking trail through town. The creek isn’t dry now, of course, but it’ll take us to where we parked the truck—and on the off chance someone notices we’re gone and comes looking for us, they definitely won’t think we’re walking along the bank.”

“Are we ready?” Mercury asked as she exchanged backpacks with Ford and put the holstered pistol in the deep pocket of her jacket.

Everyone nodded. Stella turned to Ford. “We’ll follow you.”

“Amber said it’s an hour before sunrise,” said Mercury.

“That’s enough time for us to get to the truck and be well outside Madras before it’s light,” said Ford. “They won’t even know we’re gone for hours, but just in case, I think we should stay off the main roads.”

“Agreed,” said Stella. “Show us how to cut cross-country on the access roads, like we did to get to Madras.”

“Where are we going to go? Back to Timberline?” Karen asked hopefully.