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“Wow, that’s…. that sounds exactly like Dobbs to pull some shit like that. But wait.” I gripped the sleeve of his jacket. “Shouldn’t they know we’re here then? You had to have told them something when I crashed.” My pulse quickened at the realization. Maybe… they were coming… or… the look on Valik’s face made me realize that wasn’t the case.
He shook his head and scrunched up his lips. “After you crashed, I was able to send one message saying you were in an accident. But Ryzen was quick to handle everything. We went to the airstrip and he took our phones right away. No contact with anyone. I couldn’t even tell if the message even went through.”
“Fuck.”
He scrunched up his nose. “Yeah, fuck.”
We got to the shack, a million thoughts running through my head. One was that Valik didn’t deserve any of this. Dobbs was an asshole and needed to get his ass handed to him.
Valik opened the door to the shack and looked around as I peeked over his shoulder to see for myself. It was empty except for a few planter pots. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I looked back where we had just come from.
Nobody followed you.
I tried to shake off the uneasy feeling that was creeping up my spine. There was loose dirt around the edge of the shack where it looked like somebody had recently disturbed the area. I dug my shoe in it, and the soil moved easy enough. “Valik, come check this out.”
He kneeled down and moved the dirt around with his hand. “Yeah, it looks fresh. Maybe something is buried here.” He took off his jacket, and I handed him the metal spatula I had stolen from the kitchen that morning. He raised his eyebrows, his lips curling at the sides. “What the hell am I going to do with that? Make dirt pancakes?”
I swatted him on the arm and chuckled. “It’s to dig with, you big moose. Not like we could just walk past Ryzen with a shovel, now could we?”
Valik’s back shook with laughter. “You are so weird, Nova. Go grab me one of those branches.”
I grabbed two thick branches, handed them to him. I kneeled down next to him, using my spatula to dig through the ground. The soil was completely loose, so within minutes we had uncovered a hole about one foot deep.
“There’s nothing here.” He sighed and I bit the inside of my cheek.
“It was worth a shot.” I leaned back on my heels and wiped my forehead. Damn, I had really thought my phone would be out here. Why else would Ryzen walk out here with a shovel? Maybe he’d been digging my grave. The thought sent a shudder through me and I rubbed my hands against my thighs. Valik pushed dirt back into the hole, and my head snapped in the direction of the sound of a tree branch cracking.
My hand flew to my heart as a small squirrel ran up a weeping willow and bounced from tree branch to tree branch. That little fucker had scared the crap out of me. Something at the base of the tree gleamed where the sun hit it, and I elbowed Valik.
“Look.” I pointed, and we both walked over to the tree a few yards away. At the base of the tree a nail was embedded; it looked intentional. A little red ribbon was wrapped around the nail in a bow. My eyes widened and I turned to Valik. “That’s suspicious.” The grass just below the nail was dead, and when we looked closer, I realized that the earth had been moved not only there, but in another spot a few feet away.
He nodded and grabbed the spatula from my hand. We both were frantic as we dug in the first spot, my hands trembling the deeper we got. With only one good arm, I was doing very little to help him. It was the thought that counted though, which was what I told him when he tried to make me stop. His cheeks were flushed, and he stopped digging with a gasp.
“What is it? My phone?” I leaned over and peeked inside the hole he had dug, about two feet deep. There was a fluttery, empty feeling in my stomach and my hand flew to my chest at the sight of what was in the ground.
Bones.
“Oh, fuck.” He leaned back.
I reached down and pulled out the first bone. “Is it an animal?”
He shook his head and moved the dirt around, pulling out another fragment. “I’m no expert, but this looks like a human jawbone.” He held it up, his face twisted in disgust.
“Oh, my God, what the hell is going on?” My body was trembling, nausea rolling through me. “Put it back.” I tossed the bone back into the hole. “Just put it all back. He can’t know that somebody was snooping here.” I rubbed my hands together, trying to get the dirt and God knew what else off of me.
This was a whole lot worse than I had originally thought. We had just dug up someone’s bones. A grave. I scrunched up my nose, the air suddenly too thick. Who the hell was in this hole? A terrible feeling rested in the bottom of my stomach. These bones had been here for a long time. There weren’t any remnants of clothing or anything to indicate the grave was recent.
“C’mon, Nova. Let’s get out of here.” Valik helped me stand. He was sweating profusely, but I didn’t think it was just from the digging.
“Wait, there’s another spot here.” I walked over a few feet and dragged my shoe through the dirt. “It’s fresh.”
He scrunched up his face. “I don’t think I want to know what’s down there.” His voice was low.
“Valik, don’t wimp out on me now.”
We both kneeled and started digging again, dirt flying everywhere as a new sense of urgency rolled through us. The air was filled with tension, which quickly turned to excitement when we got about two feet down and found a black bag.
“Holy shit,” we both mumbled, and he pulled the bag out.
