Chapter 9--The Murderer

Heavily alert, we rush to our current camp, moving so hastily we did not take precaution to our surroundings. My body scraped against the cave floor as I tumbled, ripping up my clothes. Everyone else sluggishly rouses out of sleep. Half of my body stings horribly, but I don’t think much of my flesh was ripped up. It better not be. Now’s not the time. C’mon, c’mon, get up; why am I struggling? I have to warn them.

Fakey beats me to the announcement. “Peddito!” They shout. “Peddito is here!”

The others force themselves awake, and strain to overcome their remaining drowsiness as they rustle through their bags for our equipment. Bo huddles towards me as the Doise and Doisette look through their bags.

“God, no no no! I can’t find t-t-the talking phone things!” Doisette sputters in a panic.

“The walkie-talkies?” I shout back, finally on my knees.

“Yes! They’re not here; where are they?!”

“We don’t know how much time we have! Let’s just use our phones!” The Doise asserts, pulling out her and Doisette’s windbreakers.

Doisette pulls out his phone, and Bo intervenes as I’m about to grab mine. “Let’s just use mine. You’re gonna be running.”

I nod in response as Bo does so accordingly while climbing onto my back. Bo’s warmth is deeply disarming; what would be a pleasant hug on any other day is now an invasive sedative numbing my body. Fakey moves out of the wave as I crawl towards the mouth of the cave and spread my wings. I pause for a moment once I hear the Doise toss Bo some clothes for the storm. I watch as Doise and Doisette scoot beside me, anticipating getting on Fakey. Please, hurry up…

“I’m good now. Let’s go!” Bo exclaims.

I slip out of the cave instantly and enter the air, then taking a moment to make sure the others get out.

As Fakey starts ascending the cliffside, Doisette’s voice emanates from Bo’s phone. “You two go scout around for Peddito and start the chase,” he orders, trying to keep his cool.

“I hear ‘ya!” Bo answers.

I tug myself higher into the sky, entering another fight with the howling wind that intensifies with every yard I ascend into. I alter my wings to be larger to help with the brawl. Exhaustion teases my stomach; it’s the last thing I want to feel right now.

Once I get to a decent height, I snap my head around wildly, trying to spot Peddito. I feel Bo’s hands dig deeper into my back, either out of fear or an attempt to resist the wind. It’s hard to see any color so late at night. What am I supposed to look for? Not right now—I know! I know what it looks like. I’ll definitely know when I see it!

I let the wind overcome me somewhat so it can lead me through a simple path along the sky. All I can see are thick clods of clouds and distant cracks of lightning. He couldn’t have reached the others, could he? I quickly survey what’s below me—nothing. I think I see Fakey at the top of the cliff.

“Can you see him? I can’t see a thing,” Bo asks.

“No, nothing yet.”

Doisette screams, “behind you! He’s right—”

A large force, more fiercer than the storm entrapping us, shoves me from below, breaking my flight and putting me in free fall. As I tumble downwards and Bo’s screams echo through the sky, I catch a glimpse of Peddito haunting the air.

“Noisette!!” Bo shrieks in the distance.

I thrash around in the air in a desperate attempt to get my footing back before opening my wings and getting caught in another current. I obey its direction to get a better picture of the situation. Bo’s just a dot of light at afar. He’s flying around wildly, but the movement is too specific for it to be a result of the wind. Peddito’s flying in place, unmoved by the sky’s hollering channels, its sight locking in on the darting angel. Fuck, it’s probably finding a good time to strike; I gonna help.

Back to fighting with the wind. I thrust myself forward, the wind favoring my situation and allowing me to swiftly curl into the scene.

“Bo!”

Bo turns towards me and stops for a moment as I make adjustments to align with them. Just feet away I witness Peddito scrunching up its legs as it goes for the kill. Inches away and its talons are stretching towards me.

Fuck! My leg! He got my leg! The cold rain burrowing into my cut amplifies the sting, forcing me to whale in agony. God, stay focused, stay focused. I look down to see if they’re in my arms.

“Thank you,” Bo breathes quickly, shaken up. They snare onto me once again.

I look behind me and see Peddito quickly gaining on me, his scowl deeper than any apex predator could adorn. At least they hunt for survival.

I really can’t fight against this thing. It’s flying with no trouble, like the currents are working with it, pretending to be nature. The forest!

I dart downwards, gaining speed as I enter the forest. The wind weakens, but I’m rocketing through the littered corpses of behemoth trees. I can’t slow down; I have to work with them. I make sharp spins and turns as I navigate through the debris, struggling to get an idea of where I’m at in the forest.

“We’re in the forest. We got some distance from Peddito,” Bo announces to Doise and Doisette.”

“We found a landslide spot. When it’s time, lead Peddito to the shallowest part of the cliff.”

“That one part with the two trees on the top?”

“Yeah.”

“Got it!”

Just keep flying. Keep going. Follow the plan. Keep going. Keep going. Keep—

“COME BACK!” Peddito yells at an intense volume, the wind carrying the order to every crevice and flooding my ears with the dreadful burst. It dazes me, the yell echoing through the air and my body weakens for a brief moment, careening me towards a large branch. Bo pushes against my arms, forcing my loose body downward as I become more alert. We narrowly escape being hit and I overcome my weakness. I can really feel my body giving out. Don’t think about it. Keep going.

The trees are thinning out a bit. I think I see the bog in the distance. Looks super flooded, as if everywhere else wasn’t littered with huge puddles. The puddles below me become larger and numerous, gradually fusing into one large lake that has submerged the entire bog.

“Bo…” Peddito beckons.

The trees can’t hide us anymore.

“Bo…”

Bo and I turn our heads to the sky.

“BO!!”

Peddito swoops from above, the wind screaming as it gets torn apart. He keeps gaining on us; there’s no way I outspeed him.

“I know of your misconduct! It’s written on your fingers, your veins, your shattered mind!”

Bo is shaken up, but is attempting to stay stable. “We just passed through the bog,” Bo informs Doisette.

“Hurry over here! The landslide’s really building up!”

God, I’m really giving out. Am I going fast enough? Go faster. Keep going. I turn my head. Peddito’s some feet behind me, but is being held back by the winding woods it’s bursting through. Don’t get cocky.

“You’re cowering,” Peddito continues, “you mooching lamb-wearer. Stop hiding! This is only nature! I need you!”

Bo does his best to curl into himself. The trees are thickening up more. I should be at the trap once everything starts clearing up. It’s hard to tell. The storm has been wrecking up the place a ton, so I can’t really tell where I am.

“Your stench is a result of your doing, your body, your heart! To reject me is to reject logic!”

I can feel their outlines quiver in my grasp like a numbed limb. The trees are thinning out.

“Hurry, you’re almost there! I can see you guys!”

Keep going. I can see it! I think that’s it!

“A MURDERER! YOU ARE A MURDERER!!” The howl blasts through the air once more, piercing through my entire body. The landslide finally tumbles through, the avalanche of gunk almost tackling me out of the air as I dart towards the ground. I crash into a nearby tree, half of my body laying on the sopping ground. I’m too weak to even open my eyes. I can hear Bo whimpering. Please work, please work, please work…

I feel something approach me, but the hulking landslide obscures the noise of whatever is next to me.

“Oh god, Noisette!” I hear someone shriek on the phone.

I strain my eyes open to see the large beast towering above me. I’m too weak to run. He doesn’t want me, right?

“You killed him, a troubled soul.” I sense Peddito inching closer. “Your murder solved nothing. A creature of nurturing devolving into savagery.”

It’s breathing on us.

“Perhaps you were never capable of good servitude. Here is your sentence, Beauregard.”

I hear a rocketing shriek as some other force topples onto Peddito. I force my eyes open. It’s Fakey! They start to restrain and pull back his wings, snarling at the harpy to intimidate him. Doise and Doisette are hanging onto Fakey, Doisette looking like he’s anticipating the right time to dismount Fakey. Peddito starts thrashing wildly to shake Fakey off. It has no effect on Fakey, but the other two are flung off, with Doise landing closer to Peddito.

Peddito notices the Doise and madly slams its foot onto her chest, forcing all its weight onto her decaying body until audibly shattering her rib cage and collapsing her figure. Her blood bursts a short distance as we all stare in shock. Peddito thrusts its wings to dislodge Fakey and glares at Bo and me.

“You’re next,” Peddito growls.

He bends down to rip off the Doise’s head, flinging dead flesh and blood as it throws its head upward. It leaps into the air and flies away, carrying the Doise’s corpse with it.