21. Soul Collector

It was a quiet night, which I think a lot of us appreciated. It was bad enough Chazz believed there was a hell demon roaming the woods but it seemed like Jemma was beginning to believe it too. I sat watching her with Knox and wondering what it was she really saw. The other night I stayed in the tent with her and she only kept repeating the same words over and over again it’s eyes, it’s evil, red eyes.

I grabbed a water bottle from the pack and was about to head over when Zach stepped in front of me. “Hey,” he smiled and I felt a tremble in my knees instantly. “Can we talk?”

“S-s-sure,” I stumbled and tried to shake off the nervousness I felt having his hand slip into mine as he pulled me away from the group. We hadn’t had a moment alone since he kissed me. I mean HE KISSED ME! And those lips, just as soft and welcoming as I’d imagined. It felt right; being pressed against him, having those hard muscles of his flex around me and…

…Zach grabbed my face possessively as his mouth devoured my lips, forcing them apart with his tongue. A soft moan escaped my mouth as my heart stopped momentarily, his tender lips sent a jolt of electricity down my spine. He pressed his lips harder; his tongue forcing its way through and I hesitantly and very carefully returned the act. 

The deeper his tongue probed inside my mouth the harder I found it to stand on my own and fell more against his body for support. He moaned again and I felt an instant gush between my thighs and sighed into his mouth before he pulled away. Well that’s one way to still my thoughts! “I’m sorry; I guess I needed that,” he smiled and straightened up my shirt that sat a little crooked from his contact. I guess my body had an idea of what it wanted too.

“No, it-it-it’s fine.” Holy crap he’s a good kisser! I brought my hand to my lips feeling them tingle and could smell his cologne on my fingers. My eyes closed and I felt his arms wrap around my waist pulling me close and drowning me in the delicious male scent that seemed to envelop him.

“I wanted to see how you were doing, you know after what I told you.”

“Hmm?” I asked feeling a little loopy from the closeness of our bodies. He liked talking when I was daydreaming, kinda rude, I laughed to myself and saw a smile grow on his face again as my giggle bubbled through my lips.

“Are you ok, Abby?”

“Yeah Zach. I’m…super!”

“Super? Wow well that’s good.” His fingers laced beneath my shirt and I jumped a little with the heat of our tiny skin-to-skin contact and he used the inching of my step to claim my lips again. I think I could stand here and do this all day long; well given he was here to hold me up. My knees again wobbled and Zach’s arms tightened around my back, bracing me against his chest. “We should probably get back.”

By the time we got back to the camp the others were already preparing to bed down for the night; everyone except Chazz. Jemma had already disappeared inside one of the tents with Knox and I kicked myself for missing the chance to speak to her. Well I guess I can check on her in the morning. She didn’t appear to be in a talkative mood but I was really hoping to pull her out of the slump she was feeling.

The next morning everyone was busy packing up the camp, tossing the tents into their bags, gathering the food and collecting firewood for the next camp we made. It seemed efficient and for the first time in a few days I felt a sense of calm that we would all make it out of here unscathed. “Alright let’s get ready to move,” Zach announced as me and Jemma finished gathering the bags of food.

“What about Chazz?” I heard Evian ask as she placed her backpack on. “Aren’t we gonna at least wait for him to get back?” I watched Zach look over the group and the sudden recognition that crossed his face as he realized that Chazz was not standing with the rest of us.

“Where did he go?” he asked and yelled his name a few times.

“I don’t know man. He relieved me on watch last night. It was about midnight when I went back into the tent,” Roland responded with a shrug. “He said somethin’ ‘bout checkin’ the street sign as he started his rounds. I told him not to go far and last thing I saw he took a seat on that log over there and started talkin’ to himself.”

“Talking to himself?”

“Yeah man, sayin’ something about takin’ care of the monsters, puttin’ an end to the demons hold in the world. It was all a bunch of gibberish and I was tired so I left him and passed out.”

“He was probably smoking last night,” Evian suggested with a sigh. “I mean if he was talking crazy like that.”

I watched Knox pull Zach off to the side and could barely make out all that was being said but I was pretty certain Knox asked something along the lines of “do you think those things got him?” and Zach shook his head. Things what things? Zach tossed the tent bag to the ground and stepped into the center of the group. “Alright we have to find Chazz. If he was out of it last night anything could have happened to him. We split in pairs of two and search the area. Stay with your partner; there’s no telling what might have happened to Chazz. We’ll meet back here in fifteen minutes. Let’s go!”

A year ago a few friends of mine took a trip to Acapulco, Mexico for some fun. On the way down we experienced a little car trouble and all ended up staying in a small hotel in Coyuca. As the night went on Steve and Pete tried to one up one another with their scariest ghost stories of all. Steve told a story about a small river in Coyuca that had everyone on edge.

He said there’s a river, located on the edge of the village that is said to hold the spirits of passed souls. Angry spirits would float along the water’s surface in search of things they’d lost. It is said that anyone who visits the water at night, interrupting the spirit’s rituals would die by the next morning.

Obviously no one believed his story but that didn’t stop the chills from inching up our spines just the same. Shrugging it off we settled in for the night eager to get out of there and back in route to our destination.

The next day everyone awakened to the sounds of Molly’s cries and rushed to her side. She explained that Pete had gone to the river on a dare and when he returned his face was as white as a sheet. When she went to wake him, he was cold to the touch and his eyes were black hollowed craters. That morning was horrible for all us because everyone knew it was the river spirits that took his soul.

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