The Last One(83)

I hear a soft cry, a groan so pitiful, and that’s when I notice Cliff’s fingers are twitching. The man with the machete jutting from his spine isn’t dead. A whiff of shit reaches my nose. It’s not death I’m smelling but dying.

Brennan’s hand is on my arm. He’s shaking; we both are, I think.

A scraping sound from behind us. I pivot unsteadily, taking Brennan with me.

Harry is crawling toward us, dragging the leg I smashed. I feel a coyote’s skull caving and I nearly fall, but the boy is there and I keep my feet.

Brennan, softly: “We’ve gotta get out of here, Mae.”

Harry’s voice is a rumble of threat and grief, and at our feet Cliff’s groan is getting louder and his head is moving, rolling back and forth. He’s a feral dog, maimed in a misfired trap. He’s a coyote and I’m still swinging.

Harry is shouting. I hear his tears for his brother. He inches toward us, a throbbing, uneven blur.

“Mae.” Brennan’s arm slips around my waist, and I allow it because I feel enormously unstable.

“Stop!” Harry yells. We pause for this word that used to mean something, mean everything. I wish for Harry to stand with a flourish, to grab Cliff’s hand and lift him to his feet, for the two of them to bow and say “Gotcha.”

How badly I wish.

But neither brother can stand and Harry doesn’t seem to know what to say; maybe he didn’t think we’d wait. He’s just staring at us and thoughts of the show keep pounding my awareness even though I know they’re false and a baby’s cries echo through my skull.

Harry continues to stare at us—or maybe at his brother, I can’t see his eyes—and I hear Cliff’s breath, ragged, as his body fights for every last second of existence, despite the pain, despite the inevitable end. Clinging to a useless life, as the human body is wont to do.

Listening to his rasp, understanding strikes like a blade through my heart.

My husband.

If. Then.

The outcome of this logic puzzle is inescapable.

Harry has pushed himself up onto his good knee. He grabs a shopping cart and yanks himself upright. His ascent looks staged, the way the light is rising behind him, and I need it to be. The sky is so bright; I’m searching for a drone. Then understanding reasserts itself, fast and crushing, and Brennan’s tugging on my arm with urgency, taking a step. All I can think is maybe I’m wrong again, because I want to be, and I’m confusing myself and I don’t know which memories to trust. I’m searching for something concrete and my thoughts settle on a pot of lentil stew. I made it, I know I made it, it’s sitting inside, and for a moment the existence of that half-full pot is the only thing in my recent memory that I know to be true.

Absurdly, I find myself wanting to offer the lentil stew to Harry and Cliff, as though by sharing this one true thing with them I could undo the world and transport myself home; I’d be there with my husband and he’d be alive and I’d be the me I used to be, and the last month would become less than a dream, less than a thought—it never would have happened. But then Cliff begins to scream and there’s liquid in the scream; blood or bile, gurgling beneath. Harry takes a step toward us, then falls back to the ground at his brother’s side. My throat is paralyzed, I have nothing to offer, and Brennan’s leading. We turn our backs on the maimed brothers and hobble together toward the road, in the only direction I know to go.





In the Dark—Week One Down. Reactions?

Why did they make her get the wallet? That was twisted. Admittedly a bit of a slow start, but it’s official: I…can’t…stop…watching!

submitted 29 days ago by LongLiveCaptainTightPants





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[-] HeftyTurtle 29 days ago

There’s some interesting stuff going on, I’ll give them that much. I’d like to see a little more attention paid to the science teacher next week. I think she’s the dark horse.

[-] HandsomeDannyBoy 29 days ago

Agreed. I bet she makes top three. Preacher’s going to run off the rest.

[-] MachOneMama 29 days ago

How do they get away with all the killing? I’m surprised PETA hasn’t stormed the set.

[-] BaldingCamel 29 days ago

I’m sure they have all the necessary permits.

[-] CoriolisAffect 29 days ago

Maybe they have. It’s not like they’re showing us everything. I texted my friend who’s on set but he keeps replying “confidentiality clause.” Lame.

[-] Coriander522 29 days ago

It was fine for staying in on a Friday with the beginnings of a cold. Don’t know that I’ll go out of my way to keep watching once I feel better.

…





20.


Exorcist, Biology, Engineer, and Banker trickle into camp long after dark, limp with exhaustion. They failed the last Challenge so badly they had to be picked up in a van and driven back to the others. Their ride will be edited out, their failure will not. If the fourth episode of In the Dark were ever to air, it would have opened with a shot of fictitious Eli Schuster limping through the woods, a bloody rag tied around his forehead. A reminder, fading to mystery.

All of the remaining contestants are gathered around a fire.