Cades Cove 01 - Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror (46 page)

He marveled at how this teenage boy appeared a near-dead ringer for his eldest son. Even the kid’s mannerisms were similar. Coupled with the fact Allie Mae wore the same gown, it all made sense. He now discerned the wraith’s gown bore tears and buttons missing, which had previously escaped his notice. Obviously, the bonnet and shoes would disappear before the night ended. Could the innocent looking young man be capable of the powerful hatred and violence that at some point destroyed her face? He didn’t think he could handle witnessing such a crime, especially from someone who so closely resembled Tyler.

She carried a bouquet filled with honeysuckle and lilacs and attempted to give it to Zachariah.

“
Why don’t ya wait on that,” he told her, seemingly pleased by the gesture but anxious to lead her down to the stream. “I’ve got somethin’ to show ya first!”

They moved down the side of the ravine opposite David and crossed over toward his hideout. Eerily, the two followed the same course he and Miriam had taken when they first visited the ravine. Allie Mae held her gown as they stepped on flat stones above the stream’s surface to get to the other side. As she did, part of the bouquet fell into the water. She tried to reach down and grab the flowers and almost fell in. Zachariah caught her, guiding her up the bank to where the bench sat.

“
My, oh my!” she exclaimed. “Since when did this get here?” She walked over to the stone slab, rubbing her hand against the top, admiring it under her lantern’s glow.

“
Billy Ray helped me set it up,” he said, which drew a scornful look from her. “I needed his help when I first found this big ole rock, in the brush over yonder.” He pointed to a spot less than twenty feet away in the darkness, where the woods grew dense. The look on his face showed he desperately wanted her approval.

She studied his face for a moment and then smiled again.

“
It’s nice,” she told him, brushing her hand over the surface to make it clean enough to sit on. “I guess it ain’t like Papa will be any madder if I sit on somethin’ like this after I’ve already muddied my shoes and splashed water on the bottom of the dress Momma made me this past Easter.” She laughed and motioned for him to join her on the bench. Once she sat down she set the lantern on the ground next to her feet.

Zachariah hesitated after setting his lantern to the side of the bench closest to the oak. He wrung his hands together while opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to share some secret, but either couldn’t or didn’t know how.

“
Will ya sit down?” she scolded, playful. “It’s not like I can stay out here all night. If Papa wakes up and finds me gone this late, I’ll get the worst whippin’ of my life!”

Zachariah nodded and sat down. When he did, Allie handed the bouquet to him. He thanked her and brought the flowers close to his face, smiling as he inhaled the powerful fragrance that even David could smell from where he watched them, a half-dozen feet away.

“
The bench’s nice. I’m sure other folks would say it’s handsome too,” she said, while Zachariah alternated between sniffing the flowers and staring down at his feet. “How was Reverend Tillis’s sermon tonight at the Baptist church?”

“
It was all right, I reckon,” he said. “I missed half of it, though, ‘cause Billy said we needed to leave if he was to help me get this set up. How was the sermon at ya’ll’s church?”

“
It was fine. A lil’ borin’, maybe, but Pastor Smith’s gettin’ better…. Set what up?” She eyed him, curious, after glancing around her. “The place to sit, or are ya talkin’ ‘bout somethin’ else?”

Zachariah laid the flowers on the bench next to him, sighing deeply while rubbing both hands on his knees. He stood up and moved over to the tree’s trunk, forcing David to duck further into the brush and overgrowth nearby. Burning up in his coat, he could tell Zachariah overheated in his dress clothes as well. A trickle of sweat coursed down the side of the young man’s face, and as he looked at the trunk it appeared that he closed his eyes and muttered a prayer.

Without turning around, he pulled out a small switch knife from the front pocket of his coat, the blade glistening briefly as he opened it. David worried this would be when the attack happened. If so, he would do whatever was necessary to prevent it, regardless of the consequences to him personally. Zachariah remained facing the tree. He lifted the knife up to the height of his chest and began to carve into the oak’s trunk. It took him a few minutes to finish and then he stepped back, admiring his handiwork.

“
What do ya think?” he asked her.

She had waited expectantly for him to finish, but her reaction surprised David as much as it disappointed Zachariah.

“
Oh, my dear Zach,” she said, her smile fading. She sighed, deeper than the one released by the young man. “Come over here and sit with me.”

Hesitant to do as she requested, his hand holding the knife shook. She took it from him after he sat down, folding the blade shut and placing it inside his palm. She then cupped his hand within hers.

“
I’ll always love ya,” she told him tenderly. “Ya’ll always have a place in my heart. ‘Friends forever’. Remember?”

He looked down, shaking his head in dissent of her words to him. His shoulders began to tremble and he seemed on the verge of tears.

“
Oh, darlin’, don’t cry,” she told him, reaching over and wrapping her arms around him. “I love ya, I truly do. But, my heart belongs to Seth. We’ve spoken of this before.”

He pulled away and stood up, his hands balled in fists as he faced her.

“
Why?”
he demanded.
“
Why
him
and not
me??”

David prepared to jump out from his hiding place when things turned violent. Allie looked up into Zachariah’s face. Calm and unafraid, the compassion in her eyes confirmed the sincerity of the words she just spoke.

“
He’s the ‘one’, Zach,” she said.

“
The one,
what?”
he replied in anger. “Is he the ‘one’ who’s been by yer side since we was youngins? Or the ‘one’ who’s always made time for anythin’ ya wanted to do, includin’ yer witchin’s? God knows what his ma and pa’d think if they ever found out ‘bout what ya often do out here in the mil’ of the night!”

“
And I trust ya to never tell ‘em!” She stood up, her look serious. The warmth and compassion from a moment ago dissolved in her rising anger. “Is this the reason ya brought me out here—to talk ‘bout things we can’t change none?”

“
I’m every bit as good a man as Seth!” he cried, moving back toward the tree and pointing at what David couldn’t see, though he pictured a freshly carved heart with her name upon the tree’s other side. “I can provide for ya! I can give ya all the lovin’ ya need! Ain’t
nothin’
he can give that I can’t, and ya know it’s
true!!”

She stood up and faced him, and the softness in her eyes revealed she fought tears as well.

“
Please, Allie…
please
put my name under yers!” he begged, wiping his eyes with his coat sleeve as his tears began to flow.

“
I-I can’t. I can’t and I
won’t!”
she replied, seemingly offended by his request.

David thought it had to be killing her, to tell her longtime friend these words. He wondered what might’ve happened had she survived and later experienced the terrible loss of her true beau dying on a European battlefield of World War I.

“
Allie Mae, please!”
Zachariah cried harder and fell to his knees.

“
No!”
she shouted and turned to leave.

He fell to the ground, pounding his fists in frustration upon the unforgiving earth. David felt sorry for him. Allie Mae was likely Zachariah’s first and only love until now.

She picked up her lantern and stepped down the bank, and onto the stones leading to the other side of the stream. When she reached the opposite bank she started to climb up. But another man stepped out of the shadows and blocked her path.

“
And where the hell do ya think yer goin’?”

The man’s voice gruff, she looked up in surprise.

“
Get out of my way, Billy Ray!” she hissed. “This ain’t none of yer concern, and I’ve got no quarrel with ya…yet!”

“
I think not!” he replied, laughing meanly. “My brother’s pain
is
my concern, so yer quarrel’s most rightly with me too!” He pushed her back and she stumbled down the embankment. Before she could regain her balance he grabbed her arm, yanking her behind him as he moved back across the stream.

Zachariah sat up as his brother and captive approached, sniffling and wiping his face on his coat’s sleeve again. Allie Mae yelled a litany of threats at Billy Ray, who seemed unaffected by her taunts, focusing only on the task of dragging her up the bank and over to the bench where he threw her down onto the stone slab. The bottom of her dress became entangled on one of the slab’s sharp edges and ripped. Rather than continue her verbal tirade, she glared at him while assessing the damage to her gown.

David tried to get a better view, peering around the oak. But until they reached the illumination provided by Zachariah’s lantern, he couldn’t see the infamous Billy Ray Hobson. Allie Mae’s lantern fell into the stream when her assailant dragged her back here.

A towering man, Billy Ray soon stepped into the lantern’s glow. Ruggedly built with powerful legs and arms, a scruffy beard covered most of his face. Clad in a white short-sleeve shirt open around the neck, he looked like he might have earlier worn a suit similar to his brother’s, with identical trousers. Unlike his younger brother, he wore heavy black boots, like those used by the region’s early coal miners. A shadow cast by his brown fedora obscured his eyes.

“
What are ya doin’ here, Billy?” Zachariah asked him, rising to his feet and moving over to the bench. “This is between just her and me.”

“
The hell you say, ‘lil brother!” he huffed. “‘Seems to me Allie Mae’s got some carvin’ to do, so I reckoned I’d lend her a hand!”

He yanked her up by the arm from the bench with more force than before, and she yelped in pain. Angry, she glared at Zachariah and scooped up the bouquet he left resting on the bench.

“
So, ya told him when we was meetin’ here tonight?”

“
Billy ain’t supposed to be here—honest!” he whined, shifting his anxious gaze from her to his brother and then back again. “He was supposed to help me get set up and then leave! That’s what he promised!” He narrowed his eyes at his brother, who grinned as if amused by the exchange between them.

“
I ain’t got time for this horseshit,” said Billy Ray. “Let’s get on with the carvin’ of my brother’s name, so Seth Sullivan will know who ya belong to when he gets back from the war.”

He grabbed his brother’s lantern from the side of the bench and dragged her toward the tree. She clawed at his hand to release her, and as before, David intended to come to her aid. He moved around the side of the oak and prepared to launch himself at this fiend once close enough. When the older Hobson came within a few feet away, and raised the lantern toward the mark his brother made, his face became discernible. In shock, David drew a sudden breath. Although fifteen years younger, the face he stared at was his own. He couldn’t believe it and moved away from the safety of the tree to get a closer view. Both Allie Mae and Billy Ray paused to look in his direction. She gasped as though she could see him while he narrowed his eyes, as if David’s image was faint and too hard to discern.

“
I’ll have none of yer witchery!” he hissed, turning his attention back to the task at hand.

David could come no closer. Something charged and unseen constricted tightly around him when within a foot of Billy Ray, leaving him just near enough to feel the heat and smell the sour odors of whiskey and sweat emanating from the man, but too far to impact his actions. He panicked at the thought he might not be able to come to her aid after all.

Allie Mae’s gaze remained fixed on David, and she smiled weakly.

“
Woe to ya, Billy Ray, if ya persist in yer effort to forge a lie!” she warned, bringing her attention back to him. “Ya sense this spirit’s presence, but know another far worse is near. His vengeance will be realized if ya fulfill the evil in yer heart!” She raised her chin in defiance.

Billy Ray hesitated, nodding his head as if he believed her.

“
All right, Allie Mae. All right,” he said, pulling her closer to where she leaned away from his foul breath. “There’s other ways to teach a bitch like ya a lesson!”

Fury filled her face and she shook her arm free from his grasp.

“
Don’t ya call me no bitch!”

He chuckled, motioning for Zachariah to continue to stay out of this.

“
Ya ain’t nothin’ but a whore, Allie Mae. Just a fuckin’ sleazy whore!”

“
Why ya bastard!”
she shrieked, and slapped him across his face.

The sound ripped through the ravine, and at first he seemed shocked by her response. But the shock soon turned to rage, and before she could strike him again, he grabbed her arms and threw her down on the ground. He warned Zachariah again to keep out of their feud and then jumped on top of her, pinning her arms under his weight while she fought to free herself from his hold. The bouquet of lilacs and honeysuckles flew out of her hand, with the majority landing next to her head.