Dangerous Territory

Dangerous Territory(Joseph Logsdon) Dangerous Territory
By Joseph Logsdon
Robert was definitely lost. He stood in the forest, alone and desperate. How long had he been wandering the forbidden trail? From the start, Robert had been told to stay away from the treacherous landscape. After all, it had killed many people in the past. Being the stubborn guy that he was, Robert ignored all of the warnings. Death meant nothing to him, or so he thought.
It was getting very dark. Somewhere along the path, he had taken a wrong turn. No one was going to come looking for him. For the majority of his life, Robert had been on his own. His mother was dead, his father was dead, and his sister was dead. Robert was alone, entirely alone.
The trail eventually ended. He was stuck, trapped by the cruelty of the wilderness. As Robert took his last step, he felt something wet. It was a horrible sight, indeed. The ground was covered in blood. Just short of passing out, Robert grabbed his stomach. He had never seen anything so barbaric. The blood was human; there was no mistake about that.
Robert gazed into the distance, his suspicions confirmed. Even in the darkness, he could plainly see the dead body. It was stiff, utterly motionless. Robert walked closer, his curiosity getting the better of him. It was a man, around forty or so. He had been stabbed several times in the chest. The knife remained on the ground, left behind by the murderer.
Robert could feel someone watching him. They were in the bushes, their eyes following him wherever he went. Since there was nothing he could do for the poor man, Robert decided to press on. He wandered into the darkness, blindly searching for a way out. More than ever before, he started to worry about his safety. They were stalking him, tracking his every move. For the sake of caution, Robert pretended not to notice.
Just as he was getting tired, a bright light blinded his eyes. The light kept getting brighter and brighter. He could see a shadow, the shadow of a woman. She was small, approximately five feet. She was carrying a cheap, inexpensive flashlight. When he finally saw her face, everything suddenly changed. She was beautiful, looked like an angel. Upon seeing him, she immediately noticed his immense pain.
“Oh, hello,” she stated.
Robert didn’t know how to respond. She was perfect, more than perfect. He had never seen anyone like her before. She was an alien, foreign to everything he had ever known or experienced. She gently extended her hand, a look of sympathy in her eyes.
“Well, aren’t you going to take my hand?”
“Forgive me for asking, who are you?”
“I’m Lucile, though most people call me Lucy. What’s the matter, don’t you trust me?”
“Trust you? I don’t even know you,” he replied.
“Would you like to?”
Lucy placed her hand on his shoulder. She peered into his eyes, and by extension, his soul. Robert didn’t try to stop her; he simply enjoyed the moment. Her rosy cheeks were more than he could handle.
“Now, what’s a handsome man, such as yourself, doing in a place like this? Did you stray from the path?”
“I don’t quite remember. It’s been hours, days, since I’ve seen anyone. It’s been quite lonely,” he stated.
“I can only imagine. Well, seeing as you’re stuck out here, why don’t you come back to my cabin? There’s food, plenty of drink. You could rest, maybe keep me company?”
“Do you have a phone?”
“I came to get away from civilization. There isn’t any phone, unless you count that stupid radio. Hey, I got an idea, why don’t we make a deal? In exchange for your company, I’ll take you back into town. Sounds like a pretty good plan, huh?”
“How long would I have to stay?”
“Two, three hours at the most. Better still, why don’t you spend the night? Come morning, I’ll do as promised. Is it a deal?”
“The way you’re talking, I don’t even have a choice,” Robert replied.
Lucy grabbed his hand and slowly guided him through the forest. The entire time, she kept her eyes on him. He could also feel another pair of eyes, the same pair that had been following him for hours. The cabin wasn’t anything remarkable. It was small, unclean, not to mention stuffy. When she opened the door, dust scattered into the air. It was truly unremarkable.
Not surprisingly, there wasn’t any electricity. The entire place, from the living room to the kitchen, was lit with candles. Robert stepped inside, a look of regret on his face. She was living in the past. The living room was filled with photographs, most of them very old. It was all very strange.
“Nice place,” Robert stated, removing his jacket.
“It’s decent, fairly inexpensive. As you’ve noticed, I don’t have much use for modern technology. I find it so distracting, don’t you?”
“There’s a positive and negative side to everything,” Robert replied, taking a seat on the dusty sofa.
“That’s true, I guess. Now, how about some dinner?”
“You’re a very strange woman,” Robert commented.
“Really? How so?”
“The way you talk, the way you dress, it’s all quite strange,” he answered.
“You say strange, I say unique. Behind this fragile exterior, I’m someone quite different. I left my husband for another man. We escaped, fled to the countryside. We’ve been living here for a long time, Jack and me,” she confessed.
“And where is he now?”
“I wish I knew. He’s been gone for days. I’ve waited, prayed for him to come back. I’m starting to think he’s gone for good,” she cried.
Robert suddenly felt very sick. In all likelihood, the dead body belonged to Jack. From all the evidence he had gathered, it was the only explanation. He would have to tell the truth, regardless of the amount of pain it would cause her.
“I think I know what happened to him,” Robert stated.
“How? Have you seen him?”
“You could say that,” Robert stated.
Before Robert could say anymore, the door suddenly swung open. Jack stood in the doorway, alive and well. With a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, Jack marched into the room. He immediately grabbed Robert and pinned him against the wall.
“Jack, what’s the meaning of this?”
“It was your husband, he found us,” Jack answered.
“Well, what did you do?”
“What do you think I did? I killed him, stabbed him with a knife. It was going fine, until your friend decided to crash the party. I’ve been tracking him for hours. We can’t let him go, not after what he’s seen,” Jack huffed.
Lucy was in a state of absolute shock. She paced the room, unsure of what to do or what to say. She stared at both men for several seconds. Her heart said one thing, her mind said another. In the end, her mind won the argument.
“I’m sorry to say, we can’t let you go. You’d tell, turn us in,” she huffed.
“I wouldn’t do anything like that. From what you described, the guy really had it coming. I won’t say anything, honest to God,” he pleaded.
“I’m sorry we have to do this. You were just at the wrong place, at the wrong time,” Jack stated, wielding the knife in his hand.
The End