Blood dripped steadily from a gash on Aaron’s head. There were what looked like spines embedded in his left leg and it looked like he was favouring it, putting more weight on the other foot. His shirt was torn, revealing an unnaturally muscular body for his age. But the most disturbing part was his expression. Gone was his usual scowl. As if the waves of anger had the opposite effect on him, he looked relaxed, with an almost serene expression.
He motioned with his head. “Follow,” he rasped.
I gave a hesitant smile. “Really, Aaron? Holding your own child hostage? That’s a little ridiculous.”
Aaron stared unblinking at me for a moment, then he unceremoniously wrapped both hands around Jason’s neck. Jason’s eyes went wide as Aaron squeezed.
“Hey!” I shouted. “Okay! I’ll go with you. Just let him go.”
“You can’t,” Nell said, panic bleeding into her voice.
“Let him go,” I repeated, raising my hands in surrender.
Aaron stopped squeezing, but he didn’t release Jason. He made the same motion with his head, gesturing to the door. The message was clear, there would be no negotiating. Can you blame him? You killed his wife.
I exchanged a look with Nell. “I’ll come back,” I said.
Our fears mingled together and I could tell she disapproved. “I’m doing all I can to hold back the Tree. I won’t be much help if you leave.”
“You wanted me to trust you, so now do the same for me.” I stared Aaron down, a hot coal of anger in my stomach. “I’ll come back.”
I stepped forward and Aaron jerked Jason around and limped out of the chapel.
Through the trees and out into the field, I followed silently. We headed towards the dark shape of the barn. No one was shouting now. It was quiet.
What could I do to save Jason? I watched Aaron closely as he limped along. Why hadn’t he healed? I had never seen him do it in front of others. There was some trick to it that he didn’t want others to know about. And all I knew was it involved the barn.
“We’re going to the barn?” I asked.
Aaron didn’t respond. We passed the place where I had fought the three men in the field. Starkly white pieces of antler stood out sharply in the dark. Straw Hat’s body was gone, the tree broken apart.
As we got closer to the homestead, I started seeing bodies. We passed close to a woman lying face down with an axe embedded in the back of her skull.
“Are the neighbours going to be a problem?” I asked, feeling sick.
“No. I killed many of them. The rest ran off.” Aaron’s speech was crisp and clean, an air of professionalism to it. He had sounded the same way when he talked to his employer, with no trace of the accent he usually had.
“You’re not actually from around here, are you?”
“Toronto,” he said curtly. “Ex-military.”
“So you were assigned to this… project,” I said, looking anywhere but the porch.
“I volunteered.” Aaron briefly glanced at me over his shoulder. “Ah. I understand what you are implying. No, this family was not assigned to me.”
The dark feeling inside me was cemented with those words.
“Then you really are threatening your own son.”
Aaron looked down at the petrified Jason. “Does this offend your morals?”
I clenched my fists. “You don’t see him as a person, just a tool. You’re sick.”
Aaron came to the barn door, where a man was slumped against it, a pitchfork in his gut. He kicked the body out of the way and pulled open the door before turning back to me. “Let me tell you something. Every man is born and dies alone. That’s how it’s always been. To think you are the exception is naive.” He looked once more at Jason, squeezing a little tighter. Jason whimpered. “All these connections you experience in the interim, they’re temporary. Distracting cobwebs. You will learn in time not to hold on to them too tightly. Brush them off and there is a chance to achieve something great.” He motioned for me to step into the barn.
I complied, saying, “Is it really an achievement if there is no one around to see it?”
“God will see it,” Aaron responded quietly. Before stepping inside, he shoved Jason away. Then he shut the door and there was a click of a padlock.
The interior of the barn was lit by a few hanging lanterns. The harsh light didn’t reach inside the animal pens, where I could hear the occasional shuffle. I would have expected the animals to be noisy with all the violence outside, but they stayed quiet, as if not to draw attention to themselves.
Aaron’s tattered shirt fell to the ground and I watched him hoist himself into a pen, disappearing from view. A piercing squeal rang out from within. The animals reacted to the sound, going totally still, making the silence complete except for the dull roar of the fires getting closer.
I slowly approached the pen and looked into the darkness. A single hoof poked out from the shadows, quivering. Something moved and I heard Aaron grunt. Then he emerged back into the light. While the trail of blood remained dried on his face, the head wound was gone. He held the spines that had been in his leg, showing me before dropping them to the ground.
I backed up as he climbed back out, focusing on growing a sharp antler out of my forearm. Aaron watched it emerge. Then he turned and walked to the back wall. “You’re like me, Nick.”
“Not even remotely,” I said, heartbeat speeding up.
“Not like that. Your powers stem from the same well as mine. Yet you’re stumbling around like a newly born calf.”
His hand reached toward the gun hanging on the wall. “I want to see some real progress.”
Shit. I started forward.
Then a pulse hammered into my chest, driving me backward, as heavy as a real wave. The light in the room seemed to sharpen and as the shadows grew deeper. Heat spread through my body and my heart beat like a drum, building pressure inside me. Aaron froze, then his hand dropped away from the gun. Instead, it reached for a tool with a crescent shaped blade that hung next to it.
“Ah… Seems I still had some feelings for her, after all,” he murmured. Then he turned to me, turning the tool around in his hands. The sharp light turned the deep lines of his face into black war paint. His muscles flexed beneath his skin. “I’m going to gut you, boy.”