A Parthan Summer - Julie Steimle (large ebook reader TXT) 📗

sky, she sighed. And the shapes the pine needles made as they poked into the sky forming more opaque shadows below were just fascinating. She stared at the brown needles that cluttered the ground of soil and rock and dead leaves, with rotten logs that lay along the path, decaying. And all the sounds, from the buzzing insects to the birds calling from above and around, for her it was like entering a world beyond worlds. And the Martian-born girl wished to stay lost in it.

Watching everyone pass them by, Jennifer grew sulky and bored, watching Zormna stare with such child-eyes at everything around her. With a huff, watching the group ahead leave them further and further behind, she at last said, “I can’t stand it! I don’t want to be the last person coming in on this hike! I’m going on ahead.”

“Take me with you!” Stacey hopped up to join her.

Joy winced, glancing back at Zormna who hardly noticed Jennifer and Stacey leave.

Several others passed them along the way. Zormna barely noticed when the wrestlers passed them up, though she did step aside when Damon Pikes walked by with his group of friends. He gazed back at her as if he were contemplating lingering, with the possibility of a romantic stroll with the elusive blonde. But his friends called to him, and he continued on—much to Zormna’s relief. She could still feel chills from their encounter the night before, and she didn’t want a replay. She was still trying to avoid fighting.

Then the Pennington wresting team passed by

Someone whistled.

“Nice panties,” one of the Pennington boys called at her.

“Shut up!” Zormna snapped, taking her eyes from the trees. She searched the crowd of boys as they walked past, looking for who made that remark.

Jonathan Baker sidled alongside and wrapped his arm about her waist. “You know, Zormna, you really shouldn’t be so shy. When we get back home, we can take in a movie. I don’t think my parents will be home for a week or so….”

Zormna shoved him away. “Not interested, Jon—you pervert.”

Jeff laughed from behind.

Joy whispered into her ear with a smile, “Lover-boy is here.”

“Not you too, Joy!” Zormna snapped at her.

Jeff walked up from behind and quickly tapped Zormna on the back. He sidestepped to keep his distance. “You know, Zormna, I saw a side of you I never thought I’d see.”

Zormna whipped her head around and scowled at him. “Not one word from you!”

Defensively, Jeff lifted his hands into the air with a chuckle. “It’s okay. At least your shoulders were covered.”

Zormna picked up a pinecone, weighing it in her hand.

He ducked, hiding behind Brian who was averting his eyes with a blush. Her glare was still fixed on Jeff as he continued up the trail, not at all appreciating the private joke that no one but the two of them would understand.

“Jafarr….”

“Jeff,” he corrected her, lifting a finger as he walked backwards up the trail.

She rolled her eyes then pegged him between the eyes with a pinecone.

“Ow!” He clenched his forehead.

“You are such a jerk!” She looked likely to swear at him worse, but she closed her mouth before she could say it. She couldn’t complete the thought anyway. He exasperated her so much that her mind froze, and all her usual snappy comebacks sucked through the cracks of her brain.

Rubbing his forehead, he grabbed a pinecone off the ground and lobbed it back. “Takes one to know one!”

But she caught it. Then dropped it.

“Uh-huh, I thought so,” he said with a laugh, turning around and climbing up the hill.

Zormna scowled as she watched him go.

Joy stared at her when her brother and his pals had gone. She whispered into Zormna’s ear again. “Oh, my gosh…. You do like him. He is the only one that can really make you blush like that.”

Somewhere behind him, Jeff heard Zormna’s cry through the pine trees. “It’s not like that!”

*

Leaving Zormna behind, Jeff hiked with his friends up the trail, trying to join in the talk about all the things they were talking about—but honestly, he also found the scenery distracting. There were times when he wished he had Zormna’s excuse to be a known foreigner and therefore could stare curiously at everything at leisure. But he didn’t have that luxury. Still, he did lag near the tail end of the hike just like Zormna did. And eventually his friends hiked on ahead, refusing to wait for him. Most of then ran farther and farther up the mountain. He told them to. He said he wanted to take his time and make sure Joy and Zormna made it out safely.

Brian smiled appreciatively—as a big brother, and as someone who liked Zormna a lot.  

Jeff paused to look at the birds, peek at the squirrels and pick at a fallen log that had settled in the leafy forest floor. He felt the rocks with the tips of his fingers and plucked leaves as he walked along the path, strolling with a contented yet somewhat jealous grin on his face. Listening to the air and the sounds on it, he could tell that Zormna and Joy were still behind him. The murmur of their conversation interrupted the quiet stillness of the forest. Mostly, the noise came from Joy who kept insisting Zormna hurry and stop collecting pinecones and interesting sticks and leaves. He made an effort to stay ahead of them. Besides, despite his wish to keep tabs on Zormna’s whereabouts, he had enjoyed the solitude. His former lifestyle did not allow for privacy, and he cherished every second he got now that he could.

Hiking up the hill, Jeff passed several large trees with calloused bark. He kept to the path as best as he could. It was well-marked, though parts of it ran over rocks and boulders. Ahead were switchbacks, going downhill from that point on. He and his pals had barely gone half way, circling only part of the camp. In this part, several large bushes had overgrown a portion of the path, and an alternate route curved to the side of the bush over some rather steep rocks.

Feeling a little tired, Jeff slipped in between the bush and the pine tree that stood next to it and started up the rocky face of the path. He reached for a handhold on the low slope to go up—but arms dressed in blue and orange grabbed him, dragging him backward into the bushes. 

 

 

Chapter Eight: Old and New Wounds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The right to swing your arm ends where the other person's nose begins.”—anon—

 

 

At first Jeff thought some tree had snagged on his shirt, but that was only for a second. Hands yanked him into the rough shrubbery. There were muscles behind the force that seized him, and Jeff understood quickly that it was something human. He tried to fight back. But off balance and alone, he was at a marked disadvantage.

His attacker thrust him behind the bush where he tumbled heavily against a pine tree. It struck hard against the back of his skull and against his spine. Before Jeff lifted his fists to defend himself, someone else’s fist made forceful contact with his right cheek, then pummeled his chest. Another crashed into his mouth. His head whacked against the tree again, and his bottom lip split down the middle. Blood splattered, dribbling down his chin.

Blindly, he swung his fists to get a hit in. But they only came in contact with arms striking at him. He attempted to catch a sight of his attackers for just a second, but the blows to his head had already knocked off his focus. His skull was reeling.

Large arms seized him, dragging him further in. Two sets of arms braced him against a farther tree as his main attacker delivered brutal blows to Jeff’s stomach and face.

Another fist thrust into Jeff’s chest cavity.

“This is for breaking Jared’s knee!” Damon’s voice echoed distantly through the ringing in his ears and the throbbing of his head, like a hollow call of some forest beast. As he jerked to get free from the meaty grasps of Joe and Aaron—or at least that was whom he assumed accompanied Damon Pikes. Every ringleader had their lackeys, after all.

He didn’t get far at all, though, held too tight for him to move.

Damon thrust his fist into Jeff’s stomach again. 

“Bri…” Jeff gasped out, hardly above a whisper. He could barely draw in a breath.

Another fist struck his face. Warm wet dribbled out his left nostril, flecking the front of his white camp shirt with arterial fluid.

*

 “Come on, Zormna! We are the last people in the hike,” Joy moaned. “We’ll get lost if we don’t catch up.”

Zormna lowered her gaze from the trees with a frown. She gestured to the path. “I can see my way. If you want to go on ahead, that’s fine with me.”

“No…” Joy frowned, propping her hand on her hip. “No one should be alone in a forest. Not even super-ninjas from Ireland. You—” She was about to say something more, but she heard an unnatural grunt and turned her head to listen. 

“What was that?” Zormna asked, hearing it also.

They heard another thud and someone groan. Then they picked up voices, thought they were muffled beyond the bushes.

“Maybe someone snuck into the camp!” Joy gasped, clinging instantly to Zormna.

Rolling her eyes, Zormna pushed Joy off and walked towards the bushes on the path near the rock they had to climb over. Somewhere, a pain in her stomach developed. She rubbed it as it throbbed for no apparent reason. She grabbed it, blinked then looked to see through the bushes. It was strange, but it was sensation she had never felt before.

“Joy,” she whispered, “I’m going to check it out.”

“You’re going to what?” Joy chased after her to pull her back, hissing through her teeth. “If there are crazies in the woods you don’t just go chasing after them!”

They heard another thud, a wheeze and a groan.

“He said help.” Zormna started to push the leaves apart, entering inside. “I heard someone say help.”

“I didn’t hear any—” But a louder cry came with yet another thud, and Joy froze. “Let’s get out of here!”

Zormna broke through the bushes, not listening at all to Joy.

On the other side of the bushes, right in front of her, a tall meaty Monroe wrestler stood as if on guard. She nearly bumped into his blue-and-orange shirt. Then she saw beyond him.

Damon Pikes—and he was beating into Jeff like a punching bag.

“You can’t go back there.” The wrestler on guard stretched out his muscular arm to stop her.

“Holy crap!” Joy staggered in after Zormna then jumped back.

“Go back where you came from,” the wrestler said as tried to shove Zormna back into the bushes. “This is none of your business.”

Zormna clenched her teeth and shook her head, stomping into the clearing again. She ducked under his arm. “I don’t believe that. Now get out of my way!”

He attempted to shove her back again as Joy stumbled in and stared at the threesome in the center of the clearing. Joy screamed. “Jeff!”

“I said, out of my way!” Zormna attacked the Monroe jock from below, striking his face with the heel of her hand and knocking him off balance.

He staggered