Free You Only Die Twice by Christopher Smith Page A

he and Kenneth did with everyone they eventually murdered.  
    And then
she disappeared.  
    She probably
saw the moose herself and ducked behind some trees.   If that was the case, then she set him
up.   She intentionally hadn’t warned
him.   She let him run straight into
that moose’s path―not to mention its wrath―as if his life meant
nothing to her .   As if he wasn’t
there to serve the Lord.   As if he
wasn’t there to represent the Lord.   Didn’t she get it?
    Obviously
not.
    If she was in
front of him now, he’d take her without Kenneth―who demanded to be
present for every sacrifice―and he’d kill her without hesitation.   Right now, he didn’t really care that
Kenneth would be angry with him.   This was about him now.   He
was the elder.   He was the one who
was nearly run down by a moose.   If
he had the chance―which he eventually would―he’d lift his gun to
her fac e and pump enough bullets into it until it slid off her skull.
    The
moose was gone, but instead of a short run meant to frighten him off, the beast
wanted a piece of him and drove him far into the woods before, after what
seemed to him like an eternity, it gave up the chase and wandered off.  
    He and
Kenneth had been over these woods dozens of times, but who was he kidding?   He didn’t know them as well as Kenneth
thought he should know them.   These
woods were massive.   He obviously
knew the path when he saw it.   And he knew where the wetlands were in association with the path.   But right now?   After taking so many turns and jumping
over all of those fallen trees?   Right now everything looked the same―an enclosure of fir and pine
trees, the crooked skeletons o f twisted dead trees, the brightly colored
seasonal trees, a blue sky overhead, the sun square in the middle of it.
    And no
feasible way out.
    Earlier,
he tried to follow his tracks out of the woods, but they were so jumbled in his
effort to evade the moose, they didn’t make any logical sense.   Sometimes, the tracks went around in
circles.   Often, they criss-crossed
when he dodged the animal.   They
were such a mass of confusion, he couldn’t rely on them to get him out.
    He’d
need to call Kenneth for help.
    He
reached for his phone and first decided to text her.   “You think you won, but know that you
didn’t.   You will die.   I’m coming for you.”
    He sent
it and then dialed Kenneth’s number.   It was a moment before he answered.
    “What is
it?” Kenneth said.
    “I’m
lost.”
    “How can
you be lost?   We know these
woods.   We spent weeks in these
woods.”
    “Apparently,
I don’t know them as well as I thought I did, because when we were studying the
land, neither of us was being chased by a moose.   That’s what just happened to me.   A moose chased me, which drove me into a
place that looks like every other fucking place in these woods.   Now, I have no idea where I am.”
    A
silence passed.
    “Are you
saying you lost her, Ted?”
    “I had a
moose on my ass, Kenneth.   Was I
supposed to just stand there and let it trample me?   Kill me?   Because that’s what would have
happened.   It would have killed me.”
    “God
wouldn’t have let that happen.   You
and I both know that.   Have you lost
your faith?   The moose is
nature.   The moose is an extension
of God.   It would have stopped and
beheld you.   I can’t believe you’d
let her get out of your sight over of a moose.”
    “Well,
that’s what happened.   And if God
separated me from her, then He also will bring me to her.”
    “He will
bring us to her.   Where are
you?”
    “I told
you.   I don’t know where I am.   I ran to avoid it, and now everything
looks the same.   I’m not near any
path.   I’m just in the middle of the
forest.   People do get lost in the
woods, Kenneth.”
    “I
don’t.   Use your maps function on
your phone.   Mark your
location.   I’ll come for you.”
    “You’re
here now?”
    “Of
course,