Council of Peacocks Read Online Free

unlock. Then he
put the gear in neutral and slid back out. “Tonia, take the wheel.
Everyone else, come help. The way it’s lodged, we’re going to need
you.”
    Within seconds, Tonia was craning her neck to
look out the rear window while the other five pushed on the front
of the car.
    She never saw what hit her.
    “Jesus Christ!” Brian screamed as the
driver’s side window exploded. Glass fragments blasted everywhere.
Instinctively, everyone covered their faces and closed their
eyes.
    Josh dropped to the ground. He pulled the
others by their shorts and beltlines until all were lying flat in
the underbrush. Matt wheezed, an asthmatic sound. His body went
through a steady string of spasms. As he stared into nothing, his
lips worked their way around Tonia’s name.
    “Stay.” Josh gripped Jan’s shoulder, making
it an order rather than a plea. He crawled on his stomach toward
the road; each breath was hot and painful. “Please don’t be dead,”
he whispered to himself. He hoped it’d been a rock, a bird,
anything but another of those shards. A shard would mean blood and
death. He got off his stomach when he reached the road, using the
SUV for protection. He opened the passenger door as quietly as he
could and peeked inside at Tonia’s body.
    “Blood and death.” Her neck was twisted at an
unnatural angle. The impact had snapped her spine. A six-inch black
blade – identical to the ones in the tires – had slammed into the
lower left section of her skull. A part of him, a dark part that
spoke to him more often than he wanted to admit, told him to take
the shard out of her head. It was a weapon and he was going to need
it. One thought of Matt and he knew he couldn’t do it.
    He climbed into the SUV and pushed Tonia’s
body back up in the driver’s seat. He crouched down near the floor
and used her body as cover. He wasn’t a big man. Her body wouldn’t
have been much protection for Matt or Brian.
    Josh moved to roll down the driver’s side
window. When his fingers touched glass fragments on the window
control, he realized what he was doing. There was no window
anymore.
    “Brian,” he said as calmly as he could.
    After a moment he heard a very quiet answer.
“Is she…?”
    “Not now. Keep Matt down. Don’t let him see
this. I want you all to stay on your knees but try to push the van
backwards. I’ll steer.”
    “Are you crazy?” Jan said. “You’ll be
killed.”
    “Not. Now. I’m okay. Don’t think about what
I’m doing. Just focus on pushing this thing backwards. Do it
now.”
    He didn’t expect it to work. The four of
them, even Matt, were on their knees pushing the vehicle off the
tree. The SUV shuddered, then, unexpectedly, pushed forcefully off
the tree.
    “Stay down,” he said out the window. “Use the
trees for protection. We know where they are now.” He lied for
their peace of mind more than anything. Panic would get someone
else killed. He turned the key in the ignition. The engine
sputtered and complained. “I need a miracle now. Right now. Come
on.”
    The engine sparked into life. He was in the
middle of breathing a sigh of relief when he saw movement out of
the corner of his eye. He looked into the woods. Three dark shadows
raced toward them.
    Josh yelled out the window. “Get in! Now!”
Maybe it was something in his voice or some sound they heard from
the woods, but they all followed his lead. Still crouched over,
they raced through the side doors. Josh didn’t wait for the doors
to close before he drove off.
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
    For several minutes they drove in silence.
Jan sat behind the driver’s seat constantly watching the woods.
Brian sat beside her drinking vodka from the bottle. In the back
row Matt sobbed, head in hands. Rebecca sat beside him, her hand on
his knees.
    “Please,” Matt said. “You’re hurting her.
Stop for a second. Let me get her.”
    Jan touched Josh’s back. “Let them move the
body, Josh. You can drive better if you’re the