“Mallory,” the voice rumbled. “There’s no escape.”
Derrick reached the hayloft’s trap door and stepped onto the ladder’s first rung when Mallory noticed movement through the cracks between the floorboards. She glimpsed the creature beneath them, but before she could issue a cry of warning, the whole loft began to disintegrate around them.
Huge fists punched through the boards with explosive force, obliterating tire-size sections of the floor. Chunks of demolished wood flew to the barn’s ceiling then rained down again in a shower of splinters and nails.
“Jesus Christ,” Derrick shouted.
Still clutching his arm, Mallory yanked him backward as the ladder ripped away in a dust cloud of destruction.
They made a fast retreat to the corner where the couch and chair had been. Mallory felt heat spreading across her entire right side. When she glanced in that direction, she discovered the flames from below now reached level with the loft, climbing higher each second.
“Oh, shit,” Derrick gasped. “What now? What do we do?”
“We’re going to have to jump.”
Derrick shook his head. “No way. We’re like twenty feet up, and that thing’s right below us.”
Mallory could hear the golem-monstrosity moving beneath them again. Derrick was right; the second they hit the ground they’d be finished.
Then it came to her. “The silo,” she shouted.
Derrick opened his mouth to reply, but something drew his attention to the center of the barn before he could speak. Mallory followed his gaze and saw a huge burning mass suddenly elevate into view.
Every muscle in her body tensed.
The creature had seized the burning couch in both hands and raised it above its head. Dark clouds of smoke spewed into the rafters while a shower of embers ignited the flammable material of the monster’s mismatched composite, setting its entire body ablaze.
“Look out,” Mallory screamed.
The creature heaved the flaming couch, and they vacated the area seconds before it crashed down where they’d stood. Sparks and burning hunks of fabric scattered in its trail. It slid into the corner and collided with the other items, dispersing flames to the other pieces of furniture and up the walls.
Mallory looked on in horror. The blaze fed, growing in size.
“We’re dead,” Derrick wailed. “This thing is going to waste us!”
“No we’re not,” Mallory yelled. “We can swing across on that.”
She pointed to where the rail-mounted rope and pulley crossed the center of the room.
“There’s another loft on the other side. If we can get across, we can climb down and escape out the silo chute.”
Derrick searched the surrounding area with wild glances, appearing hesitant at first. Then another blazing item—the armchair, perhaps—flew into the loft and smacked the ceiling before slamming to the floor.
Derrick darted away.
Black moths of ash fluttered through the air behind him as he ran to where the slide’s rope was wrapped around a wall hook. He untied it and rushed for the ledge without even looking back.
“Derrick!” Mallory screamed.
She sprinted after him, a vicious fear suddenly tearing at her resolve. She jumped from the loft’s edge a full second after Derrick went airborne and caught the rope just below his hands.
The two of them soared across the open area above the horse stalls, passing clear of the flames reaching from below. The runner wheels screeched along the old track overhead, but they kept moving.
The second loft materialized out of the smoke.
Behind them, Mallory heard the fiery demon giving chase.
Less than five minutes had passed since the gunman entered the barn, and every second of it had been agony.
Tim hissed when another corroded steel spike cut into his skin, skin now slick with blood from numerous lacerations. Groaning, he forced himself to breathe through the pain and keep working.
He had no other choice. He had to help Mallory.
Tim shifted another loop of the wire off his feet. It came away with a shred of bloody cloth. He had to be careful how far he pulled or how fast he moved; too much pressure on one side of the entangling wire caused more barbs to bite into his flesh on the other.
“Come on… Come one…
One by one, he slipped the rusty coils down, off his skin, over his shoes.
He had three tight loops to go when Mallory screamed.
Tim let go of the last two circles of barbed wire that still clung to his shins, letting them drop back into place. Instead, he turned his full attention to the concussive blasts of demolition now coming from the barn. It sounded like a wrecking ball tearing through the place.
He sat motionless, staring, listening. Insects settled on his sweat-glazed skin and landed in the rivulets of blood that trickled down his legs, into the fabric of his socks.
Whatever was happening in there had to be the work of something massive, something entirely unearthly this time, and the idea that
He also had the fire to consider now. Tim noticed it the last time he’d chanced a quick glance at the building, and the unmistakable shimmer of orange light appeared far brighter than before. The place was going up. Between that and the rage of demolition, Tim had the heart-wrenching feeling that Mallory was already—
He heard her.
During a lull in the roar of devastation she shouted, “The silo!” Then she and another person dashed across the open loft loading doors, each silhouetted by the firelight.
She was still alive.
And he knew how she planned to escape. He’d explored the barn dozens of times before. The loft. The chute. The silo. It had to be how she was getting out.
The silo’s exit hatch had a locking bar on the outside. It was old but sturdy, and if it was down, they’d be trapped.
Tim pushed the thought aside.
The locking bar wouldn’t be down. He’d make sure of it.
Tensing, he shoved off the last coils of barbed wire without heed to the pain.
Mallory let go of the rope and landed at the barn’s second hayloft, stumbling to a halt beside Derrick.
“We made it,” he cried.
Mallory turned on him and slapped him across the face. “You bastard!” she shouted. “What were you thinking?”
Smoke dominated this less-ventilated portion of the building and she gagged and coughed between words. But she was thankful for it. Had she missed the rope when Derrick tried to leave her, she’d be a burning heap right now.
The idea intensified her anger, and before he could say anything, she swung at him again. This time he parried the blow—
“Get the fuck away from me!” he yelled.
—and punched her in the face.
Mallory’s head rocked back, and for a moment everything went dark. She staggered away, clutching her mouth. Pain stung her lips, the flesh pulsing to her heartbeat. She looked to the hand she’d cover her mouth with and saw blood glistening on her fingertips.
Her gaze flicked to Derrick.
Rather than meet it, the boy glanced at the burning behemoth, prompting her to look. The monster blazed forward, completely engulfed in flames. It shook the building with each stride, punching through the stable walls and tearing away support posts that blocked its path.
