Ricky was holding his spear up at his shoulder and he was just about to strike when ice shot through his heart. He realized what he was about to do. At the same time, the pair of figures near the door turned and shouted.
It was a woman standing at the counter. The tail was the stake that she was holding at her side. The curling shape was the cord of the phone.
She screamed when she saw him and recognized that he was about to stab her with his spear.
Ricky tensed his muscles again and drove the stake towards her.
Amber ducked and Ricky struggled to keep his weapon aimed true.
The creature changed direction, trying to follow Amber. It had been laying in wait on top of the counter and was about to pounce on Amber when Ricky arrived. His spear missed the eyes, but hit just above the ear and glanced off.
He thought, it’s way stronger than the one in the stairwell.
That was the last thing he managed to think before it turned its eyes on him and he was captured in the swirling depths of them.
Ricky froze. His muscles were paralyzed and then possessed by the monster as he stared at the beautiful eyes.
Amber scrambled away and then saw what was happening.
The creature was perched on top of the counter, right next to where she had just been standing. It was reaching out towards Ricky with long, grasping arms as he shuffled forward on his toes. His legs were moving with such tiny steps that it almost looked like he was floating forward into the monster’s embrace.
A flashlight came on from behind her, lighting up the scene and broadcasting her shadow as she raised her stake. She rushed forward before the creature could turn its stare on her and paralyze her as well. Her aim guided the stake directly into the thing’s chest. It screeched and thrashed. Ricky fell to the floor. Amber pulled back and stabbed at it again and again, not stopping until it was motionless. Parts of it dripped down the face of the counter.
Liz swept the light around, looking for more of them.
Together, Amber and Liz peered around the side of the counter to make sure that there weren’t any more surprises coming. Alan had pulled the other stake from the door. He was holding it at the ready, standing guard over Ricky as he shook off his paralysis.
“Thanks,” Ricky said.
“Thank you,” Amber said. “I would have been snatched.”
Ricky pulled himself up with the counter, avoiding the sublimating pulp of the deceased monster.
“No luck with the phone?” he asked.
“I couldn’t figure it out,” she said.
Ricky hit buttons and tried to raise the South Lodge on the phone.
“Let’s get moving,” Alan said.
“Give him a chance,” Liz said.
Everyone held their breath when Ricky straightened and gripped the receiver tight.
“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?”
They waited, frozen for a moment.
Ricky broke the silence and said, “If you can hear me, we have an emergency here at the Ridge Hotel. Please send police, fire, and rescue to the Ridge Hotel if you can hear this.”
When he pulled the phone from his ear, they all heard the noisy static coming from it. He left the receiver on the counter.
“Why did you leave your room?” Ricky asked.
# # #
“Isn’t this way longer?” Liz asked.
“Maybe, but I just came this way. I know it’s clear,” Ricky said.
“Fair enough.”
They had two flashlights and three stakes. Ricky was in the lead and Amber walked backwards, bringing up the rear. Alan and Liz had the lights.
“I feel like we’re drawing attention to ourselves,” Liz said.
“Let them come,” Amber said.
Ricky held open the door to the dining room and waited for Liz to sweep the room with her light. They all moved through, weaving a quick path to the opposite side.
“Are you sure that seeds work?” Ricky asked. “I don’t think the garlic was doing anything.”
“The only time I’ve seen one ignore seeds was when it was attacked,” Amber said. “At the very least, I’m certain seeds will slow them down.”
Ricky paused with his palm flat on the swinging door to the kitchen. They all stopped and listened. The sound was coming from the hallway. It was a rhythmic tapping.
“They’re figuring out where we are,” Amber said. “Is there another door to this kitchen from the hallway?”
Ricky nodded.
“Then go fast.”
The tapping seemed to follow them from the dining room to the kitchen. It was coming from the far wall. Alan aimed his light down there while Liz illuminated the area in front of Ricky as he led them to the pantry.
“Grab what you can and get out of there,” Alan said. “All the exits are at the far side. When they come through that door, we’re going to be virtually cut off in here.”
Liz and Amber stormed into the pantry and she scanned the shelves, looking for anything that might work.
“Flour?” Ricky asked.
“I don’t know. I doubt it.”
“Rice?”
“Yes, probably,” Liz said.
Ricky tossed a heavy bag of rice through the doorway. Amber skewered it with her stake and began to throw handfuls across the kitchen. Alan’s light was focused on the door to the hallway. They could hear the tapping coming from there. A moment later, the door pushed inward until it hit the rack that had been positioned to block it.
Amber hurled several handfuls of rice in that direction. They bounced and clattered across the stainless steel and rattled in the sink.
“Beans?” Ricky asked.
“Yes. I think so,” Liz said.
The two of them came out of the pantry lugging bags. Ricky had another bag of rice and a container of sesame seeds under his arm. Liz had a bag of beans on her shoulder.
“Maybe we should close ourselves into the pantry,” Ricky said. “Metal walls—it looks pretty secure.”
“No,” Alan said. “Let’s not corner ourselves.”
The tapping intensified and the rack began to sway. It tipped over, crashing into a stack of metal trays. The
