“Scout?” Ricky asked.
Amber nodded. “Could be.”
She pulled her spear free. Ricky jerked his back, but it was lodged firmly in the former dog’s skull. The whole body came along with it. The thing was much heavier than Ricky would have imagined. He put his foot on the top of the skull so he could…
“Wait!” George shouted.
Ricky spun to see what his brother was shouting about and the dog spun under his boot and snapped its teeth. Ricky tumbled back, away from the jaws. He was still gripping his spear—that kept the thing at arm’s length for the moment, but it was strong. It stood and tried to lunge forward, nearly jerking the spear from Ricky’s hands. George waddled up, lugging a heavy rock from the river. The dog tried to twist and bite him, but Amber grabbed Ricky’s spear too and the two of them managed to hold it steady while George lifted and then slammed the rock down on its skull.
It went limp under the weight and Ricky was able to free his spear.
He took a deep breath and let it out with a shudder, thinking how close the teeth had come to grabbing his boot. There was no telling how infectious the horrible dog was, and he never wanted to find out.
George helped him to his feet and they collected themselves before heading up the trail.
# # #
Just before they reached the cemetery, Amber put up a hand and they all stopped. Something galloped through the woods a few dozen yards from their position. They heard it, but all they saw of the thing was a dark shape darting just past the reach of their flashlights.
“They’re close,” Amber whispered. “I feel it.”
Ricky looked to his brother. George’s headlamp was scanning all around as he turned his head this way and that, trying to look in every direction at once. Then, George froze. Without moving his head, George’s eyes strained to look up and then he locked eyes with Ricky, raising his eyebrows.
The brothers moved at the same time.
They both ducked down and swept their lights upward.
The creatures were hanging from branches and clinging to the trunks of trees, dangling as low as they dared towards the light. Ricky saw one just above Amber and he thrust his spear up, puncturing its soft skull as she ducked. George impaled one that was clinging to a tree. Amber realized what was happening and she spun around to spear one that was about to drop down from a branch. A couple escaped back up into the canopy, dodging from the beams of the lights, but they got several. Once killed, the creatures dissolved rapidly and then the remains practically evaporated before their eyes. George stared down at a smoking puddle.
“That was close,” he whispered.
“He has an army,” Ricky said.
“No,” Amber said, shaking her head. “Don’t think of it that way. These are his last desperate attempts to save himself. He’s frightened and he’s throwing out sacrifices.”
“It’s both,” George said. “They may be his last desperate efforts, but they’re definitely an army.”
Amber frowned and looked between the brothers.
“Lead on,” Ricky said.
“Yeah,” George said, nodding.
Slowly, Amber’s frown disappeared and she turned back towards the cemetery. They moved through the trees slowly. This time, they didn’t ignore the possibility of being attacked from above or below. Ricky imagined talons emerging from the leaves under his feet and grabbing his ankle. He tried to tell himself that he would be ready for that—ready for anything—but in reality he had no idea.
Amber circled to the right when they saw the first headstone. It felt impossible that they had just been there hours before. It felt like days or weeks had passed. The whole thing was one long nightmare.
“Look,” she whispered.
Ricky followed the beam of her flashlight and saw that the door to the tunnel was open. When George added his light to the door, it caught something slipping behind. Amber kept circling and pinned the creature with her light so she could stab it with her spear. Ricky and George kept watch to make sure she wasn’t attacked.
“You think he’s down there?” George asked.
“No,” Ricky said. He turned a slow circle. “I think he wants us to go down there so he can corner us. I think he’s waiting up here.”
George gripped his spear tighter and glanced over his shoulder.
“All we have to do is wait,” Ricky said. “He’s going to return here eventually. We’re just going to wait.”
Amber pushed the door until it gained speed and then slammed down over the hole.
She stepped onto the door.
Forming a triangle, back to back, Ricky and George joined her.
They were only there a few minutes when Ricky saw that George was beginning to squirm.
“Be patient, George,” Ricky whispered. “This is going to work. You just have to be patient.”
“It’s just…” George started. “Hold on.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket.
“There’s no reception here,” Amber said.
“I don’t need reception. I have… Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
“What?” Ricky asked.
“I have an idea of how we can speed things up.”
Thirty-Seven: Ricky
After George explained, Amber shook her head.
Ricky had to agree with her. The plan required too many logical leaps. There was no way to know if it would work or not.
“I don’t think you guys are understanding,” George said. “It doesn’t matter what the origin of SE Prescott’s infection is. It doesn’t matter if it aligns with the same energy or not. All that matters is that we will be opening up a vortex. Like I said, the moon is right, or it’s going to be in about eighty minutes. All we have to do is memorize some lines and collect…”
“George, no,” Ricky said. “We already decided to wait here for him. We’re ninety-nine percent sure
