the chamber, then eased the hammer down, the weapon off safety.
'How many rounds did it take you to stop one?' Chester asked.
'Too many,' the minister said tightly.
'Crazy people have enormous strength, don't thev?' Chester asked.
'Yes, so I'm told.'
'And if they were possessed . . . ?'
'It would be awesome,' Wade answered for Sam. He was convinced.
At the Dig, Wilder smiled as he listened to the voice of his Master. He told Nydia, 'Balon put it together about the asylum. He's a smart one. Most intelligent. I would enjoy sitting down with him; discussing things that really matter. Just two well-read men opening their minds to philosophical ruminations.'
'I'd like for him to fuck me!' Nydia said.
'Vulgar bitch!' Wilder glared at her. 'Your brains are located between your legs.'
She laughed at him.
The stench around the edge of the timber was raw, an affront to human nostrils.
'Whew!' Chester wrinkled his nose. 'I've never smelled anything like this.'
The men stood just on the fringe of the timber. A low growl came from the murkiness. Jumpy, Wade grabbed for his pistol. Sam's hand stopped him.
'Wait,' he said, removing the cross from his neck, holding it close to the timber. The Beast screamed in terror and anger, its breath fouling the summer air.
'I didn't believe it,' Wade muttered. Beads of sweat hung on his face.
Sam put the cross around his neck just as another Beast screamed. This one was much closer to the men. Sam could see its red eyes glaring at them. 'Look at that,' he said.
Chester stood with his hand poised near the butt of his .45, hanging butt-down in the shoulder holster.
'I see it,' Wade muttered, edging from the timber line. 'Let's get out of here.'
'Where is your journalistic inquisitiveness, Wade?' Sam smiled. He was rubbing it in a bit.
Wade said, before he thought, 'Sam, don't be a smart ass!'
The minister chuckled. With one fluid motion, he jerked the .45 from leather, jacked back the hammer, and shot the Beast in the face, dead center between its tiny eyes.
The Beast screamed in pain, as crimson leaped from its shattered head. It fell forward, crashing to the ground, just at the edge of the timber, its huge clawed hands digging into the soft earth.
'One less,' Sam spat on the ground in contempt.
Wade threw up his lunch as the stink from the dead Beast filled his head and his eyes took in all its horror. It didn't help a bit when Sam said, 'Think what it must be like in the caves where they live.'
Wade wiped his mouth with a shaky hand. 'Thanks, Sam. I really needed that last crack.'
'I think we'd better get out of here,' Chester said. 'We're not heavily armed enough to fight many of them.'
'Do it slowly,' Sam cautioned. 'Don't run. Walk straight up the hill. I'll bring up the rear and keep an eye out.'
Wade led the way up the hill without any further urgings, Chester behind him, Sam bringing up the rear. Wade's heart was pounding in his chest. He was sweating and panting, and he was amazed and just a bit angry to see his minister so calm.
'Let's watch,' Sam said, squatting down, 'let's see what happens.'
'Sam!' Wade said, exasperated.
'We've got time, Wade. Relax. Give me a cigarette.'
Chester was mildly amused at Sam's calmness. He thought: I can understand how he won all those medals.
'Sam!' Wade repeated. 'We've got to get to town. We've got to warn the others. We've got to call the authorities.'
Sam glanced up at him, amusement in his eyes. 'What authorities do you suggest we call?'
'Why—why—' The newsman was silent for a time, realizing there was no one to call; that Father Dubois was right. They were in this alone.
The men stood on the hill and watched some . . . thing drag the dead Beast into the timber. Wade said, 'We've got to call the government, Sam. I know that for a fact. We have to tell them about what's happening. They'll send in troops to cover the asylum, at least.'
Sam rose to his feet. 'I'm sure you have the number right at hand,' he smiled. 'And the operator will allow your call to go through?'
Wade sighed in resignation. 'Yeah. Right. I feel like a mouse in a box; nowhere to go. All right, Sam, but we can still run—I think. Can't we?'
'We've been all over that, Wade.' Sam fished in the editor's pocket for a Pall Mall. He lit it, then said, 'How many ways in and out of Whitfield?'
'There are still county roads we can use.'
'I don't think so. We're being watched. They would never allow us to leave.' Wade faced the minister on the hill. 'But that's just part of it, isn't it, Sam? You don't
'Yes,' Sam admitted. 'I do.' 'So do I,' Chester said. 'I'm not running.' 'Then think about the women!' Wade protested.
'I have thought about them,' Chester said. And of the elderly. I know Sam has, too. And it makes him just as sick as it does me. If we stay we can't help them; if we run we can't help them. Look, Wade, I've talked this over with Faye. She's afraid, yes, but she said where I go, she goes. Whitfield is our home, and we're not running.' The editor looked at Sam. The minister nodded. 'That's the way it is, Wade.'
'All right,' Wade nodded. 'All right!' He seemed to grow taller; to suddenly have more rage. 'Then let's do it.' The men walked down the hill to the fence.
At the Dig, Black Wilder smiled. 'A most formidable enemy,' he said to the wind, and the wind sighed. 'Yes, indeed a
'Perhaps,' the man said. 'Perhaps.'
The men drove back to town, silent at the start of the drive, for each man's thoughts were busy. Sam, planning the next move, attempting to race ahead of the devil, wondering what was next. Wade, trying to force his mind to digest all that had happened and wondering if they were all just a bit insane? Chester, mentally reverting to the Marine Corps, his mind busy with defense tactics and what weapons he had in the store they could use.
Sam spotted a huge oak tree just off the road. He slowed, then stopped.
'Something wrong?' Wade asked. 'Other than the obvious, that is.'
Sam shook his head. 'Ches, there's a small axe wrapped in a tarp in the bed. Get it, please, and that machete, too. We may as well do this—get it over with while we have the time.'
'Do what, Sam?' Wade asked.
The minister's eyes were bleak. 'Come on.'
At the tree, Sam cut off half a dozen branches, then cut those into smaller lengths, each about two and a half feet long. Using the axe, he fashioned a crude point on one end of the stakes, leaving the other end flat.
Wade watched him work, standing back out of his way, remaining silent. Finally, he could no longer contain his curiosity. 'What are you doing, Sam?'
'You know anything about a Coven, Wade?' Sam whittled as he spoke.
'Almost nothing.'
'Then imagine a circle within a circle within a circle. The outer circle is composed of, in this case, the Beasts. They can fall prey to anything that can kill a mortal. I don't know why that is, I have a theory; because they are Beasts, and human; they do not have the intelligence to grasp the devil's powers. That's my theory, anyway. Inside
