The others scrambled over behind her, the sound of hissing growing steadily louder.
“Spread out and brace yourselves,” Adam shouted.
“Oh, God. Oh, God,” Evelyn whispered, turning and looking back out across the lake. The Swarm emerged from the snow from everywhere at once. Golden eyes bored through her from the slick black creatures, trilling straps of brightly colored scales.
She grabbed hold of the horizontal two-by-four standing from the mound of sand and looked to her right. Her eyes caught Adam’s, which were startlingly wide and white in contrast to the blood covering his features. He was similarly poised to shove another long board forward.
“Wait until they’re already on the wall!” he yelled to her. “They can’t see it coming!”
She nodded back to him, already beginning to hyperventilate and unable to form words.
Past Adam, Mare gripped the plank in front of him, licking his lips nervously as he watched the Swarm closing the gap far too quickly. Jill was ten feet past him with Ray crumpled at her feet, pressing his palms to his useless eyes and trying simply to keep from passing out from the pain.
To her left, Darren positively shook as he waited. She could tell by the way he constantly glanced back toward the cave that it was everything he could do to keep from bolting, but he held his position. He leaned to his left and shouted something to April, but Evelyn could no longer hear anything over the hissing. She was able to read April’s response on her lips, though.
I love you, too.
The sentiment hurt Evelyn, her chest heavy in the face of such beauty while the world was crashing down all around them. She didn’t even know she was crying until the cold stung the wet corners of her eyes. What had these two kids done to deserve all of this? What kind of God would allow it?
Beyond April, Missy readied herself, adjusting and readjusting her grip on the wood. She looked like a little girl who should have been more worried about what she would wear to the prom than whether or not she would have the strength to push hard enough to drive the spears through the opposite side. Phoenix was at the very end. Of them all, he appeared the most calm. He merely stared out at the monsters barreling down upon them, a pillar of strength.
She turned back ahead and felt her breathing cease. They were close enough now that she could see the glinting of metal armor and scales, claws on the end of elongated fingers, muscles bulging with the exertion. She could see past rows of teeth and deep purple tongues into the gaping maws of their throats.
There had to be at least a hundred of them.
Ten yards and closing fast.
“Not yet!” Adam shouted, but his voice was overcome by the thunder of footsteps and the frantic hissing.
Five yards.
Jake trembled against Evelyn’s chest, his small body tightening as he screamed.
Evelyn could see the black shapes marbling their golden eyes, the spittle flying from their savage jaws. And she could tell that they clearly saw her as well, the hunger and rage in their eyes burning like embers.
An inhalation finally reached her lungs and she released it as a scream, throwing the entirety of her weight against the two-by-four. It slid forward until it met with resistance and a wash of warmth rained down on her from the other side. Sinewy arms struck at her from the top of the dike, snapping jaws tossing more white blood onto her.
She stumbled away, unable to pry her stare from the bodies flailing against the spears that moored them. One was simply draped over the sand from a fatal puncture, but the others seemed only angered by the poles jutting out of arms and legs and abdomens, yet unable to pull themselves off.
The creatures behind the first wave slowed, caught off guard by their trap when they had been expecting zero resistance.
This was their chance.
Evelyn whirled and raced for the cave, her eyes fixed upon the darkened corridor at the very back. Shadows passed over her from above, darkening the sky, but she never looked away from the mountain even as more fluids spattered her from both sides and the hissing metamorphosed into screams.
IV
DARREN COULD ONLY WATCH THE WRETCHED BLACK WAVE OF CREATURES crashing toward him, parting the driving snow like a curtain. He could clearly see their eyes, the moving black blobs on irises that shined like headlights, could feel them lock upon him, their hunger and hatred shredding his resolve. When they snapped open the scaly flaps of flesh under their chins and shook them, deep red and yellows shimmering like they were breathing fire past wicked rows of teeth, his heart dropped into his stomach.
They didn’t stand a chance. The tide would wash over them and wouldn’t recede until there was nothing left of them but gnawed bones and bloody slush.
He glanced at April, who was already looking at him through wide eyes.
“I love you!” he shouted, though he couldn’t hear his voice over the deafening roar.
She smiled hesitantly, tears lining her face and repeated the words back to him. As he read her lips, he wished to God to be able to hear her words one last time.
One last time.
When he turned again to the lake, they were nearly upon them. All he could see were black bodies dashing through the storm. He couldn’t draw air as he watched them, tightening his hands over the board in front of him. He should have practiced with it more to make sure it worked. What if he shoved it forward and missed? Or what if he threw his weight against it and the poles broke off or were frozen in the sand and snow?
It was too late now. He could only trust in the same destiny that had brought them to the banks of the Great Salt Lake from Oregon, across hundreds of miles of rapidly changing landscapes and through perils that by all rights should have ended their trek. This time, though, this time something felt different.
The Swarm collapsed upon them. He felt the barrier shudder, nearly knocking the two-by-four from his grasp, throwing ice and sand into his face. It burned beneath his eyelids, grinding as he tried to blink it out.
Darren shouted and shoved the board as hard as he could, the spears firing out the opposite side and skewering the first wave of creatures. The heat of their fluids splashed down on him from above, though he still couldn’t see a thing through his watery eyes. He tried to pull back on the board to drive it forward again, but it was lodged in place. The bodies pinned to the other side of the mound flopped against it, punching and kicking, the whole works starting to crumble away.
Dragging his coat across his eyes, pain bloomed in the corners as the dirt scraped the ultra-sensitive tissue. He could finally see enough to get his bearings, but everything still looked like he was viewing it through a kaleidoscope. His tears refracted the light and he could barely keep his lids apart, but there was a small channel through the middle. Nails slashed at him, inches from his face, teeth snapping in front of him like bear traps.
Now! Now! Now!
He whirled to run, but stopped when he looked down the barricade to where April stood. The plank in front of her was still a good half foot from being flush against the sand, the lengths of pole still visible between. She threw her body against it repeatedly, but was unable to drive it all the way through. The sharp tips had done their job on the far side, but not nearly well enough. The creatures were already pulling themselves off of the pikes.
“Run!” he shouted to her.
She looked up and the panic in her face was unmistakable. Her wide, unblinking eyes issued rivers of tears and a scream parted her lips.
To his left, the others were already retreating toward the cave, falling back to the next level of defense.
Biting his lip and tasting blood, he sprinted toward April through the drifting snow. A long black arm reached over from the other side, its claws slicing through April’s hood to get a handful of hair. She grabbed it by the wrist with both hands and tried to pry it away. Thin trails of blood poured down her forehead from the gashes on her scalp, frightening her even more. Screaming and stomping her feet, she strained against the thing’s
grip as it fought to pull her closer to its hissing mouth.
Darren seized the dark forearm with both hands, trying to jerk in opposite directions to break the bones, but it almost felt as though they bent slightly to accommodate the pressure. He had no weapon of any sort to try to saw or hack the arm, so he beat at it with his fists until April finally fell forward into the snow, her momentum dragging the creature over the wall behind her. It dropped the handful of her hair to brace for the impact. No sooner had it hit the ground than it was back on its feet, swaying and pouring white sludge from the gaping wound left by the stake. It had been gored straight through the abdomen, tearing clear through to exit its left flank above its hip. Its brethren on the wall worked themselves into a frenzy at the smell of blood all around them, human and reptilian alike. They ripped though their own skewered muscles, leaving behind chunks and appendages to throw themselves over the wall.
Darren grabbed April around the waist and pulled her to him, his eyes meeting hers. Crimson ribbons twirled over her brow and around her eyes. She bucked into him, arching her back and issuing a scream that spotted his face with blood. Her hips thrust against his and her neck snapped back, a geyser of scarlet firing up into the sky from her open mouth.
“No!” Darren screamed, trying to pull her away with him, but she was stuck. He looked down to see her stomach bulge outward under her jacket and sharp claws slash through the fabric, puncturing his thigh.
He screamed and pulled away, blood seeping into his pants from the stinging lacerations. Stumbling in reverse, his heels snagged on the snow and dropped him onto his back. April appeared to hover in front of him, the tips of her toes an inch above the accumulation. Her legs dangled limply, allowing the steaming blood to wash over her waistband and down their length to drizzle onto the snow. The hand poking out of her midsection jerked back and forth as the creature behind her tried to pull it back without having to relinquish any of the meat.
“P-p-please…” April sputtered, her head flopping forward.
Darren stood and walked toward her, lifting her chin so that he could see her face. Time slowed to a crawl as he wrapped his arms around her, giving the creature the leverage it needed to jerk its fist back out. He nuzzled his forehead against hers, tipping her head up just enough to see into her eyes, so full of blood that it flowed from them like tears.
“P-p-please…”she garbled. He tasted the blood on her lips. “Save your…self.”
With her blood inside of him and their flesh separated only by layers of clothing, he felt as though they were one.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said.
“Darren…”
“I love you, April.”
The touch of a smile graced her bloody lips before her head rolled to the side and fell to his shoulder. Her blood cooling on his face, he saw reptilian shapes converging on him from all sides. He could only hold her against him, their bodies merging together. Closing his eyes, he lowered his face to her shoulder as she had to his.
Talons slashed.
Hooked teeth parted flesh.
Darren refused to relinquish his hold on April as they parted his flesh from bone.
Even in death.
V
CLAWS TORE THROUGH PHOENIX’S JACKET AND GASHED HIS CHEST, BUT HE threw himself backwards to the ground and out of reach. The Swarm was frenzied. Even staked to the ground, they thrashed around uncontrollably, just like he remembered from his basement prison, which now seemed like a million years ago. Struggling to stand, he looked to the top of the mountain in time to see all of the birds spread their white wings as one and swoop into the air. A wall of darkness swelled just beyond them as they flew over the field of spikes with talons opened and golden beaks screaming.
Like a tsunami, the Swarm crested the top of the stone formation and leapt into the air.
Phoenix ducked instinctively and ran toward the cave. The birds soared directly above his head to strike at the creatures racing inland from the beach, who were no longer slowed by witnessing the others being impaled along the dike. Hooked talons sought reptilian flesh while razor-honed beaks stabbed at eyes.
He caught a glimpse of Missy from the corner of his eye and veered toward her, reaching out and taking her hand. She was screaming and blood drained down her forehead from a cut along her hairline. She flinched when he touched her hand, but as soon as she recognized him, she grabbed his and squeezed as hard as she could. Together they slalomed through the maze of poles toward the cave, as ebony bodies rained from the sky.
The air shivered with hissing like static electricity before exploding with spatters of white that rose in opposition to the snow. So many bodies slammed down onto the spears at once that the ground shook.
Phoenix swiped their sickly blood from his face while dodging arms and legs and gnashing teeth, pulling Missy behind him so that she could traverse the same ground. He bore the brunt of the assault for both of them. Nails like daggers slashed through his thighs and forearms, tearing his coat clear down to his chest and into the muscle. His cheeks opened and his lips split, but there was no way he was going to allow anything to happen to Missy. He had loved her in his dreams, but even more in real life. He would sooner die than allow her to feel even the slightest pain.
They were all around him, some staked standing up, run through from below, from their groins through the crowns of their skulls, others lying flat on the ground on their stomachs or their backs as they had seen what awaited them below and tried to flip away. One had nearly avoided the spears entirely, but had snagged its chin and was clawing at the sharp tip poking up between its eyes, what looked like pus spurting from the wound. More fell down atop the others, crunching them down to the ground to die slowly beneath them. Stakes broke along the shaft, leaving the creatures that had fallen on them to try to pull out the jagged edges.
The snow melted with the heat of so much spilled blood, the staked bodies straining against the poles like so many junkyard dogs against their chains.
A crowd of the Swarm stood high upon the mountain, having witnessed what had happened to their faster brethren. They cocked their heads as they studied the carnage, before lowering to their bellies and slithering down the steep rock, claws seeking any minor imperfections in the surface.
Phoenix ducked into the cave below them, barely able to stand. The pain was excruciating, but he would recover. All that mattered was that Missy was safe for the moment. He tugged her out from behind him and pushed her ahead toward the corridor leading into the heart of the mountain right behind Evelyn and Jake.
Releasing her hand, he turned again to face the shore.
“What are you doing?” Missy yelled.
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“Don’t go back out there!”
He looked back at her and smiled. She gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth in shock at the sight of so much blood. It covered his face and was already soaking through his clothes.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said, staggering back out into the blizzard.
VI
MARE GRABBED JILL BY THE ARM AND PULLED HER AWAY FROM THE MOUND of sand. She had thrust the spikes outward with all of her might, but it hadn’t been hard enough. The creatures were stunned, but by no means paralyzed. They screeched and hissed as they pried themselves from the tips of the dowels, but were already freeing themselves far too quickly and tumbling over the crest of the barricade onto their side of the beach. Farther down he could see them hurdling uncontested over the wall, splashing down into the warm water, trampling the kelp and kicking through their system of pipes. When they reached the land they broke into a sprint directly at them. Their best defense had merely slowed them down.
They were straight up screwed. Hell, in for a penny in for a pound.
He pulled Jill right up to him and kissed her on the lips, staring right into her startled eyes. Releasing her, he shoved her in the opposite direction.
“Go!” he shouted, dropping to his
knees beside Ray.
Wrapping his arms around Ray’s chest, he groaned as he heaved him to his feet and tucked his hand under Ray’s elevated arm, bracing the other guy’s weight against his hip.
“It’s just you and me now, buddy,” he said, though he was certain that Ray couldn’t hear him. Ray’s chin bounced against his chest and what little skin was visible beneath a mask of blood was pallid. Ray’s legs dragged uselessly through the accumulation, making each step a challenge.
The thought of dropping Ray and leaving him on the beach flashed across his mind, followed by images of Ray’s body being scavenged by those creatures, but Mare shook it away. There was no way he was leaving him behind. Ray had sacrificed his eyes, and quite possibly more than that, for Jake, for all of them. What kind of man would he be if he weren’t willing to do the same?
But he was just a kid himself.
No… He had shed the last of his adolescence with his tears over his father’s reptilian corpse.
An enormous white bird screamed over his head, forcing him to duck under its fanned talons. He didn’t need to look back to know what the bird was attacking. The hissing had reached a fever pitch and sand patterned the back of his jacket like buckshot from the creatures slashing at the wall to try to free themselves while others clambered over their backs and leapt down in pursuit. They were relentless.
Jill stopped and turned to face him, her eyes widening as the tide of black bodies rolled over their seemingly insignificant barricade.
“Just go!” Mare bellowed, waving his free arm at her.
She paused before shaking her head and running back toward him.
“No!” he screamed.
The sky darkened overhead.
Jill ducked under Ray’s opposite arm and together they hurried toward the cave as black shapes plummeted from above. They struck the spikes all along the beach, hissing angrily as they were impaled. Claws raked their legs from floundering forms pinned like so many butterflies, but they were able to avoid the rows of teeth that snapped at their heels.
Blizzard of Souls Page 27