Bahtzuul tilted his head to one side, examining her, searching for recognition.
She leaned in to kiss his tremendous snout, but he backed away before her lips could touch him. She lost her balance for a moment and looked up at him with hurt and confusion. “Wait …” she said, straining to use her authoritative voice, as Bahtzuul opened his immense jaws. Many things ran through her head that she wanted to tell him, but they were all a blur on her tongue. How she worshipped him, adored him, brought him back to admire his endless feasting on the mortals. But she realized it was too late, and he didn’t care what her motivations were or what she did for him.
Her shoulders slumped, and she defeatedly said, “Fuck!” as Bahtzuul scooped up Violess into the air with his jaws.
Her legs kicked out from his mouth as he shook her, side to side. His teeth that could pass for railroad spikes sawed her body, ground her flesh, and crushed her bones. One of Violess’s legs flew from his mouth and fell over the cliffside.
Bahtzuul would have caught the flying leg but was distracted by Tamarin, standing around in a flashy robe. Tamarin attempted to run, and tripped over his robe, allowing Bahtzuul to snatch him too, feet first.
Fiya and Rutger saw the huge demon make a meal out of Violess and one of her flunkies as they ushered Thomas and Liama on the train. “I am both scared and fascinated at the same time,” Fiya said, not taking her eyes off it. “Would that be ‘scarescinated’ or ‘fasciscared’?”
“Uh …” was all Rutger could muster. “Sorry, kiddo, I’m too busy concentrating on not pissing myself.”
As they hustled more of the prisoners to get on the train, they knew they needed to get the doors closed before the ghouls could catch up, and they needed to do it fast.
Bahtzuul grabbed two ghouls with one grip and bit off their upper torsos as one. It continued to regain flesh with each bite. Red tissue webbed over the skeleton, section by section, tendon by tendon. Some ghouls who stayed behind attempted to fend off the giant creature with their shovels as spears, to an embarrassing effect.
Marco stayed behind, firing his rifle at the draconian demon. His bullets either only scratched its bones or caused minor blemishes in the regenerating tissue. He did his best to dominate the remaining ghouls to fight rather than let them amble around mindlessly, now that their master was gone.
Soon, it gained enough flesh in its throat to roar, a detonation of terror that no doubt would’ve been heard by campers and hikers many miles away; the next few towns, as well. Some might think one of the dormant volcanic mountain peaks was getting ready to erupt.
“It’s regenerating with each source of flesh it consumes,” Fiya said. In her astonishment, she’d manage to forget about her leg, at least for a little while.
“Yes, it’s incredible,” Rutger replied. They saw Bahtzuul lift itself up over the cliffside, stepping on ghouls as if they were roaches. Marco disappeared, nowhere to be seen, and the ghouls moved around as mindless automatons. Then Rutger commanded, “Get on the train! Now!”
Ghouls were within 50 yards when Rutger and Fiya climbed aboard and locked the passenger door. There was only one car between the passenger car and the engine. Fiya and Rutger ran to it, as fast as they could, to get to the front of the train. They waded through the crammed prisoners who watched the monstrous sight through the side windows.
“Do you think you can drive this thing?” Fiya asked.
“I’ll know for sure when I see the controls.”
They stood in the walkway between the two cars, ready to enter the next car. Rutger opened the door and stalled.
In the distance, they saw Bahtzuul finally crawl … really more of a slither with his ferocious claws helping him steer. He headed for the train, swallowing any ghoul that didn’t move out of his way fast enough. He’d become a mass of bones and muscle with exposed nerves. As he raked his long torso along the ground, a jagged rock tore his pectoral muscle, and he roared again. The wound quickly healed over after He snagged another ghoul.
Rutger put his hand out to stop Fiya from following. “Stay with the others, make sure they’re safe and not doing anything stupid.” She started to reply, but he cut her off by adding, “The other things are probably climbing aboard and have no one controlling them now. First sight of meat they see, they’re going to want to attack. They’ll need the help.”
She nodded. “Aye aye, sir.”
Then Rutger disappeared into the next car. Thomas and Liama approached Fiya from behind, watching Rutger shut the door. “Can he get this thing going?” Thomas asked.
“I hope so,” Fiya replied.
They saw Bahtzuul gaining speed but was still close to a hundred yards out. The mass of ghouls kept him busy, but not long enough by Fiya’s opinion.
Fiya turned to Thomas and said with urgency, “We should step back inside to get out of its sight. If it sees us, it could come right for us. We don’t want its attention right now.”
Thomas nudged for Liama to get back into the passenger car, and Fiya shut the door behind them.
“Are there shutters for these windows?” Fiya asked.
A middle-aged man with a scruffy hobo beard and receding hairline looked and answered, “No, ma’am.”
Damn. She seethed. “Try to stay away from the windows, please.” Though she wasn’t so hot on not being able to block the windows, she was thrilled the train wasn’t equipped with new motion detection technology for the doors, so she could lock them easily.
As she got ready to lock the door, massive footsteps heavily thudded on the roof, like a sledgehammer with each step, running to the back end of the train. Everyone inside the passenger car noticed and most stirred into a panic again.
Fiya repeated, louder, “Please keep them away from the windows if you can! We need everyone to stay out of that thing’s line of sight.” She was not used to raising her voice so loud. It almost cracked like she was going through puberty again. The other passengers seemed to hear her this time, and some backed away from the windows or at least lowered themselves so they could still peek. Fiya sighed and looked at Thomas. “Try to keep everyone together. I’ll be back.”
“Okay …”
“And lock both doors after I get out of here. Don’t open them again for anyone other than Rutger or me.”
Liama gave Fiya a thumbs-up, and Fiya returned the gesture.
She left the car, and Thomas immediately slid the door shut again, locking the latches at the top and bottom. Liama ran to do the same with the other connecting door on the opposite side and did it fast, except for the top, which she couldn’t reach. She hurried back to her father and wrapped her arms around his waist. He held her, trembling.
“Do you think it’ll see us in here?” a woman asked. Thomas never got her name.
“I don’t know,” the middle aged man with the scraggly beard replied. Thomas realized he never got this man’s name, either. He didn’t know the names of most of these people. Javier, who was gone now, and Marie, who was huddling in the corner of the cab, praying. There was Harriet, an older woman, not quite old enough to get senior-citizen discounts, but when they were in cages, she bragged how she could get some of those discounts without showing ID. He thought that was an odd characteristic of a woman, being proud of passing for being older, but at least it helped him remember her name.
Harriet was among the gasping prisoners watching Bahtzuul, now crawling around like a giant lizard, with a skeletal structure of wings pointed toward the sky. He picked up speed, mowing through the straggling ghouls.
Thomas sighed to himself, “Let’s hope this train gets moving very soon.”
The human’s name used to be Bruce, but after taking over Bruce Stovington’s body, it went by a new name now: Sahaeli. Bruce used to be a railway worker until he was murdered a month ago. His credentials had been used to heist the semi-autonomous train they wanted, and it was successful. The FBI was still looking for the missing train but in the wrong area: near the Grand Canyon. Sahaeli was
able to tap into Bruce’s memories and disengage all the monitoring and tracking devices, sending authorities on a goose chase. Eventually, the feds would find the missing train, but long after Violess’s crew needed it.
Sahaeli sat on his stool next to the controls, in what Bruce used to call “The Pit.” He was astonished at the sight in front of him: The great and powerful Bahtzuul had risen and watched the meat-puppets. There were clusters of trees in his way, obscuring his vision of the altar, but he was positive Violess was still out there, guiding Bahtzuul’s wrath.
If he knew how to operate this meat-puppet’s system better, he’d shed tears of joy. He was feeling pretty good … until he saw the demonic dragon start to crawl toward the train.
Something cold pressed against his neck. He put his hands up, cocking his head just a notch to see Rutger standing there, glowering down at him with an unwashed, bloody face, edging Fiya’s broken sword to his throat.
Sahaeli smiled innocently.
“Get this thing started,” Rutger ordered.
Sahaeli was a lackey demon, working for Violess for cheap promises, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew what that blade was. He shook nervously until he was nodding in agreement. After all, the damned Bahtzuul looked ready to charge the train once the great demon could build up the momentum.
“Please,” Rutger prompted.
“Of course, sir. Because you said please.”
Sahaeli didn’t mean to sound sarcastic, he really meant it, and he went to work while Rutger studied the operating procedure.
Climbing to the roof of yet another carriage of prisoners that morning, Fiya was grateful there at least was a ladder this time.
As she brought her leg up to the roof of the passenger car, she was reminded about the injuries when she felt the shooting pain run up and into her butt cheek. The agony wore off soon—once she relaxed her muscles.
She rose to her feet, wobbling on her bad leg until the pain settled down. When the throbbing pain reduced itself to just her calf, she opened her eyes and saw large bloody wolf prints leading to one of the freight cars in the rear. “And Bingo was his name-o,” she joked to herself.
She took a step to follow the footprints when the train wobbled with a loud CHOOOM. Her eyes widened, and she looked over to the cliffside. “Woah,” she uttered as she saw Bahtzuul still crawling around, snatching ghouls that still weren’t smart enough to move out of its way. The giant demon still had a distance to run if it wanted to get to the train, but he seemed distracted. The wings were still skeletal with ribbons of flesh slowly patching together, but he now had the use of his hind legs.
The train CHOOOMED again, and then she realized the noise earlier was the engine coming to life. A sigh of relief escaped her.
Fiya kept her balance as the train rumbled and inched forward. When it did, Bahtzuul took notice. His mammoth head, now growing scales, swayed in her direction, and he curled his lips into a low, hungry growl. A ghoul squirmed in his mouth. He chewed until the ghoul’s lower half fell to the ground. Then Bahtzuul’s eyes locked with Fiya’s.
“Uh-oh.”
Bahtzuul roared, spraying blood and chunks from the ghoul he hadn’t finished chewing. It was longer, and more dreaded than the previous roar, as he now had grown the full lungs and chest muscles to support it.
“Ummmmm …” Fiya stalled, knowing she must look like a little action figure compared to this thing, and it wanted nothing but to play with and destroy.
Below, she could hear the screams of the passengers in the car. Fiya groaned, knowing that they hadn’t paid attention to her instructions to stay away from the windows for long.
Bahtzuul smiled: a horrible vision of mangled flesh and ivory pikes for teeth. When he charged, the screams from the passengers below rose louder and louder. He ran for the train, and his eyes, orbs of teal hellfire, were fixed firmly on Fiya.
She stood in place on top of the car as the train picked up pace. Her heart hammered, faster than each quadrupedal step the demonic dragon took, and all she could do was look on. She found herself paralyzed watching this thing come closer and closer, getting bigger and bigger.
Soon the train cruised forward, and her car entered the patch of woods, hiding her from Bahtzuul’s view. If that damned thing still hits the train, he could knock it all off the tracks, rolling it down into the mountain valley — what a shitty way to die. There were only seven cars total, and she stood up on top of the third in line.
As he rushed the train, up the wide rocky path, his wings gained more flesh, arteries, and veins: first spreading like cracks appearing in fractured glass, then with leathery skin like a bat. He crushed ghouls along the way, not even bothering to eat them now. He smelled warm, fresh blood of the living, and that was all he craved. Then he leaped forward, front claws outstretched, and it missed the caboose of the train.
Bahtzuul landed on the other side of the tracks, tumbling, knocking trees over in its path. A cloud of rocky dust rose into the air.
Fiya breathed easy, slow, and steady. She felt her heart rate slow in the process. “I don’t think I ever felt so lucky. This warrants a bottle of black-spiced rum when this shit’s finished.”
She looked back down at the bloody alpha wolf footprints and remembered what she was initially doing. She ran across the full passenger car, then jumped to the next. There was a dent in the next car’s roof, where Kael had landed.
The train picked up more speed, putting some much-needed distance between them and the dig site, and more importantly, Bahtzuul.
She jumped two more cars, and Fiya was ready to jump to the next when she saw Bahtzuul in the distance, expanding his now fully formed wings, flapping for the first time. Lethargic yet powerful.
As she watched him flap, her stomach burned again, something she hadn’t paid attention to ever since she pulled that trigger. He thrust his wings a few times, stirring clouds of dust up from the ground. Soon he lifted himself into the air.
“Of course it could fly …” she said gravely.
Bahtzuul tumbled and fell to the ground again. Fiya let out a nervous laugh, and she got ready to leap to the next car.
Before she could leap, a monstrous, clawed hand covered in coarse dark fur grabbed her ankle and pulled her through a sunroof window that had opened while she was distracted.
“That was so friggin’ close!” Liama cried out in excitement, with her face pressed against the window. Nearly everyone in the car watched, relieved the train was finally moving, and the dragon-like monster didn’t crash into them. The glass was cool to the touch, which helped Liama’s overheated nerves.
The train curved on the tracks, following the side of the mountain.
From their angle, they did not see Bahtzuul’s attempted flight. Almost everyone in the car felt like they were finally in the clear.
“The big guy got it to work. Prepare to thank Mr. Bronson,” Thomas said, patting his daughter on the head.
“I will.”
Thomas kneeled to eye level with her and turned her away from the window, making sure she was paying attention to him. “I’m sorry I dragged you in all this, baby. Had I not taken that job, none of this would’ve happened.”
“Nuh-uh. We wouldn’t have found Miss Fiya and Mr. Bronson. We helped save everyone.”
He couldn’t help but smile at his little girl. It was true, and he hadn’t thought of that. Had they never been kidnapped, they never would’ve escaped in the first place and run into Fiya. He was so blinded by wishing this never happened to them that he didn’t think their actions led to others being helped. He always kept thinking of things negatively ─ so pessimistic ─ his mama would say, and he was glad Liama was here to keep him in check. “You’re a lot sharper than your principal said you are.”
“Damn straight.” Liama showed her confidence and even a little smug, but it didn’t bother her daddy.
He was tempted to correct her cursing, but he chose to let that one slide. This was the first time in more than a week he fe
lt secure. He hugged her and ignored the gasps and gulps around them.
“Well, I guess since none of you are important anymore,” Marco said, entering the rear passenger car. Since only the bottom latch was locked, all he needed was a kick strong enough to burst the door open. His rifle slung over his shoulder, clanking against Rutger’s axe, as he gleefully sneered at everyone. His gaze turned to Liama, flashing his teeth, and running his tongue along them, polishing them. “I’ll just help myself. And I’m very … very … hungry.”
Sahaeli laid on the floor with the broken sword shanked into the side of his head. On the stool next to him, Rutger sat controlling the train with a smile of child-like glee. Rutger was, in fact, familiar with the controls, but just in case there would’ve been a delay getting it started, he’d rather have Sahaeli there to get it going.
When the engine was up and running, Rutger slew him and took over, increasing the speed to a safe point where it wouldn’t fly off the tracks. It brought him memories of being a child with his own toy train set, with whacky daredevil tracks that no real train could possibly pull off but did in his imagination. Before being initiated in the Order of the Immortuos Venandi, becoming a train conductor was one of the career choices he considered. Not quite at the top, but it was near it.
Rutger set the controls to autopilot. He figured there was plenty of distance before the tracks got to a point where its engineer was needed again, so he left the engine car and climbed out, eager to walk back to the next car. Filled with large cushiony seats with amazing legroom: It was the most relaxing thing he could imagine as they fled the scene.
Before he opened the door to what he assumed was the first-class car, he saw Bahtzuul on the rise, no more than the size of a mosquito at his distance, flapping those huge draconic bat-like wings. The long tail made him seem like a kite. If it weren’t for the curve of the tracks on the mountainside, he might never have seen him. “Hmmm,” he pondered as the tracks straightened out, and he lost visual.
Graveslinger Page 25