“Okay, okay, calm down. Think,” I say more to myself than Aaron. “Maybe he stopped to relieve himself.” Even I don’t believe that. Still, I hope that’s the case and call out his name. “Brad! Brad!” The others call out his name, as well.
“Spread out. We have to find him,” Jonah suggests.
“No!” I snap immediately. “Absolutely not! That’s the last thing we should be doing! In fact, everyone tighten up. Get closer together, as close as you can get.”
“Why? If he’s stopped to relieve himself, we’re overreacting,” Jonah says.
“If he did, he’ll be back soon. We wait for him. That’s what’s safest,” Reyna says.
“Let’s go back a little bit. If he stopped, he’s a few yards back,” I say.
“Yes, let’s do that,” Aaron says.
We begin to backtrack and walk for just a few minutes when Kai freezes, halting our group. There, in the center of the path we just walked upon, is a pile of bones. Similar in size and identical in color to the ones at the end of Tamara’s blood trail, they weren’t there on our first pass. Of that I am certain. Bright-red blood stains the dirt and leaves in the surrounding area.
“Oh my gosh,” Kai breathes.
“Whatever this is, it’s toying with us,” Xan says.
“What do we do?” Aaron asks.
I stare at the blood and bones in disbelief. How can this happen? What’s out there hunting us? These and many more questions roll around my brain like a giant burr. “We stick together, close, and move fast.” The words vault from me instinctively. It’s all we can do at this point. I realize it isn’t much of a plan at all. But I have no idea what’s happening here or why.
I search the faces of those still with us. All eyes are fixed to the carnage. Kai lifts his head slowly. He meets my gaze. “I think we might have found out why there aren’t any night creatures here.”
His words are a cold breeze that blows straight through me and sends chills racing over my skin. What he’s said crystallizes. I believe him. I believe we’ve unearthed the reason Night Lurkers don’t roam the Black Forest. They’d starve. A larger, swifter predator is afoot. One that would not only poach their prey, but turn them into prey themselves.
Chapter 12
The metal of my gun is cool against my chest as I hold it close. I’m grateful for it. It’s about the only thing among us that’s cool at this point. Everyone is tense, paranoid and fraught with terror. Hours have passed. A hollow pit has formed in my stomach and my throat feels as if it’s lined with sand. My muscles ache. Sweat coats my body. The sun has risen and is traveling its arc-shaped pattern across a powder-blue sky. Fog that formed during the exceptionally cool night is burning off. Sunlight passes through branches and leaves, causing opaque shafts to appear all around us. The sight lends the forest a nightmarish quality. I didn’t think it could feel any more nightmarish than it did when we found Tamara’s blood then bones, and Brad’s as well. But seeing the hazy rays create pockets of ghostly spaces where a phantom predator could easily wait worsens it.
Silence has dominated as we’ve walked. The only sounds come from the forest, and the labored breaths we take. The pace of our group has quickened considerably. We’ve kept a tight formation. Any time Ara or Pike have wandered more than ten feet from me, I’ve let them know they need to stay closer. I refuse to take chances. I won’t let them end up like Tamara or Brad.
My eyes ceaselessly dart from left to right. In my periphery, I catch Pike drifting away from where I want him to be. “Pike, no. Stay close,” I say.
“I’m not a child,” Pike mumbles under his breath.
My head whips toward him. I don’t know whether it’s exhaustion, the heat, the constant state of panic in which I’ve existed, hunger or thirst, but a flare of anger flashes through me. “What?” I demand. The single word is clipped, my tone curt.
“Nothing.” Pike lowers his head and won’t look at me.
“What did you say?” I ask again, knowing fully what he said. He doesn’t answer. “What’s the matter? You don’t want to say it to my face?” In the instant that the words leave my lips, I know I’m out of line. My tone is too sharp. Too confrontational. Still, I can’t seem to reign it in. I’m annoyed. I don’t want to be, but I am.
“Lucas, calm down,” Reyna snaps. “He didn’t say anything wrong.”
My face flushes. I feel it, feel my neck and cheeks warm and redden. “Didn’t say anything wrong? He accused me of treating him like a child.” Now it is I who sounds like a child. I hear myself. Hear how utterly ridiculous I sound, yet I continue. I turn to Pike. “I want you and Ara close by. Yes, I do! Am I wrong to want the only two members of my family still alive to stay alive?”
“Enough Lucas!” Reyna hisses at me.
I ignore her and focus on Ara and Pike. “I don’t want you two to end up nothing more than a pile of bones. Don’t you get it? I can’t lose you. I can’t. I love you guys.” I’m shaking and feel as if my legs will give out from beneath me. My stomach rumbles. My thoughts are muddled. I can’t remember how long ago I ate. A day ago? It feels longer.
“Lucas!” Reyna’s voice rises. She sounds like my mother when she scolds me. It’s comforting and makes me ache with loss simultaneously. The mixed emotions do little to calm me.
“It’s okay, Reyna,” Pike says in a softer, almost soothing voice. “He loves us. He’s worried.” To me, he says, “I’m sorry.”
Shame blazes a path from my toes to the top of my head. “No, Pike, please. Don’t. Don’t apologize.” Every ounce of anger leaves me. It’s replaced by humiliation. I’m humiliated. My brother is apologizing for my bad behavior. I’m beside myself. “It’s my fault. I was a jerk. I am a jerk.”
“Ha,” Reyna laughs.
I look at her quizzically. “Huh?” There’s nothing funny about what I’ve done. I don’t know why she’d laugh as she did, almost ironically.
She throws her hands up, chest-height and palms facing me. “I won’t argue with what you just said. You were a jerk.” She giggles. I’m not sure whether she means that or not. Does she think I’m a jerk? Is she just playing around and trying to be funny? I have no idea. I’m guessing somewhere in between. No matter, my embarrassment multiplies at the notion that, in her thoughts, even if briefly, the word “jerk” and my name were synonymous. Cheeks feeling like fire, I struggle to separate from that idea. I manage to tear my thoughts away from her and concentrate on Ara and Pike. “I’m serious. I’m really sorry. I am worried and I am treating you like children, but it’s only because I’m afraid of losing you. That’s all. I’ll calm down. You guys have proven you can take care of yourselves.”
Ara beams at what I’ve said. Pike brightens a bit, too.
“Besides, I don’t have that weird feeling of being watched anymore. Do either of you?” I ask.
“No, not for a while,” Pike answers.
“Me neither. Not for the last few hours,” Ara agrees.
“Good, then I’m not losing my mind,” I say with a sigh.
Reyna snorts. “Don’t bet on it.” She lightly elbows me in the ribs then turns to me and smiles.
Kai, who is just a few steps behind me taps my shoulder and looks from her to me, raising his eyebrows and nodding wordlessly with a goofy grin. Despite towering over me and being taller, broader and burlier than any man I’ve ever known, he somehow manages to look like a little boy as he makes the face he’s making at me. I try to scowl at him but it’s impossible. Instead, I press my index finger to my lips to shush him and he smiles wider as though privy to a great secret. I’d slap my hand to my forehead if I weren’t holding my gun. I wince instead. Kai winks at me then clears his throat, assuming a more adult expression. “I think we need to stop and hunt. We’re all starving and thirsty.”
A ripple of agreement rolls through the group. I personally couldn’t agree more. I’m so hungry it’s beginning to affect my mood, my behavior. I can’t have that. I can’t allow that if it can be prevent
ed.
“Is it safe?” a bred human named Aiden asks.
“I don’t know. It feels safer,” Kai says and confirms what Pike, Ara and I felt as well.
“I don’t know,” Aiden says.
“None of us do. But we don’t have a choice. We have to eat. We can’t continue if we don’t. And we can’t eat without hunting,” Kai explains without sounding condescending. I don’t know how he manages to do that. In the current state I’m in, I want to shake Aiden by his shoulders and say “We’re hunting whether you like it or not!” Nothing good will result from that, I know. But as hungry and volatile as I feel, it actually seems like a decent idea.
Luckily, shaking Aiden doesn’t come to fruition. Thanks to Kai, he agrees to stop and hunt. “O-okay. I suppose you’re right,” Aiden says.
“Who has guns? Besides me?” I ask and decide to end any further chance for debate.
“Aaron and Ashlyn. The three of you are the only ones who have ammo left,” Kai says.
“Okay, so we split into three groups with one gun in each,” I say.
My suggestion evokes grumbling. I roll my eyes. I’m about to shout, “Are you kidding me?” when Kai’s smooth voice washes over everyone.
“Guys,” Kai begins, “We don’t have a choice. We have to eat. We aren’t going to make it much further if we don’t eat.”
“But what about the…thing that’s out there?” Ashlyn asks. Her face is a mask of fright.
Kai softens his tone. “Whatever is out there will have a much easier time picking us off if we’re collapsing from hunger, or our senses are dulled by it.”
He’s made an excellent point. I know it. Everyone with us knows it, too. No one speaks out against him or expresses dissent. I’m thankful for that.
“So it’s settled. We’ll hunt.” Kai says.
The word “yes” echoes through our group.
I look to Pike and Ara then Reyna. Before I can ask, Reyna says, “Ara and Pike, why don’t you stick with me and Lucas?”
“I won’t need the gun to hunt,” I say. Reyna looks at me, a question lingering in the depths of her gaze. Perhaps she anticipates something else that is jerk-like in nature to roll off my tongue. I have no intention of saying anything else to offend Pike, Ara, or anyone else for that matter. I continue. “As long as Ara has her bow and arrows and there are animals to be found, we’ll eat. Armed as she is, Ara is an expert hunter.”
Though Ara doesn’t beam at my compliment the way she would have just weeks ago, before our world exploded into chaos, her spine lengthens and her shoulders square. Pride shines in her green eyes.
“Perfect.” Reyna smiles. Her features soften prettily. Within seconds, however, they’re set determinedly again. She looks off to her right. In the distance, the foliage grows densely. “Should we head that way?”
“We should head to where there’s lots of low-growing plants, so yeah. Animals feed on them. We can find a tree and hide out until one comes along to eat,” Ara says.
“Lead the way,” I say and splay a hand out to my side.
Ara assumes the lead and we follow her as she leads us in the direction Reyna mentioned. We stop when we reach a thicket of bushes loaded with plump, red berries. I don’t have time to examine the berries to see whether they’re edible. None of us dares to try one without knowing. Some are poisonous. I suspect these aren’t, as patches of the bushes are completely devoid of them, as if an animal has plucked it clean of its fruit. Unless the animal trotted off to die somewhere, there’s a good chance they’re okay to eat. The hope is that a plump rabbit or two will come to feed on them. Or better yet, a boar. My stomach rumbles at the thought of either. At the thought of a juicy berry! But I know I must wait. I can’t risk illness, or possibly death, from rushing headlong to the bushes and stuffing my face full of them. Opposite the berry bushes, several trees grow.
“Okay, so it’s probably best for two of us to go up into the tree and two to stay on the round,” Ara suggests.
“Uh, yeah,” Reyna says as her eyes follow the line of the tree, which grows about thirty feet into the air. “I volunteer to stay down here.”
“I’m no good at climbing. You know that,” Pike says to Ara and me.
“No, you’re not,” Ara says then flashes a wide grin that showcases her bright, even teeth.
“Alright then, I guess that leaves us to climb,” I tell Ara.
“Okay,” she smiles again, but less impishly.
“We can hunt from down here. It’d be better to spread out like we did back home, but it’s not safe. Not with whatever killed Tamara and Brad out there,” Pike says and eyes the woodland suspiciously.
“You’re right. We really can’t spread out too far. It’ll make hunting a bit difficult. But what other choice do we have.” I look among Pike, Ara and Reyna. They each nod in agreement.
“With Ara up there, Reyna and I will just be standing around anyway.” Pike winks. Then he clips his chin toward the closest tree and says, “Get to it.” He urges her to start climbing.
Ara slings her bow over her shoulder so that it rests alongside her quiver of arrows at her back and she approaches the trunk of the tree.
“Watch this,” I overhear Pike whisper to Reyna. “You’ve gotta see how quickly she gets up there.”
I don’t acknowledge that I’m listening. Instead, I say, “Okay, stay close and stay safe, please.”
“I will,” Pike promises with a level gaze. Honest and true like my father’s always was.
Reyna nods. “I will,” she says.
“If anything moves on either of you, I’ll have a clear shot,” I say and look down at my gun. “I’ll protect you.”
“I know you will,” Reyna says softly. She holds my gaze for several beats. What she wishes to convey is a mystery to me. I could swear I see warmth in her eyes. Whether it’s real or I’m imagining it leaves me feeling confused. Extreme hunger and thirst don’t help. So I leave it as it is: a question mark in my brain. I am behind Ara when the tip of her boot finds the first knobby piece of bark on the trunk. From that point forward, she scales the tree like no one I’ve ever seen scale a tree.
I watch her in awe. I know Pike and Reyna do, too. This is the first time Reyna’s seeing it. I’d imagine she’s impressed. I begin climbing too, certain my movements are oafish by comparison. Ara climbs ahead of me. Slight of built and light, she reminds me of a squirrel the way she scurries up slender branches that would snap if I attempted to do so. Though part of the reason she’s able to effortlessly scale trees has to do with her weight, much of it has to do with skill. She seems to know exactly where to place her hands and feet. It comes to her easily. She’s high off the ground, perched on a branch and waiting for me before I’m even halfway up. By the time I make it up to meet her, she’s already repositioning her body on the branch.
“Sheesh, I thought you’d never make it,” she jokes with a smile.
“Haha,” I laugh sarcastically then make a face at her. “I should’ve made you carry this big, loaded weapon. See how quickly you’d have made it up here holding it.”
“Excuses, excuses,” she teases.
I shake my head at her.
I sit, balancing on the branch beside Ara, all the while hoping it can hold my weight along with hers.
I’m not sure how much time has gone by, though I assume it’s been an hour by the position of the sun, when a rustling sound demands my attention. I shoot a quick glance at Ara. The alarm on her face tells me she heard it as well. Ordinarily, neither of us would panic in broad daylight. We’d be happy. We’d assume we were hearing the sound of dinner approaching. But nothing is ordinary and no assumptions can be made at this point. Fear shoots through me. I worry whatever killed Tamara and Brad, whatever stalked us, is approaching. I worry we’re under attack. All I can think of is that Pike and Reyna are down below. The crunch and crackle of dried leaves grows closer. My heart begins to pound and sweat beads my forehead. My eyes drill the bushes. I grip my gun tight
ly, aiming for the spot where the sound comes from. Beside me, Ara has her bow pulled taut, an arrow ready. Lean muscles flexed and still, Ara looks like the skilled hunter she is. As the bushes part, I raise my weapon, prepared to fire. When a large deer gingerly steps through the brush, I start to sigh in relief. But before I exhale, the shrill whistle of an arrow carves the air. A second later, the deer falls, an arrow protruding from the center of its neck. Ara, precise and efficient, has killed our meal and has already begun to reload her bow. Down below, Pike and Reyna have started jogging toward the fallen deer. I shift my weight and am about to climb down the tree when a much louder sound rushes through the forest. Heavier footed than the deer but quick, quicker than anything I’ve ever heard, I can’t imagine what approaches. Too fast and too heavy to be a boar, I hold my breath, listening and speculating, wondering what it could be.
Within the space of a breath, the bushes thrash then open and the most enormous beast I’ve ever laid eyes on appears. Covered in a layer of bristly fur, it runs on two legs, descending on the deer and devouring it faster than my mind can comprehend. Wet slopping sounds are brief before it stands erect, displaying its full heft and revealing its terrifying form. Nearly fifteen feet tall and with long, sharp fangs that overhang its lower jaw, the beast is the stuff of nightmares. Powerful hands with retractable claws are covered in blood. It licks them, opening its mouth briefly and revealing sharp, lethal-looking teeth, then pauses suddenly. It’s upturned snout twitches like a rabbit’s. It goes completely still, save for its nose. It does so for a bit, sniffing the air. It turns its head to the side, toward Reyna and Pike. Then it freezes again. A visible shudder passes through its body. It spins to face them. It’s picked up their scent. Its muscles react, but before it pounces, I call out to it without thinking. “Hey! Up here!” I scream to distract it. All I can think of is diverting it from Pike and Reyna. Snapping its massive head up, it glowers at me. Blood-red eyes lock on mine. It bares it teeth and releases a low, deadly snarl. It takes a step forward but before the other foot moves, I open fire, emptying the rest of my ammunition into its head and chest. The beast rears and releases a tortured, rage-filled howl before it turns and runs.
The Black Forest Page 12