by Sara Clancy
Benton patted her shoulder as he passed. “Nic, you’re gorgeous. Someone’s always watching you.”
“Aw, that’s sweetly disturbing.”
Benton smiled, his lips blue and shivering. He looked so miserable that it was nearly impossible to keep from fussing over him. Her success was proof that the Baykok’s drug was wearing off. Please don’t crash. It seemed like a deathwish to fall asleep now. Before she had time to smile, the sensation returned, stronger than it had been before. She turned before she could stop herself, checking and rechecking every corner of the room and finding nothing. Just the same bored faces she had studied before.
“Nicole?” Zack asked, concern leaking into his words.
“It’s nothing.” Even as she said it, she checked with Benton, just in case he sensed something different.
He was more preoccupied with staying warm. Which, she assumed, was a good sign.
“Okay,” she said with a warm grin. “Everyone ready to go and fight some undead evil?”
“Would it make a difference if I said ‘no’?” Benton asked.
“No.”
“Well, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”
His weak smile dulled the sharp edge of his words.
“That’s the spirit,” she giggled, quickly taking his arm and tugging him towards the door.
Desperate for warmth, Benton didn’t fight the contact. Only pulled his hood up as they headed for the door. She stopped short before they left as a few items caught her eyes.
“I’ll meet you at the truck. I just want to pick up a few things,” she said.
Benton hesitated.
“We’ll be able to see her the whole time,” Danny said, gesturing to the large front window of the store.
The truck was clearly visible through the thin mist of rain. Still, Benton wasn’t convinced.
“I don’t want to wait in the rain,” he said. “I’ll wait at the front door.”
Nicole made quick work of gathering the items that had captured her notice. A few extra bottles of water. Some jerky snacks. Baby power and earplugs. Jogging back to her waiting friends, she distributed the earplugs.
“Good idea,” Meg said. She spared Benton a glance. “You’re very loud.”
“I’m aware,” Benton said.
“I’m not judging,” Meg added.
Danny didn’t miss a beat. “I am. I’m developing tinnitus. Do you know how annoying it is to have a constant ringing in your ears?”
“I’m terribly sorry I caused you minor inconvenience while killing monsters.”
Danny rolled her eyes and shoved her earplugs into her pocket.
“Danny, be nice,” Nicole sighed. “Although, she does have a point. Maybe keep that in mind next time.”
Her smile did nothing to lessen Benton’s glare. He snatched up the earplugs she had bought him so he wouldn’t feel left out, his thick gloves fumbling with the small package. After everyone had organized their jackets to best prepare for the rain, they ducked out of the door. They were halfway across the parking lot when Zack jerked to a stop. His jaw dropped, eyes going wide as his chest began to heave with rapid breaths.
“Zack?” Meg asked.
Lifting his hand took a few attempts. As if he thought better about it every time he tried. They all turned to look in the general direction he was motioning towards. The twins gasped and Nicole felt her stomach drop. In the middle of the road, washed in the blue glow of the diner’s neon sign, was a severed head. Long dark hair pooled like oil around it, the face ashen and bloated with rot.
“You guys can see it now?” Benton asked.
“That’s what you saw?” Zack demanded.
Danny threw him a skittish look. “A severed head. Sitting in the middle of the road. That’s what you saw? Then casually walked inside and had a cup of coffee?”
Benton didn’t reply. Staring into the rain and gloom, fine lines worked their way across his forehead.
“What is it?” Nicole asked gently.
“It’s closer.”
“What?” Meg squeaked.
“That’s not where I saw it before.” He was already moving towards the truck. “We should go. Now. Why aren’t you people moving?”
“It’s a head,” Danny said, trying to keep a strong hold on her courage. “What can it really do?”
Meg waved a hand at her sister in exasperation. “Do you really want to stick around and see?”
They bolted for the truck. Zack and the twins climbed back into the cab, leaving Benton and Nicole to sit in the back again. Her first instinct was to insist that Benton have the front seat, needing the protection and heater system more than the others. But, in an impressive feat of agility given the condition of his hips, he grabbed the tailgate and hurled himself up. She had to use the back bumper as a boost to follow him. As she hooked her legs over, she caught a glimpse over her shoulder. A scream escaped her lips as she scrambled away.
“Nic?” Zack demanded.
“It’s right behind the trunk. Go!” The first lurch forward threw her onto the metal flatbed. It also reminded her of her manners. “Thanks.”
Benton crouched down beside her and together they watched the lights of the diner fade away, taking with it the last glimpses of the severed head.
“I really don’t like this place,” she mumbled.
“And I was just about to suggest that we build a summer home here.”
“Are you trying to make me laugh so I’m not terrified?”
“How am I doing?” he asked with a weak smile.
She took his hand and squeezed it. “The important thing is that you tried.”
Huffing a chuckle, Benton flopped down and curled into her side for warmth, pressing his face into her shoulder to block his line of sight. What else does he see?
Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stop the thought from taking root in her mind. Paranoia crackled along her senses, made all the worse as the sunset and the last traces of light vanished from the sky. The clustering trees blocked out the moonlight. And there were no streetlamps to break up the darkness. Within moments, the only source of light came from the truck’s high beams. Their glow barely reached into the back, leaving Nicole and Benton huddled within the living shadows.
She could feel the woods coming alive around her. Its heartbeat ricocheted within her chest. The rain shifted to come down in rhythmic bursts. Like a pulse. Consumed by the thought, she was caught off guard by the shifting darkness. It curled around them. A near physical presence. She could feel them watching her. Creeping closer. Touching her.
Nicole couldn’t stand it. Lurching forward, she scrambled for her bag. Ripping it open, she found two headlamps, placing one on her head and passing the second to Benton. He fumbled with the straps and ended up shoving them onto his head with force. Turning it on created a small patch of light. A hazed red glow rather than a direct beam.
“Why is it red?” Benton said through chattering teeth.
“Red doesn’t mess with your night vision,” she replied.
Slowly, she turned in a circle, barely able to keep herself in her crouch as the truck bounced and lurched under her. Rain pelted her face and the wind whipped her damp hair. Still, the forest held all of its secrets, keeping her from seeing everything that lurked within it. Settling back down next to Benton, she never stopped looking around. Every so often, she caught a glimpse of grass along the sides of the road, soaking wet and dinted as if something heavy stood upon it.
“Do you see anything?” she asked Benton.
He barely lifted his head before responding. “No. But we’ve got their interest. I can feel it.”
Adrenaline made her heart race. She could feel every pulse in her throat, choking off her breath. Instinct made her hands open and close, grasping for the rifle that was in the front cab with the others. Having nothing to hold onto left her feeling weak. A powerless lamb in a sea of wolves.
She curled up next to Benton. Offering warmth and taking co
mfort in return.
The truck barreled into the smothering darkness, following the twists and turns of the serpentine road. Small curves became blind corners. Every so often, they would round one to be ambushed by the glare of another vehicle’s headlights. Nicole flinched each time. Half of her expected that the passing vehicle would make a sharp turn and start to follow them. What remained was preparing for whatever horrors the woods could conjure. Needing something to do with her hands, she began to braid her hair. Because she had so much of it, she needed three separate braids, and then used them to create one colossal braid. Fighting against the wind and rain to complete the mindless task helped to keep her nerves at a manageable level.
Anticipation made each passing encounter all the worse until she was sure that she couldn’t bear it another second. It wasn’t a relief when Zack finally pulled the truck over onto the thin, moist patch of grass that separated the road from a sudden drop. Numerous camping trips had perfected this part.
It didn’t take more than half a minute for them to be ready to go, truck unpacked and weapons checked. Nicole breathed a sigh of relief as she loaded her hunting rifle, shoving a handful of extra bullets into her jacket pocket. Their weight was oddly reassuring. Even if she couldn’t fight off a Baykok, she stood a chance against any human threat, and that would have to be enough.
Suddenly, there was nothing left to keep them on the road, and the actuality of her plan settled in. The forest loomed around them. No longer a cluster of trees and ferns but a living, malicious beast longing for them to venture too close. She shivered.
“Are you guys sure this is a good idea?” Meg asked.
“That fully depends on how you define good,” Benton answered for her.
Without a word, they lined up along the edge of the road, staring at Nicole’s marker and all that lay beyond. Not one of them set foot on the grass.
Zack was the first to break the silence, readjusting the straps of the hiking bag he had claimed as his own. Looking at Nicole, he said, “Do you really want to do this? We can still turn back.”
“Do you see my hair?” Nicole asked. “Do you know how long it takes to do this? No girl will go to that much effort unless her mind’s made up.”
Zack turned to the twins as if searching for confirmation. Since neither one of them allowed their hair to grow past their shoulders, Nicole wasn’t sure what he was hoping to achieve. The conversation ebbed into silence and they were left to stare once more into the dark abyss.
“We’re not going to get anything done standing here,” Nicole said, trying to sound as confident as possible.
Swallowing thickly, she settled her rifle strap across her chest and grabbed Benton’s hand. The contact did little to reassure him.
“Last minute detail,” he told her softly. “If anything bad happens, I’m jumping behind you.”
“Aw, I was just about to suggest the same thing,” she beamed, lifting her free hand for a high-five.
Rolling his eyes for good measure, he gave her hand a quick slap.
“Unless you feel like screaming, of course,” she noted.
“Right,” he said.
“I don’t mean to backseat a banshee.”
“No, no. I could use some constructive criticism.”
“And possibly, if you have the time, let us know beforehand. So we can put the earplugs in.”
“Got it.”
“You know, I’m really starting to worry about lasting hearing loss.”
“You mentioned that.” He continued before Nicole could respond, “Are you using this conversation to put off heading in?”
“No,” she dismissed with a snort, adding in a far softer voice, “Only in the literal sense.”
It struck her as a victory to see a soft smirk flutter across Benton’s lips. He gave her hand a little reassuring squeeze, sucked in a deep breath, and stepped off of the road. Despite the rain, the squish of the soggy earth under his heavy boot was audible. She cringed at the sound, unintentionally clutching Benton’s hand a fraction tighter. Hard enough that she was able to feel the ice of his skin through the thick layers of the ski gloves.
“It’s alright,” he promised. “Let’s get moving before they get the courage to come out and play.”
Nicole’s hand instantly went for the butt of her rifle. Zack and the twins did the same.
“Who’s ‘they’?” Meg asked.
Danny added, “And where are they now?”
“More importantly, what are they doing?” Zack added.
The red glow of Benton’s headlight washed over the trees and ferns, glistening off of the droplets that clung to the leaves. None of them missed how he paused more than once. Staring intently at nothing at all. He swallowed thickly.
“Don’t worry about it,” Benton said at last.
He squared his broad shoulders and headed down the slippery slope.
Chapter 13
The thin rain fought to get through the canopy. Water welled against the leaves before being dumped sporadically to the forest floor. It took a vast amount of effort to keep himself from flinching at every strike. The heavy layers of winter gear made it hard to walk and did little to keep his warmth. His heavy boots randomly became stuck in the mud, forcing him to jerk his legs, and leaving him feeling like a staggering newborn giraffe. Each teen had a headlight, creating five beams of red that glided over the area around them. He wished it wasn’t red. It made the sight of the dead hands all the worse.
The others didn’t see them, he knew. It would be obvious if they did. The flesh was sloppy with rot and reeked of overly sweet meat. Benton did his best to hide his gag but Nicole caught it instantly. Holding up his free hand to protect his eyes from the beam of her headlight reminded him that he was still clutching desperately to her hand.
“What is it?” she demanded. “And don’t say nothing. We need to be on the same page here.”
Biting his lips, Benton kept his silence. He couldn’t stop his eyes from straying back to the clawing hands, though. They squirmed out from behind trunks and twigs. Scraping and grasping at the plant life. Tearing their nails free with a sickening wet sound. More hands pushed free of the shadows, joining the others, growing in numbers until they looked like maggots battling for position on a corpse.
“You don’t want to know,” he stressed.
“Why would I ask if I didn’t want to know?” Nicole shot back.
Zack leaned between them, partially obscuring his view of Nicole. “Are we in danger?”
“They’re not coming towards us,” Benton offered, unsure of what else he could say.
“Then I don’t want to know,” Zack said.
Nicole shoved him aside. “Then use your earplugs.”
Waiting a heartbeat for those who wanted to block their ears to do so, Benton heaved a sigh and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, however, Danny released a startled, terrified scream.
“Oh, you can see them.” The words passed Benton’s numb lips as he watched the teens twist and turn.
They aimed their lights from one tree to the next, their panic mounting as they realized they were completely surrounded. Benton watched it all unfold with a certain degree of delight. They can see it, too. The notion that he wasn’t alone in confronting this brought such relief that he didn’t care what lasting effect it would have on them. Misery likes company.
“How is this possible?” Meg asked as she drew closer to her sister.
“It must be the woods,” Nicole answered.
Zack jerked around to glare at her but didn’t dare take his eyes off the ghostly hands for long. “We’ve been in the woods before. I never saw severed body parts.”
“Were you looking for them?” Benton asked.
“Maybe it’s you,” Zack snarled. “Ever think of that? Maybe you’re contagious or something.”
“If that were true, I’d probably have a way better relationship with my parents,” Benton scoffed.
Zack stormed towards
him, fear bringing him to the brink of snapping. Nicole jumped between them before Zack could through a punch.
“Stop it! We clearly have other things to worry about,” she said.
“This isn’t normal,” Zack snarled. “None of this stuff happened before he came to town.”
There was no way Nicole could keep Zack back if he truly wanted to push his way past her. This didn’t seem to occur to her.
“You’re scared. Hitting him isn’t going to change that.”
“It’ll make me feel better.”
Benton shrugged. “Yeah, I get that reaction a lot. Normally from children.”
It occurred to him a second later that provoking a terrified, towering teen that had a few pounds of muscle on him wasn’t the smartest idea. Zack surged forward but stopped himself midstride. Within a split second, the hands disappeared, slipping as one behind the trees. Dread thickened the air until it coated his throat. Experience had helped him to tell the difference between his own feelings and those that were driven into him from an unknown source. They’re hiding.
Heart ramming against his rib cage, he ducked to the side. “We need to get in the trees.”
“What?” Zack asked.
“You want to go where the hands just were?” Danny added in disbelief.
Arguing with them would be a fruitless exercise. So he turned to Nicole.
“We have to get off the forest floor.”
He could almost hear her brain clicking into gear, working through all of their options and quickly coming to a conclusion.
“Danny, Zack, hide the bags in that log.”
The two of them moved without comment, shoving the bags deep into the moss-covered hollow as Nicole raced to a nearby tree. It was one of the thicker ones, with gnarled branches that started a few feet off the ground. She didn’t move her gun as she pressed her back against it, braced her legs, and made a cup with her hands. Benton didn’t hesitate to take the boost. Heavy winter gear and a complete lack of experience would make him the slowest. Stretching out, he managed to hook his arm over the damp branch. Pulling himself up was harder. Rather than waiting for him, Nicole shuffled a few feet to the side. Meg and Danny quickly scrambled up past him. Zack followed them, having paused long enough to pull Nicole up.