Darlington Woods

by Mike Dellosso

  His body was now showing every sign of suffering withdrawal. His palms were slick with sweat and his brow wet. Tremors had overtaken his hands. His vision had even dulled.

  This was why he'd endured the beatings, the violations, the humiliation. Why he'd allowed cowards to subdue him and inflict all kinds of pain on him: to ripen his hatred like a piece of deadly fruit and heighten his desire for retribution. In his way of thinking, Shields was the cause of so much suffering, so much lost time, and he needed to know, to experience, even a sliver of the anguish he was responsible for.

  He needed to end this soon. Tonight. He needed to bring to completion the plot he'd been preparing for the past two decades.

  Fifteen

  OB WAS TO HIS FEET IN A FLASH. HIS FIRST INCLInation was to run for it. Head into the woods and keep running until he found the way out. Asher ... he still couldn't believe what his eyes had seen. Fear had such a hold on him now, he could only think of self-preservation. But then he thought of Juli. He couldn't leave her alone to face the same fate as Asher. He moved in a wide arc around the pack of feeding darklings to stay inconspicuous and get a look at Juli. The sounds coming from the center of the clearing brought the bile to his throat again.

  When he came into view of Juli, his heart dropped into his stomach. She was lying facedown on the ground, head turned to one side, unmoving. The scream he'd heard must have been her last.

  Rising tears put pressure behind his eyes, and he found he could not swallow the acid in his throat. Fight or flight was the decision of the moment, and there was no doubt about his choice. But as he turned to duck into the utter darkness of the woods, he saw Juli lift her head and turn it toward him.

  Juli. She was still alive.

  Keeping his arc wide and sticking close to the outer perimeter of the clearing, Rob moved quickly to where Juli lay.

  The darklings were still preoccupied with their victim and didn't notice his movements.

  When Rob reached Juli, he crouched beside her. "You OK?"

  "I'm still alive."

  "Can you run?"

  Juli gave one nod. "I got my running shoes on."

  "OK, let's go."

  Rob stood and helped Juli up. The front of her shirt and pants were covered with grass stains and dirt, and there was a nasty brush burn across her cheekbone, but she seemed not to notice.

  "This way," Rob said, taking Juli by the wrist. He had no idea which way was back to the cabin, but he figured if they could stay out of the darklings' reach until sunup, they'd live to find a way out of these woods. Quickly, he looked at his watch: four forty-five. Another thirty, forty minutes, and it would be light enough to drive the darklings back into hiding. "Quickly," he said. "We need to get a good head start."

  So off they went through the woods again, ducking branches, dodging limbs, weaving around stumps and underbrush.

  When they'd been running for a minute or so, Rob tripped and landed on the ground. He was breathing heavily and noticed for the first time that his calf felt like it was on fire.

  Juli, who'd kept running, came back and crouched beside him. "I don't think those guys are honoring time-outs."

  Rob pushed himself up.

  From the clearing, not three hundred yards away, a scream cut through the morning air.

  "That's our cue," Juli said. "Ready or not, here they

  A cacophony of angry screams erupted from the clearing and, soon after, the complex sound of breaking branches and shuffling leaves. The darklings were on the hunt again.

  "Time to go," Juli said, tugging on Rob's arm.

  Rob jumped up and got his feet under him again. His calf throbbed, and his leg felt like it was loaded with bricks.

  "Go ahead," he said. "I'll be right behind you."

  "Guess again. We fly this coop together or not at all. Now let's go. One foot in front of the other."

  Rob willed his leg to move, and soon he was racing through the woods again, ignoring the pain that jolted his leg with each step. Behind them, a storm of screams and hatred and violence brewed and closed in.

  Navigating the woods in the dark proved to be a difficult task, and again Rob went down. This time, though, he was back on his feet and moving before Juli even realized he had fallen.

  When he caught up to her, she said, "You OK to keep going?" She was moving at a good clip but said the words almost effortlessly. Her stamina was incredible.

  "I'm going," Rob said. His lungs were heaving, pulling in air double, maybe even triple, time now. His quads felt the size of tree trunks and ached like someone had tightened a clamp on them.

  And still the darklings pursued, huffing and snorting and screaming through the woods.

  Rob pushed on, in spite of the fire in his calf, in spite of the knives in his lungs, in spite of the vice around his quads, and in spite of the fear in his heart. Juli was only feet ahead of him, her ponytail swinging like a pendulum, keeping time to their steps.

  Suddenly Juli disappeared. Rob slowed up but was too late. The ground beneath him sloped off, and he found himself tumbling down a steep embankment. He fell uncontrollably, legs flailing, knees and elbows thumping the ground with each revolution. Finally, at the bottom he was stopped by a fallen tree. He lay there for a few seconds, staring up at the silhouetted canopy, shaking things back into place in his head.

  To his left, Juli moaned and pushed herself to her knees.

  Above them, at the top of the embankment, a few darklings could be heard but not seen. It was still too dark.

  "Are all your pieces still in place?" Juli said.

  "I think so. How 'bout you?"

  "Present and accounted for. Let's roll."

  Rob stood and looked around. Even moonlight was minimal at the bottom of the embankment, but he could see they were in some kind of gorge with steep hills on either side.

  The darklings had gathered their forces at the top of the embankment and grew louder with each passing moment.

  Juli, now on her feet too, bent her arm at the elbow and winced. She looked up at the darklings. "If they're waiting for an invitation..."

  "They're waiting to see what our next move is gonna be."

  "Hopefully something unpredictable."

  "I have a feeling this gorge leads to a streambed, which leads to the river."

  "The mighty Susquehanna."

  "You ready?"

  "As ever, Freddy."

  Leaving the darklings standing atop the gorge, Rob and Juli fled south, toward the river and hopefully a way out of the woods. Within seconds, though, the little devils were keeping pace with them along the gorge's ridge. And seconds later they disappeared into the darkness and fell silent.

  "Keep going," Rob said. "We need to keep moving."

  They both slowed a little to a pace they could keep up for longer than a few minutes. The sun wouldn't be lighting up the sky with its first rays for another twenty minutes or so. They had to get as far as they could in that time. And stay alive doing it.

  While they ran, feet pounding the leaves, arms going like pistons, Rob's mind kept flashing back to that last image of Asher right before the big darkling planted its teeth in his neck. He tried to ignore it, wipe it off the slate of his mind, but it kept coming back, more vivid than the time before. He also thought of that darkling impersonating his son, and anger bubbled up in his chest. He clenched his fists and pumped his arms harder.

  When his feet landed in water, Rob knew they were close to the river. The stream. Follow the water. He took one side, and Juli took the other. But before they could advance any further an inky shadow poured down the embankment ahead of them and gathered across the stream.

  Both Rob and Juli stopped. Rob moaned, and Juli let out a defeated sigh. He looked behind them, thinking maybe that would be one last getaway, but there stood a shadow as well, covering most of the gorge.

  The darklings were back.

  And this time there was no escape.

  In the gorge there was even less light to see b
y, and the shadows ahead of and behind them seemed to move as one. There was something different about the darklings this time, though. An eerie hush had overtaken them. There were no screams, no hisses, no snapping of jaws. Even the dogs were quiet. Instead, they undulated rhythmically as a unit, like the rise and fall of swells at sea.

  Rob stole a glance at his watch. He knew it had to be time soon, time for the sun to make its daily appearance and push back the darkness. Time for salvation to come. Five ten. The first spears of daylight should be poking through the forest in the next thirty minutes.

  He looked at Juli. She was eyeing the darklings behind them. When she turned her face to him, surprisingly, he found no fear in her eyes.

  "In the movies, there's always a way out," she said.

  "This isn't Hollywood."

  "It's Darlington."

  "And they"-Rob nodded toward the throbbing horde of darklings-"aren't CGI special effects."

  They kept their eyes on the darklings and spoke low so as not to invite an early advancement of the enemy troops. Rob said, "Any suggestions?"

  "There's always a way out. Movies or no movies."

  "You said there was only one way out of these woods. Did you mean through them?"

  "You should audition for jeopardy."

  "I always wanted to meet Alex Trebek."

  The horde stopped moving, and all was quiet in the gorge. From the shadowy mass in front of Rob and Juli, a single figure emerged, the big darkling.

  Rob hitched a breath. This was the same scenario that had unfolded minutes ago with Asher.

  The darkling approached with slow, even steps.

  Keeping his eyes forward, Rob said to Juli, "Is there a way through them?"

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Juli's head turn toward him. They were shoulder to shoulder, so her face was no more than a foot from his. "Asher's death wasn't in vain."

  Asher? What did Asher's gruesome death have to do with Rob and Juli getting through the darklings and out of Darlington Woods? Whatever it was obviously didn't work for him.

  The darkling was steadily closing the space between them, now less than thirty feet away.

  Then it hit Rob. Asher's last words, right before the big darkling-the one not twenty feet from him now-took his life. "You shine your light."

  "Shine your light," Rob said aloud.

  The darkling was there, standing before him. The other ones stood about as high as Rob's belly, but this one was almost to his chin. It was thicker too, more muscular. It stood inches from Rob, its face turned upward. Anger and hatred twisted its scarred skin, furrowed its brow, tightened its jaw. It breathed heavily, air wheezing in and out of its nostrils.

  From the horde, a scream broke the silence. The big darkling looked over Rob's shoulder, eastward, and narrowed its eyes. It huffed in annoyance then looked at Rob again. Rob gazed into those dark orbs and was so overcome with fear his knees almost buckled. He wondered if Jimmy had looked into the same eyes and felt the same fear. But Juli was right there, taking his hand in hers. Her grip was firm and, oddly, dissipated the fear.

  The darkling took a step back, not moving its eyes from Rob's, then turned to face the horde. It raised both arms into the air and let out a full-throated scream. At once the two hordes, the one in front and the one behind, advanced.

  Rob squeezed Juli's hand harder. This was it. Shine your light. What did it mean? He didn't have the flashlight anymore.

  Within seconds the hordes were there. The rest happened so quickly and in such a blur Rob had no time to think let alone shine a light even if he had one.

  The darklings overcame both Rob and Juli, knocking them to the ground and swarming them like flies on roadkill. The weight of the horde on him was so great Rob could barely draw in a breath of air. Claws tore at his clothes; hands pulled at his hair. He tried to fight back, but his arms and legs were pinned to the ground. He heard the big darkling screaming from somewhere outside the horde. Something grasped the back of his neck and squeezed. Pain shot up into his head, and then everything went black.

  Sixteen

  OB AWOKE IN A LIGHTLESS ROOM VIBRATED BY A low thrumming. He ran his hands along the walls and floor. Concrete. Somewhere in the room, he heard the hollow echo of dripping water too. And in the distance, under the thrum, was the sound of moving water.

  He turned his head to listen better, and a sharp pain bit into his neck. His calf still throbbed too.

  Triggered by the dark and pain, Rob's muscles tensed, and his lungs felt like they were filled with gravel. He quickly spiraled into that familiar panic. The darkness felt alive, like it was an evil unto itself, a malignant thing working its way inside him, possessing every cell in his body. His breathing became labored, and his heart rate spiked.

  "Juli?"

  There was no answer but the steady thrum, the rush of water, and the rhythmic drip, drip.

  "Juli."

  Still nothing. Rob feared the worst, that the darklings had, for some reason, only detained him in this room but had delegated a much more grisly fate to Juli.

  "Juli." One more time.

  Then, "Dam." It was Juli's voice.

  "What?"

  "The Conowingo Dam."

  The sound of Juli's voice blew over Rob's nerves like a cool breeze. And of course it fit. The rushing water, the thrumming turbines, the dripping. They were inside the Conowingo Dam. They'd crossed it on the way to Darlington.

  "Are you all right?" Rob said.

  "Never better. I always wanted to tour this place, but they don't do tours for the public anymore. How 'bout you?"

  "My neck is killing me, and my leg...but besides that, I can't complain. We're still alive."

  "And alive is good."

  Rob could see nothing. The room was totally void of light. But by the sound of her voice he could tell Juli was directly across from him. "Where are we?"

  "Feels like a utility or storage room in the dam. Under the spillway." She paused for a few seconds. "That sound, the humming-"

  "The turbines, I figured that."

  "You're across the room. Come over here."

  Rob started to stand but sat again. His mind conjured up images of darklings waiting in the darkness, waiting to pounce on him like hungry wolves and devour him like they did Asher. "I can't."

  If she was disappointed or irritated, Juli's voice did not show it. "Yes, you can. Follow the wall around to where I

  Rob put both hands on the concrete floor. It was cool and dry and vibrated. He wanted to stand and go to Juli, sit beside her, but he couldn't; his legs wouldn't move. "I-I can't."

  He heard the rustle of Juli's clothes. Then a broken scraping sound-her sneakers sliding along the floor. Then she was next to him, sliding down the wall to sit. "Hey, mind if I drop in?"

  Rob liked having her close. Already the panic was waning. "Why do you think they brought us here?"

  "Um, it's dark."

  "Seriously."

  "They couldn't take us in the woods; there wasn't time. Just like you're afraid of the dark, they're afraid of the light."

  "Saved by the sun."

  "The glorious sun."

  There was a moment of silence between them. Rob's stomach grumbled loudly. He pushed the button to light his watch. "It's eleven thirty-five a.m.... and I'm starved."

  "They'll be back at sundown."

  Rob thought about that. And he thought about Jimmy. After all that happened last night-his encounter with the Jimmy-thing in the woods, the confrontation with the darklings, and Asher's grisly death-he now doubted more than ever that Jimmy was still alive, out there in Darlington Woods surviving among the darklings or having found a way to avoid them altogether. And if Jimmy really was gone, what point was there in living, in going through the motions? He'd already lost Kelly, an inconceivable tragedy that, by itself, would have caused him to give up all will to go on, and now, if he was admitting Jimmy was dead too, he had no purpose to live; he was a dead man already.

  But he was
n't admitting it, wasn't admitting anything. Just because he doubted didn't mean Jimmy was dead. In spite of what his head told him, he had to press on. He had to unveil the truth. He needed to get out of this room and find Jimmy. He wasn't ready to accept a world, a life, without his little boy.

  "But we won't be here," he declared.

  Juli was quiet until Rob felt her hand lightly touch his. "Yes, we will."

  Anger climbed into Rob's chest. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "You can't always run from your fears, Rob. Eventually you have to face them all."

  Rob didn't like getting angry with Juli. They'd already been through some horrific things together, and he was feeling a bond with her. The kind of bond he imagined soldiers forged on the battlefield. "This has nothing to do with facing fears. This is about survival and finding my son. I'm not sticking around to face those things again and die like some kind of martyr, like Asher did. I'm not dying in the dark."

  "This isn't about dying in the darkness. It's about living in the light. That's the only way out."

  Rob pushed his fear aside and mustered up the courage to stand. "As I see it, the only way out is through a door. I'm getting out of here, and you're coming with me."

  "I wouldn't have it any other way."

  Feeling along the concrete wall, Rob inched his way around the room. There were a couple spots where metal cable casing ran up the wall like petrified vines. He found the leak and the drip, a metal cabinet that was empty, and a drainpipe in one corner. The room was small, maybe fifteen by fifteen. Just before he made it the whole way around, he felt what he was looking for-a metal door. Running his hand over the door he felt no knob or handle of any sort. No locks either. It was just a sheet of smooth metal.

  "I found the door," he said. But Juli said nothing in return.

  Rob pushed on the door, but it didn't budge. He knocked on it and found it to be solid, like knocking on the concrete wall. Running his hands along the edge, he located three hinges on one side. So it was indeed a door and opened inward. He knocked again, this time with his fist. Then again, harder. The door didn't budge, and his knocking sounded dead. Kicking the door in frustration, Rob followed the wall back and sat next to Juli.