The Devil's Woods

by Brian Moreland

  “No…” Kyle stumbled backward, the trees spinning. Hot bile rose up his throat and he vomited.

  Kyyyyllle…

  When he looked up he saw Zack’s half-eaten ghost standing at the edge of the forest. Blood tears ran out of the empty eye sockets. Only tatters of flesh hung from his skeleton. Zack made a hollow sound and then walked behind the shed.

  Follow him, Detective Winterbone urged.

  “Hell no. I can’t do this.”

  You can, Kyle. He’s trying to help you.

  Kyle gripped his rifle as he followed Zack’s skeleton through a field of ferns. He kept looking back with those dark pits where his eyes should have been. Zack walked to a clearing with several scattered mounds. A graveyard. Only there were no tombstones. A shovel stuck out from a mound of fresh dirt, and Kyle had no doubt he’d find Zack’s remains buried there. Kyle grabbed the shovel and got a vision of red hands digging. A bare foot kicked bloody bones into a grave. Then like a fast-cutting film, Kyle saw girl after girl being raped and murdered in the shed and then buried out here. Their screams filled his head with madness.

  Kyle dropped the shovel. When he looked up, he saw the ghosts of more than twenty murdered girls standing around him and Zack.

  Don’t be afraid of them, Winterbone said. You can save them.

  How?

  By killing the monster who murdered them.

  * * *

  Inside a circle of thorny pines, Ray grabbed Jessica’s arms. She screamed and tried to jerk free.

  “Calm down, calm down, you’re safe now.” He yelled at his dogs, “Go on, get!” He made clucking sounds with his tongue and the three wolf dogs ran off into the forest. Ray shook his head. “Sorry, about that, Jessica. They thought you were a poacher.”

  She couldn’t stop trembling. “Are they going to come back?”

  “No, I sent them home.” Ray was shirtless, except for a vest made from a strange hide. It was open, exposing his sweat-covered belly. “What are you doing wandering out here by yourself?”

  “Searching for Kyle.”

  “Well, you could get yourself lost this far from the village. Let’s get you back.”

  She followed him through the gloomy woods, wary of every tree and bush, afraid that his dogs might attack again. Ray led her into a clearing where there was a fire pit and an old woodshed. She got a weird feeling about the place. “I thought you were taking me to the cabin.”

  “I need to check my shed first.”

  Something about Ray’s demeanor frightened her. A coldness in his eyes that wasn’t there before. “Please, I really want to head back, if that’s okay.”

  “This’ll just take a minute. Stick close to me.” He opened the double doors and a swarm of flies and a god-awful stink escaped the shed.

  Jessica backed away.

  Ray lunged and grabbed her arm. “Get back here!”

  “Let go. You’re hurting me.”

  “If you play nice, I won’t hurt you.” He pulled her into his arms. “No, no, no, I don’t want to bruise such a pretty face.” Ray pinned Jessica against the shed door. He petted her hair as if she were an animal. “They like the pretty ones.” His mouth mashed against her clamped lips. His free hand reached under her shirt and bra.

  Jessica twisted her head to the side. “Help!”

  His bear paw of a hand muzzled her mouth. She mumbled hysterically under his sweaty palm. She kicked his shin and then clawed his face. She made a run for it, but Ray grabbed her wrist and spun her around. He backhanded her and she fell to the ground. He took hold of her ankles and dragged her into the shed. She kicked and clawed the earth. He pulled her into a dark corner. Threw her onto a damp mattress.

  Jessica cried as Ray loomed over her, humming. He shackled one of her wrists.

  She wailed.

  “They’ll be coming for you soon. But first, you and I get to have a little fun.”

  Ray cried out as something smacked him in the back of the head with a loud thunk.

  He dropped to his knees. Kyle was standing behind him, holding a shovel.

  * * *

  Kyle swung again, striking Ray in the side of the face. He toppled over and Kyle pounded him again and again until his cousin’s face was a bloody pulp. Out of breath, his arms shaking, Kyle unshackled Jessica and pulled her out of the shed. He closed the double doors and stuck the shovel through the metal handles, locking the sick bastard inside.

  When Kyle turned to face Jessica, she buried herself in his arms, clinging to him, crying against his chest. He tried to persuade her to move, but she wouldn't budge. She was shaking severely, possibly going into shock. He held her, watching the double doors of the shed. He caressed her head. “It’s okay. You’re safe now, but we’ve got to get away from here. I’m not sure how long that door will hold.”

  A madman growled inside the shed. “I’m gonna skin you alive, Kyle!” The doors rattled from the impact of a body slamming into them, over and over.

  Kyle aimed his rifle and fired a shot at the door.

  The forest erupted with the sounds of barking dogs.

  Kyle grabbed Jessica’s hand and together they bolted up the trail.

  “It’s too far to the cabin,” she panted. “We’ll never make it.”

  He pushed her up the hill. “We will. Keep running.” Glancing back, he saw two gray wolf dogs running behind them. Thirty yards away, and gaining.

  Kyle stopped and raised the rifle’s scope, lined up the cross hairs, and pulled the trigger. One of the dogs rolled backward. The other disappeared into the brush.

  Kyle brought the rifle down. Off to his left, the black wolf snarled as it leaped, knocking him down. World spinning, pine-needled earth racing toward him, his face smacked solid ground. Somewhere in the maelstrom, he heard Jessica scream.

  The black wolf dog climbed on top of him. Arok’s teeth snapped at his neck, but Kyle pressed the rifle against its chest, keeping its fangs at bay. He rolled backwards, sending the wolf’s momentum forward. Then Kyle swung the rifle like a bat, striking its back legs. Bones snapped. The black wolf squealed and hobbled down the hill. Gunshots brought it down.

  In the delirium, Kyle stood on his knees, swaggered, heard barking and screaming. He spotted Jessica standing flat against a tree. She shielded her face as a gray wolf dog charged and leaped for her throat. Kyle raised his rifle and fired. The bullet tore open the dog’s neck in a bloody spray. The beast catapulted back and skidded across the ground, dead.

  “Kyle!” Elkheart and Madu hurried up the hill.

  Jessica collapsed against Kyle. Both gasped for air.

  Kyle, Elkheart and Madu listened as Jessica told her story of being caught by Ray and dragged into the shed. Moments later they all went back down to the shed to finish off Ray.

  The doors stood wide open. The madman had escaped.

  Part Seven

  Shifters

  Chapter Nineteen

  After Jessica took a shower, Kyle tucked her into bed up in the loft. She was still shaken after the incident with Ray and his dogs. She told Kyle about her fight with Eric and the breakup. Now, as if things weren’t bad enough with Shawna missing, Kyle’s brother was M.I.A. Apparently, Eric had driven off to God knew where. Kyle tried calling his brother, but got no answer.

  “Did you know about the other women?” she asked.

  “Yes, but it wasn’t my business. Is that why you broke up?”

  “That was part of it.”

  Kyle froze. He hadn’t dared to hope after he’d seen the engagement ring on her finger that morning.

  “The rest was you.” She gave him a shy smile. “I realized the first day that I had feelings for you, but I hoped they’d go away.”

  Kyle smiled. “And?”

  “Well, they just keep getting stronger. The timing is a disaster, and I’m sorry I hurt Eric, regardless of what he’s done. But I wouldn’t change what happened between us last night. Would you?”

  Kyle pulled her covers up, leaned over and
kissed her lips. “No.”

  She grasped his hand. “Lie next to me.” It wasn’t an order, but a soft request, with a hint of vulnerability that he might say no.

  He climbed onto her bed and lay on his side. She backed up against him, her body fitting perfectly within his. She wore only a terry cloth robe. Her damp hair smelled of honeysuckle. He put his arm around her. God, she felt good in his arms. Two years was too long to not feel the touch of a woman. She took his hand and held it against her chest. They lay like that for a long while, holding one another. He needed comforting as much as she did. She was still tense. Kyle stroked her hair and whispered, “You’re safe now. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

  She relaxed. Holding her, he drifted off to sleep.

  When Kyle awoke some time later, it was growing dark outside, the sky charcoal gray. He felt Jessica’s fingers stroking his hair. In the gloom, he could see her eyes watching him.

  “Hey you,” he said.

  “Hey.”

  “Feeling better?”

  She nodded. “Now that you’re here.”

  Kyle stretched and yawned, rolling onto his back.

  “Bored with me already?” she asked in a teasing voice.

  He laughed. “With you? Never. I’m just getting started.” He sat up, leaning on an elbow. He held her gaze for a moment. Even in the half-light her eyes seemed to sparkle. I’m in bed with an angel. He touched her face.

  “Mmmm…” she sighed at the touch of his fingers.

  Before he knew it they were kissing. The attraction between them was as strong as Kyle had thought. Jessica opened her robe and put his hand against her warm skin. Her rapid heartbeat thumped against his palm.

  She looked so delicate in his embrace, so ready to surrender her body and her heart. It was such an unexpected miracle that Kyle began to have doubts. “Are you sure about getting involved with me?”

  “I’ve never been more sure about a bloke,” she said in that sexy Aussie accent.

  As he kissed her neck, she pulled her robe off her shoulders. There was just enough light coming through the windows to see the outline of her breasts. He took in her beauty, unsure of how far she wanted him to take this. He decided for them, closing her robe and kissing her lips.

  “As much as I’d love to make love to you right now, Jessica, we should wait.”

  She frowned. “Why? Is it because you’re not over her?” She touched the gold band on his wedding finger.

  “No, I’m over Steph.”

  “Then why do you still wear it?”

  “I don’t know. It just hasn’t felt like the right time to take it off.”

  Why couldn’t he make love to Jessica right now? Was Stephanie’s ghost still inside his head? He looked around the room to see if his wife might be lurking off in a corner, but she was nowhere to be seen. No, his inhibition wasn’t about betraying his vow to Stephanie, but the speed in which Kyle and Jessica were moving. Just this morning, she had been his brother’s fiancée.

  Jessica held up her hand. “I took my ring off the moment I was done with Eric. I did it because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that you’re the man I want to be with.”

  “And I want to be with you, too, Jess. God knows how much I want that. But you and Eric just broke up a couple hours ago.”

  Jessica nodded, her face not hiding her disappointment.

  Kyle caressed her hair. “I want to do this right. After we get back to Seattle and some time has passed, I’d like to take you out on a date. Dinner, a movie, a kiss at the top of the Space Needle, the whole bit.”

  “I’d very much love that.”

  Her eyes, her smile got the better of Kyle. He kissed her more urgently, as if this moment might slip away and he found himself awakened from a dream. He clung to the fantasy, following the nape of her neck with his lips. Their moans filled the air of the loft. Kyle’s erection pressed against the zipper of his shorts. As his animal urges started taking over again, he wanted nothing more than to rip open Jessica’s robe and plunge inside her. After a moment of heavy kissing and petting, Kyle pulled the reins on his lust.

  “I should get up now.”

  “Okay…” Jessica breathed, her face intoxicated with arousal.

  He kissed her again and then climbed off the bed. “I’m going to check on the others. You should sleep.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible now.” She sighed. “I’ll get up and finish packing.”

  “Good idea.” Kyle stopped at the windows on his way out of the room. The cloud cover was low and the woods looked angry beneath it. The spell from his desire for Jessica was broken by a harsh and sobering reality. They were stuck here at the reservation until Shawna was found and Eric returned.

  * * *

  In Hagen’s Cove, Inspector Sam Zano chewed on a Tums as he rang the doorbell of the Thorpe Funeral Home. It had been a hell of a busy day handling all the details of the attack on the Hansons’ RV. Zano’s job of keeping the peace around Lake Akwâkopiy was getting more difficult by the day. The latest death had been a Calgary homicide detective. Talk about red tape. The last thing Zano needed was a bunch of city cops up here combing the woods and complicating matters. Another girl, Lindsey, had gone missing.

  Zano had a remedy for days like this. As soon he finished with this last stop he was headed straight to Olaf’s Bakery for a slice of strawberry pie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

  He rang the bell again and the chime echoed throughout the funeral home.

  Hugo finally answered the door. “Evening, Sam.” Part of his mouth was smeared with red lipstick.

  “Got a hot date tonight?”

  “Huh?”

  “You got a little lipstick on your face.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Hugo wiped a hand across his mouth. “What can I do you for?”

  Zano handed him a couple of trash bags. “You know what to do.”

  “I’ll get right on it.” Hugo started to close the door.

  Zano grabbed it. “On second thought, I want to make sure you take care of it right away.”

  He followed the mortician through the parlor and down a long hallway. The mortuary smelled especially ripe tonight. There was a nude female corpse on the slab. An unfortunate hitchhiker, Kendra Meacham. A fresh kill. She looked and smelled like she might have been dead for less than ten hours. Her red lips were as smeared as Hugo’s. Her legs were spread and semen speckled her bloated pubic area.

  Zano shook his head in disgust. “You have no self-control, do you?” If it weren’t for the fact that Hugo was the mayor’s misfit son, Zano would discipline the sick bastard.

  Hugo opened the trash bag and pulled out one of Carl Hanson’s severed arms. He smirked and waved the fingers at Zano.

  “Just get on with it.”

  Hugo threw the arm and bags into the cremation oven and set them on fire.

  When all the evidence was burned, Zano nodded to the defiled corpse. “Your girlfriend, too, lover boy.”

  Zano headed back to his vehicle, thinking about Olaf’s strawberry pie. His thoughts were interrupted by his cell phone ringing. He looked at the caller ID: Ray Roamingbear.

  * * *

  With a deer rifle strapped to his shoulder, Kyle stepped onto the second-story balcony just in time to see the sun make its final descent behind the mountains. As the last vestiges of daylight winked out, crickets and tree frogs played their nocturnal symphonies. It was a calming sound. The twilight hours had always been a peaceful time for Kyle to gather his thoughts. But tonight there would be no peace.

  He was surprised to feel a woman’s arms slip around him. “Hey.”

  He turned back to see Jessica. “I thought you were packing.”

  “I didn’t like being alone.” She kissed him, long and tender. He pulled away and was amazed to see her gazing at him with such loving eyes. Kyle wanted to enjoy the fact that Jessica was finally free to explore their amazing connection. But with Zack dead and Shawna still missing, those fee
lings would have to wait. Kyle was afraid for his sister. And with Ray Roamingbear on the loose, none of them would be safe tonight.

  “I’m sure they’re okay,” Jessica said, as if reading the concern on his face.