by Toby Tate
Hendricks frowned. “That was an unfortunate accident. They weren’t supposed to be killed. I’m afraid Henry here is a little overzealous at times.”
“What I want to know is, what those stones have to do with the obelisks, and why the obelisks form a perfect pentagram.” Hunter said.
Hendricks raised an eyebrow. “Mr. Singleton, I am impressed. You really have done your homework. I didn’t expect anyone to figure that out so soon. But I should call the stones what they actually are—meteorites. Eons ago, they fell to earth and were discovered by people who were my ancestors. It changed them into beasts like those in the cave, into the forms they had before the Earth was overrun with humans. It was as if the meteorites had been directed here, where the Lilitu thrived. But then, the stones were stolen, hidden by one of the human inhabitants. When I heard that a container with strange writing had been discovered at the Anemospilia Temple, I knew they had finally been found. But you are right that a pentagram is often used to call up certain supernatural entities. However, in this case, it will be used for another purpose.”
“And what would that be?” Gabe asked.
Before Hendricks could answer, a spray of bullets struck him and Henry in the legs, sending both men sprawling to the ground.
Forty
Hunter spun on his heels to see Lisa standing near a tree in the woods behind them, an M16 rifle from Gabe’s boat in her hands.
“Lisa? How did you get here?”
“Who cares? Let’s get the hell out of here while we can,” Gabe said, breaking into a run toward Lisa’s position, followed by Mac and Jade.
As the two men were rolling on the ground, moaning in pain, Hunter glanced into the cave. The beasts were watching, but made no move to come after them. He turned and joined the others.
“Can you travel quickly?” Gabe asked Lisa.
“If not, I can carry her,” Hunter said.
“No, I’m alright. I may not be as fast as usual, but I can keep up.”
“Then let’s get moving,” Gabe said.
The five of them charged quickly through the forest and back to the beach when Hunter heard Hendricks’s voice behind them.
“After them!” it said.
Then he heard the ferocious howls of a dozen angry demons.
* * *
How the fuck had that woman gotten the jump on him like that? Hendricks’s legs hurt like hell, and Henry would be no help to him now. He was lying in the dirt, crying like a baby, bones sticking out of his pant legs like splintered wood.
Hendricks rolled up the leg of his pants and looked at the wound. It was already healing. In a matter of minutes, it would be as if he had never been shot. Any bullet fragments that remained in his flesh would work themselves out and fall to the ground. Being a Lilitu had its advantages.
That bitch had gotten out of her room through her closet. He had never even thought that she would use the plumbing access panel to escape, but the girl was more resourceful than he had given her credit for. This was just another problem that he didn’t need. He should have used a parasite to control her when he had the chance. Or killed her. But he let his sexual desires distort his judgment, and now this was the result.
The more Hendricks thought about Jade and her betrayal, the more enraged he became. He grimaced at the pain that radiated through his nervous system, but it seemed to give him clarity and focus.
When it comes time to open the door, they will be the first to die. That I swear.
Forty-one
They were trudging through the forest as fast as their feet would take them, but Hunter could tell that Lisa was having a hard time keeping up. Apparently, Gabe had noticed, too. She slid to a stop in front of a huge pine tree and the others followed suit.
“Mac, you and Jade run ahead to the boat and get it started. Hunter and I will help Lisa and try to hold off the beasts as long as we can. We’ll be close behind you.”
Mac looked as if he was about to protest, but instead, nodded and then took off with Jade toward the beach.
Hunter glanced at Gabe. “Do you really think we can stop those things? We tried to shoot one before, remember? It only pisses them off.”
“We just need to slow them down,” she said, then slid off her backpack and reached inside. “When I give the word, take off toward the beach and don’t look back.”
Hunter nodded. He could hear the beasts getting closer, huge paws thumping the ground like a herd of buffalo. Gabe took aim at the forest bed and fired. A flare hit the dry pine needles and flames roared like the ground had been covered with gasoline. She fired two more, spaced fifty feet apart, creating a semicircular wall of defense.
“The fire won’t last long,” she said. “Pine needles burn fast. Come on, let’s go.”
They turned and took off toward the boat, carrying Lisa between them.
* * *
Mac glanced at the small, red speed boat that had been run up on the beach and figured that was how Lisa had come to the island. Unfortunately, it would have to be left behind. He boosted Jade up over the side of the Cobalt as he stood in the surf, then she reached down and offered a hand. He ignored it and grabbed a railing, then hauled himself up onto the deck.
“Okay, so you don’t need a hand,” she said.
Mac smiled. “Sorry—I didn’t want to dislocate your shoulder. My name is John, by the way, but most people call me Mac, short for MacIntyre.”
“I’m Jade, but you probably already knew that. Thanks for rescuing me, by the way.”
Mac said nothing as he continued toward the helm.
As Mac turned the ignition and started the engines, he saw three figures emerge from the forest onto the beach.
Just as Hunter, Lisa and Gabe reached the boat, a horde of monstrous, snowy white beasts broke out of the forest at full speed. They only had seconds to get aboard.
Mac ran to the bow and grabbed Lisa’s hand, lifting her up so that her feet didn’t even touch the side of the boat. He did the same with Gabe, and then reached down for Hunter.
“Give me your hand,” he yelled.
Hunter turned to see the monsters about two hundred yards away. There was no way they would make it in time. He glanced over at the other boat. “I have an idea. Gabe, give me your backpack.” She handed it down to him.
“Get the Cobalt out of here and I’ll join you,” Hunter said.
“No, Hunter, get your ass in this boat, now!” Lisa screamed.
But he was already gone.
* * *
Hunter hoped to hell he knew what he was doing. But he realized the Cobalt would not be far enough away from the beach before the beasts reached it. They would be up on the deck before anyone could stop them. There were just too many.
He climbed aboard the boat Lisa had brought and started the engine. Luckily, she hadn’t run the propellers into the sand, so it was still operational. He backed the boat off the sand and saw that several of the beasts had noticed him.
“That’s right, you bastards, come and get me,” he said, backing away from the beach at high speed.
Hunter glanced around the boat, then raised up the passenger seat and saw what he was hoping for—a twenty-liter can of gas. He reached down with his free hand and yanked it up onto the deck. The monsters were no more than fifty yards from the water.
He throttled down when he was a few hundred yards out, then goosed into forward until the propellers were pushing the boat at top speed. He angled his trajectory just ahead of the Cobalt, itself backing away from the beach, but much more slowly than he was comfortable with. It was going to be close.
Hunter unscrewed the cap from the gas can, then laid it on its side and let it pour out onto the deck. He pulled the backpack open with his free hand and grabbed the flare gun. The beasts reached the waterline and were wading into the sea, but most had stopped when they saw Hunter’s boat, which was now headed straight at them.
Fifty yards out, Hunter released the wheel.
I must be out o
f my freaking mind.
He leaped over the side of the boat, simultaneously firing the flare onto the deck. Flames shot into the air and spread across the deck, singing Hunter’s shoes and nearly melting them to his feet as the boat continued up onto the sand and plowed into the beasts, mowing several of them down. The ones that were still alive howled in unholy fury as Hunter lay with his back in the water just off shore. He turned over and began swimming toward the Cobalt as he heard one of the beasts splashing after him. He wasn’t going to make it.
Then the fireball erupted, and his world went black.
Forty-two
Hunter blinked his eyes as his wife’s face came into focus.
He looked around and realized he was below deck in the suite of the Cobalt. He also realized he was naked and glanced down to see a blanket covering his body. His head felt like someone had tried to open his skull with a jackhammer.
“What happened?”
Lisa stroked his forehead. “The fire you set melted the deck and reached the gas tank. The boat exploded and would have killed you if you hadn’t been in the water. You probably killed half of those creatures on the beach and injured the rest. Mac jumped in the water and found you floating near the beach. He dragged you back to the boat.”
“Tell him thanks.”
“That was a pretty brave thing you did, though you could have made me a widow and left your son fatherless.”
“Yeah, probably not one of my best decisions.”
Lisa kissed the top of his head. “Brave, but stupid. Just the way I like ‘em.”
“So, how far out are we?”
“Maybe a mile or two. It hasn’t been that long since we brought you on board.”
From up on deck, Hunter heard Gabe say, “Oh shit. We have company.”
* * *
Gabe could see lights from two of the boats from the island’s dock headed across the water toward them. Their boats were even faster than the Cobalt, and soon they would be within shooting range.
“Mac, take the wheel,” she said, and then reached down under the console and pulled out a small black box with a single button.
Mac glanced at it. “What’s that?”
“It’s the insurance I told you about.”
Gabe raised the antennae on top of the box and pressed the button. The boats exploded simultaneously in two enormous sprays of sea water. What was left sank almost immediately.
As they sped farther away from the island and the two sinking craft, the unmistakable sound of rotors began to fill the air. Gabe and Mac glanced up. A few hundred yards away and closing fast was a small helicopter.
“These guys are pretty resourceful, aren’t they? Not to mention tenacious,” Mac said.
“So am I,” Gabe said, and then disappeared below. Within seconds she reappeared on deck with a Type 91 Sam-2 Surface to Air missile launcher, which looked something like an oversized movie camera.
Mac raised an eyebrow. “Do you ever run out of weapons?”
“Not likely, mate.”
Gabe turned toward the rear of the boat, shouldering the launcher, and took aim, careful not to stand in front of Mac.
“Go ahead, I’m clear!” he shouted over the boat engines.
Gabe squeezed the trigger and felt a jerk as the rocket took flight, straight for the chopper. In less than a second, it was a ball of flame falling to the water below. Gabe lowered the weapon and stared at the wreckage in the distance.
“I’m thinking you never played with dolls as a little girl,” she heard Mac say.
Forty-three
Hendricks stood within the inner chamber of the cave, his leg now completely healed, waiting to contact his masters. Hunter had managed to kill several of his brothers and sisters, and for that, he would pay. Henry had been transported to a hospital facility in Crete and would probably be crippled for the rest of his life. That was too bad—Henry was his best enforcer, one that didn’t require parasitic control. There weren’t many around like him, but Hendricks still had plenty of assets left. They thought they had hurt him, but they had barely even put a dent in his plans. It was merely an inconvenience.
However, the outsiders would not be pleased with how things were progressing and he would have to face them sooner or later.
Might as well be sooner.
Hendricks took a deep breath and cleared his mind. Almost immediately, he tensed up as he felt his brain being stretched like a balloon filling with water, to make room for them. A picture began to form in his mind’s eye of a dark, formless entity, older than time itself, and powerful beyond measure. Its very thoughts threatened to turn his brain to mush and he grimaced, hoping it would end soon.
“Things are not progressing as planned,” a voice boomed. “It is felt that perhaps you should be replaced with someone more capable.”
“No! It is merely a bump in the road. The eggs are unharmed, and soon will be ready to hatch. Your enforcers will grow quickly and be trained. I will depart just before the solar flare begins, and the stones will be placed according to the instructions.”
Hendricks’s head started to throb, pulsating with the thought energy of the outsiders. It was as if a thousand minds were trying to shoehorn themselves into his brain. He grabbed the sides of his skull in an attempt to keep it from splitting apart.
“We should terminate you and continue with another. We will return you to the state in which we found you.”
An image of a bloody, quivering mass of shredded flesh filled Hendricks’s thoughts.
“No, I can do this. Just give me a chance.”
The pressure inside his skull was building to a crescendo now, like a million screaming lunatics were pounding on it with their fists, trying to break free. He felt a trickle beneath his nose and wiped a hand across it, then looked down at the blood. Another minute and his brain would be permanently damaged.
“Do not fail us again. We will be watching.”
There was a sound like a cloud of buzzing wasps as his head began to spin. He wobbled on his feet and put a hand out to steady himself as the buzzing grew louder, but not in his ears. It was in his mind. All in his mind.
Hendricks could hold it in no longer. He filled his lungs with air and shrieked in agony. Then the outsiders finally, mercifully, released their hold on him. He crumpled to the cave floor and lay still.
Forty-four
Hunter had finally gotten his strength back, which he figured was thanks to his Native American toughness and his wife’s bedside manner. Lisa had cleaned the seawater out of Hunter’s clothes with the onboard shower, and then dried them out by taking them to the engine room and laying them on top of the engines. They were almost as good as new. He smiled up at her as she leaned over his bed.
“Thanks for the clothes. I was beginning to feel a little vulnerable lying here naked,” he said, kissing her gently on the cheek. “Someone could have taken advantage of me.”
Lisa smiled demurely. “How do you know I didn’t?”
Hunter thought about it for a moment. “Well, for one thing, I don’t feel like having a cigarette.”
“You don’t smoke.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot. By the way, whose boat did you borrow, where did you get it, and why?”
“I don’t know whose boat it was.”
“Seriously?”
“I needed something fast. It was pier side with the keys in it, so I took it.”
“How do you propose explaining that to the authorities?”
“Gabe is going to take care of that.”
“Okay, but you still didn’t answer my other question.”
“You mean why? Well, the father of my child was out there on some strange island owned by a man we know to be a killer. I think that was reason enough. I decided to follow you to the island. You didn’t even know I was there.”
“You followed us?”
Lisa nodded. “Hey, I practically grew up in the water. You know I can handle myself. After all, I am a park ranger.”
“Maybe. But I saved your asses, didn’t I? What if I hadn’t come along? You would still be there, probably being eaten by those monsters.”
Hunter sighed. “I can’t argue with your impeccable logic.”
“Of course not. That would be foolish.”
Hunter sat up in bed, then stood and swayed a little on his feet as the blood rushed from his head.
Lisa held out a hand to steady him. “You gonna make it?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Let’s go topside and see what our friends are up to.”
* * *
Hunter stood behind Gabe at the transom and glanced around at the horizon. He didn’t see any telltale lights—they were still a few miles out.
“So what’s the plan, now?” he asked.
“Now, we split up and go check out the two closest obelisks,” Mac said. “That should give us enough information to go on. If only we would have had a little more time, I think we could have gotten the answers from Hendricks.”
Gabe glanced at him. “We can turn around and go back.”
“No, thanks. Besides, I should be thanking Lisa for saving us.”
“I agree,” Gabe said. “Thanks Lisa.”
Jade stood and gave her cousin a hug. “I’m just glad you came for me. I don’t think I could have taken another night on that island.”
Lisa wrapped her arms around Jade’s neck. “What you did was very brave, Jade. You should be proud. Most people would have cracked under the circumstances.”
“Must be that Moore family perseverance. That, and I was praying my guts out.”