Shot in the Dark (Shot in the Dark Trilogy Book 1)

by Mary Dublin

  "What?" Hazel flinched back against a root and shook her head vigorously. "N-No! Not them. I'm not… no!"

  Gripping Hazel's shoulders gently, Sylvia looked her in the eye. "I know it's hard, but you have to believe me. They aren't monsters, Hazel. Bad things happened with them before, I know. But as of now, they would never do anything to hurt you or me."

  "If you trust them so much, why are we hiding?"

  Sylvia's eyebrows shot up. She couldn't deny her sister's observation. "It's complicated. Now come on."

  It took some coaxing, but Sylvia managed to get Hazel out from under the bush and up into the tree branches. They followed the hunters from a distance, just barely keeping them in their sights. A river audibly rushed in the distance.

  Sylvia did more branch-hopping than long stretches of flying, trying to keep her wings as rested as possible. Hazel refused to drop the subject of what was going on until her sister filled her in on every detail of what had happened while she was with the hunters: how they rescued her from living an unpleasant life at the village, how they watched out for her. Sylvia decided it was best to leave out the encounter with Leeana and her tentative relationship with Jon.

  "Your humans didn't want you to come, but you did it anyways?" Hazel asked after lapsing into a shocked silence for a few good seconds when Sylvia was finished explaining.

  "I just want to make sure I'm there if they need help." On top of that, she hadn't wanted to start an argument with Jon and Cliff about going along. So she had resorted to following them without their knowledge. "I'm strong with water, which there's plenty of where they're going."

  She hoped it would be a while before Hazel put two and two together and realized they would need the hunters' help to get her back to the village once this was over. There was no way she was letting Hazel fly ten miles by herself.

  Twenty minutes passed without incident. Sylvia could hear the sound of the hunter's footsteps change as the hard-packed earth became soggier. A short time later, the river came into view, running steadily south under an overcast sky. Thunder rumbled distantly, remnants of the storm system passing through.

  As the hunters walked parallel with the river, Sylvia made sure she and Hazel stayed just short of the treeline while they followed. Finally, they reached the point where the city sewer outflowed. The 10-foot tunnel poured a muddy waterfall into the churning waters below. Sylvia wasn't surprised that Jon was the first to climb up to the entrance, flashlight in hand.

  "Let's go," Sylvia said, her heart already pounding at the sight of the darkened space in the tunnel. She imagined the gator rushing out, taking a bite out of Jon's leg—

  Hazel paused in mid-flight, pulling back to hover. "Oh. Nuh-uh, I'm not going in there."

  Sylvia's sighed sharply and led her reluctant little sister closer to the tunnel entrance, though they still kept a good distance. "Okay, you just… wait here until I come back—"

  A female scream cut through the air—definitely human, judging by the volume.

  Sylvia's head whipped in the opposite direction of the tunnel and spotted movement coming parallel to the river. A couple of humans were running, but that wasn't the most frightening thing. Something massive was moving through the tall grass behind them, and it didn't take her long to figure out what.

  Hazel stayed hovering where she was, mouth agape at the sight of the monstrous gator. Sylvia was frozen for a second also, until she caught movement in the corner of her eye. Jon and Cliff charged out of the tunnel, likely having heard the piercing scream as well.

  Snapping out of it, Sylvia gripped her little sister's arm and pulled her to a higher branch, too pumped with adrenaline to feel the ache in her wing. The boys would be upon the alligator at any moment. There wasn't any time to take Hazel farther away.

  "Stay here and don't move until I come for you," Sylvia ordered, giving her sister's shoulders a squeeze. "You hear me?"

  Hazel nodded shakily, leaning against the tree trunk for support with her horrified gaze still glued to the distance.

  Steeling herself, Sylvia darted away to catch up with the hunters. Fear and protectiveness churned inside of her, ample fuel for magic if something went wrong and she was needed.

  If only it had been enough.

  Nineteen

  Miranda snuggled closer into her fiancé's side. Curled up in a sleeping bag under the canopy of branches, this camping trip was turning out to be the best idea her man had come up with in years. No distractions. No more arguments. Just the two of them and the great outdoors. Though she'd never been much of an outdoorsy girl herself, she was content where she was. The humble flames of their private fire lapped at ash-covered kindling. The smoky flavor in the air reminded her of a home she hadn't visited in years and of the wholesome charm of the simple pleasure of nature's company.

  "You gonna sleep or just sit lay there?" the man next to her grunted.

  Miranda raised her eyebrows, glancing his way. "Well it is the middle of the afternoon, Aaron. I'm not much of a napper, you know that."

  "Just relax, then," Aaron crooned, wrapping a lean arm around her. The sun sparkled overhead, but they had no obligations to rush to. Miranda giggled softly, fingering the diamond on her finger as she nestled against him.

  No sooner had she shut her eyes than the hair rose on the back of her neck. Miranda blinked and peered out past the fire, trying to discern what had chilled her so. She sucked in a breath, elbowing Aaron. "Did you hear that?"

  "It's the forest, babe. Things move, it's fine," Aaron grumbled reassuringly.

  Though reluctant, she relaxed again and tried to bring back those lovely memories of home and daydreams of a home she'd one day make herself.

  The peace the settled over the makeshift campground was not to last. Foliage rustled, a sharp jerk of shrubs being pulled past their breaking point. Something heavy was being dragged slowly, ever so slowly along the ground. Miranda sat bolt upright, vicious chills replacing the romantic warmth she'd felt only seconds ago.

  "Don't tell me you didn't hear it that time!" She glared all around at the stilted shadows in the shady forest. To her horror, the noise didn't die down—it was coming closer. Aaron jumped to his feet, visibly shaken now. Miranda followed suit, clinging to his arm like a leech. "I thought you said this place was off-road," she hissed.

  "You think that sounds like a camper?" Aaron replied in a wobbly whisper.

  They spotted it at a distance, limping like it was injured—and it definitely wasn't a camper. The massive… thing moving belly-down with a wide, prolonged snout pushing through the vegetation. Its scaly skin was discolored and cracked as if bursting at the seams. A thick tail made up half the creature's length, leaving no question as to what it was. The only question was how a gator so immense could exist. Miranda held her breath, horrified to realize that its size was no trick of the light.

  The gator's dragging came to a stop. It looked so damaged, as if it would fall apart at any moment.

  Before either Miranda or Aaron could voice their confusion, a hiss cut through the air. The monstrous gator moved forward, and Miranda nearly toppled over when Aaron took off in the other direction, dragging her along.

  "You had to pick camping," Miranda grunted, voice strangled with terror. This was supposed to be a romantic rendezvous away from the city—not a scenic route straight into a horror movie!

  Their lungs burned with frantic breaths as they sprinted left and right through the trees that grew along the riverbank. As sluggish as its initial approach had been, the monstrous gator now charged with an uncanny speed. It trampled everything in its path, managing still to curdle their blood with a ragged, threatening bellow. Tree roots and dips in the soggy soil along the river's bank threatened to trip them right into the monster's jaws.

  The aggressive pawing of the gator's chase was interrupted by a heavy slink and a splash of water. The quiet that followed was even more unsettling. Aaron glanced over his shoulder again—a risky move that could send him sprawling
with any wrong step. The gator was gone. Out of sight, but certainly not out of mind. He put his hand on his Miranda's arm and pulled her to a stop. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but he breathlessly pointed at the empty space behind them. They stood there, doubled over with gasps of air.

  "Where is it?" Miranda shrieked, looking all around. Terrified tears leaked down her face.

  "I think it dove back into the water," Aaron gestured to the river running alongside them. "Must've seen a duck or something. Come on, we have to get out of here and call a park ranger."

  "But Aaron… what about all our stuff? My credit card is back in the tent!"

  "Just leave it. We can come back for it later," he hushed her.

  She caved with a shaky nod, leaning against the nearest tree for support while she caught her breath.

  The surface of the rippling water shattered. The monster burst onto the shore. Miranda never knew she had it in her to scream so shrilly until that moment. She scrambled backward along the marshy shore, forgoing a necessary caution in the midst of her panic. A gnarled root snagged a careless footfall, twisting her down to the ground hard. Her screams of terror intermingled with her lover's as the gator's gaping jaws finally found their mark.

  ***

  Sylvia swallowed down the urge to cry out from the twinge of pain in her tender wing. Jon and Cliff already had a headstart on her, and she couldn't let them get out of range. Luckily their pounding footfalls easily overpowered the buzzing of her wings. The last thing she wanted was to be noticed by them and become a distraction in the midst of such a critical moment. They had already passed an abandoned campsite as they cut through the woods. The fire was still burning dimly far below. The fearful screams grew in both clarity and proximity as Jon and Cliff veered to the right, following the sloppy tracks along the river's brink.

  "Idiots," she heard Jon pant. "You don't run along the water to outrun a gator!"

  Despite everything Sylvia's lips twitched in a small smile. He was right, after all.

  Then they were in the hunters' sights—a man and a woman in civilian clothing—desperately trying to escape the fatal jaws of an alligator that rivaled a full-grown willow tree in size. Its scaled skin was stretched in places, and discolored a sickly yellow hue. It vaguely resembled a withering plant, with far more firepower. Its genetic coding was broken. Broken by a werewolf. It wasn't born for this large mass.

  Cliff and Jon were sprinting almost as fast as Sylvia could fly, but the gator still took a victim. Stifling a horrified gasp, Sylvia's eyes ballooned at the injury the woman now sported. Blood stained her tight shirt, leaking out from the merciless grip clamped around her middle. Worse than that could happen to her friends, and there was no one else around to stop it.

  Sylvia clung to a branch hung over the river's rushing water, watching as the hunters at last drew close enough to attack. The human man cradling the hurt woman looked on at them with a mixture of confusion and hope written on his face, not quite sure what to make of the two gun-bearers. Cliff landed with a splash in the shallows, the gun strapped on his hip matching the one in his hands. Jon loosed a grunt of exertion, lunging to heave at the gator's meaty tail.

  The creature grunted and turned its attentions on the hunters. Jon's name was on Sylvia's lips, the terrified whisper escaping her noiselessly as gunshots shook the air, one after the other.

  Every bullet hit its mark—as if she needed to be convinced of the hunters' uncanny aim. These bullets didn't ricochet off like back in the sewers. The firepower Cliff had bartered for certainly seemed to be worth its weight in gold, but despite the size of the wounds it now bore, the gator stood its ground and hissed, baring bloody rows of teeth at the two men.

  "Go! Get her out of here!" Cliff barked at the couple. Walking was out of the question for the woman, but Sylvia was glad to see the man with her was able to drag her a good distance away from the fight.

  Jon and Cliff stood apart, a "V" formed between the two of them and the gator, so the monster had to choose one of them to go after. Jon fired again, two more bullets tearing into its scaly belly. The gator charged forward with surprising speed, ramming Jon into the nearest tree. Sylvia cringed at the painful clunk of his skull against wood. She was dizzied at the thought of how small he looked compared to the alligator. Him, a giant even amongst other humans! He stirred faintly at the base of the tree, his body language disoriented. His gun lay three feet away. Sylvia nearly screamed for him to get up and grab it, but she didn't need to. The gator turned, its tar-colored eyes fixing on the other hunter.

  Snapping out of her frozen horror, Sylvia scrambled along the branch just in time to see the beast swiftly closing the distance to the river bank, right for Cliff. Its speed was surprisingly unhindered even after being stuffed with bullets. The gator certainly wouldn't go down before it reached Cliff, no matter how many times he shot it.

  There was no more time for hesitation. If she didn't help right then, there would have been no point in her taking the risk to come at all.

  Focusing on the river, she drew in a deep breath. Her insides chilled in response to her rapid whispers. She raised her arms in the direction of the water, a headache already beginning to pound in her skull. With a grunt of effort, she pulled her hands toward her body and clenched her fists. The rushing water below reacted in turn.

  Razor-like shards of ice blasted out of the river like two torrents on either side of Cliff, launching at the creature mercilessly and ripping at its eyes. The alligator's skin was thick, but she hadn't ridden on the hope of bringing it down with the spell. Her intention was to blind it and buy time, hopefully enough to keep anyone else from getting hurt.

  For a few moments, it seemed like the hunt was forgotten as the spectacle of ice erupted around them. Cliff's eyes were wide with wonder, and then lifted upwards. For a split second, Sylvia knew he'd seen her. She maintained the spell for the few seconds that she could before sinking to her knees on the branch. Feverish from the powerful spell, she could only be mildly grateful that Cliff chose to take advantage of the opportunity she'd presented him instead of outing her presence.

  The gator grunted, a repetition to its strange threat that verged on frantic. It tried to shake off the scattered icicles on its back to avail. In its blind rage, it charged for the waters—taking Cliff along with it. An ear-splitting crack sounded out as the massive bodies hit the river's surface. White water churned, and a horrible, strangled noise ripped through the water.

  "CLIFF!" Jon's bellow carried far despite the crack in his voice. Sylvia watched him with shallow breaths from the treetops, wishing she had the strength for one more spell.

  Jon raced to the shallows. He slung his gun up to his shoulder with his eye trained on the crosshairs. But there was no shot to be taken. Only a flashing of limbs and muted color were visibly under the murky current. The targets were inseparable. Pulling the trigger on the gator could have an equal chance of killing Cliff.

  A surge of bubbles from underwater marked the final struggle before the movement waned into a grim stillness. The gator's ridged back rose up. Coldness seeped into Sylvia's bones. No.

  The scaly back lurched in a strange fashion. Two human hands were visible in glimpses, straining under the weight. Not long after, Cliff surfaced with one last mighty heave and struggled to remain afloat, head breaking free of the frigid river.

  "Don't shoot!" he croaked out, hacking on swallowed water.

  Jon's shotgun fell to the ground as he bolted into the murky depths and wrapped his arms around Cliff, supporting him as he shakily made his way out.

  Cliff collapsed upon the shore with shaky, labored breaths. Jon came beside him and pulled back the reddened, torn fabric of Cliff's shirts aside. He had a row of deep punctures across his shoulder, one of the smaller of the gator's teeth still embedded.

  "Shit. It got you good."

  Cliff dabbed delicately at the wound, frowning at the abundant blood that colored his fingers. "Could have been worse," he decided.


  Jon glanced behind them at the floating corpse of the monstrous alligator. Though it moved only with the current now, it still was a bone-chilling sight.

  "You sure it's—"

  "You bet your ass I'm sure." Cliff's green eyes opened and flashed at him. "It's not coming back, Jon."

  Even as he lay there on his back, Sylvia watched his gaze become distant, searching the veins of branches over his head. Searching for her, she realized.

  She wanted nothing more than to fly down and do what she could about Cliff's injury, even if the two other unfamiliar humans saw her, but she had no spell books with her. Even in her frantic desire to heal, she knew she couldn't remember the incantation. Besides that, Hazel was still alone. She needed to get to Hazel first and then go to the hunters.

  Getting to her feet was harder than it should have been. She forced her legs underneath her and stood up, wobbly. The darkness in her vision spread, but she steadied herself and blinked hard until she could see again. She drew in a raspy breath and shivered. It was so cold.

  Flying was out of the question. She could barely bring her wings to spread. She moved tree to tree through the leaves and over the branches. Jon's voice came from behind. Calling for her, looking for her. It was difficult to ignore, so much more tempting to turn around and go to him first.

  Hazel, Hazel, Hazel…

  "Sylvia!"

  A tiny pair of buzzing wings closed in, meeting Sylvia halfway from where she'd left Hazel. Sylvia came to a stop and let her little sister collide into her for a tight hug. Overwhelmed with dizziness and relief, Sylvia sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around Hazel's waist.

  "That ice! I saw it! It was amazing! I didn't know you could…" Hazel trailed off. She ran her hand along Sylvia's cheek and gasped. "You're freezing!"

  Sylvia tilted her head up and blinked heavily at her, trying to focus. "I-I wasn't strong enough for that spell," she said through chattering teeth. "It's b-backfiring. It's so cold, Hazel. W-we need to get to… to the ground."