Ancient Fire

by Judi Calhoun

Inside the vacuum of my nightmare, I heard the sound of something wicked cutting, crunching, biting, and slicing on a path of destruction. Coming for me, coming for us all. The sound was so real, so evil, so frightening, that I couldn’t tell if I was inside it or it was inside me. I gasped for breath, pain seared my lungs, screaming at me to stop running, but I could not stop.

  The drumming of my heart matched beat-for-beat the pounding of my footsteps, racing, racing to save Gabby! I had to stop the crunching sound. I had to stop death.

  The vacuum opens; it is time to wake up! Now I know that everything has gone horribly wrong. The breathing and heartbeat is so loud in my ears as I run. I am an insane girl, crazy with fear, because her best friend is about to die.

  Screams of torment flowed from Gabby’s lips, her arm appeared to be bent back, completely broken. A few steps behind her stood my old friend, the vampire Lorcan.

  She stumbled falling on her knees, whimpering, scrambling to distance herself by crawling away. I suddenly realized she could see the demon. Yesher had opened her eyes.

  Blood dripped from Lorcan’s mouth. A depraved, eager fire burned in his eyes, crazy with desire to sink his fangs into her flesh.

  I ran...not fast enough.

  Lorcan lunged.

  Suddenly he froze in mid-lunge. His eyes blinked in shock. He staggered to the right; teetering like an axed tree, then fell face first in the dirt, Nate’s broadsword sticking out of his back.

  Gabby, out of her mind kicked at the demon until it vanished. Nate pulled Gabby up and she collapsed in his arms, trembling, sobbing hysterically.

  I made it down the hill. “GABBY! Gabby, Gabby, Gabby!” I breathlessly reached out and she threw herself into my arms. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She wrapped her good arm around my neck.

  “You’re alive! Shonna. When I didn’t see you I thought…well I figured we were all toast.” She nervously glanced around. “It’s the Night of the Living Dead or worse Evil Dead. What was that thing?”

  “That’s not important,” I said softly. “You’re safe.”

  “No, Shonna, we’ve got to get out of here before they come back.” She was trembling so hard her teeth rattled, “Tell me this wasn’t real. Tell me I’m going to wake up. I was just imagining this, right?”

  “It’s real.” I bit my lip, wishing I had not just said that, because she started crying harder. “Hey,” I said softly, “it’s okay, everything’s going to be all right. They’re not coming back.”

  “How do you know that for sure?” she asked.

  “I just do,” I said calmly.

  Gabby wouldn’t understand how I knew they wouldn’t be back. They had done what they had come to do, distract us. Killing us would have only been an added bonus.

  “They don’t like dying very much,” I said, glancing at Nate, who was hovering, his hands reaching out as if he wanted to hold her. What was up with him?

  “Joey’s in trouble,” he said, pointing toward Jake, who was kneeling over a limp body. “You should go help him.”

  Seriously, I should go? Why wasn’t he going? Inside me, a battle was raging. Sure, I wanted to know that Joey was okay, it was my fault he was hurt, but this was my best friend. Then I found myself saying. “Take care of Gabby for me.”

  He smiled. “I won’t let anything hurt her.” He gently folded her in his arms. Gabby seemed to want Nate to hold her. She rested her head on his shoulder. My mouth fell open. What has changed with him and her?

  I didn’t have time to think about Nate and Gabby, not right now when Joey was hurt. I sprinted over to Jake and fell on my knees next to Joey’s limp body.

  “Is he dead?” I asked, fighting the queasy feeling that hit me at the sight of all the blood. He looked like human hamburger; giant claw marks cut into his body the entire length of his right side, deep into his chest and legs.

  “Not yet,” said Jake, tearing his T-shirt, making a tourniquet. He tied it around Joey’s leg and arm, and then shoved the rest of the fabric onto Joey’s chest. “You need to hold this for twenty minutes,” said Jake. “Look at your watch.” I put my hand on the cloth and glanced down at my watch. When I leaned on the cloth, his blood started to seep through.

  The moon had pulled free of the thin curtain of white clouds. Suddenly, it felt as if the temperature had dropped ten degrees.

  I flipped my cell phone free from my pocket and started to call for help. Jake grabbed my phone. “What are you doing?”

  “Calling 911.”

  “You can’t do that,” he said. “Think, Shonna! How are we going to explain this? We’ll all be arrested.”

  “Then what do you suggest we do?” I asked.

  “Help me lift him,” he said, bending over.

  Jake wrapped one arm around Joey’s waist and lifted one leg while I did the same on the other side, shoving the blood-covered rag in my pocket. We carried him, having no idea where we were going. Joey needed a hospital and the gate to the cemetery was locked.

  “He sure is heavy for a skinny guy,” I said.

  We half-dragged him until we reached the edge of the dirt road, Jake stopped. “I have an idea.”

  We gently laid Joey down. I fell on my knees next to him and placed the rag back on his chest.

  “Keep the pressure steady,” said Jake then glanced over at Nate. “Can David drive?”

  “I’ve got my learner’s permit,” said David. He had been standing on a thick high branch of a huge maple tree, struggling to free Gabby’s favorite jacket from the tangled branches.

  “Forget the jacket. Catch!” Jake tossed him his keys. “There’s bolt cutters in my trunk. Cut the lock and get up the hill as fast as you can drive.”

  David caught the keys in one hand. As he jumped down and ran off, I swear I saw him smiling. He was the perfect choice, seeing he was gifted in Jumping. Scaling the fence would be easy for him.

  Joey moaned. He began to tremble. I glanced up at Jake. “He feels like ice.”

  “Loss of body heat, and shock,” said Jake. “That’s not good. He bent over to check Joey’s pulse and stood up nervously running his hands through his hair, pacing.

  Four long minutes had passed before we finally heard the car and saw the headlights of the white Mustang barreling toward us. David stomped on the brake. The tires skidded and spun in the dirt as the Mustang came to a screeching halt against a gravestone. The front bumper was decorated with leaves from small bushes he had taken out on his way up the narrow hill.

  We loaded Joey in the back seat. David and I climbed in with him. Nate and Gabby squeezed into the front passenger seat.

  The rag on Joey’s chest was almost completely soaked. Blood was now running down my arm into my lap, soaking my jeans. That old familiar sour, sick feeling returned to my stomach with a vengeance, stupid, scary mind trip. I could almost smell the bile rising. I squeezed my fists tight. For Joey’s sake, I would fight it.

  Jake did not hesitate. He backed all the way down the narrow path and did a swift one-point turn, wheels squealing, his door still ajar, as he barreled through the now open gate and slammed on the brakes in front of Nate’s Mercedes.

  It took less than one minutes for Nate and David to help Gabby into the Mercedes, then four more minutes before both vehicles pulled up in front of the ambulance doors at the hospital Emergency Room. Thankfully, the bleeding in Joey’s chest had finally stopped the EMT’s loaded Joey onto a gurney. Nate escorted Gabby inside.

  The moment that Jake pushed the doors open, and the smell of disinfectant hit my nose I froze. I watched as the door shut in my face while Jake kept walking, not even glancing back to see if I was behind him. Is he annoyed with me?

  Inside me the feeling was overwhelming. I needed a bathroom. I needed to clean the blood from my hands. I held my breath and pushed on the glass doors with my fists, stifling the panic that was just below the surface. I moved inside, light-headed...dizzy. A cold sweat broke out across my forehead. I ran for the restroom. Mercifully, I was alone.
>
  I gazed at myself in the mirror. Joey’s blood was on my shirt, my jeans, and my face. I even had the taste of it in my mouth. My head reeled as images flashed like the blur in a window of a high-speed train, light to dark to light again, horrifying images of death, blood, and memories of my father. Conversations I was not supposed to hear. His clothes were soaked in blood. Mom’s voice dissolved into tears. Who would do this to him, Lynn? The coffin lid closed. I never even got a chance to see my father’s face one last time. I felt that same empty void, right now.

  My shaky hand turned on the faucet, staring at the sink, watching with morbid fascination as Joey’s blood splashed down the drain, rapidly staining the white porcelain sink crimson red. I could not pull my eyes from it. I watched, feeling myself swirling down that drain along with Joey’s blood. Slowly I took a deep breath and tore paper towels from the wall dispenser. I tried unsuccessfully to wipe the blood from my shirt…it was toast, as well as my jeans.

  Suddenly I gasped as a new fear hit me. How would we explain Joey’s injuries? Surely, the doctor would want answers. It was urgent that I speak with Jake. I forced myself to leave the bloody sink and the safety of the restroom.

  Jake was sitting at a small cubicle against the wall, speaking with a heavyset woman who wore round, red eyeglasses.

  From beyond the double doors, I heard Joey screaming. Guilt shot through me, like arrows, filling me with pain. “Is Joey going to be okay?” I interrupted their conversation. Jake never look at me and the woman ignored me as well.

  A grey-haired man with a stethoscope around his neck, dark-framed glasses, and surgical scrubs, turned the corner. “Are you the people who brought the boy in?

  “Yes,” I said, my mouth dry.

  “Can you tell me what happened to him?”

  “Is he okay? Is Joey okay?” I asked, my voice shaky.

  “We’re treating him,” he said, his eyes scanned the blood all over my clothes. “Can you tell me the nature of his injuries?”

  I glanced down at Jake. It was as if his mind was gone, his eyes were focused on some distant point, and I didn’t think he was aware that someone had asked a question. So I guessed it was all on me.

  “An animal attacked us,” I said, my eyes still locked on Jake. Really, demons are like wild animals, so perhaps it wasn’t completely a lie.

  “Did you say animal?”

  I looked directly at the doctor. “Yes.” What choice do I have?

  His eyes narrowed. He glanced at Jake who wasn’t exactly cooperating. “What kind of animal?” he asked suspiciously.

  I really wished he hadn’t asked me that. “I don’t know,” I said. “We were in the woods and it came after us. Joey couldn’t outrun it.” Everything I said was technically true.

  Say something, Jake! I studied him unable to understand what he was thinking. Was he in shock or did he blame me for everything?

  I got up and headed for the exit to get some air.

  “Miss, we need you to stay. The police want a statement.”

  “I’m not leaving,” I said. “How is Gabby?”

  “Are you family?” he asked.

  I hated this line of questioning. What difference did it make if we were family, I loved Gabby like she was my sister. “No,” I said. “She’s my best friend.”

  “Sorry, I am not allowed to discuss her case with anyone but family,” he said. “Please wait for the police.” He turned and walked away, leaving me feeling like a wanted criminal.

  I walked very fast to the exit. Once outside I inhaled loads of fresh air. When I came back into the waiting area, I found David sitting on top of a table strewn with magazines.

  “They wont let me in,” he said.

  Still fighting nausea, I sank down into a chair. Not so much from my fear of hospitals, but now, I was concerned about Jake. Why was he giving me the cold treatment?

  Jake and Nate came into the room and I was on my feet.

  “How’s Gabby?”

  “Her arms broke, they’ve set it. She can go home. Her Aunt is with her right now,” said Nate. “I wanted to find out what you guys told the doctor?” He whispered the last words.

  “An animal attack.”

  He smiled. “I said the same thing.”

  “At first they tried to kick me out,” said Nate, “Gabby wouldn’t let the doctors touch her if I left.” I stared at him in utter amazement. I was still having a hard time adjusting to this sudden love affair. Just the other day they couldn’t stand the sight of each other. Now she did not want him to leave her side…and he was smiling because of it. I had to admit I was a little hurt that my best friend wanted Nate with her, instead of me. Wouldn’t it just figure, they are probably hooking up and Jake and I are probably splitting up?

  Three hours later, when I was finally allowed to leave, Gabby and her Aunt drove me home. I lay awake in bed for hours thinking about Joey. All I wanted was for him to make a full recovery and forget this night ever happened.

  Jake’s silence hurt worst of all. I wish he’d just yelled at me instead of pretending I didn’t exist. Maybe it was the way I had treated Joey. If it weren’t for my problem with Ian, Joey and Gabby would not be hurt. Tears stung my eyes. I wiped them on my pillow.

  I kept hearing the questions from the two uniformed officers and seeing their eyes clouded with disbelief. They had had no reports of animal attacks in the nature preserve. I thought for sure they would slap cuffs on me and cart me away.

  By far, the worst part of the entire evening had been seeing the fearful faces of Joey’s parents. When they arrived a half hour later, I wanted to throw myself at their feet and beg their forgiveness.

  * * *

  Chapter 17