by Greg Taylor
His legs grew to an enormous length, instantly adding killer steroid-like bulk, the incredibly muscular thighs and calves obliterating his expensive trousers.
It was a bizarre, fascinating display of supernatural power. It was as though Farrior’s beautiful exterior was splitting open to allow his true nature to emerge from deadly depths.
Yes, the time had finally come. The battle that had been brewing was at hand.
The monster was coming out to play.
11
Strobe was on his cell phone, talking to Harvey.
“ … of course it was risky, but what’d you expect us to do? Just sit around? We pulled it off, didn’t we?” Strobe shook his head in annoyance as he listened to Harvey. “Right, right. Great. See ya soon.” Pocketing the cell phone, Strobe concentrated on driving along the dark two-lane road. “Reinforcements on the way, people.”
“Harvey wasn’t too happy with us taking matters into our own hands, huh?” Toby said from the backseat.
“He’s just ticked we managed to do something he wanted to do. Let’s face it. Harvey’s a weird guy. But he did say he was happy we were able to get you free of Farrior, Annabel.”
“Like you said, though, Strobe … we’re not out of the woods just yet.” Toby looked at the towering pine trees that formed an imposing wall on either side of the road. Even though the trio had just been informed that Harvey and his troops were heading in their direction, there was no sense of celebration in the car.
Strobe stole glances in his rearview mirror as he drove. Annabel had her eyes locked on her side mirror. Toby stared out the back window. All were clearly concerned that someone might be following them.
It wasn’t Farrior that Strobe and Annabel were worried about, however. It was the rest of his tribe. Would they come after them?
As for Toby, he couldn’t get the woman’s ominous warning—You have no idea what you’re dealing with here, little man—out of his head.
“Hey!” Toby suddenly called out. “You see that?!”
“What?” Strobe asked.
Toby slid over to his side window, opened it, and craned his neck outside to get a better view of the patch of sky that wasn’t obscured by the towering pine trees. “Something up above the trees. Something big.”
“Still there?”
“No.”
An uneasy silence filled the car as Toby and Annabel scanned the sky overhead.
“So …” Toby said cautiously. “You sure you killed Farrior, or what?”
“Nobody could have survived a double blast from that CSG.”
Strobe slowed down to negotiate a hairpin turn. After straightening out the wheel he frowned, then leaned forward, squinting, as though a foot closer to the windshield might help him see farther down the road. “Check it out,” he said. His voice was a low, concerned whisper.
Toby slid away from the side window to see what Strobe was talking about. A dark form loomed ahead, right in the middle of the road.
“What is that?” Toby asked.
Strobe hit the high beams to illuminate whatever it was that was blocking their way out of Echo Lake.
“Oh, my God,” Annabel said softly.
All three went deadly silent as they got their first good look at an Alpha Male guttata. The monster that Farrior had become was more than simply a giant version of Sammy. Hideous in the extreme, the creature looked like the very essence of evil.
Staring at the beast, Toby felt numb. It was the monster from his nightmare! He had never been able to get a good look at the thing as it bore down on him in his dream landscape. Well, there it was, every terrifying feature harshly illuminated in the Hummer’s headlights. Toby’s eyes were especially drawn to the enormous talons that glinted at the end of the creature’s extended, muscular fingers.
Suddenly, the creature held its arms up high.
WHOOOOOOSH!!!
Like a magician’s trick, a set of wings burst from the beast’s body!
“Gun it, Strobe!” Toby yelled. “Blow that thing off the road!”
That’s what Strobe had in mind. But as he punched the accelerator the creature rose up to an even taller height and let out an ungodly roar! It was challenging Strobe to ram him!
At the last second—
Strobe twisted the wheel and went off road!
Barely making it between two pine trees, Strobe cut a zigzag path through the forest maze that threatened to stop the Hummer cold, yanking the wheel back and forth as he went.
The headlight beams jerked up and down as the vehicle bounced over the uneven terrain. One of the side mirrors snapped off when it hit a thick tree trunk. The Hummer shuddered violently when it sideswiped another massive tree.
And then … the trees disappeared. The forest had been cleared for passage, but dangerous trunks—cut off a few feet from the ground—still remained. The high beams illuminated a dirt road ahead, running perpendicular to Strobe’s path.
“Hold tight!” Strobe called out. He made a 45-degree adjustment and cut across the cleared forest toward the road.
BAM!!!
A front tire hit an exposed tree trunk. The jarring impact caused the entire right side of the Hummer to lift dangerously off the ground. The vehicle was now rolling downhill on two wheels!
Everyone instinctively threw their weight to the right side of the Hummer. The SUV continued its balancing act for another ten yards, then slammed back down on all four tires.
Suddenly, the Hummer was on the dirt road, the back tires skidding crazily, the now disintegrated front tire flopping and threatening to come off altogether.
“Look!” Toby called out from the backseat.
A football-field length ahead, the creature was coming in for a landing. Wings outspread, it hit the dirt road, pulled up, and came to a sudden stop. Once again, the Alpha guttata was blocking the trio’s passage.
“Grab the backpacks, you two,” Strobe ordered. “We go on three!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Toby asked.
“We’re not gonna be in the car when it smashes into that thing! Ready? One …”
There was no protest from Annabel or Toby. Toby tossed one of the backpacks to Annabel and grabbed the other one.
“Where’s the CSG?” Toby yelled.
“Thing only had three charges,” Strobe called back.
Bad news. They would have to face the creature with just their crossbows. And their wits. But first they would have to survive their leap from the car.
“Two …”
The Hummer barreled toward the beast. It didn’t look like it was budging. Toby had time for one final thought as he opened the rear door and braced for his jump:
THIS IS NUTS!!!!!
“THREE!”
The forest exploded with a crazy quilt of sound and action as Strobe, Annabel, and Toby leaped from the car … .
The Hummer crashed into the creature like a metallic battering ram … .
The trio rolled and bounced on the dirt road … .
The creature was slammed to the ground from the force of the impact … .
The Hummer flipped over and over in spectacular fashion, finally sliding to an upside-down halt at the side of the road.
And then … just like that …
Silence.
A cloud of dust, kicked up from flying bodies and the levitating Hummer, hovered in the air, wrapping itself around the landscape like a transparent shroud. A cough erupted from somewhere in the woods.
“Annabel? Toby?” Strobe was the first one to stagger to his feet. Fortunately, a bank of dirt on either side of the road had slightly cushioned their leap from the car. Annabel was just on the other side of the bank, across the road from Strobe. She sat up cautiously as Strobe ran over to her. “You okay?”
“I think so.” Annabel was obviously dazed. “No broken bones, anyway, from the feel of it.”
“You rest for a moment. I’ll find Toby.”
He was on the other side of the road from An
nabel, tangled up in a stand of wild gooseberry bushes. Good thing he’d landed in the bushes. The ground fell off sharply just on the other side of them. Scratched and bloodied, Toby was separating himself from some clinging branches when Strobe appeared from the cloudy haze that still hung over the road.
“Annabel okay?” Toby asked.
Strobe nodded yes.
“You don’t look so good,” Toby observed. Strobe’s right arm hung limply at his side, a telltale result of his leap from the Hummer.
“Neither do you,” Strobe said as Toby hobbled away from the bushes, favoring his left leg.
“Strobe!” Annabel called out. Strobe and Toby hustled back to the road. Annabel was standing unsteadily, staring at an incredible sight.
The creature was back up on two feet!
The upside-down Hummer’s high beams—still on and pointed at the beast—lent a dramatic, backlit glow to the scene in the middle of the road. Still dazed from its up-close-and-personal meeting with the Hummer, the creature was nonetheless shaking off the dust and getting ready to resume its battle with the trio.
“Can’t believe he survived that,” Toby whispered in awe.
The creature’s head swiveled at the sound of Toby’s voice, its eyes locking on to the trio.
That was all Strobe needed to see.
“Rrrrrunnnnn!”
Toby and Annabel grabbed their backpacks and followed Strobe into the woods. Coming to the steep incline just beyond the bushes that had caught Toby, Strobe took off down the hill in a sitting position. Annabel and Toby were right behind him.
After a wild slide down the dirt-and-pine-needled incline—a dusty variation of an amusement park water ride—they came to an abrupt halt at the bottom. Stretched out in front of them was a large construction site, covering acres and acres of prime Echo Lake real estate.
In the dark it looked like an alien landscape. Stark, skeletal frames rose up from concrete pads. Bins of overflowing refuse dotted the area, looking somehow threatening in the pitch-black darkness. Large drainage pipes twisted around the grounds, resembling some kind of giant, fossilized, prehistoric snake.
Strobe hopped to his feet and ran toward the site, passing a sign at the entrance to the complex:
Annabel stayed close to the limping Toby as she scanned the sky overhead, keeping a watch for the creature. Strobe chose a structure that had a completed wooden exterior and gaping window and door holes for their shelter. He waited at the entrance for Annabel and Toby to arrive, gave the area a quick once-over, then disappeared inside.
The trio found a place in the center of the house to collapse. Backs against a stack of plywood, their quick, heaving intakes of breath echoed back at them from the stark walls of the room.
“So …” Toby said finally. He didn’t finish his thought, whatever it was.
More silence. Heavy breathing.
“Okay … well …” Strobe said. Then, “I didn’t have anything planned for tonight, anyway.”
“I have three words for the two of you,” Annabel said.
Toby and Strobe were instantly curious. Three words?
“This’s a problem?” Toby guessed.
“That’s four words,” Strobe pointed out.
“No. This’s.” Toby spelled the word for Strobe.
“That’s not a proper contraction.”
“I think it might be.”
“It isn’t.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Annabel interjected. “Those aren’t the three words, anyway.”
Strobe thought for a moment, then said, “Lemme outta here!” He gave Annabel a look that asked, Is that it?
Toby frowned. “That’s five words.”
“No, it isn’t.” Strobe spelled “lemme” and “outta” for Toby.
“No way, Strobe. If you’re not giving me ‘this’s,’ I’m not giving you ‘lemme’ and ‘outta.’”
“Okay, boys! That’s enough!” Strobe and Toby continued to glare at each other. “It’s depressor dens inferioris. Okay? Those are the three words.”
“No way can we get at that thing’s DDI,” Strobe said.
“We have to. It’s the only way to kill it.”
“Wait, wait, wait a second!” Toby said, suddenly excited. “We’re at a construction site! There must be some kind of explosives around here. We’ll blow the monster up!”
“Now that’s a thought,” Strobe said.
“I don’t like it,” Annabel countered. “We’d have to run around the site to see what we can find. We’d be open targets.”
Toby thought about that, then gave Annabel a grudging nod. “Maybe we can hold this thing off until Harvey and the troops get here,” he suggested. Strobe and Annabel both looked skeptical at that idea. “Yeah, no, I don’t think so, either.”
Suddenly—
A sound! The three immediately tensed. As their eyes darted from one window opening to the next, several deer scurried past one of the windows. Everyone exhaled in relief.
“Next time it might not be something so friendly,” Annabel said. “We’d better figure out what we’re doing. Fast.”
“Okay,” Strobe said. “You two suit up. Annabel, you can use my arm and leg plates. And my crossbow. I’m no good with my shoulder. I wouldn’t be able to hit the side of one of these houses with an arrow.”
“What are you saying?” Annabel asked.
“That you’re right. It’s the DDI or nothing. I’ll be the guinea pig. Alpha Man has to have something to strike at, right?”
“No way,” Annabel said adamantly.
“You have a better idea?”
“Yeah. A decoy of some sort. Make the creature think he’s striking at one of us.”
“What, you mean like some kind of dummy? A scarecrow kind of thing?”
“It’s worth a try. Guttata see shapes, not detail. In the dark, it might not know the difference.”
“It’ll know. There’ll be no scent.”
“There will be if the dummy’s wearing your T-shirt,” Toby pointed out. “Believe me, that thing has a scent.”
Strobe looked at Toby for a moment, then stood up, took off his T-shirt, and threw it in Toby’s face. “Okay. Let’s see what we can rig up.”
After strapping on his arm and leg plates and getting his crossbow ready, Toby joined Strobe upstairs to help scavenge for decoy parts.
“So, anyway, when did you learn how to hot-wire a car?” Toby asked as he surveyed a large room through his NVGs.
“That’s a pretty random question,” Strobe said from the nearby closet.
“Just nervous talk. Was it when you were twelve? Is that how you stole that car?”
“Somehow I don’t think now’s the time or place to talk about my questionable past.”
“Right. Anyhow, that little skill of yours came in pretty handy tonight.”
“Too bad it was just a temporary solution.” Strobe held up some wire that he had found. “I’m gonna take this down to Annabel.”
“Be right there.”
Annabel looked up from her work when she saw Strobe coming down the stairs. “Get what I need?” When Strobe handed her the wire, she tied one end to the main support of the scarecrow they had constructed.
Strobe stood, watching Annabel. She had been unusually subdued after her escape from the monster pit. But as she worked on the decoy, Annabel looked focused and intense. Galvanized. Strobe was happy to see that her reliable spirit had returned. She did a double take when she noticed that Strobe hadn’t moved. “Everything all right?” she asked.
“You bet. Ready to go.”
“Good. When Toby gets down here, we’ll be on our way.” Annabel double-checked the strength of the decoy.
“So, anyway …” Strobe said.
Annabel looked over the shoulder of the wooden figure at Strobe.
“I was thinking … if everything goes okay here? We get out of this?”
Annabel nodded.
“I thought maybe you, me, and Toby could go rafting.
”
That was obviously the last thing Annabel expected to hear. “Rafting?”
“Yeah. There’s this place called Ohiopyle. I checked it out online. Looks pretty good. You ever do that? Rafting?”
“No, but I’ve always wanted to.”
“Well, what do you think?”
Annabel was definitely confused by Strobe’s offer. Why was he asking her this now?
“It’d be fun,” Strobe pointed out. “Besides, maybe it’d give us some time to … talk.”
“You want to go rafting and talk?”
Strobe smiled at the way that sounded. “Something like that.”
Whether or not Strobe’s invitation had anything to do with the night they were on their mostly silent stakeout together, Annabel wasn’t sure. But she did sense that what was going on here was kind of a delicate thing.
“Yes, I would like to go rafting with you and Toby, Strobe.”
“Terrific.”
Even though she was standing close to Strobe, Annabel could barely see him in the dark room.
“Well … I better go check on our guy.”
Watching Strobe go back up to the second floor, Annabel shook her head in surprise. What an unexpected thing just happened!
But there was no time to dwell on it. There was still a trap to prepare for the Thing That Wouldn’t Die.
“Now!” Annabel commanded.
She and Toby burst from the house and ran for the concrete pipe near the curb. They scrambled inside and crawled through the circular tunnel until they had reached the end of the line of pipe. They were now looking at the backyard of the house across the street from their “shelter” house.
Annabel checked the sky for the creature. “Clear,” she said, then sprinted from the pipe, across the yard, and into the house through the gaping back door. Toby was close behind. The two made their way through the kitchen area, down a hall, and into one of the rooms at the front of the house. Taking position at an open window that provided a clear view of their house across the street, they quickly loaded their weapons.
“All set, Strobe,” Annabel said into her headset when she and Toby were ready.
