by Sara Clancy
Until now, fear and confusion had weakened the boy’s cries into pathetic, gurgled grunts. Like a kicked dog. Without warning, he found his voice and screamed for the heavens. Benton could almost laugh when, once more, luck came to his aid.
The boy’s voice was lost under the blood-curdling wail that shattered the pre-dawn silence.
Chills trickled down his spine at the near inhuman sound. Like a death rattle mated with primal fury. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. The boy did. More specifically, not wasting this divine intervention and getting him out of here. Trembling with delight, he pulled the boy closer and violently pressed a strip of tape over his mouth. He didn’t attempt to be gentle as he tossed his new toy inside the trunk and slammed the lid down.
Fumbling with the keys, he jogged to the driver’s seat and was almost knocked over by a sweet scent. Not floral. Instead, something more akin to fruit. It came with such ferocity that he couldn’t help but notice it. Before he could yank open his car door, the scent changed to the stench of rancid meat. Bile splashed the back of his throat. Pushing forward, he stopped to get inside. Motion drew his attention to the still dark canopy of trees. He looked up . . .
Benton slammed back into his own flesh, reclaiming his body with enough force to jerk him upright. A scream shattered his chest as it surged towards freedom. He trembled with it, crushed under the blizzard that filled his frail human form. Then it was done. The sound ended abruptly and, without it, he flopped back like a puppet with severed strings.
Panting hard, he fought to reclaim command over his limbs. Everything felt alien. A shell too big for the creature it contained. You have to remember! The self-imposed order struck him as strange. There was no way he could ever forget. Each dream practically burned the victim’s names into his brain. Hurry up! He’ll die!
Nicole’s voice wafted into his awareness. Whispered reassurances and sweet words that didn’t change a thing. He was still trying to pull his mind from the memory of the killer’s when she loomed over him, mobile phone in her hand.
“What’s the name?” she asked.
The haze of his mind suddenly fell away. Shock made his exhausted body move. He gripped her shoulder tight and hurled himself to his feet.
“Benton, you need to rest. We can just call mom and tell her the name. Same as always.”
He didn’t look back as he threw himself out of the teepee. “Adam Auclair!”
Nicole was at his heels in barely a second. He didn’t wait for her. Instead, he sprinted across the grass as fast as his body could carry him. It was rare for him to dream of someone he knew in his day to day life. Rarer still for them to survive.
Benton didn’t bother to weave around the cars as he entered the parking lot. He knew where he was going. And he remembered the layout perfectly. Long legs let him leap onto the hood of the first car he arrived at; a family sedan that was parked too close to a smaller Volkswagen Beetle. It made the jump between the two easy. A Jeep with roof racks was parked on the far side, allowing him to swing his body up and keep his short cut, but more importantly, his element of surprise. All the commotion had made the man turn. He twisted towards Nicole’s approaching footsteps, unwittingly giving Benton his back.
Even expecting it, the pain of impact took Benton’s breath away. Unable to brace himself, he crashed down onto the gravel with the killer, his head cracking hard against the unforgiving earth. Instinct kicked in through the spike of pain, and he bellowed for Nicole. The man heaved, tossing Benton off of his back as he surged to his feet. A savage kick barreled towards Benton’s head a second later. Bracing his feet, Benton rolled his body, narrowly missing the boot by inches. The man was quick to try again, this time aiming for Benton’s legs. He rolled back, flipping his feet over his head to land in a crouch. A blur of movement made him tense, but the pain didn’t come. Nicole ran at the man, twisting and ducking at the last moment to drive her shoulder into the tender flesh of the man’s stomach. A gasped cry left the man as he doubled over. He groped for Nicole, but she swung first.
If Benton ever needed proof that Nicole was smarter than him, this was it. She had taken a second to retrieve the flashlight. It was the heavy-duty kind that could easily be used as a baton. Putting her entire strength behind it, she drove the long flashlight into the man’s skull. Shattered glass scattered across the ground as the man staggered into the side of the car. In a flurry of precise movements, Nicole forced the man to the ground, pushed him onto his side, locked his arm against her chest, and pressed her knee into the back of his shoulder, just under the joint. What little fight was left in the older man quickly vanished in an agonized cry as she applied more pressure.
“I will break your shoulder,” she snapped. “Don’t try me.”
Knowing he didn’t have time to linger in his state of shock, Benton scrambled up and raced for the open car trunk, only pausing long enough to snatch up a shard of the broken flashlight glass.
He found Adam frozen in fear. Logic told him to be gentle as he pulled the curled boy up by from the depths of the trunk. But terror sharpened his movements. He tugged the small boy hard enough to jerk him out of his protective position.
“Adam, we don’t have time for this,” Benton said.
The tightly applied strip of tape muffled the boy’s response. Tears carved paths down rounded cheeks. He gasped and choked on the snot that dripped from his nose. His narrow chest heaved with the desperate need to breathe. Benton ignored it all as he pulled the bound legs over the rim and hurriedly slashed at the tape. Adam whimpered, clawing at the tape on his mouth.
“You need to run,” Benton commanded, his hard tone making the boy jump. “Faster than you ever have in your life. Don’t look back. Don’t stop. Do you understand?”
Adam nodded rapidly, his dark hair flopping over his forehead. With one last drag, the shard finally cut through the last of the tape. Instantly, Benton lifted Adam the rest of the way out and shoved him hard.
“Run!”
Adam’s light-up sneakers flashed wildly in the dim light as he sprinted down the line of cars, the quickest route back up the incline to the campsite.
“Come on.” Benton barely had the words out before he had latched onto Nicole’s arm and pried her off the man.
“Benton, what are you doing? We can’t let him go!”
Her words ended with a startled cry. Already the man was back on his feet and was lumbering towards them, injured arm cradled protectively to the soft padding of his stomach, a murderous snarl on his lips.
“He’s not the one we have to worry about,” Benton replied as he glanced behind.
The moment he spotted the figure, his legs turned to stone. Nicole noticed the change and whipped around to see what was coming. It was only after the man had his beefy hands clenched on her shoulders that he realized he wasn’t the cause of the fear. Not releasing his grip, he twisted just enough to glance over his shoulder.
That seemed to be what the woman had been waiting for.
Benton had first spotted her hovering amongst the shadows, clinging to the higher tree branches. Her hair was a veil that blended into the darkness. The long gown that hung limply from her body didn’t move within the wind. Nothing about her moved. She didn’t breathe. Didn’t blink. Stretched as wide as her flesh would allow, the floating woman’s eyes were polished white pearls that reflected the slightest trace of light. Benton’s stomach rolled as he saw the state of her skin. It was a milky, almost translucent film that neither dripped nor dried. Thin enough that he could see her veins swell and twitch with her heartbeat.
Benton pulled at Nicole’s arm, never taking his eyes off of the floating woman. The motion caught the man’s attention, and he snapped around to glare at them.
It was only a split second. Barely more than a blink of an eye. That was all it took for the woman to leave the trees.
Benton leaped back, heart hammering as he struggled to catch sight of her again. Rage slowly trickled from the man’s face. Slowly, he
turned back to look at the tree line. The slight shift of his shoulders brought the woman back into view. Barely a few inches separated her face from his back. She was still staring, her face expressionless. No one dared to move.
Suddenly, she pounced forward like a jungle cat, slamming against the man’s spine with both hands and feet and driving him to the ground. Caught between the two men, Nicole staggered forward, barely able to keep her footing. She wrenched savagely, but couldn’t break the man’s hold. Not until the ghostly figure struck. Her fingers drove into the man’s flesh like knives. The man’s agonized scream crackled in his throat, allowing the wet bubbling of blood to be heard. A slick crack and the man’s limbs dropped to the ground. Without the competition, Nicole and Benton fell back, landing in a pile a few feet away. Paralyzed, the man could only gasp uselessly while the ghost rose up, never releasing her grip on his broken spine. Watching the blood-slicked peaks of vertebrae poke out of the ravaged flesh jarred Benton back to his senses.
“Run,” he whispered.
Nicole nodded rapidly. His body worked without his conscious mind, drawing him up onto his feet and forcing him into a sudden sprint. The cold air didn’t quell the fire that ignited within his lungs. Sharp stones tore into the bare skin of his feet, the small spikes of pain it brought easily lost under a rush of adrenaline. Nicole was a long-distance runner. She’d outlast him without a problem but struggled to keep pace with him in short bursts. Unwilling to leave her behind, he fought against his survival instinct and slowed down.
Shadows lingered between the cars as they raced past, barely deep enough to hide anything. Still, he almost failed to see the small body crouched behind an SUV. Adam.
“Get help,” he told Nicole on a panted breath.
Before she could argue, he suddenly switched directions, sliding across a sedan’s hood before dropping out of sight. It was unnecessarily dramatic but kept her from following.
Without pause, he rounded the back of the sedan and cut a straight path to the trembling child. Claw marks lined his face, proof of his failed attempts to remove the tape. Gravel rash covered the front of his legs from thigh to shin and blood dripped from his shredded forearms. Benton didn’t know if the apparent fall had really injured him too much to run, or if it was all in the boy’s mind. There wasn’t any point in trying to sort it all out now.
Benton swooped low and quickly ushered the boy under the SUV. Both of them were slender enough to slide under without much trouble. There wasn’t much in the way of lingering shadows, but he hoped it would be enough. It has its kill, he reasoned. It might not be interested in us. He held tight to that thought as he tried to silence his heavy breathing.
Adam’s whimpers were the only thing that broke the stillness. Catching the boy’s eyes, Benton pressed a finger to his lips. Quiet. You need to be quiet. The wordless pleading didn’t do anything. Benton clutched the boy’s still bound hands, squeezing tight to offer some reassurance. Steadily, Adam stilled, more holding his breath than coming to his senses, and the world fell silent.
There was no crunch of gravel. No shadow to give a hint of movement. Nothing that Benton could point to as reasoning for his sudden conviction that it was still lurking nearby. But he could feel it. Like the weight of a boulder slowly being lowered onto his spine. A steadily increasing weight.
The breathless, gasping cry of an infant made them both flinch. As silently as possible, Benton scurried closer to Adam and pressed his free hand over the boy’s mouth. It did little to keep the boy from falling back into terrified sobs, but muffled the sound. The wail drifted in the wind; everywhere at once before seeming to gather at some point far behind Benton’s left shoulder.
While the sound remained barely audible over the distant rustling of long grass, the ghostly sensation against Benton’s muscles continued to grow. A heavy pressure that bent his bones. Trusting in the sensation more than his hearing, he pressed closer still to Adam and desperately searched for an escape route. With Adam in tow, his already limited options dwindled even more. Even if he could still run, it wouldn’t be possible to actually outpace the monster. Their only hope had hinged on the idea that she was distracted by the prey she had and wouldn’t be seeking another. Perhaps they could move from car to car and slowly make their way back to the safety of the group.
Nicole will think of something, he told himself as the crying shifted, flittering along the side of the car like scattering leaves.
Adam’s nostrils flared with each rapid breath. Caught between two survival instincts, flight and freeze, the little boy twitched randomly. The small motions were enough to rattle the gravel beneath him. Benton held his wide gaze and slowly shook his head. It wasn’t any good. The whispered cry rolled around the front of the car and drifted down the opposite side. Benton’s ribs groaned as the weight grounded him into the earth. He clenched his jaw, battling to keep his pained cries from working their way out.
Metal squealed as something collided with the side of the SUV. Dust billowed up to clog the air as the SUV slid across the ground and crunched into the neighboring car. Benton pushed at Adam’s shoulder, shoving him to crawl the distance from one car to the next. Another blow made the SUV buck. Lodged as it was against the other car, the first attempt resulted in a little more than the scraping the two vehicles together. Another blow. Another. Each one growing with frustration and force.
Benton slipped under the next car. Lower to the ground, there was no way to move without losing bits of skin to the rocky earth. Reaching out, he grabbed Adam and dragged him closer. The tape and a loud crack covered Adam’s pained cry. The SUV careened away from their new hiding place to crunch against the car on the opposite side. Dust stung Benton’s eyes as he pressed the boy close to his side. His hands returned to their previous positions, one offering reassurance while the other clamped over the boy’s jaw. Still and silent, he waited for his moment.
It came with a resounding thud. Glass rained down as the SUV rocked. The ghost battered the vehicle, trying to flip it, seemingly convinced that they were still underneath. Benton and Adam worked their way to the far side of the new car, using the sounds of twisting metal to hide their movements.
Benton made it out first. Reaching back under, he pulled Adam out after him. Bloodied and trembling, the boy was quick to follow. Grabbing him under his arm, Benton pulled Adam up onto his feet. The boy looked up. A sudden sharp tremor ran through his thin body, and the boy’s dark eyes bulged wide. Benton whipped around, one arm shoving Adam tighter behind him.
The woman’s face filled his vision.
Hardly an inch from his face, all he could see were the ashen eyes. No pupil or iris. Only a cobweb of slender veins that pulsed and flickered at random. Like a snake tasting the air for its prey. Benton’s muscles calcified, locking him into place as the woman continued to rapidly sniff at the air. Each breath drew her a little closer. It moved with violent, bone cracking jerks, as if it didn’t have full control over the whole of its body at once.
At last, it leveled its mouth to his ear and spoke in a throaty rasp, “What are you?”
Benton jerked back, the sudden motion cracking the internal casing that had held him captive. Instantly and without thought, he opened his mouth and released a Banshee wail.
No two of them were ever the same. This one was tainted with all of his fear and fury. A roar that belonged to some colossal, ancient beast. The earsplitting shriek of static. And somewhere, buried deep within the deafening scream, was something akin to human.
Driven back by the force of the inhuman sound, the ghost’s body ripped apart, dispersing into the sky like crackling sparks. Bone deep terror pulsed though Benton when he saw that the damage didn’t last. The severed specks of her body swirled in the air, constantly trying to combine once more.
I can’t kill it.
Benton reached back, grabbed Adam’s hand, and broke into a run. His voice echoed for a moment, leaving the dismembered spirit disorientated and thrashing. It won’t last
. The knowledge lodged in the depths of his mind and spread out like a poison. Adam stumbled and Benton almost dislodged the terrified boy’s shoulder as he wrenched him up. Carrying the extra weight dragged Benton down, but a single, repeating voice kept him going. She’ll heal.
He almost fell as they turned sharply, taking the single path that lead from the parking lot to the campsite. Despite everything that had happened only a few yards away, the campsite was still relatively quiet. The slight slope made his legs burn. Adam slipped his bound arms around Benton’s neck and squeezed until the older boy choked.
She’ll heal.
Seizing the last of his strength, he was barely able to keep his pace as the hill grew steeper and his muscles hardened. She’s coming. He knew it before Adam began to squirm and sob.
Nicole came into view at the peak. She jumped and waved her arms, urging them on while never taking a step toward them. Instead, she threw rapid glances over her shoulder. He was vaguely aware of Wapun’s presence. She held a bowl cupped between both hands, a thin trail of smoke snaking up from its depths. Every muscle of Benton’s back clenched at once, suddenly feeling like stones grinding against each other as he moved. The air went rancid, making him gag. He could feel the woman close to his spine, knew that her hand was pulled back, ready to gouge out his spine. His skin prickled with anticipation.
“Benton!” Nicole screamed.
He flung himself forward at her cry, tucking himself as best as he could to take the impact and spare Adam. The first rays of dawn broke over the horizon and struck the wisps of smoke. Blinding color burst into existence. Benton hit the ground, his eyes burning and body rattling with a pulse of energy. Shielding Adam with his body, he risked a glance.
The blazing rainbow light snapped out like cracks forming in glass, jagged spikes that sought every insignificant speck of smoke. Each contact created another explosion until the air lit up like fireworks. Benton shielded Adam, refusing to look again until the sizzling air stilled and a greenish haze distorted his vision.
