by Ike Hamill
“Thank you, officer,” Wes said. He closed the door to his SUV and slipped into the back seat of the cruiser. She closed the door after Wes got in. Wes looked at the plastic between the front and back seats and then looked at the interior handle of the car’s door. He wondered if the door would open if he tried to pull that handle.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Chelsea
“MS. COVINGTON? YOUR BROTHER is asking for you,” the nurse said. “Would you follow me?”
“He’s awake?” Chelsea asked. She was alert immediately. She pulled the charger from the wall socket and stuffed it in her pocket as they walked. She had been charging her phone and watching a movie when she’d drifted off to sleep. The signs on the wall warned her to turn off her cell phone, and the nurse walked too quickly for Chelsea to get a text off to her father before she felt she had to obey.
“He woke a few minutes ago. He seems to be stabilizing,” the nurse said.
“That’s great. Right? That’s a good thing? Of course it is,” Chelsea said. The nurse gave her enough time to answer her own question.
They turned the corner and walked through a doorway to a glass-fronted room. The nurse pulled the curtain halfway across the glass as Chelsea approached her brother. His eyes were closed. Chelsea looked back at the nurse before sitting down and the nurse smiled and nodded to Chelsea.
She put her hand on her brother’s arm.
“Don?”
His eyes opened and he smiled.
“Hey, Chelse,” he said. “What happened?”
“We don’t know. They didn’t tell you?”
“They just said they were doing tests. Mostly they asked me questions.”
“You wouldn’t wake up,” Chelsea said.
“I gathered,” Don said. “I’ve been having weird dreams. Where’s Barney?”
“He’s with Dad. They went to get Mom.”
“When will they get here?”
“I don’t know. Dad said there was trouble at the Umber’s house and they had to take Mr. Umber away in an ambulance. The cops are giving Mom and Dad a ride here. He texted me from the back of the police car a few minutes ago. He’s going to be surprised you’re awake.” She smiled.
“What happened to Mr. Umber, did he say?”
“Yeah, Dad didn’t say much. He didn’t want to pass along more bad news, I guess.”
“I’m so tired,” Don said. His eyes moved from his sister to the far side of the room, and from there they seemed to focus on something much farther away. All expression dropped from his face.
“I should call Dad,” Chelsea said. She picked up the phone from the table next to Don’s bed.
“Hello?” Wes asked over the phone. Chelsea heard the dread in his voice.
“Dad, it’s just me,” she said. “He’s awake.”
“Oh thank god,” Wes said. “When I saw the strange number, I thought…”
“I know, I’m sorry. I can’t use my phone in his room,” Chelsea said. “You want to talk to him?”
“Yeah, of course,” Wes said as Chelsea handed the phone to her brother.
“Hi Dad,” Don said.
“So good to hear your voice, Donny. We’ll be there as quick as we can. We’re getting a ride from the police.”
“Not in trouble, I hope,” Don said.
“No,” Wes said, laughing.
“Hey, Dad, are the Umbers okay? Is Barney with you?”
“The Umbers will be fine. Barney is going to stay here,” Wes said. “I can’t talk right now. You stay awake and we’ll see you very soon. Your mom says hi.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Wes
AS HE DISCONNECTED WITH his son, Wes had a glorious moment of relief when all the heaviness lifted from his chest and he felt he could take a deep breath once again. He squeezed Gwen’s hand and smiled. Now that his son was awake and talking, a new set of problems flooded in to compete for his attention.
“I don’t know where Barney went,” he told Gwen.
“What’s that, sir?” Presby asked from the front seat.
“I was just telling my wife that… Hey, that’s Marianne’s car,” Wes said. He pointed to the access road to the old gravel pit. The Umber’s car was pulled up to the chain.
Officer Presby pulled to the shoulder and picked up her radio’s handset. As Presby called in the information, Gwen questioned her husband.
“Where did you see him last?” Gwen asked.
“Who, Barney? He was in Kyle’s room, I think. Yes, he was barking at Seth.”
“So he’s still there,” Gwen said. “He probably just found a favorite place to take a nap. He’s an old dog.”
“I guess,” Wes said. “He could have gone out through the front door at any time though. Don cares about that dog so much. Now that Kyle’s gone…”
“I know,” Gwen said. “He’s such a smart dog. He can take care of himself until we get back home.”
“Let’s not tell Don, okay? We’ll just say that Marianne is taking care of him,” Wes said.
“I’ll be right back,” Officer Presby said from the front seat. “Just take a second.” She turned on her car’s flashing blue lights and looked up and down the silent road before crossing. The lights cast a protective glow to the area—police business—but they also made the woods dance with harsh blue shadows. Officer Presby approached the car at an angle so she could spy the front and back seat before getting too close. She cupped her hands to the driver’s window and looked at the interior.
The door was unlocked. The keys were hanging from the ignition. Officer Presby opened the door enough to trigger the trunk and then cautiously approached the back. The trunk was empty and clean. She pressed it down slowly until she heard it click. She put a hand on her gun and unsnapped the holster again—the second time tonight. She kept checking over her shoulder. It was a bad habit. It meant that she was reacting instead of acting. That was one of the words of wisdom her mentor had imparted while they briefly shared a car. The town didn’t have enough money to double up cops in a car for long, so her apprenticeship had moved fast, and now she was expected to operate independently. Don’t just act like you’re in control, be in control. There was nothing here. No Ms. Umber, and no sign that she was nearby. There was just a car with the keys in it, abandoned near an old gravel pit. If she didn’t have an emergency waiting in the cruiser, her duty would be obvious—call for backup and go look for the owner of the car. If it was an abduction, seconds could be crucial. After all, the husband was on the way to the hospital with a knife wound, there was clearly cause to suspect foul play.
Officer Presby made a decision—the couple in the car were headed for a hospital where their son was surely being cared for. The owner of the vehicle might be in danger. She didn’t want an argument, so she didn’t return to the car to inform her passengers of the delay. She stepped over the access road’s chain and drew her weapon.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Forest
“WE’LL GIVE IT TWO more minutes, and then we’re going to leave,” Melanie said. She was lying.
David guessed what his mom was up to when she stopped honking. He had already unbuckled his safety belt. He held it across his body with one hand as he inched his other hand towards the door handle. As soon as she dropped the car into reverse, he unlocked the door and pulled the handle. He dove past the door. It swung shut again as his mom stabbed the brakes.
“David!” Melanie screamed.
He ran towards the floodlight that cut into the woods. History really does repeat itself, he thought as he ran. This time he wasn’t being chased—he was the one chasing.
He ducked under a limb and ran through a bed of ferns. He ran with the path of light on his left and wondered how he would find the rock.
“Mr. Morris?” David yelled.
“David, come back here right now,” his mom screamed behind him.
“Stay there, Mom. Wait for the police,” he yelled over his shoulder.
Th
e light was starting to thin. It was blocked by too many trees. David slowed a bit as he yelled again for Morris. In the distance, diffused and muffled by the trees, a short burst from a siren called out. David stopped. Behind him, he heard his mom crashing through the brush. It sounded like she was trying to make as much noise as possible. She held a small flashlight. David saw the narrow beam of it casting around as she looked for him.
The terrain descended and David trotted down a hill covered in a thick bed of leaves and pine needles. He stepped over a toppled rock wall and tried to decide which direction to head. He didn’t want to call out again—his mom was too close behind and he didn’t want her to catch up and drag him back to the car.
David closed his eyes and tried to sense his kin. He’d done it once before while awake, but it was so long ago. He’d forgotten even how it felt. Chester had told him to focus very hard and he had. He’d seen the whole thing with his eyes closed. He’d seen through their eyes. His blood had been stronger then—more potent. David ignored his mother crashing behind him and dropped to a crouch. He took a deep breath. Somewhere in the woods, Morris, Roland, and Merritt were waiting, trying to catch the witch. They didn’t know she had already left, and they didn’t know they were being stalked by the witch’s Master. Had they heard him yelling? David wasn’t sure.
He opened his eyes and turned left. The light would be pointing at House Rock. Somewhere beyond there is where Mr. Morris would be stabbed. David began to run again until he found himself in the path of the floodlight again. Here the trees weren’t felled, so the light was hard to follow, but he had a pretty good idea of which direction to go.
It looked different from this angle, but he recognized it by the size. House Rock looked like a frozen, bone-white face, pointed up towards the canopy of trees. David ran around the rock, giving it a respectful distance. He stumbled on a low branch, hidden in the shadows and plowed face-first into the rocks and dirt.
“David!” he heard his mom yell. Her voice sounded farther away than last time. She’d made a wrong turn.
David kept still in the shadow. His wrist hurt and his knee felt tingly, but he thought he was okay. He kept still because the darkness in front of him had a strange feeling, like it had a secret to keep. David rose slowly. Behind him, far away now, his mom yelled again. David took a slow step into the dark. The ground in front of him rambled down a gentle slope. With each step he paused to listen. Now he knew with certainty which direction to go, but he had to force his feet to move. He knew because to his left and right the woods seemed lonely and empty, but directly ahead of him, the darkness seemed alive and full of dread. David walked forward, towards his fear.
# # # #
David sloshed through a little stream and pulled himself up an embankment. The place seemed familiar, but something was missing. After a few more steps, a voice stopped him.
“David? What are you doing here?”
It was Morris.
“Mr. Morris?” David asked. Relief and hope began to creep in around the edges of his fear.
The man stood up from his cover, revealing himself from the bushes. David ran forward. Morris was just a silhouette in the moonlight filtering through the trees. Before David reached him, another shape sprang from the shadows.
Morris barely had time to register the movement and turn towards his attacker when it hit him. It didn’t weigh a lot, but it sprang with velocity, and Morris was knocked off balance. The thing clamped on him, wrapping arms and legs around his body and riding him to the ground. Morris beat against the thing awkwardly, and was surprised when his fists found clothes and hair. The thing wrapped around him was a person.
David fumbled towards the pair in the dark. The position Morris had chosen was full of deep, black shadows, so David threw himself blindly into the fray. The thing on Morris snarled as David grabbed at it. One of Morris’s flailing blows caught David in the side of the head and the boy fell away.
Morris expelled a surprised breath and gagged out a single syllable—“Guh!”
# # # #
Roland heard the car horn, but he didn’t alter his course. Hopefully whoever was parking would stay put and not interfere. Actually, he thought, it might help—they wanted to drive Lady away from their trailer and away from the light. The honking seemed to come from that direction.
He was making a big loop, wandering near the back of the young man’s house and then sneaking up to pretend like he was moving towards House Rock. Roland moved slowly and carefully, but allowed his feet to snap a few twigs in case Lady was near enough to hear. He was the bait, after all. Several minutes passed as he crept. The blurt of a siren rang out behind him and he paused, unsure what to do. The woods were alive with strange sounds tonight.
Roland decided to continue forward with the plan.
He heard a woman’s voice calling, “David!”
Roland rushed towards the sound of the woman and then spotted her light. She sounded close to one of the traps—barbed wire strung at knee-level between trees.
“David!” she yelled again. Roland ran towards her flashlight.
“Hey!” he whispered. “Hey!”
“David?” she asked. “Who’s there?”
Roland turned on his own flashlight and covered the beam with his palm. He ran up to her with just a red glow coming from his hands.
“Where’s my son?” she asked, pointing her beam at his face. He squinted and put his hands up to block the light.
“I don’t know, but you’re about to get tangled up in a tripwire. Stop moving. Melanie, right?”
“Who is that?”
“It’s Roland. What the hell are you doing here?”
“My reckless children convinced me to come down here. They said you were in danger. Now my son is wandering around these woods, and I pray that my daughter is still locked in the car,” Melanie said.
“You stay put right here,” Roland said. “I’ll go find David.”
“Bullshit. If you’re going to find David, I’m going with you.”
“You’ll slow me down. Now don’t move or you’ll wind up wrapped in barbed wire.”
Roland turned off his light and sprinted off towards House Rock. He didn’t know where David was, but he knew he had to alert Morris and Merritt to the boy’s presence before the boy got hurt. Behind him, Melanie wasn’t quiet, but she was fast. She kept up with him as he ran. He saw her beam of light picking out his path.
When he got to the rock, he saw his chance to lose her. He darted around the big rock and then took off to the right. He knew he could follow the little gully downstream to where Morris should be hiding. Sure enough, Melanie’s flashlight lost ground and spun around the woods, looking for him.
Roland angled up the hill and started hunting for the spot where Morris said he would be.
He heard a muffled gasp. He pulled himself up an embankment and ran towards the sound of ragged breathing. The breathing stopped. The shadows were deep here.
He turned on his light and cast it around the low growth. Morris was wearing his fatigues. The dark green would be hard to spot amongst the scrubby weeds and ferns that dominated the forest floor.
“Morris!” Roland whispered. “Where are you?”
He heard a gag and darted toward it. There, with dark red staining his green shirt, he found Morris laying on his back.
“Holy shit, Morris, what happened?” Roland asked. He dropped to his knees and tucked his light under his chin. Roland pulled up Morris’s shirt. His cousin had a nasty gash in his side. Roland clamped a hand over the oozing blood.
“That crazy woman stabbed me, didn’t she,” Morris said. His voice was thin and pained. “She hit a rib though. Didn’t go in too far. I got lucky, I guess. Where’s the boy?”
“Who, David?”
The men’s heads turned as they heard something moving in the brush. Morris pushed himself halfway up and Roland got his feet under him.
“Mr. Morris?” David asked. “Are you okay?”
> “I’ve been better. Where’d that bitch go?”
“Is it the witch?” Roland asked. He reached a hand for the pocket that held the bag of salt.
“No. It’s some woman, but she moves like a bobcat. She went that way,” Morris said, pointing. “Better check on Merritt.”
“David, your mom is over that way. You yell for her until she finds you. And keep pressure right here,” Roland said.
David pressed his hands to the man’s bloody side. Morris gasped.
“Yell now,” Roland said.
Roland left his light with the boy and ran off in to the dark. Behind him, he heard David yelling every couple of seconds for his mom. After the second yell, she began to call back as she closed the distance between them.
Roland’s eyes began to adjust to the dark again and he saw the lights of the house through the woods. Roland just had to find Merritt in the woods before the bobcat woman did.
# # # #
“Mom!” David yelled.
“David, I’m coming. Keep yelling,” Melanie called.
He pressed down on the wound with one hand and waved Roland’s flashlight with the other. The blood felt slick under his hand. It kept oozing out. Morris had his eyes closed and he winced when David pressed harder.
David heard his mom panting and shuffling as she came up the hill and approached within reach of the flashlight’s beam.
“David, oh my god, what’s wrong with him?”
Melanie dropped to the ground next to her son.
“He was stabbed,” David said.
“We have to get help for him,” Melanie said. “Where’s my phone?” She patted her pockets. “Shit, it’s in my bag. Oh god damn it. Do you have a phone, Morris?”
Morris kept his eyes shut and shook his head.
A powerful beam cut through the woods and Melanie froze. David looked to her with wide eyes. Melanie shrugged.
“Who’s there?” a woman’s voice demanded. “I’m a police officer. Identify yourself.”
Melanie raised up a little to see over the ferns and then stood up fast.
