by Hunter Shea
Kate’s stomach felt as if it were filled with hot lead.
“Who sewed him up?”
The flesh between the stitches was puffy and raw.
“I did. It’s a shite job, but I had to stop the bleeding. I’m just worried about infection now, especially after what you said.”
Kate looked at everything piled against the doors. “Maybe when it’s light out, we can get him to the hospital.”
Andrew got back on his feet, the rifle in his hands. “We tried that earlier after you had a seizure. That’s when we were attacked. The…the thing destroyed the car too.”
A wave of crushing guilt pounded Kate square in her constricted chest.
“Ryker’s hurt because of me?”
Nikki was quick to hold her hand. “No, Katy. It’s not your fault. It’s that monster’s fault. It was more than just going to hospital. We wanted to get the hell out of here.”
Andrew caressed her shoulder. She refused to let the pain show on her face. “She’s right. You can’t pin the blame on yourself. We’ll get Ryker help. I promise.”
Without a car, electricity, or cell service, Kate wasn’t sure how exactly they were going to do that. Setting out to walk in those woods would be the same as committing suicide. If they took her along, all she would do was hold them back. In her condition, she couldn’t go faster than a slow walk. If that beast came for them, their only chance was to leave her and save themselves – but she knew they’d never do that. They would all die because of her.
She buried her face in her hands and cried.
Andrew said, “Someone has to have heard it. I mean, some of those screams were loud enough to have been heard for miles. And when I shot it. Jesus, the noise it made when it attacked the car. We’re remote but not that remote. Help will come. I know it will.”
No one had the strength to speak for the rest of the night, the silence creeping into the first golden rays of dawn.
Help never came.
Chapter Thirty
Andrew and Nikki had fallen asleep on the hard floor. Buttons lay by the back door like a prostrate guardian, one ear flopped over his eyes.
Ryker was still out in the chair, a blanket pulled up to his chest. Kate inspected the wounds on his face. They appeared to be getting redder, the swelling increasing. There was no telling what diseases lurked in the nails of the monster. She had a feeling that even if they were able to get him to a hospital right now, doctors wouldn’t know how to heal him.
Even though the creature was flesh and blood, it didn’t feel as if it were part of this world. The infected cells it deposited in her brother’s torn face would be beyond medical science. Weeping quietly, she stroked her brother’s arm, wishing with all her might that he’d wake up and somehow start to get better all on his own. Just like the classes he taught: if he could think it, it would become reality.
“Oh, Ryker,” she whispered, leaning over to kiss the one spot on his head that hadn’t been ravaged or crusted with dried blood.
For once, she was the only one awake. The pain wouldn’t allow her to close her eyes, even for a second. She had intentionally skipped her medication because she didn’t want to be in a narcotic fog. She couldn’t afford to be. Yes, she still had her fentanyl patch on her arm, but it was due to be changed later today and most of the drug had already been absorbed into her system. She’d had more than her share of misery over the years, but the absence of the pain-dulling meds had brought her to a whole new level of hell. Every nerve, muscle, and joint was on fire. Her stomach felt necrotic, her lungs constricted because breathing hurt too much.
Worst of all were the steady knife-lunges to her heart. They were almost like a pregnant woman’s contractions. If Kate could have reached her tablet and set the timer, she’d bet they were coming closer and closer together with each passing hour. Only she didn’t have a beautiful new life to look forward to holding in her arms. These pains would give birth to something dark and final.
Sunlight sneaked past the blinds and curtains, giving her enough light to walk about the cottage without tripping herself. The candles had burned out long ago, trapping her in the predawn darkness, ears straining for a hint of the creature’s return.
But it had stayed away, and there was a glimmer of hope that Andrew had shot it, a stroke of blind luck that was due them.
Kate struggled out of the chair, knees popping, her left hip warning her that if she didn’t adjust her position fast, it was going to slip free from its socket. Careful to avoid making a noise or bumping into Andrew or Nikki, she crept to the kitchen. She was so parched, her tongue kept sticking to the roof of her mouth. The refrigerator was still cold, but meat and dairy would start to go bad by the afternoon. She found a can of soda and draped a dishtowel over the top to muffle the sound of the tab when she pulled it open. As she drank half the can in one pull, her throat burned from the carbonation.
Just what I need, more pain.
It would be so easy to just curl into a ball and cry, waking Andrew and begging for Percocet and her nerve blockers. A fresh fentanyl patch would be welcome as well.
No! If I take them, I’ll eventually go under, and I’m not leaving Andrew to face this without me. I have to face reality, no matter how unreal it seems.
This cottage, Ryker’s infected face, the warnings from her heart – this was her reality. And like always, it fucking sucked.
Drinking the rest of the soda, she pulled the blinds over the kitchen sink open with her fingers.
The can tumbled out of her hand, rolling on the floor.
The car looked as if it had been hit by a semi, then run through a compactor. The wheels faced the sky, the rubber frayed, every window blown out, bits of glass sparkling in the morning sun. The forest floor looked as if it were covered in diamonds.
One of the doors had been bent over on itself and cast into the flower bed. The bulk of the car was covered in muddy dents, as if the monster had beaten it like a drum with feet and fists. It wasn’t even fit for a junkyard, much less driving.
“Are you okay?”
Andrew’s voice startled her. She jerked her hand back, the blinds clapping closed.
“The car,” she said.
He slipped a hand around her waist and leaned over to look for himself.
“Holy cow. How did it do that?” he said.
She looked at the junk stacked against the doors, then back out at the car. A realization hit her more forcefully than the hammer blows to her chest.
“It doesn’t want to come in here.”
He tore his gaze away from their demolished car. “What?”
They kept their voices down so as not to wake Ryker and Nikki.
“If it wanted to get us, it could,” she said. The resigned look on his face told her he’d thought the same thing. “I think it wants to keep us in here. It wants us afraid.”
Andrew looked so tired. He’d aged five years overnight. The dark circles under his eyes looked as if they were in competition with her own. He ran a hand over his face, the bristles of his beard scratching like sandpaper. “Well, if it wants us afraid, it’s working. The question is, why does it want to keep us trapped? I saw that thing. It doesn’t look all that capable of complex thought. Maybe there’s something in here that it’s afraid of.”
Kate looked around the cottage. “I think we all know it’s not us. And I can’t see anything here that would scare any animal that could turn a car into a pile of broken metal and glass with its bare hands.”
He reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. “This is all insane. I’d hoped when I woke up that everything would be back to normal. You know? Like maybe I’d had way too much to drink with your brother and Nikki and just had the nightmare of a lifetime.”
She hugged him, loving the strength of his body and the musk of his neck and hair.
W
hen he suddenly pulled away, she had to flail for the counter’s edge to keep from falling.
“What time is it?” he said.
“I don’t know.”
He hurried to get his phone from the floor. He’d left it next to the rifle.
“Crap.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s almost time for their morning kayak on the lake.”
“What? Who?”
With haunted eyes, he hissed, “Henry and Ida. They’ll be here any minute!”
* * *
Andrew tore at the furniture and mattress plastered against the back doors, startling Nikki and Ryker awake.
“What on earth are you doing?” Nikki cried, pulling herself up by the arm of Ryker’s chair. His eyes were open but he was silent. His lips looked far too swollen for speech.
“The old couple will be coming by,” Andrew said frantically. “We have to tell them to call the cops and send an ambulance.”
“What are you going on about?”
“Just help me, please!”
“And let that thing inside? Andy, just stop and think.”
Kate stood beside her brother. He looked up at her with glassy, uncomprehending eyes. “There’s an old couple that kayaks by the house every morning,” she told Nikki. “They may be our only chance to get outside help.”
“But if we expose the door…”
Nikki had her hands on her hips, adamant that they needed to keep the door barricaded.
“It won’t come in,” Kate said.
“Is everyone taking the piss?” Nikki said. “You’ve all lost your fucking minds, and you’re going to get us killed.”
“Just trust us,” Kate said.
She could see Nikki wavering. “We have to try so we can get Ryker to the hospital.”
Nikki turned and helped Ryker with the mattress. They flung it behind them, crashing into the detritus that he’d scattered around the room. Buttons started barking from the burst of excitement.
“Come here, But-But,” Kate said. He wedged himself between her legs.
Ryker surprised her by reaching for her hand. His own was hot with fever. Again, she worried that even a hospital couldn’t help him now, hating herself more and more, no matter Andrew and Nikki’s assurances that she wasn’t responsible. She loved her brother more than anyone in her family. The thought of losing him brought a painful twist to her already taxed heart.
Andrew pulled the blinds so hard, they broke free from the brackets, clattering on the floor. He kicked them aside and slid the door open. The cool morning air exploded into the stuffy cottage. The scent of dew and pine contrasted sickeningly with the stench of blood and sweat that they’d grown used to over the past five hours. He stepped outside recklessly. The monster could have been waiting for just this moment. Kate held her breath, reluctantly leaving Ryker to join Nikki at the doorway.
“Is it out there?” Nikki said, sounding like a little girl asking about the boogeyman.
Andrew looked around. “No, not that I can see.”
Nikki swiped his rifle off the floor and brought it to him. “Just in case.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you see Ida and Henry?” Kate asked. The thought that help from the pair of nonagenarians might only be moments away upped her anxiety.
When Andrew headed for the stairs, she cried out, “Don’t! Stay close.”
He turned back to her, his expression grim but his eyes sparkling with optimism. “I won’t go far. They’re old. I’m not sure they’d be able to see or hear me from this distance.”
She could see the dock and the lake that was smooth as glass. She hated to admit he might be right. Henry and Ida might be healthy enough to go for a slow paddle every day, but their senses must have been dulled by time. At least in the light of day, they would be able to spot the creature if it came for them.
“Just be careful. Don’t get fixated on the lake. It could be anywhere.”
Knowing in her gut they were all safe as long as they stayed in the house, and that it wouldn’t dare even walk in an open door, she was also sure that Andrew had just waltzed into the lion’s den. With each step he took, she calculated how long it would take him to run back inside when the creature appeared.
It was close. She could feel it watching them. The hairs at the back of her neck prickled.
Andrew cautiously stepped into the yard, head swiveling back and forth, rifle at the ready. By the time he made it to the path leading to the dock, Kate knew with icy dread that he’d gone too far to make it back safely.
The microwave feels bubbled up and down her back. She doubled over when a sword went through the middle of her chest.
“Are you okay?” Nikki said, one hand on her back, the other gripping her upper arm.
“I’m fine. Just…just my stomach,” Kate lied.
That was a rough one. Any more like that and I won’t be able to fake my way through it.
She straightened up and searched for her husband. He was still walking slowly down the path. He’d never seemed so far away from her, not even that time he traveled to Italy for work for two weeks.
He stopped and held up his free hand. “I think I see them.”
Kate staggered to the porch, Nikki still holding on to her, straining to see if she could spot the couple past the tree line by the shore. Andrew broke into a run, heading for the dock.
“Andrew! No!”
Chapter Thirty-One
Andrew thought he saw the tip of a yellow kayak and couldn’t restrain himself. They were too close for him to wait.
He started shouting, “Henry…Ida…we need help! Can you hear me? We need you to call the police!”
A family of ducks floated around the dock. Sometimes he fed them crackers while he sat reading and sipping on a beer. In the weeks they’d been here, the babies had grown noticeably. To them, this was just another day and another chance to get some soggy crackers. He never thought he’d wish to be a duck.
Keeping his ear tuned for the monster’s heavy footsteps, he ran with his typical madman gusto to the shore.
Once he got past the stand of trees to his left, he confirmed that these were Henry’s and Ida’s kayaks.
“Henry! Ida!”
He waved both arms as he ran, not once thinking that he might scare them off with the rifle.
When the first kayak came into full view, he fell to his knees, acidic vomit splattering the ground, splashing up into his face.
The kayaks floated lazily past him.
Henry and Ida were in them, but they’d been torn in half. Wisps of steam curled from their cracked chest cavities. Their heads had been torn from their necks and placed in their laps.
“No, no, no, no!”
Andrew punched the dirt, spinning away from the grisly tableau.
He heard Nikki and Kate scream as the kayaks entered their sight line.
Eyes stinging with tears, he pushed away from the pool of vomit and got to his feet, his legs feeling like lead.
It knew I would come out here. Their bodies are still warm, which means it just killed them. I have to get back inside the cottage!
His knees refused to bend, but he pushed on, stumble-running as fast as he could.
He didn’t hear the approaching footsteps until it was too late.
The beast leaped out from behind a tree, as if this were all some kind of game. Andrew pulled back, suddenly unable to figure out how to use the rifle.
Kate was right.
It was diseased.
In the full light of day, he could see how deformed, how sickly the creature truly was. The bones under its hideous face were knobbed and twisted. He thought of the movie The Thing, and how the alien tried to assimilate men and dogs, the underlying skeleton a mélange of impossible bony structures. This creature coul
d have stepped right out of one of the frames of that movie.
There seemed to be less hair on its body than last night, though it was impossible to be sure. If it had mange, it was in the final death throes of the sickness. Open sores leaked various colors of pus.
Yet it still looked strong, bulging muscles flexing as it blocked his path to the cottage. The women were shouting something at him, but in his panic, he’d gone deaf.
Shoot it! Shoot it!
He couldn’t feel his hands. His arms registered the weight of the rifle, but it might as well have been held by someone else. Raising the barrel toward the creature was akin to trying to lift a car. He had to look down to see if his finger was on the trigger, bolts of terror racing through his body because he’d taken his eyes off the monster for even that one second.
The monster was close enough to swipe at him with one of its sharply taloned, massive hands, yet it simply stared at him, as if amused by the weakling who had the means of salvation in his hands and couldn’t do something as simple as point and pull a trigger.
It smiled, wet brown lips pulling back to reveal cracked yellow teeth, its gums black as oil, spotted with red, infected pustules.
Andrew pissed himself, resigned with the awareness that this monstrosity would be the last thing he’d ever see on this earth, its ungodly touch his final contact with a warm, living creature.
Who will take care of Kate?
In the end, that was all he really cared about.
* * *
The moment the monster erupted from the woods to stand in Andrew’s way of escape, Kate went wild with panic. Words spewed from her mouth that had no form, no true meaning, except for one – Andrew.
She tried to run to him, but Nikki held her fast, struggling to drag her back into the safety of the cottage. Kate fought Nikki like a madwoman, punching her arms, kicking at her legs, and jerking her head back to smash her sister-in-law’s face. Her husband was going to die, and she wanted to die with him.
“You can’t! You can’t! You can’t!” Nikki bleated like a mantra, unsuccessful in her attempts to gain control over Kate.
