The Battle of Iron Gulch

by R. G. Thomas

  As he finished the last of the chicken, he thought of a question and looked up to where she was washing dishes. “Did you know we found Isadora?”

  She nodded and looked over her shoulder at him. “I heard all about it. I’m so sorry. It must have been very shocking for all of you.”

  “Astrid, Miriam, and Teofil especially,” Thaddeus said, and shook his head. “When I think about it, I get so angry.”

  “I can understand that—”

  Vivienne stopped speaking suddenly. Thaddeus looked up to see her leaning toward the window as she peered into the yard.

  “What is it?” Thaddeus asked.

  “I saw something move out there,” Vivienne said in a low voice. “Turn off the light, will you?”

  Thaddeus got up and flicked the light switch. Darkness fell over them, and he approached the sink to stand beside Vivienne and look out the window. It was too early for the moon to be up and the sun had just set, leaving the backyard cloaked in obscure grays and blacks.

  “Where is it?” Thaddeus whispered.

  “I don’t see it anymore,” Vivienne whispered back.

  The sudden glow of a light caught his eye and he turned with a frown. The basement door stood halfway open and from where he stood, Thaddeus could see down the dark wooden steps. At the bottom of the steps, he saw the pale yellow glow of the bulb hanging near the washer and dryer. A chill went through him as he realized it was the bulb with the motion sensor attached.

  “They’ve come in the basement,” Thaddeus said, surprised at the quiet, calm sound of his voice, in complete opposition to the fear he felt inside.

  “What?” Vivienne looked around. “How?”

  “There are cellar doors that open to the backyard down there. They must not have been locked.”

  Thaddeus walked quickly to the basement door. As he eased it closed, he saw the shadow of something slowly approaching the steps. He reached to lock the door, but it was missing the key.

  “There’s no key,” he said.

  “Use this.” Vivienne approached with a kitchen chair and wedged it beneath the knob.

  She and Thaddeus stepped back just as the knob slowly twisted. Whatever stood on the other side of the door tried to push it open, but the chair held fast. The knob rattled and Thaddeus heard whatever stood at the top of the basement steps let out an aggravated snarl.

  “That’s no goblin,” Vivienne said. “They don’t have the dexterity to turn a doorknob.”

  “It must be a ghoul.” Thaddeus looked around the kitchen, feeling suddenly very exposed. “There could be more on the way.”

  “We should go,” Vivienne said, taking his hand. “We can meet up with Leopold and Dulindir.”

  “What about Hannah?” Thaddeus asked. “We can’t leave her.”

  “I’m almost certain she left for the meeting just before the others,” Vivienne replied.

  “We need to get to them,” Thaddeus said as he followed Vivienne to the back door.

  “We will.” Vivienne paused to look through the door’s window and out into the backyard. “All clear. Come on, you know where we’re going.”

  Thaddeus stepped out of the back door and paused long enough to close the two large cellar doors, which were built at an angle and attached at the foundation. A small trowel lay in the dirt nearby—possibly overlooked by Teofil when he had been cleaning up after a day’s work—and Thaddeus rammed it through the handles of the doors.

  “That should give us some time,” he said, then jumped as something on the other side banged against the doors in frustration.

  “Just in time,” Vivienne added. “Let’s go.”

  Thaddeus led the way around the side of the house and through the gate to the sidewalk. As they ran toward town, the night seemed to crush in around them. The streets felt empty even for the nearly deserted Iron Gulch, and Thaddeus had a bad feeling that something terrible was going to happen. If they could just stop the ghouls, they would be able to focus on getting what they needed to get to his mother and—

  Thaddeus came to a sudden stop, causing Vivienne to swerve around him. She stopped and looked back at him, her eyes wide.

  “I nearly ran you over,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

  “I left the canteen at the house,” Thaddeus said, and turned to look back the way they had come.

  Vivienne shook her head and frowned. “Canteen?”

  “The water from the Well of Tears is in it,” he said. “Damn.”

  “Oh. Is it hidden?”

  He held his hand out and tipped it back and forth. “Somewhat. It’s on the top shelf of the closet in my room.”

  “I think that will be fine for now.” Vivienne tugged on his hand. “Come on, we need to hurry.”

  A few blocks later they arrived at the intersection with Main Street and paused to catch their breath. Thaddeus took the opportunity to look up and down the road. All of the shop windows were dark, including those of Ruby’s Realty, Heap’s General Store, and the Gulch Gulp.

  “The weapons were hidden in a tree just outside of town in that direction.” Thaddeus pointed. “And the town meeting is taking place in the school a few blocks the opposite way.”

  “Leopold suggested we wait for them at the house,” Vivienne said. “So we should either head toward the tree and find them, or just stay here since they’re going to have to come back this way to get to either place.”

  “I don’t want to just stand around and wait,” Thaddeus said. “Do you?”

  Vivienne smiled and shook her head. “Not a bit. Come on.”

  They walked at a brisk pace down the sidewalk, both of them looking side to side for any approaching danger. Thaddeus tried not to worry about what was happening at the town meeting, but his mind refused to listen to him. Images of his father and Teofil screaming as their skin was peeled away kept flashing through his mind. He struggled against the urge to turn and run in the opposite direction, toward the school and town meeting, to do what he could to stop the ghouls from killing whatever townspeople were left. They just needed to find Leopold and Dulindir as soon as possible, get their weapons, and then rush to the meeting. They would stand a better chance against the ghouls and goblins if they were fully armed. He ran this through his mind repeatedly in an effort to convince himself everything would be all right, and it helped, somewhat.

  Movement in the shadows at the end of the street brought them to a stop. Thaddeus squinted, but could only see the vague, shadowy outline of figures approaching.

  “Is that them?” Vivienne asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  He was about to suggest they duck out of sight down an alley when he recognized one of the figures. His heart soared and he laughed. “It’s them! I can see Leopold’s baseball cap.”

  “Oh, good,” Vivienne said.

  In moments they could see that it was, indeed, Dulindir and Leopold approaching them at a steady run. Dulindir held his sword at the ready and Leopold gripped a knife in each hand. Just behind them, Thaddeus saw more movement lower to the ground and took a step back.

  “I think they’re being chased,” he said.

  “I think you’re right,” Vivienne said.

  “What do we do?” Thaddeus asked. Every instinct was telling him to turn and run, but what if Leopold and Dulindir needed help?

  At that moment, Leopold, still holding on to a knife, waved at them.

  “He’s telling us to go,” Vivienne said.

  “And fast,” Thaddeus added.

  They turned and ran down the sidewalk. Thaddeus looked back several times, shocked by the narrowing gap between their friends and the pack of goblins behind them. He wished he knew exactly how he had caused the big blast near the hot springs, because it would come in handy now. But he didn’t have the time to stop and try to conjure it again, nor could he waste hours recovering.

  “There are too many to fight off,” Thaddeus said.

  Vivienne looked over her shoulder and nodded. “We need to g
et inside somewhere.”

  “We’ll be trapped!” Thaddeus said.

  “Better than chased down and eaten alive.”

  “We may as well get to the school, where the others are,” Thaddeus yelled between breaths. “We can lock ourselves inside and see what’s happening at the meeting.”

  “How much farther?”

  “Just a couple of blocks.” Thaddeus looked over his shoulder to wave Leopold and Dulindir on, and then shouted, “To the school!”

  They arrived at the school doors and stopped. As they caught their breath, Thaddeus took in the cars that filled the parking lot and the quiet around the school grounds. The inside of the school was dark, relieved only by every other light along the main hallway that ran from one end of the red brick building to the other. He eased one door open, careful not to make any noise, and peered down the long, empty hallway.

  “Here they come,” Vivienne said.

  Thaddeus turned to watch Leopold and Dulindir cover the last few yards until they stopped alongside him and Vivienne. Leopold was panting heavily, sweat running down his red face. Dulindir was breathing normally and did not appear to have just run for over three miles. The three slipped past Thaddeus into the school and he stepped in after them.

  They stood close together and watched through the windows in the doors as the goblin pack split at the intersection. Half ran toward the far end of the building while the rest slowed and warily approached. A security light on the outer wall illuminated the ugly faces and sharp teeth of the goblins as they sniffed around the bottom of the doors.

  “They’ve surrounded us,” Thaddeus said. “The whole town is trapped in here.”

  “There’s a very good chance the goblins are aware of approaching carnage,” Leopold said. “We should seek out the others. Our odds will be better in a larger group.”

  “This is bad,” Thaddeus whispered.

  “It is a dark time,” Leopold said.

  “They’re moving off,” Dulindir said as he turned from the window. “They’re heading to the back of the building.”

  “Where are the weapons?” Thaddeus asked.

  Dulindir turned his back to show Thaddeus the pack he wore. “I’ve placed them all in here. We can distribute them when needed.”

  Vivienne pointed. “I hear someone talking down the hall.”

  As he followed Leopold and Vivienne, Thaddeus too was able to hear a woman’s voice. It sounded like Ruby, her voice amplified as if she was speaking into a microphone. His heart thumped hard and fast, and it seemed as if the hallway was getting longer and longer the farther they walked along it, but they soon reached a corner and turned to continue down the next hallway. Double doors halfway down the hall stood open, and he heard other sounds now beneath Ruby’s voice: a few coughs, the scrape of folding-chair legs, and the rustle of a large group of people.

  “Dulindir, you may want to wait outside,” Leopold suggested. “Your sword could cause a commotion before we are able to assess the situation.”

  “I will keep watch just outside of the doors,” Dulindir said with a nod. He removed the pack with their weapons, and Vivienne took hold of it.

  Thaddeus followed Leopold and Vivienne into the gymnasium and stopped along with them just inside the doors. They were at the back of the gym, and it was standing room only. Dozens of people stood to their left, leaning against the wall. The rest of the town sat in folding chairs facing away from them. Even though a number of ceiling fans were spinning to circulate the air, it was hot inside. On a stage at the far end of the gym stood Ruby, wearing her signature pink blazer as she spoke into a microphone on a stand. Behind her, four other women sat on folding chairs, smiling as they looked out over the audience.

  Someone grabbed his arm. Thaddeus gasped and turned to find Teofil standing next to him. Relief blew through him like a cool spring breeze, and he had to restrain himself from kissing and hugging him.

  “You feeling okay?” Teofil asked in a low voice.

  Thaddeus nodded. “A lot better, thanks.”

  He saw his father, Miriam, and Astrid leaning against the wall and the three of them followed Teofil as he returned to the space they’d claimed. His father squeezed his shoulder and Thaddeus leaned in close.

  “Goblins have surrounded the building,” he whispered.

  His father widened his eyes and looked at Leopold, who nodded, his expression grave. Leaning down, his father whispered back, “How many?”

  “Too many to fight,” Leopold replied.

  A man standing nearby gave them a dirty look, and Nathan gestured to the doors. “We should step out in the hallway.”

  Thaddeus led the way out the door and into the hall. Dulindir was waiting, sword held pointing down along the side of his leg, pointed ears hidden beneath his long blond hair. When Astrid saw him, she smiled and hurried over to give him a big hug.

  “We’re surrounded?” Nathan asked once they had all moved away from the gymnasium doors.

  “We are,” Leopold replied.

  “Something was at the house too,” Thaddeus added, his heart pounding as he remembered seeing the basement light come on. “It came in through the cellar doors. Vivienne put a chair under the knob just in time.”

  “Flora help us,” Miriam whispered.

  “What do we do?” Thaddeus asked.

  A new voice spoke up behind him, startling Thaddeus. He whirled around to find a woman he didn’t know standing just outside of the doors.

  “Oh, there’s nothing you can do now,” she said. “It’s too late for any of that.”

  His father stepped around him, one arm out in front of Thaddeus protectively. “Kathryn, we’re not part of your town. Just let us go and we’ll be on our way.”

  Thaddeus realized this must be Kathryn Heap, his father’s boss at the store. Kathryn was also one of the women who had taken over a city council seat after the mine cave-in.

  He realized then that they must have been right, and all of the widows must now be ghouls. The cave-in had taken the majority of the men and their sons. Whether it had been done intentionally or not, they had become food for the ghouls and goblins. The widows had stepped in to take over management of the town, and one by one they too had been turned. Perhaps they had been visited at night by the men they had lost in the mine and then taken. However it had happened, the ghouls had spread, and now there must be enough of them to be able to take the rest of the town.

  “Oh, Nathan,” Kathryn said with a smile, clasping her hands together in front of her. “It’s much, much too late for that now. You’re a part of us.”

  Thaddeus tried to detect the ghoul beneath Kathryn’s skin, but all he could see was a menacing woman. His father took a step back from Kathryn, forcing the rest of them to move back as well.

  A quiet sound from behind made Thaddeus look over his shoulder. Teofil stood a few feet away, opening a locker from which he extracted one of the sprayer tanks Thaddeus had seen in Hannah’s basement.

  Kathryn’s dry, humorless chuckle drew Thaddeus’s attention once again. “You could try to run, but we’d catch you. If not us, then the goblins will run you down and tear you apart.”

  “Shame to lose so many good, strong bodies to impersonate,” his father said. “Especially ones that could help you conquer a whole new population.”

  “Conquer!” Kathryn raised her eyebrows. “Such a dirty word. We prefer to call it survival of our species.”

  “By torturing and killing the members of another species,” Leopold snapped.

  “Hold your tongue, old man, or I’ll gnaw it out of your skull,” Kathryn said, and the expression on her face made Thaddeus shiver.

  The doors to the gymnasium suddenly slammed shut behind Kathryn, making several people inside shout, and Thaddeus and the rest of those in the hallway jumped. Kathryn stood perfectly still, as if she had been expecting it.

  “And now, it’s supper time,” she said with a smile.

  Nathan thrust out his hand, and Kathryn wa
s thrown backward against the wall. He grabbed Thaddeus by the arm and turned away from the gym, shouting, “Run!”

  They had only taken a few steps when all of the lights went out, plunging the school into darkness.

  Chapter FOURTEEN

  IN THE moments before his father, Leopold, and Vivienne conjured sources of light, Thaddeus stood very still. His heart pounded as the screams of the residents of Iron Gulch echoed along the halls. Fear laced with panic built within his chest, making it difficult to breathe and nearly impossible to think. How could he fight enemies in the dark, especially ones as terrible as ghouls and goblins, who lived in shadows? He reached for Teofil’s hand but could not find him in the dark, and his breath caught in his throat as his heart pounded. Where was he? The last he’d seen, Teofil had been pulling one of the tanks out of a locker. Had Kathryn gotten to him when the lights went out? Was she holding her hand over his mouth to silence his screams as she peeled away his skin?

  Just as he was about to call out to Teofil, a cool white light appeared, making him blink. Three small white orbs floated overhead, illuminating their group and the immediate area around them.

  It also exposed Kathryn Heap rushing at them. Her mouth hung open and fury twisted her face. She reached out, fingers curled into claws. Dulindir and Astrid ran to meet her, but Kathryn knocked them both aside. Before anyone else could react, she knocked Leopold to the floor and fell upon him. Thaddeus’s father shoved him back against the wall before he ran to Leopold’s aid. Kathryn swatted him away, then did the same to Vivienne, who had also rushed her. Light flashed along the blade of a small knife Kathryn pulled from her belt. She lifted it overhead, ready to plunge down into Leopold’s chest.

  “Leopold!” Thaddeus shouted and took a step.

  “No!” Teofil screamed and sprayed Kathryn’s face and torso with whatever was in the tank. Kathryn screamed and turned away, lifting her hands to cover her face. The skin doused by the potion rippled and sagged. A flap of it near her hairline peeled away to expose a grayish skin beneath that bubbled and steamed from the potion. It screamed and dropped the knife, then staggered off Leopold and stumbled down the hall away from them.