When I looked back at him, someone was standing behind him.
I screamed, jumping back and trying to pull the boy with me. But a hand clamped down on his shoulder and kept him rooted to the spot. I stared at the hand wrapped in a cloth rag. The fingers were nothing but bone. I fell backwards and scrambled away a few feet.
“Run!” the boy cried. “Run!”
I couldn’t see much in the wet darkness. I brought my shaking hands together to train my flashlight on the horrific figure in front of me. I saw a tall and broad body encased in tattered cloth, a filthy vest, and a beaten, wide-brimmed leather hat pulled low over the face so that all I could see was an unnaturally wide grin of yellow teeth.
And I could smell it. That sickly sweet scent of necrosis.
I heard Emma Lee’s voice in my head. The stinky man.
That was all I was able to process before my husband spun around and let off a blast that scattered my thoughts. The shotgun discharged point-blank into the skeletal man’s body, doing nothing except blowing a golf-ball-sized hole in the vest.
The phantom lifted his head, exposing a face that had nearly rotted away except for some patches of grey-blue flesh. Round, lidless eyes hung suspended in the gaping sockets, leering at me. Now I could see the other hand, gripping a rough, knotted wooden shaft planted in the ground at an angle across the boy’s chest, preventing his escape. The wooden staff was taller than its owner and was tipped with a twisted, hammered chunk of metal forged into both an axe and a spear.
Astonished, Garrett fired three more times with no more effect. The eyes rolled about in their sockets and then fixed on me again.
“Thank you for catching this boy for me,” the Axe-Man spoke in a low, ugly rasp. “Now be on your way. Your part in this has ended.”
“Forget it.”
The Axe-Man’s head tilted to the side. “You’d challenge me?”
I got to my feet, keenly aware that he still towered over me. “Oh, yeah. I challenge you.”
“My instincts about you were correct, it seems. Very well.”
Still holding the boy in place with his right hand, the Axe-Man raised the scythe-like weapon over his head with his left. I had no doubt the blade was big and heavy enough to take off my head or a limb once it came down. I watched it as it reached the top of its arc and tensed my legs as it began its descent.
I did not jump away from the oncoming blade—I leapt forward.
I crashed into the boy, taking him to the ground with me. At the same instant, Garrett came in from the side and threw the butt of his gun at the Axe-Man’s jaw. The skeletal man slipped the blow and drove his shoulder into my husband, sending him flying into the mud.
But the damage was done. I dragged the boy to his feet and backpedaled with him, glaring in terrified defiance as the towering skeleton whirled on us again.
“You won’t have him!” I shouted, but I never heard myself. A roar drowned me out. Something was close. Something huge.
The Axe-Man’s eyes bulged from their sockets and he clutched his weapon close to his body. He scanned the trees behind us and then looked at me.
“I will have him,” he hissed, “even if it is not this night. Tomorrow, the child dies. Tomorrow, the true King returns. Perhaps your valor will earn you the dignity of a quick death. That is all you can hope for.”
The Axe-Man rocketed backward, as if someone had lassoed him and yanked him away. In less than a second he had retreated across the raging river and vanished into the fog.
I pushed the boy by the shoulder, guiding him to crouch among the limbs of a fallen branch. “Stay here. Keep out of sight.”
He stood, holding onto my jacket. “We can’t stay. You’ve got to get—”
“Do not argue with me.”
The boy knelt back down.
I ran. Garrett was right on my heels. We stopped at the water’s edge and looked both ways along the bank.
“There’s no way we can cross,” my husband said.
“The bridge,” I answered, pointing to the right.
“Come for the girl, if you can,” the Axe-Man’s voice echoed across the howling water. Then another voice joined his. A high-pitched scream, pleading for help. Between the trees, chest-high in the black fog, I saw red hair and pale arms waving.
“Laylah!” I called out, reaching feebly over the water. “Laylah, honey, I’m a friend of your mommy! I’m coming to get you!”
“Mommy!” the toddler sobbed.
Something came past her, emerging from the trees. At first I thought it was the bear. But it was too small. The size of a tiger or some other big cat. Its body was varying shades of grey and its claws were white. Its eyes and teeth glowed in the beam of my flashlight.
“It’s the badger,” Garrett spat. “Anvilback.”
As soon as the creature had moved away from Laylah, I brought my handgun out of its holster and fired off three shots. It was awkward holding the flashlight with the other hand, but I managed to hit the animal. The bullets ricocheted uselessly off his sagging skin with a thwap, thwap, thwap.
“Don’t waste your shots,” Garret said. “Remember the myth. He’s impenetrable. We can’t pierce his hide.”
I gritted my teeth. “Right.”
Utterly ignoring us, Anvilback waded into the river until he was submerged up to his knees. The rain ramped up its intensity, dumping sheets of water into the river and onto the grey beast standing in it. The creature gave a long, laughing bark, braying his challenge into the trees.
The roar that had scared off the Axe-Man came again to answer the badger. Fear and hope rose in me, an uncomfortable mixture that manifested as a surge of adrenaline. I ran toward the sound.
“The girl!” I cried out, not caring if my words were understood or not. “He’s taken her to the other side!”
Anvilback’s mocking bellow sounded off again behind me as I saw an enormous, dark shape coming out of the trees on our side of the river. Then lightning flashed again and I saw her.
Face twisted with rage, chest heaving, the brown bear stomped out of the foliage and onto the muddy riverbank. She was already drenched from the rain, her sopping fur clinging to her body and contouring the bulging muscles underneath. She stood up on her hind legs and stepped into the water. She must have been fifteen feet tall.
“My God,” I heard my husband’s quivering voice next to me. “It’s her. It’s Momma Kodi.”
The badger continued its call, but the bear’s roar was far louder. The two oversized animals stared each other down, heedless of the rushing water pounding them.
“Something’s wrong,” said the boy’s voice from right next to me. I glanced over. He’d disobeyed me, but I had no time to say anything about it now. The three of us had our attention drawn back to the river.
Anvilback dug in his claws and lunged. Kodi raised both front paws to defend, but she seemed surprised by the audacity of the attack. The badger knocked her over and then the two were rolling around in the water, gripping with claws and teeth, and letting out shrieks that blended with the thunderclaps.
Kodi got to her feet, coiling her limbs and launching her weight to hurl her much smaller enemy off. Anvilback sailed upstream and landed with a huge splash. When he came at her again, she clamped her jaws down on the back of his neck. But his skin was so loose he still had nearly full freedom of movement. Squalling and babbling, he flailed his short limbs and opened up cuts on the bear’s legs and belly. She raised a paw and drew her claws in a long, raking blow that did nothing against his hide.
“Now’s our chance,” Garrett said. “I like your idea. Let’s cross at the bridge.”
“Wait,” the boy pleaded, not looking away from the fight. “We shouldn’t leave her.”
“We can’t do anything here,” Garrett yelled. “This is way out of our league. We have to go after Laylah.”
“Anvilback’s not afraid,” the boy said. “He’s supposed to be scared of Momma Kodi. They all are. That’s what holds them back.
”
“That’s right,” I realized, taking a slow step toward the river. “When he brought Emma Lee into the bear’s territory. You said he was terrified. Now he isn’t. Why—”
Suddenly, an enormous head exploded from under the water. A long snout jam-packed with teeth took hold of Momma Kodi’s head, breaking her grip on Anvilback and dragging her face-first beneath the surface.
Chapter 22
I ran until I was knee-deep in the water, producing my gun again and trying to level it at the gigantic, scaly body that threw itself in circles, rolling over and over and pulling the shrieking bear with it. But my feet were struck by something being swept in the water, maybe a branch. I fell, and only my husband’s grip on my upper arm stopped me from getting yanked downstream.
“Get back here!” Garrett roared in my ear, dragging me uphill. “We have to go before we lose Laylah!”
“They’re going to kill her!” I answered. “Then Laylah will be lost!”
Garrett stopped and stared at the fight. The massive crocodile held the bear down, her roars interrupted by gurgling as the water washed over her snout. She braced her paws against the ground and tried to push free, but Anvilback leapt in and ripped at her front legs, forcing them to collapse. Each time Kodi’s face was pulled underwater, she fought back with less intensity.
My husband’s face changed from determination to gloom.
Momma Kodi managed to throw Anvilback a savage blow that knocked him back. Then she caught hold of the rocks, forcing the death roll to come to a stop. She took a long breath and let out a new roar—a different, lower-pitched rumble that seemed to reverberate through the very ground. But Drag-Belly’s jaws were still locked on either side of her head, and he wrenched her down, submerging her face and cutting off the sound. She pushed away and tried again, sending another vibrating wave through our feet, but this time Anvilback plowed into her hind legs and knocked her down.
“She’s…” the boy said, his voice cracking. “She’s trying to call for help.”
“Will he come?” I demanded. “Did he hear?”
“I don’t know. She’s never had to call him before.”
“Well, we don’t have time to wait and see. They’re killing her.” I tore my gaze away from the horrific scene in the river, trying to think. “We have to distract them. Maybe we can scare them off… if they think he’s coming.”
Garrett’s eyes went wide. “That’s crazy… and I love it. You two get out of sight.” I took the boy’s hand and pulled him further uphill until we were back among the trees.
Momma Kodi’s strength was fading. Both of her assailants held her pinned with her head underwater. We had seconds to act.
Garrett crouched behind a shrub, double-checked that his gun was loaded, took a deep breath, and howled.
Just as in the museum, the sound made my skin crawl. I was looking right at him and I still thought it was real.
The battle in the river came to a complete standstill. Anvilback shrunk away. Drag-Belly released Momma Kodi’s head and the cold reptilian eyes, barely visible among the knotted green-black scales, rolled in our direction. A second later, so did the rest of him.
The bear lurched to her feet, taking a desperate breath. Anvilback attacked in her moment of distraction—but she wheeled about and caught his ear in her teeth.
Drag-Belly’s furious, deep roar grew louder as he approached Garrett’s location. My husband had his gun pointed through the bush and I saw him taking aim.
“Come and get it,” Garrett growled. “I’m gonna put a dent in your head…”
But the crocodile lunged faster than either of us had anticipated. The shotgun was slammed against the branches as it went off. I saw the slug impacting with a splash in the mud across the bank. Garrett scrambled away, but Drag-Belly had him.
I ran, gun in hand, not sure what I could do. I doubted my bullets could get through those scales, but maybe if I could hit an eye…
Garrett swung the shotgun, cracking the buttstock against a jaw that was nearly as long as he was tall. The blow gave him enough time to mostly get away from the huge teeth. Drag-Belly’s jaws slammed shut on Garrett’s right ankle.
“No!” the boy screamed, but I silenced him with a grip on his shoulder.
The massive saurian head twisted with the leg in its grip. Garrett’s jeans ripped as Drag-Belly thrashed from side to side. The crocodile gave a massive heave and Garrett’s leg came off at the knee. My husband didn’t look up—the last spent shell he had fired was jammed in the receiver and he was digging his hook in to pull it out.
Drag-Belly drew back in surprise that the leg he had ripped off was metal rather than flesh. He threw the bent prosthetic leg aside and came in again. This time I left the boy and darted forward, gripping my gun with both hands and struggling to line up a shot. There was no way I could hit the eye, but the ear canal right behind it was a much larger and less defended target. I squeezed off a shot.
It ricocheted off the scales and the giant head swung in my direction. I fired two more times before the next trigger pull gave only a click. I dropped the gun and turned—too fast. I slipped. I was on my hands and knees in the mud. I heard the massive body sliding across the ground. Instinctively I threw myself to my right. The jaws appeared alongside me and snapped through the space where my body had been.
Garrett’s hook tore the plastic obstruction free and jerked the action back. I saw the red flash of a new shell as the bolt slammed home.
I heard movement—I rolled over and flung myself the other way. Drag-Belly swung his head and the teeth crashed together again, barely missing me a second time. The huge head was now between me and Garrett.
I caught a glimpse of what was happening in the river. The tide of the battle had turned. Momma Kodi, eyes bulging with wrath, was holding Anvilback’s head under the water. I didn’t have time to watch. Drag-Belly was coming again. I lunged, rolling through the mud again. That was his third miss. I doubted there would be a fourth.
“Here!” Garrett shouted, flipping the gun around and launching it butt-first at me.
The shotgun landed in my hands. Drag-Belly was lunging. The massive mouth was bearing down on me. No time to aim—just to point. The huge pink throat was all I could see. The gun screamed at the same time I did.
Drag-Belly threw his head back, twisting his body into an agonized curl. The twenty-foot tail slashed through the air, catching Garrett full across the chest and throwing him hard against the trunk of a tree. I heard a crack and my husband’s angry shout. The crocodile gagged and writhed and tumbled back down the slope, leaving a trail of bloody mucus on the ground.
“Goes down smooth, doesn’t it?” Garrett whooped, his voice hoarse with pain. He lay against the tree, his hand gripping his right shoulder. “You like the taste of lead slug? Come on back for seconds!”
I kept the shotgun aimed at the retreating crocodile as I approached the river, the boy right behind me.
Drag-Belly collapsed and lay half-conscious on the bank, unable to interfere in what was happening behind him. Kodi’s teeth held Anvilback by the throat, one paw on his chest, the other blocking his foreleg from slashing at her face. She lifted him clear out of the water, standing up on her hind legs, and slammed him back down. I imagined his skull must have impacted the stony riverbed. He fought back with less conviction. Momma Kodi tensed her entire body and held the badger’s head under the water. Held on. Held on.
Then his legs went stiff, sticking straight out and convulsing. She didn’t let up until he had gone completely limp. The bear released her hold, letting the badger be carried away by the current.
Just then, Drag-Belly shook his head and focused his eyes on me. I sighted down the barrel, but he kept his mouth shut as he advanced. I knew he would not present such a weak spot again. He had plenty of ways to kill us without parting his jaws.
But Momma Kodi caught him by the tail and dragged him back into the water. He whipped around, trying to bring his bleeding j
aws into play. Both animals were wounded, weakened. They fell together into the river, drifting downstream as they grappled. They fought half-heartedly, each looking about ready to give up the fight altogether.
They were drifting toward the bridge. Between the wrestling beasts and the concrete abutments, I could see the curved blade of rock.
Her strength nearly spent, Momma Kodi raised her head. Her searching eyes fell on the shore—fell on me. In the black orbs I saw the burning desperation that drove me. She wanted guidance.
I pointed downstream. “There!” Her head swung in the direction of my gesture.
With what must have been the absolute last shred of stamina she had left, Momma Kodi threw herself into Drag-Belly, pushing her shoulder into his midsection and powering forward, letting the current boost her.
Lightning flashed, silhouetting the two animals at the moment the bear drove the crocodile into the Fangstone. There was a terrible crack. I couldn’t tell if it was thunder or Drag-Belly’s spine.
The grotesquely folded body of the reptile turned over and drifted along the surface of the water, following Anvilback under the bridge and out of sight. Kodi dragged herself onto the opposite shore and collapsed, lying on her side in the dark fog and taking short, shallow breaths.
Chapter 23
I knelt next to Garrett. “Are you alright?”
“Fine. Fine. Now’s your chance. Get across the river. The bear might be able to distract the Axe-Man long enough for you to grab Laylah.” He shifted, then winced and grabbed his shoulder again.
“I don’t think so. We can’t leave you here.”
“Yes, you can.”
“Stop. Let me look.” I set the shotgun on the ground, pushed Garrett’s hand off, and brought his jacket away from his shoulder. It was red, swollen, and already starting to bruise. I could see that his arm was out of its socket.
“It’s fine,” he said.
“No. It’s dislocated. We have to get you to a hospital.”
The boy took a long look across the river. “Momma Kodi will have to rest. I don’t think she will attack tonight.”
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