***
Gabriel sprinted, aluminum bat in hand, into the wind and precipitation that refused to commit to being frozen or liquid. Alternating between sleet and rain, it stung his face as he ran as quickly as he could.
In the distance, he saw them. Eric Sala tackled Melissa to the ground, her body slammed against the leaf covered forest floor. Writhing and kicking frantically, Melissa attempted to free herself. Eric straddled her, seized her wrists and held them in one of his hands then raised the other to slap her into submission.
Gabriel saw the impending strike, but had only seconds to close the considerable distance between them. It would be impossible for him to physically halt what was about to ensue. Instead, he looked to the aluminum bat in his hand and made a decision.
His rapidly approaching footsteps diverted Eric’s attention. From atop Melissa, he snapped his head up quickly to see who advanced. When he did, he glimpsed Gabriel hurling an object into the air.
Instantly, the expression on his face registered recognition of the article racing toward him. An aluminum baseball bat tumbled end over end, too rapidly to dodge.
The barrel of the bat caught Eric Sala in the upper-portion of his forehead. A loud popping sound echoed as the aluminum struck his skull. Blood trickled from his hairline and he collapsed sideways, unconscious, off Melissa.
Though violence was not part of his original objective, it became an increasingly necessary tool in securing both Melissa’s safety and his own. He did not like engaging in violent behavior but was comforted when it shielded Melissa from harm. As he rebuked his aggression internally, he moved toward her. Melissa was sitting, stunned and silenced by the precise and effective attack he launched.
Gabriel rushed to Melissa’s side. “Are you okay?” he asked frantically. “Has he hurt you?”
“No, no. I’m all right. What was all that screaming I heard?”
He reached out and helped her up.
“It’s time to go. Now!” Gabriel told her.
“What? I mean, what the hell happened? What was all that?” Melissa stammered, lost for words.
He did not have time to fully explain that the bone-chilling cries she heard indicated Eugene’s arrival.
“Melissa, he’s here,” was all he managed.
“Who?”
“Eugene! Eugene is here now! We have to go!” Gabriel ordered. “You have to double back. You can’t make it on foot to the street. It’s too far. He will outrun you. You’ll have to double back. Get to my car!”
“But the car is pinned between Kevin’s car and the maintenance shack,” Melissa countered.
Gabriel recalled that the daytime running headlamps of Kevin’s sports car were on during their skirmish.
“Not Kevin’s car. His car was still running.”
Gabriel did not know how to tell her that Kevin was dead, that he had been killed by a murderous beast created by Dr. Franklin Terzini, the same man who created him.
Despite Kevin’s malicious intents, his death was abrupt. He found himself briefly mourning the death of a fellow human being.
“Okay. Yes, you’re right. His car was still running. But won’t Kevin try to stop me?” Melissa asked.
“Melissa, Kevin will not need his car.”
Gabriel paused to insure Melissa fully comprehended what had happened.
“Ever again,” he finished.
“I’ll stay back and draw Eugene here. That should buy you enough time to get to the car.”
“What? No! I’m not leaving you Gabriel!” Melissa shrieked.
He knew she did not have the slightest chance of outrunning Eugene, doubted whether he could either.
“You have no choice, Melissa. You can’t outrun him. I can at least slow him long enough to get you safely out of the woods.”
“But Gabriel, he’ll kill you,” Melissa whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
“I’ll distract him until I hear you pull away. Then I’ll run to the parking lot,” Gabriel managed. “If I’m not out when you get to the lot, leave.”
A tear streamed down Melissa’s dirtied cheek as she breathed, “No. I won’t leave you here to die.”
“Go Melissa. Now! I’ll make it back to you. I promise!” Gabriel pledged in hopes that his assurance was more than empty words.
Reluctantly, Melissa took off deeper into the woods.
Once she disappeared, Gabriel bent and retrieved the aluminum bat from the ground. He found a large, mature pine. Intending to hammer the bat into the formidable trunk, certain that Eugene would hear the sound, Gabriel drew the bat back but stopped midswing as he heard footsteps approaching swiftly through the brush. Eugene stepped into view.
Gabriel fortified his stance clutching the bat in both hands like a sword. He faced Eugene.
Spreading his thin lips across menacing fanged teeth, Eugene’s face contorted into a hideously sinister smile before he spoke.
“That’s quite an uninspiring weapon, Gabriel. Just what do you intend to do with that little stick?” he asked.
Gabriel did not speak. Instead, he met Eugene’s gaze, fully prepared for confrontation.
“What’s the matter Gabriel? Have you nothing to say to me?” Eugene taunted shaking his head from side to side. “And here Terzini thought you were his masterpiece, his opus. And what did you do, Mr. Crowning Glory? You fell in love.”
Eugene paused. A wicked laugh escaped his compressed lips.
“With an insignificant human!” he finished sarcastically.
Eugene and Gabriel slowly circled each other.
“Where is she, your precious Melissa? I can smell her. Her scent is so thick in the air,” Eugene menaced as he sniffed the air dramatically. “But it moves farther away,” he said closing his amber eyes. “No worries though Gabriel, I will be able to catch her before she gets far. My only regret is that you won’t be around to see her die; you’ll already be dead.”
The sound of a rapidly accelerating car engine and tires spinning on dirt interrupted Eugene’s rant.
Snapping his head immediately toward the sound, Eugene’s features expressed realization that he had been outwitted.
“Clever,” Eugene hissed.
Gabriel launched the aluminum baseball bat he gripped at Eugene, striking him in the temple. The blow, though ineffectual, further incensed Eugene. Gabriel turned to run as the bat was released from his grasp.
Racing toward the paved parking area in the rear of Harbingers High School, Gabriel did not think of his safety or survival, but of Melissa’s.
Engaging in battle with Eugene would be futile. Gabriel did not stand a chance against the trained killer who outweighed him by nearly two hundred muscled pounds. He needed to live. Without him, Melissa would die.
Racing through the bushes, the parking lot came into view. Behind him, Eugene’s murderous stride was gaining momentum.
He advanced with inhuman speed quickly closing the distance between him and Gabriel.
Gabriel pushed his body to its limits, tested the boundaries of his muscles and surged ahead, adrenaline supplementing his speed.
As Gabriel passed the phantasmagoric scene of mangled bodies, the corpses of Kevin, Chris and John, he averted his eyes and pressed forward.
Eugene’s vicious gait approached rapidly. Gabriel did not turn to see the monster behind him.
Gabriel’s feet finally landed on asphalt just as he spotted Melissa behind the wheel of the late Kevin’s black Infiniti G37 Sport Coupe. The car was stopped and the passenger side door stood ajar.
Gabriel did not break stride but shouted at Melissa, “Go! Go! Go!” as he slid into the passenger seat. Melissa stomped on the gas pedal. Tires fought the rain-slickened blacktop, struggling for traction and protesting Melissa’s haste as she simultaneously slammed the gear shift from park to drive and depressed the accelerator as far as it would permit.
Eugene appeared at the edge of the woods. He stepped on to the pavement and ran toward the car.
>
As the car finally found grip on the wet pavement, the powerful 3.7-liter V6 engine of the Infiniti roared to life at Melissa’s command responding at once, moving them rapidly out of harm’s way.
Gabriel glanced behind him and saw that Eugene’s powerful engineering was bested by the powerful engine of the sports car. Thoroughly vexed, Eugene would not relent. He continued his pursuit, crossed and riled.
“Go! Go! Go!” Gabriel continued to prompt.
“I’m trying!” Melissa screamed as she looked up at the rearview mirror.
“Don’t look back!” Gabriel cautioned too late. He saw her horrified reaction when she stared rearward at the creature threatening from behind. He knew the mirror reflected an image more frightening than neither literature nor Hollywood could produce, that the image of Eugene’s face would be etched in her mind’s eye forever.
When Melissa finally tore her eyes away from him, Eugene produced a guttural din, ferocious, savage.
Eugene hoisted his fists high into the air and brought them crashing down on the trunk of the sports car. Enormous, balled hands descended with a deafening boom as metal caved beneath his strike.
“Oh my God!” Melissa screamed as the Infiniti Sport Coupe tore out of the long driveway leading to and from her high school and onto Shelton Road. Without hitting the brakes, she directed the vehicle through a reddened traffic light fearful of oncoming traffic that continuously flowed along the busy residential street.
Both Melissa and Gabriel were met with the sound of rubber opposing wet pavement as cars were forced to break unexpectedly, abruptly. Horns honked indignantly. Drivers issued curse-laden directives and threats. Some offered obscene gestures while others merely raised an irate hand.
Despite being angrily greeted by fellow motorists with their sudden entrance into the flow of traffic, Melissa and Gabriel were grateful that they had momentarily dodged Eugene and being plowed into by the movement of onrushing cars along the main thoroughfare.
Melissa began to cry, softly at first then at once quiet tears gave way to uncontrollable sobbing. She struggled to maintain control of the powerful sports car.
Wiping her eyes and composing herself slightly, Melissa spoke.
“Gabriel, what the hell was that thing?”
“That was Eugene,” he said simply.
“This can’t be happening. I feel like I’m in a nightmare. I mean, he killed them all! I thought it was just me he was after.”
“He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way, Melissa. He will not stop until we are dead,” Gabriel said solemnly. “We need to get you as far away as possible.”
“He’ll go to my house,” Melissa declared. “My dad will be home from work now. Gabriel, we have to go back!” she panicked. “We need to get my dad!”
“Melissa, we have to keep moving.”
“And what? Let this Eugene kill my dad?”
Gabriel paused before offering, “Call your house. Have him meet us.”
Melissa removed one hand from the steering wheel and fumbled in the front pocket of her jeans. After retrieving her cellular phone, she handed it to Gabriel. He quickly touched an image of a house on the illuminated screen labeled “home.”
He waited, listening intently for a ringing sound. Instead, he heard an incessant buzzing repeated at regular intervals.
“It’s busy,” he said. “We’ll try back again in a minute.”
“Gabriel, you don’t understand! We have call-waiting! There should not be a busy signal!”
Melissa pulled on to the shoulder of the road. After checking for approaching cars, she promptly made a U-turn.
Heading back toward Melissa’s humble home on Blackstone Drive, Gabriel’s mind raced. Gripped by panic and fear he was unfamiliar with, he struggled to remain calm, but he knew he must do so for Melissa. He was now charged with saving her and her father, an insurmountable task. He silently vowed to protect both of them. He would fight to the death if necessary.
Dark Creations Boxed Set (Books 1-3) Page 51
