by Sam Sisavath
Three seconds…
She tightened her grip on the ax’s wooden handle. It was a small and compact weapon, but she could feel the nice balance. It was a fine tool. Made for cutting. Made for chopping. Made for surviving.
Two seconds…
Ana didn’t step away from Chris, who was struggling to get back up on her feet. She couldn’t do that, otherwise the teenager might end up a separate target. This way, the monsters would have to come at them, and with her standing in front of Chris, they’d aim right for her. They were predictable that way. It didn’t matter that she had the ax. All they would see was her: Prey.
One!
Spittle flew out the corners of their mouths as dark black eyes, devoid of anything that even resembled humanity, widened exponentially as they pounced.
Ana swung, aiming for the neck of the nearest nightcrawler, but the creature jerked back its torso at the last second, and the blade sank into its chest with a sickening thwack! instead.
Shit!
With the ax still embedded in the ghoul’s body, Ana continued with the momentum of her swing and lifted the struggling creature up with a grunt and swung it into the second one even as it tried to leap past the first. She just barely clipped the other undead thing in the legs, but it was enough to knock it off course.
The ghoul with the blade buried deep in its torso slammed to the earth on its back first. Before it could get up, Ana smashed her boot down on top of its shoulder and attempted to pull the ax out. It should have been easy. The monster should have lain still, the silver in the weapon having done its job, except that wasn’t what happened, because there was no silver in the ax’s blade.
Shit shit shit!
The monster thrashed against the end of the blade, still buried halfway between where its breasts used to be, as Ana struggled to pull the ax free. Finally, finally, she managed to jerk the ax loose. Without wasting any time, she cocked it backwards and over her head before driving it back down and into the ghoul’s skull as it attempted to rise up from the ground.
Her aim was true the second time, and the blade cleaved the nightcrawler’s head in two, from the forehead down, before slicing through its jaw. Blood sprayed everywhere, including Ana’s clothes and chin, but she refused to let the disgust register.
The monster sagged against the ax, but it was still alive, still standing despite its head having been separated into two sections. Gravity was already pulling each half of its head to the sides and downwards, making it stumble like a drunken idiot. It was a grotesque sight, and one that Ana was sure would give her nightmares for years to come if she survived this.
If I survive this! she thought, and swung again, the bloodied blade lopping the stumbling monster’s head off its shoulders.
Ana was sucking in a deep breath, wondering how many chunks she was going to have to chop the creature into before it would no longer be a threat, when a voice screamed out, “Ana!”
She spun toward the sound of the voice (Chris!) and found the teenager fleeing with the second ghoul chasing behind her.
“Chris!” Ana shouted, and took off after them.
Even as her legs pistoned and she tightened her grip on the ax, afraid she might lose it, Ana knew she wasn’t going to reach the teenager in time. At least not before the ghoul did, because it had a head start and Chris was already tired, already slowing down…
“Faster, Chris, faster!” Ana shouted.
She wasn’t even sure if Chris could hear her. She could barely register her own voice with the wind howling in her ears and her heartbeat racing uncontrollably against her chest, pounding away like a drumline on crack.
Oh God, I’m not going to make it. I’m not going to make it.
Oh God, oh God, oh God…
Eighteen
Run faster, you idiot, run faster! Chris is not going to outrun that thing, so you have to run faster.
Faster!
FASTER!
It didn’t matter how hard she pushed herself or how much she ignored the pain; she still wasn’t going to be fast enough. The same was true for Chris, who was tiring. Ana could see it in her shorter strides and the way she kept looking over her shoulder at the undead thing behind her. She was scared, because she knew—knew—that it wasn’t going to be enough.
Don’t stop, Chris! Don’t stop!
The escape from the town, the long trek through the plains before they even saw the headlights (Headlights. Where are the headlights? Find the headlights—No, no, concentrate on Chris. Get to Chris. Get to Chris first!), had tired the teenager out. It was tiring her out, and Ana had gotten a moment’s respite as she battled the first ghoul.
That thing was still back there, somewhere, but she couldn’t afford to find and finish it off. It was already headless, so it wasn’t nearly as dangerous now. Not that the monsters needed eyes to “see” with. She’d heard all the stories and even witnessed it in person. You could chop off their arms and legs and heads, and the ghouls would still keep coming.
But she couldn’t and didn’t worry about the first ghoul as she gave chase, following in Chris’s and the monster’s footsteps. They were too far ahead of her—at least thirty yards. She was cutting into their lead, but it was taking too long.
It was just taking too damn long!
Ana sucked in a lungful of air and shouted out, as loud as she could muster, “Chris! Run! Run! Don’t stop! Don’t stop!”
And Chris did keep running. God bless the kid; she kept running for all she was worth, but Ana could see that the ghoul was catching up. The monsters were always faster when they had all their limbs, their unnatural weightlessness allowing them to move at quicker speeds. The creature was gaining on Chris little by little, by little…
I won’t make it. Oh God, I won’t make it in time.
Bright lights flashed at her eyes, and Ana slid to a stop without thinking, twisting her head to escape the blinding brightness even before she realized what she had done. It was too late, because she had stopped and now there would be no way to catch up to Chris and save her—
The thwump! sounded like a gunshot exploding in the night air.
What…
Ana opened her eyes to a vision of the ghoul flying across the night sky in front of her.
…the hell?
It flew in a wide arc as if shot from a cannon, and landed a good thirty, maybe forty yards away.
How…?
The vehicle. The same one that had been heading right at her and Chris. It was now parked in front of her (How’d it get here so fast?), loose clouds of dirt converging around it like some kind of fog monster. She was close enough to make out moonlight glinting off its damaged side and white paint job.
Ana looked back at the ghoul. It was picking itself up, but slowly. It’d been hurt by that impact. Not enough to keep it down (Silver. I’ll need silver for that.), but just enough to make it wobbly as it stumbled back onto thin chopstick-like legs. But for now, it was no threat. Not to her or, more importantly, Chris.
Thank God. Thank God.
Ana took the moment to grab her waist and catch her breath.
Metal ground against metal as the truck’s door opened and the driver stepped outside.
No way, she thought as the man grinned across the darkness at her and said, “Damn, you run pretty fast for a little ol’ redhead.”
“Shelby,” Ana said, the name coming out in a relieved gasp.
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” Shelby said. He reached back into the vehicle and pulled out a long machete. “Excuse me while I take care of this.”
“Take your time.”
She had to force her legs to move again and walked over to the truck. She was winded, and every breath took way too much effort. She pushed on anyway. She was still breathing, and so was Chris, who appeared around the front hood of the vehicle. The headlights illuminated her filthy clothes and wet face.
“Ana?” the teenager said.
“I’m here,” Ana said.
Ana smiled. Hey, that’s my line, she thought, but said, “Yeah. You?”
Chris nodded, before running over and into Ana’s arms. She grabbed the kid, suddenly finding strength she didn’t think was there. But there it was, holding the two of them upright while she looked across at Shelby.
The slayer was walking calmly toward the ghoul as it charged at him. It was reaching out with one hand when he slashed at its arm and cut the limb off at the elbow. The monster crumpled, sending up a thin layer of dust, and didn’t get back up.
Silver, Ana thought as Shelby turned and walked back to them. I could have used some of that earlier.
“Ana,” Chris said, her voice barely a whisper.
Ana turned around, following Chris’s gaze.
The ghoul she’d decapitated was stumbling across the desert floor toward them. The lack of a head was clearly affecting its balance, and it swerved left and right, to and fro as it staggered toward her and Chris.
It doesn’t have eyes, but it still knows where we are. How the hell does it still know where we are?
“Shelby,” Ana said.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” Shelby said. He walked past them to intercept the ghoul.
The headless thing turned its entire body, as if sensing his approach. It lumbered forward, and as it did, Shelby sank the machete into a spot between its neck and shoulder blade, and the creature collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.
“It’s over,” Chris said.
The teenager was looking toward the town in the distance, or what little of it they could see. The reverberations of gunfire were gone, but the fire wasn’t. It wasn’t nearly as bright or wide as before, but Ana wasn’t sure if that was because they’d put more distance between it and them, or because the flames were running out of fuel.
She thought about Randall, still back there, in the middle of the town. She hoped he was dead. It was a terrible thing to think, but the alternative…
“Let’s get the hell outta here,” Shelby said as he reached them. “I’ll drive, if you don’t mind.”
“Be my guest,” Ana said.
She hurried around the truck with Chris. They climbed inside while Shelby slid behind the driver’s seat. The young slayer had blood along his forehead, cheeks, and clothes. It was dry, which meant he’d been injured earlier in the day. His face was bruised, but nothing, as far as Ana could tell, was broken.
“Are you okay, Shelby?” Ana asked him.
He tossed the machete onto the floor and put the truck into drive before stepping on the gas. “As peppy and cheery as the day my momma gave birth to me. Why do you ask?”
“You look…rough.”
He shrugged, guiding them through a dark patch of countryside. There was nothing in front or around them, and if not for the orange glow of the no-name town in the rearview mirror, she could easily imagine them driving through some kind of Twilight Zone where nothing existed and there was an endless “road” ahead of them.
“They sent some guys after me,” Shelby was saying. “Had to dodge them all day, but I wouldn’t have made it outta there if you hadn’t provided cover. So thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I don’t think they expected me to come back, though.”
Neither did I, Ana thought, but said, “But you did.”
“Of course I did,” Shelby said, as if it was a given.
“Of course you did,” Ana said.
“Got back there in time to see them tying you guys up. Couldn’t figure out what they were up to.” Then, “What the hell were those nutcases up to, anyway?”
“They were using us to lure ghouls to them.”
“Damn. That’s hardcore.”
“I wish I could say it’s never happened before, but it’s not the first time someone’s tied me up and used me as ghoul bait.”
Shelby chuckled. “Right. Back in that Mayfield basement.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“You’re a little Miss Damsel in Distress, aren’t you?”
She sighed. “Shut up.”
Ana looked down at her arms, at the strips of cloth that covered the cuts Mitchell’s people had put on her. There was no pain, just a general numbness. The memories of the blue-eyed ghoul as it leaned toward her, though, remained with her. She shivered slightly and was glad the interior of the truck was dark, or Shelby might have seen it. He might have anyway, but he didn’t say anything if he did.
“Did you see it?” she asked.
“See what?” Shelby said.
“There was a Blue Eyes back there.”
“No shit?”
“It had one eye.”
Shelby shot her a quick Are you messing with me? look.
Ana shook her head. “It had one eye, Shelby. The right one.”
“So it’s true? What your slayer boyfriend said?”
“Yes.”
“Well, shit.”
Ana smiled. That, she thought, was probably the most succinct and appropriate reaction she’d heard to the existence of a one-eyed, blue-eyed ghoul. Her own reaction had been full of doubts and trying to make sense of it, but Shelby’s was so much better.
“Glad I, uh, missed that,” Shelby said.
“Lucky you.”
“Momma always did say I was born under a lucky star. ’Course, Momma says lots.”
“How’d you get your hands on the truck, anyway?”
“They had it parked away from all the action with a couple of other vehicles we didn’t see earlier. Had the key in the ignition and they’d changed the blown tires for me and everything. I guess they were planning on using it later. Hell, it was almost like they were begging me to steal it back. I obliged.”
“And you stayed hidden all that time?”
“Plenty of buildings no one was using. And I’m good at hiding. You’re looking at the hide-and-seek champ of Carthage, Indiana. Anyways, after everything went tits up, saw you and the kid taking off like bandits. Took me forever to locate you guys, though. I was driving in the dark, trying to keep all incognito-like. Must have gone in circles around the town at least a half dozen times. I was almost outta there, when bam, there you were.”
“Thank God you didn’t take off.”
“I almost did. Almost.”
Ana didn’t say anything for a moment.
Then, finally, “Shelby, about Randall…”
“I know,” Shelby said. “I saw what they did to him. He’d be here with you and the kid if he was able, but he ain’t, so…”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. You did all you could.” He glanced up at the rearview mirror at Chris in the back. “Where’d the kid come from? Couldn’t find her anywhere all day.”
Ana glanced up at the same rearview mirror at Chris. “It’s a long story.”
“We got plenty of time.”
“Where are we going, anyway?” Ana asked, staring out the windshield at the absolute nothingness before them.
“I have no idea. Figured we’ll drive until we run out of gas.” He glanced at the dashboard. “And that’ll be about ten minutes from now, give or take.”
“Best plan I’ve heard yet,” Ana said, and leaned back in her seat and allowed her body to sag against the soft upholstery. After being tied to a pole all night, even the hard fabrics of the truck were like discovering that heaven really did exist and she had her own private cloud.
Chris reached over and found Ana’s hand, and squeezed. Ana glanced back at her, and the two of them exchanged a brief but tired smile in the semidarkness of the truck’s interior. They didn’t say anything, but they didn’t have to. The relief on both of their faces said it all.
Ana turned back around and closed her eyes, but it didn’t matter how hard she tried; Ana couldn’t forget the feel of One Eye’s presence, the smell of its rotting flesh invading her nostrils, or the words that had come out of its mouth:
“He’s here. He’s
close. Closer than he’s supposed to be. I’ll go see him when I’m done here.”
She opened her eyes when the Ford ran over some holes along the uneven ground.
“Sorry,” Shelby said. “It’s dark as hell out there.”
“It’s okay,” Ana said.
She stared out the window at the visible flat countryside lit up by the truck’s headlights. She had no idea Texas was so barren. At least this northern part of it. Where were all the cities? All the small towns? The ranches and roadside gas stations that she’d seen in the movies? Where—
A figure appeared out of the ocean of darkness in front of them.
Oh, no.
Ana opened her mouth to scream, but she didn’t have to. Shelby had already seen it, and he slammed on the brakes. The truck stopped on a dime, and Ana felt the thump! as Chris, in the back, crashed into her seat.
She spun around and found the teenager crumpled up in a ball on the floor. “Jesus. Are you okay?”
Chris looked up at her. “What happened?”
Ana didn’t answer, and instead turned back around and looked out the front windshield at—
Nothing.
It was gone.
It.
Because it was One Eye. It was impossible to mistake its thin, elongated frame as anything but that same blue-eyed demon. The single glowing right eye was the dead giveaway. Even out here, with no lights except for the truck’s to see with, she knew with absolute certainty that Wash’s One Eye had found them.
But how? How?
She couldn’t ask it, because it was gone. There was nothing in front of them except fireflies flitting across the headlights.
Ana looked over at Shelby, who was leaning against the steering wheel, also peering out the mud-caked windshield. “Where did it go?”
Shelby shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“You didn’t see it move?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Pretty sure.”
“You sure, sure—”
Thwump! as something landed on the rooftop of the cab above them.
