The Dark

by Jason Brant

  “I—”

  “The next one of you that talks is getting gut-shot.”

  Aaron closed his mouth. His eyes swept over the tree line.

  A tremble ran through Christy’s body, starting at her feet and moving up.

  Knowing that they could have survived if only this woman hadn’t caught them made Christy nauseated. They were so close.

  “And you,” she said, aiming at Walter. “You left me for dead on the floor.”

  Walter said nothing.

  “I freed myself within a few minutes of you going out the back door, but you were already heading down the road by the time I found a gun. I knew there was no chance of finding you in the middle of Hell, but then God showed me the light. A big, bright light on the horizon. I followed the way the Lord paved for me and it led right to you. God is good.”

  The woman glanced at the burning home, grimacing.

  “And now you’re burning innocent people’s homes down. You truly are demons. Because God has led me to you, I’m going to obey his will and smite you.”

  Christy wanted to point out that they were surrounded. That their hopes of survival were diminishing by the second. The gun in the woman’s hand kept her silent.

  “Smite? Wait a minute here, lady. I already told you that I don’t know who these people—”

  “Run!” Walter screamed.

  Everyone turned and scrambled away from the psychopath, running for a small break in the outlines standing in the trees.

  Christy tried to spin Molly around but the dog refused to obey her. She fought against Christy’s grip, fighting to get at the blood-smeared woman.

  From the corner of her eye, Christy saw the gun swing toward them.

  “Damned hellhound.”

  Christy dropped down, embracing her dog, hoping to protect her from the bullets. Sacrificing her own life for an animal’s struck her as beyond stupid, but it felt right at the moment.

  “No!”

  Walter stepped in front of them, taking aim with the flare gun.

  They fired at the same time, the reports from the weapons were deafening in the dead of night.

  Warm liquid splashed against Christy’s neck and shoulders. She looked back to see Walter spin on his heels and crash to the earth.

  The flare struck the woman in the chest, tangling in her shirt, igniting the fabric. The burning phosphorus scorched her flesh and singed her hair.

  Her arms flapped at her sides, the gun flying from her grasp. She ran in a small circle, the flames in her shirt growing and consuming. The flare burned white hot against her side as she batted at it with scalded hands.

  Haunting screams.

  Walter came to a stop face first on the ground, convulsions racking his body.

  Keeping one hand wrapped around Molly’s neck, Christy crawled to Walt and rolled him to his back, struggling with his weight.

  Blood squirted from a ragged hole in his neck, soaking his beard and shirt, seeping into the grass. His mouth worked, but no sound came out. Soft, knowing eyes stared up into Christy’s.

  “No! Walt!”

  She tried to press at the gushing wound on his neck but he batted her hand away. A bubble of blood formed between his lips and popped, reddening parts of his beard.

  “Let me help you!”

  He moved his mouth again, a small whisper escaping.

  “I can’t hear you!”

  Christy bent down, her vision blurring from tears and panic. She put her ear an inch from his lips, feeling his hot breath against her skin.

  “I want this,” he wheezed. “Want my wife... daughter... be with them.”

  “Not like this! You can’t leave us.” She tried to clear her eyes.

  He gave her a small smile.

  The woman’s screams stopped, sobs taking their place.

  Christy looked up, salt water coursing down her cheeks, and watched as the woman rolled on the ground, extinguishing the flames.

  Walter grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

  Even through her panic she saw no fear in him.

  “Goddamn you,” the woman croaked, her throat seared by smoke and flame.

  Molly whined at Christy’s side.

  Christy tore her eyes from Walter’s paling face.

  Smoke rose from what remained of the woman’s shirt, bra, and hair.

  Raw, angry flesh oozed.

  The flare burned in the grass.

  Incredibly, she got to her feet, stumbling sideways before regaining her balance.

  Her mostly bald head peeled and split.

  “Goddamn demons.”

  Walter’s grip tightened, grabbing Christy’s focus again. He mouthed ‘run’.

  “I can’t leave you.”

  He kept hold of her hand as his eyes glazed over.

  “No!”

  Christy watched, petrified and defeated, as the woman took two staggering steps forward, a glint of light at her feet.

  The gun.

  One last look at Walter. His neck still bled, but it had slowed.

  Christy scrambled up, pulling at Molly, getting her running after Aaron and Stephanie. The lantern bobbed at the tree line as Aaron waved for her to hurry up. Stephanie clutched at his other arm, cringing away as they moved closer.

  Molly took the lead as they fled, limping along at a fast trot. Christy struggled to keep up, her grief affecting her stride like a drunk after a bender.

  They were halfway across the lawn when the first gunshot rang out. Two more followed as they reached the spot where the others waited.

  “Walter?” Stephanie asked.

  Christy couldn’t speak. She shook her head.

  Another shot, the bullet impacting against a tree to their right.

  “I understand that everyone is grieving, but that woman is coming,” Scott said, pointing over Christy’s shoulder. “She looks really pissed off!”

  “Run!” Christy cried, pushing Aaron and Stephanie further into the woods.

  They followed.

  Chapter 20

  Running through the trees at night proved difficult. Holding a lantern over his head while doing it made it even harder.

  Being surrounded on all sides by people that hid in the dark made it damn near impossible.

  The four of them tripped constantly, forcing a much slower pace than Aaron would have liked. Having only one light made them have to stay in a tight group.

  Stephanie and Christy wept as they fled. Scott’s breathing was loud and ragged, his conditioning a burden. Aaron hadn’t tired, but his legs felt heavy nonetheless. He hadn’t known Walter long enough to truly mourn his loss, but knowing that he jumped in front of a bullet so the rest of them could escape weighed on him.

  Losing his family hadn’t fully set in yet and that was partially because he hadn’t been with them when the darkness hit. Seeing a man shot in the neck and bleeding out on the ground put a face on death. It made him think of the pain everyone felt that night. The horror at being taken by things they couldn’t possibly understand.

  Things that closed in on them as they ran.

  Pain jabbed at Aaron’s side with every step. The gunshot wound had reopened as he ran across the lawn and now seeped blood down his leg. He desperately wanted to stop and adjust his bandage, but he could hear their pursuer crashing through the woods behind them.

  Insanity had completely devoured the woman from the police station.

  Aaron had watched as the flare destroyed her body, yet she pushed on, chasing them through what must have been excruciating agony. Only madness could do that to someone.

  He glanced over his shoulder to see her flashlight bobbing through the trees. She was much closer than he would have liked; less than fifty yards. How was she still going? Did she not see the people in the shadows?

  “Who the hell is she?” Scott asked between pants. His shirt clung to his back and chest, soaked through with sweat.

  “Some psycho that tried to kill us at a police station.” Aaron slowed down a
bit, grabbing one of Stephanie’s arms with his free hand, trying to pull her along.

  “At a police station? What were you—”

  The woman’s pistol barked from behind them. A bullet whizzed by, close enough to Aaron that he actually heard it cut through the air. That was something he thought only happened in the movies.

  His pulse thrummed in his ears, muting the sounds of their feet crashing through twigs and leaves. How they would escape, he didn’t know. The lantern kept them safe from the darkness, but it gave the woman a clear view of where they were. They wouldn’t be able to hide from her.

  All he could hope for was that her body would shut down. Her mental illness let her push on long after a normal person would have given up, but how long would it be before she collapsed from her injuries? Remembering how her skin smoked from the burns told Aaron that probably nothing short of death would suffice in stopping her.

  “It’s time to stop running, Aaron.”

  The voice of Aaron’s father came from right behind him. So close and unexpected that Aaron flinched, dropping the lantern. Stephanie screamed, falling sideways against Christy, sending both of them sprawling against a tree trunk jutting from the forest floor.

  Stephanie’s forehead smashed against the edge of the stump, slicing her skin along the hairline. Blood poured from the gash, reddening her hair as she slumped against Christy.

  The lantern landed on a rock, the enclosure splitting open. The LED inside dimmed instantly, cutting their light by more than half.

  Aaron tried to ignore the thing that wore his father’s face as it called out, imploring him to join his family. He carefully lifted the lantern up, daring to look back at the crazy woman.

  She’d already covered half the distance.

  The people in the dark closed in.

  They stood within ten feet of Aaron now, pressing in.

  Waiting for the lantern to die.

  “It’s almost time, Aaron. Don’t be afraid,” his father said.

  “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.” Scott repeated the mantra, his frantic eyes darting around.

  Aaron saw three of his classmates stepping forward and forced himself to look away. They weren’t his friends. If he stood there and listened to everyone he knew they would break him down. Get him to smash the lantern. He had to keep moving.

  Stephanie’s limbs moved in sluggish patterns, flopping against the ground.

  Struggling to regain her footing, Christy pulled at Stephanie’s arm, trying to help her up. Stephanie’s eyes fluttered rapidly, losing her battle to stay conscious. Her weight proved too much for Christy and she looked to Aaron for help.

  He handed the lantern to Scott, who was bent over at the waist, hands on his knees, vomiting his dinner on the forest floor. The scientist took the light, cradling it in his palms like a newborn baby. He held it high, letting the glow extend as far out as possible. His face blanched as he looked past Aaron, seeing how close the woman was.

  “We need to go, right now!”

  Aaron kneeled beside Stephanie and wrapped her arm over his shoulder. Standing up with her dead weight hanging from him took all of his strength. His quads strained under the pressure, his back tightening. Fresh blood poured from his wound.

  Stephanie’s face was a mask of crimson.

  A patch of leaves puffed up from the ground at Aaron’s feet, another gunshot roaring through the trees.

  Christy pushed her hands under Stephanie’s other armpit, taking some of the weight off Aaron.

  They got moving again, their pace a quarter of what it had been. Scott stayed in front, screaming at the things that encircled them. They glided backward through the trees, staying just outside of the lantern’s light. Aaron prayed that Scott wouldn’t leave them behind.

  Molly ran ahead, hopping over a fallen tree, snapping at something that kept calling Scott’s name.

  Bumbling out of the small patch of woods, they found themselves beside a double-lane road. In their scramble to escape, Aaron lost his sense of direction, but he thought this looked like Route 40.

  A small amount of light met them. The sky had a dim glow to it from the east.

  “Sunrise!” Aaron almost tripped again, elation overtaking him.

  What would happen to the darkness against the power of the sun? Would this nightmare end as the sun crested?

  Scott was halfway across the road when he stopped, gaping down the stretch of highway. Aaron and Christy hauled Stephanie onto the asphalt and paused beside the scientist, taken off guard by the roar of an engine.

  Headlights swerved across the highway.

  High beams blinded them.

  They scattered from the harsh light, hissing and mewling, their faces distending in awful angles.

  The vehicle sideswiped an abandoned car on the berm. Sparks shot along the side as metal squealed against metal. Dozens more of them fled the small illumination provided by the sparks.

  “Go!” Aaron kicked Scott in the ass, getting him moving. If they stood and stared at the car like a deer in the headlights, they would get splattered as such.

  Growls from the engine grew as the driver mashed the accelerator.

  They reached the grassy median and turned back at the sound of the pistol.

  The woman stood in the middle of the road, less than a dozen yards away.

  She looked like she’d climbed straight out of Hell itself. Bodily fluids that Aaron didn’t know existed dribbled from cracked flesh. Her left eye was milky white, her face a raw, angry pink.

  “Goddamn demons.” Her words came out like a monster – deep, choked, and wet.

  They closed in behind her, but their attention was on Aaron and his group. How did she not react to them? Were they not showing themselves to her?

  “They’re using you!” Aaron screamed. That was all he could figure. If they couldn’t get to Aaron because of the light, then the crazy woman could be a means to an end.

  Molly stalked in front of the group and growled deep in her chest. Her head snapped from side to side, her eyes roving wildly from one threat to the next.

  The car’s horn honked, grabbing the crazy woman’s attention. Headlights fell upon her. She dropped the flashlight from her charred, clawed hand and shielded her eyes.

  Those that walked in the darkness fled, abandoning the woman.

  She aimed the pistol down the road and squeezed off round after round until the slide locked back.

  One of the front tires of the vehicle exploded from the impact of a bullet.

  Asphalt met the metal rim, sending more sparks into the night. The rim dug in, catching a pothole, swinging the back end of the vehicle around.

  It flipped then, rolling over and over at a high speed. Glass, plastic, and metal shattered and sheered, showering the highway.

  The crazy woman stood in its path, transfixed by the carnage.

  The SUV landed on her during its last roll, sliding down the road with her underneath it.

  A red smear trailed behind.

  Tires screeched as a second vehicle slid to a stop. Four massive, black-suited men climbed out of the SUV, shouting incoherently at each other. The lights inside the cabin illuminated a man propped against the back seat, his face a canvas of pain. Someone had put a beating on him.

  Molly turned her attention to the new threats, her canines exposed in warning. Christy yelled for her to stay.

  They slipped back into the dark, disappearing.

  Aaron searched around, trying to figure out what trick they were about to spring. Why had they retreated?

  The rear vehicle’s headlights pointed at the wreckage before them. A mangled leg stuck out from under the car, strips of skin and muscle torn away. The tires spun slowly in place, the engine ticking as it already started to cool.

  “Where did they go?” the nearest government agent shouted at the others.

  “What the hell is going on? There were so many of them.” The second agent turned his attention to Aaron. “You! Where did the rest o
f the people go?”

  “They aren’t people! They’re trying to trick us somehow.” Aaron kept looking at the dark, waiting to see some movement.

  “You aren’t making any goddamn sense, kid.”

  Scott took a step toward them. “They aren’t what you—”

  “Don’t move!” One of the large men started in their direction, pulling out a gun and pointing it straight at Scott.

  “No! Stay there!” Aaron thrust his free hand out, trying to get the man to stay by the car.

  He didn’t listen. When he was five feet away from the SUV, he passed into the shadow between the lantern and the lights of the vehicle. “What the f—”

  His surprise turned to terror as the darkness swirled around him, loops of nothing hooking into his skin. Aaron felt bile sting his throat as he watched the tendrils tug at the man’s appendages, stretching him apart as he was absorbed into the night.

  Christy shouted at the others with such force that her voice cracked. “Stay where you are!” She bent down, grabbed Molly by the loose skin on the back of her neck, and pulled her over to the rest of the group.

  The men drew their guns, pointing them in every direction, barking orders over top of one another. Aaron had no idea what they hoped to accomplish. Judging from their size, he wondered if steroids had rotted their brains.

  He swallowed hard, a lump sticking in his throat. In the past five minutes he’d witnessed murders, car accidents, and a man being torn apart by something called Legion. And he knew that they were out there nearby, waiting for the busted lantern to die. On top of everything else they’d gone through, he was surprised that he wasn’t lying on the ground in the fetal position.

  Stephanie moaned, shifting in Aaron’s grip. She tried to lift her head. Too much blood ran into her eyes for her to open them. Aaron rubbed at them with the palm of his free hand, helping enough so she could see.

  “What... where?” She muttered as she blinked through the remaining blood.

  More light filled the sky. Though it was still dark, Aaron figured they would be able to see without the lantern in a few minutes. Assuming the light would last that long anyway.

  “Are you guys from the government?” Scott asked. “I’ve been waiting on you for way too long, let me tell you! It’s been hours since I radioed and—”