The Devil's Woods

by Brian Moreland

  He saw a flash of white outside.

  Eric… a woman’s voice spoke inside his head.

  Celeste stepped out of the woods, wearing a sheer negligee. Her red hair hung across her bare shoulders. She walked along the torches, leering at Eric. Damn, this bitch didn’t know when to quit. She waggled a finger. Come to me, baby.

  The pull to obey her was damned strong. Eric backed away. “Stop it. Stop!”

  I’ll satisfy your every fantasy.

  “Stay away from me!” He went into the hall bathroom and locked the door. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. He saw a man who looked beaten and battered, with two black eyes and a busted lip. His torso and arms were covered in slash marks.

  In the reflection, Celeste stepped out of the shower behind him, dripping wet. She whispered in his ear, There’s one way you can escape, baby.

  He turned around, but she wasn’t there. Eric slumped against the sink. He stared down at the Glock in his hand. All he had to do was put the barrel in his mouth.

  Eric put a fist to his forehead. I have to get the fuck out of here. He returned to his post, his whole body shaking. In the darkness, someone whispered his name. He turned to see Ray Roamingbear standing in the corner of the study, aiming a crossbow at Eric’s chest.

  * * *

  Upstairs in the room where Shawna and Zack had stayed, Kyle sat in a chair by the window. Beside him several guns were propped against the wall. He twirled the wedding ring around his finger. The sight of his sister’s guitar only added fuel to the rage burning inside him.

  They belong with us now, Mayor Thorpe had said of Shawna and Amy.

  Like his father, Kyle wanted revenge. He wasn’t afraid of dying. Death had become his near constant companion. It haunted his home, lay beside him in bed, even whispered in his ear each night as he slept.

  As he thought about his late wife, Stephanie appeared outside the glass door that led onto the balcony. She looked as beautiful as the day he had married her. She placed her palm to the glass. Like Kyle, she was wearing her wedding ring. “I still need you,” she said. “It’s lonely on this side without you.”

  “I know.” Kyle stood and put his palm to the glass, matching hers.

  Stephanie looked so real. So alive. “Honey, we don’t have to be apart.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you too.” So many emotions flowed through him—grief, guilt, sadness, desire. How many nights he had cried himself to sleep, longing to be with his wife. Wishing he had died with her.

  “I can’t come back to you, Kyle,” she said. “But you can come to me.”

  He looked at all the guns. A single shot from any one of them would transport him into her world.

  “There are beaches here,” she said, smiling. “We could collect shells together, then make love on the sand.” Memories of their honeymoon flashed through his mind.

  He thought of Jessica, the new love for her now burning inside him. He had finally met a woman he could love.

  Kyle pulled his hand away from the glass. “I’m sorry, Steph, but I’ve made a promise to someone else.” He walked over to an open window. He slid off his wedding band. “I wish you well on the other side.” He kissed the gold ring and then set on the windowsill. When he looked back at the glass door, his wife was gone.

  * * *

  In the gloom of the study, lightning flashed behind Ray Roamingbear. He put a finger to his lips. “Shhh… Set your gun down, gently.”

  Eric did as he was told.

  “I don’t want to hurt you. See?” His cousin lowered the bow and raised one hand. “I’m on your side. They sent me to protect you.”

  Eric swallowed. “Can you help me escape?”

  “I can get you off the reservation before things get hairy.”

  “What about back to Seattle? I want to go home.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible. They’ll never let you leave Hagen’s Cove. But they’ll let you live, if you join the ranks like I did.”

  “I don’t want to be a part of some cult.”

  “Oh, it’s not what you think. It’s paradise here. There’s nothing but love between our brothers and sisters. We were living peacefully until your father started stirring up trouble. Do you want die for his sins?”

  “Fuck no.”

  “Just think about it,” Ray said. “You and I would make a great team. I could mentor you. Teach you how to serve Lord Father and the clan. And you know what you get in return?”

  Eric shook his head.

  “You see them out there?” Ray pointed out the window.

  Celeste and several beautiful women stood at the edge of the forest.

  “They’ll help you live out every fantasy you ever imagined. The women back in the city will never satisfy you like our sisters can.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about them. I just want out of here. I’ll do anything, Ray. Just get me the fuck out.”

  His cousin thought for a moment. “I can convince Thorpe to spare you…if you help us.”

  Eric’s eyes remained transfixed on Ray. “What do you want me to do?”

  * * *

  The storm crackled above the cabin.

  In the upstairs bedroom, Kyle glanced at a digital clock on the nightstand. After midnight. He wanted to check on Jessica, but he had another hour on his shift.

  Rain started pelting the roof and windows. Then a heavy drizzle fell, dousing the ring of fire. One by one the torches went out.

  Kyle grabbed a rifle and shotgun and hurried downstairs. He found his father standing by a front window in the den. Lightning flickered on his face.

  “Dad, will the protective circle hold up in this storm?”

  “It should. Grandfather is very powerful. He’s out there now, speaking prayers to keep the demons out.” Elkheart smiled confidently. “Thorpe’s clan members know better than to mess with your grandfather.”

  A shot fired and one of the porch lights burst.

  Kyle and Elkheart dropped to the floor, as several more bullets hit the house.

  “That’s for killing my dogs!” Ray shouted and shot again. Another light exploded. Darkness pressed against the windows. With the heavy cloud cover, there was no moonlight tonight, just random flickers from the electrical storm.

  Elkheart broke a windowpane and took a few blind shots at the forest.

  They waited a few moments, but didn’t hear another word from Ray.

  “Christ, I don’t see Grandfather,” his father said. “Scarpetti, do you see him?”

  The mercenary looked out the window. “Not on the back porch either.”

  “I’ll check the backyard.” Kyle ran hunched into the kitchen and peered out the sink window. The rain was coming down like a monsoon now, shaking the pine branches. Lightning flashed, and he spotted Grandfather sitting in his rocker in the middle of the yard. Four arrows stuck out of his chest and throat.

  * * *

  Jessica tried to sleep on one of the twin beds in the vault. Her mind wouldn’t stop worrying about Kyle and the others. The men upstairs might die because of her. She kept picturing all the townspeople outside, surrounding the cabin. We want the girl you got in the cabin, Mayor Thorpe had said. If Elkheart didn’t turn her over by dawn, the town would be back to get her. She tried not to think about what they would do to her.

  Tapping…

  Jessica rolled over, listening.

  Kyle had said three knocks. These taps were steady. Tap, tap, tap, tap…like a hammer against metal. And they weren’t coming from the door. The sound came from the back of the room, which was dark. The lamp by her bed only lit up a small circle around her. Jessica opened the drawer of a nightstand and found a flashlight.

  The tapping stopped.

  She walked toward the back of the room. Her flashlight beam found a black metal cabinet and several wooden crates. That’s where the bones were stored. One of the demon skulls still sat on top of a crate.

  Shifters heal amazingly fast, E
lkheart had said.

  If their flesh could regenerate, Jessica wondered if the bones could too.

  The tapping returned again, startling her. It came from above. Her light followed a set of iron rungs that led up to a square steel door in the ceiling.

  Tap, tap, tap, tap…

  The hatch vibrated and dust sprinkled down. Someone was trying to get in.

  Jessica backed away.

  At the door behind her echoed three solid knocks.

  “Oh, thank God.” Jessica opened the door ready to throw her arms around Kyle. Her heart dropped when she saw Eric.

  * * *

  Kyle reeled at the sight of Grandfather’s body. “Dad, he’s dead.”

  “No…” Elkheart crossed the den and looked out the window. Growling, he raised his automatic rifle and unleashed his fury on the woods. Then his father stopped and collapsed against a wall, breathing heavily. He punched the wall. “Fuck!”

  Kyle watched for Ray Roamingbear, eager kill the bastard himself.

  Rain continued to fall, thumping against the porch awning. The forest erupted with howls and screeches. Kyle’s heart quickened. In the strobe lights of the storm, tall shadow shapes with elongated arms moved between the pines. Some shifters walked on two legs, others loped on all-fours like apes.

  “They’re coming!” Scarpetti screamed and opened fire with his automatic rifle.

  Demons broke the tree line, running past the unlit torches.

  Kyle peered through the scope of his sniper rifle. Lined his red laser on the chest of one charging across the yard. Boom! The shot knocked it down. The rifle’s kick hurt his shoulder. Ignoring the pain, he whipped the beam to the next moving shadow and pulled the trigger, hitting its massive shoulder. The thing kept coming, shrieking toward the sink window. Kyle put the red laser on its face. Boom! The shifter dropped and smacked the wall of the house.

  More demons burst from the trees. Footfalls thundered like a herd of bison.

  Elkheart and Scarpetti sprayed the backyard with wide arcs of bullets. The shadows scattered, circling the cabin. Shots echoed upstairs as Madu started shooting.

  “I’ve got the back!” Elkheart shouted. “You two take front!”

  Kyle and Scarpetti ran to a row of windows. Out front, dozens of shifters tore through the trees. The beasts rammed against the vehicles, fists smashing the windshields. A car alarm sounded. Combined with all the gunshots firing, the noise was maddening. The air stank of hot sulfur.

  Heart pounding, Kyle aimed his red laser left and right, trying to target the advancing shadows. “They’re attacking from all sides!”

  Scarpetti fired rapid bursts with his rifle. “Keep shooting!”

  Kyle shot repeatedly, hitting a few moving targets, missing others. Some creatures ran at the house and stopped halfway, baring their fangs like baboons. Others remained in the forest, howling.

  “The goddamn things are taunting us!” Scarpetti shouted.

  Kyle kept shooting until his rifle clicked empty. He searched his pockets for a fresh magazine.

  Scarpetti’s clip emptied and he stopped to reload.

  Some of the shifters they had shot got back up.

  “Shit!” Kyle’s shaky hands struggled to swap out the rifle’s magazine.

  A tall shadow walked toward his window, spreading arms that stretched as it morphed from man to beast. Its palms fanned out with long, branch-like fingers.

  Kyle dropped the rifle, reached behind his back, and pulled the sawed-off shotgun from its holster. A fiendish face growled at the window in front of Kyle. He shot point blank. Its head exploded. Its body crashed through the glass and landed at his feet. From the gaping hole in its neck black blood spewed onto the floor. Kyle backed away.

  Scarpetti fired madly. “Come on, you motherfuckers!”

  Fists hammered at the front door. Kyle turned and blew two holes through it.

  Madu ran down the stairs. “There’s too many of them!”

  Outside, a horde of shadow shapes charged the cabin from all sides.

  Elkheart yelled. “Retreat to the study!”

  The four men ran down the hall toward the downstairs office. Windows shattered in the den behind them. Kyle joined Scarpetti and Madu in the study. Where was his father?

  Kyle looked back down the hallway. Elkheart had stopped midway and was shooting a long, orange-blue flame down the hall. Two shifters wailed as they caught fire and fell into a tangle of clawing limbs. On the other side of the burning heap, more creatures hissed and exposed their fangs. Elkheart kept blasting them. Flames spread up the walls to the ceiling, raging around his father. Kyle and Madu ran down the hall and pulled Elkheart into the study.

  “Everyone, down below!” Elkheart commanded, but the bookcase wall was closed. In the fire glow, he struggled to find the book to open it. Lightning flashed. Beasts shaped like black scarecrows stood at every window. Kyle, Madu and Scarpetti stood back to back, firing their guns, as long arms broke through the glass.

  The bookcase swiveled open.

  “Move! Move! Move!” Elkheart ushered them into the secret room. Then Kyle’s father spread an arc of fire around the study, torching the beasts at the windows.

  Kyle hurried down the rungs first. Animal cries and rapid shots continued to echo above. His father climbed down. “Keep going!”

  Their heavy breathing echoed off the concrete walls as they raced down the tunnel toward the bomb shelter. His father collapsed against a wall, wheezing. He pumped asthma medicine into his mouth.

  Kyle ran back to help him.

  “Don’t worry about me. Get into the shelter!”

  The steel door stood open. Kyle ran into the dark room and flipped on the lights.

  “Jessica?!” He searched the gun closet, but she wasn’t there. At the back of the room, the hatch in the ceiling was open. His whole body shaking, he climbed up the rungs to the garage. The door was up. Kyle ran out into the storm. “Jessica!”

  As lightning flashed again, he spotted Eric pushing her toward the forest.

  “Stop!” Kyle chased after them. Rain slapped his face. Lightning lit up a forest filled with moving shadows. “Eric!”

  His brother turned and fired his pistol. The shot pinged the garage.

  Kyle kept running. “Bring her back!”

  Eric and Jessica disappeared into the trees.

  “Nooooo!” Kyle called after them.

  Something roared and slammed into Kyle. He rolled across wet grass. A beast with a gargoyle face and curvy horns pinned him down. Fangs opened up as it shrieked inches from his face. A boot kicked its ribs, knocking it off Kyle. Elkheart aimed a shotgun and blew the shifter’s head off.

  “Jessica!” Kyle jumped back up and started down the hill, but his father and Madu grabbed his arms. “We have to go after her!”

  “It’s too late!” his father yelled.

  “No!”

  They dragged Kyle back into the garage. Scarpetti’s gun unleashed a barrage of bullets on a wave of charging shadows. Then he brought down the garage door.

  A small demon slipped through, smashing into a tool bench. It leaped ape-like on top of the red Bronco’s hood, screeching. The thing kept shifting before their eyes. Horns jutted from its head. A tail sprouted from its backside and whipped over their heads, slicing Madu’s cheek.

  “Get down!” Scarpetti yelled and fired shots at the creature.

  Elkheart pushed Kyle down the hatch, then climbed down himself. Madu and Scarpetti fired rounds above and then scrambled down the rungs. Scarpetti landed on the floor beside Kyle. As gray hands clawed for Madu’s face, he pulled the hatch closed, chopping off the fingers. Black blood sprayed the wall and the mercenary’s shirt. Severed fingers rained down around Kyle. They squirmed on the floor like maggots. Screaming, Scarpetti stomped them, mashing the fingers with his boots.

  Madu spun the wheel and sealed the door to the ceiling then jumped down and collapsed. The four men lay on the floor, gasping for air. Above them, the demon
wailed and pounded on the hatch.

  * * *

  “Let me go!” Jessica cried and kicked at Eric’s shins.