by Sam Burns
“The pitch is different,” she agreed, looking in that direction. Then she sighed. “I don’t see movement, but it’s getting hard for me to make anything out. Too dark, and too much snow.”
Devon hated the defeat in her voice. Keeping his weight all on his left leg, he drew himself up and tested the right ankle. It bore his weight. It felt stiff and angry, but there was no sharp stab of pain, just a dull throb, as though he’d twisted it days earlier. He grinned. “It worked. I kind of fixed it!”
The rumble came again, and they both turned in the direction it had come from. It was where they’d been going. Maybe a rock slide? There were rocky areas here and there in the forest. He’d even seen a cave a few minutes earlier. He tried not to think of bears. They lived in caves, didn’t they?
Then came a high, hoarse scream—the scream of a terrified child.
Devon almost started running, but Vera caught his arm. “No rushing. We’ll just hurt ourselves and not be able to help them.”
So they headed for the source of the sound, quiet and careful. A few hundred yards ahead, they found a scene that Devon knew he was going to have nightmares about for the rest of his life.
The creature was at least ten feet tall and built like a brick wall. Its skin was gray and craggy, almost like it had been hewn from stone. There seemed to be fissures along its back and arms, some of them leaking black liquid. Its mouth covered more than half its face, and didn’t close properly because of two rows of huge, sharp teeth. Worst of all, it didn’t roar or howl, didn’t make a sound at all save the reverberation of earth as it smashed its huge, meaty fist into a pair of entwined trees.
It seemed to have been beating on the trees for some time, as its knuckles were scraped up, more of that blackish liquid oozing down its fingers, leaving drops on the tree bark.
Devon felt a hand on his and turned to Vera. She was pale, staring at something between them and the creature.
Leah Anderson, her neck at the wrong angle and eyes still wide in terror. She looked like a broken doll, tossed aside in favor of more interesting toys. The red flutter of the scarf around her neck must have caught Vera’s eye while Devon had been busy staring at the giant creature.
One of the children screamed again, from a small opening between the two trees. They’d wedged into the space, and the monster was trying to get at them.
“Is that Leah?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
Vera motioned with her chin to where the monster was trying to pry the trees apart, thankfully without success. “And the thing that killed her. It looks like a giant gray blob to me. Big teeth, tiny black eyes?”
“Yeah.”
Vera took a deep breath and drew herself up. “I’m going to get its attention.”
“You what?” he asked incredulously, still careful to keep his voice at a whisper.
She turned to him, face completely calm, jaw set. “You were right about me needing a partner out here. One of us needs to lead it away, and one of us needs to get the children out. You hurt your ankle, and I don’t care if you fixed it, you’re still limping.”
“I—” he started to protest but stopped before another word came out. He had been limping, but had hardly realized that himself. “How did you notice?”
“I’m not entirely blind, and even if I were, your footsteps have been uneven since you got back up. I’m not hurt, so I have a better chance of surviving to get away than you do. And the children are going to need someone to help them if I can’t.” The words were calm and deliberate; she had obviously weighed the options faster than Devon, whose mind was still stuck on the giant thing banging on the trees.
“You told me you’re having trouble seeing movement,” he hissed.
“And you can’t run. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’m better at finding my way than you are at having an injured ankle. It’s a simple choice. You can protect them. I can protect myself. This isn’t even a discussion, Devon. You know I’m right.” She squeezed his hand, which he hadn’t even realized she was still holding, then let go and turned to walk away. “Be ready.”
He wasn’t sure she was right, but he didn’t know she was wrong, either. He felt paralyzed by the presence of the enormous creature that had killed Leah Anderson. Part of him wanted to fight the thing, to scream and throw a rock at its head, because he hadn’t known Leah Anderson very well, but she had been a good person, and she had deserved better. Part of him wanted what he always wanted, to turn around and run. He could never do that to Vera, Leah, and the kids, though. Just the thought turned his stomach more than facing his own mortality ever could.
If any of them got out alive, it was going to be because of Vera’s quick thinking and unflinching determination, not because of him. He felt utterly useless.
There was a shout from off to one side, Vera’s voice, and the creature stopped hitting the tree and looked around. Vera yelled again, not in English, but something crude and angry if her tone was any indication. The creature certainly got the picture. It turned, and without making a single noise, loped in the direction Vera’s voice had come from.
Devon couldn’t afford to be paralyzed. He couldn’t help Leah, but there were two children still counting on him, and Vera had trusted him to do this. He rushed over to the trees.
The kids were huddled together in a space barely big enough to fit them, sobbing.
“Hey guys, can you get out of there?”
“Mrs. Anderson said stay here,” the boy said. “Till the police came.”
“I’m not the police,” he told them and winced at his own damn inability to lie. “But I am here to get you out. Come with me.” He held his hand out to them. There was only a second of hesitation before the girl grabbed it. They climbed out, staring up at him. Counting on him. He shivered.
They were too big to carry, and he couldn’t exactly ask them to cover their eyes while escaping. Instead, he stood between them and their fallen teacher and pointed in another direction. He would lead them around. He sent the spirit of Leah Anderson a quick apology for leaving her, and promised that he’d make sure someone came back once the creature was gone.
“We’ve got to hurry, okay guys?” he rushed along behind them, and they didn’t need to be told more than once. He wasn’t sure what to say to them, if there was anything he could or should say. For the moment, he decided that getting them out alive was more important than trying to mitigate the trauma.
When a crash came from their right, the children broke into a full-on run. They kept their hands clasped tight together, so at least Devon could keep his eyes on both of them.
A bird took flight from a nearby branch, and the boy let out a shrill scream. Devon cringed. The creature had been so focused on the children before, its attention would almost certainly focus on the scream.
Sure enough, a second later, Vera’s voice called out, “Devon, it’s coming back to you!”
Dammit.
There was no way he and two five-year-olds could outrun a creature that size with the speed he’d seen it display before. He couldn’t even check if his phone had reception while running, let alone make a call. They were miles from the school. Devon wasn’t a werewolf who could howl for help, and he didn’t have any idea how to fight a creature like that. It was too big, and he didn’t even know what it was or how to hurt it.
A tree crashed behind him, and he didn’t have time to think anymore; he needed to do something.
The cave he and Vera had passed on their walk popped into his head. He caught up with the kids and pointed to their right. “This way. There’s a cave. I don’t think the thing will be able to get inside. You get in there and—” He paused for a second, realizing that the children had already been in exactly this situation once today. “Get in there and don’t come out unless a person comes for you, okay?”
“Okay,” the girl called back, and they all kept running.
After a moment or an eternity, Vera called again from their right. “The cave, Dev
on?”
“Yeah,” he called back, as loud as he could. He was out of breath, though, lungs burning with every intake of air. The dull throb in his ankle had gone sharp and felt like a stab every time his full body weight landed on it.
Another tree crashed, and a gust of wind hit his back from its fall. It was so close.
Just when he didn’t think they were going to make it, the mouth of the cave opened up a dozen feet to the right. The children reacted instantly, turning and scurrying into the darkness.
Devon took a little longer, and turning right on his injured ankle almost made him cry out in pain.
Vera caught him around the waist and dragged him in with her, through the shrubs that grew around the entrance and into the dark.
The thing ran up to the cave, and for a second, Devon worried he’d underestimated the height of the entrance. The cave was too big, and the monster was going to be able to walk right in. It didn’t even get to the mouth, though, stopping ten feet short and taking a quick step back.
Devon looked around. Were there bears? Werewolves? His heart skipped a beat, searching the surrounding shrubs for signs of movement, but there was nothing but snow and wind.
Leaning down and snapping a branch off the closest plant, Vera sniffed it, then tossed it at the monster, which took another step back.
“What the heck?”
“Rowan,” Vera answered. “The whole cave is surrounded by rowan bushes. Mountain ash. It’s toxic to some creatures. Like trolls.”
“Trolls. It’s a troll?”
Vera shuddered and nodded. She leaned up to him and whispered, “Remember what we were talking about, that people think lamia do, but we don’t? Trolls do that.”
Eat children.
That explained its near single-minded determination to get to the kids, to the point of ignoring Leah Anderson’s body. It was horrific to think about the thing eating anyone, so he tried to get his brain to focus on something else.
“So it can’t get to us?”
Vera shook her head. “No. The rowan would hurt it, maybe kill it.”
Devon reached for his pocket and pulled out his phone. No connection. He didn’t curse, but it was a close thing, and only a tiny sniffle behind him stopped him. Right, kids. No cursing in front of children.
He took a moment to compose a careful text for Wade.
Went with Vera Owens searching for kids. Approximately south-southwest from the spot between the schools, at least a few miles in. Have kids. Trapped in cave, troll outside. BIG TROLL. Be careful.
He didn’t want to say in the message that Leah Anderson was dead. That was a terrible way for her family to find out. Or was it worse to make them wait and wonder? He sent another text.
Mrs. Anderson killed by troll. Sorry for putting that on you.
He hit send and hoped the network would get up and running again soon, so Wade would find them. Vera looked at him, and he shook his head. “I sent a message, but I’m getting no bars, so there’s no telling when he’ll get it.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Then we have to be prepared to be here for a while.”
A small, freezing hand grabbed Devon’s.
“I’m cold,” the little boy said. The girl was practically clinging to his back, looking up at Devon like maybe he was a troll, or at least as scary.
“Yeah, it’s getting pretty cold out here, huh?” He knelt down next to the kids, trying to ignore the way his ankle was throbbing. “Why don’t we have a look around the cave, see if we can find some wood for a fire?”
The boy looked around, then leaned in and whispered, “It’s dark. What if there’s a bear?”
Devon was the first guy to be terrified of bears. They were a recurring childhood fear of his. In this case, if there was a bear, it would have to learn to live with them, because they were not leaving. But he wouldn’t say that to the kid. “It’s Jayden, right? And Lisa?”
They nodded in unison.
“Do you guys know Deputy Hunter?”
They nodded again.
The girl, still clinging to the boy’s back, whispered, “He came to tell us about being a cop.”
“Well, I practically live with him, and I’m pretty sure bears are scared of werewolves, so I don’t think any bears will bother us.”
The girl bit her lip, and the boy looked like he was thinking about it. Then he nodded again. “Werewolves can beat up bears. And Deputy Wade can beat up anybody. He’s big.”
“He is that,” Devon agreed, trying to keep his face serious.
“How come you almost live with him? That’s what prac-ticly means, right?” Lisa looked a little suspicious, like she was wondering if Devon made Wade sleep on a park bench some nights. Devon shifted his foot, trying to take pressure off his ankle, and pain flashed through it. He winced, and the girl’s eyes went wide and panicked. “Are you okay?”
“I just twisted my ankle a little. It’ll be okay.”
“I know who you are,” Jayden said, and his voice had gained confidence. “My mommy says you’re the town council. She said someday you and Deputy Wade are gonna get married.”
Devon ran a hand down his face. He suspected he’d just left dirty smudges on his cheeks, since his hands had been on the ground when he fell, but it didn’t seem to matter much. “Maybe so,” he agreed. “But for now, what we’re going to do is look around this cave and see if we can start a fire.”
“I’m not s’posed to play with fire,” Lisa told him.
“I promise you, no one will play with the fire. We’re going to make a pile of wood and start a tiny fire, just so we can warm up. Okay?”
They both nodded, putting their hands in their pockets, as though it was a trained gesture. Probably something Leah Anderson had taught them, like the old “look with your eyes, not with your hands” line he remembered every adult parroting when he was a kid.
He looked over at Vera. “Do you know anything about building a fire?”
“I know I can’t do it,” she answered. “If there’s nothing in here we can burn, I can gather some rowan before it gets too wet with snow. I don’t think it’s toxic to humans.”
He hadn’t even thought of that. From his brief time in the boy scouts, he remembered that if you built a fire in a cave, you were supposed to make it as small as possible, and inside, not in the cave mouth, so the wind wouldn’t turn the smoke inside and choke everyone. He had no idea what plants were toxic to burn except things like poison ivy, and he didn’t think there was any of that around.
They were going to have to take a chance with the rowan. The town was named for it, after all. He recognized the small bushes from various places around town. There was a whole line of them in front of town hall.
The shrubs were thick around the front of the cave, but not thick enough for his liking. He wondered how long they could keep a fire going without using so much of the wood that the troll could come through. The idea of choosing between freezing and death by troll was terrifying, and he shuddered before remembering that the kids were watching him.
He turned a big fake smile on them. “It’s freezing in here. Let’s get that fire going and get warm, okay?”
They both nodded furiously, and the three of them headed further into the cave to see what they could find.
5
Lost
If one were going to be stuck in a cave, it seemed that they had found the ideal cave to be stuck in. There was a hole near the back, perfect for venting smoke from a fire. He suspected the hole had been made deliberately, since it was almost perfectly rectangular and facing to the side so rain and snow didn’t pour in through it.
There were also scorch marks on the cave floor as though there had been fires there in the past. The floor was hard-packed dirt, which was just about the best they could hope for, since it didn’t hide rodents or who knew what else.
What it didn’t have was any wood they could burn, which left them with the rowan. He told the kids to keep back and
went to help Vera harvest as much of it as possible. There were lots of sticks the bushes had shed, which were the best for their purpose since they were dry, and they gathered all that they could before testing for dead branches.
“It’s not going to be enough to keep a fire going for more than a few hours,” Vera whispered. “If we have to go for the greener parts, it’s going to smoke.”
“And the more we burn, the more we cut into our protection. I know.” He looked up and found the troll hovering, watching them avidly with its tiny black eyes. Devon wasn’t prone to violence, but he thought he might be able to hurt the troll without feeling bad about it. What kind of monster specialized in eating helpless, innocent creatures?
He grabbed a still-attached branch that felt dead and pulled at it. It came away from the shrub whole, three feet long, a few inches in diameter, and a little sharp at one end. It looked like a weapon. He glared at the troll, and it backed away a step as though he might throw it.
Vera reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll be okay. There’s wood to burn, and they’re looking for the children already. They’ll get here sooner or later. I just hope you know how to start a fire, or we’re going to have some disappointed kids in there.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the lighter nestled next to his phone. “I had a clue something bad was going to happen, so I came prepared. Well, as prepared as possible. I didn’t carry any firewood on me, unfortunately.” His gaze drifted back to the troll, but he yanked it away and focused on gathering branches. Most of them were thin, but since they were looking to build a small fire anyway, that seemed okay.
He thought about telling Vera that he was going to be okay, but he knew better than anyone that his own wellbeing didn’t necessarily translate into the wellbeing of others. As long as there was a chance that he was the only one who was going to survive, he wasn’t going to say a word about it. He just had to spend all of his effort making sure everyone made it.
