by R. Gualtieri
He let go of her, his claws scraping furrows across her bicep, and dropped his hands to his crotch.
Danni saw a potential opening, stepped in, and shoved him with everything she had. Off balance as he was, Noah backed up a few steps, a keening hiss of breath escaping his lips.
Come on!
She could have cried out in joy as he fell to one knee, his other leg disappearing into the spike trap. He took a desperate swipe at her, falling well short of the mark, but Danni jumped back anyway. Her side protested the movement with a wave of nausea, causing her to lose her balance in the process and fall onto her butt in the damp soil.
She lay there, unable to make any sound more audible than a whimper for a moment. However, she saw she wasn’t the only one.
Noah opened his mouth, perhaps to scream out her name again, but all that escaped was a tiny wheeze of air. He took a great big, gulping breath, then another, before pounding on his chest with one fist.
He looked up at her, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. “M-my, Sssarah,”
Danni pulled herself to her feet, a task not nearly as easy as it should have been. Once she was up, she looked back and spat in his direction. “My name isn’t ... Sarah, you dickless loser.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Noah gritted his teeth. The lightheadedness he felt was instantly forgotten at her words, spoken like an insolent strumpet with no respect for her betters. His father had warned him of jezebels like this. Whores of Babylon, he called them.
He finally began to understand that he would never truly make her his, not in the way he wanted. A woman like her might birth him a child, true, but she’d never be fit to raise one. Never be worthy to stand by his side. There would always be a need to keep one eye open around her.
There was still one other Sarah left at the compound, a properly cowed female. She’d do for now. As for this whore, he’d put her in her place. It would be the last painful lesson of her life.
Noah bent low, bracing his powerful arms against the ground, trying to ignore the dull ache that came from between his legs. He sucked in as much of a breath as he could, then pushed with everything he had.
The sharpened sticks in the trap bit into his leg, drawing blood, but not nearly as much as if his skin had been thin and weak. Still, it hurt like the dickens as he pulled, but finally he was rewarded with a crack of wood that told him the man-trap was giving way.
He glanced back at Sarah and smiled, spittle pouring from his lips as he freed himself. Her eyes were wide as saucers, fear showing nakedly in them despite the rest of her body being covered in the grime and muck of the forest.
It was fitting, that she die layered in filth, for that was what she was – filth, nothing more.
The false Sarah backed up, then turned to run, but she was moving much slower now. The bitch was tired, and her injuries were beginning to mount up.
Noah launched himself at her, but a searing pain erupted in his chest before he could close the distance. He doubled over, fighting for air. It was as if his lungs refused to fill up.
But he wouldn’t quit, not now when he was so close to victory. He’d catch her and take her on the forest floor, then he’d wrap his hands around her throat and watch as the life left her eyes.
Afterwards, he’d go back and finish any intruders who were left, making sure their bodies were scattered for the animals to feast upon. These lands would once more belong to his clan which would rise anew from the ashes, like Lazarus reborn.
Noah pushed himself up and lurched after Sarah. Each breath was more difficult than the last, but he closed on her quickly thanks to his longer stride. She looked back and saw him coming, his excellent night vision allowing him to enjoy the fear etched on her face.
She turned away and redoubled her efforts, but it was a feeble attempt on her part. This race was all but over. She just refused to acknowledge it.
He watched as Sarah leapt over something up ahead. Her foot hit the ground, slipped, and then she fell forward with a pained cry. Noah considered this. There was no log or other obstacle in the path. That meant something else – another trap.
His hurt leg was already a testament to how sloppy he’d been, a situation he didn’t care to repeat. He knew these woods and what lay in them. It was time to use his head.
Noah slowed down just as Sarah turned over onto her back to watch him approach. He could see by the look on her face that she was nearly spent, almost ready to accept her fate. But, rather than leap upon her and ravish her as he planned, he trod carefully, keeping his eyes on the forest floor in front of him.
He easily spotted the snare – one of Lemuel’s, from the look of it. Probably wouldn’t have stopped her for long anyway. The damned fool was always sloppy with his work. Still, it would have held her long enough.
No matter. He’d have her either way.
Noah sucked in another breath, barely getting enough air to satisfy the burning need inside of him, then lifted his leg to step over the trap. Once he was past that, nothing would stand between him and Sarah.
♦ ♦ ♦
Danni was done. She’d landed wrong and messed up her ankle on that last leap, slipping on the wet ground. It might still support her weight, but not for running. Worse, it was all for nothing. In trying to clear the snare, she’d telegraphed exactly where it was.
From the labored sound of his breathing, Noah appeared to be in almost as bad of shape as she was, but he apparently still had enough left to finish the job. If he got his hands on her, there would be nothing she could do except pray it was quick and...
Danni mentally chided herself as he moved toward the snare. She’d been raised better than that. To give up so easily ... it was an insult to who she was and why she’d joined Derek’s team. It was a slap in the face to those she couldn’t save, as well as those who still needed saving – whether today or in the future.
So long as she continued to draw breath, she couldn’t give up.
As she watched the devil’s misshapen foot cross the boundary where the rope loop lay, she realized there was still hope for her. If he wouldn’t step into the trap, then she’d bring the trap to him.
Fighting against the fear and pain, Danni flung herself in Noah’s direction. His head cocked in surprise at the sudden display of aggression, causing him to hesitate for the barest of instants. It was all she needed to slap her hand against the trap’s trigger, manually setting it off and sending the snare rising up from the ground, where it wrapped around Noah’s foot.
He cried out as his leg was yanked up. For one agonizing moment, Danni wanted to scream in triumph as he teetered off balance, but then there came a crack as the branch struggling against his weight snapped. It fell to the ground next to her, and the rope holding the devil’s leg went slack.
No!
Noah stumbled back several steps, his hitched breath becoming a shrill whistle. Danni knew she should try to run again, but her body didn’t seem to want to respond. She could only watch, horrified, as he regained his footing and then smiled as if to let her know her final effort against him had failed.
The devil opened his spittle-caked mouth, no doubt to gloat, but no sound came out. He tried again, but nothing but a weak choke of air escaped. For a moment, he stood there looking perplexed. Then he tried to draw a breath and the grin on his face was instantly replaced with another expression, one Danni had become intimately familiar with – fear.
Noah grabbed at his throat as he tried to suck in a breath, but to no avail. All that escaped his mouth was a rope of thick phlegm.
Danni subconsciously held her own breath as she watched. This was what she’d been hoping for. She’d known from the start she was no match for this man-beast, but his labored breathing had been hard to miss. She had wagered a desperate gamble when she led Noah from the clearing, that the devil’s weakness lay not within his arms or legs, but within his lungs, and that pushing him hard enough might succeed where weapons
failed.
He began to desperately pound on his own chest, the meaty impacts breaking the silence of the forest.
That’s right! Suffocate, you bastard!
Noah hit himself again and stumbled against a tree, almost losing his footing, but he managed to pull himself back upright. Eyes bulging, he stood as straight as he could, arched his spine, and then slammed both fists into his ribcage.
There came the dull crack of his hands striking bone, followed by a small wheezing gasp that escaped his lips.
Oh, God, no!
Noah sucked in a greedy breath of air, then did so again. He took a step toward her then staggered, no doubt still woozy from lack of oxygen. Off balance he might be, but he was breathing again. It would be only a matter of seconds before he cleared his head and came for her. She was out of ideas and too weak to run. It was over...
Wait – off balance!
There was still a chance, however slim. Danni turned and spied the snare rope lying within reach, the end still looped around Noah’s foot.
Summoning the last of her strength, she grabbed hold and pulled with everything she had, trying to drag his tree trunk of a leg out from under him. For a long moment, she was certain it wouldn’t be enough – that she’d give herself a hernia long before she budged him – but he was standing on the same slick ground she’d slipped on. His foot slid on the wet dirt and, with one final yank, she dragged his leg out from beneath him.
Noah let out a yelp of surprise as he fell backward, landing with a heavy thud.
The cry became a snarl as the monstrosity that played at being a man scrambled to his feet. Spent, Danni could only watch, accepting that the end was upon her, but then the snarl turned into a pained gurgle and Noah’s eyes opened wide in panic. He opened his mouth again, but any words he had to say were drowned in the gout of black blood he coughed out.
He spun and then reached around, clawing at his back. In the dim light shining down from above, Danni spied the barest glint of metal.
Francis’s knife! It was now buried up to its handle in the devil’s back. So grotesque were his deformities that he couldn’t reach far enough to grab it. He doubled over, coughing out even more gore.
She suddenly understood what had happened. When he fell, his own weight had succeeded where her strength had failed, pushing the knife through his bumpy hide. Danni couldn’t begin to guess at Noah’s strange anatomy, but it seemed a fair assumption that Francis’s blade had pierced one of his lungs.
A mix of sadness and triumph passed through her as Noah took one more step in her direction, then collapsed to his knees, slowly drowning in his own fluids. Her friend had saved her one last time, avenging himself in the process.
The devil reached out to her, his mouth moving but no sound escaping. Even faced with the near impossibility of reading his misshapen lips in the dark, she was certain of what he was trying to say.
Exhausted, injured, but alive, she looked him in the eye one last time before he collapsed in front of her.
“I told you. My name is Danni Kent, and I was never yours.”
EPILOGUE
“Turn that up,” Danni said, “I want to hear it.”
“Can’t imagine why.” Mitchell let out a bitter laugh as he cranked up the volume in the small waiting room.
On the screen, the news was playing highlights from the previous night’s gubernatorial debate, specifically a section where Governor Jonas Yarlberg – most likely soon to be ex-governor – was absolutely lambasted by his opponent for his role in attempting to cover up an ecological disaster in the Pine Barrens.
He was being blamed not only for the environmental impact, which had rapidly become a hotbed item in this year’s election, but for covering up the disappearances of several people who’d gone missing in the area. He hadn’t been formally charged yet and – according to what they’d heard – likely wouldn’t be, but the damage to his reputation was almost certainly irreparable.
It was a small, bittersweet victory compared to all the other lives that had been lost, but it was a well-deserved one nevertheless.
In the end, upon escaping the forest, their show had actually been their saving grace. Despite the governor’s best attempts to clamp a lid on things, their status as minor celebrities had prevailed – helped by the fact that the ambulance driver who’d responded to their 9-1-1 call was a fan. Unbeknownst to them at the time, he tweeted out their dire status almost immediately after dropping them off at the hospital.
Not even Yarlberg’s myriad friendships had been able to stop the story from going viral. When rumor began to spread that the cast of The Crypto Hunter was not only badly injured but suffering from the effects of exposure to toxins too, the governor’s house of cards began to collapse. Donald Krychech’s abrupt resignation a few days later only served to fuel those rumors.
Though what had leaked was more than enough, the public would sadly never be allowed to know the whole truth. Despite his ties to Washington, Yarlberg was powerless to stop the ATF officials who descended upon the Wharton State Forest to clean up any evidence that Derek and his team had been there.
Samples were collected and bodies burned. Thanks to information Danni was able to provide, the Lesterfield compound – a derelict paper mill from the dawn of the industrial revolution – was found. Sophie Guiterrez was rescued, alive but in critical condition. Unfortunately, the bodies of several other victims – including Abigail – were also discovered.
No trace of survivors from the Lesterfield clan were found – including the one Derek and Julia had left lying unconscious in the woods. It was as if he, and any others who might have escaped, simply disappeared into the night, hopefully to never be seen again – a likely scenario since their former home was now the epicenter of a massive cleanup effort by the state’s new head of environmental protection.
♦ ♦ ♦
The governor was just sputtering out a response of “no comment” on the TV when Danni heard the door to the inner office open. Derek stepped out and closed it behind him. He’d been hospitalized since their return from the Pine Barrens, having only recently been released. However, he still had months of physical therapy ahead of him to regain full use of his left arm. Even now, he couldn’t quite stop it from shaking slightly as he approached his teammates.
“Norah wanted a few minutes alone to speak with her. Last-minute paperwork, make sure she knows what she’s getting into.”
“And probably warn her to ignore all your bullshit,” Mitchell said.
Derek smiled, then turned to Danni. “You sure you’re okay with this?”
Danni nodded. “Nobody can replace Frank, but as you told me last year, the show must go on.”
Derek reached up to wipe a tear from his eye. “So I did.”
Danni put a hand on his shoulder as her own eyes misted up. They were the lucky ones. They’d lived to tell the tale. Others weren’t so fortunate. Even less so were their families.
Arthur’s parents were now stuck in the same boat as her own. He’d been gone by the time she limped back to the clearing, despite Mitchell’s best efforts. Now his family was left to think his death was nothing more than a stupid accident. They couldn’t be told the real reason why he’d ventured into the woods that day, nor of how brave he’d been.
Still, she wasn’t sure which was worse: his parents believing a lie, or that Francis’s wife knew the truth yet couldn’t tell anyone. At least Shakti understood that her husband had been a hero to the end, but it would be a long time before she could take any comfort in that now that their future together had been stolen.
The team was there for her, but all of them were aware that it wasn’t nearly enough, especially since their superiors had already handed them their next assignment. The show indeed had to go on and, in order to do that, they all had to be on board and with a full roster.
At first, Danni had been against Derek’s suggestion of Julia joining the team, but she real
ized that was nothing more than her own anger and hurt speaking. She knew the others had likely felt a similar resentment toward her following Chuck’s death, even if none of them had ever voiced it. The mission was bigger than any of them and they all understood that.
Julia had proven herself to them. And, sadly, though the governor’s influence was shrinking by the day, he’d still been spiteful enough to pull what strings he could to ensure her career as a journalist was over. She needed them and they, interestingly enough, needed her. As it turned out, she’d started her career behind the camera before being promoted to the front of the screen.
“Any word on her sister?” Mitchell asked, wiping his eyes and changing the subject.
Derek shook his head. “Julia said she hasn’t been returning any of her calls.”
“Poor girl.”
Derek nodded. “She lost her husband, suffered through God-knows-what, and can’t even talk about it. She’s going to need time.”
“But Julia is her sister,” Danni replied.
“I know, but we each have to heal in our own way.”
“How’s Julia taking it?”
“She’s putting on a tough face, but you can tell she’s hurting inside. Nevertheless, she’s grateful her sister is alive. For now, that’s good enough. Eventually she’ll come around. And at least we’ll be busy enough to not dwell on it much.”
Mitchell let out a sigh that turned into a chuckle. “No rest for the wicked.”
“None indeed. Norah told me that those squatches in Arkansas are acting up again. Sounds like a rogue male, maybe two. Then there’s been complaints of chupacabra activity at some farm in New Mexico...”
“Call a dog catcher. Freaking coyotes with mange aren’t our problem.”
Danni patted the medic on the shoulder. “Don’t knock an easy assignment when they give us one.”
“Oh,” Derek continued, “and there’ve also been reports of divers going missing off the coast of Bermuda. There was an abandoned fishing boat found with sucker marks six inches wide in its hull, which would indicate a...”
