I pulled back on the reins, slowing Sadie down, and brought her over to Avery’s horse. He was still, with his head down to the snow. He almost looked like a statue, but I when I came closer, I could see his nostrils flaring, pale puffs of frozen breath coming out. His eyes were focused on the trees to the side of us.
I looked over to the shadows, and though I couldn’t see what he could, I could definitely smell it. Wherever Avery was, I could only pray with all my strength that he was okay somewhere, that he was far away from where I was, from the impending death that thickened the air.
They came without warning.
One pale monster on one side of the trail, another pale monster on the other. They both sprung from the forest undergrowth, causing the snow to scatter like diamonds in the wind. I had no time to act, but Sadie did. She reared as the two creatures came scampering toward us like albino apes, their eyes looking ghostly in the stark moonlight and focused solely on me.
While Avery’s horse made a run for it one way, Sadie was spinning on her hindquarters and bolting back the way we came. I made fists in her mane and flattened my body against Donna’s back as we galloped along as fast as we could before we hit the twisty passage from earlier. Through here I let all control of Sadie go and just closed my eyes and held on. I had to trust that she knew we were both in danger and let that animal instinct lead to our escape. There was no reason to fight and many reasons to flee.
We’d slowed down to a quick trot as she navigated the passage and almost made it back onto the open trail when a shadow flashed across the snow.
Seconds later something slammed into my back and I felt searing teeth in my shoulder. One of the creatures had leaped off the rocks and onto Sadie’s back.
I screamed, trying to lean over in the saddle to fight if off, and as my horse leaped forward, she bucked and I jerked my body to the other side. The creature let go and toppled to the ground in a heap.
I tried to look behind me to see what had happened, but all I could see was a haunting glimpse of blood on my shoulder before Sadie bucked again violently. I kicked her flanks, trying to get her to move forward instead, but she only sprinted for a few yards before she bucked again, as if doubly making sure the creature wasn’t on her.
I was still slightly sideways in the saddle and already off-balance. The buck lurched me forward against her shoulder, and before I could grasp what was happening, the snow was rushing up to meet my face.
I landed with a thump on my good shoulder and immediately rolled over, all too aware of where I was. Sadie galloped off down the trail, Donna still attached to her by the belt, her blonde curls bobbing along until the horse disappeared from sight.
I quickly got to a crouch and inspected my shoulder for a moment before turning my eyes back to the creature who was twitching on the hard-packed ground. My shoulder was bleeding, and the pain was starting to settle in my nerves, but I had no time to think about it. I had no time at all if the monster started to get up.
And it did. Slowly. First one elbow jerked up, then the other. With great effort, it pushed itself off the ground, its long, straggly hair hanging down its face, its head filled with bald patches. He—for at times like this it did seem human—wasn’t like the other ones I had seen, and it appeared he had on torn, knee-length pants if not a shirt.
It raised its head and looked at me. There was no air in my lungs now, the whole forest seemed to still at that moment, as if it too were chilled by the monster’s presence, the smell of evil.
It was when it smiled at me with bloodstained teeth that I snapped out of it. It was both living and dead, human and creature. I leaped to my feet and started running in the direction of Sadie. If it was weak, maybe I could outrun it; I had to try. My chest seized with panic as I tried to gain traction on the ground and found myself slipping from the ice that was formed as the night continued to deepen.
I looked over my shoulder as I tried to get steady, cursing my poorly made boots, and saw that it was now rapidly limping toward me on all fours. I turned around, the palms of my bare hands scraping along the snow as I attempted to push myself up.
It lunged for me with skinny, outstretched fingers. I opened my mouth to scream but horror seized my throat and the monster seized my legs, its fingernails digging into my pants like claws. I rolled over onto my back and tried kicking at it. I got it once—hard—in the face, shattering its jaw. But its grip on my calves barely loosened and it dragged me toward its bloody, unhinged mouth that snapped open and shut like it was about to devour me whole.
I thought of Meek’s heart, of Donna’s hand, and knew that the fates had it in for me. I wasn’t invincible, I was hopeless, and I was going to die out here feeling like I never really lived. The feeling that I never really got a chance was worse than what I knew was coming.
A human mouth wanting to eat me for dinner.
Chapter Nine
I tried to kick again at the ugly, demonic face but it was no use. My boot was jerked off, ice cold nails dragging along my foot. I shut my eyes and prepared for the slaughter.
A loud blast ricocheted through the forest, vibrating through my bones. The hands let go of my foot and I lifted my head to see a gaping red hole taking over the top half of the creature’s head, brains visible through the bone and muck.
I quickly twisted around to see Trouble thundering toward me with Jake astride him, rifle pointing right at the creature’s mangled face and passing through a puff of grey gunpowder that was hanging in the air. Jake vaulted off his horse and expertly reloaded his gun as he ran toward me.
I gazed up at him, for a moment thinking he meant to shoot me dead too. But he just placed the muzzle of the rifle into the mouth of the creature and pulled the trigger. With a giant explosion that crackled through the trees and made my ears ring fuzzy, the creature’s head came right off, scattering onto the snow like mutilated rose petals.
Jake holstered his rifle down his back and looked at me. He was breathing hard and his eyes were slightly wild, but he looked in complete control, dressed up like he was going for a long ride. He put his hand out for me to help me up, but as soon as he saw my shoulder he quickly dropped to his knees.
“Are you okay, did he get you?” he asked gruffly, his hand hovering above the wound as if he wasn’t sure it was okay to touch me or not.
I shivered away from his fingers and could only nod. I was afraid if I said anything, I’d cry instead. I couldn’t process anything that had happened and my brain felt like a lightning storm. On top of that, I was feeling ashamed that I’d run from him and scared because he’d found me.
“We’ll get you back to the cabin,” he said, lifting me up under my good arm. “Though you should be fine. I reckon he didn’t get you bad, though had I not shown up, you’d probably be missing your foot right now.”
He brought me over to Trouble, his grip on my arm firm but gentle. Before I could try to get on the horse, he picked me up and propped me on the saddle as if I weighed nothing more than a feather. Then he swung his leg up and around until he was pressed right against my back, his arms around my sides, his mouth at my ear.
“I’ve got you safe but we’re going to have to go fast for a bit, just to get out of here. I don’t want to see if he has any buddies hanging around.”
He clucked Trouble into a smooth gallop, the horse all too eager to leave the carnage behind. The movement rocked my body back against his. I closed my eyes, taking small pleasure in feeling safe.
“What happened to Avery?” he asked in a low voice, his breath tickling me.
I could only shake my head.
“Fair enough. Come on, I found Sadie further up the path and hitched her to a tree.”