“I—I don’t know.” I rub my head. “I think the coyotes dragged me.”
The man frowns and scratches at his beard again, making this scratchy sound like sandpaper, and it makes me want to shudder. He continues to stare at me, his eyes boring into me as if trying to read my soul to judge the truth of my words. “Ah, yeah. I can see that. Yer lucky, you are. I stopped one of them from eatin’ yer face off.” He smiles, showing off several gaps where his teeth should have been. “Ye’d better get goin’ though. It ain’t safe here, neither.” He nods a head at the lake. “That ain’t the only thing waiting to peel the flesh from yer bones.”
My heart beats furiously, skipping a beat here and there. I don’t know what he means by that, and I’m not sure I want to.
Obviously, he’s decided I’m not a threat and is allowing me to leave. I’m willing to take it without asking questions as long as that means I get to leave here alive and intact.
I start backing up, then stop. “Can I have my gun back?”
He frowns. “Now what would yeh think I was stupid enough to hand ye back yer gun fer?”
“I didn’t say you were stupid,” I say.
“Nah, but if yeh think I’m jes goin’ to be givin’ you yer gun back, yeh must think it.”
I shake my head, trying to tell him I just want the gun to hunt for food, but he narrows his eyes at me.
“What’cha doin’ out here all alone fer, boy? Didn’t your mammy tell yeh the Outlands is no place for tots and green horns?”
Deciding I don’t need the gun after all, I bob my head quickly. “Never mind. Keep the gun.” I start backing away again.
His wide face wrinkles further when I do. “I wouldn’t do that, boy. I’d be stoppin’ now.”
I do. Immediately.
“Yeh aren’t out here alone, are yeh? Yer with someone else. Aren’t ya?”
I hesitate only a moment before shaking my head. Evie and Asher are somewhere out here, I hope, but it’s anybody’s guess where. “No. I’m by myself.”
He grins, showing those dark spaces again, but it isn’t a happy look. It’s mean. I’ve only seen that look on one other person’s face—Mother. It makes my veins drip with icy fear.
“Now, why would yeh do that?”
“What?” I slide another foot backward.
“Lie to me.” He shakes his head, then pulls a gun from his back. My gun, actually. I recognize the large dent in the wood stock. “Hands on your head.” He gestures with the gun when I don’t comply. “Come now, don’t be stupid.”
I lift my hands and lace my fingers together behind my head. Plan after stupid, horrible plan bounces through my mind. None of them would work. They would all leave me with a nice-sized hole in my body.
I’m pretty sure that’s going to happen anyway.
Something squawks and he jumps. He turns, looking to see what’s made the sound, and I decide it’s now or never. I pounce on him. I hope the surprise will help me avoid that hole.
It sort of works. I do manage to get my hands on the barrel of the gun, but he manages to keep a grip on it even as we fall to the ground.
That squawk happens again and this time there’s a voice not far from my head. “Fred? You there? Did you find the source of the alarm?”
It’s a radio. It’s sticking out of the sand a few feet away, next to some kind of pack and a large gun. The gun is just lying in the sand, held up by a mini-tripod. I’ve never seen one like this before. Between that, the mention of the alarm, and his weird uniform, I figure Fred is a guard and he’s protecting something. Not that I really care. I’m more concerned with not dying. But as we roll, I realize it might just be easier to go for that other gun after all.
We continue to tussle with the shotgun, but he throws a punch with his meaty fist that connects directly with my temple. Stars explode into my eyes and my ears ring. He rips the gun out of my hands, but I jump backward, immediately falling to the ground and rolling toward the other gun.
A shot rings out. The burst of sand just inches from my head tells me he’s shooting to kill. I grab the gun and spring to my feet, bringing it to my shoulder and aiming at his midsection.
“Stop!” I gasp out. “Don’t come any closer.” This is a bigass gun and it’s going to hurt like hell to fire it. Might even break my shoulder, but a broken shoulder is better than dead.
That is, if I can actually shoot the damn thing. It’s heavy, and I don’t even know if it’s loaded. But, maybe, I’ll be able to convince him to leave me alone long enough that he won’t know I’ve never used something like this.
He lifts his hands in the air as he pushes himself to his feet, but there’s a smirk on his face. “Yeh don’t have the guts, boy.” He spits on the ground and my eyes take in the bloody spittle that flecks the sand.
“Fred,” the radio squawks again. “You okay?… Did you find out what set off that alarm?… Fred?”
I smile, just a small stretching of my lips. “Try me.” I tighten my finger on the trigger. Given the size of the gun, it’s surprisingly easy to press the trigger.
The smirk falls off his face. “Now, boy, yeh don’t need to do that.”
“Fred?… If you don’t answer me, I’m sending someone out there.…”
That seems to bolster him, though. “Even if yeh shoot me, yeh won’t get away with it. They’ll find yeh.” Then he lunges at me, and even though I’d expected him to try something, it startles me and I press the trigger. The gun goes off and knocks me onto my ass.
As I fall, I hear three distinct shots before I hit the ground, knocking the air from my lungs.
I was right. The gun hurts like hell.
I leap back to my feet, wincing as pain rips through my shoulder. I don’t raise the gun. Even if I could, there’s no need to. Fred is rolling down the hill. At first he’s in one piece, with three large holes in his abdomen. But then, to my horror and disgust, as he continues to roll, the skin between the holes tear and he splits into two parts.
The friction must have been too much for those thin strings of flesh. I shudder when what was inside his body comes out and tangles around him before he splashes into the water with a hiss.
Both parts sink quickly and I feel like I’m going to be sick. Actually, I know I’m going to be sick. I collapse onto my knees and try hurling into the sand, but nothing comes up. I’m stuck just kneeling there, gagging, until the retching stops.
What the hell kind of gun was that? I’ve never seen bullets that could tear someone completely in half like that.
The radio squawks again and my heart kicks. I have to get out of here.
With a lurch, I shove to my feet, then throw the gun and radio into the water. A quick search of Fred’s bag produces some much needed food and supplies. I toss the whole bag over my shoulder, grab my own gun, and run. Dizzy, with a fuzzy mind, and still a little green around the gills, I don’t even know what direction I’m running in. I’ll figure it out later. I just run.
As fast and as far as I can.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Once upon a time, there was a queen who lived in an underwater kingdom. The queen was beautiful, but cruel. And although she had many subjects, they were only loyal to her out of fear. The queen did not know love, and she kept her daughter, the princess, locked away for fear that the princess would someday discover love and leave the queen and the underwater kingdom.
—EXCERPT FROM SURFACE FAIRY TALE
Evie
I wake with a scream trapped in my throat as the tatters of the nightmare drift away. The room is still dark, but I reach for Gavin. I just want him to hold me. To tell me it’s all right. That they’re not real. That he’s real, that he’s here. But he’s not. He’ll never be here.