“What do we do?” asked Harry.
Lucas shoved him forward. “Just swing for the first bugger that comes for you. Kath and I will handle the hounds.”
Harry willed his legs to take him forward and after several false starts got himself moving. The monsters remained in place but watched him with great interest. Harry felt like a lowly ant beneath their stares. A low growl emanated from the hounds but they made no attempts to attack, heeled to their hooded masters and waiting for commands.
Harry got closer and wondered what to do. Did Lucas really expect to take on this army with just a broom and some salt shakers? They were going to die; any other outcome seemed impossible. Still, Harry wasn’t going down without a fight. If they wanted him, they would have to take him down, biting and screaming.
Once he was within a dozen metres of the hooded figures, the hounds at their feet became agitated, hackles rising as they paced back and forth.
“Ready with the salt?” asked Harry.
“Bring it on,” said Lucas, taking hold of Kath and bringing her forward. Together, the two of them hurled salt into the air. It caught on the wind and dispersed in a thousand directions, disappearing into the blizzard.
Harry watched and waited as nothing happened. Then hounds began to squeal, their skin smoking and burning, dripping into the snow and turning it a dark, mottled brown. The beasts began to edge away, colliding with their masters who were still unmoving. After a few moments, the hounds managed to weave between the hooded figures and flee into the night.
Satisfied, Harry looked at Lucas, who nodded at the broom he was holding. Really? Should he really be so willing to trust his survival on a domestics implement? Harry decided it was time to find out. The three of them lined up and marched forward, meeting their attackers head on.
Harry raised the broom like a pike, images of naked women fluttering in the wind. The hooded men remained motionless, their seven-foot frames like stone statues. When one of them finally moved, Harry thought he was going to soil himself.
The tallest figure, at the centre of the wall, stepped forward and flung out a hand. Harry curiously noticed that the creature’s outstretched arm was human, yet twisted and talon-like. It pointed at Lucas as its owner hissed the word, ‘WORMWOOD’.
Harry turned to Lucas who was grinning ear to ear, not out of good nature, but seemingly out of defiance. Lucas winked at the figure addressing him. “How you doing there, Mickey? Been keeping well?”
“You know this…this thing?” asked Kath, the disgust in her voice not even slightly hidden.
“Aye, but now is not the time.”
“It never is with you,” said Harry.
“Harry,” Lucas whispered over his shoulder, “now would be a good time to sweep up the trash.”
Harry didn’t understand at first, until, finally, a light bulb went off in his head. He rammed the broom forwards, aiming for the hooded man’s head. The blow missed by a mile and that seemed impossible. The intended victim had gone from motionless stone to dodging the blow in an unearthly blur of speed; a glowing wisp of light that didn’t actually seem to move so much as simply disappear and reappear somewhere else.
Harry cursed out loud. “Damn it! I missed.”
“No, you didn’t,” said Lucas. “Get your bloody arse moving.”
Harry realised that his attacker’s evasion had left a gap in the wall of hooded bodies. The three of them ran, stumbling through the deep snow and almost having to claw themselves along. Despite their early lack of movement, the hooded men were now giving chase, screeching and wailing as they did. As one got close, Harry swung out with the broom. It blinked out of existence and reappeared out of harm’s way just as his brethren had before. Harry didn’t mind if the swings were making contact or not, they were warding off the danger regardless.
As he clambered through the snow, Harry came side by side with Lucas. He turned and looked at him. “What the hell are they, Lucas?”
Lucas looked back and smiled. “Angels.” He said it casually, as if the explanation was not completely insane.
Harry almost fell, just about managing to right himself with his next steps. “Angels?”
“Like I said, Harry Boy. Now’s not the time.”
The three of them continued making their way forward, not really knowing where they were heading other than away from danger. As Harry looked back, he saw that they were no longer being pursued. The ‘Angels’ were apparently in no rush to get their ‘sinner’. But, despite the lack of pursuit coming from behind, Harry could clearly make out something ahead of him.”
“Something’s up ahead,” said Kath.
Harry nodded. “I know, I can see. Ready with the salt?”
“Yes. Ready with broom?”
The three of them slowed down (not that they were making particularly great speed anyway). The shape in the distance began to come clearer into view. It was a person, heading towards them quickly.
Kath stated the obvious. “They’re coming right at us.”
Harry focused as much as he was able to in the blustering snow. “It’s…”
“Nigel!” Kath shouted the word gleefully. “Are we glad to see you!”
Nigel came up to them, huffing and puffing. Harry noticed that the man had dried blood on his clothes as well as terrible burns on the left side of his face. He looked like something out of a horror film.
“Are you...okay?” Harry asked him.
Nigel looked feral, like an injured fox. When he answered, his words were slurred. “I’m fwine. Jush hash an asshident.”
Lucas stepped forward placed a hand on the Nigel’s shoulder. “You don’t look fine, fella. In fact you sound worse than a chorus of drunks. And that head wound don’t look none too pretty. We should get you back to the pub.”
Nigel seemed dismayed by the suggestion and lashed out. “Get sh’fush offsh me.”
Harry didn’t like the way Nigel was acting. “What happened to you? Is Steph okay?”
Nigel’s face scrunched up in a snarl at the mention of her name. Harry tried to understand why. Then he saw the bloody knife in the man’s hand and wondered why he hadn’t spotted it sooner. Harry’s eyes widened. “Did you hurt her?” Harry went to approach Nigel, but the man raised the knife at him.
Lucas put his hands out in front of him placatingly. “Whoa, whoa, there, fella. We just want to know the lass is safe.”
Nigel spat blood into the snow and began backing away as he spoke. “You tell that bitch, I’ll be back to finish what I started. I’ll slice her fingers off and keep them in my truck with the other pathetic sluts I’ve killed.”
Harry’s entire body contorted with rage as he realised what the man’s words meant. He began to wonder whether that knife in Nigel’s hand had been used on Steph, and if Damien had been innocent all along. Harry found both questions too hard to think about. “I’m going to kill you.”
Nigel continued backing away, holding the knife out in front of him in defence. Harry went to get after him, but Lucas stopped him. “No need, Harry Boy. Look!”
Harry looked past Nigel and saw the shapes behind him. Gathering in the distance was a group of hounds. Nigel was walking directly at them. Harry relaxed and waited for the inevitable to happen.
It took about three minutes for Nigel to realise he’d been surrounded. The things attacked him as one, enveloping him as they had done Jerry. Harry watched with grim satisfaction as Nigel swiped impotently with his flick knife, managing to take a chunk or two of flesh from one hound, but failing to keep away the other dozen. Although it was hard to see past the writing bodies of fur, Harry could clearly make out Nigel’s intestines being fought over in a macabre tug of war. But once the grim satisfaction begun to wane, the scene merely made Harry feel sick. He turned away and continued on into the snow, back towards The Trumpet.
Back towards Steph.