A third creature attacked, even as the second gnawed his leg like a dog with a rawhide bone. Javier threw up his arm to block it, but thick fingernails cut into his forearm. The strike happened so fast that for a moment he thought it had missed. Then the deep gashes started to bleed. The pain followed a second later—hot and nauseating.
Javier dislodged the thing gnawing on his leg, bringing more agony as he did so. He backed up to give himself room and immediately realized his mistake. In stepping away from his attackers, he’d moved closer to the rest of the things.
They seized him as one. Powerful teeth clamped down on Javier’s shoulder. Claws lashed across his face, running lines of fire over his lips and nose, flaying his mouth open, cutting into his gums and fragmenting his teeth in one savage stroke. He managed to reach out with his fingers and return the favor, slashing across the deep set eyes of the beast. Javier bared his ruined teeth in a grimace as the fangs in his shoulder dug deeper, pressing together deep inside the meat of his arm and drawing a thick spray of blood. More teeth sank into his thigh, his waist, and his breast. Something cold and jagged and sharp pierced his buttocks. He tried to scream, but there was something wrong with his throat. Blood spilled into Javier’s eyes, blinding him. He shook his head from side to side in an effort to see.
His vision cleared in time to see a creature with a wide, hinged mouth lunge forward. He’d never seen so many teeth in a mouth before—multiple rows, all jagged and sharp. The thing snapped its massive jaws shut around his face. Javier jittered and thrashed as the mutant broke bones and pulped his jaw and forehead, carving a massive trench down the front of his skull.
He had time to think one last thought before he died.
Wait for me, Heather. I’m coming. I’m—
twenty-three
Leo and Perry reached the foyer and huddled together in front of the metal door, waiting for Dookie to return with help or for more of the house’s weird inhabitants to show up. Leo prayed for the former but was dreadfully certain it would be the latter. So when a door suddenly opened and a female figure stumbled out of the darkness, he leaped to his feet, ready to fight. Mr. Watkins sprang up beside him a second later, an unlit cigarette tumbling from his open mouth. Both men yelled in surprise and fright.
So did the girl.
They stared at each other. Leo frowned and blinked, trying to understand what he was seeing. She was dressed like one of the kids that had run away from him earlier in the evening, but she couldn’t be one of them. The girls in that group had all been white. This girl was red. Scarlet. She was covered in blood from head to toe. It matted her hair and crusted on her cheeks and stained her clothes, and although he could see some superficial wounds on her arms and face, Leo was fairly certain that most of the blood wasn’t hers. Leo shook his head slowly, and reached out a hand.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
The terrified girl jumped at the sound of his voice and shrank away from them, cowering against the wall. She whimpered, but did not speak.
“It’s okay,” Leo murmured. “We ain’t gonna hurt you. We’re stuck in here, just like you are.”
“Are you hurt?” Mr. Watkins asked her.
She stared at them, wide-eyed, but still refused to speak. Her chin trembled.
“Where are your friends?” Leo asked. “Them kids who ran in here with you? Are they okay? Do they need help?”
The girl flinched as if slapped. Then she opened her mouth and moaned. It was the most heartbreaking sound Leo had ever heard.
“Sssshhh,” he whispered. “Don’t do that, now. You’ll lead them right to us. We need to be quiet and shit.”
“Help is on the way,” Mr. Watkins explained. “Somebody went for help. They should be here any minute.”
As if in verification, they heard muffled voices from the other side of the door. It sounded like there was quite a large crowd outside. A moment later, Dookie yelled to them.
“Yo! Leo? Mr. Watkins? You alright?”
“Yeah,” Leo called as loudly as he dared. “We’re fine. Just get us the fuck out of here, dog. And hurry!”
“I got everybody out here. Angel and the crew and Mrs. Watkins and—”
“Dookie,” Mr. Watkins yelled, “I don’t care if you got all of Blackwater out there, along with a Navy SEAL team. Just get us the hell out of here. Now!”
“Get back from the door,” Dookie shouted. “Angel’s got a blowtorch!”
The men backed away. The girl hesitated, her eyes darting from them to the door and then back to them again. After a moment, she stepped toward them.
“That’s it,” Leo urged. “We ain’t gonna hurt you. What happened earlier was just a misunderstanding. It’s all gonna be okay now.”
Through the steel barrier came the hissing and spitting sound of the cutting torch. Within minutes, the smell of scorched metal filled the air. Then they heard something else. Footsteps.
From inside the house.
A lot of them, judging by the sound.
“Oh, shit,” Leo yelled. “Hurry up, y’all! We got company!”
“Quiet,” Mr. Watkins said. “They’ll hear you.”
“They’ll hear us anyway,” Leo countered. “You telling me they ain’t gonna hear the others outside or smell that blowtorch?”
“Coming in,” Dookie called. “Just hang on!”
There was a great commotion as the men outside on the porch grunted and jostled and shouted orders to one another. Then, slowly, the metal door was hauled away, revealing dozens of faces peering in at them in shock and concern. Dookie stood at the front of the crowd, arms crossed over his chest defiantly.
“Told you I could do this shit,” he said, grinning. Leo and Mr. Watkins hurried forward. The bloody girl limped along between them. They hovered in the doorway, shrugging off the multitude of hands that reached for them.
“Damn,” Leo said. “The whole neighborhood is here.”
“Seems that way,” Mr. Watkins agreed, grinning as he spotted his wife amidst the throng.
Dookie’s eyes widened when he saw the bloodstained girl. “Are her friends still in there?”
“We don’t know,” Leo said. “She ain’t talking. I think she’s in shock or something. Way she’s acting though, I’m betting that they’re all dead.”
Behind them, the pounding footsteps thundered closer, seeming to come from all directions and behind every door. The walls and floorboards vibrated with the sound. Dust drifted down from overhead. The lights swayed.
Mr. Watkins snapped his fingers in front of the girl’s eyes and got her attention. She stared at him blankly.
“Are the rest of your friends alive?”
She blinked at him. Mr. Watkins glanced at Leo, frowned, and then looked back at the girl.
“Listen to me, girl! Are any of your friends still in there?”
She shrugged almost imperceptibly and whimpered, low and mournful.
Mr. Watkins turned to Leo. “Take her outside and get her some help.”
Leo flinched. “What are you gonna do?”
“I’m gonna do what somebody should have done years ago. I’m gonna finish this place once and for all.”
“Are you crazy? They’re coming.”
“Do as I say, now, Leo. Get her to safety. It’s time to start cleaning this neighborhood up.”
The crowd parted, allowing Leo and the injured girl to get through. People gasped when they saw her condition. Most of the assembled throng followed along behind them, shouting questions. Perry shook hands with Angel, the chop shop owner.
“Thanks. Glad you brought that cutting torch along.”
“Don’t mention it. What the fuck is going on, Mr. Watkins?”
“Can I bum a smoke off you first?”
Sirens wailed in the distance. The mechanic fumbled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes and handed one to Perry. He popped it into his mouth, unlit. The sirens drew closer. So did the commotion from inside the house. The hurried footsteps were accompanied by a chorus of howls and grunts now. Perry saw Dookie shudder at the sound.