Chapter Fourteen
“She’s not answering,” Shanna swallowed hard and shut her phone, looking up as Cameron opened the driver’s side door. “What are you doing?”
Cameron took a step out of the car and looked up ahead, where they had seen a hulking figure at the end of the covered bridge not a minute earlier. It had quickly disappeared, but not before Cameron had put on the brakes and they had considered their situation.
“It’s just waiting for us up there,” Rachel said loudly from the backseat. “Get back in the car and put this beast in reverse.”
“Shhhh,” Cameron put a finger to his lips and tilted his head.
Shanna followed suit, but couldn’t hear anything over the purr of the car’s motor.
“What is it?” Rachel asked, impatient after a few seconds. When he didn’t answer right away, she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I am never going to a video store again. I’m only streaming from now on.”
Shanna couldn’t help but smirk at the comment as Cameron climbed back into his seat and shut the door, snuffing out the interior light, and sending the entire bridge into inky blackness. She watched him for a moment, and imagined she saw a haunted look on his face. “What’s wrong?” she asked, putting a hand on his arm. “We don’t know what it is. It could be anything.”
“That’s what scares me,” he said, swallowing hard. He shook his head and sent her a shaky smile. “Anyways, we won’t know where it is until we see it again. It could have climbed the length of the bridge and be waiting for us back where we came from by now.”
“So, we’re just waiting?” Rachel demanded. “Are you kidding me? We’re hunters, not the hunted. And who knows, the longer we wait, the worse the situation could get. It could be bringing back some more big hulking friends.”
“She’s right,” Shanna sent Cameron a worried look. “We can’t just sit here.”
Cameron pursed his lips. “You want to go back the way we came?”
Shanna looked back at Rachel uncertainly. “I think that’s the best course of action. Right?”
Rachel seemed to reconsider, but offered a hesitant nod.
“Alright,” Cameron agreed, putting the car into reverse. “Ladies’ choice.” He turned to look out of the back window and slowly backed up. The others turned and watched the entrance of the bridge as it drew nearer as well, expecting to see something menacing at any moment. The moonlight illuminated the road just past the doorway, a light that steadily grew brighter, and yet didn’t show anything out of the ordinary.
The back of the car exited the bridge slowly, and Shanna found herself releasing the breath she’d been holding.
Rachel looked relieved as well. “Don’t forget that Brett’s truck-”
The rest of the words never made it out of her mouth. As soon as the front of the car had cleared the bridge, a dark hairy shape jumped from the roof of the bridge and landed in front of them.
Shanna barely had time to let out a scream as the creature grabbed the front bumper and swung it with staggering strength in an arc that would have sent it over the edge of the cliff, had the rest of the car not broken free of the bumper first with a crunching screech of metal. Clinging to Cameron all the while, Shanna braced herself as the out-of control car thumped against the ground hard enough to set the airbags off and jolt its passengers, then bounced against the ground one more time before careening down a steep embankment.
For a split second, everything went dark for Rachel. One moment, she felt like she was floating, the pit of her stomach roiling like she was about to drop down a steep track on a rollercoaster. And then, she couldn’t see or feel anything. She blinked away her disorientation and looked down as moonlight filtered into the car again, noting that she was looking down at herself. She looked peaceful down there, strapped into her seatbelt, head lolling to one side as the car moved, as if in slow motion, down the side of the embankment. Little threads seemed to spring from all over her body, and when she looked down at her floating self, she noticed the strings drew up to the corresponding part of this body.
I’m having an out-of-body experience, she realized, amused for a moment, as she tried to touch her hand to her head, and it seemed to go through it. I must have blacked out.
She glanced up at Cameron and Shanna, and at first didn’t understand what she was seeing. Cameron’s mouth was open in a shout or cry of surprise. But at least with his mouth open so wide, she wasn’t able to see his teeth through the gap in his cheek. He actually looked kind of funny. Upon looking at Shanna, she saw that Shanna had also blacked out, her body hovering overhead, a dreamy smile on her face.
But there was something happening to her body. Something was leaning over it, in a black cloak, its head leaned down in concentration so that she could only see the hood. And its hand. Its hands looked rough, like they were made from sandstone, with sharp fingernails protruding from each finger, serrated on one end. And it was using the serrated nail to cut each thread that held Shanna’s dream self to her body.
“Stop!” Rachel cried out in alarm, finding that her voice didn’t resonate in her ears so much as in her mind.
But it did the trick. Shanna’s head snapped up to look at her, her eyes focusing sharply. Their eyes locked for a moment.
And then the creature sat up, its head still bathed in darkness beneath its hood, and stared straight at her with glowing red eyes. Eyes that made her gag and feel vile. They were evil and foul, and she felt this instinctually down to her core. It smiled, as if in response to her reaction, jagged zigzagging teeth that seemed impossibly wrong somehow, drawing up in a wide grin. Sand sprinkled from its face with every move, and then it began to move toward her, slowly, deliberately, as if wanting to let her know that it was coming for her.
And then she awoke.
She found her stomach was dropping as before, although it took a moment for her to reorient herself, given the disturbing images she had just seen. And then she remembered that they were dropping down a steep embankment, and would likely be crushed to death in a prison of crumpled metal.
“Oh, shit,” Rachel cursed. “Oh, shit!” She was holding onto the seat in front of her for dear life, despite the fact that she was strapped in by her seatbelt, and was pulling painfully on a strand of Shanna’s hair that she’d incidentally swept up and held onto.
They fell for fifteen feet before the car met with the branches of trees, which snapped like kindling under the weight of the car until they met with firmer resistance, and jolted to a stop that left them breathless.
Shanna hardly dared to breathe as she turned to see the bewildered looks of her friends. They all stared at one another for a moment, as if the slightest movement would send them moving again. Then, tentatively, Shanna unbuckled her seat belt.
Cameron watched her, eyes wide, as if expecting her to go flying from her seat now that she’d taken it off.
“We don’t know how stable our hold is here,” Shanna said rationally, turning to look back at Rachel. “We should get out of here as quickly and carefully as possible.”
Rachel nodded sharply. “Sound plan.”
“What was it?” Cameron asked, as he slid slowly over to his door and peeked out of the window, which had cracked during the crash, but had miraculously not shattered.
“A werewolf,” Rachel said, with certainty. “I’m positive.”
Cameron nodded, blinking, as if processing this.
“There’s a tree we can climb down on my side,” Shanna announced, pushing on her car door, which was dented, but creaked open with an ear-splitting noise nonetheless. She stared down into the dark night for a second, then nodded to herself. “It’s only a few feet to the ground, although the ground is pretty steeply sloped.”
“As long as it gets me out of here,” Rachel muttered, swinging herself to the opposite side of the car and opening her door to look down as well.
“Although this means we’l
l be out there with that thing,” Cameron said, sending Shanna an uneasy look.
“Better than waiting for it in a tin can like tuna,” Rachel said, sliding out of the car and onto the tree trunk.
Shanna watched her make her way down the tree trunk for a moment, then moved to slip out onto the tree herself.
“Be careful,” Cameron told her, putting a hand on her back.
She smiled back at him. “Of course I’ll be careful.” She tried reassuring him with a grin before stepping out into the night and finding a good grip on the tree. Then she began to climb down. It was much easier than she’d imagined from looking at it, but the constant groan of the car overhead made her nervous, and she tried to pick her way along the branches as quickly and efficiently as possible, trying not to think about the scene from Jurassic Park that kept replaying through her mind, of the car chasing them down the tree.
Before she knew it, they were all safely on the ground, and Shanna looked up at the car in wonder, where it was held suspended in the air by the sturdy hands of the trees.
“Okay, no time to gawk,” Rachel said with authority, as she grabbed Shanna’s arm and pulled her down the slope. “Gotta make tracks before the Big Bad Wolf comes to investigate.”
It was a combination of sliding and falling that they were finally able to reach the bottom of the slope, where the trees only grew together even thicker than along the slope, offering them a good amount of cover from the road overhead.
“It’s going to catch us,” Shanna said after they’d stopped a moment to catch their breaths. “Werewolves have heightened senses. It will be able to smell us and track us.”
“Not if all the noise you’re making doesn’t draw it to you first,” Brett said, sauntering up to them from around a tree.
“Jesus,” Rachel put a hand to her chest. “Give a girl a heart attack, why don’t you?”
“What are you doing here?” Cameron asked.
Brett shrugged. “We got ambushed. These wolves laid a tree trunk in the middle of the road, and when we went to investigate, attacked us, drove us deep into the woods.”
“Quinn’s okay?” Shanna asked, wincing at the hopeful tone of her voice, and refusing to look to see if Cameron had detected it.
“I’m just fine,” Quinn stepped into view, looking around at the trees nervously. “A little shaken, but fine.”
“How’d you escape them?”
Brett shrugged. “It was more our tumble down the slope that slowed their pursuit.”
“Did you see how many there were?” Rachel grilled him. “How did they hunt you? Did any of them seem to be the clear leader?”
“Uh…There were at least two. They just came at us fast and quick. I don’t think one was really leading the other…”
He looked to Quinn for confirmation, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention.
“So the one that we encountered makes three,” Shanna said. “And there are probably some going after the others as well.”
“Yeah, well, they have two werewolf hunters in their car,” Rachel scoffed. “I think we’re more screwed. Even with five of us.”
“We should head toward the river,” Quinn spoke up.
Shanna raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“The covered bridge runs over a river. If we follow that for awhile, they’ll lose our scent in the water.”
Rachel looked impressed. “Look at the new guy stepping up.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll have to move quickly if we want to beat them to it.”
“Alright,” Cameron said. “Let’s go then, and try to keep quiet. Losing our scent won’t help much if we sound like a pack of elephants.”
“Elephants?” Rachel snorted. “Maybe Shanna, but not me.”
Shanna glared at her, to which Rachel shrugged. “No offense, but you’ve got at least two sizes on me.”
Cameron sighed.
“I can gag her,” Brett offered.
“You would so like that,” Rachel rolled her eyes. “Fine. Quiet-like. Stealth mode on. Got it. Which way, fearless leader?”
Cameron looked around for a moment before Quinn pointed in the correct direction.
Shanna tilted her head to listen for the sound of rushing water, which sounded very faint, and nodded her confirmation. “Sounds about right.”
They began to move in the direction that Quinn had indicated, but walking in the woods was louder than they anticipated, despite everyone’s caution. Every few steps meant a twig snapping like a rifle shot, not to mention the constant crackling of dead leaves beneath their feet. In the darkness, especially with the moon hidden behind the canopy of branches overhead, they could do little to avoid the noises.
“This is hopeless,” Rachel muttered under her breath, giving voice to what everyone was thinking. But they had no other choice. Hopefully once they reached the water, the noise of the rushing water would cover any further noise and they would be able to make their escape yet.
A howl pierced the night air after they’d traveled for about ten minutes, back in the direction of Cameron’s car.
“We need to hustle,” Rachel said, beginning to pick up her pace.
Everyone matched her speed, but it became apparent from the subsequent howls that they were losing ground, and quickly.
“We’re going to have to fight,” Brett said. “We don’t have any other choice. Maybe a few of us can fend them off while the others make a run for it. Maybe buy enough time for some of us to escape.”
“What’s that?” Rachel pointed ahead at a clearing.
“Not the river yet,” Quinn said, squinting. “It looks like…”
“A road!” Rachel beamed around at them, excited, and took off at a sprint as they all hurried to keep up. When they reached the clearing, they stopped short and looked around. It wasn’t a road as they’d expected, but a paved bike path.
“We could still be miles from any houses,” Cameron said.
Another howl broke through the sound of crickets chirping in the underbrush as snapping branches could be heard not too far from their location. They were way too close for comfort.
The moon silvered the clearing, making it look somehow otherworldly. As they stood there, unsure of their next move, Shanna took in the scene carefully, as if in a dream, before her eyes were drawn to a ditch beside the path.
“The sewer.”
Cameron turned to her and followed her gaze. “A sewer?” He looked back at the others. “It’s no river, but there’s bound to be plenty of twists and turns, and…potent smells.”
“Oh, god,” Rachel wrinkled her nose. “Would I rather die? I’m not quite sure.”
“We’re doing it,” Cameron decided for them. “Brett?”
Brett rushed over to help him pull the manhole cover up and off of the entrance to the sewer. Shanna watched them, and leaned over the sewer with a feeling of dread. As dark as it was outside, it was much darker down there. She couldn’t see anything beyond a few rungs of the ladder.
“Okay, start piling in,” Cameron ordered. “Shanna?”
Shanna nodded, trying to stay professional, despite her reservations.
“Me and Brett will jog up ahead a ways and double back,” Quinn said. “Maybe it’ll confuse the werewolves and they’ll overlook this.”
“Good…good idea,” Cameron smiled at him.
Quinn nodded and clapped Brett on the shoulder, and the two of them ran up the bike path.
“Shanna?” Cameron prodded, holding a hand out to her.
Shanna smiled and walked up to him, looking into his eyes for a moment. They were so blue in the moonlight, so beautiful, that they took her breath away in that moment. His scar was hidden deep in shadows, and he was like an elf in that silver landscape, utter perfection.
But the moment passed, and Shanna found herself climbing into the sewer before she knew it, with Rachel coming down the ladder just behind her. Looking up, she could see moonlight filt
ering down around the other hunter, but it didn’t penetrate the darkness beneath her, so she moved slowly, expecting to find the ladder ending with each step. It went down a lot further than she thought it would, but she finally touched the bottom, her shoe sinking into a puddle that immediately soaked her shoe. Grimacing, she stepped away from the ladder and looked around, noting soft orange light coming from down a dark tunnel. At least they wouldn’t be completely blind down here. The smell, however, was another thing. It literally made Shanna’s eyes water. It was like shit that had laid out in the sun to decompose. She fought the impulse to vomit and tried to focus on Rachel’s form coming down the ladder.
“Oh, my God,” Rachel said as she stepped away from the ladder. “I think I would rather be dead.”
“Breathe through your mouth,” Shanna advised. “It makes it a little more bearable.”
Rachel nodded and seemed to follow her advice as the others joined them. At the bottom of the ladder, they all looked down the tunnel skeptically. The little light they had threw a fiery orange glow over everything, like it was lava. There were narrow ledges that lined the tunnels, with canals of watery sewage between them about eight feet across. As long as they paid attention, they shouldn’t have much trouble navigating the sewers from the looks of things.
“Alright then,” Cameron said. “Let’s pick a direction and-”
The manhole cover overhead could be heard scraping against the hole, and a loosed howl followed them as they ran down the tunnel without a moment’s hesitation.