Jo’s conscience struggled: leave her, hide her, put her out of her misery? That last one she couldn’t do. She was anxious to find her friends—warn them—save them—somehow. But she couldn’t leave Red like this.
Jo dreaded touching Red’s body, but she forced her hands under the girl’s arms. Grimacing, she dragged her to a fallen tree, being careful not to dislodge the stick. Close to the tree, she spied a dug-out in the ground on one side, as if something, at one time, had tried to hide there.
She laid Red on her side in the furrow, facing the trunk and scooped up dirt and pine needles with her sore hands, throwing it over the body. She picked up broken branches, dead shrubs and leaves, anything that was loose to conceal her.
Jo stood back to check her work and commented to Red’s inanimate, unseen presence, “Well, it’s not like you’ll smell any worse or be any dirtier.”
She started to wipe her hands on her clothing. “Ow!” Under the dirt, her palms were scraped and bleeding. She waved them back and forth in the cool night air to alleviate their discomfort. They throbbed and the torn skin stung.
Jo walked out onto the trail that lay at the foot of the hill and stood in the middle of it. How beautiful this area had been this morning in the sunlight, the sky so blue. Now the sky was like a black bowl splattered with specks of white.
This is where she and Mike had walked together and laughed and joked about investigating the caves above their heads. It was surreal to be standing here now having escaped from a maleficent evil in one of those very caves.
She was thankful for the faint light of the moon. As pale as it was, it was enough to illuminate the clearing, enough to be able to see any form that was coming at her. But the vampires believed she was dead; they wouldn’t be looking for her. The comfort she felt from this thought was brief. They had her friends.
Jo looked across the meadow at the line of trees hiding the river. Across the river and to the west, stood the hunter’s cabin. She took a deep breath and jogged towards the trees. It was difficult to run on the wild landscape, littered with rocks and shrubs, with holes and obstacles hidden in the high grasses. The fox-tails swatted her legs. Bugs jumped into the air, startled by her sudden presence, and startling her.
She hadn’t put her socks back on at that cabin, so as her feet struck the dirt, her boots rubbed against her skin, forming blisters. Her mind was a jumble of sounds and images: Red’s demonic face, her hair on fire, the growling and cursing, the sound of ripping flesh and cold blood coating her hands. Her chest squeezed tightly around her drumming heart. She imagined that scythe slicing through one of her friends. She ran faster.
Jo reached the trees and darted under their branches. It was quiet underneath their arms, except for her footsteps, the soft rustle of broadleaves by a slight wind, and the ever-pouring river. She caught her breath and walked to the edge of river. The black, rushing liquid roared in the otherwise silent darkness. There would be no one to carry her across this time. But there was no time to waste, she told herself. This spot looked as good as any.
She stepped into the water. Icy liquid curled around her ankle. She jerked her foot out.
“Sheesh!” Come on, Jo! She took a deep breath and plunged the foot back in, following it quickly with the other one. She gasped, but before she had time to think about it, she took another step. The water was calf-deep and pushed hard against her legs. She steadied herself against the force. One carefully placed step at a time, she moved closer to the other side. Almost there.
Her next step came down on a loose rock and she stumbled. Falling forward, she stuck her hands out in front of her. They plunged through the water, to the rocky bottom. Cold water splashed up at her face and soaked her belly. She struggled not go down in the rapids. The river howled in her ears. The black, cold power rushed past her face, blowing the odor of moss and fish-smell into her nostrils.
She crawled like this until the soft muck of the bank was under her hands, and pushed and pulled her way up from the river, collapsing on the grass, breathless. She lay on her stomach, her cheek pressed into the cool earth, breathing hard. The scent of grass and dirt was in her nose. She rolled onto her back just long enough to catch her breath and then scrambled to her feet and walked southwest, keeping the river in ear-shot until she caught a whiff of burning wood on the frail breeze, and followed it right to the cabin.
Jo breathed a sigh of relief, but her chest stayed tight. She bent low to the ground and worked her way quietly to the porch. A faint orange-yellow glow pulsated past the busted-out window pane. The door was ajar. Jo crept forward and positioned herself to see through the window. Her heart leapt when she caught a glimpse of April’s curly hair. Drew stood next to her, and next to him, Ben. They were staring wild-eyed at something in front of them. She couldn’t see anyone else.
She crept closer, stopping to listen for sounds, other than her boots softly smashing the forest floor. An unfamiliar male voice barked an angry insult at her friends.
Jo moved over to get a better view. The blonde vampire Jon had called Reece appeared in the doorway sliver. He was taunting the trio, flashing long, pointed fingernails at them. April was crying with a look of terror on her face. Drew was trying his best to stand between her and the creature, but he looked just as scared.
Jo backed away and searched the ground for a weapon. It wasn’t hard to locate white aspen branches. She snatched one up. It was a good four feet long, jagged at one end and sprouting tiny dead twigs at the other. Brown leaves hung from the twigs, but she couldn’t risk making noise tearing off the twigs and leaves.
Jo headed to the cabin door. She stopped at the edge of the porch. The dark shape of Reece’s body appeared and disappeared through the narrow opening. Pieces of splintered wood from the window lay on the porch; shards of glass glinted in the moonlight. She stared at the window, at its empty, jagged frame: the place where Galen had stood watching. Watching! In less than a second, she knew who they wanted to kill with that scythe.
Reece’s voice bellowed foul words. April whimpered. Jo crouched low; her body tensed. She held the branch at her waist with both hands and took a big breath. She bolted for the door. The branch struck it and flung it open, slamming it against the wall. The creature whirled around.
Jo charged the white, snarling face and black eyes. He jumped straight up. Jo’s weapon speared his calf. He screeched and kicked his leg like a wild animal. The branch sailed to the other side of the room. Jo ran and dove for it, hitting the wood floor. A cold hand wrapped around her ankle, icy and strong. Jo kicked her leg to get free, clawed at the floor and stretched her arms and fingers as far as they would stretch, reaching for the stick lying inches from her fingertips. Sweat poured off her face.
The creature shrieked. Jo’s ankle was free. She snatched her weapon and sprang to her feet, whirling around.
Reece’s back was on fire. Ben was behind him smacking him with a flaming piece of firewood. The beast was furious. He turned and screeched. Ben pitched the wood into the fireplace and shot under the kitchen table.
Jo lunged with her branch and rammed it into the burning back of the vampire. The creature’s body stiffened and arched. He fell to his knees.
Drew leapt to her side and put his hands around the branch under hers. They both leaned forward on the branch and pushed it farther into the creature’s body, forcing the vampire down to the floor. Ben scrambled out from under the table, to the other side of Jo, adding his weight to the stabbing. The creature thrashed, but their combined strength forced the branch through him and pinned him to the floor. The noise was sickening: flesh ripping, bones cracking. Black blood flowed out from around the stick and snuffed out the flames writhing on his back. A foul odor burned Jo’s lungs. The thrashing slowed. The vampire convulsed one final time and lay still, sprawled on the floor. But the branch had not met the creature’s heart. It was still alive.
“Quick, get him into the fire!” Ben yelled.
The four of them picked up the limp body by its sho
ulders and legs and mashed it into the fireplace, stuffing, bending and smashing every part of it into the smoldering ashes.
“This is awful,” April said, her face twisted in disgust as she pushed reluctantly against the vampire’s remains.
“If it makes you feel better, April,” Jo said to her, “we’re putting it out of its misery.”
“It’s the only way,” Ben said, jamming pieces of wood around the body.
He fanned the embers. Flames began to flicker and crawl over the blood-soaked clothing, consuming the fibers and licking up the black liquid that still poured from the creature’s wound. Jo and her friends stepped back. Fiery greenish fingers flared out into the room. The fire popped, sounding like gunshots, sending a shower of sparks everywhere. They ducked and covered their faces.
“Let’s get out of here!” Jo yelled. She rushed toward the door, turning, waving her friends out of the cabin. “Come on!”
They galloped behind her—April squealing, Drew hollering.
They ran down the slope towards the river. Ben stumbled and fell. Drew reached down and pulled him back up, still running. They skidded to halt at the thick base of a pine tree and huddled by it, coughing to dispel the rank odors they had breathed in.
An explosion shook the trees. Jo jerked her head up. A flash, like green lightning in the black-blue sky, was followed by a quick, brilliant greenish-yellow flame. Wood and debris spewed into the air. April’s scream rang in her ears.
“Wow!” Drew shouted.
“Awesome,” Ben said.
They watched the debris and glowing embers rain back down. The embers were bright green and orange, like fireworks, but as they fell, they cooled and were snuffed out, turning black and disappearing against the dark sky.
Silence.
Drew stared up at the hazy, grey smoke, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. “Uh…should we leave a note?”
“Oh, my gosh.” April sunk to her knees and sat back on her legs. The guys collapsed beside her. Jo fell to her knees in front of them.
April’s eyes widened. “Jo!” She crawled to her and threw her arms around her neck. Ben and Drew wrapped their arms around the two girls. April cried and Jo wanted to, but she sniffed and forced her tears back. She rested her head on April’s bony shoulder and reveled in the comfort of the group hug.
The guys removed their arms. April sat back. They barraged Jo with questions.
“What happened?”
“Are you Ok?”
“Where’s Red?”
“How’d you get away?
Jo’s head was spinning. “Listen, I’ll tell you…but where are the others?”
Ben took off his glasses and wiped the soot covered lenses with the remaining tail end of his shirt. “When the creatures took you, Galen ran after you. So did Mike and Dove. We could hear Galen arguing with them all the way through the forest. We were told to stay here and thought that was a pretty good idea—until that vampire showed up. Uninvited! He just came right in. Scared the crud out of us—as you may have noticed.” He sat his glasses back on his nose. “We haven’t seen the others since. We figured they were still looking for you, but there wasn’t much we could do to help at the time.” He looked down with a pensive expression and shook his head. “I don’t understand why that creature was able to come in.”
Jo got to her feet. The guys helped April up. “I guess he was special,” Jo said. “We’ve got to find the others, quick.”
“Jo, where’d they take you?” Drew asked.
“They took me to those caves we saw on our hike. They left me with Red, but I escaped.” She didn’t want to tell them about Red and spoke quickly to change the subject. “To get back to the chalet, we just follow the river, for now. At some point, we’ll have to change course a little.”
“We’ll, figure it out,” Ben told her.
“Listen, I’m going back across the river to the caves.”
“Jo, that’s not a good idea,” Ben said.
“Ben—”
“If our friends turn around and come back this way for us, you’ll be gone, causing them to go after you and put themselves in further danger.”
She pursed her lips and huffed a breath through her nose.
“Let’s get back to the chalet,” Ben suggested. “If they’re not there, then we’ll make another plan.”
Jo observed her friends’ eyes—their moon-glazed, weary eyes—and April standing on one foot holding onto Drew’s arm to steady herself, which he didn’t seem to mind in the least. She knew Ben was right. “Yeah…Ok.”
“How did you get away?” Ben asked her, as they walked.
“I stabbed Red in the shoulder with a stick of aspen.”
April and Drew looked at her with their mouths gaped. “Red-kabob!” Drew joked.
“Andrew!” April cut her eyes at him.
He shirked, but grinned. He seemed pleased she had used his real name.
“It made her weak, like you said. I hid her body. She was unconscious when I left her.”
No one said a word. Drew’s playfulness was subdued.
Jo glanced at Ben. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking it might not be too late for Red.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if she hasn’t killed anyone yet, she might not be fully transitioned into a vampire. I read that if you kill the vampire who tried to turn someone, then, that person will be released—if they haven’t made their first kill.” Ben eyed Jo with his lips twisted to one side and an eyebrow raised. “If her first kill was supposed to be you, she just might have a chance.”
Jo looked away from him.
“I hope that’s true,” April said.
“But which one of them bit her?” Drew asked.
Jo pondered the question, wishing they could move faster. “Well, it was one of the three vampires we’ve seen. And one of them is dead.”
A hopeful smile lit up April’s smoke-darkened face.
Jo didn’t tell them that Red wanted to be a vampire, nor did she tell them about the plans Red had for Mike. In the deep recesses of her heart, in those places where you keep thoughts you would never share with anyone else, Jo hoped that Red was gone, forever. Not dead. Just…gone. She immediately admonished herself. Sorry, Lord.
“There’s another thing,” she mentioned, looking at Ben.
“What’s that?”
“I think they were using me to draw someone out of the group, but it didn’t work.”
“Who?”
“Galen.”
“I’m not surprised,” Ben said.
Jo flinched. “Why?”
“They’re afraid of him. They thought we were going to be easy pickin’s until they had to deal with him. They were probably trying to cull him out of the group to get to the rest of us.”
Jo frowned and her brow filled with wrinkles. “But I don’t understand why they think he’d come after me.”
“Don’t you?” Ben asked, in the way a person asks a question when they already know the answer.
Chapter 29