AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was still pointing stubbornly into the trees, and a cold feeling went down my back. I hopped off the log — being the knight, obviously I had to be the one to bravely go into danger. I looked back into the trees, expecting to see a deer or maybe a coyote slinking through the dusk.
But it was so dark.
I shook my head, turning back toward him. “Marcus, I don’t see —”
Marcus was gone. All that remained was a long, narrow strip of upturned dirt at the base of the log, and the cold feeling on my spine came back.
I looked down at my hands: long, calloused fingers, dirty and scarred. It wasn’t a stick tucked into my belt loop; it was a gun in my hands. I wasn’t a child anymore. This log wasn’t our safe castle. And Marcus…
Marcus was…
Behind me, in the trees, something howled.
I snapped awake, jerking up from the floor. The fire had gone low, and only smoldering coals remained. My hands and feet were freezing cold. I sat there for a moment, breathing slowly, listening. I could hear the wind moving through the trees outside, the groaning of their boughs, the distant trickle of the creek.
I could hear growling.
I leaped up and grabbed my gun, tugging aside the curtain over the window. The clouds had cleared, and silver moonlight lent faint illumination to the yard. Eldbeasts yipped and fought amongst each other, their bodies hunched and horrifically ragged as they swarmed the yard. There were so many —toomany. Six, seven, even more back amongst the trees. They were all gathered at the far side of the yard, around that fallen log…
A furious, agonized cry ripped out of me the moment I realized what they’d done.
They’d dug up Marcus.
They’d dug him up.
They were fighting over his corpse, snarling at each other, rough growls and deep barks sounding as they snapped their teeth at each other. Saliva dripped from their jaws as they tugged at him, as they pulled at his arms and ripped the blanket I’d wrapped him in.
I didn’t think. I couldn’t think. My mind was a barren wasteland of white-hot rage as I sprinted into the yard.
I fired wildly, erratically, again and again. The beasts scattered for a moment in confusion, but quickly swarmed back. They cut off my route back to the house. Their horrific cries filled the air as they surrounded me, lunging for me. As soon as I’d shoot at one, another would leap in. Their smell was heavy in the air, sickly sweet, turning my stomach.
“Get away from him!” I screamed at them, as if they could understand, as if there was any semblance of humanity behind those dead, white eyes. I struggled to reload, swung the gun to try to force them back. One of them lunged, gripping the stock in its teeth. They snapped at my legs. They were wrestling the gun away —
They ripped it out of my hands and swarmed over me.
Their claws lacerated me, tearing through my clothes. It should have hurt, but all I had left was blinding fury. They couldn’t take him. Not again. They didn’t get to consume his body like it was mere meat.They didn’t get to take my brother from me!I still had my knife strapped to my leg and I tugged it free, slashing at them. But their flesh was rotten, and it didn’t matter if I stabbed it or ripped it. One got its teeth into my arm and wrenched its head, piercing into me so deep that the pain finally exploded through the rush of shock and adrenaline.
I tried to curl my legs up to protect my stomach. I tried to thrash and fight. I screamed at them and swung the blade at their eyes. But there were too many. There were so many of them on me that they were fighting each other for me, fighting like they had over Marcus. Who would get the best flesh, who could sneak a bite. I curled up, my hands over my head, my legs drawn close. Their claws tore into my back, their teeth snapped near my head. I was surrounded by their stench, choking on it, unable to breathe.
They were going to eat me alive.
21
I didn’t know what I was still doing there, hours later, sitting in my car on the side of that narrow, twisting road at the base of the mountain. I should have been home, sleeping off my injuries. I should have been anywhere but here, with my car smelling like a rotting corpse, unable to drive away.
Why did Juniper want to stay in that wretched place anyway? The windows were broken, and it smelled like mold and rat shit. It was isolated, a prime location for the beasts to find her. Yet she wanted to be alone up there with her half-eaten dead brother. She’d wanted to dig his grave in the encroaching dark without any help.
“Fucking hell.” I rolled my head back, groaning. I needed to drive away. I needed to go out and fuck someone, remind myself that a bargain was merely a business transaction, mutually beneficial but completely impersonal. At this point, “mutually beneficial” was a stretch to say anyway. Diving into mines where Gods slept, fighting Gollums, fucking with the cult that had practically built Abelaum — the amount of work and danger ahead of us was outrageous.
I should have been half-assing this. If Juniper died, she died. I’d still get her soul. There were plenty more souls out there to claim.
But leaving her up there didn’t feel right.Thatwas why I was still sitting here, that was why I couldn’t just suck it up and go home.
It was cold out, and there was no way in hell she was warm enough in that little shack. She was likely still digging, even though it was dark and she really should have been inside. That look in her eyes before I’d left had been so broken, so wretchedly hurt — it fucking haunted me. I knew the reason she’d told me to leave was so she could weep alone.
Her sorrow was her business, not mine. But the bond between our beings still left me aching, it left me feeling hollow since I’d left her. There was no reason to be so attached, no point in being overly involved.
“Fuck. Fucking fuck. Fuck.” I got out and slammed the car door, stalking back up the rutted dirt road. There was no harm in checking if she’d changed her mind about staying out here. She was a fool if she hadn’t. What sense did it make to be alone anyway? None. None at all. It was simply more convenient for her to stay with me. We could plan things easier. We could get this deal done quicker.
