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“We have to get him on land,” Lucia said, swimming hard toward the shore. “Walsh! Get ready for CPR!”
Cody heard Ollie say, “Oh, shit, CPR? Again?” as memories flooded him with fear. Their honeymoon. Watching helplessly as the Heaversford Lake deputy performed CPR on Demmy after pulling him from Esther’s mouth.
He was drained from being underwater so long, and he was having a tough time keeping up with Lucia. He swam behind her as she hauled Demmy to the rocky shoreline. Demmy was facing Cody, his eyes closed and his skin pale, lips parted. Cody’s heart broke over and over as he tried to keep up with Lucia. Not Demmy. Not today. Not ever.
Deputy Walsh waded into the water, and Jugs was beside her. They grabbed Demmy’s arms and pulled him onto the grassy bank. In a moment, Walsh had started mouth to mouth, and Cody finally put his feet down and waded to land.
He dropped down to his knees on the other side of Demmy’s pale, still form, panting and watching as Walsh switched to chest compressions. Water and tears ran down his face, and Cody barely flinched when Dave suddenly knelt beside him and put his arms around him.
“He’ll be okay,” Dave said. “He’s strong. He’s a tough little bastard. He’ll do okay.”
“That’s not me!”
Cody looked toward the water and his labored breathing caught in his chest as he saw himself wading toward the bank of the pond. The shape shifter was good, he had to give it that. It was shirtless and looked just like him. Same slightly shaggy brown hair, dripping wet, same two-day scruff of beard, same scar on his left forearm from the zombie bite.
Jesus Christ though, what was up with that roll of fat around his midsection? Despite the moment, Cody looked down at himself and frowned. Seriously?
“What the fuck?” Deputy Walsh said, pausing between compressions.
“Deputy, focus on Demetrius,” Lucia snapped. “I’ll handle this.”
Cody shrugged Dave off and pushed to his feet. He pointed at the thing in the water and shouted, “You stay the fuck away from him.”
The lookalike in the water pointed back at Cody. “That’s not the real me.” It gestured to itself. “I’m Cody Bower.”
“The fuck you are!”
Cody stormed into the water, and just before he dove forward to tackle the thing, he saw its slight grin and wondered what mistake he’d just made. He was too angry to change course, however. And he had too much fury inside him to think clearly about the situation. The years of them dealing with monsters with little to no support from the town or sheriff’s department, the outcome of the civil suit, and now this fucking thing trying to drown Demmy as well as his grandmother—it was all too much.
Before any rational thought could break through, Cody dove forward and grabbed his doppelgänger around the middle, and they both fell back into the water with a splash. They struggled, and Cody tried his best, but the thing was better in the water and ended up on top. He could hear the others shouting, but anger and his being in and out of the water so much made it impossible to hear them clearly.
On his back and flailing, his chest and head held just beneath the surface by the thing that looked like him, blood pounded in Cody’s head, and his lungs screamed for air. Just when he thought this might be it for him, that he would drown, he saw the thing holding him down grin before it lifted him out of the water just enough for him to grab a breath.
“I watched you and your man fondle each other,” it whispered to him, too quiet for those shouting on the shore to hear. “His release stained my water, and I tasted it for days after you left. It was easy after that to follow you both through town.”
The thing shoved him back under, and Cody barely managed a quick breath before the water closed over him again. Then, suddenly, he’d been released, and he pushed up into the air, gasping and sputtering. The nix had turned toward shore and was wading through the shallows, hands held up as if in surrender. Cody gulped air as he struggled to find his footing on the sucking mud and slick rocks.
“That’s not me!” he shouted between coughing fits. “Not me!”
“It’s lying!” the thing that looked like him said as it waded closer to shore, throwing an arm out to gesture back at Cody.
“Stay where you are, both of you!” Lucia had her gun in hand and was shifting her aim between the two of them.
“Lucia, it’s me,” Cody said, finally getting his feet under him and patting himself on the chest. “You know me.”
“He’s lying,” the thing said, placing a hand on its chest. “You know me. This is me. That thing looks like me, but it’s a murdering monster.”
Lucia looked between them, the gun following her line of sight. Cody looked at Demmy, and his heart soared when he saw him move. A smile stretched his cheeks and he took several steps toward shore.
“Demmy!”
“Demmy, it’s me!” the thing said, also moving closer.
“Stay the fuck back!” Lucia shouted, moving the gun between them. “Neither of you move.”
Deputy Walsh held Demmy’s head to the side as he coughed up water. Cody’s vision blurred from tears and he took an involuntary step forward.
“Demmy,” he said quietly.
