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I frown in confusion, but join them, swinging my batons down. We don’t have time to wonder why this one is breaking apart faster now that we have the upper hand.
“Hey, Amalia!” Johannsson calls. “I bet you can’t make one of these SUVs explode!”
A grin splits her face. “No, but I’ll do my best to try!”
She climbs into the driver’s seat of the nearest SUV and turns it toward the monster. Then, with one hand on the roof, she slams on the gas and barrels toward the creature, aiming for the large mass right between its reaching arms.
At the last minute, she leaps free, tumbling across the road.
The SUV continues its forward momentum and slams nose-first into the Bone Man. In the next second, the roof and front half explode, creating a larger explosion as it takes the engine.
A moment later, the fuel tank catches fire, and everyone ducks behind the remaining cars as it goes up in flames.
The concussive blast sends a rush of hot air, car parts, and burning wood flying past us. When we peek out of hiding, a large, smoking crater reveals dangling roots at the monster’s center.
The officers open fire once more, focusing on the left arm that the creature uses to support itself, aiming at a large crack created by the SUV’s explosion.
Jerry and Trent sling grenades into the cavern at its center, trying to blast all the way through the monster. If they succeed, the creature’s weight may tear it in half, and we can work on torching the forest at the top.
As they lay down their assault, more bones tumble off, turning into a deathly pale avalanche, as if the ties that bound them to the monster were cut, allowing them to fall free.
My gut clenches with realization, and I turn to search for Flint.
He and Anny stand at the end of the line of SUVs, their focus on the Bone Man, while the air swirls and thickens around them.
Flint’s hair floats around his head, and the glamour he so carefully crafted is gone, leaving the scars on his face exposed. One eye glows with an eerie purple light, while the other is an empty black void.
Peace fills his features as he summons the trapped souls away from the Bone Man and to himself, weakening the monster in the only way he can. In this moment, he looks like the death god that so many people have called him in the past.
Mouth dry, I swallow hard and turn back to the Bone Man. We can’t let this advantage go to waste.
Several blasts later, the arm under assault breaks off, and Marc scorches it to ash as it falls. Sweat evaporates from his flushed face, and he breathes heavily, but his jaw sets with determination.
None of us are giving up until this is done.
“There’s another of the faces!” Trent shouts, pointing.
O’Hara nods and grabs his rocket launcher, lifting it onto his shoulder and firing.
The rocket launches through the air but misses, hitting the tree next to the target. It explodes, ripping into its neighbors, but not fully destroying the face.
Before we can try again, the grenades exploding at its center do their job, blasting through the monster.
A horrible, wrenching tear splits the air as the forest floor rips down the center, and the two halves of the Bone Man tip in opposite directions. They fall forward, taking out more trees and exposing the final face at the back.
“Finish off the injured face!” I shout as I race through the center of the Bone Man.
I find the face hidden at the back by the eye-filled leaves that shift toward me and climb over broken tree trunks to reach it.
Slamming my batons into its gnarled face, the trunk explodes, flinging me backward.
A hand catches my arm, swinging me down to a lower trunk, and Marc takes my place, burning down the tree to ensure we kill it.
An explosion sounds off to the left, followed by victorious shouts as the others destroy the final face.
The forest shudders, then stills, but we’re not taking any chances that this thing will be able to spawn again. We continue breaking the body apart and burning it, one large chunk at a time.
In between chopping with his ax, Marc sets each piece on fire. The others help out, building a bonfire to drag the pieces into, and flames lick toward the sky.
