I felt Rosie"s hand grip mine. *Please," she whimpered. *If you can do something, please do it. I don"t want to die. Not like this. Not like this."
I looked at their faces in turn. No one else dies, that"s what I"d said. No one else dies because of me.
*OK," I said shakily. *I"ll do it. Stand back."
Ameena pulled the other two away, along the upstairs landing, near to where the bathroom door stood half open. Behind me, the policewoman"s arm clawed through the gap in the door. At the bottom of the stairs, the other screechers were still trying to force their way through.
I closed my eyes. I didn"t want to use my abilities. It felt like a victory for my dad, and that was the last thing I wanted. But what alternative was there? What other choice did I have?
The sparks moved through my brain. I held my breath, ignoring the banging and the screaming that now filled every corner of the house, and I focused. I felt my powers surge, then a noise like an explosion drowned out every other sound.
I staggered into the wall as the whole building gave a sudden lurch sideways. The floor became a steep hill. Rosie screamed again as she and the others came tumbling towards me.
*What did you do?" Ameena cried.
*Nothing! I didn"t do anything!"
Another sound, like the smash of a wrecking ball, vibrated the floor beneath us. The squeals of the screechers rose in volume, but they faded again just as quickly. The hammering on the door stopped, and as we listened we heard the screechers fleeing the house. Their screams grew quieter still as they clattered off into the distance.
*They"ve gone," Billy whispered, when the house had gone quiet once more. We leaned there in the V-shape between the floor and the wall, listening to the sound of silence.
*Have they?" Rosie asked, her eyes wide with hope. She looked to me. *Have they gone?"
*I... uh... I don"t know," I admitted. *It sounds like they have."
With a crack, the door to the box room exploded outward. The screechers downstairs might have left, but the policewoman hadn"t gone with them. She threw back her head and screamed. Her black eyes locked on us and her teeth chewed hungrily as she clattered on all fours down the slope towards us.
The spike burst through the floor directly in front of her, stabbing up from below. She twisted, mid-leap, but the javelin-like bone speared her through the stomach. Blood frothed around her mouth as she was pulled through the floorboards and down into the darkened room below.
*Stay there," I barked at Billy and Rosie, as I clambered up to the hole in the floor. Ameena got to it just as I did. We looked through it in time to see the policewoman"s mutated body tear in two.
Eyes the size of our heads swivelled to look at us from behind their protective bone-cages. The Beast"s mouth opened wide and its thunderous roar knocked us back away from the hole.
*Well, the kids are gone," Ameena said hoa.r.s.ely. *But looks like daddy"s home."
The floorboards splintered again as another spike broke through from beneath. It stabbed up between Billy"s legs, stopping just centimetres short of his crotch. Billy gave a squeal and jumped sideways, clutching his groin protectively.
*Ooh, that could"ve been nasty," Ameena said.
CRACK! The spike withdrew, then jabbed up through the floorboards again. It split the wood at Rosie"s feet. She slid down the sloping floor, only stopping when her back slammed against the equally sloping wall.
*We have got to get out of here," Billy hissed.
There was another door just a few metres up the incline. I knew from our exploration earlier that it led to another bedroom. With the house leaning the way it was, it should be possible to jump through the bedroom window and land safely in the snow. After that, all we had to do was outrun the Beast, dodge the screechers, track down Nan, then find a way to get out of the village.
Yeah. That was all.
I locked my eyes on the door. One step at a time. Escape first. I could worry about the other stuff later.
The floor wobbled unsteadily as I inched my way towards the bedroom. *Stay close to me," I urged. *We"ll get out this wa-aaaaay!"
My words became a scream of terror as the wall of the house gave way. The floor dropped out from under us and we fell through into the living room. Clouds of dust and plaster swirled up into the air, filling the room with a choking stour.
*Ameena?" I coughed. The dust was thick. It whitened my hair and forced closed my eyes. I clambered to my feet, relieved a" and surprised a" to discover I was unhurt. *Billy? Rosie? Where are you?"
WREEEEEEEEEK!.
The cry of the Beast was right in front of me, half lion-like roar, half pig-squeal. A gust of its hot breath hit me in the face. It blew some of the dust from my eyes, allowing me to open them.
Big mistake.
The Beast"s face was centimetres from my own. Up close, it looked even more monstrous. Its skull, from the top of its head to the tip of its chin, was deformed and misshapen, with lumps and b.u.mps here, there and everywhere.
Slivers of bone poked out from the face and jutted up from the neck. A stubby spike stuck out from the centre of its forehead, like the horn of the world"s ugliest unicorn.
It was the same creature we"d seen earlier, only it had grown. The shape we"d seen in the fog had been rhino-sized. This was bigger. Much bigger. Its back was bent and its head lowered as it glared down at me. I could see more of the serrated, bony spikes running the length of its spine. More bones jutted from its elbows and knees, sharp and yellowing and stained with blood.
I felt another blast of the Beast"s foul breath, and watched as a mouthful of green mucus dribbled down its chin. No wonder the screechers had turned and fled.
Slowly, I back-paced away from the monster. It padded forward on all four feet, closing the gap, but not yet moving to attack. The back feet, I noticed, had three toes, just like the footprint we"d seen in Mrs Angelo"s house. The two at the front were more like hands. They were bunched into fists. The creature walked on them like a gorilla would, leaning forward, balancing on the knuckles.
I stopped retreating and the Beast stopped advancing. We stood there, half a metre apart, me looking up and it looking down. Its slow breathing was like the wind on a stormy night. It rattled from the back of its throat. In, two, three, four, out, two, three, four.
The black, shark-like eyes were trained on my face. I leaned slowly to the right and the creature"s head swivelled to follow me. I leaned back to the centre, then out to the left, tracked the entire time by the monster"s glare.
There was a clatter from behind it and the Beast"s eyes narrowed to slits. It gave a low growl and, even from that distance, I could feel its whole body tense.
Ameena shoved aside a pile of broken floorboards and stood up. She froze when she saw me, and even through the dust that was caked to her face, I could see the last of the colour drain from her cheeks.
*It"s OK," I said, keeping my voice low and my gaze fixed on the Beast"s eyes. *It"s just... looking at me."
Ameena gave a slow nod. There was a commotion beside her and Billy"s arm emerged from the debris. The Beast"s head twitched and its dense muscles became like coiled springs as Ameena pulled Billy free.
*Relax," I said softly. I half-expected the monster to lunge then, but instead some of the tension seemed to leave its body. Its jaws, which had been hanging open, very slowly closed over.
The Beast wasn"t attacking me. For whatever reason, it wasn"t attacking me! I decided to push my luck. Very carefully, I raised my left hand, palm-forwards, into the air. I held it up there, just fifteen centimetres or so from the monster"s head. The Beast"s black eyes moved from my face to my hand. It gave a low, suspicious growl. Then, with a sudden bob of its head, it nudged my palm with its nose. I kept my hand up, ignoring the sticky strands of mucus now hanging from my fingers.
Slowly, almost cautiously, it pressed its snout against the hand again. This time it didn"t move away. Its dark eyes closed over and a low sound formed somewhere at the back of its throat.
Kaaaaaa.
The Beast"s nose pressed harder against my hand. I almost felt my nerve go, but I managed to keep my arm up. I even managed to keep it from trembling too badly.
Kaaaaaahhhhh.
*What"s it doing?" Billy asked, his voice hushed.
*I don"t know," I said, not shifting my gaze from the Beast"s broad face.
The snout nuzzled even more firmly against the palm of my hand. The Beast"s mouth opened and I felt the warmth of its breath as another sound emerged.
Kaaaaaaahhhhhhlll.
I heard Ameena draw in a sharp breath. *Was that...? Did that just...?" I knew then that she"d heard the same thing as I had, and that she was having just as much trouble believing it. *Tell me it didn"t just say your name."
A sudden scream shattered the spell. The Beast"s eyes snapped open and my hand jerked back. It let out a ferocious snarl and its deformed face twisted with rage.
*Rosie, stop," I warned, tearing my gaze from the monster and looking over to where the blonde-haired girl had climbed free of the debris. She didn"t hear me, just screamed even more loudly as the creature spun on the spot to face her.
*Run!" I bellowed. *All of you, run!"
*We"ll never outrun that!" Billy wailed. Rosie stopped screaming when Ameena"s hand clamped over her mouth.
*Yes you will," I said. *My turn to distract it."
Ameena shook her head. *Kyle, no! You can"t!"
The Beast lunged forwards. I saw its teeth clack together and its trailing mucus spray out in a wide circle.
*I can," I a.s.sured her. *Go. I"ll be fine."
She hesitated, one hand still held over Rosie"s mouth. *Promise?"
I nodded. *Promise."
And before she could try to talk me out of it, I threw myself at the Beast, and scrambled up on to its broad, armoured back.
he spikes that covered the monster"s back looked like perfect handholds. They weren"t. They were sharp and rough all the way down their length, and it was all I could do to avoid accidentally gutting myself like a fish.
*Wait. Stop!" I cried, as the Beast set off after Ameena and the others. They were running back towards the centre of the village, heads down, legs pumping through the snow. They were still too close, though. I had to buy them more time.
My hands held tightly to the Beast"s bulging ears. The soles of my feet pressed flat against its back, as I tried to stay away from those deadly spikes. A jolt shot through my legs as it bounded forward. My grip slipped and I cried out in pain as one of the blade-like bones cut into my thigh.
I rolled sideways, fell face-first, and wound up eating snow. Raising my head, I saw the Beast galloping on, leaving me behind, gaining ground on the others.
Gritting my teeth against the pain the movement brought, I stood up. The Beast was already almost too far away. I"d only get one chance at this. I had to make it count.
Whispering a silent prayer to anyone who cared to listen, I drew back my arm and let fly with a s...o...b..ll.
BAD-OOOSH!.
The hard-packed snow disintegrated against the back of the Beast"s skull. It turned, startled, and bit back over its shoulder. Finding no one there, it kept spinning, searching for whoever had attacked it.
I ducked behind a car and watched the Beast through the windscreen. My plan had been to draw the monster back towards me, but things had worked out even better than I"d hoped. It was still just turning in sharp circles, like a dog chasing its tail, trying to figure out what the h.e.l.l had just happened.
Every second it spent spinning was another second Ameena and the others had to get away. They were three dots at the bottom of the hill now. The route they were running would lead them past the church. If I knew Ameena, they"d hunker down and wait for me there. All I had to do was find a way past the Beast.
Luckily, the Beast made it easy. By the time it eventually stopped turning, it seemed to have forgotten why it had started in the first place. It snorted noisily a few times, like a racehorse after a sprint finish, pawed at the ground, then sloped off into the shadows between two buildings.
I kept watching, waiting for it to reappear. I hung back there behind the car for five or six minutes, the snow numbing the pain from the wound on my leg. Thankfully, the cut wasn"t deep a" little more than a shallow scratch, really a" and it didn"t bother me too much when I hurried down the hill towards the church.
The church doors were closed when I arrived. I creaked them open and tiptoed my way inside. The little entrance foyer was empty. I crossed it and nudged open the swing doors.
The moment the door opened, I heard the screechers. The sound was coming from the little hall where I"d made my escape earlier. They were still in there, battering against the closed door, trying to chase me down.
Quietly, I let the door close over, and returned to the street outside. I pulled the outer doors closed again, trapping the screechers inside. Ameena and the others weren"t there. So, where were they?
PAF !.
A s...o...b..ll exploded against the wall beside me. I ducked low, scanning the area for any sign of who"d thrown it.
PAF !.
Another one hit the wall directly above where I was standing, and I felt droplets of cold spray down on me from above. I looked in the direction the s...o...b..ll had come from, and saw Billy standing in the darkened doorway of a house across the street. He gestured for me to come over.
Pausing only to check the coast was clear, I dashed across the road. I was barely a third of the way across when a shriek of rage rebounded off the walls on either side of the street.
Billy pointed behind me. His mouth flapped open and closed and I heard him stammer something I couldn"t make out. An upstairs window of the house was dragged open and Ameena"s head emerged.
*Kyle, run!" she hollered. She needn"t have bothered. My legs were already pumping at full pace as I desperately tried to reach the house before the screecher reached me.
Billy retreated back inside the hallway, and for a moment I was sure he was about to slam the door shut. But he emerged again a moment later, clutching a large kitchen knife in his hand.
The sight of Billy with a knife sent chills the length of my spine. Last time I"d seen him with a blade, he"d stuck it in me. This time, though, he let out a roar and moved to charge past me as I raced along the front path.
The screecher howled just a few metres behind us. Billy spun as I caught him by the arm and I thought, from the look on his face, that he really was about to kill me.
*Let go!" he hissed. *Let me do this."
*N-no," I stammered, dragging him towards the door. *It"ll tear you apart, get inside."
He only half resisted, and I dragged him into the house with the screecher hot on our heels. *Close the door!" he yelped, all thoughts of bravery apparently having slipped away.
I did as he said and shut the door. At least, I tried to. But the screecher was too close, too strong, moving too fast. The door flew open, knocking me backwards, just as a hulking shape burst into the room.
His eyes were black, like the others. A chunk of flesh had been bitten from his neck. Blood pumped from the wound, staining his clothes a dark, dirty red. His bottom jaw jutted outwards, so his lower teeth were in front of his upper ones. Otherwise, though, he looked exactly the same as before.
*Huggs?" Ameena gasped. She had raced down the stairs and now stood at the bottom, staring in disbelief at the figure before us.
His head whipped round at the sound. His black eyes became angry, narrow slits and an animal roar rolled from within his throat.
*I told you, don"t wind him up!" Billy whimpered.
Too late. Guggs made a dive for Ameena, swiping at her with fingers that looked more like claws. She tried to dodge, but the stairway was a tight s.p.a.ce with no room to manoeuvre. He caught her by the hair and by the throat and she landed hard on the steps behind her.
Ameena"s arms braced against Guggs" head. Her muscles strained and her back arched as she fought to force him off her. His distended jaw snapped open and closed, trying to bite through the closest arm.
I grabbed for Guggs" shoulders, trying to pull him back. An elbow fired backwards. It caught me across the cheek and I felt pain explode through my skull.