Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I"ve heard that before, but I"m not sure if it"s true. We need to find the North Star for our night walking; we can use the sun during the day."
"I think we should sleep at night a it"s pretty friggin" dark in here." It wasn"t even totally nightfall yet and I could barely see ten feet in front of me.
Jared left the clearing, the rest of us gathering up our stuff and following not far behind.
I hurried to catch up to Chase since his form was quickly disappearing into the thick trees ahead. I could hear Becky struggling behind us. Finn was staying close by her, I think to make sure she didn"t get left behind. I could hear him encouraging her along.
There were fallen trees and low-hanging branches everywhere. I had thought this was going to be a leisurely stroll through the forest, but I soon learned differently. Everywhere we stepped it was tough going. Where are all the d.a.m.n paths in this place, anyway?
A breeze moved through the trees, pushing some branches aside. I thought I caught a glimpse of ... Yes! It was a path of some sort.
"Hey guys! I think there"s a path over here!" I pointed through the trees.
Tony looked around the branch that was in our way. "Yeah, she"s right a there is a path here. This would be a lot easier to follow, I think. It seems to be going in the same direction."
Jared came back to where we were standing and looked for himself. He smiled absently, a look of confusion momentarily flitting across his face, before he nodded at me. "Good job, Jayne." He looked over his shoulder, encouraging us to follow. "Come on, everyone, let"s go this way. Tony"s right; it"s going in the direction we want."
Spike and Chase easily kept up with his pace, but the rest of us started to fall behind. Tony was looking at the ground as we walked. He didn"t see some branches in front of him and they hit him in the face. As they swung back, they barely missed whipping into me.
"Pay attention to where you"re walking, Tony," I said, irritated.
"Sorry ... I"m just ... do you notice anything weird about this path?" he asked.
"Weird? No, what do you mean?"
"I mean, it"s not really a path. There"s no trail on the ground. It"s just some branches that have been shoved aside. But look down ... "
I looked at the ground to see what he was talking about. Sure enough a there was no trail under our feet. We were still walking over fallen branches, rocks, and other things a not what you would expect to see on a path that was well-traveled. But the way the branches were well away from the area, it seemed as though it could have been used quite a bit.
"Weird," was all I could think to say. Maybe whatever used the path didn"t have feet. Or legs. I laughed nervously with the direction my mind was going. "Is it my imagination, or is this place glowing green?" I was starting to feel like I was going to see some fairies jump out at us at any second.
Tony laughed. "No, the only things glowing green right now are my teeth. I feel like I haven"t brushed them in three days."
"I know, right? My teeth totally have fur on them right now."
"What"re you guys talking "bout?" asked Finn, coming up behind us.
"Oh nothing a just furry teeth and enchanted pathways. What"s up with you?"
"Nothin". Just tryin" not to trip and fall on my keester."
"Hey, guys! Wait up!" said Becky from behind us.
The three of us stopped to wait for her. She was short, so it was hard for her to climb over the bigger branches a unlike me, graceful gazelle that I was. Okay, maybe not so graceful or so much like a gazelle, but I had at least four inches on Becky, and I wasn"t tall by any means. Everything about her was tiny. Even her tiny head had tiny ears attached to it. She wasn"t a dwarf a more like a miniature person. Perfectly proportioned, but extra, extra, extra small. She probably had to shop in the little kids" department.
She finally caught up after scrambling over a particularly large log. "Where are we? Are we almost there yet?"
"I have no idea," I answered. I hadn"t even taken my map out yet. "Let"s go ask Jared."
"Where"d he go?" asked Finn.
We looked up ahead at the path in front of us. It was dark now, and I couldn"t see anything but some trees and then blackness.
"s.h.i.t, we"ve lost them," I said, p.i.s.sed that those t.u.r.ds had left us behind. "Dammit, this isn"t a race! Why didn"t they wait?"
"Maybe they didn"t realize they"d lost us," offered Tony.
I made a very inelegant sound in response. Tony was always giving people the benefit of the doubt. I know if I was in front, I would make sure the people behind me were still behind me, especially in a dark creepy forest filled with effing "obstacles", whatever those were going to be.
"Let"s just keep moving ahead on the path and see if we can catch up to them," suggested Tony.
Tony took the lead, turning on his flashlight, and we followed a first me, then Becky, then Finn. We didn"t want to risk losing Becky the way we"d been lost already, so we kept her between us.
We were walking along for several minutes, with no sign of Jared, Chase, or Spike, when we heard shouting and screaming up ahead. The shouting ... human; the screaming ... not so much. We all stopped dead in our tracks.
Tony shut off his flashlight.
My heart stopped beating for a second and then rushed to catch up to its now accelerated rhythm. "What the f.u.c.k was that?" I asked, whispering loudly, totally freaked out.
Becky"s eyes were practically the size of tea saucers. I could see them easily in the dark, glowing beacons coming from her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Tony grabbed my arm, squeezing as hard as he could.
I slapped his hand away and shot him a dirty look.
He apologized silently, just moving his lips.
Finn was staring ahead of us into the darkness, probably wishing he could see like a cat so he could figure out what was waiting for us up ahead.
I was seeing okay here in the dark, more so than I did back home ... probably the moonlight helped. The moon was brighter here or something.
We heard another shout then and a scream. I recognized the voice. "It"s Chase!" I whispered loudly, desperation in my voice. We couldn"t just sit here while Chase, Spike, and Jared were getting their a.s.ses kicked. "Come on, we have to go see what"s going on." I gestured for them to follow me, but Finn and Tony rushed to get in front. Frustrated with their uncoordinated chivalry that inadvertently knocked me to the side, I grabbed Becky"s hand to drag her along and make sure she didn"t get left behind.
We rushed up the path as quickly as we could, not worrying about the sounds we might be making as we crashed through the undergrowth. Chase and whoever else was up there were creating enough noise to cover the evidence of our arrival. I could tell we were getting closer now because we could hear grunts too a the sounds of men fighting in close contact.
Suddenly a shot rang out. Chase! The vision of his gun sitting on that weapons table and him putting it in his backpack rushed through my head. I never thought he"d actually use the stupid thing. My next thought nearly stopped me cold: What the f.u.c.k am I gonna do with a sharp stick?! I had no time to worry about that now, though. We had arrived at the scene.
None of us was prepared for what we saw.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
We had reached a small opening in the trees. It was dark, but the moon was nearly full and shining brightly across the clearing, making it seem like there was a streetlight above our heads. It was enough for us to make out the form of Chase lying on his back, Spike"s dark figure hunched over him.
"Chase!" I yelled, rushing to get to him, shoving Tony and Finn out of my way. I was anxious to bend down next to Spike and see if Chase was okay.
"Jayne, stop!" yelled Tony, panic in his voice. It didn"t register with me for a split second, but by then it was too late. The dark figure that was crouching over Chase straightened up, and I immediately understood why Tony had called anxiously to me. It wasn"t Spike; and whoever it was, he wasn"t checking to see if Chase was okay. He was a little too close to Chase"s b.l.o.o.d.y neck to be doing that.
I froze in my tracks, five feet from the creature. He stood up, turning around to face me, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. I saw the glistening streak of crimson left behind as he slowly lowered his hand down to his side.
"Well, h.e.l.lo there, you sweet, ferocious thing. Nice of you to stop by. Are you here to rescue me?" He simpered when he talked, exactly like my flamingly gay music teacher from tenth grade who used to wear red pants and pink shirts to school. He smiled at me and I could see the blood on his teeth. Chase"s blood. So this is what a so-called "obstacle" looked like.
Shee-it. I was torn between the desire to jump on him and smash that smile off his face, and the urge to run away as fast as I could while screaming like a girl on fire. The look in his eyes reminded me of the big wildcats Tony and I would watch on Animal Planet ... crouched down and waiting, totally still, for the perfect moment to pounce on their prey and tear it to itty bitty b.l.o.o.d.y pieces.
A more subdued form of self-preservation won out a I started walking slowly backwards, trying not to get him too excited about chasing me.
I heard Finn speaking quietly off to my left, a little behind me. "Jayne, take a step to your right ... slowly ... "
He didn"t have to tell me twice. I stepped to my right and back, hoping it would put me between Tony and Mr. Tall, Dark, and b.l.o.o.d.y. One more step and I was even with Finn on my left.
He had his bow up, arrow notched and ready to go.
Now that I was out of the way, our mystery man ... creature ... whatever he was, saw Finn too. "Oooh, scary. A bow and arrow." He put his hand up to his mouth in mock fear. "Whatever am I going to do?"
Before the word "do" was completely out of his mouth, he was standing three feet in front of Finn. I didn"t even see him begin to move and then suddenly he was just there. "h.e.l.lo, sweetheart. I ... " The rest of the cruel taunt he was in the process of lisping at Finn was suddenly cut off when Finn let the arrow fly, embedding it in the creature"s chest cavity.
Finn slowly lowered the bow to his side as we all stared, stunned, at the arrow now protruding halfway out of the creature"s chest and partway out of its back.
"Take that, s.h.i.thead," said Finn.
The creature started breathing heavily, the simpering smile wiped from his face. "Dammit ... a wooden arrow? Who gave that dangerous toy to you, little boy?"
And then he was gone ... poof ... like he"d never even been there.
Finn let out the breath he"d been holding in one big whoosh, bending over and holding his hand over his heart.
I totally understood what he was going through right at that precise moment. I was having a small heart attack myself, and I hadn"t just stuck a blood-sucking creature from my worst nightmares through the chest with a stupid arrow.
Tony looked over at Finn, his own face so white it looked nearly blue. "Where"d you learn to shoot like that?"
Finn stood up and shrugged his shoulders. "I come from a long line o" rednecks; we bowhunt all kinda s.h.i.t in Central Florida. Nothin" like that though."
I decided right then and there I was never going to mock or disrespect a redneck ever again, for as long as I lived.
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Finn, my friend, you have nerves of absolute steel. I almost peed my pants when that gargoyle just appeared in front of you like that. I didn"t even see him move."
"He reminded me of a rattler. Just waitin" to strike. We got lots of rattlers out where I"m from."
My newfound admiration for Finn"s redneckery was interrupted by the sound of Chase"s moaning. In all the excitement I had kind of forgotten the poor guy. Thank G.o.d he was still alive. My brain was not ready to accept death yet. Anyone"s. Not even that freaky deaky monstrosity that had just vanished into thin air. It"s not that I minded him being dead, so much as I just didn"t want to have to look at him anymore; and if he had died, he"d still be here with us, as a reminder of the deep the s.h.i.t we were in right now. I don"t think they make wading boots tall enough.
Becky was the first to reach Chase. She knelt down, peering at his face, careful not to touch him. "Hey, Chase. You okay?"
I wasn"t so worried about the touching part. I bent down and tapped his cheek a couple times. "Hey, Chase ... you in there?" I figured he"d appreciate the tough love approach more than the fawning and sniveling stuff.
His dry lips parted a little and he said weakly, "Yeah ... barely."
"Can you open your eyes?"
He opened them and I couldn"t help but gasp in surprise. The light of the moon was shining down onto his face, lighting it up almost as well as a flashlight. What were once the brightest cornflower-blue eyes I"d ever seen, were now a dark and dull ... I don"t know ... blah. If "empty" was a color, this was it. "Holy s.h.i.t, Chase ... your eyes."
"I can"t see anything in this light," said Becky, pulling her flashlight out of her bag and shining it in Chase"s face. As soon as she saw them, her eyes got even buggier than they already were, welling up with tears. She snapped off her flashlight and turned her head to quickly brush some tears away.
Chase struggled to sit up, blinking the remnants of the brightness away. "I can see fine, but it is a little dark."
Tony and Finn came up to see what the big deal was. They both got on either side of Chase to help him stand.
He swayed a little on his feet at first, but then he seemed to get his equilibrium back. "Dizzy ... "
"Still a man of few words, I see," I said, jokingly. It was time to get some positive vibes back into this group, so I was determined not to start shrieking and having a total mental breakdown, even though that"s what felt like the natural thing to do.
Becky choked, laughing and crying at the same time. "Sorry," she said, embarra.s.sed about her tears. I thought she was the only one having a normal reaction right now though, so I patted her on the shoulder to make her feel better.
Tony and Finn leaned in and got a closer look at Chase"s eyes. Finn shined his flashlight on Chase"s face. "Dude, what color are your eyes s"posed to be?"
"Blue."
Finn let out a low whistle. "Well, they ain"t blue no more."
"Yeah, they"re a kind of, I don"t know ... gray? Is that gray, Jayne?" asked Tony, concern marring his face.
"That"s what I"d call it," I answered. That was better than saying "lifeless" or "empty". I changed the subject to something more pressing. "So, where the h.e.l.l are Jared and Spike, and what the f.u.c.k was that monster doing to Chase?"
"Looked like it was eatin" him, to me," said Finn, matter of factly.
"I don"t think it was eating me," said Chase.
The teeth marks and blood streaks on his neck said differently. "What was it doing then?" I asked. Maybe it had injected him with a poison that was making him stupid.
"It was draining my life force away, I think, not just blood. After it got the drop on me and nailed me to the ground, I tried to fight it; but almost right away, I got tired. Then stuff just stopped mattering to me and I kinda zoned out. I quit fighting on purpose."
"Stuff? What stuff?" asked Tony.
"Life. Living."
A life-sucking creature. Here in this forest. With us. "Sonofab.i.t.c.h!"
"Shhh, Jayne, not so loud," said Tony, panicked.
"What?! Those a.s.sholes put us in this forest with humanoid creepers that like to suck the life outta people! You know what that means, Tony? Vampires! And not the hot, Twilight kind either. How am I supposed to remain calm about that?"
Becky spoke up quietly. "He"s right. We have to be quiet. That thing might not be the only one out here. Maybe he has ... friends."