Desolation

  Amber was thirsty. God, she was so thirsty.

  She started down, finding it hard to keep her weight on her injured leg. The uneven ground made things a whole lot worse. She slipped, nearly went tumbling, but lunged sideways, managed to slam her shoulder against a tree to stop her fall, managed to keep from howling in agony. She clung on, biting her lip against the pain, and once she was steady she listened.

  Benjamin wasn’t calling her name anymore.

  She couldn’t wait. Time was against her. Every moment that passed was another precious drop of blood. Holding on to the tree, Amber moved round it, let go, allowed her lead leg to slip through the dirt. Controlling her descent, she reached out, snagged a branch, snagged another one. Down here the ground was firmer and she was walking again – well, limping – and she got to the next tree and took a moment, scanning her surroundings, listening for Benjamin.

  All she heard was the wind and her own heartbeat and, in the distance, gunshots. And screams.

  The axe was maybe ten steps across open ground. Ten limping steps across open ground. Amber didn’t have a choice. She stepped out of cover, started for the farmhouse.

  “Boo,” Benjamin said from behind her.

  She swung round and he swung the rifle and she raised her arms and the scales did their best, but the rifle smashed and her left arm broke, she could feel it, and she went down, and Benjamin laughed as she screamed and tossed aside the remains of the weapon as he stalked after her.

  “You’re right, you know,” he said, smiling and showing her his fangs. “Of course you’re right. I’ve been waiting for this all year. We all have. We love it. It’s what keeps us going.”

  The pain was blinding. Amber rolled on to her right side, somehow finding the strength to push herself away from him with her legs. He kept up easily.

  “And you wanted to take that away from us? Away from me? That was never going to happen.”

  She hit the gate that contained the log pile, brought her feet in, got them under her.

  Benjamin watched her stand on legs made of Jell-o. “You know what I’m going to do? And I’m amazed this hasn’t occurred to me before. I’m going to take your advice.”

  The axe. It was right next to her. She could just reach out now, wrap her fingers around the handle, maybe pull it free with one tug, swing it into his neck before he had a chance to react. Maybe. Maybe she could do it if she hadn’t just been shot twice. If her arm wasn’t broken. If her strength wasn’t leaving her.

  “I’m going to eat you,” said Benjamin. “Maybe I’ll absorb your strength. What do you think? Maybe I’ll even be able to stay like this all year round. It’s worth a shot, isn’t it? What? You’re inching towards the axe, huh? Go ahead. Go for it. Let’s see who’s faster.”

  She hesitated. Benjamin grinned. She moved.

  Benjamin dived for the axe, but Amber just swung the log she was holding, felt it crack into Benjamin’s face, felt it snap him round, and as he staggered she took hold of the axe and yanked it free and roared as she swung. Benjamin turned away from her, caught the blade in the back, and he jerked straight and toppled, face down into the snow.

  Amber dropped to one knee and then fell sideways, clutching her broken arm, crying with the pain.

  She lay there for a long while, and the night was quiet again – quiet except for the gunshots and the screams from down in Desolation Hill.

  “A-Amber?”

  She kept her eyes closed. “What?”

  Benjamin’s voice was muffled. Strained. “I think … I think I’m hurt. I think … oh Jesus, I think you’ve done something to my back …”

  She didn’t answer. She was too busy dying.

  “Are you still there? Amber? Do you think I’ll be okay? This town, it heals us after every Hell Night, in the hour after sunrise. Those who aren’t dead, I mean. Heals us right up. But I … I don’t know. I think you’ve hurt me too bad. I can’t feel anything.”

  She cracked one eye open. “So?” she asked. “You shot me. Tried to kill me.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” Benjamin said. “But during the day I’m a different person. You know that. I’m a good person. I’m already old, for Christ’s sake. I can’t be old and crippled, too. You can’t do that to me.”

  She couldn’t just lie here. Milo was out there. And Kelly. Amber started crawling.

  “Are you still there? Amber?”

  “I’m here,” she said.

  “I’ll help you,” said Benjamin. “I’ll fight with you against the people who have come to hurt you. The whole town will fight by your side.”

  “Hush now,” Amber said as she reached him. She prodded his leg. “Can you feel that?”

  “I … I’m not sure. Are you touching me? I can’t feel anything. I’m numb. I can’t even wiggle my fingers or toes.”

  “That’s probably a good thing,” Amber said. She tugged his pants leg up, revealing a red, surprisingly hairless calf. She opened her mouth wide, and tore out a chunk with her fangs.

  “What are you doing?” Benjamin asked. “What was that sound?”

  Amber chewed, blood running down her chin, and swallowed. It was so good. It was so frikkin’ good. She tore out another mouthful of meat.

  “Are you … what are you doing? Amber? Are you … are you eating? What are you eating? What is there to …?”

  He faltered, went quiet, and as she was on her third mouthful he started screaming.

  Amber stood up. She took off her jacket, let it fall. She lifted her sodden top, ran a finger over the bullet hole in her belly. It was closing up nicely. The same with the wounds in her chest and leg. Her arm, too, was mending. No pain anymore – just that pleasant feeling of warmth. The blood was sticky, though. Her hands and face were caked in it, and it drenched her clothes.

  She opened the door into Benjamin’s farmhouse, went to the sink and splashed herself with water. She didn’t mind the cold. She washed her hands and face and her happy little smile stayed where it was. When she looked up, she saw the keys to Benjamin’s truck, right there on the windowsill.

  Well, all right then.

  WHAT FIRST TIPPED VIRGIL off to the possibility that something bad had happened at the bunker were the two dead bodies lying in the middle of the road.

  He swung the Sienna round, parked it on the hill heading down. In case they needed to make a fast getaway.

  He looked at Javier and Javier looked at him, and they got out of the car and approached the corpses. Slowly. The first was an old man. The mayor. Virgil had never met him, but he knew his face well enough. Jesper. The cause of all this hardship and pain, now lying there, covered in a sprinkling of snow with a hole in his head.

  The second corpse was a demon, a red one, like Amber. His throat had been torn open. Javier made a sound, like he was going to be sick, but he managed to keep his lunch down and they walked to the bunker. The door was open and the lights were on inside.

  Virgil led the way in. At the bottom of the steps there was another door, bigger and heavier than the first. Through it, a cheerless concrete hall with harsh lighting and dozens of bunk beds along each wall. There was a kitchen unit and a dartboard and a card table and rooms at the back, probably filled with canned goods.

  “Hello?” Javier called, even though it was pretty obvious the place was empty. “What do we do now?”

  Virgil looked around. “I have no idea.”

  “We could stay,” said Javier. “Close the door and wait out the night. In the morning, we get in your car and we drive.”

  “Drive where?”

  Javier shrugged. “Your daughter’s place.”

  “She doesn’t want to see me.”

  “I don’t care,” said Javier. “We have a hell of a story to tell her and even if she doesn’t believe us, which she won’t, at least it’ll get you talking.”

  “I don’t know,” said Virgil. “It’d be awkward.”

  “You almost got me killed,” said Javier. “You owe me, so we do what I
say, and I say we drive straight to your daughter’s place first thing in the morning.”

  Virgil hesitated, then nodded. “I guess I do owe you.”

  “Damn straight.” A few seconds ticked by. “Do you think the others are okay?”

  “I really hope so.”

  “The guy out there, he’s a demon like Amber’s a demon. You think that’s her dad?”

  “I don’t know,” said Virgil. “Maybe. The other guy’s the mayor.”

  “I figured.”

  Virgil took out his phone, searched for the numbers that Linda had put into it. He eventually found them, called Kelly and then Amber without the call being picked up. Then he called Linda herself.

  “Virgil!” Linda said when she answered. Her voice was hushed, like she was hiding. “You’re okay!”

  “I am,” said Virgil. “I’m at the bunker with Javier. What happened?”

  “Amber’s parents came. They took Austin.”

  Virgil went cold. “No. No, no, no.”

  “What?” said Javier. “What’s wrong?”

  Virgil held up a hand to silence him as Linda continued. “Then the cops came. I’m with Ronnie and Warrick. We’re heading back to your place.”

  “We’ll meet you there.”

  “Virgil, wait, it’s not safe here. Hell Night has started. We’re … Jesus, there are demons everywhere.”

  “Are you in danger?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. A rustling followed, the sound of running, and then she spoke again, breathlessly. “We’re doing our best to stay away from it all. I have to go. Virgil, if you can, leave. Just drive out of town. Drive and keep going. Good luck.”

  She hung up without waiting for an answer.

  “Austin’s been taken,” Virgil told Javier. “Hell Night has started. They’re trying to get back to my house to lie low.”

  “Did she say what we should do?”

  “She said we should run.”

  Javier nodded. “And what are we actually going to do?”

  “Go back to my house. See what we can do to help.”

  “Right then. Let’s get going.”

  They climbed the steps out of the bunker just as another demon emerged from the treeline. Her hair was as red as her skin and she was quite breathtakingly beautiful, despite the tears running down her face.

  She saw them and they froze.

  “You,” she said. “Who are you?”

  “Uh,” said Virgil.

  “Do you know Amber? Are you helping her? Does she like you?”

  Virgil didn’t say anything more. Javier kept his mouth shut.

  “Screw it,” the demon snarled, stalking forward. “I’m going to kill you, anyway.”

  “Back, back, back,” Virgil whispered, and they stumbled inside the bunker and slammed the door after them, turning a wheeled handle that locked it.

  The demon began pounding on it from the other side.

  “I’ll kill you!” she screamed. “I’ll kill you!”

  They hurried down the steps, stood at the bottom beside the second door, the heavier door, ready to close it if the first seemed in danger of giving way.

  The demon pounded and screamed and pounded and threatened, and after two or three minutes they began to hear sobbing, and then the barrage stopped and the sobbing went away.

  Javier glanced at Virgil. “Think it’s a trick?”

  Virgil didn’t answer. He climbed the steps, put his ear to the door, and heard nothing.

  Javier went off to find the toilet, and by the time he’d returned Virgil had made up his mind. “I’m going to take a look outside.”

  Javier nodded. “That’s stupid.”

  “I can’t just stand here.”

  “Stand over there, then.”

  “I’m opening the door, Javier. Turn out the lights.”

  Grumpily, Javier found the light switch and plunged them into darkness. “Fine,” he said. “But if she kills us …”

  He didn’t really have anything to say after that.

  Virgil turned the wheeled handle slowly. It creaked and he winced. He kept turning, expecting the demon to kick it open at any moment and send him hurtling down the steps. But she didn’t kick it, and he opened the door without smashing any bones.

  He peered out, and signalled to Javier to come join him. Together they watched as the demon hunched over the other demon’s corpse in the middle of the road. They watched her crying, watched her throw back her head and scream at the moon. Then she dipped forward again.

  “Jesus,” Virgil whispered.

  Javier frowned. “What is she doing?”

  “I think she’s … eating him.”

  “Christ!”

  She was talking, too, talking to the corpse. They could hear her sobs. Her words were distressed and muffled by a full mouth, but it appeared that she was apologising. Quite right too.

  “If this is what she does to her friends,” Javier whispered, “what do you think she’s going to do to us?”

  “She’s not going to get to us,” said Virgil. “We’re going to make a break for it. We get to the car, I take the brake off and put it in neutral, we roll downhill. She won’t even know we’re gone.”

  Javier nodded. “You go first.”

  “You’re sure? You don’t want to volunteer?”

  “It’s your stupid plan.”

  Virgil glowered, but there was no time to argue. She was eating pretty damn fast.

  Moving as quietly as he could, he crept forward. As he crossed the road, he did his best to keep low, but his back was playing up again. Thankfully, she didn’t look round.

  He got to the Sienna, took the keys from his pocket carefully, without jangling them, and turned, gave the signal. Javier nodded and closed the door to the bunker behind him. But instead of creeping, or sneaking, or even moving remotely stealthily, Javier took a slow, slow step. Then another.

  And eventually another.

  Virgil waved him on, cursing him silently, but Javier didn’t change his tactic. He was maybe six steps away from the car and the demon lady still hadn’t noticed him, but as she tore off another chunk she fell back and turned away from the corpse, weeping. All she had to do was raise her head and she’d be looking straight at Javier.

  Virgil felt his heart hammer painfully in his chest. Javier stared at him, ashen-faced and frozen in place.

  Virgil waited until his heart stopped trying to leap out through his ribcage, then peeked at the lady demon as she wiped her eyes. She looked over at the bunker, and snarled.

  Virgil motioned for Javier to lie down. Javier nodded, and began to sink slowly to the ground.

  The lady demon stood and wobbled slightly, like she’d had too much to drink. But if she was drunk then she was an angry drunk. She roared and Javier flinched, but by some miracle her eyes still hadn’t flicked in their direction.

  Lying flat on his belly, Javier held out his hands. Virgil reached for them, took a good grip, and, ever so slowly, he pulled Javier behind the car.

  Together they watched the demon lady march to the bunker, and begin to pound once more on the door. Incredibly, it was even louder than before. She was stronger. Angrier. The door began to rattle.

  Virgil opened the driver’s side door. The dome light came on. The demon didn’t notice. He got in as quickly as he could, turned out the light, and took off the brake. Javier got in the other side, just as the Sienna started to roll downhill.

  They heard a shout behind them. She’d seen them. They slammed the doors shut and the Sienna picked up speed, and in the rear-view Virgil watched the demon lady sprinting after them. She was fast. She was extraordinarily fast. He jammed the key in the ignition and turned it and the engine came to life and the dashboard lit up and he slammed his foot on the gas.

  THE DOWALL MOTEL BURNED.

  The flames that consumed it licked the air and sent the snow flurries swirling. It stood atop its perch, up on that hill, and it burned like a beacon of madness. In its windows, a
figure danced. Whether it was Kenneth or Belinda Dowall, Kelly couldn’t say, and the Charger wasn’t moving slow enough for her to gauge.

  A demon landed in the street ahead of them and roared, and the Charger ran right over him.

  Hell Night had begun, which meant that Naberius had had his sacrifice. Which meant another child had died.

  “Amber’s parents are real pieces of work, huh?” Kelly said.

  Milo didn’t answer.

  The last time Kelly had been down this street, the way had been smooth. Now the road was jagged and cracked, with chunks rising over the sidewalk like a swollen river bursting its banks. Her phone buzzed. She swiped the screen.

  “Linda!” she said. “Where are you? You okay? I’ve been trying to call!”

  “We’re good,” Linda said. “For now. Listen, we made it back into town, but—”

  “We’re in town, too,” Kelly said. “Me and Milo. Where are you?”

  There was a moment of whispered exchange, and then, “Just coming up to the corner where Briar Lane meets Briar Road.”

  “Briar Road,” Kelly said to Milo. “You know it?”

  He nodded, pointed right. “Two blocks that way.”

  “We can be there in thirty seconds,” Kelly said.

  “Kelly, no,” said Linda. “We think we’re being followed. We’re gonna try to lead them somewhere. If you and Milo can … hold on … shit.”

  “Linda? Linda? What’s wrong? Linda?”

  The call cut off.

  “They’re in trouble,” Kelly said.

  Milo nodded, started to turn the wheel, then braked, his eyes on the road ahead, to where Austin Cooke sprinted into an alley, pursued by a pair of hollering demons.

  “Catch up with your friends,” Milo said as her door opened all on its own. “Stick to the shadows. I’ll get Austin. Meet up at Virgil’s place.”