The beast roared as its flesh bubbled up and burned. Sarah scrambled away and got to her feet next to Michael. Bellowing, the injured bear rolled onto all fours, lumbered to the wall, and stood up. Michael spun in a circle—the demons were closing in from all directions.
He knew that somehow the altar had a weak spot in the code and was just a few feet away. A glance over his shoulder showed that a small demon stood on top of it—the squirrel, or maybe the ferret-rat-weasel that had perched on Gunner Skale’s shoulder. It hissed at them, baring its tiny fangs.
Michael and Sarah stood shoulder to shoulder, hands clasped, slowly backing their way toward the kneeling pad. The noose of demons was tightening.
“You work on the code,” Michael whispered. “Find the sweet spot. I’ll fight them off with more Fire Disks.” He said it even though he had no idea how long he could last.
“Okay,” Sarah replied. “Guide me.” She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand even tighter. Michael moved back another step. Then he conjured up another array of the disks and threw them randomly in all directions.
Demons roared in pain, and Michael threw away all caution. Yanking on Sarah, he turned and dove toward the base of the altar. They hit the floor and slid two feet, coming up just short of the pad. Sarah had somehow kept her eyes closed, staying focused on her task, searching the code that surrounded them. Michael held tightly to her hand, guiding her forward. Then the little demon on the altar shrieked and dove at Sarah—its feet tangling in her hair as it clawed at her face and tried to bite her ear. She didn’t respond. Michael reached for the creature, grabbed it, and threw the thing as hard as he could.
“I’ve got it!” Sarah yelled, her eyes flying open. “I know what to do!”
But the demons were everywhere. One grabbed Michael’s arm, another his leg. One had Sarah by the hair—he could hear her scream as the creature yanked her head back. Michael fought to get loose, losing his tenuous grasp on the Fire Disk coding. The creatures were all around. Grabbing and clawing and biting. There was a terrifying moment where he almost gave up, almost decided to let them kill him and end it all. Go back to the Wake and accept the consequences.
But something inside him exploded. A roar tore through his throat and adrenaline detonated inside his muscles. Screaming in fury, Michael beat away the creatures. For the briefest moment he saw fear in all those yellow eyes surrounding him, and it gave him even more courage.
He knocked a huge beast off of Sarah. She was bruised, and blood smeared her face. He lifted her up and carried her past the kneeling pad and the altar to the dais with the statues of ancestors.
No words were needed. Michael closed his eyes and linked with the code, sensed Sarah’s presence already there. She’d set it all up, laid it out before him. In a swarming sea of numbers and letters and symbols, he saw it—the tiniest sliver of an escape. Both of them went for it at the same time.
The demons came at them, their digital forms as terrifying as their visual manifestations. A claw scratched Michael down his back. A monster on four legs—the dog or the fox—jumped onto the altar, snarling. Michael felt himself being yanked from his position, but he flexed all his digital muscles and forced his body to stay put. For one more second, just one more. He input a final piece of code and there was a popping sound.
Then it all disappeared.
CHAPTER 19
HEAT
1
The world vanished around them, and when it came back again, Michael and Sarah were inside a dimly lit cave. The walls were made of black stone.
“Oh man,” Michael said with a groan. He sat up and crawled to the closest wall of the cave, leaning back against it. “