The Inception (Book #1 of The Inception Trilogy)

chapter thirty

CHAPTER THIRTY

EVELYN JOLTS AWAKE WHEN Robbie belts an ear-piercing scream. Instinctively yanking out her dagger, she jumps to her feet to face the threat.

She nearly has a heart failure.

A beast, looking as normal as a beast can look, is struggling to drag him away.

Robbie puts up a fight, digging his heels into the dirt and biting the beast's arm whenever he tries to lift the small boy. Robbie is squirming too much for the creature to get a decent grip, and once or twice Robbie manages to slip away but only for a few moments. The beast either doesn't care or doesn't notice that he's awoken the entire camp; he keeps pulling Robbie back.

Evelyn's feet move on their own, quickly and purposefully. She tries to stealthily creep behind the beast, but he'd been paying more attention than he let on. He shifts Robbie to his left side, deflecting Evelyn's dagger with his right forearm. He's immensely strong, even fighting one handed, and Evelyn does everything she can to try and stump him. She kicks at his legs, but his feet are firmly planted in the ground. She slices his forearm with her blade, but he doesn't so much as wince.

She finds a loophole, spinning skillfully to swipe at his other arm, the one that holds Robbie. She manages to catch him off guard with the help of Robbie's continuous struggling. Her dagger digs deep into his shoulder, deep enough to draw a hiss from him as he drops the boy. Robbie runs to the middle of the camp with the other kids, and Evelyn has just enough time to see Maxie coddling him.

Then the beast dives for her.

She falls flat on her back, the breath escaping her lungs, but she's fast to recover. She punches him in the jaw, trying to distract him long enough so she can clutch her dagger and snatch it out of him. It doesn't work. His face hardly budges with her swings. She uses the side of her hand to chop his windpipe, but he falters a brief second and immediately counterattacks. His hands clasp around her throat.

She sees Locke over the beast's shoulder, bringing a sturdy branch down hard on the creature's head.

But the beast heard, and he whips around so fast, Locke can't move the branch in time. The beast snatches it with one hand, keeping the other on Evelyn's throat to pin her down, and he slams the branch into Locke's side. It seems to knock the breath out of him, and he staggers back, a bit stunned.

Evelyn uses that temporary distraction to throw her knee into the beast's stomach, but yet again this particular beast is undeniably strong. His body barely gives, and if anything, he pushes down on Evelyn's throat harder.

She angles her head back in attempts to catch the air she so desperately needs, clawing at his arm pettily. She throws her knee into him again, but to no avail does he loosen his deadly clutch. Her vision is darkening around the edges, the world around her blurry and distorted.

Locke tries another attack, but the beast whacked him hard in the side and he can barely stand up straight. He tries to push into him like a football player may tackle another player, but the beast is unmoved while Locke's feet slide across the dirt as if he were trying to rush a brick house. He gets brownie points for effort.

But Evelyn is slowly losing consciousness.

Where is Harry?

He had been there each time she needed rescuing when she constantly refused it, and now when she genuinely needs and wants to be rescued, he's nowhere to be seen. She gets disturbing thoughts in her throbbing head. Perhaps he's munching on innocent people for his own sake.

It's unfair of her to think he'd be so selfish, but she's too angry and disappointed and scared to care.

She lets her eyes close, though, continues to defy the fatigue and lightheadedness the best she can. Her body gradually limps, her mind slipping away.