Gone

Chapter Nineteen: Monstro

From the time it took to snap back into reality and to get up and out the vehicle, Matt had fired and reloaded his flare gun down one of the paths and shouted out for us to ready our own.

"Where did it go?!" Alice called out from the driver's seat as she frantically searched for her own flare gun. Strange. Could've sworn she had it on her when we gave chase. It may have been dropped in all the excitement of our first encounter, but she was an agent for God's sake. These thoughts began to trouble me. Alice continued to search before stopping and looking up at me with fear.

"What's with that look, Bones?" It was the first time I had addressed her by last name. I felt the need to be on the offensive. What she said next though completely through off whatever I was preparing for.

"Elysia.." she paused and looked outside and into the woods, "... Why did Matt stop talking..."

I was practically shaking once the realization kicked in. He was dead quiet after he told us to take up arms. Almost on cue, like it was waiting to build up the tension and eerieness of this situation did we see the last flare he fired was descending a dozen feet from where we stood. He didn't hit this time. At the point, my skin was almost as pale as my hair which would make the moonlight that was beginning to take prescendance envy it. Something grabbed him. Something got Matt.

Alice wasted no time jumping back into the vehicle. I myself was startled when she turned off the vehicle, my soul practically leaping out of my already shaken up self. She flipped on one of the U.V. flashlights and tosses another one at me. I caught it with a grip that would rival that of a mother pulling her child away from certain danger.

She flashed the light at my eyes to grab my attention. "Hey, I know you're on edge now, but he's my friend. And you're the one who got him back into this mess." Her face grew very grim and serious now as her tone was quiet, but not soft. "His only chance of survival falls upon us now." She walked up and grabbed my shirt collar and looked at me coldly in the eyes. "If he dies out there, and you remain here with this damn car while I'm out there, you'll have more than the wendigo's to worry about." Her voice was so cold it practically made my spine shiver. I no longer saw the sweet and helpful telepath before me. The same confusion and fear that flooded over me from that alley way came coursing back to me with full force. She let go and began to march off into the stomach of that forest. I'm no coward, and I can't stomach the idea of being left behind by people I care for, let alone doing it to someone else. I switched on my flashlight and followed her example.

Not another human being dies tonight.