GAME ON - GoM 2

13

The night was closing when they parked both trucks outside the closed Forest Station at Boulder Creek. Before starting for the woods, Alex gave her friends nine of the twelve shells.

"Load these and keep your finger on the trigger, guys," she said. "Tom's leading the way. No lights on. Oh, and if The Guardian shows up, please don't freak out and shoot him."

"The Guardian? You're befriending weirdo after weirdo, Al," said Bass.

"What can I say. You guys are good training."

They chuckled, appreciating a little humor in that situation. Tom readied his bow and led them into the woods toward the construction site, where the last workers had already left for the day.

They were halfway to the seventh cabin when Tom slowed down, looking to his right. Alex signaled the other three to wait. They did, shotguns ready as they scanned the shadows around.

"There's something over there," Tom whispered. "A funny smell, like moss."

"Maybe it's The Guardian," Alex said. "I should take a look. He won't show to all of you."

Tom turned to trade some quick signs with Bass and hurried after Alex, away from them.

Alex heard him catch up while she tried to spot anything like a human shape up ahead.

"Guardian?" she called, keeping her voice low.

Tom's hand on her arm stopped her. She saw him draw an arrow and looked where he was taking aim at. A hissing fog crept under the trees.

"Wait!" she breathed, and stepped up alone.

The fog shaped The Guardian only partially. His voice sounded oddly weak.

"Men are taking your friend away, hunter. But be careful, for the demons are here too."

Alex wanted to ask something, but a sudden gust blew under the trees, dispelling The Guardian's fog. She spun around to find Tom lowering his bow. He scanned around, as if looking for something. At the same time, she heard her friends shout warnings at each other: they were being attacked.

Alex and Tom tried to run back to them. A violent wind shook the trees and pushed them back, forcing them to cover their faces to protect them from twigs, small pebbles and leaves flying around. When they looked again, a man stood in their way, his face in the shadows but for the red glow in his eyes. Tom moved so fast that Alex didn't quite saw him. But she heard the man growl and saw him stagger back with an arrow sunk in his chest. Before either of them could do anything more, the demon raised a hand toward Tom.

Alex stepped back when Tom was shoved away violently and smashed against a tree. She never got to fire her shotgun. The demon moved his hand toward her and she choked, feeling a burning claw squeezing her throat. She squirmed and gasped while the demon yanked the arrow off of his chest.

Two shots echoed under the trees, along with Bass' shout, "WATCH OUT, BRO!"

Tom shook his head to clear his sight, still stunned, and saw Alex stagger, her head back as she scratched her own throat as if she were being strangled. He didn't bother standing up. Sprawled on the ground like he was, he reached his bow, drew an arrow and shot the demon. The Keeper fell to his knees, dropping the arm he had stretched toward Alex. That released her, and she managed to shoot before stumbling. The demon bent over.

"Tom! Go help'em!"

He got to his feet and hesitated.

"Go!" she cried, cocking her shotgun. "I got this!"

Tom set his jaw and sprinted away. As soon as he was out of sight, the Keeper pulled off the arrow from his side and moved his hand toward Alex again. The shotgun flew away from her grip. An invisible claw grabbed and twisted the chest of her flannel, choking her and pulling her closer to the demon and down to her knees, not a step away from him. She struggled, suffocating in his sulfur-stinking breath.

The demon's hand clutched her throat while a hot wind blew again, swirling around them. Alex wriggled, desperately gasping for air, her nails sinking in the demon's wrist under her jaw. He mocked her with a hoarse chuckle. Until his palm touched the medal Thames had given her. Alex smelled his burned skin before he let go of her.

"You bitch!" the Keeper snarled.

His backhand threw Alex a dozen yards away.

She ignored the her hurting ribs after hitting a rock and her burning lungs. She rolled over and crawled backwards until her back touched a tree. She still heard her friends shooting and shouting warnings at each other. How many men had attacked them? She could hardly move, stunned, out of breath, her chest aching and her limbs trembling. She lost sight of the Keeper when the hot wind blew around her again. It was hard to breathe, and her skin felt like scorching. She had a glimpse of the demon's red eyes as he loomed over her. Next she could only register the crushing weight on her chest first, then the rest of her body, as if a massive rock had fallen on top of her.

"Die, bitch!"

Alex expected her bones to snap broken. She tried to move, but the demon kept her pinned to the tree like a puppet on a hook.

As the demon closed his hands around her throat once more, she heard Ollie's loud cry of pain. And then Bass yelled, "TOM! BEHIND YOU!" She heard three or four shots and more shouting. Then nothing.

The thought of Tom hurt or worse startled Alex enough to command her hand down to her own waist. Her fingers clasped the hilt of her hunting knife. Everything seemed to spin and fade around her. And her lungs felt like fire. In the numb confusion of her mind, Old Bootter's voice echoed from a memory.

"Don't aim for the chest," he'd said so many years ago, teaching her to fight with knives. "It's bone-hard and you'll most likely only cut it. Always go for the throat. Here, under the jaw. Less stylish but just as deadly."

Knowing she was already passing out, she focused what few energy she had left on her right arm and was able to launch it upwards.

Just before everything went black for her, she felt an obscure satisfaction when her blade met flesh.