Will the Wise

Chapter 6

"Shit," the man said. He was standing in the doorway, frozen. Will was still backed up against the wall, shaking. He could hear the sound of the monster's footsteps on the street outside, but they were almost drowned out by the roar of his thoughts. Who was this man? Why was he here? If he was here, then was it possible Will's family was, too? "Shit," the man said again.

And then he was unfrozen and running towards Will. Will ducked into the hall and dashed towards his room. He didn't know if the man was there to help him or to hurt him, but instinct told him it was the latter. He hurried inside and moved to shut the door, but as soon as he started to push at it, he felt something heavy land against the other side, hard. He pushed the door desperately for a moment, but it wasn't enough. The man broke inside, slamming the door behind him. He brushed past Will and across the room, muttering something. As he got closer, Will realized that he was just repeating one word. Weapons. Was he...sane? The man walked up to Will, who pressed his back up against the door. He grabbed him by the shoulders.

"How long have you been here? How long has the world been like this?" Will felt weak from fear. "How long?" He gripped Will's shoulders tighter.

"A d-day," Will stammered, looking up at him.

"Same as me," the man said quietly, glancing at the door. "That's no help." He looked back at Will. "Have you ever fought it off?"

Will knew he was talking about the monster outside. "I – I don't know," Will said, pointing at his desk. "I used the lamp. It didn't, um, I didn't fight it, though."

"Then what did you do with it?" The man sounded exasperated.

"It didn't actually come in, but that's what I've been using to..." Will trailed off, not really knowing how to end that sentence.

"A lamp's not gonna do anything," the man said, biting his lip and looking around the room. "You got a baseball bat or something?"

Will shook his head. Now that the immediate shock of seeing the man had faded, he could hear the monster's footsteps clearly. From what he could tell, it was just outside his house. They needed to find something quickly or it would reach them.

"Fire!" The man exclaimed, turning back to Will. "Do you have any waterproof matches?" When Will didn't answer, he continued. "Did you ever go camping? Anything?" Will shook his head, but stopped himself.

"My dad! I-I think he took me camping... with Jonathon, when I was little. B-but the supplies were put in the shed after we came back." The trip had been a disaster. Jonathan had gotten a high fever, and Will had fallen and scraped up his knee. He'd cried for hours, and nothing his dad could do consoled him.

Will listened to the sound of the monster's footsteps for a moment. It sounded like it was still outside the front door. What was it doing? He thought of the night before, when the monster had entered his house, just to leave and disappear. There were many things he still didn't know about it, and he wondered if he could have been using those things to his advantage.

"Where's the shed?"

"In th-the backyard." Will pointed in that general direction (noticing, just for a moment, that his hand was shaking.)

Without even hesitating for a moment, the man opened the door and dashed out into the hallway. Will heard the front door open just as he stepped to follow him, and he whirled around. The monster stepped over the threshold. "Quickly!" Will yelled, running down the hall, through the kitchen and out into the yard. The man, who had reached the shed, didn't turn. Will heard roaring and the sound of toppling furniture as the monster crashed its way through the house, and he ran faster.