Matthew Silver and the Monster Hunters, Book One: The Darkest Waters

Chapter Eighteen

SilverCHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Back…Away…Slowly…”I muttered to Jay under my breath.

We began heading towards the flames of the campfire for protection. The glowing eyes, and the night attack told me that the monsters were nocturnal. I didn’t know why we hadn’t been attacked before, or why they hadn’t attacked us while we slept. Some monsters just weren’t that bright.

We picked up all the weapons we could find near to us and made circles around the fire to face the monsters. Our campsite was now surrounded by countless numbers of red-eyed monsters. I didn’t just mentally kick myself; I gave myself a mental beating. I was supposed to be this extraordinary Hunter, and I couldn’t even notice myself getting surrounded by monsters with flashlights for eyes.

Neither of us had our phones on us, so we couldn’t contact Scott and Sandy. I wasn’t sure what help they could bring, because it was at least twenty minutes to get from their camp to ours, but I got the feeling we needed help, and fast.

It was too dark to make anything out but the red eyes, which bobbing this way and that in the trees, like tiny laser pointers.

Laser pointers? I had a light bulb moment. I took my laser pointer out of my jacket pocket, careful to make my motions slow and undetectable. With it barely peeking out of my hand, and my sleeve hiding it from view, I sent an SOS signal onto what I prayed was Scott’s tent. I just hoped they were still awake to see the message. If not, Jay and I were in serious trouble. I frantically repeated the SOS over and over.

The monsters slowly began to move down from their trees and surround the camp’s boundaries. As they exited the trees and came closer, they became more visible from the light of the fire. I wished that I had left on the ground lights that surrounded the borders, because they would’ve given us a little more illumination. The batteries still had plenty of juice in them, but there was no way I could get to them all. We were sealed in, and the firelight didn’t go out very far, only barely crossing our camps borders. The creatures seemed unwilling to cross over from the shadows into the ring of flickering red light.

Their gazes were locked on us, and I still couldn’t see them clearly, but I could hear little bits of whispering. I didn’t know what they were saying, but they seemed to be talking amongst themselves in a language that I didn’t recognize. That was bad. Intelligent monsters were always the worst. Organized intelligent monsters that could master languages and launch surprise attacks were even worse.

A few of the bolder monsters crept forward into our circle, wincing as if every step hurt them. Then, without warning, several sprang forward, yelling high-pitch battle cries in a foreign tongue, brandishing small spears that had been crudely carved out of tree branches. Some spears had two or three points like pitchforks or tridents, while others just had one. All of them were crooked and knobby, but sharp enough to easily impale a human.

“Back!”Jay yelled, grabbing a burning branch from the fire and swinging it at them. She met their charge head-on with relentless swipes, scattering ash and flame across their backs. I followed her example and took up a yell of my own, as I challenged the rest of the monsters.

As I guessed, they didn’t do well with light. They fell backwards, shrieking in their language, tearing at their faces in attempts to shut out the painful glare. The circle backed off slightly, but did not break.

We began run around the borders, swinging torches at any sign of movement, and we turned on the ground lights around the camp. It became something of a game: turn on the lights; don’t get killed. New light shone inside and outside of our campground.