Misery County

Chapter 16 - Part 1

"What did you hear?"

"Eric, shut up," Cassie hissed.

Through their conversation, she must have missed the earlier signs that they weren't alone in the building. Their exchange might even have given them away entirely, and that's if the monsters didn't know that they were there already.

The sound of feet gently but deliberately descending onto loose wooden flooring was coming from both sides of the stage, not from the main entrance as Eric had so confidently assured her.

"We've been compromised," Cassie whispered into her mic. "I'm pulling out. Meet you at the car."

"What's going on?" Eric whispered back. "I can't see or hear anyone."

"We're not alone, and it sounds like they were expecting us. Just get out."

"I need more inf-"

"I can't talk, Eric. I'll give myself away." There was a pause. "I think I'm surrounded."

The footsteps had stopped on both sides. They couldn't have been searching. No, they must have known exactly where she was, and now they were just getting ready to make their move.

"Hold on. I'm coming to you."

"Eric, no. It's a trap." The words came out of her without thinking about them, but as they did, so did she, and as she did, she realized it was true. The monsters were one step ahead of them. The monsters were always at least one step ahead of them. She didn't know how, but the trend was unmistakable. The question now wasn't whether they could put down their fellow theater-goers, but whether they could even get out of there alive.

Counter-intuitive though it seemed, Cassie figured her best bet would be to climb out from under the stage and go directly through the open theater. Her skulking friends seemed to have descended on the stage from every direction except for that one. It was probably because they knew that Eric was on the balcony. Eric! If they knew he was on the balcony, they'd probably send goons after him as well.

"A trap? How can you be sure?" he said over the earpiece.

"They know. They know everything, and they're probably on their way to get you right now. Get out of there ASAP."

"Affirm. See you outside."

Eric was going to be fine. Eric's always fine. He's a big boy, Cassie told herself. The only person she needed to worry about right now was herself.

Deciding not to wait for an assault on her position, she quietly squeezed herself out from underneath the stage and into the orchestra pit, from where she could see the rest of the theater again. It still looked empty, though there could have been a werewolf hiding behind every seat, and she'd never know it until it was too late.

Her lungs expanded as she took a deep breath before launching herself out of the pit and beginning her sprint toward the main entrance. Whether she was too loud or whether her timing was just perfect, she didn't know, but for one reason or the other, the monsters that had the stage surrounded all burst into it at the same time, and it was not long until they were climbing over and under it to get to her. Or at least that's what it sounded like. Cassie didn't have the nerve to look over her shoulder and confirm her fears.

Like a cruel joke, she didn't need to. A tall creature with glowing red eyes emerged from behind a platform at the back of the theater. She didn't recognize what it was, and she had no time to muse on the possibilities. Praying that the monsters behind her had a ways to go to reach her, she came to a stop, pulled out her pistol loaded with silver, and fired four shots into the chest of the tall beast. Rather than showing any signs of weakness, it only began to walk toward her.

Cassie glanced up at the balcony. No Eric. Of course not. She'd told him to take off.

"Partner, not to trouble you," she began to say over the earpiece, "but things here have gone a bit south." She turned around to see a small swarm of transformed alpha werewolves standing in front of the stage, staring at her hungrily. "Pretty far south, actually."