Darkness in Appalachia

Chapter 14

David and Puk watched Robyn helplessly from the other side of thebarrier. Puk kept hold of Robyn's hand, mildly disturbed by how limpand cold it was. She could almost believe she was holding the handsof a corpse rather than someone who was still alive. She keptsqueezing it and rubbing it between her hands trying to force somewarmth into it. What she really wanted to do was grab it and dragRobyn outside of the barrier but, like David said, that wouldn'tsolve the problem for long. All she could do was offer supportthrough that meager contact while Robyn did what was necessary toprotect them all.

David was sitting next to Puk with nothing to do but twiddle histhumbs and grind his teeth. He had tried to take Robyn's hand andpull her out but Puk had stopped him saying that this needed to bedone. She seemed to have reached some kind of agreement with Robyn sohe didn't argue,even though he wanted to. He split his attentionbetween Robyn's prone form and Puk's, wanting to scream at both ofthem. He couldn't believe that they weren't fighting back. Surely,there was something that could be done but neither of them were doingit. Part of him knew that he was really angry that there was nothinghe could do. This situation was so far away from anything his lifehad prepared him for that he was left scrambling just to keep up.

His attention was drawn to the creature in the chamber with Robyn.It was unbuttoning the shirt it wore to reveal it's chest andstomach. David's stomach lurched at what the shirt had covered. Belowits chest was a void that seemed far darker and deeper than shouldhave been possible on a physical body. On either side of this voidwas an atrophied arm that ended in a three clawed hand. These armsstarted out clasping each other across its body but began to moveonce their covering was removing. They flexed and stretched in a waythat was somehow obscene and caused disgust to twist his stomach.

It dropped to its knees next to Robyn and leaned over her, bringingthe claws into close proximity but not quite touching her with them.The movements they made suggested that they were cutting and pullingsomething that he couldn't see.

Robyn's eyes flew open and she began to scream, her shrieks echoingoff of the walls around them. At the same time, some substance beganto form between the two claws. David squinted but couldn't discernjust what it was. I was gray and gold sometimes but would then changeto be blue or red. At first, it seemed solid but then it turned intoa liquid before turning into something else. It seemed to changeevery time he thought he had found some recognizable feature butthere was one thing he could tell. It was coming from Robyn.

David covered his ears and closed his eyes, unable to bear theanguished look on Robyn's face and the pain filled shrieking thatfilled the chamber. The sound stopped and he opened his eyes to findher still screaming but silently now, which was somehow worse. Shehad screamed so loud and hard that her vocal cords had ripped underthe strain and her throat was bleeding, as evidenced by the blood shesprayed every time her mouth was opened. He found himself unable tolook away, horrified and entranced by what he could only assume washer death mask.

His attention was jerked away when Puk grabbed him, digging herfingers into his arm and pulling him toward her. "Something's notright." She pointed into the chamber, trying to get him to look atwhat was going on with Ameet. "That's not how the contract spellshould look."

He looked at the substance collected between the two claws. It hadbegan to coalesce, changing into a uniform red color and forming atight ball. He had no idea what was happening but trusted that Pukwas right.

"What do we do?" He took his eyes away from that tight, red balland looked at Puk. Hoping that she would have some idea of what wasgoing on.

Her eyes had widened and a surprised smile split her lips. Sheturned towards him and he saw that she had stopped crying and a newlook had come into her eyes. One of triumph.

"Robyn came through. She's going to save us all."

David was even more confused. "So, she made the contract? He'sgoing to be expelled from the reserve?"

Puk shook her head, tears spilling over her cheeks. "No. Shedidn't make a contract for him. She did something even better. Watchclosely and do what I say."

David turned back and watched, not sure what he was supposed to belooking for. The red ball became larger and streaks of yellow beganappearing. They swirled around the ball, flickering into and out ofexistence. Their movement reminded him of something but he couldn'tquite place what it was.

"It's almost done." Puk spoke from beside him and he turned,intending to ask what she was talking about. She was looking at theball intently and seemed to be unaware of anything else that wasgoing on around her. She didn't respond when he said her name, simplyheld up a hand and pointed at that ball.

  He looked again to see that it had changed once more. Flames hadbegun shooting from the ball at irregular intervals and there weremore yellow streaks than before. As he watched, the ball began toexpand before exploding into a massive fireball that completelyengulfed Ameet and filled most of the chamber. Ameet's screams filledthe air as the chamber filled with smoke and flames.