CHAPTER THIRTEEN
We didn’t say much to each other as we scampered through the darkness, across the empty, undulating desert. The lights in the distance bobbed up and down from our uneven footfalls, Dex’s hand on mine kept me stable and focused most of the time. The dizziness seemed to come and go. It didn’t matter in the end how I felt, all I knew is that we had to keep moving and as quickly as we could.
It was silent except for our heavy breathing and the sound of rocks and sand sliding out from under our feet. We didn’t dare speak to each other; what was there to say? We ran for about ten minutes straight before I felt my lungs start to collapse and seize.
I slowed and then stopped, hands on my thighs and spit on the ground. Dex made a move to put a hand on my back but I waved him away. I couldn’t deal with people touching me when I was out of breath and sweaty.
After a minute of regaining my breath, I straightened up and looked around us. Other than the light from his camera and my flashlight, we were engulfed in complete blackness. It added to the suffocating feeling.
“Are you filming this?” I said between breaths.
He nodded, the camera light flinching. “Yes.”
Stupid question.
It didn’t matter, though. Nothing really seemed to matter anymore except our own survival. Also, I knew we could probably edit out those bits of me spitting up from sheer lack of fitness. What did it even matter if we ended up dead anyway? The whole concept of filming and having our stupid web show seemed so illogical and frivolous. Maximus was right. It wasn’t worth it. >
Maximus….
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.
“What ?” I heard Dex say. I ignored him.
I dialed Maximus’s number. He answered quickly.
“Hello?”
“Maximus, its Perry.”
“Perry, I’m so glad to hear from you. What’s going on? Have you found Bird yet?” His voice sounded warm and full of relief. Dex watched me closely, camera still on me.
“No, we haven’t. We’re…having some problems.”
Dex made a grab for the phone but I stepped out of the way and held the phone tighter to my head.
“What? What problems?”
“Is there any chance you might be able to come out here. Or find someone to help us?”
“I’m already on my way.”
“You are? How?”
Silence on the line. Then, “When I talked to Dex earlier, I knew I couldn’t just leave. I’m on the road, about an hour away.”
So many good emotions flooded through me. “Oh, thank God.”
“Where are you?”
“We’re going back to the Lancasters. We were in the car with Shan when it died, we…Dex ended up hitting him on the head. We thought he might be a skinwalker.”
“Is he OK?”
“He’s fine, we think. He’s alive. We put him in the trunk and left the car.”
“What about everyone else?”
“I don’t know. Will, Sarah and Miguel went to join the Sheriff at Rudy’s. That’s where we were heading. We think Shan and Sarah are the skinwalkers.”
“Hmmm.” While he pondered that I looked at Dex. The camera was still on me but his attention was on the horizon, in the direction we came from. He reminded me of an animal with its ears pricked. He was listening, watching. It chilled me.
“Listen, we don’t have much time. I think Shan is going to come back. We’ll be at the ranch though, no matter what.”
“Perry,” Maximus said breathlessly.
“Yes?”
“Stay together. Hide somewhere. If you’re right, you won’t stand a chance out there. Let’s hope that Shan stays knocked out and that Will keeps Sarah preoccupied. I’ll be there as soon as I can, OK?”
I swallowed hard. “OK.”
I didn’t want to hang up the phone but I had to. We said our goodbyes just in time. Dex gave me a dark look. It was barely visible but it said enough. We had to keep moving.
We didn’t speak, just ran, faster than before. I could feel his urgency in each stride. It was obvious that he had just seen something out there. I didn’t want to think about it. I just kept moving, running as fast as my stocky body would allow.
We ran and ran until I could almost make out the windows in the Lancaster’s house. We were so close, almost there.
But there was an uneasy feeling behind me, as if something was coming for us and fast. I turned and looked, careful not to trip. I couldn’t see anything but the fathomless black.
Dex picked up on it too.
“You hear that?” he asked as we continued to launch forward, blindly.
I strained my ears to hear something else besides the crunch of our footsteps. I heard a clackity rumbling off in the distance. It took me two seconds to piece together that it was the sound of a horse galloping.
Only in this scenario did all animals need to be feared. We couldn’t assume that some random horse was running wild in the distance. It was coming towards us and fast.
I looked forward at the house. We were only a few minutes away. The horse would reach us before then.
Without breaking stride, I yelled over at Dex who was a leg-length ahead of me.
“What should we do!?”
No point even contesting what it was. We both knew. Our options were slim.
I couldn’t see anything but the black smudge of his outline in the dark and his bobbing camera light but I could tell he shrugged. It figured. We were going to have to wait and see.
I’m not sure how much time passed before it happened. Maybe it was a minute, maybe it was ten seconds. But suddenly the hoof beats were loud enough to rattle around inside my head and shake the ground beneath my feet with its steady, building rhythm.
I moved closer to Dex and looked behind me again, my flashlight flying around wildly at whatever it could expose. What it showed was red eyes and steam from wide nostrils.
I screamed and headed off to the left, away from the beast. I collided with Dex slightly but we both had the same idea.
The idea was useless. In a matter of seconds the horse veered into us, hitting Dex in his back with its head so that Dex went flying, his laptop bag spinning away like a Frisbee. He landed in a heap on the rocks. I think I screamed again. The camera clattered beside him, the light still shining. The horse stopped a few yards away, close enough that I could see its shady outline, its restless foreleg pawing at the ground.
I threw myself on my knees and tried to make sure Dex was OK. He stirred and let out a low moan but was out of it. I heard an ominous snort and looked up. The horse was pawing in our direction this time. I knew it was a matter of seconds before it charged. I didn’t have much choice.
It took off towards us, head down, wanting to make putty out of Dex’s limp body. I would not let that happen.
I threw my purse down and started running towards the horse like I was a misguided combination of a horse whisperer and a linebacker. I used to ride all the time when I was little. Sometimes I was put on the most wild school horses. I never had the privilege of breaking any horses but I knew how horses thought, at least the horses I had dealt with. And this, this wasn’t even an actual horse. This was someone evil in a horse’s body. Someone human, deep down. They wouldn’t expect it.
I continued to charge towards the horse as it continued on its collision course. We were playing chicken and I hoped I was the only one with the plan.
At the last second, I darted to the right, its noble neck, sneering muzzle and glowing eyes passing within inches as it rumbled past me. I took whatever strength I had and made a move for it. I crouched and sprang as high as I could.
Maybe it was the adrenaline in me, maybe it was something else but it was enough that my hands made contact with the mane and I grabbed and pulled on it for dear life. I used the momentum to hoist myself up onto the horse’s back.
And then things got wild. The horse started bucking and going crazy. I’ve always been pretty good at staying on horses (and motorbikes) but this was no riding lesson and I wasn’t ten years old. I was prepared for this. I was as low to the horse as possible, with my legs gripping its sides with ferocity.
I kept my upper body flat against its withers and neck and held on for dear life. It did whatever it could to get me off but, so far, I wasn’t budging, though I wasn’t winning any points here for eight seconds. And I could see, from time to time, amidst my rolling and bobbing vision, Dex stirring on the ground beside us. If I could just keep this horse preoccupied, that would be enough for the time being.
This wild bronco ride across the black plains of Red Fox continued for at least another drawn-out minute until I heard Dex exclaim: “Holy shit!”
That was all I needed. At this point I was done with the mane and had my arms around the neck of the writhing animal, my fingers clasped so tightly that I thought they might give way to gangrene. Seeing Dex on his feet, I had to think fast. It was only a matter of seconds before it came after him.
“Your shirt!” I yelled at him.
Thankfully, he didn’t hesitate. He pulled his tee shirt over his head, ran towards me a few steps, and flung it at me.
I reached low and grabbed it by the hem. The horse reared but I managed to hold on with my other arm. I knew it was going to do that. I was counting on it.
With the horse’s head back, I yanked hard against its windpipe in an effort to support my motion and, gripping the shirt tightly, I swung it forward as if I was fly fishing.
I only had one chance.
The opposite hem of the shirt caught the horse’s muzzle and slipped on like a feedbag until its nose went straight through and the rest of its long face was covered by the shirt. Time to go.
I bailed less than gracefully. I tried to leap off but just ended up bailing on the hard earth. Pain shot through me but luckily I knew enough to go limp. I rolled over and got to my feet as quickly as possible. Dex was scampering towards me, camera in hand. I looked blindly around for my purse and scooped it up, eyeing the horse out of the corner of my eye. It was rearing blindly, its vision was totally obscured by the shirt that covered its face. I knew there wasn’t much time before it fell off.
I felt Dex grab my arm and we were running again, anywhere.
“You really like me going shirtless, don’t you?” he panted, keeping his grip steady on my forearm, pulling me along with him.
“Is that your way of saying thank you?” I yelled.
I heard him snort. I took that as a yes.
I didn’t want to look behind us. I knew the time I bought us was brief and all too willing to come to an end. We just had to keep moving, even though we were now heading away from the lights of the Lancaster’s house.
After a few yards though, we came to a fence that abruptly came up at us in the charcoal haze of night.
“The perimeter fence,” Dex said as he quickly scaled it.
I darted underneath the planks, feeling the upper one take a good chunk out of my back. Didn’t matter. We had officially made onto the property.
And just in time, too. I heard a bone-chilling whiney from behind us and the galloping earth being shredded.
We lumbered across the land, it was flatter and more groomed here, making things a bit easier. The house lights dipped behind something else, I guess it was the barn. We must have been coming across near where the worker’s cabin was. Even though it was Shan’s turf, it was still closer than the main house.
I didn’t want to say anything aloud to Dex but he seemed to pick up on it anyway. He subtly changed direction and the outline of the low rancher came into view against the sky. There was probably a phone in there, and at least the door had locks. Yes, it was Shan’s place and he probably knew it better than the back of his hand but it was still the closest point of refuge.
We were about ten yards away when a black figure moved in front of us, too fast for us to comprehend. Dex ran straight into it and was knocked back, as was I. I almost bit the dust but Dex’s crazy strong grip on my arm kept me on my feet. Someone screamed. I’m not sure if it was me.
“Whoa now,” a deep voice said.
Bird?
I shone the flashlight up in the voice’s direction. Sure enough, the tall, stoic figure of Bird came into view. He looked a bit worse for wear, but it was him.
I’ve never felt more relieved.
“Bird!” I exclaimed and threw my arms around him. He felt solid, real.
He chuckled softly. “I’m sure glad to see you two.”
Dex slapped him on the shoulder. “The feeling is mutual. Except I think a mutant horse is coming after us right now so we should probably run for the hills.”
Bird nodded curtly and looked behind us into the dark.
“I thought as much. Follow me.”
And at that he was off and running into the wilderness. Away from the Lancasters, away from the ranch house and barns. There was a tiny, nagging feeling in the back of my head that was telling me Bird could have been compromised but I couldn’t do anything about it except just keep running after him. But still, the thought of whether skinwalkers could become other people, as well as animals, did cross my mind.
We ran towards a rocky outcrop and Bird started scaling it with ease. Dex followed him and reached for my hand. Once again I ignored him and found my own way up, climbing from rock to rock until I pulled myself onto a gravely ledge that jutted out from a taller cliff face, maybe eight feet wide and ten feet off the ground.
I got to my knees and Dex hoisted me up the rest of the way. I strained to catch my breath. My heart and lungs were working in overdrive and I was still feeling the dizzy effects of the tea.
While I caught my breath and warily watched the ground below us for any malevolent animals, Dex let things fly into Bird.
“It’s good to see you man, but what the f*ck happened out there? You just f*cking disappeared.”
Bird took it in stride. “I know. So did you. I went inside to use the washroom. I know I shouldn’t have but I was only going to be gone a minute. I was standing over the toilet, heard the door open, turned around and was hit on the head. I woke up later, I don’t know how much later but it was already starting to get dark. I was locked in the bathroom and couldn’t get out.”
It made sense. Yet everything had me extra suspicious.
“How did you get out?” I asked.
“I had to break Rudy’s window. Wrapped the towel around my hand and out it went. Barely squeezed through but I made it. You were gone, Rudy was gone, the tent was destroyed…”
“And Boy Boy was going nuts?” Dex interjected.
“Boy Boy was nowhere to be found. I saw my truck was gone, I had hoped you took it. I had to take Rudy’s all the way back here.”
“How long have you been here for?” Dex questioned.
“Not long, five minutes. I parked Rudy’s car far, far away and came the rest of the way on foot.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m not stupid. From the moment I woke up on that bathroom floor I knew exactly what happened.”
“Well, if you don’t mind, can you please fill us in?” I asked.
“I don’t know how much time we have,” Dex said to me.
Bird walked forward and put his hands on both of our shoulders. “Don’t worry. We have enough time. It will take Shan some time to get used to his new body.” >
“What?” I replied, dumbfounded.
“When a skinwalker changes into an animal, there is an adjustment period. He has to learn what it’s like to be that animal. He was a horse to cover quick distances. He’ll probably be a bird next to get up here after us. Or perhaps he’ll go find Sarah first for support. But it’ll take him a little bit to learn how to operate in this new form.”
“So you know its Sarah and Shan…,” Dex mused, bitterly.
Bird sighed, “Yes. I know. Now. And I should have known then. I just didn’t see it. I didn’t want to believe that Sarah could do something like that. But I have a feeling it goes much deeper than what we will ever understand. I knew as soon as I woke up, that Sarah and Shan were behind it all and that Rudy was dead.”
My heart froze. I found myself reaching out for Dex and holding on to his hand. Was Shan right then, that Rudy was dead? How could anyone…die? That was stuff that happened to other people, people I didn’t know…other people’s grandparents or dogs or goldfish. Not someone I had just seen, just trusted, that morning.
I was speechless but Dex was not.
“How did Rudy die?” he asked carefully. I could feel the heaviness in his voice. I gripped his hand tighter.
“I don’t know, but he’s not coming back. He was the only one who could have possibly put an end to this, the only one with the means. So of course, they got rid of him.”
Bird’s voice was wavering and ripe with emotion. I felt so bad, for everyone and everything. Even though this had been going on before we got here, I couldn’t help but feel like it was all my fault.
“Why are they doing this?” I mumbled, feeling too much at once. Dex pulled me into him and put his arm around me. I wasn’t sure if it was to make me feel comfortable or to warm himself up, considering he was bare-chested and the air had a heavy, solemn chill.
“I don’t think we can really understand. Some people get angry,” Bird said simply. It was true. That was pretty much the motive of every murder out there. Some people got real angry.
“What’s our plan, then?” Dex asked.
“I think you guys had the right idea. Get out of here.”
“It’s kind of hard when you’ve dragged us onto a cliff,” Dex said.
“This is the only way I could buy us time. You think that hiding in the house would do you any good? You think it’s tough for them to be human and beat down doors? It’s not. He’d be at you in a second. After what happened with Rudy, he’s more powerful now than ever.”
Dex didn’t say anything but he did pull me in even closer. Maybe he was scared after all. I looked up at him. With the dark clouds obscuring all starlight, his face was just a shadow but I knew his eyes were meeting with mine. I could almost hear him thinking we’ll be OK, kiddo. Only, he didn’t believe it enough to say it.
“Here you guys are,” we heard a voice drawl from above us. We all jumped a bit and turned around to face the cliff. Five feet above us stood a tall, commanding figure. He had a branch in hand, its tip lit with fire. The glow illuminated the tell-tale face of Maximus.
“Maximus!” I yelled.
He jumped off the cliff and landed beside us with a thump. It was him all right. Tall, burly, broad-chested, flannel-shirted, ginger-haired, yellow-eyed…
No, wait. Maximus had green eyes...
I tried to process that as I stared at him. He looked at Bird and slapped him hard on the back.
“Here you are, old man,” he drawled. The firelight showed Bird was just as perplexed as I was, though maybe a few steps closer to figuring it out. I looked up at Dex. He knew something was up. He stared intently at him.
“Maximus,” Dex said with a big fake smile. “You got here awfully quickly. How did you find us?”
‘Maximus’ didn’t miss a beat. “Well, you guys make it pretty easy when you’re standing on a cliff edge and jabbering loudly about skinwalkers.”
He took a step towards Dex. I noticed the grip around the branch became tighter. In the flame’s light, there was no mistaking that Maximus’s eyes now glowed vibrant amber. It wasn’t him at all.
The truth was in the fire.
I felt sick but before I could even let the feeling take over my body and reduce me to mud, Bird leaped for Maximus as if to tackle him.
But Maximus was faster than that. He veered out of the way and Bird went flying onto the ground. Maximus raised his flame in the air and brought his foot back, meaning to boot Bird off the cliff.
I looked at Bird. He stared up at Dex in horror and then pointed at me, and yelled, “Don’t trust her! She’ll be lying!”
My eyes flew to Dex’s. Neither of us understood. But we did understand what happened next.
Maximus’s foot connected with Bird’s side and Bird was kicked off the cliff. He screamed and grabbed blindly at the cliffside but the loose earth and rocks crumbled under his worn hands. He fell onto the land below with a cry.
Without thinking I made a jump for Maximus and snatched the branch out of his hand while he was unaware.
I took the branch and speared it directly into his stomach and held it there while he yelled and screamed and tried to back away. I followed him with it like I was someone possessed. I didn’t know what had come over me but I knew that this was not Maximus and that he must die, by any means necessary.
I ignored the queasy, sinking feeling, a sign I took as a matter of being human, and let my anger and determination lead the way and kept that flame pierced into him as the fire began to take over his body in one sickening charcoal burn.
Then, poof.
He was gone. Maximus and his flame-haired glory literally disappeared right before our eyes. One minute I was burning someone alive with a lit branch, the next I was aiming a branch at nothing but empty darkness.
But a movement at my feet caught my eyes. I look down to see a cricket wobble back and forth uneasily before springing off into the void. You’ve got to be kidding me.
I dropped the branch and felt Dex scoop up our equipment and grab me by the waist.
“Come on,” he whispered, gently, as if he was afraid I’d pick up that stick and spear it into him.
He led me to the cliff edge and let go. He crawled down and jumped the last few feet and made me do the same. He caught me, awkwardly, for the last part.
We looked down at the ground. Bird was lying on his back. Dex aimed his camera at him, the light still working at least. It caused Bird to blink a few times, enough for us to know he was OK.
We stooped down and brought Bird to his feet and headed off to the Lancaster’s, with him dragging along between us. He was stumbled around for the most part, coming in and out of consciousness. Occasionally he would mumble, “Don’t trust her, don’t trust her” which did nothing to make us feel better. At one point he tried to walk on his own, his hands flying around my waist, as if he was going into my pant pockets. Then he went back to stumbling.
We had rounded the barn and had sight of the house when we saw Will’s truck pull up to it. It stopped and Will and Miguel got out and came running towards us. I noticed, rather absently, that Maximus’s car was not there. That gave me some comfort in thinking that he was still alive somewhere and still heading for us.
Will and Miguel were yelling things left and right. Another car pulled up behind it and a short stocky man in uniform came running out of it, the sheriff, Fred.
I didn’t know what was going on or what was being said, but Will and Miguel took Bird onto both their shoulders and dragged him towards the house. The sheriff ran up to Dex and started yammering in his ear about this and that, pointing around wildly. They too went into the house.
I followed as quickly as I could but for some reason my steps felt slow and sloppy, like I was walking through oatmeal.
I watched them all go inside. I was only a few steps away from the porch. I would be inside soon, in the comfort and safety and warmth.
“Perry,” an unfamiliar voice, metallic and hollow, said from behind me.
I stopped and looked. I’m sorry that I did.
A six-foot tall coyote was standing behind me on two legs. It put its heavy, clawed paw on my shoulder and smiled as a coyote can only smile. Black gums and sharp teeth.
“We need him,” it said without moving a muscle.
And then all the world went black.