“Lautaro and I set protections on it.”
“They were working. So why couldn’t we have left the robe be?”
“Protections fade if they aren’t regularly renewed. Flynn would have left someone in town to wait for the opportunity to slip through our boundaries and get to the robe. Innocent bystanders would have lost their lives. Flynn cares nothing for collateral damage.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Merc took the lighter from his pocket, the same one he’d used to burn the rest of the robe, and lit the little fragment on fire. When the flames got close to his fingers, he dropped it. They both watched it burn. When there was just a stain of black ash, Merc poked it with his boot, then covered it with dirt and stomped it into the ground.
Ash crossed her arms and got back into the Jeep.
“You have me, Ash.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. You don’t need a relic to feel our bond.”
Ash stayed quiet. Time was what she needed, and she wasn’t sure how much of it she’d have once they got back. They started down the road again. She watched the vibrant foliage, lit by their headlights, as it whirred past the Jeep. It was mesmerizing. They weren’t going very fast because the darkness hid the uneven surface of the road and there were plenty of wild animals who weren’t used to cars on the road.
She noticed the plants on her side of the Jeep rustling, as if a breeze was moving them. She looked over to the other side to confirm that a wind had kicked up. The plants on Merc’s side of the road were still, except for the motion they generated driving past.
She straightened, watching out her window. Something was running along beside them. Something big. She looked at Merc. He sent a glance out her window and began speeding up. Whatever it was running with them sped up as well.
“What is it?” she asked, the breathiness of her voice revealing her fear.
“Nothing. Don’t worry.” He shifted gears as his other hand tightened on the steering wheel.
Okay, she said to herself. Don’t worry. Sure. That seemed legit in their current situation. But what was it he’d said about the werewolves only coming out at night? She looked behind them, in time to catch a blur of a dark shape rush across the road and slip into the woods on Merc’s side. Soon the dense foliage on both sides of the road shivered violently as the unknown beasts ran alongside them—matching Merc’s increasing speed.
One of the things ran out onto the road in front of them, a blur of a tall, dark shape, there and gone when Merc hit it. Ash gasped but had no time to register what she’d really seen, because the Jeep was plowing into a bunch of them, throwing them off to the dark green wayside, tossing them up over the hood, or just driving over them, making the Jeep bounce and rock.
She was holding on to the side handle to keep herself from slamming around as the Jeep hurtled through the obstacles. For some reason, she couldn’t ever seem to get a clear look at the things. Merc was not a cruel man. Running them over had to be a defensive move. And there were so many of them.
One of the beasts avoided being run over by jumping onto the hood and clutching the sides of the windshield. It stared into the car, holding its balance perfectly as Merc jerked the car to one side and the other, trying to dislodge it.
Ash was finally able to get a close look at it. Nightmare and reality crashed into one unholy terror. It was a…werewolf. Its body was muscular but oddly distorted, with a deep chest and massive thighs. Its arms were long. Its fingers were more wicked claws than human digits. Its neck was thick. Its head was shaped like a human’s in the back, with a dog’s snout in the front. Its eyes were glowing golden, lit from within like Merc’s sometimes were. She could see the long fangs its grimace revealed as it snarled at them through the window. Its body was covered in a wiry, dark hair that wasn’t thick enough to quite look like fur.
The monster blocking Merc’s windshield forced them to slow down, letting several more jump on the car. Merc unfastened his seatbelt.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving them what they want. And getting them away from you.”
“No.” God. This was insane. Were these just people dressed up as monsters? Their costumes were amazing. But if they were actors in this game—what about all the ones Merc had struck with the Jeep?
A terrible thought hit her. Was this a game played with real lives, real consequences?
Merc hit the brakes and parked the Jeep quickly. The monsters closest to his door grabbed their heads and screamed. As she watched, their skulls seemed to cave in. Merc had his shotgun in his hand before he opened his door and rolled out of it.
27
Ash was locked in place. She physically could not move.
This was Merc’s doing. He’d somehow paralyzed her. Again. The only freedom he’d left her was the ability to close her eyes—but if she did, she wouldn’t know when or if he needed help.
Sure enough, the monsters chased him, leaving her alone. She realized he was heavily armed. Where had his weapons come from? She hadn’t seen him gear up.
He moved fast through the rampaging beasts, shooting as he went. When they overtook him, he switched his gun for a long knife, tackling them one at a time, three at a time, twisting, ducking, slashing at critical targets on their bodies. He cut the arteries of one of the beasts, then stuck his knife into the neck of another, twisting and shoving upward before removing it.
After the initial attack, the monsters seemed to turn on each other, slashing and gouging as if in the throes of a killing frenzy. Ash looked around, but couldn’t see what had caused them to switch their focus.
When several of the beings were on the ground, and no more were coming at him, Merc straightened. In the wash of the headlights, he looked right at her. His eyes were glowing orange, brighter than she’d ever seen them. He was breathing hard. His hands and arms were covered in blood.
Ash was still frozen in place as Merc went to several downed bodies and cut their heads off. One of the monsters wasn’t dead but wasn’t able to move from the waist down—Merc had broken its back. It grabbed Merc, digging its nails deep into his arms before Merc could cut himself free.
He came back to the Jeep and went to the back hatch. Finally, whatever had held Ash in that strange paralysis released her. She tried for the door, but it wouldn’t open.
“Merc—let me out. Let me help you. You’re bleeding badly.”
“I’ll be fine. Stay put until I clear the ghouls off the road.”
He left one of his knives in the back, then took a body bag out and shook it open. He dragged it out to the road in front of the Jeep and began dumping heads into the bag.
The whole thing was too gruesome for Ash. She covered her face and began humming a jangled tune to herself.
When she looked up next, she saw Merc dragging the last body out of the road. She tried her door and realized it had been unlocked. She rushed outside, running straight to Merc—who held an arm out to stop her. He made a motion with his hand. In the light from the Jeep, she saw the blood covering him lift away to swirl up into the air and dissipate in the breeze. Only then did he open his arms to her. She grabbed him by the waist and held tight.
A long moment passed. He eventually said, “We have to get out of here. I don’t know how many more ghouls might be headed this way.”