Evil Origins: A Horror & Dark Fantasy Collection (21 page)

Chapter 13

You stole my
prey, and now you must make recompense.

Major stopped
and looked at the alpha male. “I protected my investment.”

Kole looked at
Major and then back at the wolf. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he
asked.

The old man
brushed off the question with a wave of his hand.

Where is he?

“Up the trail. The
horde follows, like you.”

The alpha male
stopped five feet in front of the men. The other hunters in the pack flanked
him on each side until they stood blocking the path. The horde froze in place,
swaying in the imaginary breeze.

He has the
girl?

“She’s with
him. I’m not sure who has what.”

Kole stepped up
to stand beside Major. “Are you talking to these coyotes?” he asked.

“Wolves.”

“Whatever. Can
you really understand them?”

Our pact
involved you and you only.

“I know,” Major
replied, looking at Kole. “I know.”

“What, man?”
Kole asked. “What do you know?” He shuffled on his feet, clenching his fists
and looking back and forth between the wolves and Major.

We’ll still
hunt the man in order to fulfill His command, but we also want recompense for
the delay. The girl.

“I don’t give a
fuck about her.”

Then it
isn’t genuine, is it? We’ll take him, too.

Major felt the alpha
male’s mental nod toward Kole. “He is not mine.”

“Hey, hold up. What
the hell are you talking about?” asked Kole.

Major turned to
look at Kole, his eyes hard, dark, determined. “It’s out of my control,” he
said.

“What is?” Kole
asked while the alpha male padded forward.

The rest of the
pack circled the two men while the horde remained fixed. Kole looked at Major
and then at the wolves, understanding seeping into his mind like water running
over a dam.

“You can’t do
this!” he screamed at Major.

The old man
shrugged and took a step back as the alpha male emitted a low growl, ears up
and eyes fixed on Kole.

“This is not my
doing. I’m a subject of this locality, like you. I wouldn’t worry about it. The
Reversion is going to swallow us all soon, anyway.”

Kole gave Major
a menacing look before tossing his bloodied bandages to the ground. A few of
the hunters snuck forward and sniffed the blood as if it were an aphrodisiac.

“In a world
losing all sensory input, you throw hungry wolves a handful of bloody bandages.”

Before Kole
could reply, the alpha male sprang forward. His lean body flew through the air
toward Kole’s neck. Kole raised a forearm, striking the alpha male on the head,
deflecting his lunge with a whimper. The other hunters stepped forward.

No! He is
mine.

“They want to
prove themselves, the way you did. They want to fight their way to the top of
the pack.”

“Stop talking
to them, you asshole,” said Kole, spitting each syllable into the silent, still
air.

Mine.

The hunters
stopped, but their eyes remained locked on Kole.

“Why are you
letting them attack me?” Kole asked.

“I’m not
letting them do anything,” Major replied. “They have needs to fulfill, like all
of us, and they have beliefs about the Reversion and what might stop it.”

“Human blood?”

“Probably. But
I’m not a wolf, so I can’t say for sure.”

The alpha male
growled again, shaking its head and realigning its equilibrium after absorbing
Kole’s shot.

“What about
Mara and Samuel? Let’s sell them out.”

“Mara,” said
Major, “is not worth a thing to me. Or them. But Samuel. He has something I
need, and if I have to sacrifice you and the girl to get it, I will.”

“This isn’t
fair,” said Kole.

“Of course it
isn’t, you spoiled little shit. You’ve slipped into another locality, one
damned for all time. Or at least until the Reversion eats it. You were nothing
but a disgusting human being in your life. Why do you think you’re owed any
decency now? Be happy you didn’t slip into a locality more violent than this
one. The alpha male will tear out your throat and you’ll be dead in minutes. Trust
me, there are worse fates for those like you.”

Enough.

Major held both
hands up and stepped backward. The pack stepped past him until they encircled
Kole, the alpha male crouching down before him, ready to spring. Kole looked at
Major with a bloody tear running down his face. He shook his head at the old
man, but he said nothing.

The alpha male
launched himself through the air again. This time, Kole’s defensive blow
glanced off the beast’s muzzle and into thin air. The wolf’s paws landed on
Kole’s neck, pushing him backward until he lost balance and collapsed hard on
the ground. The alpha male opened its jaws and clamped down on Kole’s throat
like a steel bear trap. The wolf growled and shook its head until blood spurted
from Kole’s jugular. The man’s eyes remained open as his body twitched in the
dirt. When he no longer moved, the alpha male raised his head and howled into
the darkness, signaling the other hunters to partake in his kill.

Major stood by,
careful not to interrupt the alpha male and his hunters. He closed his eyes as
the tearing of flesh filled his ears. The locality would devour the experience
like everything else, but until that happened, Major had to experience it. When
the wolves had finished their obscene feast, the alpha male nudged a hunter. The
wolves gathered behind their leader amongst the horde still fixed to the
ground.

And now the
other. The female is of no consequence to me. She has no power.

“But he does, and you’d better remember
that.”

The alpha male
looked at Major, blood staining his coat.

I know. I
felt it last time. But that was before. I have become more powerful since.

“So has he,”
replied Major. “So has he.”

***

“I
think we’re here for a different reason. I think we have work to do, people we
owe.”

Samuel nodded,
taking deep, long breaths.

“Redemption?”
he asked.

“Of sorts. Do
you trust me?” Mara asked.

“I guess.”

“Give me your
hand.”

When Samuel’s
hand landed in Mara’s palm, she threw a shoulder into the door and exited the
cabin. The horde surrounded them, but they stood motionless in place.

“Why aren’t
they coming at us?” Samuel asked as they sprinted down the path and away from
the Reversion.

“A force has
held them temporarily. They won’t remain immobile long. Hurry. Let’s get some
distance.”

Samuel looked
at Mara for a moment, realizing there was more to her experience in the
Reversion than what she had told him.

Mara ran down
the path, her dark hair swaying against her back. Samuel followed her as she
continued moving east. The trees hung over the path like dangling fly paper,
ready to snag them at any moment. Mara kept moving through the darkened landscape
until the path opened on a plain that stretched as far as she could see. Long wheat
stood still and silent. Samuel looked up and saw the Reversion in the sky,
constantly moving east toward the endgame.

“They’re not
behind us,” Samuel said.

“They will be. Come
on.”

Mara sprinted
again, this time through the field toward a black hole on the other side. As
Samuel drew closer, he realized they were heading for the gaping maw of a cave
embedded in the deep rock of a mountain. The opening appeared as a solid wall
of jet-black fabric.

“We’re going in
there?” he asked Mara.

She ignored his
question and slowed to a jog. As she approached the entrance to the cave, the
wheat tapered off until nothing but undisturbed dirt lay in front of it. Samuel
felt the muscles in his body tighten, and he had to fight to keep his bladder
under control.

“It feels
evil,” he said.

“It probably
is,” replied Mara. “But it’s our last chance to escape the Reversion. And the
wolves.”

As if on cue, Samuel
heard another round of howling. He looked over a shoulder and saw the first
shapes shuffling from the tree line into the field. He recognized the gait and
knew the horde was back on their trail.

Mara looked at
him and took his hand. She looked at the cave and back to the undead.

“It’s your
call. I can’t make you.”

Samuel nodded
and followed her through the opening, into darkness that penetrated him to the
core.

***

“I could use the
horde to draw him out.”

The
stalkers. They avoid that place.

“I know, which
is why we must get him to give up. You and your pack are not great enough in
number to pursue them through the labyrinth.”

How did the
girl know about it?

Major felt an
accusation in the unspoken question.

“They have been
running for their lives, to the east. The Reversion has pushed them there.”

The wolf licked
his teeth and circled back around to survey the hunters. The old man was right.

You have
bait he will take?

“I have many
tools at my disposal,” said Major, with a smile spreading across his face. “I
don’t know if he’ll leave the girl, but he will be disoriented, at the very
least.”

Go. I will
wait for you. But realize that time here is short, and the Reversion slows for
nothing. I will not suffer another cycle by failing Him.

Major nodded
and stepped past a throng of the undead as they approached the cave. He tried
not to look at their faces as he contemplated a strategy for luring Samuel out
with enough time to find what he needed before the alpha male tore the flesh
from his bones.

***

What appeared
to be a black hole from the outside softened from within. Ancient stalactites
and stalagmites bit into the cavernous space. The old rock glowed with a dull,
heavy cast of gray light, as if it came from the final throes of a dying sun. The
floor of the cave lay covered with a fine powder, dry and unlike the heavy,
moist soil of the forest. Passages extended in all directions, heading deeper into
the depths of the mountain.

Several of the
walls wept. Trickling streams of water followed grooves etched in the stone
over eons, the droplets crashing into puddles on the ground like cannon fire
echoing throughout the space.

Mara stopped
and looked at Samuel as they stood shoulder to shoulder, their backs to the
entrance. She looked into his face, shuddering at the pale complexion brought
on by the inner glow of the cave. When she turned to look at the cave entrance,
she saw the darkness of the locality brought by the Reversion, making it seem
like a heavy curtain had been drawn across the last remnants of their world.

Samuel’s eyes
met Mara’s. He let his breathing slow while surveying the inside of the cave. The
glow of light produced phantom shadows that slithered over the pockmarked
stone. He felt the cold, moist, subterranean air on his face and detected the
faint aroma of wet limestone. The open passages reached out to Samuel like bony
fingers threatening to pull him inside the mountain to an unending maze of labyrinthine
tunnels.

“Now what?” he
asked her.

Mara looked
back to the entrance and then grabbed Samuel’s hand. She jogged to an outcrop
of rock against the north wall of the cave, pulling Samuel behind her. She
placed her back against the cool wall and then stood upright when it chilled
her to the core.

“We can hide,”
she replied.

“From who? For
how long? I don’t see how—”

Mara cut him
off by placing her index finger to his lips.

“The horde hates
this place, and I don’t know why. I remember seeing them standing out front
before, a long time ago, when I first got here. Kole and I were hiding in the
trees, and we saw Major coming out. But the undead, they weren’t in here.”

“What about the
wolves?” Samuel asked.

“I don’t know.”

The air within
the chamber changed as a slight breeze raised gooseflesh on their arms.

“What’s the
point?” The question came from the cave’s entrance, echoing off the walls until
reaching their ears in a concurrent reverberation. “You’re only delaying the
inevitable,” said Major, his words drawing nearer.

“C’mon,” Mara
whispered.

She grabbed Samuel’s
hand and sprinted around the side of the outcrop. The two rushed headlong into
the nearest tributary and raced through the kinked maze of stone until it ended
in a solid wall of rock. Mara turned and ran back toward the main cavern,
towing Samuel by the arm. She ducked into another passage, only to end up at
another dead end.

“Go ahead and
try them all. I’ll wait. But the wolves, eh, not so sure about their level of
patience. And the undead, not sure if they even understand the idea any
longer.” Major’s voice came through the air with clarity. He was getting
closer.