Prophecy (28 page)

“Ram it!” Rob shouted. “Turn and ram it!”

Hawks struggled with the wheel, unable to turn at this speed for fear of tipping.

“She’s on us!” Rob shouted.

The face of the beast was just feet from the flatbed; drool could be seen cascading from between its glinting teeth as it ran. But at the last moment it swung away, running parallel to them on the uphill side.

“She’s going to tip us!” Rob shouted.

“Throw it out!” Romona sobbed as she crawled toward Maggie. “Throw it to her!”

“Throw it, Maggie!” Rob screamed.

But Maggie was unable to move, clinging with both hands to the floorboards. Rob reached down and rolled her over, Romona tore away the cloth wrapping that contained the infant. With a sudden snarl it leaped upon Maggie’s neck, digging its claws and teeth into her flesh as it wailed with fear. Maggie screamed and rolled, Rob grappling to pull the infant off. But he could not disloge it. Its teeth were buried in Maggie’s neck.

“Watch out!” Hawks cried from the driver’s cornpartment.

The beast lunged down on them, making jolting contact with the vehicle, and the vehicle tipped, poised, for an awesome moment, on two wheels in the air.

“Jump!” Rob screamed.

In a blur of motion, bodies took flight, spilling out in all directions as the vehicle crashed to its side with tremendous force, then began rolling and bouncing toward the trees. As Rob hit the ground, he saw that

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Hawks was still trapped within it, and so was the pilot, tied to the running board. The beast had turned its attack on the vehicle itself, assailing it with full fury as it tumbled through the trees.

It crashed to rest at the base of a boulder, and Hawks struggled to get through the broken glass of the driver’s compartment. But he was hung up by the archer’s bow that was strapped to his back. The lumbering shadow surged down on the pilot, disemboweling him with a single swipe, and Hawks struggled free, the bow ripping off his back as its string was severed by broken glass. He grabbed it up and raced out into the night, trying to get his bearings in the darkness.

Maggie was running toward the lake, screaming in terror as she attempted to dislodge the creature that still clung to her, its snout deeply imbedded in her neck. Rob scrambled across the ground to get the rifle and ran after her, trying to force another bullet into the chamber as he ran. He spotted Romona as she stumbled through the darkness, screaming for M’rai.

“The water!” Hawks shouted. “The water! Swim to the island!”

Rob caught up with Maggie, attempting to grab her as she ran, but she was hysterical, fighting him off and screaming as she stumbled through the trees. Rob attempted to raise the rifle and point it at the creature, but Maggie kept spinning and lurching, her head swinging by the barrel.

“I can’t get it off me!” she shrieked. “I can’t get it off me!”

“Get to the water!” Rob screamed. “Drown it!”

Behind them, they could hear the sound of metal being ripped as the beast tore into the fallen vehicle. Rob prayed it would stay there long enough to allow them to get into the lake.

Hawks was the first to reach the shore; he paused, gazing back into the darkened trees. “Romona!” he cried.

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“M’rai!” her voice called back. “I can’t find M’rai!”

Hawks charged back up the hill and found her, pulling her downward, against her will, to the lake, where he threw her into the water.

“Don’t leave him!” she screamed.

“Swim to the island!”

Hawks ran back up the hill as Rob and Maggie raced by him, splashing into the water.

“The island!” Rob yelled.

“Get it off me! Get it off me!”

“Swim!”

“I can’t!”

Rob came up behind her, swung the rifle across her chest, and, gripping it on either side of her, pulled her backward, propelling them into deeper water.

Scrambling up the bill, Hawks saw the figure of the old man standing in a daze, watching the beast destroy the skidder.

“M’rai!” Hawks shouted as he ran toward him. “Come away!”

“I will speak with Katahdin,” the old man answered calmly.

Hawks grabbed him and jerked him backward, dragging him down the hill. The beast spotted them and rose to its hindquarters, its massive head swiveling as it honed in on its quarry.

“Swim!” Hawks gasped as they staggered to the shore.

“I will not swim.”

“Do you want to die?” Hawks yelled.

“He will not hurt me. I will call him by name.”

Hawks grabbed the old man, but M’rai resisted. The trees were cracking on the hill above them; the beast was coming down.

“He will spare you if I speak to him,” M’rai said.

Hawks lifted the old man from his feet and hurled him into the water, then jumped in behind him. M’rai immediately turned and started back for the shore.

“M’rai!” Hawks screamed in frustration.

But M’rai proceeded to the shore, wading up to

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the bank, where he awaited the arrival of Katahdin.

“Damn you, M’rai!” Hawks wailed.

“I will not go with you.”

In anguish, Hawks forced himself to turn away. With the bow and three arrows clutched in his hand, he began swimming hard toward the island.

Rob and Maggie had made it into deep water, and they were in trouble. With his arms wrapped around her, Rob could not use his hands to dislodge the creature, and his strength was ebbing as Maggie cried out and struggled in his arms.

“God … God … God!” she screamed.

“Lie still!”

“It’s killing me!”

Rob’s eyes were level with the creature’s; it stared at him resolutely, its needlelike teeth firmly locked into the flesh of Maggie’s neck.

“Help me!” Maggie cried, and she began flailing, trying to wrest herself from Rob’s grip.

“Maggie, don’t …”

But she pulled free, the water erupting in a white spray as Rob attempted to grab her.

“Help us!” Rob shouted. “Hawks!”

John Hawks spotted the flurry of white water and swam hard for them, Romona following close behind.

“She’s under!” Rob screamed. “She’s gone under!”

Hawks released the bow and arrows, and dove; Romona managed to get to Rob and take the rifle from him; Rob disappeared beneath the water, too. They rose instantly, all three, Maggie choking and sputtering, the creature still clinging to her neck.

“Get its face under!” Rob cried as he grabbed Maggie’s hair.

Hawks pushed down hard on the creature’s face, until its snout was below the waterline. Maggie’s eyes were wide and her mouth was stretched open, her face being pulled from above and below.

“Help … me …” she gurgled through the w&ter that flooded into her mouth.

Suddenly the creature’s jagged teeth snapped up-

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ward above the water, and Maggie cried out with relief. Rob grabbed her in a cross-chest carry, pulling her away. The teeth of the creature caught Hawks’s hand, and he thrust it below the water, grimacing in pain as he reached down with both hands, fighting to keep it submerged.

“The old man!” Romona cried out as her eyes swung toward the shore. There, in the moonlight, the figure of the old man could be seen standing in a posture of calm dignity as the massive form of the beast crashed through the trees and rose on its hind legs, staring down at him.

As Romona watched, she saw M’rai walk toward the beast, gazing straight up at it as though in conversation. Then the beast raised one of its paws and brought it crashing down, smashing the tiny figure at its feet as though it were a fly. Romona closed her eyes. Without looking again, she turned, the rifle held high over her head, and began swimming toward the island.

The darkened mound that protruded from the center of the lake was no more than a quarter mile from the shore; Romona could discern the outline of the cabin as she silently sidestroked forward. She could see Hawks a distance in front of her, the limp silhouette of the infant creature skewered on one of the arrows that he held, with the bow, above him. She could not see Rob and Maggie, for there was a mist forming on the water. It gathered quickly, obscuring her vision, muting all sounds except her own. Within minutes it had fomented into a graceful carpet of haze that floated on the surface, isolating Romona from everything around her.

As she swam, she sensed how effortless it would be to slip silently under. It felt warm and welcoming and peaceful. The world above felt so harsh and cruel. Her swimming slowed, until she was merely treading water. The mist swirled around her, looking like a layer of clouds in the moonlight, and Romona knew that she did not care if she reached the shore. The

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death of the old man had robbed her of the one human being she completely trusted. There seemed little left now, just an endless battle for which she no longer had the strength.

“Romona!” Hawks called out

She did not answer.

“Vern!” Hawks cried in desperation.

“I’m here!” Rob called back.

“Where’s Romona?”

“I don’t see her!”

“Romona!” Hawks cried, his voice crackling with emotion. “Oh, God! Romona!”

“I’m here, John,” she responded.

“Romona!” he half sobbed.

“I’m here,” she reassured. “I’m all right.”

She resumed swimming toward the island.

As Rob and Maggie staggered to the shore and fell exhausted into the mud, they heard the sound of the beast bellowing from across the lake. It seemed to vibrate through the water and penetrate the island; the ground beneath Rob’s face reverberated with it as he clung to the mud. Maggie was beside him, moaning as she struggled to reach dry ground. Rob crawled to her and took her in his arms.

Hawks stumbled forward, half carrying Romona, and fell to his knees, able to go no farther. He laid her down beside him in the shallows and took the rifle that she still clung to, tossing it, along with the bow and arrows and the skewered body of the dead infant creature, onto the shore. Then he helped Romona to her feet and they came to Rob and Maggie, collapsing into the mud beside them.

The beast continued to howl from the distant shore, but they knew they were safe now. They lay back, grateful for the feel of solid ground beneath them, none of them moving as the sounds of their heaving breath gradually faded to silence.

The beast, too, had gone quiet now. Save for the gentle lap of water against the shore, there was nothing to break the stillness around them.

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Then Hawks heard a disturbance in the water, a muted splash, as though something had entered and were swimming toward them. He sat upright and gazed into the mist; it rolled and swirled unendingly, into an infinity of darkness. The sound had disappeared, but Hawks remained stock-still, his ear cocked toward the water.

Alerted to his tense posture, Romona sat up. The sound came again. A light splash. This time, closer.

“What’s wrong?” asked Rob.

“Listen,” Hawks whispered.

Rob sat up and looked into the mist. He could see nothing. The water that lapped gently at the shore rolled heavier, just slightly, but enough for Hawks to sense the change.

“What is it?” Rob whispered, watching Hawks’s expression.

“The waves come heavier.”

Rob looked at him in confusion.

“The wind didn’t rise.”

Maggie struggled to a sitting position, her elbows trembling as she followed their gaze.

“It’s swimimng,” Romona whispered.

“We’d see it,” Rob gasped.

“No.”

“It can’t swim,” Rob moaned. “It can’t swim …” It was not a statement. It was a prayer.

But they could hear it plainly now, the sound of its breath grunting with exertion; the light splashing of the water coming louder in their ears.

“No …” Maggie whimpered.

“Get to the cabin,” Rob ordered.

“I can’t,” Maggie sobbed.

“The rifle …” Rob said.

“Up there.”

Rob struggled to his feet.

“No,” Maggie wept.

“Get up!” Rob gasped.

“There it is!” Romona shouted.

They all turned and saw, through the veil of mist,

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two glowing embers moving inexorably toward them. “God, no!” Maggie moaned.

The beast responded with a gurgling wail, the water around it suddenly splashing violently.

“Shoot it!” Hawks yelled to Rob. But at that moment the glowing eyes disappeared, the mist collecting into a solid wall.

“I can’t see it,” Rob shouted as he pumped his bullet-shells into the rifle. “Sssh!”

The sounds were gone. The water was suddenly calm, the small waves lapping against the shore in a gentle, regular rhythm. All held their breath in the silence.

“Where is it?” said Maggie. Hawks held up a hand

to silence her. But there was nothing to be heard.

“Did it drown?” Rob asked, not daring to believe it.

Maggie slowly stood, so did Romona, all moving

together as they gazed out at the calm, unbroken

water.

“It drowned,” Rob said. “It drowned.” He turned to Maggie, his face filled with wonder. “It-”

A huge air bubble broke the surface directly in front of them. Then, in a cascade of white water, the beast suddenly rose, its arms lashing out as it bellowed in rage. In a blur of confusion, they screamed and raced beneath it, the massive talons slashing into the mud as they slipped and scrambled for safey.

“The cabin!” Rob screamed, dragging Maggie behind him.

Hawks managed to snatch up his weapons, flinging the skewered infant off one of his arrows as he ran. Romona stumbled, rolling toward the shore, but recovered her footing, limping badly as she continued. Behind them the beast paused, lowering to all fours for a brief moment to sniff the cold carcass of its dead infant. It grabbed up the small body in its mouth and shook it in a ferocious spasm, biting it in half, flinging the pieces into the water. Then it rose on its hind legs, turning its attention to the four small figures

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staggering toward the cabin along the shore. In a wail of vengeance and an explosion of mud, it burst into motion.