The Grimm Chronicles, Vol.1 (24 page)

The three-eyed creature stared at her nemesis, no doubt bemused. Here was a short, slight servant girl carrying a broom of all things! Surely Adele stood no chance against such a terrifying, foul monster. Surely this would end as so many other encounters with the three-eyed creature had ended: bloodshed.

Adele stood her ground, watching the Corrupted step closer. Above, the tree branches shuddered as a cool breeze blew through the forest—I don’t know if this is entirely accurate, but it makes the story scarier—and suddenly the hideous Corrupted lunged forward!

Adele took a deep breath. She gripped the broom in both hands, lifted it high up …

… And brought it down over her knee! The broom split in two … two sharp staves, to be precise! And as the three-eyed monster closed the distance between them, Adele met her and stabbed with both jagged halves of the broom. The creature fell over, burning away.

And there you have it. The resiliency of the hero.

Where was I now? What were we talking about? Ah, yes ... our
current
hero. Well, needless to say, I nearly wore a hole in the rug as I paced in worry.

After four hours passed, I started to
really
worry.

Chapter 2: Alice

I remember ending up on a hospital bed. I remember a metallic taste in my mouth and the smell of disinfectant. I even remember the doctor’s faint voice, and the words “antibiotics,” and then some relieved sighs. But then everything went black.

The dream came on fast and vivid, more vivid than any of the dreams I’d had previously about any Corrupted. I was in the dark woods, moving between the trees with a terrifying swiftness. I could smell the pine and hear an owl calling out somewhere far above. I was following someone … no, some
thing
.

He was tall. He moved like some kind of ninja, darting from tree to tree. He breathed heavily, letting a low growl escape from his throat as he lifted his narrow snout in the air, sniffing.

There were lights far ahead coming from a building, but I couldn’t see well enough through the trees. I felt a strange unease come over me. Why had this dream come on so vividly? Was it the poison running through my body?

I moved closer to the creature. I could see its outline a little better now, and it looked strange, almost as if it had something on its back. A creature with a backpack? No, no … the shape wasn’t quite like that. The creature darted to the next tree, grabbing it with one hand-shaped paw. It bent over to sniff at the ground, and its back seemed to arch up. There were things on its back. Pointy things.

We reached the edge of the clearing. Now I could see the creature more clearly: he had a long, rat-like snout and beady black eyes and little pointed ears. On his back were long, pointy quills—hundreds of them, maybe
thousands
of them. The quills were black, except at the sharp tips where they were a pale white. He had the torso and arms of a strong man, with hands that were a mix between an animal’s paws and human fingers. Definitely an animal’s claws. One hand went to his furry brown belly, scratching absently as he examined his target.

A hospital.

I didn’t need a talking rabbit to help me put two and two together: I was somewhere in that hospital. He was coming for me, and I was fast asleep.

Wake up, Alice!
my mind screamed.

The Corrupted glanced over his shoulder, as if he’d heard a noise in the woods. Then he turned, jumping over the tall chain-link fence that surrounded the hospital parking lot and landing with a grunt. I followed, passing through the fence as if I were a ghost. The creature slipped between the parked cars, moving cautiously ahead. Two of the parking lot’s tall overhead lights were out, and the creature seemed to favor the patches of darkness directly underneath, glancing in every direction before it darted to the next car.

“Wake up, Alice!” I cried out again. It was already halfway across the parking lot.

Ahead, a woman dressed in scrubs was walking out of the building. The creature watched her, backing up as she continued in our direction.

Don’t you dare kill her, I thought. Kind of an empty threat, I guess. But the monster was there for me … no one else had to die. And what was the point of skulking around if it was going to just jump out and attack someone anyway? Seriously, did this Corrupted even
have
a brain?

He continued following her. I’m just going to call him a “he” from here on out because I knew exactly who he was: Hans. Once a sweet young man in a fairy tale, and now here he was in the present-day no doubt working for a shadowy trio of dwarfs, almost fully transformed into a man-sized hedgehog. Sweet little Hans moved from car to car, hunting the woman like she was his prey. Drool dripped from the creature’s chops. The claws on its toes scraped the concrete. The lower half of his body was more animal than human, and as he crouched down behind a red Corvette, his legs bent like the hind legs of a dog.

The woman pulled her phone out, tapping on the little keyboard. She was oblivious, her face illuminated by the screen. She nearly bumped into one of the parked cars as she walked. She slid the phone’s little keyboard shut, then stopped a moment, sliding her fingers across the screen. The familiar sound of annoyed cats broke the silence of the parking lot.

Of
course
she was playing
Castle Cats
. Way to go, lady. Your last moments on this earth are going to be spent playing a stupid phone game. Two cars behind you, a mutant hedgehog man is slobbering and wondering which piece of you to eat first.

But when he reached the next car, Hans stopped. His claw gripped the bumper as he watched the woman get into her car, shutting the door.

We turned back to the hospital. The creature seemed to have regained his composure and now we were hurrying from car to car to car. A fresh look of determination—if such a thing was possible—was on Hans’s narrow face now. A red tongue escaped his mouth, licking at the black fur around his cone-shaped muzzle.

Wake up, Alice!

Hans ignored the glass doors leading to the emergency room, darting instead to the outside wall, sneaking around the tall building. From somewhere nearby, I could hear the hum of cars zipping by at a quick speed. I recognized the building now. This was the hospital just off from the freeway, near my house. It had been cut out of the forest nearby, much to the annoyance of local neighbors who wanted to see the land turned into a park. So long as the Corrupted creature didn’t walk around to the other side of the building, there was no chance someone would see him.

The creature had an even better idea. He slipped up to one of the first-floor windows, looking around quickly to make sure no one was watching. Just twenty feet away was the forest, dark and quiet. No animals dared interrupt this monster’s concentration. He reached over his shoulder with one arm, grabbing one of the quills and plucking it. A quiet “Eep!” escaped his mouth … it would have been cute if the stupid thing wasn’t trying to kill me. And also if he wasn’t a giant hedgehog monster creature.

He used the sharp quill to draw a big circle on the glass. Through the window, I could see big steel filing cabinets and a small desk. The lights were out. Whoever this office belonged to was home, probably fast asleep.

The circle complete, Hans extended one claw and tapped on it. The glass fell in, landing on the floor inside the office with a loud crash. He flinched.

Yes! I thought. Thank you for being so stupid, hedgehog creature!

… But no one came to investigate the noise. The creature glanced around, wiggling its nose. He jumped up onto the narrow windowsill and slipped in through the hole, landing on the cluttered desk. I could hear voices coming from beyond the office door. The creature heard it too and quickly hurried to one corner of the dark room. His quills bristled. He opened his mouth and his big red tongue ran across a set of sharp teeth.

The voices passed. The creature stepped to the door, fumbling at the lock with his paws. He opened the door and peered into the bright hallway, looking left and then right. When the coast was clear, he darted out, slinking along the wall. His nose wrinkled at the clean hospital smell.

“Jan, can you bring me some extra gauze?” came a voice down the hall. The creature darted into the next room, pushing open the door with his shoulder. A hospital bed sat in one corner, protected by a thin white curtain. I could see the shadow of a small figure behind the curtain.

“Is that you, nurse?” came a boy’s voice.

The creature’s head turned in the direction of the boy.

“No!” my mind cried out. “Come get
me
! Come find me instead!”

“Nurse?” the boy called again.

The creature took a step toward the boy. Cool air began blowing out of the vent near the ceiling.

“No!” my mind cried out.

The creature stopped. His nose wrinkled. He looked up, then back at the door. His furry black nose twitched again and I had a sudden realization: he could smell me. He had my scent now.

Wake up, Alice!

He barged out of the room, throwing open the door and knocking over a blonde nurse in the hallway. She landed hard on the tiled floor, and before she could gather herself, we were already at the staircase at the end of the hall. The creature took the stairs two at a time, huffing and puffing, the quills on his back rising and falling with each breath. He growled a low, determined growl. He was on a mission now. No one would get in his way.

Oh gawd, I thought … what if my parents are in the room?

Wake up, Alice!

At the next floor, the creature pawed at the door handle, pulling it open. The hallway was empty and quiet. An empty white gurney sat next to the wall between two of the rooms. I was in one of these rooms. I was behind one of these closed doors.

… And the creature knew exactly which one. He moved quickly down the hall, wrinkling his nose. One of the overhead lights blinked on and off. The creature looked up at it before continuing down the hall. He stopped at room 224 and inhaled through his nose.

His paw pushed on the door, opening it slowly. The room was dark, save for a small reading lamp hanging over the bed. There was no one else in the room—only little old me, all tucked in under the white hospital covers. Next to t
he bed stood a barrage of
electronic monitoring devices, all of them turned off. That was a good thing. If I wasn’t hooked up to all those gizmos monitoring my heart and blood pressure and everything else, then maybe I was just asleep. Maybe they hadn’t knocked me out with any drugs. Either way, I needed to wake up.

Wake up, Alice! Otherwise, you’re gonna be this monster’s dinner!

The creature stalked closer, wiggling his claws. I could see the drool slipping out from his mouth. He snarled, teeth glistening. His quills shuddered like a wave running down his back. On the bed, I could see my chest rising and falling quickly. Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead.

He took another step closer, then crouched, ready to jump. The muscles in his thick furry gray legs tensed.

Wake up! Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up!

Suddenly, I could hear myself. The entire scene seemed to shift into sharper focus. I was awake! I could feel the sweat on my forehead. I could smell the monster and unmistakable hospital scent, too. I blinked rapidly, breathing deeply …

… And then saw the monster lunge toward me.

There was no time to search for the magic pen. Instead, I lifted back my legs, bending them into my chest. The monster landed on my feet and I kicked with both legs as hard as I could. One of its claws tore through the hospital gown before it flew through the air, landing on the hard tiles on the other side of the room.

I jumped out of the bed. OK … think fast! I was wearing a hospital gown, and an unflattering one at that: it was open in the back with nothing but my skivvies to stave off the cool air conditioning. I used the fabric strips at the opening to tie the gown tightly closed around my rear.

So where were my pants? There, on the other side of the room … a little closet! The door was open and I could see my pants and shirt hung up on one of the coat hangers. I had to get to my pants.

The monster stood up, snarling.

“Did Grayle send you?” I asked. “How did you know I was here?”

The monster glanced at the door leading to the hallway, then looked at me and put one curved yellow claw to his mouth. A quiet “Shhhhhh” escaped his lips. Clever little jerk, I thought. He knew I wouldn’t call for help.

“OK, so what do I know about hedgehogs?” I asked aloud, dodging out of the way of the monster’s claws. He slashed at me again and again, backing me up next to my bed. Every time, I had to fight the urge to hit back—every time I deflected a blow, the monster arched his back and turned sideways, showing his back. I couldn’t fight back without getting stabbed by a dozen quills!

“You should let me have a couple hundred knives, too,” I told him, blocking another swipe. We were next to my bed now. He was pushing me back against the wall, his jaws snapping at me every time I tried to maneuver around him. He was terrifying, a good foot taller than me, his menacing black eyes staring at me with an intense hunger. I had to stay in control. I had to swallow my fear for the time being.

I had to
think
.

Hedgehogs … hedgehogs … we had a pet hedgehog in middle school, but he’d been far less terrifying than this thing. I blocked another blow, stepping back and feeling the heel of my bare foot touch the wall. Nowhere to go now.

The hedgehog’s name had been Sammy … was that of any help? No, of course not. Sammy got his head stuck in toilet paper tubes a lot … they were his favorite toy to play with …

The monster swiped again. This time I held out my arm and let him grab it. His paws gripped me so tight that it hurt, but at least his midsection was open now. I punched him hard in the stomach once, then twice. My fist bounced off his thick furry flesh; he grunted, taking a step back and swinging with his free paw. I ducked, punching again and again. He fell back another step, letting go of my arm. I ducked under the bed, sliding to the other side and jumping to my feet. I grabbed the bed, sliding it left before the creature could make his way around.

“You should have stayed home,” I said. “I’m a lot tougher than I look. And why aren’t you glowing at all?”