I landed with a thump on my good shoulder and immediately rolled over, all too aware of where I was. Sadie galloped off down the trail, Donna still attached to her by the belt, her blonde curls bobbing along until the horse disappeared from sight.

I quickly got to a crouch and inspected my shoulder for a moment before turning my eyes back to the creature who was twitching on the hard-packed ground. My shoulder was bleeding, and the pain was starting to settle in my nerves, but I had no time to think about it. I had no time at all if the monster started to get up.

And it did. Slowly. First one elbow jerked up, then the other. With great effort, it pushed itself off the ground, its long, straggly hair hanging down its face, its head filled with bald patches. He—for at times like this it did seem human—wasn’t like the other ones I had seen, and it appeared he had on torn, knee-length pants if not a shirt.

It raised its head and looked at me. There was no air in my lungs now, the whole forest seemed to still at that moment, as if it too were chilled by the monster’s presence, the smell of evil.

It was when it smiled at me with bloodstained teeth that I snapped out of it. It was both living and dead, human and creature. I leaped to my feet and started running in the direction of Sadie. If it was weak, maybe I could outrun it; I had to try. My chest seized with panic as I tried to gain traction on the ground and found myself slipping from the ice that was formed as the night continued to deepen.

I looked over my shoulder as I tried to get steady, cursing my poorly made boots, and saw that it was now rapidly limping toward me on all fours. I turned around, the palms of my bare hands scraping along the snow as I attempted to push myself up.

It lunged for me with skinny, outstretched fingers. I opened my mouth to scream but horror seized my throat and the monster seized my legs, its fingernails digging into my pants like claws. I rolled over onto my back and tried kicking at it. I got it once—hard—in the face, shattering its jaw. But its grip on my calves barely loosened and it dragged me toward its bloody, unhinged mouth that snapped open and shut like it was about to devour me whole.

I thought of Meek’s heart, of Donna’s hand, and knew that the fates had it in for me. I wasn’t invincible, I was hopeless, and I was going to die out here feeling like I never really lived. The feeling that I never really got a chance was worse than what I knew was coming.

A human mouth wanting to eat me for dinner.

Chapter Nine

I tried to kick again at the ugly, demonic face but it was no use. My boot was jerked off, ice cold nails dragging along my foot. I shut my eyes and prepared for the slaughter.

A loud blast ricocheted through the forest, vibrating through my bones. The hands let go of my foot and I lifted my head to see a gaping red hole taking over the top half of the creature’s head, brains visible through the bone and muck.

I quickly twisted around to see Trouble thundering toward me with Jake astride him, rifle pointing right at the creature’s mangled face and passing through a puff of grey gunpowder that was hanging in the air. Jake vaulted off his horse and expertly reloaded his gun as he ran toward me.

I gazed up at him, for a moment thinking he meant to shoot me dead too. But he just placed the muzzle of the rifle into the mouth of the creature and pulled the trigger. With a giant explosion that crackled through the trees and made my ears ring fuzzy, the creature’s head came right off, scattering onto the snow like mutilated rose petals.

Jake holstered his rifle down his back and looked at me. He was breathing hard and his eyes were slightly wild, but he looked in complete control, dressed up like he was going for a long ride. He put his hand out for me to help me up, but as soon as he saw my shoulder he quickly dropped to his knees.

“Are you okay, did he get you?” he asked gruffly, his hand hovering above the wound as if he wasn’t sure it was okay to touch me or not.

I shivered away from his fingers and could only nod. I was afraid if I said anything, I’d cry instead. I couldn’t process anything that had happened and my brain felt like a lightning storm. On top of that, I was feeling ashamed that I’d run from him and scared because he’d found me.

“We’ll get you back to the cabin,” he said, lifting me up under my good arm. “Though you should be fine. I reckon he didn’t get you bad, though had I not shown up, you’d probably be missing your foot right now.”

He brought me over to Trouble, his grip on my arm firm but gentle. Before I could try to get on the horse, he picked me up and propped me on the saddle as if I weighed nothing more than a feather. Then he swung his leg up and around until he was pressed right against my back, his arms around my sides, his mouth at my ear.

“I’ve got you safe but we’re going to have to go fast for a bit, just to get out of here. I don’t want to see if he has any buddies hanging around.”

He clucked Trouble into a smooth gallop, the horse all too eager to leave the carnage behind. The movement rocked my body back against his. I closed my eyes, taking small pleasure in feeling safe.

“What happened to Avery?” he asked in a low voice, his breath tickling me.

I could only shake my head.

“Fair enough. Come on, I found Sadie further up the path and hitched her to a tree.”

I turned my head, nearly meeting his lips dead on. “Is Donna okay?”

His mouth ticked up. “She’s still on the horse, if that’s what you mean. You sure tied her tight. Knocked her right out, too. You musta given her something much stronger than you gave me.”

My eyes widened frightfully. “It was Avery.”

He gave me a subtle nod. “I reckoned it was. I guess he didn’t give enough of the funny stuff for my height and weight. Tim was still out last I checked.”

“He doesn’t know?”

“That you and Avery took Donna and some gold and hightailed it out of there? No, he doesn’t.”

“Are you going to tell him?” I asked weakly.

“Don’t see why I should,” he said. “Though I’ll have to tell him what Avery did. I’ll leave you out of it, no worries there, Pine Nut.”

We came around a bend and I could hear Sadie whinny. She was tied up to a low branch, Donna still lying across her shoulders. I held my breath, wondering if she was still alive, and then exhaled noisily when I saw her back rise and fall. In hindsight, my desire to take her with us was nothing but foolish. I wondered how much of it was to ease the guilt that kept eating away at me.

Back at the cabin, Tim was still asleep and snoring away. I was so tired and relieved to be alive that I was delirious. I tried to change Donna’s bandages but Jake insisted he fix me up first, calling me his number one priority. My shoulder wound ached, and though I passed on having the opium, I did swallow a few burning shots of moonshine to ease the pain. Luckily—if I even had luck anymore—the bite wound was fairly shallow.

“Do you think I’ll have rabies?” I panicked at the sudden thought.

“Hard to say,” he said grimly. He had cut through the cloth around the wound and taped the last strip of muslin gauze on top of it. “There we go. All done. Sorry I ruined your dress.”

I let out a dry laugh. My dress was already covered in dirt, blood, and who knows what. The rare moment of lightness only lasted a moment though before the fear was back to plague me. “What if I’m infected?”

“You know, I’m not too sure if that’s what’s going on here,” Jake said, his fingers gently tracing the edge of the gauze, making sure it was flat. My skin danced in response, a reaction that still surprised me. “This seems much more than a case of rabies. This is far, far worse, I reckon. This is a danger unlike any I’ve ever seen. And believe me darlin’, I’ve seen a world of horror.”

I was too afraid to ask if I’d be okay from the bite. It seemed lately all I’d known was fear.

My eyes went to his face, the firmness of his jaw, the little scar that caused a slash through the dark hair on his chin. “If it’s so dangerous, why did you come after us?” I whispered. “To get your gold?”

“No,” he murmured. “To get you.” He gently ran his hand down my arm and then met my eyes. “You’re worth much more than gold.”

I stared at him, lost in the coffee brown depths of his eyes, clamoring onto the words that just came from his lips. I could have stared at him forever. It pushed my reality behind me in a haze.

But he cleared his throat and gave me a sad smile. “You need to rest, Pine Nut. I’ll take care of Donna here. You just get some shut-eye. In the morning we can head back to River Bend. Find Avery. And leave this mad world behind.”

I didn’t fall asleep feeling invincible, but there was a tiny ember of hope burning somewhere deep inside.

*

“Well, well, well, lookee here. A right Injun Sleeping Beauty.”

My eyes snapped open to see Hank standing right above me. He looked unharmed but dirtier and a bit more crazed in the eyes.

“Give her some room,” Jake said, appearing at Hank’s side and pushing him away from me.

I snapped upright, bringing the animal fur blanket to my chin. Hank and Isaac were peering down at me with disdain while Tim was standing over Donna and sipping from a steaming cup.

“What time is it?” I asked. I felt like I’d been sleeping all morning.

“Time to answer a few questions,” Tim said, his voice hard. “Mainly, what the heck happened?”

I quickly glanced at Jake. His eyes were imploring me to lie, to tell him that Avery forced me to leave. With only him on my side it seemed I had no choice.

But as Jake once said, I always had a choice.

“Avery wanted to go, get out of here and get back to River Bend. Back to safety. I suggested we take a gold bar each as payment that was owed to us.”

Jake let out a small groan of disappointment. I went on, ignoring him, “I couldn’t leave without Donna though, so we brought her along too. Not too far in I got separated from him. Those same monsters we saw yesterday, they were back, but different ones this time. If it wasn’t for Jake finding me, I’d be dead.”

Tim glared at Jake. “How courteous of him. I suppose you never found Avery and I suppose Avery has the gold.”

I nodded. “We only took three—one for me, for him, and Donna. That was it. We only took it because it was fair.”

“That’s horseshit!” Hank yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth. “You’re an untrustworthy little tramp. We almost got ourselves killed out there trying to find these beasts and meanwhile you’re trying to rob us blind. That gold is my gold.”

“Actually,” Isaac said from his position against the door, “that’s my family’s gold. But I feel just as slighted.” He eyed Tim. “What do you plan on doing with her?”

“Now wait a minute here,” Jake said, raising his palms. “There is nothing to do. She won’t do it again.”

Hank spun around, getting in his face. “And you of all people trust this redskin here? I’m starting to think you’ve been compromised by the savage.”

Jake cocked his head, his lip snarling. “She’s just a young girl. She is no threat to us. She helped us find the gold, whether she meant to or not, and it’s only fair we bring her back to her home safe and sound.”

“Nuh-uh,” Hank said, shaking his head back and forth like a dog. “No can do, McGraw.” He pointed at me, his finger shaking. “I suggest we get rid of her right here, right now.”

I gasped, my eyes growing large. Hank looked ready to pounce and Jake grabbed hold of his arm before he could do so.

“You lay a finger on her and I’ll kill you,” he sneered in his face.

“I’d like to see you try,” Hank said right back.

“Fellas,” Tim said in a low voice. “No one is killing anyone yet. Let’s not be irrational. Let’s talk like men. Jake is right. She’s just a girl and she’s injured on top of it. We have bigger fish to fry here. We’ve all seen what’s out there, we’ve all seen what they can do.” Everyone’s eyes flew to Donna, who was looking hours from death. “And we’ve all found what we’re looking for. I say we pack up and go.”

“If we go to River Bend, she’ll tell,” Hank said, sounding as insolent as a little boy.

“Then we go somewhere else,” Tim said. I couldn’t figure out then if he meant to take me with them or not. Lord, I hoped not. I had never wanted to see Uncle Pat and Rose so much in my life. At least I knew where I stood with them.

“Can’t trust a savage,” Hank said, spitting on my bed. “Especially can’t trust one that’s already tried to steal from you.” A vicious smile spread across his face, a smile that struck fear in me like a bolt of lightning. “I’ll just make it impossible for her to leave. She can’t leave without her horse.”

He ripped himself out of Jake’s grasp and headed to the table where he’d hung his holster, clearly intent on putting a bullet through Sadie’s head.

“No!” I screamed and jumped to my feet. I ran straight to him and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hands but I was weak in the shoulder. Hank brought the butt of his gun down on my head and I immediately fell to the floor in a dizzying mess. The cabin spun around, stars of pain bursting in my skull, as Hank ran out of the door with Jake yelling after him and in pursuit.

“Please,” I cried out in pain, a fist where my heart was. He couldn’t kill my horse. That was all I had left of my father. I staggered to my feet, stumbling to the door, the faces of Isaac and Tim blurred and out of focus, a hot sticky fluid running down my head.