The Cabin Is Always Hungry

HELLS GRACE

Part 20

I flew away from the shore, leaving Rebecca’s charred body behind, and hovered above Cedar Lake. With the delvers’ numbers dwindling, I thought having a higher perspective and a “god’s eye” view of my domain should focus my purpose and attention. With Many-Eyes always active, my body existed all over the area to the darkest hidden corners or the most obvious location. So, it was hard to concentrate on everything that was going on around me.

But flying was good for me. It cleared my head, albeit momentarily. Up here, I was truly alone. It gave me a chance to breathe. Rebecca’s essence still lingered at the back of my spine, climbing upward, hissing with warmth and fury. It hushed the very part of my desire to lash out and slaughter with wanton malice. I welcomed the brief few seconds of calmness. For the past three days, I relished such feelings. Besides the constant hunger and twisting pain in my phantom stomach, feeding on an essence gave me an itching relief.

After I took a deep breath, I gazed down at my land.

In a split second, I knew where all six delvers were, down to the exact rhythm of their footsteps and every breath they took. They called to me like goose prickles along my arms and at the nape of my neck. Their sweet, intoxicating fear almost behooved me to milk such emotions down to their bones and flesh. A flash of anger coursed through me that I couldn’t do it.

Not yet. Not now. Patience was the name of the game, and their pesky Resolve was yet to be bloodied. Luckily for me, the night still had many to offer before dawn broke over the mountains.

I saw Clay and Tessa in the woods, stumbling through the darkness.

Jenna Batten screamed helplessly behind the demon’s Cheshire grin as they entered the cabin.

Leo Grady hid behind stacks of boxes in the cellar, waiting for a time to spring a trap against his prey.

Melanie and Coach Hodge, exploring deeper into the cellar tunnels, were now starting to regret their decision. They were turning back. Just the perfect time for Leo to strike.

Tessa’s grunts and yelps in the woods pulled me away from Tunnel B.

Immediately, I activated [ Unnerving Fog ].

Unnerving Fog

A swirling cloud of heavy mist covers the dungeon, bringing chill winds. It can disorient and shed a delver’s resolve over time. Duration: 1 hour.

With this aura active, it blocked the rain from following across my domain, and thin, wispy mists started rising off the ground and covered everything.

Tessa ran wildly into the dark woods and the fog, guided only by her naked eyes. Fortunately, she stopped screaming, drastically increasing her chances of survival now that Goliath just finished up with Deputy Torres and started heading for the woods armed with his trusted axe. Tessa didn’t stop to reorient herself—she couldn’t afford to when she believed the killer was hot on her tail—but when she glimpsed a faint light in the distance followed by hushed voices, she paused and quietly ducked behind a tree.

Clay Havert was standing in the middle of a small clearing, hand raised to the sky, trying to get a cell signal on his phone. Well, technically, it was Rebecca’s phone. He pickpocketed it off her jacket when she was too busy distracted by a demonic-possessed Chris. Fortunately, it was water-resistant when he jumped into the water, and it still worked after being submerged for a minute or two.

Barely.

There were no bars on the phone’s screen. Oracle made sure we were not interrupted by outsiders tonight. By the road’s entrance leading to the cabin, I plopped down a barrier gate—which I paid a measly dozen crystals for—with a metal arm that raised up and down and with big letters saying ROAD CLOSED. FINES DOUBLED. I added plenty of cone heads and orange plastic barriers for good measure. That should deter anyone from trying to get into North Cedar Lake. This place was a notorious hotbed for high schoolers, townies, and college students for a night of debauchery. Even though Lover’s Rock was across the lake from the cabin, I would not take any chances. I did not want a repeat of having another group like Leo’s stumbling into my dungeon. No, thank you.

“Come on, come on! Work, damn it!” Clay tapped on the screen impatiently. He couldn’t dial 911 and had called them four times already since he reckoned that he was far enough from the carnage. “Hello! Can you hear me? I need help!” He said. “Hello? Can anyone hear me? Can you—shit! Work you piece of shit!” ṜΆ

Still, the line wouldn’t go through.

“Just my luck!” He let out a frustrated hiss.

Tessa stepped on a twig, and it snapped audibly. Clay whirled around, aiming his flashlight at the tree she hid behind. “Whoah! Who’s there?” He shouted. “I… I’ve got a gun! I’ll shoot!”

I shook my head. He had no such weapon.

Tessa sighed, clearly annoyed. She already deemed him not a threat. “Idiot. They’ll hear you.” She stepped out from her hiding spot. She raised her arms to block the phone’s bright light from blinding her, and technically, she didn’t know if Clay had a gun. Better to be safe than sorry.

Clay stepped back. “Who are you?”

“I’m not one of them,” she said. “They kidnapped me. Did they kidnap you, too? Or…are you one of them?” Suddenly, Tessa realized she probably shouldn’t have revealed herself to a stranger. He could be part of Hodge’s merry band of murdering assholes.

Clay gulped, also realizing who she was. “Yeah, um, same boat as you,” he said. “You’re the girl that they kidnapped? Aren’t you the Green Hill girl?” It was tough to miss Tessa’s face when she was plastered all over the newspapers and local news channels. A pretty girl and a bloody tragedy ripped out of a true-crime podcaster’s wet dream was going to ring the dinner bell for all the leeches who were entertained by people’s traumas.

She looked away uncomfortably. “Look, I just want to get out of here, and you’re making too much noise.”

“Shit. Sorry.”

“Can you lower the phone, please? It’s too bright.”

Clay scrambled and put the phone down. “Ahh, crap. Sorry again.”

“Do you really have a gun?”

Clay paused for a second. “No,” he answered and squirmed uncomfortably where he stood.

Tessa frowned. “Oh. That sucks.”

“Sorry. I was trying to scare you off. I almost had a gun, but I left it at the boathouse. Unless you want to go back and—”

Tessa shook her head. “No, thank you. I want to stay as far away from there as possible.”

“Welp, same.” Clay rubbed the back of his neck. “You know who the other, um, psychos are?”

“Yeah.”

“Who else should we watch out for?”

“Coach Hodge and his wife. Mr. Gamble. Jenna Batten, the real estate lady?”

“Ahh. I know of them. I don’t like them much. No loss there. The Gamble fellow is already dead. Do you know why they’re her?”

“They’re looking for something. Some crystal. Do you know anything about that?”

Clay shook his head. “No. Never seen one.”

“Since you’re not one of them, do you want to work together?” Tessa asked. “Better to travel in groups than alone, you know?”

Clay gave her a small smile. “I’d like that.” Then, he squinted over her shoulder. “Where’s your friend? I thought there were two of you.”

Tessa tried to stifle the tears from forming. “She’s dead. That maniac got her.”

“Oh.”

“She was nice,” Tessa said softly and lowered her head. “She helped me get out of that horrible place.”

Clay stepped forward and straightened his shoulders, a hidden strength pulled from a deep well within him. “Hey. It’s not your fault, okay? You got out of there as fast as you can because you have to. Think nothing else. We’ll do more thinking and crying once we’re safe. Got it?”

“Got it.”

That was actually some neat advice, which was surprising for Clay. He had more than a decade over her head, so he probably thought he had to man up and be the adult in this situation. Or perhaps he was embarrassed that he acted like a bumbling, scared fool a few seconds ago.

An owl’s soft rustle from above the canopy scared them enough that the two started walking out of the clearing, with Clay leading the way into the fog. He turned off the flashlight just in case the killer could see them.

“What the hell? Where did this fog come from?” Clay muttered when he almost tripped over a rock he didn’t see.

“I recognize you,” Tessa blurted a minute into their walk. “You’re Mr. Havert. I see you in Haley’s Corners a lot. I work part-time as a barista there during the summer.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember you…” Clay tried hard to remember her name.

“Tessa,” she finished for him.

“Oh. Right, right. You’re the one who always gives me extra sprinkles on my extra whipped mocha.”

Tessa hid her smile. “You’re a good tipper.”

“What can I say? I like the place.”

They walked for another five minutes in total silence, cautious not to make a sound. Clay stopped momentarily to dislodge a tiny pebble that slipped into his shoes and got under his soles, cursing how it annoyed him while they were hiking.

Once he grabbed the pebble, he chucked it off into the darkness. “That damn thing was trying to stab my foot. All better now.”

“Look, Mr. Havert. We’ve been walking a lot. Do you know where we are or where we’re going? They blindfolded me before I got here.”

“We’re at Cedar Lake,” Clay said. “My girlfriend–” He stopped himself, pain crossing his expression, which momentarily dropped his Resolve to orange. “Um, Deputy Torres invited me to meet up here. Turns out it was a trap.”

“I see. And Cedar Lake? Really? It felt like we were driving for hours. I thought we were half a state away.”

“I’m new in town, so I haven’t been around much. Best I could remember; it wasn’t that far off when I put it into my GPS. Twenty, maybe thirty-minute drive from Point Hope? It didn’t feel like a long drive.”

“If we keep going, we can reach the main highway and flag a car if we can reorient ourselves with the lake.”

“You’ve been out here before?”

Tessa nodded. “Plenty of times. Although it’s not technically sanctioned, the other kids at my school host a bonfire party around here before homecoming. Everyone in town knows. I mean, they practically set up the tradition back in the eighties. Or was it the seventies?”

“Wait, is that party going on right now?”

“No. Homecoming’s in two weeks. No one’s here beside us, Mr. Havert. Well, and the psychos.”

“Fuck going back to the lake. If we continue southward, maybe we can even reach the town’s limits.”

“But that will take us all night. No, actually, that will take an entire day. These woods are huge, sir. We might get lost, especially if this fog doesn’t disappear.”

“Do you have any other options, kid?” Clay opened the palm of his hands in the air. “Going back is clearly a bad idea.”

Tessa’s frown deepened. “You think that maniac’s still following us? We should be far from the lake by now, right?”

In reality, thanks to the [ Unnerving Fog ], Clay and Tessa moved in circles—twice. They had already looped around and entered Trail A, only a quarter of a mile from the cabin.

Clay looked around. “To be honest, I don’t know. It’s too dark and foggy around here.”

“We’re lost, aren’t we?”

“We can’t turn back. We just gotta continue moving forward. There’s something else in these woods that I don’t want to meet again.”

“Like what?”

Clay hesitated to answer. “Some batshit crazy stuff. Something that shouldn’t exist, you know? Like a dead body still talking…”

“A what?” Tessa leaned forward. “Like a ghost? A zombie?”

“Long story. Be glad you didn’t see it.”

“Well, all the more reason to get out of here–”

“Shush!” Clay stopped in his tracks, extending his arm to prevent Tessa from walking and making any noise. They paused, inspecting the silence for any subtle sounds. “You hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Get down,” Clay hissed, and they both dropped behind a bush. “Thought I heard something over there.” Clay nodded over to the west of their location.

“Are you sure?” Tessa whispered.

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“Pretty sure.”

“Is it the killer?”

Clay shook his head. “I didn’t get a good look.”

Tessa’s eyes bulged as her panic rose. She looked around and grabbed a rock under the bush, ready to throw it at Goliath if need be. Tessa realized that Clay was studying her face and then the weapon she carried in her grip. “Volleyball and softball. Three years. I can throw a rock and make it hurt a lot.” She said, visibly annoyed.

Clay also searched his surroundings, grabbing a long, pointy branch like a makeshift spear. It looked like it could poke someone’s eye out, at least.

“Where did you hear it?” Tessa asked again.

“Over there. By the fallen log.”

A soft, muffled whimper echoed in the darkness.

“I think I hear it,” Tessa said. “Someone’s in there.”

“Alright. Stay here. I’m gonna go check it out.”

“What if it’s the maniac?”

“I’ll stab him with this and run. He doesn’t seem like the runner type.”

“How would you know?”

“When he attacked us, he just walked. He wasn’t in a hurry at all. Like he knew it was pointless to run because—”

“—Because there’s nowhere to run,” Tessa finished his sentence.

“It could be another victim like us. I’ll go check it out and help, okay? Stay here.”

Tessa nodded. Still, she readied her rock just in case a fight broke out. Clay slowly stood and approached the fallen log. I could tell by his face that he regretted being the “hero” of the situation. Having to brave the dark to discover whatever was making those funny noises, which, given the night’s horrible track record, might be against his favor. But there was no backing out now.

Clay peered into the hollow log, and he let out a heavy breath. “Oh, shit on the brick.” He motioned for Tessa to come out from behind the bushes and to get closer.

“What’d you find?” Tessa asked when she reached him.

“Take a look.”

Tessa furrowed her brows and knelt at the fallen log’s hole. There, she saw a young boy, his back pressed against the wall, glaring fearfully at them.

They found Danny.

It dawned on Tessa. “This must be Eliza’s son. She was looking for him. I think his name is Danny.”

But Clay shook his head. “That’s not Eliza’s son. I don’t know an Eliza, but that boy right there, I know him. He’s Zack’s boy. He’s also Jenna Batten’s son.”

Something twisted inside Tessa’s gut. “She’s one of them.”

“Bad timing for a family night.” Clay scratched his neck and shrugged.

“What’s he doing out here?”

Danny sniffled. “Leave me alone,” he squeaked.

“We’re not gonna hurt you, little buddy,” Tessa said sweetly. “We’re here to help. See? We’re not like the monsters.”

“I…I don’t know where I am,” Danny said. “Can I go home? I don’t want to play anymore.”

Something inside me twisted, too. Sorry, little one, I thought. But the night ain’t over yet.

Tessa reached her hand out. “It’s very dangerous out here, Danny. Come with us.”

Danny’s head perked up. “How’d you know my name?”

“Your mom, I mean step-mom and I are friends,” Tessa said. “She helped me, too.”

Danny pulled his knees close to his chest. “My mom is not my mom anymore. Something took her in the woods.”

Tessa and Clay shared a worried glance.

“Something took Jenna?” Clay asked him.

“She’s gone now,” Danny said. “She went back down the trail. I…I didn’t follow. I want to stay in here.”

Tessa got down on both knees and crawled slowly inside the fallen log. “Look. It’s not safe out here, Danny. I know you’re scared. Me, too. But you know what makes me feel better?”

“What?”

“When surrounded by people, the scary stuff just disappears. If I’m in a group, some people will protect me if anything bad happens. And you have two. Me and this guy over here.”

Danny looked over to Clay and then to Tessa. His shoulders dropped, and he used the back of his knuckles to wipe a trickle of snot from his nose. “Oh. Well, okay. You’re going home, too?”

“We’re actually heading there right now,” Tessa said, giving him a reassuring smile. “Want to join us? It’s just a short walk.”

Danny slowly nodded and crawled out of the hole. He shivered from the chill and sniffled. Clearly, he had been crying. Tessa opened her arms, inviting Danny for a hug. He took it.

“You’re okay now. We’re getting you out of here.”

“Let’s start moving. We’ve stayed here long enough,” Clay said.

Clay led the way again, and Tessa and Danny trailed behind. She held Danny’s hand, and the boy clung to her with every step they made.

“He’s watching us,” Danny whispered to Tessa.

Tessa blinked and looked around. “Who’s watching us?”

“The Pirate Man.”

“Who’s the Pirate Man, Danny?”

“He says he’s a friend.” Danny looked directly at me, flying above them. I put my finger to my lips, and the boy looked away. “He doesn’t want to hurt me.”

Tessa gazed up at the spot where I was but saw nothing. She realized something, and she caught up to Clay. “Hey, mister. Have you seen another boy? Mark Castle? I think those psychos killed him.”

Clay paused, looking horrified. “He’s not dead.”

“What do you mean he’s not dead? I heard Coach Hodge and the others talk about killing him.”

“He was talking just fine ten minutes ago.”

“Wait, you saw him?”

“No. I heard him through a tape recorder.” Clay hesitated to say more and stopped walking. “Um, I think he’s haunting this place.”

Tessa and Danny also stopped walking. “Don’t talk about the Pirate Man,” Danny said.

“Is Pirate Man…Mark Castle, Danny?” Tessa asked.

All Danny could do was meekly nod.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not supposed to play,” Danny said. “It’s against the rules.”

“What rules, bud?” Clay asked.

“You play his game. You fight. You run. You hide. The only way to win is if you—”

“—survive until dawn,” Tessa finished, gulping down the lump in her throat.

Danny nodded. “Once the sun comes out…everything will be a dream.”

“Right. There’s this strange familiarity about this place,” Tessa said. “I don’t know why, but since I got here, there’s this need inside of me to survive until dawn. That once I see daylight, everything’s over.”

“You’re a past delver. You survived the other game,” Danny said. “The Pirate Man gave you gifts to help you tonight.”

“How’d you know all this, kid?” Clay asked again.

Danny shrugged and scratched his arm. “It’s like reading and singing the ABCs and twinkle twinkle little star. Everybody just knows it, and I know it because my daddy taught me how to sing it. But it’s very foggy. If I think too much, it hurts my head.”

Clay narrowed his gaze at the boy. “So, if you know all of this, do you also know the way out?”

Danny nodded.

Relief washed over Tessa’s and Clay’s faces. “Oh my god,” Tessa muttered, almost bursting into tears.

Clay smiled. “Okay, okay. Buddy, I need you to show us the way. Where should we go?”

Danny frowned and lowered his head. “It doesn’t work that way, mister. And we’re already here.”

“Wait, I see something over there,” Tessa said.

Clay raised the phone’s light ahead of the trail and landed on something metallic black. “Holy shit. That’s my car!” Clay ran over toward his SUV. The door was already unlocked. He checked if the keys were inside but couldn’t find them. “Nothing. It’s not here.”

He noticed Tessa and Danny looking blankly up ahead. “What is it?”

Tessa pointed a finger shakily. “Look.”

Clay raised the phone’s light and increased its brightness.

More vehicles. At least six more sat idly in the darkness just off the trail. His light hit Steven and Alvin’s Ford vehicles. Chris’s Honda. Maxine’s red Ford Explorer. Zack’s Toyota. Leo’s wrecked white Hyundai van with its windshield smashed through.

“It’s like a goddamn scrapyard in the middle of the woods,” Clay said.

“All of these people…” Tessa put her hand over her mouth. “Did they go through the same thing as us?”

“They played the game,” Danny said quietly. “They lost.”

“Some of these cars are bound to work. They don’t look like they’ve been out here for too long,” Clay said.

“But where are we driving off to? There’s no road. We’re in the middle of the woods,” Tessa said.

“Find a weapon then,” Clay said. “Better than this stick and that rock.”

They scattered around the makeshift scrapyard looking for weapons. I dumped everyone’s vehicles here so that it didn’t clutter the parking lot in front of the cabin. Although I couldn’t communicate and explain why this was all happening to them, Danny gave them a peek behind the curtain. Hopefully, that increased their chances of survival so I could focus on the other delvers I wanted dead, and I didn’t have to worry about them—

Oh, shit.

I forgot one thing.

Instantly, I flew above the canopy. Another quarter of a mile from the scrapyard was a lone dead witching tree in a small clearing. Its gnarled branches reached toward the night sky, and a dull glow from within protected my Core.

Although the System had been a great ally to me these past few days, it played its own games and abided by its own rules. As I fed on more delvers in the future and the scrapyard expanded, it would form a barrier around my Dungeon Core and a deterrent for future delvers. Scrapyards were creepy places, and no one wanted to stay in them, especially surrounded by the woods. McLaren Forest was already a natural barrier around my Core, but delvers still ended up inside it.

Like all dungeons, they were not made to be impossible to defeat. The System wouldn’t allow it. Sure, killing and destroying a Dungeon Core would probably be nightmarishly difficult, especially when delvers were dealing with a Death Core. However, the possibility was there, guided by the System. Part of me was curious to see what a defeated dungeon would look like or what happened next, but I was not privy to such insights and the System refused to tell me.

And I certainly didn’t make the fucking narrow trail leading to my Core. Multiple trails, like veins, vessels, and capillaries, extended into the woods as if they were piercing muscle. That was all the System’s doing.

It started small, sure, and I didn’t think much of it because I was busy planning and purchasing props, weapons, and archetypes to defeat the cultists until tonight when the Core Tree connected to the scrapyard by a lone trail. Man, even the System was helping the delvers win a little. Not just me.

The simple truth about dungeons was that no matter how complicated the rooms or the environment became, everything should lead to me.

Tessa knew it when she saw the trail, or at least felt it. As a survivor of the Green Hill Massacre, the connection she had to my Core was palpable in the air. That pull to destroy the living shit out of me. To win was ingrained in her bones like a fevered instinct. Her muscles tensed, and she worked her jaw before stepping toward it.

“Don’t go in there,” Danny said when he realized what Tessa was looking at.

“Why?” Tessa asked.

“It’s a bad idea,” he said. The System wouldn’t allow him to divulge anything more than that.

“Finally!” Clay laughed and pulled out a crowbar from Alvin’s trunk. “A proper weapon.”

“There’s something in there,” Tessa said, gesturing toward the narrow trail slightly obscured by a small bush.

Clay walked over to them and stared down the trail. “You feel that?”

Tessa nodded.

That was interesting. Even Clay could feel my Core, not just Tessa. I reckoned all delvers could, but only Tessa shifted uncomfortably.

“Whatever’s in there is strong,” Tessa said.

“Don’t go in there,” Danny warned them again. “Please. We should leave.”

But Tessa and Clay ignored him.

“What do you think is down there?” Clay asked Tessa.

“Beats me.”

“Should we…”

“…check it out?”

Clay shrugged. “I think we have to.”

They started walking toward the trail. Danny pulled on Tessa’s hand, but the girl reassured him everything would be okay. Reluctantly, Danny followed after them.

I gritted my teeth. No. Not yet. It wasn’t my time to go now that I was this close to destroying Coach Hodge and the cult. Not when I had so many plans. Not when I had so much to live for. I never felt this alive when Tessa and Clay inched closer toward my Core.

I tasted blood.

The fog thickened. The cold became more chilling. The trees creaked creepily as I tensed my muscles.

Come to me, I wanted to tell them. And I’ll show you who I am.

They reached the small clearing, stopped in their tracks, and let out an audible gasp.

“What in the hell is that?” Clay raised the light toward the gnarled witching tree, and the thrumming and glowing light bursting through the trunk’s cracks and gashes, painting the area in a hellish purple and red haze.

“There’s something inside that tree,” Tessa pointed out.

Danny tugged on her hand. “We need to leave. Please. We should really go now.”

“Hold on, bud. Stay back.” Clay strode toward the tree, gripping tightly on the crowbar. “I think I see something.”

“Be careful,” Tessa said.

Clay climbed over the protruding roots, reaching toward a wider crack eight feet off the ground. With a loud grunt, he hoisted himself upward and peered inside, staring right at me straight in the eye. His mouth hung open, stricken by the kaleidoscope beauty of a Dungeon Core. He might not understand what I was, but I wondered what would happen if a regular denizen of the System found me. They probably wouldn’t hesitate to make the killing blow.

Like, I’m gonna give them a chance, I thought.

“Yeah! I do see something!” Clay shouted.

“What is it?”

“A crystal!”

“A crystal?”

“Yep. It’s stuck, though! Like the damn tree grew around it.”

Tessa gasped. “That’s…oh my god, that’s what Coach Hodge and the others were looking for in the cabin!”

“This one? Are you sure?”

“They practically tore the cabin upside down just looking for it.”

“Did they say what it is?”

“No, but it sounded important.”

Clay paused to think for a moment. “We could use it as a bargaining chip. Rebecca said there was a van outside the cabin. We can exchange this damn crystal for the keys and get the fuck out of here.”

“What if they kill us anyway? They have guns.”

“If they don’t let us leave, we’ll smash it. Get them to lower their weapons so we have time to get inside the van, and then we’ll chuck it out of the window. We’ll hightail it out of there before they can fire a shot at us.”

“You think that will work?”

It was a desperate plan, but Clay was dumb enough to try it. “It might,” he said. “What other options do we have?”

Clay reached his arm and grabbed my Core.

I summoned [ Heat Surge ]. Clay’s palm sizzled with the boiling heat, his skin glued to my Core. He shrieked and had to peel his palm off of me.

[Power: 5/10]

Then, I let out [ Telekinesis ].

I pushed Clay off the tree, and he flew twenty feet west with the strength of a barreling ten-wheeler truck that went thirty miles on the road. He landed on his left arm and shoulder and rolled three times to a dead stop. He coughed out blood.

[Power: 4/10]

“Mr. Havert!” Tessa shouted and ran over to him. Danny took three steps behind the tree line, averting his gaze away from the Core Tree.

“Fuuuuuck!” Clay spat between gritted teeth. He grabbed his chest, feeling like he cracked a rib or two. He struggled to breathe.

“Are you okay?” Tessa asked.

“Don’t fucking touch it.”

“Did you grab it?”

“Nah, it was too hot. The piece of shit burned me!”

Tessa looked around and spotted the crowbar lying not far away from them. She scrambled and picked it up. “Whatever it is, I don’t like it.”

“Don’t destroy it! We still need it as a bargaining chip.”

“Fuck that. I think we should destroy it now!”

Tessa stepped toward the tree and raised the pointy end of the crowbar toward me. I still had plenty of juice left with [ Telekinesis ] since it lasted a minute, and I pushed her further away from the Core Tree. She landed on her butt, skidding across the protruding roots, and slammed her back against one. She let out a pained hiss. Unfortunately, she still had a firm fucking grip on the crowbar, and she could use it again to hurt me.

Then she looked up above the glowing fracture and saw something shudder. Clay saw it, too.

Old Growth emerged from the shadows, perched from his hiding place above the gnarled, thick branches. His head snapped between Clay and Tessa. Once Danny saw him, he ran into the woods. Old Growth stalked down the trunk like a cat toying with its prey. It was clear to Tessa and Clay that he was here to protect me and that if they tried that shit again, they’d die.

“Danny! No!” Tessa cried out.

“Out! Run! Get out of here!” Clay exclaimed, struggling to get up. He let out a yelp when he put a little weight on his right foot.

Tessa scurried away from the clearing, judging that she wouldn’t stand a chance against a beast like Old Growth. Her crowbar wouldn’t do jack shit. She ran after the boy, with Clay desperately trailing behind her.

Clay hobbled with every step, struggling to run away. “Tessa! Hold on, wait—!”

Vines shot out of the ground like strands of ropes and grappled Clay. They grabbed his legs and arms, and like a coiling snake, they wrapped around his torso and under his armpits, slamming him back to the ground. Old Growth had used [ Moving Vines (thorns) ] at him. The paralytic venom quickly worked its way into the cuts made by the thorns, entering Clay’s system with lightning speed. His strength started to betray him. The venom also drained a delver’s Resolve, and Clay, already hovering at red-orange, brought him down into a deepening red.

Old Growth stalked toward him, raising his three remaining limbs and their javelin appendages in the air. Then, the beast lunged. Clay screamed as Old Growth stabbed, ripped, and tore like a wolverine, mauling and clawing at its prey. He shredded the man’s limbs, organs, flesh, and bone, splattering the grass around them in red.

Clay let out a final choking sob before Old Growth hovered one of his thick javelin appendages above his skull. Like a cattle gun, he slammed the javelin into Clay’s head, and it burst like a pressurized watermelon.

[ You have gained 1 essence: Clay Havert ]

[You have gained 150 crystals]

Tessa managed to catch up to Danny and returned to the scrapyard. She heard all the screams that Clay and the monster made. But she knew the man was gone once it cut to an unnerving silence. She let out a tearful sob, gripped Danny’s hand tighter, and continued running down the trail.

She didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. I reckoned she realized the gravity of her predicament was more than she imagined. She was now surrounded by a group of crazed cultists, a maniacal masked killer, and now a roaming plant-beast? How could she survive when all the odds were against her?

Danny suddenly stopped running and let go of her hand.

“Hey, hey! We need to keep going! What are you doing?”

The boy’s eyes rolled over, and he tilted to the side. Tessa quickly caught him before his head hit the ground. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Danny? Danny! Are you okay? Talk to me.” She slapped the boy under the chin, shook him, and forcefully opened his eyelids. But the boy was unconscious.

Then, something caught Tessa’s attention. She gazed ahead of the trail and realized where she and Danny had run towards.

The cabin beckoned before her.

“Oh, crap,” she muttered under her breath.

She hoisted Danny up with both arms. It didn’t look like anyone was around, so she ran toward the van. The driver’s and passenger’s side doors were locked, but the rear hatch wasn’t. She slowly opened the door, trying not to make a sound, and drew anyone out of the cabin. She put Danny inside, grabbed a blanket nearby, and laid it over him.

“I’ll be right back,” she whispered.

There were no weapons in the van, probably hoping she'd find an extra gun lying somewhere. She looked down at her crowbar and hopped out of the vehicle.

Tessa glanced at the cabin and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing,” she said, and she stepped forward.

By the time she reached the front porch, she heard gunshots and blood-curdling screams.