Escape from Endeavor by Daniel A. Jones
***
It took the better part of an hour for Thomas, Charlie, Gabe, and Craig to get across the gorge.
Alan was waiting to explain what had happened once Thomas arrived. He told him how he’d sent Steven, Eleanor, Paul, and Mystique downriver to find a way across while he took his son, Mark, and Arnold Leech upriver. Steven’s group had gotten there first but Daemon had been waiting to ambush them.
It also looked like Mystique had switched to Daemon’s side. Alan led Thomas and the others to where they had collected Paul and Eleanor’s corpses. Steven was waiting with them, his arm in a sling.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Smith. We would have had him if not for Mystique’s treachery,” Steven said, worried that Thomas would blame him for losing Daemon and getting the others killed.
Thomas was only half listening as he knelt down and checked Paul and Eleanor’s wounds. Someone had already stripped them of their weapons and gear. Thomas guessed their valuables were gone, too, but he wasn’t interested enough to check. After examining their wounds, he believed he had a good idea how they’d died so the next thing was to find out how much Steven was going to lie. “All right, tell me what happened from the time you got back here.”
“Once we could hear you and Daemon yelling, we decided to fan out and slowly sneak up on him. I took the inner-most position hoping to get in behind Daemon. Mystique wanted to be near the gorge and Paul wanted to be near her. She’d been wiggling her butt at him all morning. Daemon must have heard something because as I was sneaking around a tree, there he was, coming at me from the other side. God, he’s fast, before I knew what was happening he had a hold of my rifle and was pulling it out of my hands. So I kicked him. Then he lunged at me and we started wrestling. Eleanor must have heard us because I caught a glimpse of her standing next to a tree aiming at us. I let Daemon roll on top and pin me, figuring it would give Eleanor a clear shot. But the bitch Mystique killed her before she could pull the trigger. I was so surprised Daemon got a shot in and knocked me out. The next thing I know Alan is slapping me awake and my arm is broken.” Steven finished his story by wincing as he moved his arm to show it.
Thomas was so focused on listening to Steven’s tale that he didn’t notice Alan step up behind him. The first warning that Thomas had that something was wrong was the click of the hammer on Alan’s revolver dropping into position to fire.
“What the hell?” Thomas barked as he spun around.
Alan had expected Thomas to do that and stuck the barrel against Thomas’ nose. “I am just making sure you listen, ’cause my boy is not going to end up like Leo.” The rest of the group backed away slightly, to give the men room. “Now I know you let Mark walk right into the clearing, knowing Daemon was waiting on the other side.”
“Alan, don’t do anything stupid. We both know it was the only way to get Daemon to show himself.”
“Right, you’re just lucky Daemon can’t shoot straight or we wouldn’t be talking right now. Steven is hurt and Mark’s only got one good leg, so the two of them are going back to town. Is that okay with you?” Alan left no doubt in Thomas’s mind what would happen if he objected.
“Yeah, fine, but they leave their spare ammo with us. We may need it.” Thomas stated as he stepped away from Alan’s pistol without another word he started walking in the direction Steven had said Daemon went.
Alan turned to Steven. “Mark is already heading up river to where we crossed. The two of you shouldn’t have much trouble getting across the gorge and neither of you are hurt bad enough to have any trouble getting back to town, but just in case you make it back and Mark doesn’t, I promise you that I will string you up and skin you alive.” Alan made sure Steven understood how serious his threat was by bringing his knife point up to Steven’s chin, nicking it just a little.
Steven handed his spare ammo to Arnold as he left to catch up with Mark, while Alan and the rest moved off to catch up to Thomas. They didn’t have to go very far; he was checking the tracks near where Daemon had ambushed Steven. Thomas looked up when he heard them coming. He was standing and waiting when they arrived.
“Looks like the girls went off in this direction, and Daemon ran off this way. I say we follow the girls’ tracks. They are leaving a path anyone could follow and Daemon won’t leave his sister alone out here for long. I bet he’s running in the wrong direction, hoping to lead us away from her. He’ll change course later to catch up with her.”
Thomas didn’t wait for the others to agree. He just walked away, following the girls’ tracks.
15
Angelica was pleased with the progress they were making. They had traveled for over an hour before Sara had asked her to take their first break. She had been quiet, and had not complained once about the hard pace Angelica had set. They were starting to take more breaks as the day wore on, though. Angelica’s worry now was that their pace was slowing down too much. But, she was also concerned they were getting too far ahead of Daemon. She knew he could move a lot faster than they were but he also had a lot to carry.
She could sense, though, that he was closer, so at least he was on his way.
They were resting next to a small stream when Angelica felt the first prick of danger. She didn’t know what it was, just that something bad was coming their way. She thought they weren’t near Discovery City, but she had no idea how close they were. If they were very close, anything they met was probably lethal.
Sara was filling her canteen when Angelica whispered to her to grab her gear and move. Angelica tried not to scare Sara but the feelings coming from whatever was moving toward them was scaring her and her fear was evident.
Sara was doing a good job of holding it together today and she was proud of herself, but Angelica being scared, scared her. Sara almost dropped the canteen she was filling, so she set it down and scrambled to collect her pack and ammo belt. Angelica had her two packs and rifle shouldered and was waiting anxiously for Sara.
The two girls ran off into the woods as fast as they could for as long as they could, their fear driving them to run faster. Neither of them dared to look back, afraid of what they might see chasing them.
Angelica had only felt emotions like those coming from the creature the few times that she’d been close enough to feel Daemon’s rage take control. Daemon’s rage, as horrifying as it was, was more controlled and had a purpose, where this was just raw hatred interwoven with a strong desire to cause pain and suffering. She knew it had to be one of the Rift monsters. The realization that they were being chased by a Rift monster scared her more than anything else in her life ever had.