Loren’sthick fingers bruised my arm. Every time I lost my footing it pulled at the strained muscle in my shoulder.
“What the fuck was that,” someone panted as the group moved at a clipped pace. Brandon, who was still being pulled along, looked at me with freaked-out eyes. There was a questioning look, him wondering if I had known. I swallowed and looked back down at my feet, trying not to trip as we went uphill. Grady was still with us too, grimacing and quiet. His movements were sluggish, his eyes somewhat vacant.
“It was a beast just like the one we hunt. It wants her too,” Loren said, giving my arm a squeeze. “We’ll get itandMothman,” he huffed in disbelief and delight. We moved uphill, towards the New River Gorge Bridge looming darkly above us.
It had been the longest steel, arched bridge in the world for decades on end until recently. It stretched out over the river, the moon glinting off the metal. It disappeared into darkness, going beyond where I could see. A great big beast of modern metal.
We moved onto the wide paved road of the bridge. My feet glued to the spot as I saw a group of trucks parked against the side. I just knew it was these men’s vehicles. You weren’t supposed to get in the vehicle of kidnappers. It dramatically lowered your chances of ever making it home alive.
Loren jerked my arm and I cried out in pain as my shoulder was strained once more. I felt him tense, my loud sounds not sitting well with him. Despite his calm facade, he was on edge from the river. I could see that now. He didn’t look as confident as before.
He let go of me, pulled the rifle from around his back, and aimed it at the back of Grady’s head. Grady had no idea. He was walking towards the trucks just like his captor encouraged him. The gun fired off and I tried to scream but my ragged throat only coughed out a pathetic rasp. I heard Grady’s body thump as it fell down. His glasses skittered to the very edge of the bridge before falling off, sailing down towards the river.
“The hell!” The man who had been standing near Grady said, looking pissed off while he rubbed his ear.
Loren turned his gun towards Brandon, whose eyes widened.
“Wait!” He yelled out.
“Are you human?” Loren asked.
“Yes!” Brandon gasped, his eyes spinning around the group.
“And your buddy down there,” Loren said, jerking his gun in the direction of the water. “What is he?”
“I don’t know. God, I don’t know,” Brandon said, his voice a fast-paced lurch. I didn’t want to watch. My nerves were frayed, expecting to hear another gunshot any second.
“I swear!” He blurted out frantically. “I didn’t know. I thought he was just an asshole not the fucking Swamp Thing.” Movement in the forest behind us had every person spinning around. Loren swung his gun around on his back, putting it out of commission.
“Tranqs,” he barked out and the men nodded.
My eyes searched the trees. My breath came too fast, shallow little gulps that barely kept me going. I was afraid. Afraid for Caspian. AfraidofCaspian.
Something emerged from the trees, stepping out onto the bridge. He materialized out of the shadows, the moon’s light revealing his body. My eyes widened at the sight in front of me.
His skin, his eyes, his feet and hands. It was the thing I’d seen in the dream. The version of Caspian that wasn’t human. He had the same size, the same shape, the same two legs but all the details were off as if he wore a horror costume.
The men’s breath intermingled, fast and loud. They pulled their guns up.
“Wait,” Loren drew the word out as if calming a riled animal. “We don't know what we’re dealing with. No mistakes. Only take a shot you know you can get and keep shooting until it’s down.” He thrust me towards another man. There were only four men now and two captives that needed to be held. Which left only Loren and a second man with free hands to aim.
The monster had stopped when Loren talked. It tilted its chin up and thick, wet hair parted slightly to reveal a face I knew well. Caspian's eyes reflected the meager light as if he had mirrors in them. They shone, two little circular yellow orbs.
His face was etched in rage, his body practically vibrating. His lips pulled back from thin, sharp teeth. They reminded me of those creatures that lived in the Mariana Trench with terrifying mouths filled with unbelievable teeth.
A deep, trembling growl radiated up from his gut, a trilling bass that rolled all the way up to his mouth. It was inhuman. I could feel the hair lifting from the back of my neck as the sound expelled out of him.
He wore no shirt or shoes and it felt somehow wrong he wore Caspian’s pants. My mind couldn't fully grasp that this was truly Caspian and not some monster that had stolen his body and warped it into something else.
Loren and the other free-handed man shifted back slowly, while Brandon and his handler moved to the side. The man holding me seemed glued to the spot in shock though. Caspian suddenly surged towards us, running full speed while pulling an axe two-handed behind his head.
A tranq dart sailed at him but missed. He moved closer, right towards me. My heart seemed to vibrate and my breathing stalled out. I couldn’t do anything, my body wouldn’t move.Itwas coming for me and the pleasing features of Caspian’s face were so tainted by rage it hardly looked like him at all.
The muscles in Caspian's arms and shoulders flexed before he swung the axe down with a grunt of effort, putting everything he had into it. The axe fell swiftly then jerked to a stop halfway into the head of the man who had been holding me. The man's grip slipped away from my bicep, his arms hanging dull at his sides.
Caspian grit his teeth in a snarl, put one bare foot on the man’s chest, and then wretched the axe back out. His abs flexed as he did it. A sickening slurp accompanied the action. A queasy sensation thrummed through my body, making my fingers numb and my stomach roll.
The man fell on his back and blinked vacantly at the sky, seemingly incapable of doing anything until he gasped suddenly then died.
