Brandon was lying on his belly on the ground, his forehead pressed to the bridge’s pavement, not moving a muscle. Mothman ignored him.
“Take it easy. No one wants me hurting the girl,” Loren said with a calm voice. I felt the tip of a knife grinding teasingly at the bottom of my ribs. It made my muscles flinch. I whimpered as acidic fear flashed inside me. The knife bit into my clothes, pinching my skin with sharpness.
“He doesn’t care about me,” I said, struggling to no effect.
“No, I think he cares quite a bit,” Loren said, walking me backwards. We had to veer towards the very edge of the bridge to avoid Caspian who bared his teeth at Loren and tried to swipe his arms towards us. His arms twitched and then lazily slung up before dropping back to the ground. He panted from the effort and aimed his gaze at Mothman.
“Save her,” Caspian wheezed from between needle teeth. Mothman groaned in annoyance. He pulled his gun back up, aiming it towards us. Loren quickly ducked down behind me, trying to shield as much of himself as possible. He also dug his knife in harder, breaking through the fabric of my shirt and slowly spearing into my skin. I could feel the tip slowly sinking into my body, sliding in painfully, and teasing towards my lung. I cried out in pain and Mothman stilled his approach and lowered his gun to his side.
Loren chuckled. I looked over my side, at the edge of the bridge. Loren had walked us backwards when Mothman approached. Now we were right at the edge. My shoe was just a couple inches from the dark valley gaping below us. I could hear the river’s sounds but couldn't see it.
“I’ve been hunting you for three decades. My father hunted you, and my grandfather before him,” Loren said. “It’s me who gets you though. Me who's taken down the God of the Appalachia.” He barked out a manic laugh.
Mothman looked off over the river and sighed. I could hear Loren licking his lips behind me, sliding up a little to straighten his back. A mistake.
Mothman’s gun snapped up in an instant and fired. I felt Loren jerk and I sucked in a breath. His grip slid off me as he bounced from the bullet's impact. Then he pushed me.
My stomach lurched up into my throat, feeling weightless as I teetered momentarily then fell from the edge of the bridge. My arms flung out, trying to grapple something but nothing was there to grab.
Air rushed all around, loud in my ears, making my hair whip around my face. I blinked up at the bridge, watching it grow more distant.
I imagined how painful it was going to be to hit the water. I wondered if there were rocks below me. I wondered if I wouldn’t die right away but would instead get swept under those undercut rocks to drown in the dark water, my bones already all broken.
A wail of agony came from above—Caspian sounding as if he were being flayed alive.
A black creature shot up from the bridge, faster than anything I’d ever seen. Two great big wings tucked in close to his body as he started to dive.
Hope blossomed in my chest and I inhaled, my hands reaching towards the monster. He descended like a predator bird swooping in for its prey. His speed was impeccable. The sound of the river was growing louder, making every microsecond fill with more anxiety.
Mothman’s arms slid around my body, pulling me into his chest—leather and smoke, his arms solid. He spun and swooped. I pressed into his body and wrapped my arms and legs around him.
His back faced the water, flying upside down. A hand came up and pet my head gently, dragging fingers almost shyly down my hair.
“You saved me,” I said, pressing my face into his chest as he held me to him, flying. I was flying.
22
My breathing was sedated, calm. My eyes slowly followed Mothman flying away, out into the forest, swooping up and away with Ava clutched in his claws. Just a dark stain in the sky. Fucking bastard.
Someone was slowly writhing towards me, their body moving more like a worm than a man. I couldn’t move much at all anymore as the person came closer. They hissed out as their face scratched into the pavement.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Brandon spat out, spittle flinging from his lips as he slid over to me. I sighed and looked up at the sky, watching Mothman circle around something in the distance. Brandon finished his way over and managed to maneuver up on his knees to look down at me. I shifted, going back to a man instead of a monster. A curtain rising back up to show the human he knew.
“What the fuck,” Brandon huffed out like me shifting was a personal annoyance. He turned to look at the dead bodies, maybe checking they weren’t about to leap up at him. The leader was face down, blood pooled under him. The hunters were dealt with but now I had to go get Ava back from that other monster.
Except not right now. Right now, I needed to sleep. My eyes started to slide closed.
“Don’t go to sleep!” Brandon growled out at me. His lip curled up in distaste as he looked over my body. He hobbled around so his back faced me then wiggled his fingers at me. “Untie my wrists before you pass out.”
I blinked slowly then dragged my tongue over my lips. Finally, I flexed my fingers, making sure I could still move them.
“Closer,” I whispered slowly. Brandon grumbled but managed to get the rope next to my hand. It took a while, pinching and pulling without any strength. I only had to get one loop loose enough for him to manage the rest. It wasn’t a complicated knot.
He turned back around, rubbing his wrists and looking me over as if my chest were about to burst open and an Alien was going to shoot out at his face.
“What the fuck are you?” He asked. I didn’t answer. I was tired, so tired. My eyes drifted shut.
I didn’t sleep long. The tranquilizer shots were weak even by human standards. I think they had loaded up with darts intended for small animals, like raccoons. Maybe the stronger stuff was harder to get their hands on.
