And just like that, they were gone.
When he was this close to me, his smile was terrifying, disgusting. Did he have surgery to make his face move like that? It was like a snake that could unhinge its jaw to swallow prey twice its size.
I turned away. “Thanks.” It hurt every time I had to say it, to express gratitude for the basic human right of privacy, to not be stalked.
“A demon will do anything for his an-gel.” He remained at the door and watched me go.
I took Claire’s hand and guided her back the way we came.
She looked up, giving a small gasp when she saw that we were alone. “They’re gone.”
“Now it’s just us, baby.”
We moved into the forest, surrounded by the tall pines that glistened with moisture. The air was so clean here, like stepping into a row of fresh Christmas trees. The soil was soft with moisture, and the tree trunks cracked the ground to make rivers.
If this was just the location of a cabin in the woods, a vacation spot for some friends or family, it would be a beautiful place.
But the demons ruined it.
Claire was a child again, running around and playing in the dirt, scraping off the bark from the trees, examining the bugs in the soil. She was as she should be, a child that didn’t have a care in the world, just living in the moment.
I examined everything with a keen eye, searching for clues to get out of here. I’d brought a couple pieces of paper and a pencil so I could construct a map, using the sculptures at the settlement to mark the direction.
We moved deeper into the forest, and I did my best to make sure we knew the way back. Our footprints left imprints in the damp soil like breadcrumbs, so all we had to do was follow that trail back.
It was impossible to gauge our surroundings because the trees were so close, so dense, so tall. It felt like evening because they blocked out so much of the sun. It was beautiful, but also scary. Though, for Claire and me, it wasn’t the least bit scary.
Not after the shit we’d seen.
We kept going, Claire skipping and kicking mud everywhere, her white clothes covered in brown.
We eventually reached the edge of the clearing.
And took in the view.
The French Alps stood far in the distance, their tops covered with snow, but soon they would be completely covered in white powder once the winter storms arrived. The rest of the world was flat, with the exception of various mountain terrains and valleys.
But there were no signs of civilization.
Anywhere.
I looked all around, hoping to see a plane pass overhead, a small French village in the distance. Even if I had binoculars, there was nothing to see. No cars. No roads. Just the wilderness.
“Oh fuck.”
“What?” Claire’s voice came from behind me.
“Shit. I mean…ugh.”
She chuckled. “Oooh, you said a bad word. A lot of bad words.”
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. Daddy does it all the time. It’s funny.”
I looked down at the sketch I’d drawn, just a line and an estimate of the distance. There wasn’t anywhere else to go from this point, except onward blindly. When I looked at the Alps again, I knew they were the border of Italy. “That means we’re facing vaguely south…” I marked an S on my map. “Paris is north-ish, so in the opposite direction… The French Riviera must be southwest…” I marked everything on the map. “So…which is the closest?” I’d say the French Riviera. It wasn’t as populated, not until you got to the coast, but there had to be cities in between. So, I was probably about a hundred miles from the closest place. Even if we went ten miles a day without being impeded, it would take us ten days to find help.
But if we got a head start…it would be almost impossible to find us. We could cover our tracks for a while so they wouldn’t know where to begin, and none of these guys seemed like hunters or trackers, so we’d be untouchable.
Then we’d just have to worry about…surviving.
Kind of a scary thought.
Too bad I never took Survival 101.
Maybe one of the other girls knew.
“Are you coloring?” Claire came to my side and looked at the paper in my hands.
“No. Drawing a map.”
“To treasure?”
I released a laugh. “I wish…”
“Then what’s it for?”
“To find a way out of here.”
“But…what about Daddy? He’ll come for us.”
I folded the paper and returned it to my pocket. “I’m sure he will, baby.” My hand went to her shoulders. “But I’m going to give you a life lesson right now, and you better listen.”
“What?”
“Don’t ever wait for a man to save you. Save yourself.”
We returned at sundown.
The torches were lit. The Malevolent lingered.
Then screams pierced the sky.