Fallen

The sheriff sighed, glancing behind him where the sounds of the men’s voices grew more distinct. “I wish you could understand, son. The world is a fallen place, draped in darkness. Some men are tasked by God to keep that darkness at bay. Farrow’s sons have always known this.” He swept his hand around, indicating the canyon. “It’s been that way since the township began. It’s the way it will always be. We failed but we will reconcile. We will always cast out sin. I’m sorry you couldn’t grasp that and become one of us. I truly am.”

Without waiting for a response from Camden, the sheriff raised his gun and fired. Heat blossomed between Camden’s ribs, and he doubled over, clutching a hand to his abdomen where he’d been shot. He staggered, blinking at the sheriff who stood stock-still in front of him, watching. His ears rang, the close sound of voices, the more distant barking of dogs becoming muted, then fading away completely. The sheriff raised his gun again, aiming, when a blur of movement caught Camden’s attention. He looked behind the sheriff, his eyes growing wide. The sheriff, having apparently heard the movement, looked over his shoulder, his scream rising into the night as a monstrous creature flew from the darkness, a spear raised in its hand, its horns outlined in shadow, its voice raised as it chanted the chant of the dead.

The sheriff fired wildly, the shot missing as the creature continued in its rush forward. It raised its arm and then lowered it, the spear plunging into the sheriff with a sickening sound of wetness. The sheriff emitted a yell that quickly faded into a gurgled whoosh of air. The creature kept running forward, driving the sheriff backward with the long spear as he helplessly flapped his arms, flying past Camden and directly over the edge of the cliff.

For a breathless beat, Camden’s eyes met the sheriff’s as he desperately grabbed at the spear that wouldn’t help him. The creature had let go and now stood at the edge of the cliff. They both watched as the sheriff dropped, his horrified shriek echoing, fading, and finally ending abruptly as his body hit the canyon floor far, far below.

The voices grew louder, lights brightening. Alonzo moved back and ducked near a large boulder and Camden fell to his knees, his hand still held to his wound. He was bleeding to death. He’d die here.

The men burst from the cover of trees. One of them caught sight of Camden and pointed. “There he is!” They all turned in his direction, raising weapons when a flash of lightning ripped across the sky, startling them and momentarily diverting their attention. In its wake, their light blinked out, the distinct sizzle and pop of a dying bulb rising into the night.

Several men swore loudly, but there was enough moonlight for them to see exactly where he was and they continued to advance. Thunder roared and Camden swayed as he attempted to catch his breath and rise to his feet. If he was going to die, he refused to do it kneeling before these monsters.

But before he could, a dark, horned shape rose to their right, looming. Several of the men let out startled yells, all of them whipping their weapons toward the creature. With a low growl, it ducked and ran behind a boulder, gunshots ricocheting off of the rock.

“There it is! Did you see it?”

Camden watched as the man they thought was a horned beast darted between objects, ducking and weaving, the shifting pockets of moonlight making it appear as though he was everywhere at once. He began chanting as he moved, the sound rusty and chilling, even though Camden knew the gentle source. He threw his voice in one direction and then in another so that it echoed first on one side of the canyon, and then on another. He knew this place, understood how it worked. He was everywhere and nowhere at all.

The men turned wildly, trying to figure out where he was coming from, firing haphazardly, moving as a group, first one way, then another, yelling one command, and then directly following that, another that contradicted the first.

A second blaze of lightning lit the sky, merging Alonzo with his shadow and making his moving form appear ten feet tall. One man screamed. Thunder rumbled, shaking the earth. Their voices grew higher, more unsure, and woozily, Camden drew to the side as they came closer, right to the edge of the cliff.

He’s herding them. Oh my God, he’s herding them.

With one final booming chant that ricocheted from one side of the canyon to the other, Alonzo appeared from behind a rock, fur-covered arms held wide, head lowered, charging. A few more shots went wild, as the disoriented men turned, the one closest stepping off the cliff and grabbing for the one in front of him. They grasped at each other, floundering in their panic, pulling, falling, their screams billowing upward like the howls of a multi-headed devil descending to hell.