The Storm Runner (The Storm Runner 1)

The weirdest thing? The monster was wearing a pair of big over-the-ear headphones.

“Demons listen to music?” I whispered.

Thankfully, it hadn’t heard or seen us yet.

Brooks sounded like she might start hyperventilating.

I realized the demon was creating an opening in the wall by methodically removing rocks one at a time and stacking them on the ground. It must have been really tedious work. I hoped the creature’s playlist was a good one, as in calm easy-listening.

Brooks began to back away slowly.

Rosie whimpered, and the demon runner turned its head toward us. It might’ve been my pilot friend, I wasn’t sure. Its eyes were big and fiery, and the clumps of hair on its body were blacker and coarser up close. It looked like a giant angry Brillo pad.

With a pounding heart, I carefully stepped back too, tugging Rosie along. She barked frantically, trying to break free.

The demon growled, sniffed the air, and took a step toward us, then another, matching my pace as it turned its head to one side like it was studying me.

“Uh, we were just leaving,” I said shakily.

The demon kept coming. I so badly wanted to turn and bolt, but I worried that any sudden movements would send this thing into killing mode.

We backed into the chamber. “Move out of the way, Zane,” Brooks said, sidestepping me.

The demon emerged from the tunnel. Brooks hollered, “Take that!” Her flashlight’s beam turned red and she shone the light on the creature’s face. It writhed and screamed as its skin sizzled. And here I’d thought the smell couldn’t have gotten any worse.

Rosie snarled.

Brooks drew closer to the demon runner, really letting it have it with her flesh-eating flashlight. Then the beam flickered, dimmed, and died completely.

Seriously? Didn’t she know you always have to check the batteries before going demon-hunting?

She smacked the flashlight against the palm of her hand as the demon shook off the pain—and its headphones—and came at us again.

“Brooks, hurry! We gotta get out of here.”

She clambered back up the way we’d come, passing me on the slope, because she was faster on her feet.

Loose rocks tumbled down after her, hitting my cane. I lost my footing once, then again, cursing my stupid leg, but I managed to keep my balance. The demon’s shrieks of “Ah-Puch!” bounced off the cave walls, making me shudder.

Rosie was going crazy, slipping and sliding as she climbed ahead of me. I kept stumbling, maybe because of sheer panic, or the fact that the demon was only steps away and its skin was now slick with some kind of yellow ooze.

“Zane Obispo,” it hissed. “Zane Obispo.”

Hearing that, I tripped and nearly fell. How did this monster know my name?

“Hurry!” Brooks cried as she rushed on toward the tunnel that led out of here. “Don’t let it touch you—its slime is poisonous!” Then she morphed into a hawk. Her flashlight dropped to the floor.

In that moment I knew I wasn’t going to make it out of there. I figured maybe I could distract the demon runner long enough to give Brooks and Rosie a bigger head start.

Once I reached the top of the path, I pressed my back against the wall and shielded Rosie behind my legs. I extended my cane in front of me, wishing it were a monster-killing sword.

Rosie barked and howled, then slipped out from between my legs. Using her powerful back haunches, she leaped right into the beast’s chest, sinking her teeth into its throat.

“ROSIE!”

The beast staggered and tried to rip Rosie off with its slime-covered hands. Her jaws maintained their tight grip.

“Don’t touch her!” I screamed.