The Storm Runner (The Storm Runner 1)

Brooks swooped in to help. She clawed at the monster’s eyes, her cry of kee-eeeee-ar piercing my skull.

I picked up a rock and threw it at the demon runner, but I missed by a mile. The demon finally succeeded in tearing Rosie from its chest and it tossed her into the wall. She yelped as she smacked against the rocks, then landed with a terrible thud on the floor below.

“NO!” An uncontrollable rage flooded my heart. I launched myself at the beast and it grabbed me by the arms, sinking its long claws into my flesh. I screamed in pain and fell to the ground, dropping my cane.

Brooks circled above and the demon swatted at her like she was a mosquito.

A burning sensation radiated through my body. In agony, I rolled to my knees and inched toward Rosie. Slime sizzled through my shirt sleeve, burning my skin like acid.

The demon grabbed hold of my short leg. Its claws ripped through my jeans and into my calf muscle.

“Get off of me, you slime-bag!” I shouted, twisting onto my back as the demon dragged me across the ground.

“You. Free Ah-Puch,” it hissed.

It headed toward the dead-end tunnel we’d come from, not caring that my head was bouncing against rocks along the way. Brooks flew overhead with my warrior cane in her mouth. She dropped it next to me, but my arms felt like noodles as I reached for it. An effect of the slime? I wondered dizzily. I managed to snag the cane and I clutched it tightly to my chest.

We reached the wall the demon runner had been dismantling before. With its free hand, the demon began clawing at it again. I knew what I had to do, and I’d only get one chance.

“Hey!” I screamed. “I’ll help you. Just let… let go of my leg, so I can stand.”

The demon looked over its shoulder at me. Long nasty fangs curled over its bruise-colored lip. Slime oozed from the holes where a nose should’ve been. Lumpy ears drooped with the weight of round wooden earrings that stretched its lobes like tortilla dough. I couldn’t tell what it was thinking, but fortunately, it complied.

As soon as the demon runner released me, I wriggled away on my back, repositioning myself. With my good leg, I swept the demon’s ankles (Hondo’s favorite double-leg takedown) and sent it sprawling. I scrambled to my feet and raised my cane as the demon awkwardly got back to a standing position.

When it turned to face me, I used the last of my strength to thrust the end of my cane into its belly. It sank right into the creature’s gel-like body, and there was a disgusting sucking sound as the cane disappeared inside.

The creature howled.

I jumped back, expecting a strike.

But instead it collapsed, clutching its gut with an ear-piercing cry. I blinked as the monster dissolved into a dark pool of thick mucus, cane and all.

8

In that millisecond, everything I knew or thought I knew was reduced to one word: poison. I fell to my knees and cradled Rosie to my chest. I didn’t care if the slime on her fur burned off every ounce of my flesh. “Rosie!” I ran my hands along her body, wiping off as much of the slime as I could. Her breathing was shallow and she whimpered quietly. “I’m sorry, girl. So sorry.”

Brooks was back in human form. She knelt next to me, shaking her head and apologizing over and over. It was like her voice was lost in a dark tunnel somewhere. Muffled and distant.

“How do I heal her?” I asked. It didn’t matter that I sounded like a baby or my eyes burned with hot tears. Rosie trembled in my arms. “BROOKS!”

The nawal seemed lost, scanning the ground as if the miracle answer were there to be plucked from the cave. Rosie looked at me with those big brown eyes like she was pleading with me to make it all better. I hated myself for breaking my promise, for letting her get hurt.

“Hang on, girl,” I said, standing up. I started to carry her out. All the muscles in my legs screamed. I could do this. One careful foot in front of the other, like walking the volcano’s rim.

Rosie’s breathing grew heavy. A deep, awful kind of heavy that made me want to punch a hole through this stupid world. And then she shuddered for the last time. Her body lay there in my arms, still. I fell to my knees. I couldn’t even inhale.

Then… in a single instant, Rosie vanished into a shimmering stream of blue dust.

I stared blankly at my now-empty hands. “Rosie? Where’s Rosie? What just happened?”

Brooks looked as stunned as I felt.

“Brooks! Where did my dog go?” I was angry now. A freaking-out kind of angry.

She shut her eyes and shook her head slowly. “Xib’alb’a. The underworld.”

“No! How?”