“You led me home,” Erik whispered.
“I guess so. I tried to stop the rock from getting you.”
“How did…. Never mind.”
Vickie hurried over and hugged him as well.
“What happened to you? You look like you’ve been in a fight.”
“I have, Vic,” he said. “I have.”
“Where’s Sheriff Collins?”
Erik raised his hands in a pathetic gesture. “He’s…he’s dead.”
“The rock got him,” Todd said matter-of-factly. “Just like it got the girl.”
“Erik, what is going on around here! Has this place gone crazy?”
“I’m afraid it has, Vic. But before I explain I need to call the police. Maybe now they’ll understand what’s going on.”
He found the number of Special Agent Thralls.
“Do you really think that is such a good idea? They’ll think you had something to do with it. Look what they’ve done to Johnny Dovecrest.”
Erik put the phone down and thought for a moment. Just then, Pastor Mark’s car pulled into the driveway and he rushed to the front door. Vickie let him in.
“Erik, thank God you’re all right! Dovecrest told me something was wrong. The sheriff found you? I tried to call him but….”
“Collins is dead,” Erik said.
“He’s….”
“The rock got him,” Todd said.
“Oh my Lord. Tell me what happened.”
Erik sat both the Pastor and Vickie down and explained.
“You mean to tell me there’s a demon running around in the woods? Really, Hon, you don’t believe that, do you?”
“I know what I saw, Vic.”
“It’s true, Mom. It tried to get me, too.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But this is all happening way too fast for me.”
“I understand,” Erik said. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want to upset you.”
“Upset me? Erik, this goes way beyond upset.”
Pastor Mark put his hand on her shoulder. “Vickie, maybe it would be best if you and the boy went somewhere safe for a couple of days. Back to the city. Just until this thing blows over.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think this will ‘blow over’, Pastor. It’s not going away by itself, is it. And, mind you, I’m still not sure I believe all of this is happening.”
She suddenly began to sob, and Erik went over and held her. “It’s ok,” he said. “We’ll fix this thing.”
“How?” she sobbed.
“I don’t know yet. But we’ll fix it.”
“God will provide,” Pastor Mark said. “We must place our trust in him.”
3
Seti staggered back to his campground feeling worse than ever. He felt tired, weak, and old. The monster on his neck had grown larger now and was taking on a grotesque form. It was so bad he dared not even look at it. He no longer felt in control of his own body, but was merely a puppet of the other.
“Please, Master. Let me rest,” he pleaded.
But the monster only responded with a shock wave of pain that jolted his entire system, from his hair to his toes.
“Stop whining!” it commanded. “Keep moving.”
It was obvious that the monster was taking over his body. But at this point he was powerless to stop it. The thing could control him completely now, even as it had controlled that stupid pig-like sheriff, forcing him to shoot himself full of holes until he look like moldy Swiss cheese. That had been amusing. It had also showed him just how much power the thing had already. Better to do what the Master commanded.
Seti’s brain felt as if it were filled with fluid, as if he had submerged his head inside a huge bowl of pudding. He could no longer think clearly. He wasn’t sure of who he was anymore, or of what he even wanted. Vaguely, he remembered the promise of a good life, of treasures beyond his wildest dreams. He tried to focus on the image-of beautiful girls and orgies and fast cars and drugs and pleasure beyond all expectations.
“Master,” he said out loud, though it came out as barely a whisper. “Will I be rewarded?”
The Monster eased the pain and answered with a silky smooth feeling that radiated throughout his soul.
“Yes, my son. You will be rewarded,” it promised. “Be patient. Your pain will soon be over and only pleasure will remain.”
Seti kept walking; they were almost back at the camp now. The monster’s words sounded good-felt good. But he was no longer sure if he could believe them.
4
Erik comforted Vickie as best as he could, then he and Pastor Mark went out onto the patio.
“I think we should call the F.B.I.,” the Pastor said. “They need to know that Collins is missing.”
Erik handed him the card with Thralls’ number.
“You call him. They already think I’m involved.”
“What should I tell him? That Collins shot himself full of holes?”
“This thing is just too weird to be believed. I don’t know what to say anymore, Pastor. I hate to lie, but no one will believe the truth.”
“I’ll tell them you went into the woods together to look for this altar stone and you were separated. We don’t know where Collins is. They can take it from there.”
Erik nodded. Mark pulled out his cell phone to make the call but Erik was too nervous to listen. He paced to the edge of the back yard and looked into the woods. He could still feel the repulsion of the awful stone, even from here. The thing did have a terrible power. Dovecrest claimed it was a gateway to hell, and he believed him now. It was channeling its power through the cult’s leader-obviously the man Erik had seen in the woods-but the power definitely came from the stone. Erik suspected that the demon on the other side of the gateway was already making its way into this world. That probably explained the growth on the leader’s neck.
He looked back and saw that Mark had finished his phone call. He took his time walking back to the patio.
“They’re sending out a couple of State Troopers,” Mark said. “They’ll pick up the trail from Dovecrest’s place. Thralls is coming here to talk to you.”
“Did he buy it?”
“He thinks something’s fishy. He just doesn’t know what.”
“I guess I should just tell him the truth,” Erik said. “What’s the worst he could do? He already thinks I’m a nut case.”
“I’ll wait around with you until he gets here,” Mark said. “I already told him what Dovecrest told us, so he thinks I’m crazy too for believing it.”
Erik laughed. Misery loves company.
5
Todd put his ear to the wall and tried to listen to what his Dad was saying to the man in the blue suit, but he could only make out parts of it. He heard something about Dad finding the stone in the woods, and he felt good about that. He’d been worried that Dad had thought he was either making the whole thing up, or that he’d imagined it. Now he knew his Dad believed him because he’d seen it too. At least that part had been cleared up.
He also heard something about the sheriff being shot. It sounded like Dad had said he’d shot himself, and he mentioned some strange man in the woods, too. Then he said a whole lot of things Todd either couldn’t hear or couldn’t understand. The man in the suit then talked for awhile, but Todd couldn’t make out what he said either. It was frustrating. He decided to go into the living room and pretend he was looking for something.
Just as he walked in, the man in the blue suit began to raise his voice.
“So, Mr. Hunter, you’re trying to tell me that we have demons lurking in the woods, and they’re making veteran police officers just shoot themselves for no reason. And, oh, yeah, I forgot. There’s this big black stone in the middle of the woods masterminding all of this. Only the stone doesn’t stay in one place. It moves.”
“There is a stone in the woods, Mister!” Todd said. “It tried to get me only I got away. But it got that girl.”
The man’s jaw dropped and everyone turned to look at Todd. No one said anything, and then Dad came and took him by the hand.
“Thanks, son,” he said, leading him up the stairs to his room. “Everything’s going to be ok.”