Chapter Six
The Hunting Grounds
Evan plowed through the snow after Kogane, his feet sinking into the white powder as if there were no ends to its depths. Cold stung his cheeks and his breath came out it huge clouds of white.
“We could really use Senshi here,” Kogane grumbled as he plowed his way through the wall of snow.
“I don’t understand,” Dad said. “Where are we?”
Evan sunk a couple inches as he turned to look at those behind him. Charlotte sat in Dad’s arms, holding her bare hands to her cheeks as if to warm them. Nancy forged a new path around them to reach the front of the line. Kenny stood at the rear of the group, turned towards the trees as if trying to locate the source of the distant howls.
“Shelter first,” Kogane said, still plowing through the snow. “Then questions.”
“We’re in the Hunting Grounds,” Nancy recapped, “being chased by a Twilight Stalker.” She completed her detour around Dad. “And we need shelter, which sounds splendid to me because I only wore a light jacket.”
“Don’t forget the Brogle,” Charlotte chimed in.
Evan hurried after Kogane, determined not to let Nancy pass him as well.
“Kenny,” Dad said in a voice loud enough to carry in the wind, “get up front and help Kogane forge a path.”
Kenny jogged past, inadvertently pushing a wall of snow down onto Evan as he struggled to follow the rough trail.
A long howl broke the silence of the forest. Although distant, Evan was certain it came from a different direction than the last one. It didn’t sound like a wolf howling at the moon, but more like a werewolf dreaming of ripping your throat out. The thought made Evan’s skin crawled.
“Evan?”
As he stopped to see what Dad wanted, Nancy passed him using Kenny’s side track.
Dad stopped and hefted Charlotte higher as if her weight was getting too much for him.
“Evan, can you please bring up the rear?”
Nancy had caught up with Kogane and Kenny. That’s where Evan wanted to be. With his friend. But they needed large bodies in front to pack down the snow. Dad had Charlotte. Who else could bring up the rear.
Evan nodded and stepped aside to allow Dad and Charlotte to pass.
Shadows gathered around the trees. The growing darkness meant anything could be hiding beyond the clearing. By contrast, the snow would make obvious any danger that lurked into the open, assuming it wasn’t as fast as a cheetah.
If the Twilight Stalkers approached, what good could he do “bringing up the rear?”
Sound the alarm.
He pushed on after his father, glancing from time to time to the side and behind. He listened, but the snow muffled most sound, even his own footsteps. If he couldn’t hear them coming, how was he supposed to warn anyone? He couldn’t walk backwards.
Charlotte looked down at him over their father’s shoulder. She could keep watch, but they didn’t want to frighten her.
“Hey, Charlotte. See any sign of that Brogle?”
His father turned and gave him a quick warning glare.
“What about the Light Talker?” she countered.
It took him a moment to figure out what she meant. “Right, we need to keep an eye out for them also. The Twilight Stalkers are also looking for the Brogle, so wherever you see one of them, you might find the Brogle nearby.”
One of their vicious howls echoed through the trees. It sounded closer than the last one, but that might have been his imagination.
“They sound mean.”
Dad joined in. “Sometimes creatures try to make themselves sound scarier than they really are, to frighten off their enemies.”
“So that could be the Brogle howling?” Charlotte asked.
Evan wished he had thought of that, but would it be a lie to trick her into thinking there was no danger.
“The Brogle will be hiding, I think, very quietly,” Dad replied, his voice breaking with the effort of trudging through the snow. “But the Twilight Stalkers may try to scare it out into the open by sounding really ferocious.”
“So if you see anything,” Evan said, “tell me where and I’ll help watch for the Brogle.”
She watched from Dad’s shoulders with wide eyes, but somehow the help didn’t make Evan feel any better. How did they end up in this dangerous place anyway? They had been on hikes before and never got sent to an alternate dimension by ravenous predators.
A commotion ahead drew his attention. Kogane, Kenny, and Nancy had stopped and were all digging around in the snow with their feet. “The snow sure is deep this year,” Kogane muttered. Evan wondered what part of the conversation he missed.
Nancy gave a cry. “Here it is!” She fell to her knees and started digging with her hands. The others joined.
Dad came to a stop behind them. “What’s going on?”
“We found the roof,” Kenny explained.
Evan looked around. They were still on a slope. The side of the clearing they were walking towards was now closer than the one he had been worried about watching. But nothing he could see explained why they were digging in the snow.
“It’s a lodge,” Kogane explained as he dug. “I’ve never seen the snow so deep.”
Their efforts in the soft powder had exposed a section of wood, a wall rising to a peak with a roof overhanging it.
“Shelter,” Dad mumbled.
“Hey!” Nancy cried. “What’s this?” She pulled on something wrapped in cloth, hidden in the eaves of the roof. Kenny helped unravel the package, revealing a shovel with a fireman’s handle.
“Night Talker!” Charlotte raised a hand to point into the darkness..
Evan followed her outstretched finger and saw a shadowy shape standing silently by a tree at the edge of the clearing behind them. An urge to run overcame him, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot Charlotte began to cry.
“Keep digging!” Kogane ordered. “They paralyze victims with fear. They’ll attack when at least three have arrived.”
Dad plopped Charlotte into the snow next to Evan, then grabbed the shovel and stepped into the hole the others had been digging. “Stand back.”
Evan grabbed Charlotte’s hand and pulled her back along the path a ways. “We’re almost safe,” he told her. “Kogane won’t let anything happen to us.”
Dad put the shovel to quick work, tossing packed snow over his shoulder. Kogane supervised, while Kenny and Nancy worked on expanding the edges of the hole to keep it from collapsing.
Evan hoisted Charlotte onto his hip like he had seen his parents do so many times and they resumed their watch for the Twilight Stalkers. He turned in place slowly so that eventually they would both view the entire distance surrounding them. Charlotte kept slipping and his arms felt like they would fall off from so much lifting. His toes felt like ice and even his hair seemed to have frozen in place. If they didn’t get into shelter soon, the monsters would be very disappointed to find their victims already dead.
The first Twilight Stalker stood so still that it looked like any other tree trunk. While facing the other side of the clearing, Evan spotted a second. It was so dark now he couldn’t be quite sure. Until it left the trees and slowly walked toward them through the snow.
“Charlotte, do you see anything moving.”
“Something. Maybe. It’s too dark.”
Evan felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Is it bigger than a Brogle?”
“I haven’t seen the Brogle yet.”
He didn’t want her to lose sight of it, so he turned only his head. “Point.”
She raised her arm in a new direction. He spotted the movement. Definitely larger than a Brogle. He turned his whole body this time. The original stalker had ventured across the deep drifts of snow.
“Guys. They’re coming.”
Next: 7 – The Kill Trap