Valentine

I thought for about half a second the Twins were fucking with me. And then, from where the deer ran into the woods, a black form burst from the trees, and I leapt back in surprise with a yelp.

“Oh, shit!” I managed to get out, before turning tail and running back up the trail. I needed to get some distance between myself and the demon if I was going to fight it essentially alone.

Ahead of me, Camilla had already sprinted to the top of the switchback, followed by Todd and Dave, and behind them Miranda. The Twins were nowhere to be seen, but I swore I heard a laugh, and even in the heat of the moment, I vowed if I lived through this, I was going to wring their necks.

The demon shrieked behind me, and I spun just in time to see it leap. I swung my axe as it flew through the air directly at me, and caught it in the chest, but the impact knocked me to my back. Now that it was literally right in my face, I saw that it was a Grabber, a type of demon with a wolf-like head and body, and huge human hands that it used to grab and hold captives while it devoured them. Not the best thing to have on top of me, but not the worst.

I dodged its huge jaws as it lunged for me and tried desperately to kick it off. One of its hands gripped my arm, while the other worked to dislodge my axe from its chest. I saw it look up just before Miranda’s spiked boot smashed into its face, allowing me to slide from beneath it and rip my axe free. It screamed again, and Miranda and I met eyes for a half second before running up the mountain. The flash winter arrived in perfect timing, and a gust of wind hit me so hard I almost lost my footing, but I managed to catch myself with my axe. Dave, Todd, and Camilla waited a little ways up, very helpfully shouting for us to run, and I thought we would be okay for just a moment.

That is, until the Grabber leapt past Miranda and me, and straight at them.

“Get down!” I shouted, fear shooting through me at the thought of that thing getting a hold of my sister. Camilla was fast through, and dove out of the way before it reached them. Dave sort of just fell back, and Todd was far too slow. The Grabber latched onto him, still spurting blood everywhere, and sunk its teeth into his shoulder.

“No!” Miranda screamed, and she and I charged up the mountain toward them. Wind and snow whipped at our faces, but nothing could keep two determined bitches from saving their family.

“Help him!” I screamed at Dave, who just crawled further away. The demon let Todd’s shoulder go just as we made it to them, and I smashed my axe down on its back while Miranda pried Todd from its grip. The beast spun, dislodging my axe and knocking me over and way too close to the edge of the mountain. I scrambled to my feet, pulling my axe up with me, and tried to dive past the Grabber so I wasn’t so close to the dangerous edge, and it worked.

Mostly.

But the demon caught my boot and ripped me back.

Miranda kicked it in the head again, sending it tumbling back toward the steep cliff edge at the top of the switchback, but it didn’t release my heel. I thrashed my arms out wildly, trying to find anything to hold onto, and caught hold of Dave’s shoe just as the beast slid over the edge.

And then, Dave Davidson kicked me in the face, blurring my vision and sending me sliding rapidly back. I caught a rock in the last moment, and I felt hot blood seep from my fingers where the stone cut into them. I tried desperately to pull myself back up, but the Grabber was too heavy. I kicked at its hand repeatedly, trying in vain to loose its grip, but it was no use.

I’m so, so sorry Camilla.

“You have to make it!” I shouted over the storm, trying in the span of a few seconds to ready myself for death, but death did not come.

A gunshot sounded, and the demon fell from my feet, just as a pair of strong hands grabbed hold of my arms. I used my feet to help whoever saved me drag me up, but it wasn’t necessary. They lifted me like I weighed nothing, and then I was back on my feet.

Before I could get a good look at them, an ear-splitting howl sounded from up the hill, and I looked up just in time to see another Grabber tear down the mountain. It was going fast, blindly running on all fours toward our group. I went to run and crashed into Dave, who pushed me off of him in the direction of the demon so he could run down the hill, and then, in a beautiful act of insta-karma, the beast leapt directly onto his back, sending them both tumbling down the mountain in a series of bone-splitting crashes. And then… silence.

“Fuck you, Dave!” I screamed, and staggered back from the edge in exhaustion. The blow to my head still had me disoriented, and I almost collapsed.

“Easy, there,” a voice said. A hand on my back steadied me, and I looked to see the person who had saved me. Well, people. Besides Camilla, who was sobbing into Sassy’s fur, and Miranda and Todd, who were dressing his wound, there were four new faces on the mountain with us. One older gentleman with a graying beard and a shotgun, two men in their twenties or thirties-- one of which had pulled me from the cliff-- and a woman Uncle Sean’s age who stood comforting Camilla.

“Thank you,” I said first, looking at the man who saved me. The wind blew snow all around us, but I could still make out his piercing gray eyes and ink black hair from where he stood next to me. “You literally saved my life.”

“You weren’t doing too bad on your own, to be fair,” he told me with a slight grin, and then offered me his hand. “Roman.”

“Valentine,” I introduced in return, and took his hand. His warm gloved hand enveloped my own, and I realized I hadn't had time to properly bundle up. I also noticed that my hand was bleeding all over his gloves, and that he either didn’t notice, or didn’t care.

“We saw you guys from the base of the mountain and came to help,” the man told me, letting my hand go after a brief squeeze.

“Well, we needed it,” I told him, and then glanced toward the others. “Who are you guys?”

“Scouts,” the older man answered. “From the Standing City. We have cameras placed a few miles out and saw you pass by one around two. What happened to the others?”

“The Twins?” I asked, and then frowned. “Who the hell knows. Either they’re dead, or they’ll come out of the woodwork as soon as they deem everything safe. But they can just stay where they are for all I care.” I said this last bit louder, and the man who had saved me raised an eyebrow.

“Not great pals of yours?” he asked, and Camilla scoffed.

“They think demons are funny,” she said, and then met my eyes with fresh tears in her own. “I thought you would die.”

“Me too,” I admitted, “but I’m here.” We shared a look sister to sister that just said “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” and then focused back on the current dilemma.

“We should get moving,” Todd said, and I looked to see him cradling his arm from next to Miranda. “I’m sort of freezing to death and losing blood.”

“Right,” I said. “I guess, you guys lead the way?”

“We have a truck at the base of the switchback,” the woman told us, and Miranda made a sound of relief.

“Thank God,” she said, and started down the mountain after the older man and woman with her arm linked with Todd’s. The rest of us followed, and I was glad I didn’t have to lead the way for a bit. My head was still pounding, and the howling wind didn’t help.

It took us about half an hour to finish our trek down the mountain, and only a couple more minutes from there to reach the truck. There was no sign of Dave or the other Grabber, besides one spot of blood on a particularly pointed rock. When we got to the truck, the Twins were waiting, their bag still swinging between them.

“Hey, screw you guys,” I said, pointing my axe handle in their direction. “Next time you see a demon, say something before it’s on top of me.”

“We thought you’d hear it,” one said pointedly, and I scowled.

“I don’t know what you think you mean,” I snapped, “but your little ‘I spy’ stunt almost got us all killed. Dave is dead.”

“Let’s just go,” Todd said, looking more pale than before. I sighed and tried to let my anger simmer down, but once it was there, it usually just smoldered.

“Everyone in!” the older man said. “It’ll be tight with ten of us, but we’ll make it work.”

“I’ll sit in the back,” I offered. The truck was huge, a three row all-terrain kinda deal, but ten was pushing it. I wanted Camilla and Todd at least to be comfortable though, so I’d cram myself in the trunk area for them.

“Roman and Ned can take the back,” the woman said. “You’re hurt too.”

“I’m okay,” I said, but my head was still pounding like a motherfucker, so I didn’t argue when they insisted.

Eventually, it was decided that the older man, who introduced himself as Duck Johnson, would drive, the woman, Angela, would have shotgun with her dual pistols ready in case we found trouble, the twins and Camilla would have the middle row, Todd, Miranda and I would have the back, and Ned and Roman would take the trunk space.

Once we were all in, Duck started the engine, and the heat kicked on. I could have passed out. I really wanted to. But Roman, the steely-eyed man who’d saved my ass, shook me gently when I tried to close my eyes.

“You should wait,” he told me, and when I turned to look at him, I almost hit his face with my own.

“Ah, sorry,” I said when I noticed how close we were, and felt my neck heat with embarrassment. “What do you mean?” I asked once I had leaned a safe distance away from him.

“I think we should make sure you don’t have a severe concussion before you pass out,” he told me, and the concern in his voice had my chest tightening. I wasn’t really used to that, outside of the few I considered family, as most people kept themselves emotionally distant when it came to caring about people in the apocalypse.

“I was kind of caught up in the events,” I admitted, and reached a hand up to touch my forehead and temple gingerly. “Did you see the whole fight?”

In the seat ahead of me, Camilla was explaining the situation with the rest of our party, and I made a mental note to show them on the map where our group was staying when we reached wherever we were going.

“Most of it,” he said.

“We were a little ways down when the first Grabber showed up,” Ned said from next to him. Ned had mousy brown hair, crystal clear blue eyes, and a soft face, reminding me a little of my good ex, Alex. I looked away to keep unwanted memories from resurfacing.

“We got to the top right when you took that kick to the head,” Roman told me, and I glanced back to him.

“Did it look bad?” I asked, and Ned laughed a little.

“Well we thought you were dead until you yelled,” the blue-eyed boy said. “She was freaking out too.” He motioned to Camilla, who was still talking with Duck and Angela.

“I’m impressed you stayed conscious and actually held on for that long,” Roman told me, and I felt my neck heat again. Jeez, maybe he was right about the concussion.

“So, where are we headed?” I wondered aloud, trying to distract myself from the pounding in my head. We hit a large bump in the dirt road we were driving along and I flinched as pain shot through my skull.

“A small holding camp just outside the Standing City,” Duck answered from the driver’s seat. “Where you and your group will remain until we determine whether or not to let you into the city.”

“Determine?” I asked, feeling my heart sink a little. All this way and we could be turned away? “What are your criteria?”

“Well for starters,” Duck began, “we require a sacrifice.”