Savage (21 page)

He'd all but given up when he heard it—the blaring of his truck horn—and he actually found himself breaking into a smile as he listened to the sound of the truck coming closer.

Just like in the movies, the cavalry had arrived.

“Holy shit, do you see that?” Rich screamed from his seat.

Sidney saw, even though she didn't want to.

A flock of gulls had driven Cody to the ground of the parking lot and were attacking him as if he were a pile of fresh bait.

She leaned on the horn as she drove across the lot, careful not to hit the random cars that were parked here and there. Bringing the truck to a screeching stop mere inches from where her former boyfriend crawled, she began to open the door.

“What are you doing?” Rich screeched, throwing himself across her lap and pulling the door closed. “You can't.”

“We can't leave him out there,” she said. He had no answer, since he knew that she was right. “Hold on to Snowy; I'm going to get him back into the car.”

She threw open the door and jumped out, slamming the door closed again behind her.

“Cody!” she called out, and saw him begin to angle himself toward the sound of her voice.

In seconds she was the object of attack as well.

The gulls flew at her, strangely silent, the only sound coming from them was the heavy flapping of their white and gray wings.

She didn't hesitate, running from the car, swiping her arms above her head, batting the birds away from her.

“Sid?” Cody called out. She knelt down beside him, taking him beneath the arm and attempting to haul him to his feet.

The gulls would have none of it, throwing their weighty, feathered bodies at them, attempting to drive them to the ground.

“The truck's right here,” she said, crying out with each peck, pinch, and bite from the sharp beaks of the birds swarming about them.

“I'm sorry,” she heard him grunt.

She could see that he was bleeding, the blood from wounds about his head streaming down to color his face crimson.

“No apologies,” she said from between gritted teeth, still helping him as they tried to get to the truck.

A gull landed atop her head, the claws on its webbed feet raking across her scalp. She cried out, and Cody reacted, reaching up to grab one of the bird's legs and yank it from the air to the ground where he stomped on its puffy white chest, breaking the bird's insides in an explosion of gore.

She knew they had to be close, but the relentlessness of the storm and the flapping of the gulls had taken her off course. The bray of the truck's horn was exactly what she needed as they moved toward the sound, and hopefully, safety.

“Over here!” she heard Rich yelling over Snowy's excited barks. He continued to lean on the horn.

It was as if the seabirds knew that Cody and Sidney were close to escaping them, and their attacks grew even more aggressive, whipping wings and pecking beaks trying to keep them away from the sanctuary of the truck. She felt Cody move closer to her, pulling her head into the protection his arms.

“What are you doing?” she yelled, now fighting against him as well as the birds.

“Protecting you,” he said.

“Protect yourself,” she told him, grabbing his shirt and giving it a tug. “We're going to get to the truck.”

The blast of water hit them with enough force to cause them to stumble back, almost knocking them from their feet. Sidney wasn't sure what happened, at first thinking that the storm had somehow intensified, but then she realized that the birds were no longer attacking. She opened her eyes to see Cody's father standing in front of the marina office, aiming a high-pressure fire hose.

“Get to the truck!” the harbormaster screamed as he directed the intense flow of water at the angry flock circling above the parking lot. The gulls turned their attention to him, and he returned that aggression, blasting them from the sky.

“We're not going without you,” Cody cried, going to his father.

Sidney followed him, and the two of them stood behind the man with the hose as he doused the angry seabirds. They advanced into the lot as far as the hose was long, but it eventually went taut and they had to make their move.

Sidney studied the distance between them and Cody's truck and decided that now was as good a time as any.

“C'mon!” she called. “Run for it!”

Cody took the metal nozzle of the fire hose from his father, continuing to spray the attacking flock, giving the older man a firm shove toward Sidney. She grabbed hold of his arm, and they both began to run. Moments later Cody dropped the hose and began to run as well.

With no high-pressure stream of water to hold them at bay, the birds resumed their attack, swooping from the sky as Sidney, Cody, and his father made their way across the lot toward the truck. Rich maneuvered it around, pulling up in front of them.

“Get ready,” Sidney said, swatting at the new onslaught as she turned to grip the back door handle, flinging open the door and diving in. She spun in the seat, reaching out to grab at whomever would be next. Cody was ushering his father in as the birds' attack intensified. Sidney reached for the man, her hands on the sleeve of his jacket, when he suddenly pulled away, grabbed his son, and pushed him toward the open door. Cody, shocked by his father's actions, actually fell backward onto the seat.

“Dad, what are you—”

Sidney could see the intention in Cody's father's expression, wanting his son to be safe before him. He was swinging his arms wildly at the attacking birds and was just about to duck his head to climb in when it happened.

For a split second the gulls had gone, almost as if Cody's dad had actually managed to scare them away. He was coming forward to climb inside beside them when the hawks attacked.

The birds' razor-sharp talons seemed to magically appear on Cody's father's scalp, digging into the already lacerated flesh and taking hold.

Cody's dad screamed as he was pulled backward, away from the car door. Sidney cried out, as did Cody, who frantically reached for the man. Through the doorway she saw the multiple hawks using their talons and beaks to savage the man's face and throat.

Their attack was devastating, the damage so severe that there was little the man could do to fight back. Sidney saw the horror in his expression, beneath the flow of bright red blood.

“Dad, no!” Cody cried as he actually tried to leave the car.

Sidney grabbed hold, using all her strength to pull him back into the car. Cody fought her crazily, trying to push her away, but Sidney held on with everything she had, knowing that if he got out of the car, he would not be getting back in. Rich leaned over as well, trying to help her as Snowy barked and howled, pacing back and forth nervously in the front seat.

Wrapping her arms tightly about Cody, she used her weight to pull him back away from the still-open door. The birds had begun to collect around the opening, their powerful wings flapping crazily as they tested the zone to see if it was safe to enter and attack.

Cody's dad had collapsed to the ground outside, five hawks perched upon his failing body. He tried to fight back, to bat them away, but they snapped at his hands, strong beaks severing the tips of his fingers until all he had to work with were bloody nubs. He had started to crawl toward the truck as Cody continued to scream.

“We have to do something! We have to help him!”

The presence of birds had grown, and every single size and kind of bird imaginable had come to try and kill them.

“If you leave this car . . . if we leave this car, we're dead,” Sidney said, fighting back her tears, repeating the harsh-sounding words over and over again as he continued to struggle with her.

His father was a mere foot away from the car now, crawling on his hands and knees as the hawks continued their assault. Sidney, Cody, and Rich watched as he raised himself up from the ground, revealing the horrible damage done to him. One of his eyes was missing, and the entire right side of his face had been torn away to reveal the bloody skull beneath. Sidney thought that he just might make it, that he was going to try to climb into the backseat, but instead the man took hold of the truck door in his mutilated hand and slammed it closed.

Cody's dad then turned from the truck, pitched forward, and lay deathly still upon the rain-drenched parking lot, blood pooling around him.

Cody screamed as he managed to get away from Sidney, throwing her back as he slid across the seat toward the door.

“Cody, you can't,” she said, watching to see what he would do. He pressed himself against the window, slapping at the glass as he sobbed.

“Get us out of here!” Sidney shouted to Rich, who still sat in the driver's seat.

Rich did as he was told, putting the car in drive and starting from the parking lot.

The gulls were back now, diving at the truck, striking the roof and windshield, leaving bloody marks and streaks as they hit. The wipers did nothing but create crimson smears across the glass, and then the windshield began to give way, spiderweb cracks exploding across its curved surface.

Snowy barked savagely and Rich swore. “I can't see!” he yelled, attempting to steer the truck through the blood and bodily fluids coating the windshield.

Sidney let go of Cody, who had gone strangely still, and leaned over the front seat, hoping to help guide their escape. The gulls' attack had broken the driver's-side wiper, leaving them nearly blind as the truck careened through the torrential rain.

She was reaching across for the steering wheel when the impact came, bringing the truck to an abrupt stop. Sidney fell over the seat, her face striking the dashboard. Through a haze she heard the blare of a horn from someplace very close by before realizing that the sound belonged to their car.

Then everything went quiet, swallowed up by the dark.

She wished it could stay like that forever.

Her father appears in the doorway to her room.

In his arms he is holding a squirming bundle of white, the cutest puppy Sidney has ever seen in her life.

Snowy.

Sidney is struck by an immediate sense of familiarity, knowing that this is a memory from the past, but it does not stop her from going through the motions like she had all those years ago.

She bounds from her bed, approaching her smiling father, and she is at once aware of how good he looks, how healthy and young. Something niggles at the back of her mind; this isn't right—this isn't how it is anymore—but the closer she gets to this new realization, the deeper it recedes into the background.

The puppy is all she can think about, all she can focus on, and she holds out her arms excitedly, begging her dad to let her hold it.

Her father clings to the wriggling white pup, the shepherd burying her face in the crook of his neck. He tells her that this is a very special pup and that she is going to have to take very good care of her.

Sidney tells him that she will, still holding out her beckoning arms.

He pulls the shepherd puppy from his chest and presents the dog to her.

She takes the puppy from him and sees something strange about her.

Her eyes.

They're unusually large, one of them as black as a marble, while the other—the right eye—is covered in a glistening metallic sheen.

She wants to ask her father what is wrong with the puppy's eye, but her father has changed into Cody's dad, his face torn and shredded. Blood pours from the wounds on his head and face, making puddles of red that expand on the ground around him.

He is standing in the center of a crimson island—an island of blood.

That island is Benediction.

This recognition kicks in as she pulls the puppy closer, laying the dog's head upon her shoulder. She tells the puppy that she will always be taken care of and that she will always be loved.

The puppy responds by opening her mouth far wider than she should be able, sinking incredibly large teeth for a puppy into Sidney's neck, and tearing the flesh away with a violent tug.

Sidney returned to consciousness with the taste of blood in her mouth.

It took a moment to collect herself, separating her nightmare from reality. She was crammed into a tight space and soon realized that she was lying on the floor in the front of Cody's truck.

“Everybody . . . ,” she started, attempting to extract herself. “Everybody all right?”

She heard the sound of something thumping and quickly recognized it as the sound of Snowy's tail hitting the front seat.

Sidney emerged from the floor to the excited greetings of her dog, wincing in pain where Snowy's tongue licked. She believed there was a good chance that she'd broken her nose and been cut in a few places by flying glass—never mind the beak bites.

“Hello, girl,” she said, climbing up into the seat.

Rich still sat behind the wheel, staring straight ahead at the shattered windshield. He had a cut above his left eye and a trickle of blood oozing from his nose. He looked to be in shock.

“Hey,” she said, reaching over to give his leg a shake.

He screamed as she touched him, instantly recoiling as if under attack. His eyes were wide and wild, and for a minute she wasn't sure he recognized her.

“Rich, it's okay,” she said. “It's me.”

“Sid,” he said, blinking rapidly, then he looked around the inside of the truck. “We hit something . . . we gotta get outta here before . . .”

There was a ghostly moan from the backseat.

“Cody?” Sidney called out, getting on her knees and peering over the front seat.

He was on the floor, curled into a tight ball. She reached down, poking him with her fingers.