Chapter 19 #3
It began to pry at the edges of the crate’s lid, digging in.
The first two bright notes of “I’ll Be Seeing You” rose from inside.
The raven had offered Malcolm a chance to walk away after his mother’s death, and now Root had done the same.
There’d been times in his life when he’d hated Maggie, when just being in her presence made him want to climb out of his skin, but she was his mother, and he’d made a promise.
No matter how many times they had let each other down in life, this was the last chance he’d have to do right by her.
The thing terrified him. His mind had gone numb and his chest hurt from holding back a scream. But he’d overcome terror before or he’d never have made it back from Korea.
Malcolm swung the iron chain, heavy links clanking on the floor as he lifted it and cracked it like a whip. Root turned, reached out to try to grab the chain but missed, and it struck the creature across the jaw, splitting pale flesh and drawing black-red blood as thick as tree sap.
The boy leaped toward Malcolm.
“Benjy, no!” Violet cried. She caught the child by the arm, and he turned on her, latched on, and beat at her head with flailing fists.
Root ripped the chain out of Malcolm’s grip.
Alfie stepped between them, took aim, and pulled the trigger. The first bullet obliterated Root’s left eye and blew rotten sludge out the back of its head. The second struck its chest, knocking the creature back against Maggie’s crate. It collapsed across the lid like some hunter’s prize.
The little boy screamed and left off attacking Violet to run to Root’s side.
That was Malcolm’s first hint. Strangeness had piled upon strangeness, but it seemed clear now that the raven had been only a servant, compelled to act by some dark master.
The child’s ferocity was likewise unnatural, and Malcolm wished he could help the boy.
But if killing the monster hadn’t freed him, that might prove impossible.
Lain across the creature’s body, Benjy giggled with delight and then stepped away from the crate.
Root swayed to its feet. The hole Alfie had blown through its head had already begun to fill. That black blood-sap dripped down its face.
“Malcolm,” Violet said. “There’s nothing we can do.”
Alfie shot the creature in the chest again, punching Root into a sitting position atop the crate.
The monster looked ridiculous, a gentleman at rest, as if seated for a portrait.
Its undamaged eye studied Malcolm, strangely patient.
Violet might have been right—there might be no way to kill this thing—but it could be hurt.
Damaged. If they could force it off the train, they might still leave it behind.
Or so he told himself.
He crouched and retrieved the chain from the floor. “Let’s try this again. Only this time, we’re gonna smash that head like a rotten pumpkin. We’ll see if you can grow that back.”
The little boy clung protectively to the monster and hissed. Malcolm and Alfie stepped toward the monster and its stolen child, and then Violet’s voice cut through the rattle of the train.
“My God. Elias!”
Malcolm spun to see his brother struggling to stand.
Elias swayed, caught his balance on a stack of shipping crates, and raked at his face with his free hand.
The ruined skin came away in strips and shreds.
Beneath was flesh that had the same gray mushroom tint as Root, and those pulsing black veins.
“Hello, little brother,” Elias said.
But Malcolm saw in his eyes that whatever this thing might be, it wasn’t Elias anymore.
Root threw its head back and shrieked, a hideous, earsplitting cry that blotted out the noise of the train and the storm pelting the roof, even the sound of Malcolm’s heart racing in his chest. The creature began to attack Maggie’s crate again.
“Elias,” Violet said. “You can’t let this happen.”
Alfie aimed his gun at Elias. “Sorry, lady. This thing ain’t him.”
The nails holding the lid on Maggie’s crate gave a small shriek of their own as they began to come loose.
Malcolm swung the chain. He smashed it across Elias’s face, then grabbed it with both hands and dropped it down over Root’s head, hauling backward with all his strength, strangling the monster and jerking it away from the crate. They had to find a way to destroy it.
And Elias. Malcolm would have to obliterate his brother. Erase him from the world, whatever it took.
Another shriek tore through the baggage car.
As the train tipped to the left, he realized the sound hadn’t come from Root and Elias this time.
It came from the Imperial Limited—from the tracks.
They were rounding a long curve, and the engineer hadn’t slowed them down.
The rain and wind punished the train. He wondered if part of the track had washed out, but explanations no longer mattered as the noise grew louder—a shriek of metal.
The train broke free of its tracks, engine first.
They were falling. Alfie roared in protest. The baggage car hit the ground on its side, glass shattering.
Trunks and crates and suitcases tumbled and broke open.
Crates of wine and whiskey smashed. The train plowed into the dirt, sliding sideways.
He heard the rending of metal and muffled screams, quickly silenced.
He smashed his head against the ceiling, and unconsciousness claimed him.
The stink of blood chased him down into darkness.