DAN #2
His arm was bleeding, and while he hoped the bullet had gone through and not lodged, losing blood weakened them and left a trail an experienced hunter could follow. Blood was also a potent ingredient in spells, and he didn’t want to give Harrison any magical leverage.
They were off the trail, and Dan couldn’t get his bearings as Wally kept running. He felt a strange change in the energy around them, and his heart sank. Wally, turn back. I think we just outran the area the witches spelled for protection. Please, turn back.
Another shot just missed them, and Wally veered but didn’t slow down. Dan heard boots pounding behind them and knew the hunter was probably just biding his time, waiting for Wally to slow.
The whistle! Blow the whistle! Quinn will know we’re in trouble and come rescue us. Please, Wally. Blow the whistle!
“You can’t outrun me,” Harrison called to them. “Let me get a clean shot. I’ll make it quick.”
Wally didn’t slow down, but he did reach for the whistle and tried awkwardly for several attempts before he managed to blow into it. The shrill sound cut through the air, silencing the birds.
Please be close enough for Quinn to hear. Close enough for him to find us.
Dan wasn’t sure whether they had circled around or moved farther from the ranger station.
Steep hills of mostly exposed rock rose near the trail, and farther back, Dan saw shadowed areas he guessed were open caves.
What’s that smell? He picked up a mixture of strange, unpleasant scents, rotting meat overlaid with a strange musk.
Dan didn’t spot any human or animal footprints in the mud, but he did spot a long, wide stretch that looked like something heavy had been dragged. It looks like a snake trail, only much, much bigger. Oh, shit! The caves! That means the wurm is around here.
He saw an iridescent gleam near the furrow.
That’s got to be one of the wurm’s scales, like Amy mentioned.
If Quinn tracks us, maybe he’ll see it. Dan realized he had no way to mark the spot or safely pick up the scale in his cryptid form and didn’t dare to ask Wally to pause with the bounty hunter behind them.
Not far from the scale, Dan smelled and spotted two rotting human corpses. We might have just found the hikers. Come on, Quinn! We blew the whistle. Find us and save our ass!
Harrison shot again, barely missing. Wally wasn’t built for speed or endurance, and Dan could tell his cryptid was rapidly tiring. Dan’s thoughts spun as he searched for a way to escape, or at least a way to hide long enough for Quinn to catch up.
If it weren’t for the wurm, Dan might have risked hiding in a cave, but the usual dangers combined with not knowing if the wurm was inside eliminated that option. Harrison isn’t chasing us at top speed. He’s pacing himself, gambling we’ll tire. Right now, he’s winning that bet.
Another shot fired, but this time, it wasn’t a rifle. Dan recognized the report of a pistol, and his heart leaped. That’s got to be Quinn. He found us!
“Harrison, surrender! The police are on their way. Drop your weapon and stand down,” Quinn shouted.
Harrison returned fire, but through Wally’s eyes, Dan saw the hunter change direction, running toward the cleft in the hillside and the yawning cave mouth.
Wally couldn’t shout a warning, and Dan wasn’t sure he wanted to even if he could. Quinn was just far enough behind that he might not have spotted Harrison veering toward the rocks.
“Surrender your weapon and kneel!” Quinn shouted. “The police are coming to take you into custody. Don’t make this worse than it has to be.”
Harrison barged through the underbrush, dodging and weaving so Quinn couldn’t get a clear shot. He headed right for the caves and had enough of a lead that he would reach them before Quinn could catch up or the police could arrive.
Don’t go in there! Dan thought.
Harrison fired another volley of shots to force Quinn back, then ran into the maw of the nearest cave, which looked like it might go deep beneath the rocky cliffs.
In the distance, Dan heard sirens. Quinn caught up to him, gun in hand, and stared at the place Harrison had disappeared.
“Don’t worry. I’m not crazy enough to go in after him,” Quinn said, guessing Dan’s thoughts. “You might want to shift before the police get here.” He shrugged out of his backpack and handed Dan his clothing.
Dan made a speedier than usual transformation and got dressed, glad to have that out of the way before the sheriff or others arrived.
“Let me have a look at your arm.” Quinn pulled a first aid kit from his pack and cleaned the bullet wound, applied an antibiotic, and then bound it. “We can go to the doctor once we’re home.”
“I’ll be okay,” Dan assured him. “And there are two dead bodies closer to the cave—might be the missing hikers. It looked like the wurm got them.”
“I’ll tell the sheriff,” Quinn said. “And see if Becca can come out to help their spirits pass over. The last thing we need are more traumatized ghosts.”
They watched the cave area closely, but Harrison did not emerge.
“Those caves connect to others,” Quinn remarked. “He might be able to travel that way, if he has light. Or he’s waiting to jump anyone who tries to follow.”
Dan pointed to the flattened grass and tell-tale scale. “Or something else is waiting for him.”
Quinn holstered his handgun and drew the rifle slung over his shoulder. “I don’t want to go any closer, and this way I can return fire if he comes after us again.”
He pulled out his phone and pressed a contact. Dan could hear Amy’s voice answer.
“We found the wurm,” Quinn told her. “I’ll text you our coordinates. We think it’s hiding in the caves, but we found recent tracks, so it’s nearby. This might be our best chance to trap him if you can gather what you need and meet us here.”
“See you soon. The sheriff called us, and we were already on our way. Stay safe.”
“I saw a shiny scale near where the bodies were,” Dan told him. “I didn’t have a kit to pick it up safely, but Amy might be able to save it or use it.”
Before long, they heard loud footsteps heading their way. Quinn stayed wary but kept his gun down. Armel and two deputies emerged from the trees, armed and wearing flak vests.
“Where’s Harrison?” the sheriff demanded.
“He ran in there.” Dan pointed to the caves. “But we think the wurm’s in the caves too.” He gestured at the tracks through the mud.
“Which is why we’re here.” Amy and two other witches, Dan recognized from the Fox Institute, weren’t far behind the officers. “You get your criminal, and we’ll bind the dragon.”
She gave Armel a look, and Dan wondered how often the witches and the sheriff had ended up working together on supernatural cases.
“I found a scale,” Dan told her. “It’s over there.” Now that he wasn’t quite so panicked, Dan could pick up the smell of the rotting bodies as well.
“That will do nicely.” Amy pulled a special pouch and abalone tongs from a bag on her belt.
“I’ll go get it.” She returned with something inside the pouch.
She looked a little nauseous, and Dan guessed she had seen the bodies, but she didn’t mention them.
“Give us a few minutes to set up. We just need to set out some preparations before we’re ready to do the binding ritual. ”
“I don’t think Harrison is going anywhere, but make it snappy,” Armel grumbled.
Amy and the others were clearly prepared for a quick response, and the other witch laid out their ritual components within a circle drawn with salt.
“Perfect,” Amy told her. “That’s even better than I hoped.
” She carefully placed the scale in the center and spoke an incantation while she added fragrant dry ingredients to a brazier and lit a fire inside, sending up a plume of smoke.
The other two witches walked the perimeter of a protective circle that included Quinn, Dan, and the officers, murmuring the spell just a little too quietly for Dan to make out the words.
“Look.” Dan pointed as three ghostly figures took shape outside the circle. Two looked to be in their early twenties, clad in T-shirts and shorts, and Dan guessed they were the missing hikers. The other was an older man wrapped in a sigil-marked shawl.
“Wanna bet that’s the ghost of the witch who released the wurm?” one of Amy’s companions said. “Guess there’s another body around here somewhere.”
“Stay inside the protected area,” Amy told them. “It’s not completely bulletproof, but it will protect you.”
“Something’s moving in there.” Quinn gestured toward the cave, alerting the sheriff.
“Damn,” Armel muttered, adding a few more choice words under his breath. He pulled a bullhorn from where it hung from his belt.
“Ben Harrison, this is the sheriff,” he blared. “Put down your weapons and come out with your hands in the air.”
Dan glimpsed movement in the shadows right before more shots rang out. He and the others dropped to the ground to stay inside the protective circle.
“Guess he isn’t going to go quietly,” Quinn grumbled.
Harrison kept them pinned down, clearly having prepared for a siege. He moved to the front of the cave in plain view. “Come get me,” he shouted.