Chapter 19 #2
“Human That Feeds Us”—his tone was apologetic and somber—“the demon has crossed a ley line.”
My heart stopped. “Please tell me you’re kidding.” I whimpered.
“What, what’s wrong?” one of the twins demanded. “Come on, I don’t speak Mandarin!”
“Annabelle just crossed one of the ley lines,” I translated for him.
Silence fell in the cab for two full seconds as they absorbed this dire news.
But Guo wasn’t done yet. “Jun Hie managed to force the demon past the ley line, but now it is in a large shopping place, and there are many ghosts there. He cannot force it out of the building. What should we do?”
I closed my eyes in fatalistic understanding and started praying. “By any chance, does the building have a sort of yellow flower next to a name?”
The huodou paid no attention to English words or signs, those meant little to them. It would be like asking a dog to recite where his owner bought treats. They wouldn’t give you information based on roads but upon the experience they had there. The scents, interactions, et cetera.
“Yes, Qian says that’s accurate.”
“Haunted Walmart,” I confirmed.
The boys all groaned like a Greek chorus.
Guo took in our reaction and guessed, “This is bad?”
“Very bad. Tell your pack to try and evacuate the ghosts. They’ll be devoured otherwise. Zhen, we’re close, aren’t we?”
“Two minutes out.” His words were flat, tense in a way so unlike him.
I lifted the walkie-talkie in my hand and relayed the info to the others. Shit, I would not like this fight. Not one bit.
Two minutes, under the wrong circumstances, could feel like an eternity. If you lay on a Fakir bed, for instance. Or if you rode shotgun on the way to fight a demon-possessed doll. And to think I used to worry about deadlines for term papers. I didn’t know what stress was as a college student.
The second we hit Haunted Walmart’s parking lot, we saw chaos.
Humans and ghosts alike raced out into the night, screaming—pretty good indication we were at the right place.
I always felt like we followed video game logic.
See that stream of people running? Now run past them to find the source of the trouble.
No, no, ignore your survival instincts, you don’t need those, you’ll be fine.
Even at eight p.m., Walmart was busier than I’d expected. The streetlights in the lot showed the parking area was about a third of the way full and emptying quickly. A lot of employees ran for the hills, and who could blame them?
Countless ghosts streamed out the doors, disappearing into the night, and that was a relief. Not only for their sakes but ours. The less souls Annabelle could devour, the better.
The walkie-talkie came to life in my hand, Gramps’s gravelly voice coming through, sounding almost eerily calm compared to the chaos around us. “Remember, no one engage until we are all positioned. Kris, Jo Jo, your point of position is the front doors. Everyone orient off of them.”
The second Zhen screeched to a halt, I was out of the truck in a heartbeat.
I grabbed my modified sniper, bag of items, and the new tent poles, before hoofing it to the front door.
I actually set up just inside the Walmart, right in front of Home & Pharmacy door.
The huodou surrounded me on all sides as I set up, a stalwart guard. I loved them.
We were all set to take up the main aisles of the store, as we wanted to keep line of sight of each other as best we could.
The harsh fluorescent lights above us created a surreal atmosphere, some of them flickering like I was in a horror film.
A scream came from the back corner, quickly cut off, and I stilled, nervous.
It didn’t sound close, but the fact I’d heard it at all alarmed me.
Fear skittered under my skin, but the bond held steady.
Slayers rushed past me, also carrying weapons and gear, but Jo Jo was my buddy and helped me set up the new cage.
With his capable help, we had it assembled in three minutes flat.
I scrambled inside, setting out weapons to my left so I could easily snatch them up.
I’d been trained on how to orient myself so I could, theoretically, pick any of them up blindfolded.
I wouldn’t actually try that, but I knew where things were and, in a pinch, could grab one of them without having to look.
On my right side, Jo Jo was doing the exact same thing, his movements efficient and sure. He kept one of Meemaw’s bags at his feet, ready to snatch and go.
Zhen almost sprinted past us but paused, catching Jo Jo’s eye. I swear they had a full exchange, their eyes saying everything, and then he kept running.
“Jo Jo. He just asked you to protect me, didn’t he?”
“It was more like if she’s hurt, you’re next but yeah.” Jo Jo shot me a thumbs-up. “I’d have guarded you anyway, but take his caution with love.”
I knew what he meant. I just thought it was wonderful these two could be that in tune with each other, to say everything without a word.
We deployed the ghostcatcher to the side like a net.
It had lights all around the frame, meant to attract spirits.
It kind of moved spirits onto the other plane, and if you didn’t know what it was, you’d mistake it for something like a lighted arbor at a wedding.
In theory, any ghost who went through it got portaled to another realm.
Assuming they didn’t latch onto the sides and fight free.
Guo paced around in front of the tent, looking agitated, his lion’s tail lashing much like a giant cat cut off from its prey. Poor guy. I’d give him and the others the peanut butter bones stash of the century to make up for restricting them. The huodou really had been the VIPs of this hunt.
Zhen’s voice came from the walkie-talkie clipped to my collar. “Registers ready.”
I answered as well. “North point ready.”
Gramps next. “South point ready.”
River chimed in, “Bakery ready.”
Kelly spoke two seconds after her. “Dairy ready.”
Come on, come on, where were the twins? They should be to the left of me, somewhere.
Belatedly, I realized I hadn’t reminded anyone. “Turn your cameras on!”
Jo Jo jerked in place. “Oh shit, I forgot.”
I pulled my phone out, made sure the account was up and the cameras were wirelessly connecting to the livestream, giving us multiple viewpoints.
A dozen cameras meant a lot of angles, which had proven to be too many, an almost thumbnail view that was too tiny to give much detail.
Good thing I’d tested beforehand instead of winging it.
Instead, I’d chosen six cameras to stream, and the other six were redundancies in case one of them failed.
I’d edit the fight later into something easier to follow and release it again as finalized footage, but for now this would have to do.
Six cameras came online. Good, good. One of those cameras was mine, so I could narrate a little to our audience. Damn, our view count was already up in the hundreds. We really were getting a nice following, weren’t we?
“Hey, everyone viewing, in case you didn’t see earlier posts, we are at a Walmart and trying to catch the Annabelle.
Yes, you heard that correctly, I’m really in a Walmart.
Yes, it’s really Annabelle the possessed doll.
Or, really, the demon inhabiting the doll.
We’ve got demon slayers and experts on scene, a dozen altogether, and we’re going to do our best, but this will be quite the fight.
I don’t have to tell you not to do this at home, right? ”
Jo Jo snorted. “I wouldn’t even do this at home and I’m crazy.”
“All you demon slayers are crazy,” I drawled.
“Guilty.”
An odd silence fell, a thick tension casting across the store, no one sure what direction Annabelle would appear from.
We knew the doll was in here, but where?
Which aisle? Sporting, Toys, Groceries? I strained my ears, but even the huodou didn’t move, just intently listening, their lion-like heads panning back and forth.
Come on, last group, get ready. This silent waiting wasn’t good for anyone.
The air felt fraught with tension before Ethan’s voice crackled to life, sounding strained. “Crafts ready, but the demon’s also just come in sight.”
“Drive it toward me!” Gramps ordered. “All fighters, go, but remember, do not let it touch you!”
Seemed it was showtime.
A male ghost sprinted toward me, terror on his nearly transparent face. I quickly stood and pointed to the illuminated arch. “That will get you out of here, run through it!”
He gave me the barest nod and dove into the ghostcatcher like his ass was on fire.
He wasn’t the only one. A dozen more or so appeared in his wake, also running, and I realized because I was at the front door, I’d likely get every ghost lurking in this building passing through at some point.
Fine by me, but hopefully the intended buffet didn’t mean Annabelle would head this way, too.
“Lots of ghosts streaming past us,” I narrated for the camera.
“Not sure if that’s visible to you people at home, but that’s a good thing.
We have a ghostcatcher set up near me to get them safely out of the way.
We don’t want Annabelle devouring them—that’ll boost the demon and it’s already too powerful. ”
About a dozen yards up from where I was parked, just past the cash registers, Zhen sprinted ahead before skidding to a halt on the slick tile floors, lifting the bow in his hands and firing an arrow toward the Jewelry section.
It whistled through the air before hitting something with a thunk.
The arrow spun away, like it had been swatted out of the air.
Then my worst nightmare came into view.
Annabelle in the pictures was three feet tall, a little larger than average rag doll sized.
Well, it’d hit a growth spurt. The doll had grown to about five feet tall, body oddly distorted, its clothes hanging in tatters.
The eyes were strangely lifelike, an odd mix with the red yarn hair that now formed a bob cut around the head, like the hair hadn’t grown along with the body.
The eyes were no longer only painted black circles but could now blink, the pencil-thin mouth curving up in a way that sent chills racing up and down my spine.
It had clearly grown more powerful by crossing the ley line.
Fuck. I really hated dolls.