Chapter 42
“Should you encounter a Class C or higher: do not engage. Contact your Human Resources expert and give the necessary information to your assigned Reaper.”
Entity Employee Handbook: Warden Edition
As the last glow of sunlight vanished, they pulled out their flashlights.
The darkness was so thick it was oppressive, and with it, all remaining warmth had also vanished.
Alexys felt the cold more than she wanted to admit.
She clutched her flashlight a little tighter.
It gave her a false sense of security. As if the thin yellow light might chase away anything lurking in the shadows beyond.
And if she had learned anything about these woods, there was always something lurking.
Every now and then, thin slivers of dull moonlight would slip between the dense canopy of trees and branches around them. It created little pockets of illuminated forest floor like blue stepping stones amidst the dark.
They continued to walk along the creek, just as Waylan instructed, following the gentle upward slope until they reached a bend in the creek. It was at that point, hyper aware of every sound, every movement around them, that she began to wonder how long they should follow it.
How long would Elliot have walked? Would he have taken the path along the side of the mountain where Mill Creek turned, or would he have continued up toward the peak? He was still new to her team, and that made it even harder to predict what kind of decisions he would make.
“Sorry, I need a second.” Alexys paused at a large rock near the creek bend and sat down under the guise of needing water.
Nic checked his compass. “Where do you think he would have gone from this point?”
“I’m not sure.” She figured honesty was the safest option. Less blame to shoulder when they inevitably ended up as monster chow. “It’s a bit of a toss-up, really.”
He rubbed a hand over his stubble and hummed in agreement. He scanned the trees on the other of the creek with his flashlight.
“I’ve been keeping an eye out for any signs of human disturbance, but I’ve not seen anything yet. You?”
“Not yet,” Alexys said. Not that she’d been looking—she was too busy keeping her eyes peeled for an actual body (Elliot, or even Silas), or worse, the Hollow Walker. “Which direction do you think we should go?” Alexys asked.
“Oh, I see, so you can blame me if we go the wrong way? No, thank you.” Nic looked at her with his crooked half-smile. “I think you should choose since you’re the Elliot expert.”
“Fine.” She looked in the direction the creek was flowing and then up the mountain. “I think—”
“Oh, hello.” Nic’s attention was diverted by something on the path ahead. He squatted down and started poking at whatever he’d found. Alexys stepped up to get a better look.
Moss. The man was poking at a bit of moss.
Like it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.
“Your plant obsession,” Alexys sighed, “is bordering on concerning.”
“You don’t understand, Keane.” He answered her without looking up, his attention fully fixed on the moss.
“I’m almost certain this moss isn’t indigenous to Appalachia.
” He was getting animated. “I was really hoping for mushrooms, given the rumors I’ve heard about mycelial networks, but this is still very interesting. ”
When Nic pulled a bunch of plastic baggies from his backpack, because of course he needed to recover weird moss and noxious weeds. Who didn’t?
She watched as he began to carefully scoop some of the moss into the bag. “You aren’t sure, are you? Color me shocked.” He barely paid her any mind, too busy carefully collecting his newest sample and tucking it safely into his backpack.
“Remind me again how this is relevant?”
“If I had to guess,” Nic said as he rose to his feet, “that moss came from the Hollow Walker.”
Alexys made a face of disgust. “What? I don’t understand.”
“It’s the moss, it’s part of the creature. That’s why people have found it in these parts without it being indigenous. Get it?”
Alexys screwed up her face. “You mean it leaves behind bits of itself? Like a shedding dog?”
“That’s an incredibly crude way of putting it, but yes.” He pointed to some different moss growing on a nearby tree. He tried to explain how that moss was completely different from the moss on the path, couldn’t she tell, but she couldn’t. It all looked like moss to her.
“Okay, but what does it mean? Are we close to where it lives?” The thought actually filled her with dread. “Because I for one …”
Her voice was swept away in a sudden gust of cold wind.
She tucked her head low and winced at the biting chill that found its way under her sweater.
An eerie whistle came from somewhere down the creek—a moaning, lamenting sound that rang of death.
The kind of wind that blew through a cemetery and whistled between gravestones.
Alexys instinctively clutched at Nic’s arm and looked toward the sound. The faintest of movements in the darkness between the trees caught her eye. A huge, lumbering shadow slowly made its way toward them.
“What’s—”
“Turn off your flashlight,” Nic hissed in her ear. His arms were around her in an instant, folding her into his chest. They stood in complete darkness, pushed up tightly against each other and holding their breath.
The shadow was impossible to fully discern out in the darkness, but they could hear it moving through the trees. Heavy, slow footsteps that shook the earth, snapping branches as it forced its way through. The moaning whistle grew louder as it approached.
Every instinct in her body told her to run. To scream. But Nic’s hold on her was firm, assured. They should have made camp somewhere, when they still had the light, instead of stumbling around in the dark like two idiots.
How stupid were they?
Time seemed to slow as the moaning—the whistling—grew louder. She could almost see its massive form eclipsing the trees, heading straight toward them.
The Hollow Walker.
They’d finally found it.