Page 9 of Marc
A sense of menace emanated from the bushes. The eyes glowed a deep gold rimmed with red.
Then in a blink, the eyes were gone.
“What the hell was that?” I said.
“Not sure,” my brother murmured. “I’m sure we’ll find out. There’s a rocky overhang here.”
I leaned down. It was barely big enough for someone to shelter under. Shaking my head, I continued on. I wanted to call out her name, but that would likely bring out every monster in the vicinity.
I heard a rustle in the nearby trees.
Zeke and I spun. We stayed still, clicking off our flashlights.
There was more rustling. Something was coming closer.
Something big.
My eyes adjusted to the darkness. A second later, the monster trotted out of the trees. It looked like a horse.
The biggest fucking horse I’d ever seen.
It had smooth, black skin, with a tangled mane of hair, and a row of short spines running down its back. It was sniffing, like it was following a trail.
It looked like a demon from someone’s nightmare.
I glanced at Zeke, and he nodded. We both stayed still and silent.
Move along.
Waiting was the last thing I wanted to do, but it would be better for this monster to just trot off.
It took another step and stopped. It lifted its huge head and its gaze locked on us.
Aw, hell.
We both whipped our carbines up and fired.
It galloped closer, letting out a terrifying whinny. Zeke dived to the side and rolled. I spun out of the way and the creature raced past me.
It wheeled around and charged at us again. We barely got a few shots off.
Both Zeke and I hit the dirt and rolled.
Coming back to my feet, I watched the horse monster paw the ground. It was watching us like a hawk.
I unzipped the small pack on my belt, and pulled out a coil of lightweight rope. It was thin, but had a steel core, so it was strong.
“I’ll hold it in place,” I yelled. “You take it down.”
Zeke grunted.
Carefully, I fashioned it into a lasso and started spinning it. I judged the distance between me and the monster.
Then I tossed the rope.
It landed over the monster horse’s head and I pulled tight.
The creature let out a startled whinny, then took off running into the trees.
