Ben Dover's Arc

Chapter 14 of 150

The chest bruised Ben's shin every third step. Anita's grip slipped on her end of the rope. They had walked an hour east and covered maybe half what they should have. Justin doubled back through the trees and shook his head. The creature was somewhere behind them, and the trees thinned ahead into open ground they could not cross at this pace. "Drop it and we lose everything," Anita said. "Carry it and it catches us." Ben scanned the slope. He needed a place to set the chest down, hide it, and come back. A hollow. A cellar. Anything with walls. Justin pointed. "Stone. Down the draw." They half-ran, half-dragged the chest between the pines until the ground opened into a clearing. A slab of weathered stone stood at the far end, taller than Ben, carved with letters he could still read through the moss. Lost Hollow. The doorway beneath it sagged open on a hinge that had rusted through years ago. No roof. No door left to close. Just a stone room sunk into the hill. Ben ducked inside. Dry. Empty. The far wall held a small alcove, deep enough for the chest. A girl was sitting on the floor. She was maybe ten. Cargo pants, a canvas bag across her chest, boots too big for her legs. She looked up at Ben without surprise, as if she had been expecting someone and he would do. "You're not him," she said. "Not who?" "I don't know." She stood. "I woke up here. Three days. Maybe four. The clock is gone but I can still hear it." Ben glanced at Anita. Anita shook her head. No time. "We need to leave this here," Ben said, tipping his chin at the chest. "And come back for it. Can you keep quiet?" "Yes." "There's a thing hunting us. It follows sound. If you open this, it comes." "I won't open it." He believed her. He did not know why. They pushed the chest into the alcove. Anita packed loose stone around it. Justin scraped dirt across the lid until the brass stopped catching the light. Ben crouched by the girl. "What's your name?" "Amanda Hugginkiss." "Amanda. We'll be back before dark tomorrow. Stay inside. Don't answer anyone but us." "Where are you going?" "To get the next piece. Fast, without this." He tapped the stone over the chest. She nodded once. "There's water in the back. I checked." They left her sitting against the wall, hands folded in her lap like she was waiting for a bus. Outside, Ben rolled his shoulders. Empty hands. Empty back. He could run now. "East," Anita said. "We move." They moved. The hum was buried behind them under stone and felt and a strange, quiet girl. Ben ran, and for the first time in days his legs did what he asked. He tried not to think about what he had just left in the dark, or who would find it first if they did not come back.