Tomas Edel's Arc

Chapter 16 of 17

Tomas held the torch and studied the black cave mouth. The wendigo slept inside, weak from its wounds. But Hunter's connection ran both ways. The bite that let the boy sense the creature let the creature sense the boy. If Hunter drew too close, the wendigo would feel him and wake early. Tomas had come to burn a sleeping thing. He could not do that if it woke. He turned to Hunter. The boy sat in the truck, one hand pressed to his bitten shoulder, jaw tight. His mean face gave nothing away, but sweat shone on his skin. Tomas had dragged this boy from the cave himself. Now the same bite that saved them all could ruin the hunt. Tomas pointed at Hunter, then back down the dark track. Stay. Stay far. Hunter shook his head. "You need me to tell you where it is in there." "It'll feel you," Regan said. She stood at the truck door, stake ready. "That's the point. The closer you get, the more it knows." Hunter looked at the cave. His hand tightened on his shoulder. "Then I stay back and tell you before I go too far." He climbed down slow. He took ten steps up the slope and stopped. He pressed both hands to his head. "It's stirring. It felt that." Tomas grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him back three steps. Hunter's face eased. The link had a range. Ten steps woke it. Seven let it sleep. Tomas drew a line in the mud with his boot. He put Hunter behind it and pointed hard. Not past this. Hunter understood. "I can reach it from here," he said. He closed his eyes. "Deep in. Back wall. Curled up. Not moving." He opened his eyes. "Go. I'll shout if it wakes." Tomas gave the oil to Regan. He kept the torch. They crossed the line and left Hunter behind it, close enough to sense the creature, far enough to keep it asleep. The plan held on a boy standing still in the cold. Inside, the cave stank of smoke and old blood. Regan poured oil along the floor toward the back wall. Tomas saw the shape then, huddled and gray against the stone, ribs moving slow. It slept. Hunter had bought them this. "Now," Regan whispered. Tomas dropped the torch into the oil. Fire raced up the trail and climbed the creature's flank. The wendigo shrieked and thrashed awake, but the flames already had it. It could not reach them through the wall of fire. Tomas and Regan ran for the mouth. Outside, Hunter stood behind his line, grinning through the pain. "It's burning," he said. "I can feel it burning." The wendigo was afire and trapped in its own den. For the first time in eleven years, Tomas had it cornered and hurt. Now he had to make sure it did not crawl out alive.