My head is in a vice, and pain shoots through my eyes. The creature lets Bek go, and she hits the floor, unconscious. Her face is grey, but she’s alive. We’re standing in the forest now, and the hut lies in a million splinters around us. Our would-be attackers are on the edge of death, covered in debris from the explosion, so the creature targets them instead. They’re worse off than Bek, and it can’t resist preying on the weakest. If we don’t move, though, it’ll come back for Bek when it’s done with them.

I pick her up and head for the cars. I stumble over one of the men, who’s speared through with a hundred chunks of timber, splinters through his skin like a porcupine. One eye has a nail through it, and mess dribbles down his face. He tries to move but can’t. He’s pinned to the ground by the hut’s remains.

The driver’s door of one of the cars is open, and the keys are in the ignition. I drop Bek in the back, jump in the driver’s seat, and floor it. The creature turns to us for a moment but can’t resist the allure of the dying. Why chase prey and risk losing them when there’s plenty of food right there?

Bek’s still unconscious, but she might be okay if I can get her to a hospital. My phone’s still in my pocket, and halfway down the mountain I turn it on to check if I have reception. It rings, and I jump. It’s an unknown number.

I quickly answer it. “Hello?”

“You can’t take her to a hospital,” says the voice on the other end of the line. “They’ll find her there. They’ll find you both.”

“Who is this?”

“Someone who can help you.” He sounds young. Around my age. Somehow, that makes me trust him a little. “I’ll send you an address. Drive there, and I’ll keep you both alive. They won’t stop until you’re dead, especially after what you did to the outpost.”

He knows I did that. I know, too, although I don’t understand why. Or how. Somehow, I reached into the fabric of the world and tore it apart.

My phone buzzes. He’s sent me a text. “Did you get the location?”

“Yes. How do I know I can trust you?”

“You don’t, exactly. But if you go to a hospital, she’ll die. If you go home, everyone you love will die. Your family need to think you’re dead. The world needs to think you’re dead if you have any hope of surviving this.”

My dad. He’s lost Mum already, and now he’ll lose me. But if he knows I’m okay, they might kill him. I can’t be responsible for that. Nothing that happened tonight has made any sense at all, but I’m part of something. I can sense it. I’ve seen enough to know the stakes.

I drive with the headlights off. The road out of the mountains is winding, but the stars light up enough of the track to see. The fog is still thick, so I can’t drive too quickly, although I’m still going faster than is safe. Bek lies unconscious in the back, and she hasn’t moved since the hut. It’s almost an hour before I reach the edge of the national park, but I haven’t seen any cars coming the other way. We’re probably safe for now. Switching the headlights on, I floor the pedal and screech onto the highway.

The address the voice gave is a tiny, empty street on the very edge of Ettney, a small town not too far from the mountains. It’s a new estate, so half-built houses and empty blocks of land scatter the hills. The whole place is quiet.

He stands next to an old, rusted truck in front of an empty lot, and as I approach he waves me over. I pull up next to him, and get out of the car. I was right—he is my age, perhaps a bit younger. Bek’s still breathing, but her skin is grey and clammy, like she’s dead, or dying.

He holds out his hand. “Hudson?”

“Hud.” I ignore his hand. I don’t trust him yet. He doesn’t tell me his name, but somehow he knows mine.

“Rebekah,” I plead. “She’s sick or something.”

He looks at her in the back, and frowns. “I’ve never seen this before. The Shadow had her?”

I nod. “The hut blew apart before that thing … finished her.”

“That’s something, then. Nice work on that, by the way.” He checks her breathing. “She seems stable, but I’m no expert. We have people who can help. People who might be able to save her.”

I draw the ranger’s knife out of its sheath and hold it out at him. “If you’re lying, you’re dead.” I stare him dead in the eyes to make my point. The knife glows red-hot, and I drop it.

He smiles. “If I were lying, you’d be dead already. Can we get moving?”

“How did you do that?” I ask.

“Same way you can. We really need to leave. I’ll explain on the way.”

I nod. He has answers, and he’s my only shot.

“We need to ditch this car,” he says, and helps me carry Bek to his truck. It only has two seats, so we have to put her in the metal bed at the back. “Don’t worry, I’ll drive carefully.”

The sky starts to lighten as we turn onto the Western Highway. Wherever we’re going, I hope we’ll be safe. I hope Bek will be safe.

“Should we call the cops?” I ask, but I already know the answer. It’s the reason I haven’t called them yet myself.

He shakes his head. “Wouldn’t matter. The evidence will be gone by now, the whole thing covered up. You’ll just be two friends who went missing in the mountains.”

“Three. Three friends.” I say.

I haven’t just lost my friend tonight, I’ve lost my life. My safe little world is gone, and I’m heading into the unknown. Ahead, sun breaks over the horizon, and morning illuminates the road before us.

We drive into the light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hud will return in The City Unseen,
Book Two of the Unseen Series (out 2018)

 

 

The story continues in The Fire Unseen.
Keep reading for a free preview of the first two chapters!