فصل 06

CHAPTER 6

THE GUARDS

SARAH FROZE, STARING INTO her brother’s terrified face.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“It’s not a dog.”

Slowly, Sarah turned her head. Somehow she managed to suppress a scream when she saw what Aidan had been looking at.

A wolf.

A large wolf.

It was less than ten feet away, its eyes glowing bright in the beam of Aidan’s flashlight. Its mouth hung open, revealing a pink tongue and jagged, glinting teeth.

There were more wolves behind it. Sarah counted seven in all. Their fur was matted and mangy. They looked skinny. Most of all, they looked…hungry. Their glowing eyes were fixed, unblinking, on the humans. Their black noses flexed, sampling the scent of the intruders.

“Oh my god,” said Aidan, his voice on the edge of panic.

“What are we gonna do?”

“Listen,” said Sarah, forcing herself to speak calmly. “We are going to get out of here. We are going to move very, very slowly. But first we are going to get whatever this thing is we just found.”

“Are you insane?”

“Just watch the wolves,” said Sarah. With a deliberate movement she turned back to the hole she and Aidan had dug. She reached down, hooked a finger under the metal plate in the dirt, and gently pulled it aside. Beneath it was a cubical metal box, perhaps six inches on a side, its golden color glinting in the flashlight beam. She picked it up; it felt solid and seemed heavy for its size. She unzipped her backpack and put the box inside.

“They’re coming closer,” said Aidan.

Sarah turned slowly back. The alpha wolf, the leader, was now several steps nearer. The other wolves had moved forward behind it.

The wolves were blocking their exit from the chamber.

Sarah slowly raised her flashlight. She aimed it directly into the alpha wolf’s eyes. He backed up a few feet, growling.

“They don’t like the light,” she said.

The alpha, still growling, moved a step closer.

“This isn’t going to get us out of here,” said Aidan. “We have to get past them. I wish Magill had mentioned there’d be wolves in—”

“‘Feed the guards,’” said Sarah suddenly.

“You mean…”

“The wolves are the guards,” said Sarah. “I hope.” Keeping her gaze, and her flashlight beam, on the growling alpha wolf, she slipped out of the backpack and handed it to Aidan. “Get the sandwiches,” she said. “Hurry.”

Aidan unzipped the backpack and found the bag of sandwiches. As he pulled it out, the survival tin fell at his feet. He picked it up and passed the bag to Sarah, who tore it open with her teeth, pulled out a cellophane-wrapped cheese sandwich, and tossed it toward the alpha wolf. He took one sniff, then snapped it up in a single bite, wrapping and all. Instantly, the other wolves surrounded him, looking for their share. He snarled at them, and they backed off—but not far. The wolves were still blocking the path to the exit tunnel. And Sarah and Aidan had one less sandwich. There were two left.

“We need to back them up,” said Sarah. She shone the flashlight at the alpha. It growled, but this time it did not move.

“I think it’s getting used to the light,” she said. “We need something else to scare it.”

Aidan looked at the survival tin. “Matches,” he said.

“What?”

“I think there’s matches in here.” He yanked the metal tab on the survival kit and pulled off the lid. The tin was packed with survival items. He poked through them and found a metal cylinder labeled matches and a small metal sleeve labeled razor blade. He took these out and put the tin back into the backpack.

“I got matches,” he said, opening the cylinder. “There’re six of them. And there’s a razor.”

“I don’t think a razor will do much good,” said Sarah, eyeing the wolves. “I’m gonna try to move them so we can get past.” She raised a sandwich over her head. Seven pairs of hungry wolf eyes followed her motion. She held the sandwich aloft for a few seconds, then threw it to her right. In an instant the wolves were on it, a snarling cyclone of mangy fur and snapping jaws. The alpha wolf and several others got pieces of sandwich; the rest got only bites and scratches, blood seeping through their fur.

The pack had moved a bit, but not enough for Sarah and Aidan to get past. The alpha stood still, watching them intently. Just behind him the other six paced restlessly, baring their teeth. The smell of food and blood was in the air.

Sarah had one sandwich left. She tore it in half.

“When I throw this,” she said, “we head for the tunnel. If they come after us I’ll shine my flashlight at them, and you light a match.”

“Don’t turn your back on them,” said Aidan. “I saw this on TV. They go for your heels. That’s how they drop you. They snap your tendons so you can’t move. Then they eat you.”

“I did not need to know that,” said Sarah.

“They eat you alive.”

“Shut up, okay? And get a match ready.”

Aidan held a match head against the striking strip on the side of the cylinder. Sarah drew back her arm and threw a half sandwich across the chamber. The wolves were on it before it landed, their snarls echoing off the rock walls. Sarah and Aidan, walking sideways so they faced the wolves, moved quickly toward the tunnel.

In seconds the sandwich was gone, the battle over. The alpha wolf, licking his lips, turned back and spotted Aidan and Sarah on the move. He ran toward them, growling, the others right behind. Sarah’s flashlight beam slowed him, but only for a second; he was coming this time.

“Now!” she said.

Aidan drew the match along the striking strip. The tip hissed and flared white. Instantly, the alpha stopped and retreated a few feet, whimpering. Sarah and Aidan moved a few steps closer to the tunnel. The match flame turned orange and began to wane. The alpha growled and began moving forward again. Sarah tore a piece off the remaining half sandwich.

“I don’t have much sandwich left,” she said.

“So make it count,” said Aidan, preparing a second match.

All the wolves were coming now.

“One…” said Aidan. “Two…”

On “three” Sarah tossed the chunk of sandwich and Aidan struck the match. Again the wolves were both scared and distracted, but only for a few seconds. Sarah and Aidan had now reached the tunnel entrance. The alpha wolf was keeping his distance from the waning flame, but never took his eyes off them. The other wolves, having finished the sandwich scrap, were just behind their leader.

“One more piece of sandwich,” said Sarah.

“Three more matches,” said Aidan.

“That’s not enough to get us out of here.”

“I’ve got an idea,” said Aidan. He quickly explained his plan. He shouldered the backpack by a single strap, readied a match, and said, “One…two…three.”

Sarah threw the last piece of sandwich right into the midst of the wolves. At the same moment, Aidan lit the third match, crouched, and stood it up in the dirt floor.

Aidan and Sarah turned and took off running as a vicious fight erupted behind them. Aidan glanced back once and was relieved to see that the tunnel was empty; the match flame was holding back the alpha. For now.

Sprinting, panting, their flashlight beams waving wildly, Sarah and Aidan reached the first heel mark and turned right. From behind they heard snarling; the wolves were in the first tunnel. They kept running, their breath coming in gasps. The snarls grew suddenly louder. Aidan and Sarah looked back. The wolves had entered the new tunnel and were coming fast.

“Hurry!” said Sarah, starting to run again. Aidan followed, but they were both thinking the same thing: We can’t outrun them.

Aidan felt the backpack, the heavy golden box banging into him as he ran. He made a decision: he was going to throw the box at the wolves. He knew Sarah wouldn’t agree with that decision, but he wasn’t going to let himself get eaten to save a box. He jammed his flashlight into his pocket. Clutching the matches and razor in one hand, he used the other to unzip the backpack. He glanced back and nearly screamed; the wolves were only yards away. He reached into the backpack; his hand fell on something. He yanked it out. A candy bar.

Sarah had reached the next heel mark in the dirt and Aidan followed as she turned left. At the same time he bit off a chunk of the candy bar, wrapper and all, and spat it at the alpha wolf, which had just rounded the corner. The wolf stopped, startled; it bent to snap up the treat, snarling at the other wolves as they went for it also. Aidan quickly bit off and spat out three more chunks, then threw the last piece at the wolves. A vicious fight broke out. Aidan turned and ran after Sarah, the howls of the wolves echoing in the tunnel behind him. As he ran, he groped in the backpack and found another candy bar.

They reached the third heel mark and turned right, their lungs burning as they sprinted for the finish line. The wolves were coming again, gaining ground fast. Aidan spat out more pieces of candy bar. This seemed to slow the wolves, but not as much as the first time.

Sarah reached the last heel mark, indicating the small opening through which they’d entered the tunnel complex. She skidded to a stop and shone her light back at the oncoming wolves. She hesitated.

“Go!” shouted Aidan.

“But they’ll get you!”

“Just go!”

As Sarah dropped to her belly and wiggled into the crawlway, Aidan lit the fourth match and turned to face the wolves. They stopped, but this time the alpha came much closer to the flame than he had before.

Aidan backed up, his foot finding the opening to the crawlway.

The match burned lower.

Aidan knew Sarah was right: by the time he turned and crawled into the hole the wolves would get him.

He decided his only chance was to throw the golden box at the alpha wolf. Maybe he could injure it enough that the other wolves would attack their leader, giving Aidan time to escape. It didn’t seem likely, but it was all Aidan could think of.

“I’m through!” Sarah’s muffled voice came from the crawlway. “Aidan? You okay?”

“A little busy,” he said, holding the very end of the almost-spent match toward the alpha wolf as he reached into the backpack and felt…

A metal cylinder.

Sarah’s hair spray.

“Sarah, come back!” he shouted. “Hurry!”

For once she didn’t argue; he heard her grunting as she wriggled back through the crawlway toward him. He could see the flicker of her flashlight.

The match was almost burned out.

The alpha wolf growled and took a step forward.

“When you see my feet,” Aidan yelled, “pull!”

“What?” she called.

“My feet! Pull my feet. Hard!”

The match went out. The alpha took another step forward, his dagger teeth gleaming in the wavering beam of Sarah’s flashlight coming from the crawlway entrance. The wolf tensed to lunge forward.

Aidan lit the fifth match and sent a stream of hair spray across it. A three-foot blowtorch flame shot out at the alpha wolf, which howled in rage and pain as it scrambled backward, its whiskers burned off. The pack was now cowering on the far side of the tunnel. Aidan released another burst of fire, and another, as he dropped to his knees, kicked the backpack behind him, and got onto his belly, using his elbows to crawl backward into the tunnel.

The match was dwindling.

He fired another blast. But he held the can too close and it blew out the flame. He could see nothing now, his eyes not yet readjusted to the blackness. But he could hear the wolves snarling and again coming closer.

“Pull my legs!” he shouted. He fumbled with the sixth—and last—match. He struck it against the cylinder…too hard. The match head broke off. Aidan was holding a useless splinter of wood.

As his eyes adjusted he saw, by the flicker of Sarah’s flashlight in the cramped tunnel behind him, that the alpha wolf was coming for him. Aidan, on his stomach, felt helpless; the snarling wolf loomed over him.

“Pull my legs!” he shouted. Where was Sarah? Aidan raised the hair spray can and fired a blast into the wolf’s eyes. The wolf howled and backed off a few feet, blinking furiously. Aidan wriggled backward, now almost fully into the crawlway. He felt Sarah’s hands grip his ankles. Finally. She pulled, but Aidan barely moved.

“Harder!” he shouted.

“I know!”

The furious alpha lunged forward again; Aidan repelled it with another blast to the eyes. But this time the blast ended with a soft pfffft.

The hair spray can was empty.

Aidan felt Sarah heave on his ankles. The effort dragged him backward a foot or so. He did his best to help her. But their progress was much too slow. The big wolf was coming again, snarling, its snout probing the tunnel. Its jaws snapped a few inches from Aidan’s face. Aidan threw the hair spray can; the wolf turned his head and the can bounced off his neck, clattering to the tunnel floor.

The wolf was coming again. Aidan had nothing left to fight with except…

The razor.

He still had the razor. As the wolf lunged forward Aidan tore open the cardboard envelope and, ducking to avoid the wolf’s snapping jaws, lashed out desperately with the razor, once, twice. He felt something scrape his hand. He heard a deafening high-pitched yelp. He couldn’t see anything. Another tug from Sarah moved him back another foot. In a flicker of the flashlight beam he caught a glimpse of his hand: blood. He thought the wolf had bitten him. Then he heard more yelping, and looked ahead to see the source of the blood—the wolf’s snout was spurting dark liquid. The razor had found its target. The alpha wolf was now contending both with its own wound and the wolves behind it, excited by the scent of new blood.

Taking advantage of these distractions, Aidan and Sarah managed to wriggle backward the remaining few yards to the metal door. They scrambled out and Aidan yanked the door shut just as the alpha reached it. The wolf slammed into the door once, then again, but in the process he only closed it tighter. The tunnel rang with his muffled howls of pain and rage.

Sarah, shoving the backpack ahead of her, crawled into the last exit tunnel; Aidan was on her heels. In less than a minute they were standing outside the massive boulder outcropping. The dark woods, which two hours earlier had seemed so scary to Aidan, now looked safe and welcoming.

For a moment they stood still, exhausted, gasping for breath. Aidan found that he could not stop himself from trembling as he remembered the sight of the wolf’s snapping jaws, just inches from his face.

Sarah held up the backpack.

“There!” she said. “That wasn’t so hard!”

Despite himself, Aidan laughed.

“Remind me,” he said, “when I get some strength back, to kill you.”

It was Sarah’s turn to laugh. Then, opening the backpack, she said, “I wonder what we almost got eaten for.” She pulled out the heavy golden box and turned it over in her hands. Its smooth surface gleamed in the waning glow of Aidan’s flashlight. There were no apparent latches or hinges.

“I wonder how you open it,” she said.

“We can figure that out later,” said Aidan. “The batteries are low. We gotta get out of these woods and back to Bath before Mom and Dad wake up.”

For once Sarah didn’t argue. She put the box back into the backpack as Aidan activated his phone GPS. In a few minutes they were trudging back through the woods toward their bikes and the road. They spoke little. But as the excitement of their triumph began to wear off, the same sobering words drifted through both of their minds, over and over:

Use it wrong, and death to thee.