Demon Trackers: The Anointed

part twenty

Henry came to, coughing so hard he thought he might break a rib. Miraculously his headlamp was still on. Sooty dust and leaves and other debris clouded the air in the beam’s light. Gremlins. Explosion. Shit. A moan rumbled inside his chest though he couldn’t hear it over the shrill ring vibrating in his head. He must not have been out long if the air was still settling.

He’d been running full out, knowing the gremlins and the fire and the dynamite…and his sons…Henry shot up to a sitting position and the world immediately took a slow revolution around him. He waited for it to pass, fear steeping incrementally. Had the boys gotten far enough away before the cave was blown to hell?

Shaking, he took a quick inventory for injuries. Except for his thigh that burned where the gremlin's teeth clamped down, he’d come out of this rather unscathed. He got to his feet slowly and shouted, “Boys!” That he heard. It sounded far away and buried in mud, but he could hear his voice, which meant once the ringing subsided he’d be fine.

“Jake! Cal!” He started walking upslope, feeling the rise of ground through the strain on his legs, because he certainly couldn’t see anything in the dark smoke-filled night.

“Dad.”

Henry paused, uncertain of the direction the call came from. Had to be a shout, though beneath the ringing it was barely a whisper.

A hand clasped around his arm and Henry startled, unaccustomed to not being able to hear another’s approach. Jake, covered with dirt and ash, his headlamp gone, and Henry realized Jake must have found him by following the light of his beam.

Jake’s eyes were wide, his mouth moving. Kid was freaking out. Henry leaned forward trying to catch words. “Can’t find…gone…ripped away…don't…”

“Cal?” Cal was gone. Jake couldn’t find him. Henry grasped Jake’s forearms. “Son, I can’t hear you. Too close to the denotation. Show me where you were.”

Jake’s shiny green eyes tracked around in confusion. Everything was dark, hazy. The pitch of night layered with smoke and swirling debris. Several of the smaller trees were now splintered, downed. Henry’s heart dropped. If Cal was beneath one of those…“That’s okay, we’ll find him. Your best guess, Jake. In relation to the cave, where were you?”

They both looked back to where the cave entrance once was, still easy to locate with shells of monsters glowing like embers.

Jake tugged him forward, shuffling. Henry stopped, knowing instantly that something was wrong. He looked down, the light showing Jake was barely putting any weight on his right foot. “Ankle?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Jake shook his head. Henry heard that more clearly, the ringing lessening.

“Sit down. I’ll look for Cal.”

“No Sir.” That Henry heard distinctly. Jake hobbled forward again. “Not until we know Cal’s okay.”

Henry wasn’t going to argue, knowing Jake would crawl around the entire slope if it came to it. “All right. You take it slow. Search a tight area and I’ll range wide.” Jake nodded agreement to that. “Where do you think you were?”

His son looked back at the cave, lips smacking repeatedly together the way they did when he was nervous, yet trying to stay focused. Resolved, his dirty face hardened, lips stopped moving. “This way. I’m pretty sure we were just over here.” He limped a few yards up the slope and then turned to face the cave. “I was pulling him.” He cupped his arms out as though he still dragged his brother. His breathing was increasing, chest rising and falling in hard pants. “Then the explosion…and Cal…” Jake shook his head, eyes wide. “…Cal was torn away. Dad, I don’t know which way…he was just all of a sudden gone…I don’t know which way.”