Into the Light

147

We made our way quietly down to the car and piled inside. Sam sat in the back with Kat, while Anna sat up front with me. My hand stayed connected to hers, resting on her thigh. There was nothing sexual about any of it, just the need to be close to one another. I glanced in the rearview and saw Kat hugged up to Sam, with his arm around her shoulders. The look of terror on her face almost made me want to cry. She was terrified, but I knew it wasn't for herself. No, Kat didn't care about that. She was scared for us, for her family, her friends, for her dog. I couldn't stop the morose thoughts that kept invading my head, so I stopped trying and let them take over for a little while. I had time to grieve before it happened, so maybe that would help me accept it for what it was. I didn't think that we had a chance against the Darkness, not even with what we had learned to do...but that didn't mean that I wasn't going to try my damnedest to take her down with me. I had zero hope that I would survive this. I was going to be too close to her. As soon as she realized what was happening, she was going to take me out and I knew that. As I stared out the windshield at the lonely backroad that we were on, I realized that I was coming to terms with that fact. I was accepting that I wasn't going to make it out of this. No matter what I had been telling myself about making a future with Anna and my friends, in the back of my mind, I had always known. So, that was it. I was going to die tonight. In the next few hours, I would be taking my last breath. Okay. I didn't want to die, but if that was what it took to make sure that my friends were safe, then I would do it. An idea was forming in my mind about giving them a better chance at beating the Darkness. An idea that I was going to have to speak with Ash about, just to know if it would help or not. I felt Anna squeeze my fingers gently, so I glanced over to her. Her face was illuminated by the low glow of the small lights on the radio. With only that little bit of light, her beautiful eyes shone brightly in the darkness. She gave me a soft smile and mouthed the words 'I love you.' "I love you too," I whispered back. I didn't know why we were being quiet, but it just seemed like the right thing to do. There wasn't even any music playing. Just the whir of the tires on the pavement and the sound of the wind from the air conditioner. I looked back to the empty road and felt my heart fall into my stomach. We were close to Ash's place now. Close to my death. I took in a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly, before I turned down the dark dirt road that was looked like it was a tunnel into the black forest. My skin started to hum all over my body and fear clouded my brain. My anxiety was going up full force, so much so, that I wanted to pull over and throw up everything that had dared to enter my stomach today. It had been a long time since anxiety had made me actually get sick. I jumped a little when Sam's hand came down on my shoulder. I glanced up into the rearview to see him give me a small smile and a quick nod of his head. I nodded back and looked away. If anyone could see that I was up to something, it would be him. Then he wouldn't let me do it. I was surprised that he hadn't thought about me being so close to Lilith in the first place. Oops, I had thought her name. I guess it didn't matter now. We would be seeing her soon- "WATCH OUT!" Anna yelled, pointing out the windshield. It was then that I noticed a huge black wolf in the road, watching us with his red glowing eyes. I slammed on the brakes, stopping the car about 30 feet away from him. "That's the biggest fucking wolf I've ever seen," Sam murmured. I nodded in agreement, but kept my eyes locked on the wolf's red ones. "What do we do?" Anna asked. "I don't know," I answered, quietly. "We can't go around. He's too big." "Wait," I heard Katrina say, as the wolf started pacing back and forth in front of the car, moving a little closer to us. "Didn't Ash say not to stop for anything? Didn't he say that SHE would do anything to get to us?" "Fuck," I blurted out. The wolf snarled at my loud outburst, sending chills down my spine. I eased the car into reverse, moving only as much as I needed too, so that the wolf wouldn't know until the last second. He kept his eyes on me, snarling and pawing at the dirt. I knew he was going to attack any second now. I could feel the anticipation building up, like the white froth that was around his lips. Once I had the gear in the right place, I rested my foot gently on top of the gas. "Hold on," I whispered to my friends, hoping that they heard me. "Wha-?" Sam started but I didn't give him time to say anything. I slammed my foot down onto the gas pedal, making the car jerk backwards and start speeding backwards down the dark dirt road. There wasn't nearly enough light for me to see where I was going, since the reverse lights were barely permeating the deep darkness around us. "Oh my God, oh shit, oh shit!" Katrina exclaimed. I tried to block them all out, so that I could concentrate on not wrecking the car. Thankfully, the road was pretty straight, since we hadn't come that far down it, but it was also narrow as hell. "A little to the left, Brother!" Sam exclaimed. I did what he said and chanced a glance out the front windshield. The huge wolf was in the distance, walking towards us. He didn't even pretend to chase after us. He knew that he could get us anytime that he wanted too. I slowed the car, hearing the protests of the others when I did. "What the fuck are you doing, Colby?! GO!" Kat yelled, banging on my headrest. "Why are you stopping?" Anna whimpered, with her eyes glued to the wolf outside. I could visibly see her body shaking. I vaguely wondered if she knew it was the Darkness, like I now did. I could feel her. The evil was pouring off of the wolf in high doses, almost visibly.