Wind

• • T W E N T Y N I N E • •

I turned my attention back to the devil. Her hooves perched precariously in front of the door to the basement as she recovered. Her eyes darted to me, and her black lips curled back, showing her teeth.

I had one last idea. With a rush of adrenaline, I charged.

My feet pounded painfully into the ground, and then my body crunched as I collided into the monster, slamming my left shoulder into her chest. The devil stumbled back. Her hooves misstepped, landing on the stairs behind her. She faltered and flapped her wings, trying unsuccessfully to regain balance. Staggering, she tumbled down the stairwell, hitting every other step as she went until she landed hard with a crash on the solid, stone basement floor.

Her wings shook as she tried to untangle herself, moaning and shrieking in pain and rage. In a matter of seconds, the devil got to her feet. She turned to me and bared her sharp teeth, preparing to charge back up the stairs.

She only covered a few steps before I grabbed the door to the cage, clutching it tight in my fist and slamming it shut with a crash. I hit the lock button. Joshua had built this cage to contain the devil, and that was exactly what it was damn well going to do tonight.

She accelerated to the top, ramming into the door. It shuddered and shook. I staggered back in response. She pressed her face into the bars, snapping and snarling at me, trying to claw her way through, but the door wouldn't budge. Her hot, steaming breath coated my face. My entire body pulsed in pain and my head spun.

I needed to get out.

I turned from the entrance to the basement—just in time to see Joshua pushing himself to his feet while simultaneously inching towards the far corner of the room. Something glistened on the dusty wooden floor boards—the gun!

He was only a few feet away, reaching out his arm to grab it.

There was no way I'd reach it before him, but I had another idea. I needed to be quick. Ignoring the pain in my leg, I sprinted to the exit of the room. Shrieks from the basement and clanking metal followed me as the monster continued to smash her body into the door, trying to get out.

My breath came short and my vision faded as I ran through the dining room and into the empty living room. I imagined Joshua had the gun in his hand now. I sucked in air as I reached the front door. I was sure Joshua was getting to his feet in the far room.

I threw the front door open and darted out onto the porch. A blast of icy wind slammed into my body as soon as I was through the threshold. I stumbled as it grabbed onto me like a kite in a hurricane, immediately chilling me to my bones. It tugged at my clothes and hair and soul and sanity, threatening to rip all of me away and reduce me to nothing.

I resisted.

I stumbled down the stairs from the porch, my leg screaming at me in pain.

I ignored it.

I ignored everything.

My eyes caught a strip of grass glistening in the moonlight. The trail of gasoline! Stumbling, I pulled myself to the end of the line. I imagined Joshua was limping through the dining room, gun in hand, headed after me. I didn't have much time.

I felt the back pockets of my jeans—cigarettes in the right one, box of matches in the left.

I may not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but if there were two things I knew about, they were cigarettes and gasoline, and I knew a cigarette didn't burn hot enough to light gasoline. I'd be long dead if that were the case... but a match? That's a totally different story.