Russell stared out his windshield, waiting for death. But death never came.
How long had he been frozen in place, trying not to make any sound or any sudden movements? His lungs burned as he held his breath, yet he feared the loud pounding in his chest would attract the beast anyway. After all that effort, they didn't manage to find shelter inside his truck. They only found themselves in a dead end.
So what was the beast waiting for?
Big Bertha shuddered under its bulk. With the upper half of its body propped over the hood, the beast practically stood upright as it loomed over them, sniffing through its large nostrils, perking its large ears in an animal-like behavior. But it was no animal. It wasn’t even a wild beast. It was something else entirely.
Only now, in the lull after his close encounter with death, did he have the chance to examine the creature in front of him. If a mountain wolf and a scaled reptile had been fused together in a twisted genetic experiment, it would still not be enough to describe the monstrosity standing before them.
The pointed scales on its head gleamed with a dull luster under the scant light of the night sky, and what had been black scales turned out to be azure blue. They overlapped in sequence, forming an armor that covered its face, the upper portion of its torso, and the length of its short limbs. Long spines jutted out its back like knives, trailing down to the base of its tail. It wagged the rope-like appendage like some kind of dog, its tip sharp as a razor which he had experienced firsthand.
The substantial bulk in its haunches made its strides powerful. But unlike its hind limbs lost under the hood of the truck, its pair of front legs were abnormally slender.
As if hearing his mental commentary, the monster raised its paw and slammed it against the hood of the truck. Its claws, long and curved like talons, tore through the metal with ease, and the grating noise stabbed his ears.
He was a trapped mouse right now, and his hand shot up for the door lock. He would rather take his chances outside instead of dying here seated inside his truck, helpless. But the sound of a quiet whimper pulled him back to reality.
Serena. Serena was with him. He didn't have any way to tell her to make a break for it. As much as he wanted to run away, to live, he couldn't find it in himself to leave her behind.
The beast gave out a low, rumbling snarl, but it didn’t do anything else. Unlike what it did earlier with the convertible, the monster still hadn’t burst through the windshield and had its way with its next meal.
What the hell are you waiting for?
Staring less than a yard from the beast, he noticed an oddity—dark vapor leaked out from the gaps between its scales. Faint haze billowed in the wind with its every movement, giving its entire figure an image of a living, smoking volcano. And that wasn’t the monster’s most peculiar feature.
It wasn’t the lack of time when he had confronted the beast earlier that he didn’t get to examine its face. It wasn't the meager light beyond his windshield now that prevented him from observing its countenance more closely. Thicker, larger scales covered the top half of its face, and with its own armored visor wrapped around its head, the monster stared back at them with a sightless gaze, eyeless.
He didn't know what to make of that discovery. So what if the monster was blind? It had almost managed to kill him without a problem. Multiple times.
hould he make a break for it like he had planned? He could take his chances out in the parking lot and try to lure the beast away from Serena while he was at it. Or he could remain quiet inside the truck, pray the monster really couldn’t see them, and hope it wouldn’t decide to shatter its way through the fragile glass of the windshield out of sheer curiosity.
Neither option sounded any good.
The frame of the truck groaned, and the squeaking of the overtaxed suspensions jolted him from his preoccupied thoughts.
The monster edged its head closer, pushing its nose right up against the windshield. Its nostrils flared as if it was trying to sniff through the glass, and right at the spot it made contact with its nose, the glass cracked.
Serena whimpered.
Staying inside wasn’t an option; he needed to do something now.
He let go of the door lock and reached for the ignition. His eyes never leaving the beast, he fumbled for the key with his fingertips—but something strong clamped around his wrist.
Keeping his head stationary, he cast his eyes downward. Serena had his arm in an iron grip. He reached for the key a second time, but the woman wouldn't let go.
The center of the windshield fractured.
Cursing in his mind, he left his key in the ignition, giving up on his foolish plan. But he couldn’t complain. Things could have been worse. He could have been dead long before now, dead like the old man they had left on the ground. Twice.
He pictured the gore. The torn flesh. He forced himself not to hurl, but the carnage behind Bernard’s gruesome death was still fresh in his mind, an aftertaste Russell couldn’t seem to wash out from his mouth.
Cracks webbed under the monster’s large snout.
He swallowed the bile rising in his throat. What would happen to their corpse after this? To the old man’s? Hopefully, somebody else would discover their bodies. By then, people would assume they had been mauled by some kind of wild animal. With the evidence left behind, they would report it as…report it as…
His eyes widened.
911! A jolt of excitement coursed through him. I should've called 911!
The fracture on the glass grew.
Keeping his eyes on the monster, he lifted his butt from his seat, careful not to cause any noise. The old, dry leather hardly made a squeak as he slid his phone out from his back pocket bit by bit, pulling it out in a slow, protracted, and painstaking process.
The cracks continued to spread, reaching outward inch by inch.
He cupped a hand over his phone, wary about the light from his screen leaking out. Good thing he wasn’t foolish enough to forget something so trivial. He pressed the power button on the side, waiting for the phone to come to life, and got a black screen for his efforts.
Then he recalled a simple fact he had forgotten—his phone had long stopped working. All the gadgets were fried. Anything electronic was a bust.
He had gotten his hopes up for nothing.
Maybe I am some kind of stupid.
Annoyed with himself, he slammed his head back against the headrest. The seats inside the truck cabin wobbled, and the springs underneath creaked.
Serena let out a soft cry as the large head outside jerked.
Definitely stupid.
The monster huffed and drew back an inch from the window, tilting its head to the side in a curious manner. Then it pulled back farther away, and away, and away. Until the beast dismounted from the front of his truck altogether and dropped back to the ground. And just like that, their view through the windshield cleared. The veil of darkness was lifted.
Russell groaned, the tension falling away from his shoulders. He wanted to lie down and sleep his troubles away, but he refused to fall into complacency now.
Rubbing away the tiredness from his face, he reminded himself to remain alert. His eyes tracked the beast still lurking outside. He could only glimpse the tips of its ears and the spines on its back as it prowled in front of the vehicle.
The monster moved from one side to the other, going back and forth. It circled a few yards farther away and slowed its padded steps. For a short, nerve-wracking moment, it locked its blind gaze onto the truck. On them.
He stared back, wondering if was truly unaware of their presence. Was its prodding earlier simply a lucky guess? Had it failed to find out they were hiding inside?
The beast gave its whole body a good shake, and then it slinked deeper into the darkness. He caught its silhouette roaming around the truck, this time at a greater distance.
The monster couldn't see them inside the cab. They were safe. For now.
“We're clear,” he said. He leaned his head back against the stiff headrest and took a deep breath. The smell of sun-baked vinyl and old leather welcomed his mind back to a place of familiarity.
They had cheated death once again. But how long would their good fortune hold? How long before his meager luck finally ran out?
Now, in the relative safety of his truck’s cabin, everything came flooding back, and he gasped for breath. He remembered the many times he had been close to dying. His mind circled back to memories he’d rather forget. He could see them all as if he were back there in those moments, reliving all his brushes with death over and over again in his head.
His vision turned to a blur. He fought not to have a panic attack as he struggled to breathe, and the sensation was no different from what he had suffered through lying on the asphalt—getting crushed in total darkness, dying a slow death, and completely helpless against it.
He grabbed his mouth tight and let out a silent scream. When he had found himself crushed under the weight of the world, when he found himself trapped like a helpless prey facing the maw of its predator, he recalled how he had succumbed to his despair, how he had resigned himself to death.
Shame consumed his mind. Fear gripped his soul. And the guilt…
He squeezed his eyes shut. He should have died then, and yet he was still here. Still breathing. Still alive.
Balling his free hand into a fist, he forced the tremors to stop. He drew in deep breaths, inhaling one lungful of air after another, feeling closer to his regular self with each passing second. He had survived. Even now, he needed to survive. And he would continue to do so—for himself, for his sister waiting for him back home, and for the only other person relying on him now. Whatever it takes.
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“Serena,” he whispered, his voice hoarse, but the woman remained unresponsive.
Serena had curled herself into a ball and was rocking in her seat. She had her legs tucked under her, her arms wrapped around them in a tight, trembling embrace. Her lips quivered underneath the mess of her hair. She had been mumbling incoherently to herself this whole time.
He reached for her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, her skin ice cold to his touch. Like a drowning woman holding on to a lifeline, she instinctively grasped his hand in a tight squeeze, refusing to let go, and his heart broke at the sight.
She was the reason he was still alive. She had been there for him when he had lost all hope. Now she needed him more than ever. It was his turn to save her.
“We’re safe, Serena. It's gone,” he said, wanting to assure her. To assure himself.
Her body twitched. The silent ramblings stopped. Her head rose from between her knees, and she turned to peek over the lip of her car door.
The monster’s silhouette zoomed by, and Serena let loose a sharp squeal.
“I mean…It's not gone, gone,” Russell said, but the woman had turtled herself back into a ball, shutting out the world completely. He could only scratch his head, feeling like a fool.
Good job, dumbass.
Russell returned to keeping a lookout. “Thank you, by the way,” he said, talking to the window. “For helping me back there, I mean. I was a goner for sure if it hadn’t been for—” He pressed his lips together. A moment of honesty was good. “No, not just for saving my life, but for earlier this evening too. For everything you did for me back in the clubhouse.”
Outside, the numerous dark forms of the vehicles parked around them remained motionless.
“I didn't know what to expect coming here tonight,” he said. “I was…You could say I was stuck in a rut. Like I’d been wasting away my years heading nowhere. I told myself a change would be good. A fresh start, you know? And where else to have one but back here in Solace Springs.”
A silent shadow stalked their surroundings, its padded footfalls barely discernible in the silence, soft as a whisper.
“How naive of me to think so, am I right? I thought ten years was a long time. Then I came back here tonight only to see that things hadn’t changed at all. The town, the people—everything seemed to have remained the same.” He blew out a breath. “Even after a decade has passed, I'm still an outcast in my own home…”
His sincerity was met with silence.
“I guess it all fell apart after that game. That loss,” he continued. “And about the commotion in the lounge bar? To be honest, I expected that I could simply take whatever they gave. that I could just pretend to be unaffected by their words. Shrug off their insults like a grown man should.” He let out a humorless chuckle. “Instead, I found myself back in high school all over again—surrounded, suffocated, and hated by everyone.”
A shadow zoomed past the end of their parking lane, quick and silent like a specter.
“And so I ended up acting the way I did back then. A troublemaker. A pariah.” He leaned his head back on the headrest. “Guess I'm only human after all.”
Serena remained quiet, giving no reply.
“I thought things would be different now, you know? I wanted it to be different.” He waved at the view outside the windshield, at the parking lot that was devoid of life, all but for a single demonic creature. “I just didn't expect this.”
The beast wove between the cars in front of them, its movements lightning quick, its stamina frightening.
“I never felt as powerless as I did out there, Serena,” he said, and an image flashed in his mind, a kid inside a closet, hiding, trembling. “It’s all so ironic now that I think about it. When I was about to head home, I thought that the worst thing that could’ve ever happened tonight was finding out the truth behind Jude’s offer, with seeing Bradford Collins' face a close second.”
Russell closed his other hand it into a tight fist and raised it against the window, the fist of a man who never considered himself as someone weak, not after he had long grown up. Until tonight.
“I already knew my bad luck was on a roll tonight,” he continued, “but I never knew the world wasn’t done gambling with my fate just yet. I mean, a reunion is all about meeting old friends and acquaintances. I never expected I’d be meeting death as well.”
He opened his hand. Large. Rough. Full of callouses. The blood on his palm dried. Odd. He peered at his other hand, the one Serena was holding. Her hand had stopped shaking for some time now.
Smiling, he pretended not to notice and resumed his watch outside, tracking the beast’s location whenever it popped in and out among the vehicles. Sure, he had been rambling like a fool. But he might be able to get Serena back to normal after all.
“Jude Escobar…” Serena mumbled into the silence. “Such a two-faced bastard.”
Russell flinched. The sound of her voice surprised him, but it was nothing compared to hearing her curse for the first time.
“I see him around, you know?” Serena whispered as she remained huddled in a ball, her long hair like dark golden drapes veiling her face. “I’ve greeted him so many times I’ve lost count.”
He nodded. “Rosie did mention he still lives in town.”
“You’d think you already know someone well after a few years,” Serena said, her voice slowly returning to its normal volume. “Never realized he was such a backstabber."
“There’s a famous saying in boxing that applies outside the ring,” Russell said, still picturing the embarrassment he went through in the clubhouse in vivid detail. “The blows that hurt the most are the ones you don't see coming.”
And just as he had failed to foresee his teammates' obvious trap, he had also failed to see the monster coming. Maybe Bernard would still be alive if Russell did. Maybe the screamer they had never found would have been okay.
Then there was the smoker, the only other person who had been outside tonight. Who knows if she was still alive.
“You remember that employee of yours waiting by the entrance, the one who was smoking pot?” Russell asked. “Do you think she saw what happened? Heard anything? Called for help?”
“I…I don't know…” Leaving her huddled position, Serena braved a look outside and gasped.
The silhouette of the monster slinked through the parked cars. It was like watching a jungle cat in its natural habitat.
He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "It's fine, don't worry.”
“Her name's Kimberly,” Serena said, blowing out the hair hanging in front of her face. “She’s been treating me that way for a while now. I’m still not sure why. I thought it was because of jealousy at first, they usually are. And they are usually wrong.”
“Wrong about what?” he asked.
Serena brushed the long locks of her hair and dragged them over her head, holding them there. “Unlike what she and most other people like her assume, my life as a Solace is far from being a fairytale.”
“But you are treated as a princess.”
Serena snorted. “People think I’m some kind of town royalty, but I’m not. People think of Solace Springs as my family’s kingdom and this exclusive organization a paradise, but they’re not.” She leaned her head against the door window. “None of those are even close to the truth, especially everyone’s misconception about this country club. It’s not someplace to hang out for the rich. Neither is it someplace to look up to for the simpler townsfolk.”
Based on his personal experience, Russell couldn’t say he blamed the snobs for thinking otherwise. Tonight had been a disaster for an outcast like him before the two of them even ended up in this mess.
“They don't understand how hard it is to run, how difficult it’s been to keep a business as big and extravagant as this one alive in a town as small as ours,” Serena said, her voice steady in the dark interior of his truck. “And to do it for more than a hundred years straight practically since our town's founding. Through the wars, the pandemics, the depression and the recession—through everything.”
Russell had no idea what to say. He was one of those people she was talking about. Even back during their high school years, he had assumed her life as a Solace was picture-perfect. People would trade places with her in a heartbeat, clueless as to what her experience growing up was like. Many had wanted to be just like her, to live her life, not knowing the hardships it entailed.
“No one has any idea,” Serena continued. “Not Kimberly, not one person on the staff, not even Manager Harrington. None of them understands what's at stake, what's needed to be done.” She shook her head. “And sometimes, every once in a while, it all just becomes a little too much, you know?”
He nodded at her words even though she wasn’t looking, starting to see her point.
“But I'm a Solace, born and bred to take up the mantle, to shoulder the burden, to take the reins and lead our small, declining town to a brighter future…”
Something stabbed at his finger, making glance at his hand. Even while holding on to him, Serena was fidgeting with her hands on her lap, and her large engagement ring poked at his skin as she toyed with it.
He thought he had known her. Now, watching her like this, he couldn't begin to imagine someone with such soft and delicate hands carrying so much burden by herself. He had only known her as the town princess, as Rosalyn’s close friend, but the woman next to him was so much more.
“Forget the town, I can barely keep things in this club together,” Serena said. “You see that spa facility over there, the building beyond the archery range? That’s been closed for months now, and it will remain so indefinitely until we find a way to fund its renovation, perhaps even a complete reconstruction.” She crouched down and unclipped her heels. She kicked them off and breathed out a sigh of relief as she massaged her feet. “I mean, why bother building an entire building for some hot tubs and Jacuzzis? Who was the genius who came up with that idea? And who was the even bigger genius who approved of it?! It's only added luxury the club couldn't afford!”
Russell watched in awe as she continued her rant. The dam known as Serena Solace finally broke, and all the pent-up frustrations she had been bottling up inside came flooding out.
“The whole thing was built with a weak foundation and without taking decades of erosion in mind. It’s prone to collapse from some kind of accident—an accident exactly like the earthquakes we've been having all throughout this damn night!” She combed back her long hair, her eyes wild with emotions. “Then there’s the indoor basketball court, the one our town’s high school team uses every week. And guess what. That one needs an overhaul too. The flooring has been in a state of disrepair and badly needs a complete replacement. We even planned to replace the bleachers with more permanent concrete risers. How much will all that cost the club? How long will all those changes even take?” she asked, slumping back on her seat, seeming to have run out of steam.
“Well, I think the club could use a little change,” he said, trying to be honest.
Serena met his gaze for the first time in a while. A genuine smile adorned her pallid face, and Russell smiled back. Serena was going to be okay.
“See that archery range over there.” She pointed outside, tapping her fingertip against the window. “That was built by my father all just for me. Can you believe that? An open space and a few makeshift targets would've sufficed, but no! We're a Solace, and a Solace always deserves the best!"
He snorted. The town princess was back.
“The club is still my family's legacy, though,” she said with a shake of her head. “I love everything about it. It's the town's main tourist attraction, after all, not to mention its supposed cash cow.”
Seeing her behavior, a part of Russell wanted to chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. He never imagined Serena Solace would be slumming it with him in his old dingy truck. And all it took was a disaster of a reunion, a dead old man, and a creature spawned from hell itself.
“Did you know?” Serena sat up straight, tucking her long hair behind her ears as she turned to face him. “The Solace Springs Golf and Country Club was founded at the turn of the 20th century, and the Georgian Colonial architecture with hints of Late Victorian influence exhibits its long heritage.” She gave him a broad grin. “And the two-story, 60,000-square-foot clubhouse built with a central building and two expansive wings is but the tip of the iceberg, good sir!”
Russell blinked. “That’s good to know, I guess?”
“We’re just getting started,” she said. “More changes and expansions had been done and added through the years. The entire grounds now boast three separate outbuildings, multiple state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor facilities, and last but not the least, the main attraction, our world-renowned golf course—all in a 170-acre plot of land built right beside a cliff. This country club is one of the oldest and most prestigious clubs not only in the state but in the entire country. Best of all, it is the only club with this kind of scenic valley views unmatched by any other, coast to coast. From sunrise to sunset, summer or fall, one will never get tired of it all!" In the cramped space of the truck cabin, Serena tried to wave her hand in a sweeping gesture toward the clubhouse, only to fail spectacularly.
“Wow,” he drawled, speechless at the unsolicited spiel that came out of nowhere. “That…That was nice.”
Serena beamed. "Came up with it myself.”
“I figured.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed and leaned in. “I never even bothered to ask if you were okay!”
“Oh, no, I’m—“
“My god, Russ!” Her eyes darted all over his body. “I saw what happened earlier! Are you all right? Are hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine,” he said, deciding not to bring up his only injury. The wound on his left hand had already closed anyway. “Not a scratch. Only a bruised back and wounded ego."
Serena’s mouth hung open. “Not a scratch?” she asked. “A scratch from that thing would’ve been life-ending!”
He shrugged, unsure what to say to that.
Serena opened her mouth, bit her lip the next moment, and let out a sigh in the end, deciding not to push the issue any further.
The silence soon became uncomfortable. He had never been the social type. His skills were sorely lacking when it came to making small talk, let alone keeping the fairer sex entertained with his wit and charm.
He scratched his cheek, mulling over what to say, when he realized something he had somehow forgotten—they were still holding hands like idiots.
“Have you…” Serena whispered as she gazed outside her window. “Have you thought about what would happen if…you know…we don’t…”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, looking at the back of her head, wondering what she was thinking, feeling. Was she fine now, or was she simply pretending?
“How can I not worry?” She forced out a dry laugh. “Bernard…He…”
“We’ll make it, Serena,” he said in vain hope.
She turned her gaze back to him. “But how can you be sure?”
“Because we will.”
Serena stared him in the eye, holding his gaze, searching for the source of his confidence. They let the seconds pass as time slowed to a stop, and the moment seemed to stretch forever.
Until a crash erupted from outside, rocking the entire truck.