Chapter 10: Chapter 10

burning outside on the off-chance it would keep the otherworldly predator at bay. We didn’t have any kind of evidence to support that theory, but it was a hope, and it was all we had. Another run-in with it was guaranteed to be just as devastating as the others were.

Macie lay in the bedroom. We kept the door closed to limit any noise from the rest of the cabin. She didn’t wake up while we cauterized her leg, and I couldn’t have been happier about that. However, I knew that once she did wake up, she would be in an excruciating amount of pain. Our first aid kit only supplied us with a small bottle of ibuprofen, instant cold packs, hydrocortisone cream and hand sanitizer. None of that would scratch the surface of what Macie was bound to wake up to.

Kevin sat across from me at the kitchen table. Wes sat quietly on the couch. He had barely said a word since regaining consciousness, and remained drowsy and mournful. Kevin and Wes seemed to have swapped identities once the terror started. Wes, someone who was always first up to bat, had taken a backseat. Kevin, the more reserved, non-confrontational one, had stepped up to the plate instead. It’s amazing how tragedy and unconventional events unravel someone’s true self. Some rise to the occasion, some slink away. In this scenario, I understood and respected both of my son’s actions.

After sitting in silence for the better part of an hour, trying to wrap our heads around everything that had happened and everything we still had to overcome, Kevin’s whisper was the first to pierce the tense atmosphere inside the cabin:

“Where do you think it comes from?”

I quietly cleared my throat and leaned my elbows on the table. “Space,” I said. “That’s the only possible answer.”

The look on Kevin’s face was one of astonishment and anxious intrigue. Fear was there too, but now that he had time to process what was happening, new, curious thoughts plagued his mind.

“I never imagined in a million years that we would be alive to see this kind of event,” he whispered, almost hauntingly. “This is unbelievable. I can’t—I can’t believe this is real.”

I sat back in my chair, letting Kevin’s last three words, “

, replay in my head. I was right there with him. I couldn’t believe it either. But the fact that my wife was laying in the next room, suffering, was undoubtedly real. My stomach turned every time I thought about her waking up to see one of her legs gone. She didn’t know that it was now nothing more than a pulpy, green glob outside in the dirt; a meal for the otherworldly terror that was getting colder by the minute.

“If we’re trapped in this invisible cell,” Wes’ voice cracked from the couch, “how do we get out?”

I didn’t have an answer for that, and Kevin’s silence seemed to say the same for him.

Wes stood up. “How do we get out?” he repeated, more anxious this time. “Are you guys sure we can’t just force our way through that …

?”

“The pressure was too much, Wes,” Kevin said. “We couldn’t move.”

“What about that guy on the other side, then?” Wes asked. “Is there any way to communicate with him? Or get to him? Maybe he’ll be able to help.”

“There’s no way,” I said, dejected that I couldn’t supply my son with hope of any kind. “We couldn’t hear, we couldn’t move.”

Wes just stood there, a blank, emotionless look on his face. Slowly, he sat back down on the couch, spirits crushed.

“Our only option now is to hang on as long as we can,” I said, “and hope that this whole thing either ends, or help comes from outside the border. This kind of thing can’t happen without it being detected by the military or government.”

Wes turned to face us, a glimmer of hope returning in his look. “So, the military could already be on top of this? Help might actually be coming?”

I nodded. It was plausible that the military was aware and managing the situation. But, it was also just as plausible that they had no idea, or were also trapped within the grid. The invasion could have been more precise than we realized, more widespread. Maybe it wasn’t just local to Timber Acres Camp Resort; what if it was endless. My heart began to palpate faster as thoughts of the possible severity of the situation crept in.

“If we can’t escape, then we have to kill that thing. Everything dies. Why would be any different?” Kevin said.

I remembered shooting it back in the woods and in the camper; the shotgun blasts had effect. Its mossy formation wasn’t just unbothered, it regenerated almost immediately. Not a squeal or scream; not a single indication of pain. It either didn’t feel pain, nor did the form it had taken—coarse, lewd and sheltered within our own planet’s natural elements.

“I shot it twice—

. We need to figure out its weakness. Otherwise, we don’t stand a chance,” I said.

Wes stood up again and walked to the window that looked out front.

“Where did it go?” he asked.

I stood up and joined his side, placing a comforting arm on his shoulder. I looked out the window as well. The fire continued to burn in the center of the camp. I looked to the dark spot in the dirt where Natalie Saunders was eaten; where the creature had sunk into the earth.

“I don’t know where it went,” I admitted, once again sorrowful that I couldn’t supply an answer. “Whatever fell from the sky, adapted in using nature to thrive and hide. It’s using nature as its host.”

“It has to be some kind of parasite, or spore,” Kevin said, joining us at the window. As the three of us looked out at the silent campground, I realized that maybe, just , our plan worked, and the fire had indeed kept the monster away.

A painful cry shattered the world around us. Macie was waking up. We rushed into the bedroom. Macie was awake, thrashing and panicking. Her screams were loud and dreadful.

“Where’s my leg!” she screamed. “Oh God!”

“

!” I motioned, dropping to her side. I understood her pain and confusion, but we couldn’t afford for her screams to lure the creature out of hiding.

I put one hand on her forehead and the other over her mouth. Her eyes widened, confused. “

!” I urgently expressed again. “Macie, calm down.”

“It hurts so bad!” she shrieked, muffled under my hand. I pulled that hand away and focused on her forehead. She was burning up, sweating and pale. She needed medicine, and not just the ibuprofen in the first aid kit.

She jerked the amputated leg, trying to move it, and pain shot through her body. She winced and then let out another brutal scream.

“It hurts!” she pleaded, looking to me for help. I didn’t know what to do. Kevin and Wes were at her side as well, continuously trying to calm and quiet her.

“She needs help!” Kevin shouted. “She needs something to stop the pain.”

“Oxycodone,” I uttered, remembering Duke’s post-surgery compulsion—Oxycodone and Netflix.

, he had said.

“I think Duke has Oxycodone at his camp,” I said, standing to my feet. It was going to be a lot stronger than what the ibuprofen would be able to help Macie with.

“I’ll go get it,” Kevin said, standing up.

“

!” I said. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you out there. I’ll find it. Keep your mom comfortable and quiet. Get her a cold rag, more blankets and pillows—anything to keep her from losing consciousness again.”

“Dad?” Wes said, tears forming in his eyes.

“I’ll be fine. I promise. I love you guys.”

I grabbed the shotgun from the floor and made my way out of the cabin.