The Jersey Devil (24 page)

“Daryl, just let go already!” Ben shouted, leaping over a crumbling log.

His brother kept tugging at the Devil's leg. He wasn't a small guy, and it was doing the trick of keeping the creature from flying away—at least for now. The last thing Ben wanted was to watch his brother get taken away again. The odds of finding him amid over one million acres a second time were too infinitesimal to even consider.

“Just kill the damn thing, bro!” Daryl barked.

“I can't!”

Any shot he took carried the risk of hitting his brother. The Devil jerked in the air, up and down, left and right. It was impossible to get a bead on it.

“If you let it go, I can try!” Ben barked.

“If I let go it'll get away!”

Daryl's body smashed into a tree. He and the Devil spun in a crazy circle. Still, he held on. Ben was about to yell at him again that this wasn't a fucking rodeo when he watched his brother's body sail free, tumbling through the brush and out of sight.

To his relief, it didn't turn to have a go at Daryl. It knew it had to get away, fast.

He squeezed the trigger—once, twice, again and again. The Jersey Devil swooped between the trees. Ben watched as bits of bark filled the air like snowflakes. The creature was fast, almost impossibly agile, as if it knew where each bullet was going to be a split second before it arrived.

It was just like back at the cemetery. His military career was chock full of commendations for his marksmanship. Even on a bad day, he could shoot out the eye of a passing pigeon. This creature was almost as big as a man, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even wing the damned thing.

A pair of blasts behind him had Ben ducking.

His grandfather, Norm and Leeds had arrived, out of breath and trigger-happy. Their shots didn't even come close—and it was getting away, sailing up farther and farther toward the canopy.

Ben ran to get closer. Maybe, if it was concentrating on getting so far overhead they couldn't see it, much less shoot at it, the Devil wouldn't expect him to get right underneath it and send a parting gift its way.

Something snagged his foot and he skidded to one knee.

“Son of a—”

He looked up.

The tail end of the Devil was still visible, the wide, leathery wings pushing hard, reaching for the blue sky and freedom.

Only one chance left.

Using pure instinct, he swung the AR-15 upwards and fired. There was no time to line up a shot. He was at the mercy of blind luck.

He almost shouted in triumph when he heard the Jersey Devil's pained screech. It pulled one wing to its side for a moment, slowing down its retreat.

He'd hit it! But where? Was it the wing, or the beast's side?

No matter, it was wounded.

Before he could take another shot, it broke through the canopy, turning sharply to the east and out of sight.

Someone groaned to his right. There was a rustling of leaves, and Daryl stood up, holding his head with both hands.

“I think you winged it,” Daryl said.

“I hope I did more than that,” Ben said. “I hope the fucker is bleeding out right now.”

“You're starting to sound like April.”

Daryl made a pained smile. He wobbled a bit, his knees threatening to buckle. Ben rushed to hold his brother up. “You break anything?”

“Maybe a rib or two. If they weren't before I took that fall, they are now. Other than that, I'm fine.”

Slipping his arm around Daryl's waist, he said, “Just lean into me.”

When he saw the relief in Boompa's eyes, he almost smiled. Their grandfather dropped his rifle and ran, clutching them in a tight embrace.

“I thought we'd lost you,” he said, his voice shaking, on the verge of tears. Ben had always considered Boompa someone who was larger than life, both in size and personality. He'd never seen him cry, not even at his grandmother's funeral.

Daryl adjusted his Mets cap. “It's more like I lost all of you. I don't even know where the hell I am right now.”

“It took you back to its home,” Ben said. “We're at Leeds Point.”

Daryl's eyebrows rose. “I know exactly where it hides out. There's an old foundation back there. I think it dug under it and stays there. It . . . they have other places, too.” He looked at Gordon Leeds. “Who's this guy? And where are Mom and Dad?”

Boompa said, “This here is Gordon Leeds. And before you ask, he is a descendant. That foundation is all that's left of the real Leeds homestead.”

Leeds said, “You say that it's tunneled its way under there?”

Daryl nodded.

Leeds scratched at his head, pondering.

“And there's a woman down there, too. I think she's been living with the Devil for some time. She keeps calling the smaller ones her babies. You don't think it's possible, do you?”

Norm cut in. “No, it can't be. Interspecies p-procreation isn't possible.”

“I told you, despite appearances, that damn Devil is not an animal,” Leeds said. He looked to Ben. “Now you know why we call it a
he
. And it looks like he's been very busy. I hope that woman is still there.”

Daryl winced with pain when he said, “There's a good chance she's run off. If she hadn't spoken to me, I'd have sworn she'd gone full-tilt feral. She's strong as hell, too, for someone that looks like they've skipped a year's worth of meals.”

“Was she that naked woman back there?” Boompa asked.

“No, a different naked woman. She got shoved into the foundation by the Devil. She could still be down there.”

Ben shifted his body to take on more of Daryl's weight as they walked. Now there was another woman involved? And the monster had been able to mate with her? But no one woman could give birth to so many of those things.

Unless there were others.

April learned that the two women were Heather and Daniela. She gave her shirt to Daniela. It was just long enough to cover her privates, but it was better than the nothing she had.

“But what about you?” Daniela asked, her voice sounding far away, circling out where April was sure her mind had flown.

“Don't you worry about me. It's summer. I'd be in my bikini now anyway.”

Heather filled April in on everything that had happened to them—from their boyfriends being slaughtered in front of them all the way to the Jersey Devil trying to have its way with Daniela. No wonder her friend had checked out. The words poured out in a torrent. She rarely stopped to even take a breath. April waited for Heather to break down at several points. She could hear the hitch in her voice, see the film of tears, but Heather never stopped. It was as if she knew something terrible was moments away from befalling them, and this was her only chance to tell their story before the shit hit the fan.

That feeling may be right
, April thought.

She didn't have the sense that any of those things were around, but she was no expert.

“There's another woman,” Heather said. April tried to take Daniela's hand, but the dazed woman walked in circles around the sunken foundation.

“Was she with you, too?”

“No.”

“She's down there,” Daniela said, pointing.

April ran to the edge of the deep depression. A woman lay on her back, her body streaked with grime and bruises. Her eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling in irregular spasms. She was naked, too.

Sighing, April said, “I'm running out of clothes.” She turned to Heather. “You think you could haul her up if I bring her over to you?”

Heather kept glancing at the sky. Waiting.

“Yeah, I can do it.”

Looking to Daniela, who now sat cross-legged, watching them, April wondered if a small slap to the face would snap her out of it. The woman in the hole would be deadweight. Heather looked ready to collapse. If she couldn't grab hold of the woman and pull her out, April was going to buckle under her weight.

“You can't always get what you want,” she murmured.

“What?” Heather asked.

Waving her off, April said, “Nothing.”

Her father's face flashed briefly in her mind, but she quickly shut it out. If she lingered, she'd break apart. She had to hold herself together.

The woman stunk like she hadn't bathed in years. Judging by her appearance, that most likely wasn't far off. A bright red gash on her forehead trickled blood into her hairline.

“Hey,” April said, bending close to her face. “Can you hear me?” She brushed the woman's cheek with the back of her hand.

“Is she okay?” Heather said.

“I think even if she wasn't unconscious, I wouldn't exactly say she was okay.”

What had happened to her? How did she get like this? And how was she connected with the Devil?

April elevated the woman's head, tapping her cheek. The wound on her head was pebbled with dirt.

“April!”

It was Daryl!

Gently laying the woman back down, April ran to where Heather was perched.

“I'm down here!”

Daryl and Ben's heads poked into view. Her older brother looked tense enough to turn to stone.

“Hey there, Hag,” Daryl said with a lopsided grin.

April's face brightened. “Welcome back, schmuck. Where's Boompa?”

“We're all okay,” Daryl said. “Big brother here clipped the fucker.”

“But it still got away,” Ben said, his jaws flexing.

Daryl's eyes went as big and round as baseballs. He shouted, “Jane!”

Before April could turn around, a pair of hands wrapped around her throat. She was thrown off her feet, struggling for air.

* * *

Norm ruminated on everything that he had seen and done over the past two days, wondering what the hell had possessed him to follow the Willet family to the brink of hell. Then he remembered those creatures in the cooler and the frenzy that would follow when he unveiled them to a world that had lost its sense of wonder. He was contemplating the potential windfall that would come his way when he heard the screams.

Sam Willet and Gordon Leeds were tending to the stunned girl staring off into nowhere. Well, not nowhere. Norm was sure she'd never be able to close her eyes without seeing the Jersey Devil.

He ran to the old foundation where the Willet boys and another woman were shouting. April was in the clutches of some wild woman.

Without a second thought, he leapt into the pit.

The events of the day had ceased to surprise him. Now he was simply torqued off that everywhere they turned, something or someone was out to get them.

“Let her go!” he shouted at the woman. Her eyes narrowed into hawk's slits. Her hands tightened on April's throat.

There were two heavy thuds behind him, presumably Daryl and Ben entering the fray.

Norm saw the filthy woman with the crazy eyes was out to lunch, orbiting a planet galaxies away from the one sitting topside. There was no point trying to persuade her to let April go. He was on her in several quick strides. Grabbing her wrists, he exerted all the pressure he could, feeling her bones grinding on one another. She gasped, letting April go. Daryl was there to catch his sister before she could fall and hit her head. Ben came up behind the wild woman, wrapping her up in a sleeper hold. She struggled against him, but it was no use. He had her in an iron grip. The veins on his forearms popped out, angry vines delivering more strength to taxed muscles.

When her eyes rolled up in her head, Norm said, “Ease up. You'll kill her.”

Ben didn't look at him, nor did he let the woman go.

“Stop it! She can't breathe!”

“That's the idea!” he snapped.

The woman started to go limp. Her eyelids fluttered and closed. “She's out. She's out.”

“Enough already,” April said, massaging her throat. Her voice snapped him out of his angry fugue. He let go, allowing the woman to slump to the ground in a boneless heap.

“That's the woman I was talking about,” Daryl said. “Her name is Jane. She's the one the Jersey Devil's been doing stuff to. She asked me for help before when she had one of her lucid moments. I think she's gone schizo or something.”

Ben walked away from Jane's body. He stood behind his sister.

“Everybody all right?” Boompa asked from above.

“We're f-fine,” Norm said. “We just need to get out of this h-hole.”

With everyone helping, they made quick work of getting Jane out. Boompa covered her in his flannel shirt.

Daryl was trying to wake her up when Gordon Leeds said to his grandfather, “Why didn't you tell me about that?”

“How was I to know there was a woman out here?” the elderly Willet said.

“I don't mean her,” Leeds said. He gestured toward Daryl. “I mean him. And her. Those marks.”

Norm tensed. The woman had the same red hoofprint mark on her side as the Willets.

“I needed you to take us here. I didn't have time to recount my family's history,” Sam said.

“If you'd told me, things could have been different,” Leeds said, shaking his head.

Sam squared his shoulders. “How so?”

Leeds, refusing to be intimidated, replied, “I would have told you to stay the hell away from here! If you'd have listened to common sense, you all could have avoided a world of trouble.”

Ben got close to the man. “And I may have shot you someplace non-vital to convince you otherwise.”

“Common sense?” April huffed. “There is no common sense out here.” She had finger marks around her neck. She turned so Leeds could see her own mark. “You telling me you know what this means?”

Leeds broke her icy gaze. His hands gripped his rifle tighter. Norm could see his knuckles whiten. “You all should never have come to the Pine Barrens. Never.”

“We didn't have a choice!” Sam roared, startling everyone. “You have no idea what it did to my wife! Not just that day it took her, but every day after. And to see that same thing on our son, then our grandchildren. It broke her. The rotten branch on your family tree broke her. She died afraid. We're here to put her soul at rest. And to make sure it stops now.”

Gordon Leeds slowly backed away.

“Take me home. Now. I showed you our place. You took your best shot. Take me home and leave New Jersey and never look back. You hear?”

“Not until you tell us what this means,” Daryl said.

The old man raised his gun, pointing it at Daryl. “I said take me home!”

Norm didn't see how Ben had gotten behind the man, pressing the barrel of the AR-15 into Leeds's ear. “You have two seconds before I turn your head to cherry Kool-Aid. One.”

Leeds dropped his gun. He lowered his head in resignation.

Everyone was too personally involved in this. Norm knew he had to step forward to try to make sense of everything.

“Look,” he said, “I don't think you'll find a group of people with a greater working knowledge of the Jersey Devil than wh-what we have here. For myself, I've never come a-across any part of the legend that mentions a Devil's mark.”

“You ever see a
legend
do what you just saw, Mr. Cranston?” Leeds said. “Your legend and my family's truth are entirely separate things.”

Sam Willet grabbed Leeds by the arm. “So what the hell is your family's truth, Mr. Leeds?”

Leeds jerked his arm away. “If I knew your family had the mark, I'd have never taken you here, even with your guns pointed at me.”

A cold realization hit Norm. He said, “You've been protecting it. Despite everything that's been going on around the Barrens, and I don't for a m-minute believe you're ignorant of the killings, you p-protected it. That's why you're an outcast in your own family. Without those marks, the odds of us ever coming across the Jersey Devil out here would have been sl-slim to none. No harm, no foul. But I've seen what happens. It's dr-drawn to them. How does it work? How can it pass it on to others?”

When Leeds didn't answer, Ben put the rifle to his chest.

Drawing a deep breath, Leeds said, “I've never seen the mark myself, but stories of other people with it have been passed down in my family for generations. The last time we heard about it was back in 1907. A woman was found wandering in the woods. She was catatonic. No clothes, no way to identify her. They said she had a bright birthmark on her side in the shape of a hoof. When the doctors examined her, they were shocked she was even alive. They assumed the mark came from a fall. She'd been tore up bad inside. She died a week after they took her in. Never once spoke a word. No one thought much about it at the time.

“Two years later, you all know that Jersey Devil sightings hit an all-time high. Folks saw it all the way from Jersey to Pennsylvania—sometimes being spotted in two distant places at the same time. That's when my family realized what had happened to that woman. She'd bore his offspring. The mark was his brand, in case he'd need her again. You see, in his eyes, the women are breeders, and any human male child that comes from her has the potential of giving birth to a new breeder. The mark is a way for him to find his kin when he or she is near. Only certain parts of my family even know about the mark. Until your family, the mark hasn't been properly passed down because the women either kill themselves or die. And whatever child they bear, well, they're not exactly like you or I. You see, every hundred years or so, he mates. But the children that come out, the devil children, they have to be put down. They're wild, untamed, a danger to everyone in the Pines.”

Norm said, “And if they draw too much attention, they become a danger to
him
.”

Leeds shook his head, looking to Sam. “Your wife must have been a hell of a strong woman. I don't expect you all to understand. He never harmed anyone.”

“Except the women it's taken,” Sam said, his anger near the boiling point. His face was red as a fire hydrant, his hands balled into fists. Norm had a feeling Gordon Leeds wasn't going to make it home.

Leeds continued, “My grandfather, father and uncles waited right here in 1909 for the children to return. They always come back. It's said there were two of them that time. They were shot down right quick, and burned on a pyre. That's what we do! We take care of our own, and the Barrens.”

“And that's what we're doing—taking care of our own,” Sam grumbled. “My family isn't cattle, or breeders.”

Sam strode over and punched Leeds in the gut, folding him in half.

April stared hard at the man as he struggled for breath. “My grandmother may not have had one of its devil children, but we're here to sever the bloodline, just the same.”

“That's not entirely true,” Sam Willet said.

He looked to his grandkids, his eyes sparkling with tears.

“Your grandmother did,” he said. “It died, stillborn. The doctors said if it had lived, it would have been severely deformed. They couldn't make heads or tails what was wrong with it. This was a long time ago. The body was incinerated, written off as a cruel twist of fate for a young couple. But your grandmother and I, we knew. We had to hide our joy that the child was dead. For a while, we actually thought we'd been saved.”