Rob stood there in a trance as his body tensed up in preparation for attack, he was looking around before landing on me and then on the still melting Stacy/Boneclaw. With a rumbling roar that sent a shiver down my spine he launched towards Stacy, his hand then was covered in a thick mana that seemed to sharpen and turn in to an edge just before he slashed across her chest and like butter her bones were sliced in half and fell to the ground.

  What was terrifying wasn’t the fact of how crazy Rob looked right now, granted that was pretty scary, but it was the fact that even now Stacy was still alive… But she stopped screaming in pain and just laid there on the ground muttering something. I tried to lean closer to hear it clearer but before I could, Rob stomped down with his foot and crushed her skull. With a crunch under his foot he roared into the sky in triumph then turned towards me and walked. I started to back away but found myself ending up backing into a wall as Rob walked right up to me and glared down into my eyes.

  “Thanks for waking me up boy.” He smiled as he patted my head and the whole atmosphere of deadly disappeared like this man didn’t just crush the skull of one of his pupils like it was nothing.

  “W-W-W….” I couldn’t speak as my brain was still processing whether this guy was a threat or not.

  “It had to be done, Once a Boneclaw takes root in someone’s body… That’s it, nobody, even the highest-ranking priest types have been able to save someone and bring them back from this.” He looked sad for a moment but soon shook it off as he turned and walked back to the circle of people.

  “We have to make sure that the Boneclaw didn’t infect any of the others, they have the ability to turn your fear against you and paralyze you with it while they slowly take over your body, That smile you saw Stacy and Kyle had was one of the signs that they had been possessed for a while now, how long? I can’t say for certain, but at least a couple of days for sure.” He started patting the sleeping people but they wouldn’t wake up at all. I walked over with Boney and had him start the process of bringing these people back to reality. I still don’t know exactly what he was doing but as long as it worked now, I could always figure it out later.

  While Boney was helping Rob with the survivors, I walked over to where the remains of Stacy was. “I’m sorry Stacy, If I had only been stronger…” I didn’t really know her long but knowing that she was possessed this whole time… Was she experiencing the same things I did while under the fear effect this whole time? Just so many things about this is confusing and to be honest I’m getting a little tired.

  ‘Master, it will be ok. We are beside you forever.’ Rhonda said as she nuzzled my side.

  “Haha, thanks Rhonda, it was just a little scary to deal with, but I’ll be ok. Let’s go back and see how Boney is holding up.” She nodded and we both walked back, along the way I spotted Hailee sitting off to the side and she seemed to be in a daze so I walked over to her and sat down.

  “Hey, you ok?”

  “Have you looked around lately? Does it look like anyone is ok?” She said with a ‘Are you a dumbass?’ look on her face. I didn’t hold it against her as I chuckled and scratched the back of my head.

  “Yea, I guess your right about that… I’m sorry about Stacy. From what Rob… I mean from what Master said, it couldn’t have been more than a couple days since she was possessed.”

  She started crying a little and asked me to leave her alone.

  “You’re not really empathetic are ya kid?” Rob said as I walked up to him sitting on a chair overlooking the now sitting up and dazed survivors. Kelly was sitting nearby but she was looking worse than the rest and I could only imagine the things that creature showed her…

  “I am plenty empathetic if you must know, I just am not that good with strangers… But more importantly, are we sure that everyone is not possessed? I mean Kyle was at first but then he wasn’t anymore, then Stacy goes full beast mode and actually turns into a Boneclaw, How is that possible?”

  Rob sighed as he wiped some sweat from his face. “Boneclaws are more of an virus than a possession, they first get contracted from some idiot messing around with the undead, usually a peer pressured teenager or sometimes even a beginner Necromancer, then the Boneclaw will take hold and consume the host form the inside and once fully consumed, will then try to pass its ‘infection’ to someone else. I’m guessing that Kyle was the newest target and Stacy was the original host, but you intervened and forced the Boneclaw to return to her body.”

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  “So she’s been dead this whole time? Every interaction was with the Boneclaw and not really Stacy?”

  “That we don’t know, it could have been her and the monster was just biding it’s time, or the thing had all of her memories and could impersonate her perfectly. All I know is that every time we try to learn more about these damn things, someone gets infected and usually ends up dead.”

  The more he told me about these things, the more questions I was wondering about. If he said that it was a couple days atleast for Kyle and Stacy, then why was Kyle freed but not Stacy? Was Stacy really the original Host and actually died when Boney hit her with that weird acid miasma attack of his? I asked Rob all these questions and we sat there pondering for a bit before Kelly spoke up.

  “I don’t really know about any of this, but I do know that there are a lot of people here that could use a nice bed to sleep in and a warm meal, I think it would be best if you all head back to base while I clean up around here.” Her eyes still seemed a bit distant and still pouring down tears.

  “Jimmy, why don’t you stay behind, if that’s ok with you Rob. I need to talk to the boy about something important.” She then headed inside her house and we all heard as the door locked. I turned to Rob with a questioning look.

  “Don’t look at me boy, I have no clue, but I do think it would be best if you stay here with her and help out. I think we overstayed our welcome quite a bit… EVERYONE, LOAD UP WE ARE HEADING BACK HOME. SOMEONE GET THE BODY LOADED UP SO WE CAN TAKE IT WITH US!” He got everyone moving as fast as they could and within an hour I watched as they drove back down the road.

  Sighing I walked up to the door of the house and knocked. “They are gone Kelly! Can I come in now?” A minute goes by before the door unlocks, and Kelly opens up.

  “Thanks for staying Jimmy, Come in.”

  She left the door open and went to sit down at the table with a cup of tea. I sat down and stayed quiet as she looked through a picture book, it was filled with pictures of her and Alex and their journey in this world. The picture of their first day as Gifted, the first day through the portal while Alex was seen in the background puking his guts up. A picture of the first time they witnessed a wild Kweh and the look of pure joy and excitement on Alex’s face. She laughed while flipping through the memories, when she got to the end she pulled out another picture that she had and placed it in the final spot of the album… It was a picture of the 3 of us, Me, Alex, and Kelly. Rhonda and Bobba and Bjornson were in the picture aswell and we were all smiling into the camera.

  “I remember that day, Rhonda and Bobba were kicking up a fuss and made a huge mess of the coop, me and Alex had to fix giant foot sized holes all the while Bjornson was squawking at the two like children getting scolded.” I chuckled as the memory resurfaced.

  “Yup it was a good time…” She sniffled and closed the book.

  “I’m leaving Jimmy, and I want you to have the farm.” She looked at me with those teary eyes but there was seriousness in them now.

  “B-But why? Why me? Why are you leaving? Where are you going?” I stuttered out but she just held her hand up.

  “This place is too painful for me now. Every day I wake up and over in bed hoping that Alex will still be there, I can hear his laugh every time the wind blows, every time one of the Kwehs do something stupid I can hear him cussing up a storm before laughing and making sure the dumb thing is ok.” She broke down and cried for a few minutes before speaking again.

  “When that Boneclaw paralyzed me in fear, it showed me the night Alex died, it repeated that same night for I don’t know how long… Then it replayed the days afterward where he was just gone like he never existed. That was the worst part, and still is…”

  “Kelly I’m…..”

  “So I made a pact with it.” She wiped her eyes and looked at me.

  “What? What did you just say?” I jumped up out of the chair and backed away.

  “I made a pact with the Boneclaw, it will let me stay with Alex as long as it can have my body. But since I can’t put your life at risk, I decided to wonder off into the wilderness before letting it take over.”

  “But it didn’t kill Alex Kelly! Jack did! The damn thing can’t bring him back!”

  “I know that, but it can let me die inside my memories with him, and that is way better than living without him… I’m sorry Jimmy, I know you didn’t want this… But I’m weak, I can’t do this anymore. I wrote a letter for Rob that explains why I did what I did, I need you to go and deliver it to him ok? When you come back I will be long gone.” She handed me a letter and an envelope with money in it.

  “What’s the money for?”

  “It’s for my bounty.”

  “What bounty? Kelly what is going on? There has to be something we can do to fix this!?” I was starting to tear up now and was getting hysterical but she calmly came and wrapped me in a hug.

  “It’s ok Jimmy, It’s all going to be ok. Did I tell you how Alex and me started to think of you as our son? It just happened one day, we both looked outside one day, saw you working and laughing with Rhonda and something in our hearts just clicked. We talked about it and decided that if anything were to happen to us, we wanted you to be the one to take over the farm.”

  I stuttered more and my breathing hitched as I started to cry a little.

  “Shoooo, It’s ok honey.” She whispered why rubbing my head, I felt like a little kid again as I cried into her shoulder. I didn’t want her to go, I didn’t want her to be taken away by this thing dammit!

  “This is my choice, You’ll be just fine. You’ll have a lot to do when you get back so you’d better scoot ok?” She held me away from her and smiled at me. “Thank you Jimmy, it’s because of you that me and Alex were able to feel something that we never even knew existed.”

  She let me go as she walked to the door and picked up a small backpack and we walked outside, and she turned to me for the last time. “Good bye Jimmy. Good luck.” She walked away and off into the woods.