Old Bones: A Collection of Short Stories Read Online Free PDF Page B

stopped.
    Lenny looked down the hill and saw that three
of the seven dogs had vanished, which included the Rottweiler.
    “It isn’t snow I’d worry about,” he said,
seconds before vicious barking came from the driveway.
    “They’re after me,” Dave yelled as he ran
from around the side of the barn and headed toward them. “Get in
the tents. Hurry.”
    In a puff of red smoke, the Rottweiler
appeared in front of Dave, blocking the way.
    Dave skidded to a stop and stared wildly at
the dog. Then he bolted to his right and vanished into the field
and darkness there.
    Two hounds glowing green raced into view from
around the side of the barn and charged after him.
    The Rottweiler followed, almost flying across
the ground as it too vanished in the dark.
    “They’re heading toward Widow’s Ravine,”
Lenny said. “We have to help—”
    Just then, horrible howls from below the hill
filled the air. Amy and Vree screamed as they stared down the
hillside. The remaining dogs charged the hill.
    “They’re real,” Amy said before she tore past
Lenny, the blanket dropping to the ground. Vree followed, close at
her heels.
    Lenny looked once more at the hellish ghost
dogs coming at him before he raced after the girls heading to Mr.
Evans’s house, which was lit up inside and looked so safe and
inviting.
    “But what about Dave?” he called out.
    The girls kept running, but he stopped. His
best friend was being chased to a dangerous place with sinkholes
and cliffs. He turned and hurried after Dave as the remaining
hellhounds crested the hill and raced after him.
    He plowed blindly into brambles and thorny
weeds that slapped and poked and grabbed him, scratched his face
and hands, and scarred his clothes and shoes.
    The hellhounds closed their distance quickly.
His drumming heart climbed into his throat when he realized he
couldn’t outrun them. Still, he shielded his face with his arms as
he pushed on.
    The dangerous terrain looked foreign in the
low-lit night, yet he followed the sound of the hellhounds ahead of
him and thought only of Dave’s safety.
    His inhales and exhales sounded like whimpers
and moans when moonlight broke through the clouds and he burst
through the confining brambles at a clearing atop a steep cliff of
Myers Ridge.
    Dave was there, at the edge but safe for the
moment, doubled over and breathing hard. The hellhounds that had
followed him had their heads lowered and their rear ends in the air
like wolves that had just pinned their prey.
    Lenny hurried and kicked at the Rottweiler’s
backside, hoping to punt it over the cliff. Instead, his foot went
through the apparition and he landed on his backside.
    Quick to get up, he hurried to Dave’s side as
the rest of the pack caught up and formed a line, boxing him and
Dave at the edge of the cliff. The hellhounds glared with red eyes
and growled with slobbering mouths. One of the hellhounds howled
and Lenny lashed out at it, this time with words.
    “Leave us alone.”
    The Rottweiler growled and leaped at him. Its
forepaws struck his chest and sent him stumbling backwards, his
arms flailing. For a moment, it seemed that he had stabled his
balance. Then the evil apparition barked sharply at him from where
it had landed. Lenny flinched, lost his footing, and stumbled over
the precipice of Widows Ravine.
    He plummeted on his back one hundred feet
through icy air to the icier waters of Myers Creek. When he entered
the T of the tributary and creek, his aching throat released a yelp
of surprise as the water enveloped him like a brutal winter
blast.
    He remembered then that he did not know how
to swim.
    He sank quickly into darkness until his
backside struck the rocky creek bottom. He rested there a moment,
dazed. Then he pushed off and struggled toward a sliver of
moonlight barely rippling on the water’s surface far above him. His
arms and legs felt encumbered by his heavy clothes. Worse, his
lungs ached to release the little breath he held. He fought