Part 45

"You can see me!?"

The boy stared at David for another moment, then shook his head slowly. It was not an answer to David's question.

"You don't know my name yet, do you?"

"No! Nobody's said it! But you have to go now; you have to hide somewhere else! They'll find you here!"

"It's too late..."

A sound came from the front of the barn. The door had been slightly ajar when David arrived, and he'd opened it just a bit more when he'd slipped in. Now someone there was someone else outside. David could see dark shapes through the opening.

A hand reached in and grasped the edge of the door.

"You're running out of time," The boy sighed. "And our time is already ended."

"But-"

The boy turned away and faced the barn door. He listened and then began to back away...

"Hey!" David called, heedless of the volume of his words. He reached out to grab the boy, but his hand went through the ghostly image. The brief contact sparked a series of chills along David's hand and arm, but the ghost didn't respond.

"I know you can hear me! Hey! HEY!"

Suddenly the door flew open, and the darkness beyond spat out two shapes... inhuman things bearing the distorted faces of David's father and Fenton Barney.

"THERE!" Lowell Vern's voice was a bestial shriek. Fenton trotted behind him as Lowell rushed into the barn..

The boy... the boy who's name David still didn't know... charged the monstrous pair.
It only took a handful of steps for the boy to reach them.

"YOU CAN'T TAKE HER!" The boy screamed. "YOU CAN'T HURT HER, I WON'T LET YOU! I WON'T-"

CRACK!

Lowell Vern's clawed hand swung out in an almost casual blow. David recoiled from the crack of the impact as if he'd been struck himself. The boy half stumbled, half flew sideways across the barn, tumbling into the deep shadows by the wall.

The girl at the rear of the barn screamed. David turned. So did Fenton. Angela had given away her hiding place, and Fenton descended on her while her scream still cut the air.

"No!" David stepped into the monster's path. "STOP!"

A curtain of ice draped across him for a moment... and then Fenton was behind him, wrapping one gnarled hand around the girl's throat. David spun, reaching for Fenton's arm but catching nothing but cold air.

"This one should learn to be a little quieter!" Fenton sneered at the girl. "Wouldn't you say so, L- LOOK OUT!"

David turned just in time to see the unnamed boy sprint out of the shadows where he'd fallen. The boy had an almost clear path to the door, but that wasn't where he was going. Small hands clutched the shaft of a pitchfork as the boy charged Lowell Vern, aiming the weapon at Vern's abdomen.