Chapter 29

Delilah lay face-down on the floor, her clothing ripped and torn — discarded in a pile next to her body. A pool of blood had spread out around her head, forming a sticky and congealed halo. Adam reached out with a trembling hand, his heart hammering so fast in his chest that he could barely make out the individual beats. He felt numb, his arm seemed to be moving through molasses as he reached for Delilah.

Adam gingerly took hold of Delilah’s shoulder. Her skin felt cool. Clammy. Adam tightened his fingers on Delilah’s shoulder, thinking to shake her to get a response. Before he could, Holly slapped his hand away from the prone woman.

“Adam! Don’t shake her! Oh, fuck — I don’t know if ... Delilah?”

Holly crouched by Delilah, heedless of the sticky blood under her knees. The brunette placed a gentle hand between her shoulder blades, bending down so she could listen.

“Adam, she isn’t — wait.”

Holly licked her lips, then glanced up at Adam.

“No, she — she’s breathing!”

Adam could hear it now too. Delilah was breathing in — a wet, wheezy and gasping sound. It was shallow though, her body barely moved as she breathed.

“Adam, put your hand here — don’t move her, just support her while I roll her over.”

Holly took charge, directing Adam on what to do. The brunette muttered to herself worriedly, assessing Delilah’s condition. With Adam’s help, she supported the injured woman’s neck as she carefully rolled her onto her side. Holly moved one of Delilah’s legs, drawing it up closer to her body, and arranged her arms into what Adam vaguely recognised as the recovery position.

Holly hissed in a sharp breath as Delilah’s face was revealed.

“Oh, shit — her poor face...”

Delilah’s face was battered and mangled. Her eyes were closed, but one was puffed up and swollen so much that Adam doubted she would be able to open it. Her bottom lip was split — although it was hard to tell with the thick layer of blood on her face. Every time that Delilah exhaled, small bubbles of red formed at the corners of her mouth.

Adam clenched his fists.

“How — how bad is she?”

“Fuck, Adam, I don’t know! Her face ... I think her nose might be broken. She’s breathing, but I don’t know how bad everything is. Or how long she’s been laying there! We need to get help. To call an ambulance.”

“Can we move her?”

Holly shook her head.

“No. I only rolled her over because I was worried she might choke. Does she have any blankets or something? We should cover her up.”

Adam got up and grabbed a thin blanket off of the sofa. He handed it to Holly, and she gingerly covered up Delilah’s body. Holly looked up at Adam.

“Can you get me a wet cloth?”

Holly carefully dabbed at Delilah’s mouth, cleaning some of the caked and sticky blood away. She was concentrating so much that she didn’t immediately notice when Delilah opened one of her eyes. Holly jumped, startled.

Adam crouched down, looking at Delilah with concern.

“Delilah? Are you — are you okay?”

Delilah parted her lips, wincing when the split opened up again. She let out a hacking cough, then weakly spat. Holly wiped away the fresh blood from her mouth and chin.

“I — I’m fine.”

Delilah’s voice was weak, rough. She tried to sit up, but Holly placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

“Don’t move — we don’t know how hurt you are. We need to call you an ambulance.”

“There’s no need. I won’t die from this.”

Even so, Delilah didn’t try to get up again. She lay there, panting. Her face screwed up in pain.

Adam struggled to keep his voice even.

“Do you remember what happened?”

“Yes. Yes I do. It was —”

Delilah coughed again, and spat out some more blood.

“— Todd. He came to my door. Not long after you left.”

Adam was horrified.

“That long ago? What was he doing for so long?”

“Todd? Your cousin’s boyfriend?”

Holly whispered, looking shocked. Delilah’s eye burned as she stared up at Adam.

“Not what you fear. I think — I think we were both unconscious for a time.”

Adam nodded, feeling strangely proud for Delilah.

“Actually, we saw him when we got here. He looked pretty messed up.”

Delilah smiled savagely, but then winced as her lip split open again.

“I only wish it had been more one-sided. But you saw him? Where did he go? Adam, you can’t let him get away!”

Delilah struggled before Holly put a warning hand on her shoulder. Adam swallowed, trying to look confident.

“I know, Delilah. I’ll —”

Holly blinked, looking between the two of them. She tugged at Adam’s arm, regarding him uncertainly.

“Adam, what are you talking about? Delilah’s in shock or something. She needs medical help! You can’t seriously be thinking of —”

Delilah sat up suddenly. She groaned, clutching at her head as the blanket covering her slipped down around her waist. Holly yelped, and tried to get Delilah to lay back down, but the battered woman just weakly slapped at her hands, her voice querulous.

“Young lady, I appreciate the concern, and normally you would be correct. Not in this case. I know my own body, and this looks a lot worse than it is. Facial wounds always bleed. Now unless you want to try and physically restrain me, help me up into that chair.”

Holly looked to Adam, but he just shrugged helplessly.

“You heard her.”

Holly scowled, and muttered under her breath as she reluctantly helped Delilah get to her feet. The injured woman swayed as she stood, and clutched at Holly to steady herself. Whatever her bravado, it was obvious that she was very weak. Delilah managed the few steps to the sofa and then practically fell into it, making a strangled note of pain as she bounced on the cushion.

Perhaps due to the change in position and subsequent blood pressure, a cut on Delilah’s forehead opened up again. Blood was sheeting down one side of her face. Holly hurried to make a compress, holding it carefully over Delilah’s injury.

“This is really stupid, Delilah. I’m not an expert, but that is going to need stitches. And the rest ... I think your nose might be broken.”

Delilah shook her head, and then stopped abruptly, grimacing.

“Okay, not going to do that again. And my nose isn’t broken — you don’t forget what that’s like, trust me.”

Again, Holly looked at her strangely. She sighed.

“If you’re going to be that stubborn, let’s at least get you dressed.”

Delilah sounded indifferent as she shrugged.

“If you like, my dear. Could you get me a bikini top from the middle drawer on my dresser? I’m not going to ruin a shirt needlessly.”

Blood was dripping down off her face, splattering onto her breasts. Holly nodded.

“Alright. Adam, don’t let her move.”

Holly left, and as soon as she had, Delilah looked at Adam, her tone urgent.

“Alright, I told her the wrong place to look, so we have a few moments. Adam, you have to stop Todd.”

Adam shifted uncomfortably.

“Delilah, I’m not sure what — I mean, I will. But what exactly happened here? Did he...?”

Delilah started to shake her head, but stopped herself in time.

“No. No he didn’t. But not for lack of trying. Adam, he had lost himself - he’d given in completely. I tried to get through to him, I thought I might — but it was too late. I could tell, I could see it in his eyes. I wasn’t really a person to him. Not anymore.”

Adam shivered. He knew what Delilah was talking about. The visions he had seen in the Cave still seemed so vivid to him.

“Delilah, his face — Todd was so messed up that I didn’t recognise him at first.”

“Yes. I ... may have lost my temper. I was overconfident, and I paid the price. He hit me. Many times. He got me on the ground, but before he could ... do what he wanted, I struck back.”

“Seeing the state he was in, I’m surprised you didn’t kill him.”

Delilah cradled her head in her hands.

“I tried to. I thought he was going to ... I thought it might have been the end.”

Delilah shuddered, and Adam carefully put an arm around her shoulders. She leant into him gratefully.

“Adam. Where did he go, did you see? If Holly stopped you ... fine. But did you see where he went?”

“Over the cliff on the side of the road. He went through the forest.”

Delilah hissed in a breath.

“But that would lead him...”

“ ... down to the beach. If he could even make it that far. It’s not like he was taking the track. Delilah, his face ... I think he might just be collapsed somewhere in the forest.”

“No, you can’t think of it like that — Todd has changed. He might already be healing. This is our chance — if you catch him, we can end it all right now. I’ll take the blame.”

Adam froze.

“Wait, do you mean?”

Delilah clutched at Adam’s shirt.

“Look at me, Adam! This happened to me because I wouldn’t do what he wanted. Because I could resist. I won’t die from this, but someone else? What if he had found your mother, your sister, first?”

Adam went cold as he looked at Delilah’s broken and blood covered face. Her eye was still swollen shut, and her split lip ... He couldn’t imagine it. He didn’t want to.

Adam stood up.

“I’m not sure if ... if I can do that.”

“No one ever is. Bravado is ever meaningless. But he probably won’t give you a choice. He spoke of you — he realised something of your importance.”

“He did?”

Delilah’s lips twisted.

“He did. Just before he taunted me with...”

Delilah’s eye widened as she remembered.

“Oh god. Britt! He said that ... I have to make sure she’s alright!”

Adam gently put his hand on her shoulder, keeping Delilah in place.

“I don’t know what he said, but Holly and the girls saw Britt down at the bar not that long ago. Something happened to her, but Todd must have been interrupted — especially if he then made his way up here. Delilah, she’s alright. Holly wouldn’t have left her otherwise. She said she was a bit dazed, but that she seemed fine.”

Some of the tension went out of Delilah’s shoulders.

“Thank god. I thought ... he mentioned her and I just saw red. I ... might have been the one to hit him first.”

“I don’t blame you. But hit harder next time.”

Delilah chuckled darkly.

“It wasn’t for lack of trying. But, Adam — if Todd has progressed this far so quickly, we can’t leave him alone. I know you must feel overwhelmed, but you have to go after him.”

“I will. Don’t worry. Just —”

“No!”

Delilah grabbed Adam’s arm.

“Don’t placate me. Don’t try and calm me down. This is the most important thing you’ll ever do. You have to go. Why haven’t you?”

Adam hesitated. He thought about it, looking away from Delilah’s earnest face. Why hadn’t he gone after Todd? He had been about to, when he’d first seen him on the road. Only Holly had stopped him. But as soon as they had gone inside, had seen Delilah, Adam had been pulling back. Pulling back from his anger, pulling back from his sense of urgency. It was as though...

“ ... I’m scared, Delilah. Scared of what this means. Of what I saw in the Cave this morning. I ... I don’t want to go back there. And if I see Todd ... Delilah, this morning I nearly killed him. You said it would have been easier if I had, but that isn’t me! I’ve never hurt anyone like that before. And if I do — would I be the one doing it? Would I be the one left afterwards? Or would it be something else with my face?”

Adam whispered his fears to Delilah as the righteous urgency drained from her face. She licked her lips.

“You ... you aren’t being metaphorical are you.”

Adam shook his head.

“No. Not after what I saw in the Cave today. The things it showed me ... I was watching, but not in the drivers seat. Just a passenger as I —”

“Adam, you were seeing a vision. It’s not the same —”

“How do you know?! Is that what happens every time that someone gets this power? Those ghosts ... it didn’t feel like they were happy! You said that Todd had given in, had become something different. But doesn’t that mean it’s not his fault? Is he like what I saw — is the real Todd trapped in there behind his eyes, not in control of his actions?”

Delilah was silent as she looked at Adam. She reached up and took hold of his face.

“I don’t know, but I have to believe that what we will matters — even if that means admitting to just how low someone can sink. There will ever be monsters among us. But the flip side of that is also true. You have power beyond what most people would ever dream of — but I’ve seen time and time again how much you care about the people around you. Even if they have never given you reason for your concern. If you can remain so ... so human despite everything, that’s all the proof that I need.”

“Delilah...”

Delilah leant up and pressed her mouth to his in a soft kiss. Adam could taste the coppery tang of blood from her lips. It felt like a benediction.

“I believe in you, Adam. You can do this. He has to be stopped and you are the only person here who can.”

They stared into each other’s eyes. The moment stretched out ... only broken by the sound of something being dropped on the floor.

Adam and Delilah turned to see Holly, standing in the doorway to Delilah’s bedroom. She had been carrying a few towels along with the swimsuit. They had tumbled out of her arms onto the floor.

Holly’s eyes were wide as she stared at them both.

“ ... what are you talking about?”

Delilah wasn’t pleased to find out how much Holly knew. Her ire only lessened when she found out that Holly had put it together pretty much by herself. Adam also got the impression that Delilah’s displeasure was mostly due to the pain from her injuries.

Holly was more than a little freaked at finding out that there was even more to the things she had noticed going on at Serenity Falls. She had been listening to Adam and Delilah talk for a while before they had noticed her. She was in denial about a lot of it, thinking it was some kind of sick joke. For the first time that Adam could remember, Holly was looking at him like she was unsure.

Delilah raised her hand, forestalling any further protestations. She looked at Adam.

“Enough. Time is passing and we had little of it to begin with. Adam, do you trust Holly?”

Adam nodded instantly. He didn’t even have to think about it, never mind how much the closed expression on her face hurt him.

“Absolutely.”

Holly flushed, and some of the reservation on her face faded. Delilah sighed.

“Alright. I will talk to her, fill her in on everything. Adam, I’m sorry, but you must go.”

Trepidation filled Adam once more, but he pushed it down. Delilah was right.

He had to do this.

Adam paused at the junction to trail as he left Delilah’s house. Instead of taking the track that led down to the beach, he jogged over to where he had nearly run over Todd. He peered down into the thick growth, standing as close as he could to the crumbling edge.

It was a steep drop at the edge of the road before it plateaued a little. There was a person-sized hole in the undergrowth where Todd had forced or tumbled his way through. Apart from that, it was just a wall of trees and greenery — impenetrable to the eye.

“Fuck, could he even make it through there? It’s quite a ways to the beach, even if it’s a straight line...”

There was something else as well. Adam could feel a subtle pulling, a sensation of vague wrongness in the direction he was facing. Like he could sense...

“And that’s something else I don’t want.”

Adam had been toying with the idea of following Todd down through the hills and forest until he reached the beach. He was confident enough that he could manage it, but even so he didn’t trust that it was safe. He would also be announcing his approach as well — there was no way he could be silent while crashing through the trees.

It had been at least twenty minutes since he had seen Todd on the road. The guy had a head start, but he hadn’t looked well. Certainly not in a good condition to be forcing his way through dense foliage.

“Just ... just pass out or something. Just stop, don’t make it down there. Just for once, make things easy...”

Adam turned and ran back to the start of the hidden track. He didn’t bother taking Delilah’s ATV. He would be faster without it, and she and Holly might need it to get back to the Retreat. Delilah might eventually heal, but Todd had knocked her around quite a bit. Adam didn’t know a lot about head injuries, but he knew that the damage from concussions could affect you after the fact. Maybe it wasn’t an issue with Delilah’s changed body, but Adam just hoped that Delilah knew what she was doing. At least Holly would be there to help her.

Adam ran down the trail, sliding a little on the dirt track. He would probably have had more traction if he was barefoot, but he felt more secure wearing shoes. Adam did make a vague mental note to get some of running shoes or boots. Something with decent tread.

His mind wandered as he ran down the track. He could still sense that vague feeling of wrongness. It stayed in front of him, maybe a little to the left ... it was hard to judge as the trail hugged the hillside as it cut its way towards the shoreline.

Adam didn’t know what to think of Holly suddenly finding out everything. He knew he had wronged both her and Kendra — even if he hadn’t meant to. Adam would understand if Holly held it against him, even if he would still do all he could to make it up to her.

But first he had to get through this.

Adam slowed as he reached the small clearing at the end of the trail. The beach was just beyond the screen of foliage but, worryingly, Adam could still feel the tug of a presence in that direction. He had been hoping that he could beat Todd down to the sand.

He took a deep breath, and then pushed through the last part of undergrowth, walking out onto the beach.

It was a beautiful day, the sky an endless expanse of blue overhead with barely a cloud in sight. The sand was almost too warm underfoot, flawless white-gold that stretched down to the gently lapping turquoise water. It was perfect, idyllic.

To Adam, it seemed like a cruel joke.

Adam immediately saw a set of deep footprints, partly dragging through the sand, that cut in front of him. Seeing them made his heart sink. Todd had been further towards Serenity Falls where he had started his journey. That his tracks lay in front of Adam meant that he was going in the wrong direction to be headed back to the Retreat.

Adam turned his head, already knowing what he would see. There was a figure in the distance, already by the rocks that led towards the third beach.

“Todd!”

Adam yelled out as he started to run. Todd didn’t react to Adam’s shout. He started to scramble and climb up the rocky headland. Adam could see even from a distance that Todd was ungainly in his actions. Uncoordinated.

“Todd! Stop! Don’t —”

Adam bit back a curse as he watched Todd pull himself over the top of the rocks, disappearing from view. He sped up, pounding across the sand. His vision narrowed, and it seemed like the headland wasn’t getting closer no matter how hard he ran. The feeling of wrongness intensified, and his chest tightened.

Adam sprang up over the headland, pulling himself up after he jumped, just like he had earlier that morning. He didn’t pause or hesitate, just vaulting down over to the other side. Adam landed on the third beach, one hand outstretched to steady himself. It had only been seconds since he had seen Todd climb over.

“Todd!”

Adam sucked in a deep breath, the air burning his lungs. He had been running fast enough that he actually felt the strain for once. Todd was on the beach in front of him, halfway to the cliff wall. Adam was relieved to see no Cave, not even a crack. He raised a hand towards Todd.

“Todd, just — just stop. It’s over.”

Todd slowly turned to face him. Despite himself, Adam flinched at seeing his face close up. Todd’s features were a mask of blood, marred with leaves and debris from his forceful decent down through the hills. There were scratches and gashes on his forehead and cheeks that Adam was sure hadn’t been there before. He wondered how relentless Todd had been in forcing his way through the undergrowth.