A Million to One by Tony Faggioli

Author:Tony Faggioli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atticus Creative, Inc.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Tamara was on the floor, her knees digging deep into the carpet, holding on to her daughter’s left elbow and right forearm, locked in a horrible tug-of-war with the thing beneath Janie’s bed.

She’d long since lost any ability to disbelieve what she was seeing. Her doubt had been dealt a heavy blow in the rest stop bathroom and then been outright slaughtered with the events in Monterey. What was happening now was real. It wasn’t a nightmare. It wasn’t a movie. She would’ve happily given almost anything to make it so but, as her daughter’s screams pierced her ears, Tamara knew the thing pulling her beneath the bed was real and deadly.

“Janie! Hold on to Mommy! Hold on!” Tamara struggled, almost going over face first before dropping to her right hip while simultaneously jamming her left foot against the bed frame. The good news was that this halted Janie’s progress; the bad news was that it pissed off whatever that thing was, peering out with its crazy eyes from beneath the bed skirt.

“Mommy!” Janie screamed, her eyes two bowls of terror, her face pulled back in a grimace of pain.

The creature’s claws, which had been clutching her daughter’s ankles, now worked their way up, first to her calves, and then finally one hand, black and bony, grabbed ahold of one of Janie’s thighs.

Perhaps it was the sight of her child’s anguish, or maybe a point in her had finally been crossed, but Tamara was engulfed in rage. She quickly let go of one of Janie’s elbows, her daughter’s body contorting a bit to the right as she did so.

“No!” Janie screamed. “Don’t let go of me, Mommy!”

But Tamara had no intention of letting go. She had every intention of grabbing hold.

Of the creature.

Locking ahold of the wrist of the hand that was dug into Janie’s thigh, she felt its disgusting leathery skin in her grip. Tamara squeezed as tightly as she could, wrenching her arm back and forth violently, putting as much of her weight into the motions as she could, until she finally heard something crack.

The creature shrieked, its hand twisting loose of Tamara’s grip with ungodly speed, forcing her to release it before the torque of the motion snapped her arm.

This gave Tamara the leverage she needed, ever so briefly, to launch forwards and wrap her arms around Janie’s chest, and pull with all her strength.

The claw on Janie’s calf slipped and then re-gripped, eliciting a new round of screams.

“Hold on, baby. Don’t let go!”

Tamara leaned back forcefully, straining until her lower back was flat across the carpet. It almost worked. Janie was nearly freed. But the move had brought the undesired consequence of bringing Tamara eye level with the bottom of the bed. She saw it there, writhing in the darkness beneath the box spring, its face fixed on Tamara’s. It shot its wounded hand out at Tamara’s face, barely missing her left eye and cheek, before Tamara reestablished her position on her hip, providing her with just enough distance from the creature’s reach.

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