Page 77 of Incubus
Nathan had one of their bags slung over his shoulder with a few necessary essentials, including shotguns they didn't think even a small Georgia town would care to see out in the open without good reason. The rain had let up somewhat but the land was slick with mud once they made it into the actual woods. There was a campground not too far from the town that they intended to search first. It was technically closed for the season, but that hadn't stopped a few campers, hikers, and hunters from being in the area when they were attacked.
"If we can find and destroy the golem, we should be able to track its power signature back to its control rod," Sasha said. "The controller has to be a dark fae with this kind of behavior. The last two campers who were attacked were killed pretty brutally." He was in the lead with a map of the surrounding area, navigating through the mud-covered paths. There were several man-made trails, and occasionally the trees were sparse, making it fairly easy to see long distance. The further they got into the woods, the less that remained true.
"How do you destroy a golem?" Jim asked, close behind Sasha.
"Three ways I know of. Destroy the control rod, destroy the spot where the signal from the control rod is being received by the golem, which isn't an easy spot to find usually, or...smash the whole thing to pieces."
"Hence the shotguns," Nathan said, taking up the rear with their bag of supplies. He had volunteered to carry the bag but was starting to wish the load on someone else.
"Exactly," Sasha said. "When in doubt, a shotgun is good for killing just about anything.”
The general dampness in the air from the recent rain made Nathan shiver, even though it wasn't very cold. He had his jacketzipped up tight, and a pair of work gloves on, but his ears were starting to burn and his sinuses ached. One thing Nathan had always envied about his brother was that Jim never seemed to get sick.
Somehow Nathan doubted Sasha ever had to deal with a cold either.
"The campsite shouldn't be far now," Sasha said. "Quarter of a mile, I think."
"Wait," Jim said, stopping abruptly.
Nathan jolted to a halt. "Do you always have to come to sudden stops when you're infrontof me?" he grumbled.
But Jim wasn't listening. His gaze had gone distant, like he was trying very carefully to listen for something.
"What are you sensing?" Sasha asked.
They started to gather in a tight huddle around Jim, but Jim stepped forward, moving toward a tree where he touched his hand to the bark. "The golem came through here," Jim said, "a few hours ago. And it knew exactly where it was going." He sidestepped the tree and started moving hurriedly off the path into the woods.
"Wait!" Nathan called after him. "Are you sure? The trees get pretty dense in there. How do you know what you're sensing if it's just an aftereffect?"
Jim paused to turn back and shrugged. "I don't know, somehow I'm just...certain this is the right direction." He reached out to touch the bark of another tree, staring this time like he could actually see something. As Nathan and Sasha caught up, it became clear that there were claw marks dug into the bark.
"Paw prints," Sasha said, moving ahead and crouching down in the mud. "With all the rain, I doubt I would have been able see these if we hadn't veered from the path. Good job, Jim." He smiled back at them.
Nathan couldn't share the expression. The mixed emotions on Jim's face told a similar story—apprehension of ever thinking his powers could be a good thing.
"Come on," Sasha said. "Between sensing this thing and following its tracks, we should be able to find its lair in no time."
According to the map, the path they were creating through the woods was guiding them around the very edges of the nearby campsite. But, the further along they went, the more of a chill Nathan started to feel in his bones, almost supernaturally deep, until finally he sneezed so hard he nearly dropped the bag of supplies.
Sasha and Jim looked back at him in amusement.
"Guess we should have packed scarves and hats in there too, huh?" Jim teased.
"Shut up," Nathan sniffled.
Sasha came back to take the bag from Nathan's shoulder, ignoring any protests. "You've been carrying everything the whole way. I got it." He smiled warmly and pushed on ahead.
It certainly made it easier for Nathan to keep his jacket tight around him and the collar turned up without the bag weighing him down. He hadn’t realized how tired he was or how many hours had passed while they were hiking through the woods until they stopped.
There was a rocky hill ahead with a few less trees, including a couple that looked like they had been uprooted recently by something very large moving past them. Sasha and Jim both seemed able to sense something, but for Nathan the giveaway was the sudden quiet as they neared the hill.
No birds. No chirping animals. No wind.
They circled the area, climbing halfway up the hill and around it to the other side where they discovered a gaping hole that looked like a perfectly rounded tunnel had been dug into the ground, disappearing into darkness.
"Are there cave systems in Georgia?" Nathan asked as the three of them surrounded the large opening.
"Not that spring to mind," Sasha said. "Even I can't see more than a few feet down this thing. I'm thinking going in there would be a bad idea."
