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I knew this was my cue to move, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Too many questions had just popped up into my brain for me to be able to function.
His eyes moved back to the Master and he let out a low his.
"It's gotten stronger," The man remarked, "And you let it out just for me, I might blush."
This monstrous Peter lurched forward until they were so close a pencil couldn't drop between them. They stared each other down for a second before Peter buried his teeth into the master's shoulder.
The man let out a howl equally as inhuman as Peter's and lunged back. As they fought I saw a flash of the master's eyes, jet black. Why should I be surprised?
I snapped out of my trace and ran for the shed, pulling the nail and slipping in the door.
"Tanner, Maddox, Payton can you guys hear me?" I whispered into the darkness.
"Tarpi?" I heard a small voice say. It used to drive me crazy that they insisted on using my last name, since it sounded funny, but at this moment I was only relieved.
"Yeah, it's me. I need you guys to come with me right now." I couldn't see anybody but I heard small footsteps approach me.
I reached out, feeling three soft mops of hair, relief flooding over me. Turning around I cracked the door open.
Everybody was still trying to wrestle Peter to the ground, unconcerned by what easy going on I've here.
I waved the boys out, whispering for them to run behind the shed so they wouldn't be seen. I followed them out, catching a glimpse of scratches on the walls before locking the door behind me. Hopefully they wouldn't notice they were gone for at least a few hours.
I slipped behind the shed before I could be seen.
"We have to go now," I whispered to the boys as I hoisted the smallest one onto my hip.
They all followed me into the tree line. I could hear the little one sniffling in my ear. With the few days they'd had I couldn't imagine how they'd held themselves together so well. I felt like I was closer to crying than they were.
We circled around until I found the road back. Based on the loud yowling Peter was still putting up one hell of a fight. So I figured we'd be safest on the road than taking our chances with my late night navigation skills.
It was nearly pitch black out but I could still see the outline of the tire tracks.
I stopped the boys and said, "We have to run down this road as fast as we can, but we need to be quiet."
They all nodded, shaggy blond hair bouncing in the faint light. We took off running, our feet making faint pitter patter noises in the smoothed grass.
It was harder than I thought to run with a kid hanging around my neck, but I powered through until the boys began to lose their stamina.
They drew in closer to me, the darkness making all of us very jumpy. I was just relieved that they were all here and alive. That's what mattered.
And I trusted, for whatever reason, that Peter had some idea of what he was doing. He said they wouldn't need them if he was there.
But I pushed the thoughts out of my head. I knew if I thought about I'm him I would cry.
But one of the boys beat me to it. Our little group came to a stop around him.
The oldest, Tanner, whimpered, "They burned the other boys."
I put Payton on the ground and brought the boy into a hug. I wished there was some way for me to unsee all of that for him. But all I could do was get them back to safety.
I picked the boy up. He was remarkably heavier than his little brother, but I gritted my teeth and started walking. We didn't have time to break down just yet.
As we walked to the car I did my best to feel thankful.
Thankful that the boys were alive.
Thankful I was alive.
Thankful my dad was safe.
But what I couldn't shake was the knowledge that I would never see Peter again. And on top of it, how little I knew about the boy I was going to miss so much.