Refuge Book 1 - Night of the Blood Sky by Jeremy Robinson, Jeremy Bishop

the sky was empty and still very purple.
    “Wrong direction,” Monty said. His voice quivered and nearly didn’t make it out of his throat.
    She turned to him. “What?”
    “They’re in the sand,” he said.
    Her eyes widened a bit as she realized he hadn’t been looking at the shotgun earlier, he’d been looking at the sand.
    A slight vibration caused the sand around her feet to dance around. Monty whimpered like a frightened dog.
    “Can you run?” she asked.
    He nodded rapidly.
    Before either could take a step, the sand atop the dune to their right began to rise up. They stood transfixed by the sight. The sand was alive. Not alive , Rule realized as it fell away, but the creature within the shroud of falling grit was certainly alive.
    A dry wind kicked up, pulling the sand away from the body, which continued to rise up, fifteen feet into the air. With a shake, the rest of the sand fell away, revealing a figure cloaked in shredded, pale fabric, which billowed in the wind. The creature had two arms and two legs. Humanoid. But not human. No way was that thing human. It was nine feet too tall, and the way it stood was wrong, bent sharply at the spine, knees twitching in both directions. The head—if it was a head—was wide and flat, with spherical insect-like eyes that stared down at her with curiosity.
    The eyes could have been goggles, but she didn’t think so. A shifting color beneath the shimmering octagonal divisions gave her the distinct feeling that this thing was sizing them up.
    “Kill it,” Monty said. “Kill it!”
    Rule had never fired her weapon at a person before. She raised her gun, but hesitated. “Is that what took the girls?”
    “One of them,” he replied.
    One of them. Great.
    A low gurgling sound emanated from the thing. The sound was so foreign and loud that Rule flinched and pulled the trigger, sending a round into the monster’s chest. It jolted back when the bullet struck home, but seemed otherwise indifferent.
    Fear took hold of Rule and squeezed her chest. A panic attack coming on strong. Realizing she was going into shock, like Monty, she pulled the trigger twice more, aiming for the thing’s head. It staggered back and let out a grunt. The bullets definitely hurt it, but it didn’t fall over dead like it should have.
    Monty tugged on her arm. “Let’s go.”
    The man-beast reached behind its back and tugged a black sword out of the sand. The blade wasn’t flat like a traditional sword, but more like a pyramid that had been stretched out eight feet to a perfect, needle sharp tip. She staggered back as Monty continued pulling at her, but her legs had gone soft.
    All it has to do is take one step forward , she thought, and it will be in striking distance .
    She shook her head as a buzzing sound grew in volume. She was determined to keep her eyes focused on the monster.
    Bong!
    The sound was distant. Hard to hear. But it slammed into her thoughts like an atom bomb, returning some clarity and rooting her back in the world she knew and understood.
    The church bell is ringing .
    Again .
    Why would it be...
    Her stream of thought was interrupted.
    Bong!
    Rule sucked in a breath and spun around. The church bell was ringing, and that scared her more than the monster now at her back. She shoved Monty ahead of her and shouted, “Run! It’s starting again!”

 
     
    16
     
    “Let me out, you scrawny piece of shit!” Avalon’s voice echoed against the concrete walls of the police station’s back room. Radar didn’t react to the shouting. First, because he had orders from her father to keep her locked up no matter what. He didn’t fear Griffin, but he respected him enough to listen to him. Second, Avalon at her worst couldn’t match the volume or ferocity of his father. Ignoring her was a piece of cake.
    Not that he was ignoring her completely. It was his job to make sure she was taken care of, too. “I can get you a cup of water if you want.”
    Avalon’s hair hung in wet