It didn’t matter. Even if she had passed, he was not leaving her body to that thing.

Finding a reserve of energy, he ran faster, closing the gap between them. The monster didn’t even glance back at him. Maybe the beagle’s barking had masked his approach. If Buttons had somehow been smart enough to do such a thing, Andrew was going to make sure he lived the rest of his days like a beagle king.

When he was close enough to almost touch the monstrosity, he left his feet and wrapped his arms around its hips, letting his body morph to dead weight to bring it down.

The beast trudged on for ten feet, twenty feet, not slowing down nor trying to dislodge him. Andrew locked his hands, refusing to let go.

Without considering the horridness of its exposed, bilious flesh, he bit into the top of its buttock, his jaw clenching until his mouth was filled with a vile chunk of severed flesh.

The creature finally stopped, howling in agony.

Kate’s eyes burst open. She let out a sharp cry.

Kate’s alive! Andrew’s heart swelled with hope.

Vile, nightmarish tastes assaulted his tongue. Andrew gagged when the infected blood hit the back of his throat. He spit it out, and the gelatinous effluvium quivered atop the fallen leaves.

Still, he refused to let go.

When the creature tried to resume its escape, Andrew thrust his legs between its own, like tossing a stick into the spokes of a bicycle’s wheel.

This time, it went down, pitching Kate forward. She tumbled into the brush.

Buttons ran to her.

So did Andrew.

He nimbly avoided the creature’s hand when it tried to grab him by the ankle. Sidestepping the fallen demon, he dropped beside Kate. Her eyes were closed but he could see them moving rapidly back and forth beneath her fragile lids. Blood blossomed on the seat of her pants. There was no time to regret what he’d done. Getting her in a fireman’s hold, he turned and headed back toward the cottage. Again, the creature tried to stop him, but it was weak, worn down, and cupping the wound on its buttock. Its face was a patchwork of putrescence. Green pus leaked from a gash in its forehead that opened on its own, as if an invisible scalpel had parted its flesh. Its lips curled back in a sneer, a brown tooth spiraling from its exposed, gangrenous gums.

It’s literally falling apart at the seams.

He wanted to stay and watch it die a slow, agonizing death.

Then a cold realization put him in motion.

That means Kate is as well. Please, Kate, don’t leave me. Not yet. Not here.

The dying monster uttered a dull, low growl that sounded more pathetic than terrifying.

Buttons snapped at it, but not close enough to bite it. He ran ahead of them, leading the way.