The Dark Corner by Christopher Pike Page B

at her for a moment before answering. “You can’t do that, Cindy! This is my plan!”
    â€œI’m a part of your plan!”
    â€œNo! You’ll be killed!”
    Cindy drew in a deep breath and pushed the bike forward as they hit the bottom of the downhill portion of the road. She replied to Bryce but not with a shout. It may have been she was simply talking to herself.
    â€œI won’t be killed,” she said.
    The wind flew in their faces. The flare blazed in her hand. The demons screeched at their backs. As the grocery store neared, Cindy decided shewouldn’t perform a normal braking. Instead she would slide the bike into the front door of the store like a baseball runner sliding into home plate. The move, she hoped, would get her a couple of seconds’ headstart for the meat locker.
    But then what?
    They would just chase her inside.
    Bryce would just lock her inside.
    The grocery store was fifty yards away now. Twenty.
    Bryce began to brake.
    Cindy began to tilt her bike on its side.
    Her unusual strategy allowed her to stop on a dime. The only problem was that she went down with the bike, and dropped the flare in the process. She barely had time to grab it and climb to her feet before the demons ran onto the parking lot. Bryce was only a few feet behind her, his hand outstretched.
    â€œGive it to me now!” he shouted.
    â€œNo way,” Cindy snapped. Turning, she dashed into the store.
    The market was relatively empty, and it was fortunate that Cindy had been in the place before. She knew exactly where the meat section was, and therefore where the meat locker must be located.Racing down the cereal-and-sugar aisle, she could hear the demons shrieking at her back. They sounded both mad and excited at the same time.
    Cindy dashed into the rear of the store.
    There was no clerk in sight. The meat locker was on her right. A steel door into a wasteland of red meat. Without looking over her shoulder, because she was scared about what she would find, Cindy grabbed the thick handle and pulled it down and open. Inside, it was dark as a cave, as cold as a bottomless well. Holding her burning flare up, Cindy strode forward. Thick slabs of beef hung all around her, like the forgotten victims of some insane war. She hurried to the rear of the freezer, and it was only then she dared look behind her.
    The three demons stood in the doorway of the freezer.
    They grinned and stepped forward.
    â€œHi,” the one who resembled Adam said. “We told you to wait at home until we came for you.”
    â€œWe told you we don’t like to be disobeyed,” the Sally demon said.
    â€œWe told you how we would eat you alive,” the Watch demon said.
    The three of them giggled and drew closer.
    Behind them, through the open door, Cindycaught a glimpse of Bryce. She almost shouted to him that she made a mistake. That she didn’t want to be locked inside with these monsters. She almost cried out for mercy. But the shout died in her throat. Bryce stared at her with sad eyes, and then he slowly shook his head. His right hand was already on the thick metal door. He seemed to be closing it slowly, but maybe it was just Cindy’s imagination. When the door was finally shut, and the dark settled over her heart as well as her eyes, and the demons’ eyes began to glow a wicked red, Cindy prayed that this whole situation was only in her imagination. That she would wake from the nightmare soon.
    But the demons just kept coming closer.

12
    W hen the inside of the church was transformed into an inferno, Adam and his friends were forced to flee outside. They were all choking on the smoke and were immediately taken captive by the horde of demons. Bryce Poole’s demon, Sorehead, supervised their capture. He seemed pleased with himself for recapturing them and had them bound at the ankles and wrists with steel cuffs. He said they were now going to be taken before the Gatekeepers and judged. Adam