Chapter 5

No sign of the others. I get to my feet and weave my way toward Sears. The entire front of the store has been destroyed. I didn't stop the Wormungulous. And my friends? Have I lost them? Wreckage and debris litter the tiled floor. Water rains down from the sprinkler system. Rubble from the ceiling is scattered through the store. What I spot next makes me go light-headed. June's sneakers. The boy sneakers she wears that I love so much. One juts out from beneath a pile of wreckage. No. No, no, no.

My friends are buried beneath there. A pile of rubble as big as a February snowbank. I begin clawing and tearing at the debris. But it's all too big. Too heavy. My fingernail snaps as I struggle to lift the massive metal gate that blankets them. My breath becomes ragged. I feel my eyes well up with tears. And I smell—I smell— I smell that pungent cologne. I spin around to see it. Gigantic and towering. The man-monster...

The man-monster, Generally humanoid face. I haven't seen THAT before. Compasses, gizmos, and beastly thingaofbobs, Cologne, stench, Opposable thumbs, bone and skull jewelry. Probably not a good sign.

I don't draw my blade. I don't run. I just stand there. And then, still having said nothing, I turn around and continue trying to pry my friends free. A warm hand grips the back of my neck. The man-monster's fingers close around my collar and I'm lifted into the air. He gently sets me down a few feet away. The man-monster begins digging through the rubble, carefully pulling away huge chunks of ceiling. He removes bent and twisted pieces of gate. With one tremendous pull, he lifts the final piece away. And I see them. My friends. Alive. A little bloody, a lot dirty—but very much OK.

Relief floods through me. "You're OK!" June grins as she crawls from the pile and gets to her feet. "You're OK! Why did you just stand out there and try to stare the monster down? What is wrong with you?" "I was trying to do a samurai thing." "No more samurai things, Jack." Quint stumbles from the rubble and throws his arms around me. My friends and I are not big huggers. But Quint squeezes me and slaps my back. "I thought we were all done for!" he exclaims. I smile. "We're good, buddy. We're good."

"Yes, we are," June says, waving toward the man-monster. "Thanks to him." Dirk nods. "He punched through the gate. Pushed us inside. He took the brunt of the blow from the Wormungulous." So this... this man-monster, he not only freed my friends—he took the hit that saved their lives. And in a way, saved me—because without my friends, I might as well not exist. This terrifying, wicked-looking thing is our savior. Just goes to show—never judge a monster by its cover. Or its bone jewelry. The creature suddenly gasps for breath and drops to one knee. I see that his right leg is injured. Probably battered while blocking my friends. Pulling them free has taken everything out of him. The man-monster braces himself on a rack of clothing and manages to stand again. And then he opens his mouth.