Tread Softly

She pulled the waistband of Scott's shorts away from his body and down, freeing his erect penis. He moaned as her fingers gripped him.

Then they were both naked, Scott braced above her on elbows and knees, touching her only with his lips while her hands roamed down his back, stroked his buttocks.

'Is something wrong?' she asked.

'I don't want to hurt you.'

A hand went away from his rump. Fingers took his penis and guided him lower until he pushed into soft folds. He slid slowly into Karen, deep into her hugging sheath. She sighed. She wrapped her arms around his back, and pulled him tightly against her.

After searching the area around the campsite, they followed Flash to the fireplace. He sat on a stump, rested the bowie knife across his lap, and put his flashlight into a pocket of his slicker. 'You kids might as well turn in,' he said. 'I'll stand watch.'

'Do you think he'll be back?' Nick asked.

'Who the hell knows? I thought he was dead. Maybe he wasn't, but I know for damn sure he was too far gone to get up and run off. Might've dragged himself a few yards, maybe even as far as the lake. Or maybe he was dead, and somebody carted him off when we weren't looking.'

Benny mumbled something.

'What?'

'I said, maybe he's a zombie.'

'Give us a break,' Julie told him.

'Like the guy in your story who came out of the lake to get his arm.'

'That was just a story,' Flash said. 'It didn't happen.'

'What about the woman?' Julie asked.

'What woman?'

'Yeah!' Nick said. 'That's right.' He looked at Flash. 'Remember I told you this morning about a crazy woman who yelled at those girls? They ran into her right here, yesterday.'

'The girls said she had a knife like that.' Julie pointed at the weapon on Flash's lap.

Nick frowned. 'They didn't say anything about a guy.'

'He could've been hiding when they were here.'

'I've got it,' Benny blurted. 'The guy and the woman are the same person! Like that guy in Psycho. He dresses up-'

'Then who took the body?' Julie asked.

'The woman took it,' Nick said. He sounded very sure of himself. 'She was a friend of his, maybe his wife. She saw what happened to him. Then she waited for her chance, and snuck over and got him.'

'She would have to be an awfully strong woman,' Flash said, 'to walk off with that guy's body.'

'She didn't. She dragged it over to the lake, and towed it away in the water.'

'I guess that's possible,' Flash admitted.

Julie's face suddenly contorted.

'What's wrong?' Nick asked.

'I just thought of something.' Her wide eyes looked from Nick to Flash. 'Those girls — they just saw a woman. And we just saw a man.'

'So?' Flash said.

'What I mean,' Julie continued, 'is how do we know there aren't more people here? Maybe another man. Maybe a whole bunch.'

Flash stared at her. 'Damn, I wish you hadn't said that.'

'It's possible,' Nick said.

Benny started looking around, searching the darkness through his dripping glasses.

'That's all the more reason we'd better keep watch. Even if it's just a woman, we don't know but that she'll try to get back at us. The rest of you go on and hit the sack.'

'I'll stay up with you,' Nick said.

Flash considered insisting that the boy turn in, but he liked the idea of having company.

'I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, and if something does happen' — Nick shrugged — 'it'd be better if there's two of us.'

'I guess you're right. Okay.'

The hatchet swinging at his side, Nick walked Julie and Benny to their tent. Benny crawled inside. Julie faced Nick, put her arms around him, and kissed him. The kiss was not brief. Flash felt he shouldn't be staring, so he went over to the poncho he'd used to cover the body. Cools of water had formed on its rumpled plastic. He picked it up and flapped it, shaking off as much water as he could. When he turned around, Julie was gone, and Nick was walking toward him. 'This'll help keep us dry. We'll sit back to back so we've got a three-hundred-sixty-degree view.'

They moved two stumps together, sat down, and draped the poncho over their heads. The rain made loud, hollow sounds as it struck the plastic. Flash stared through the downpour, moving his gaze slowly over the black lake, the dim pale rocks along the shoreline, the place where the body had fallen, the rocks and trees beyond the border of the clearing, Karen's tent, the pines close behind it, the gap between it and the next tent. Awfully dark behind the tents. A lot of trees. A small rocky rise farther back. Plenty of cover for someone sneaking in. Someone with a knife.

'I'll check around,' Flash said. He left the sheltering poncho. With the knife in one hand and his flashlight in the other, he walked to the far side of Karen's tent. He stepped behind it, being careful not to trip over the guy line. He shined his light on the blue fabric long enough to see that it hadn't been rent. Then he swept the beam across the pines, the bushes, the head-high clump of broken granite. The light threw squirming shadows that sent a chill up his back, but he saw no one. He moved on. Behind the next tent, a sudden voice made him jump.

'Who's there?' Julie asked.

'It's me.'

'Something wrong?'

'No. Just checking around.'

The tent after that was his. He knew it was deserted but he flashed his light across its rear, just in case. It looked all right. He stepped to the last tent. 'Just me,' he said quietly, in case Alice or the girls should be worried. There was no response. They must be asleep, he thought, but he felt a stab of fear. He put his light on the tent. The red fabric, shiny with running water, was intact.

He made a last check of the trees and rocks behind the tent, then hurried around to the front. The flaps were zipped shut. He opened them. Ducking low, he swept his light over the three crowded, motionless shapes. They looked okay. He shut the zipper, and walked toward Nick.

'Is everything all right?'

'So far. We'd better check once in a while, though. We're awfully vulnerable back there.' He sat on the stump with his back to Nick, and pulled the poncho forward to shield him.

For a long time, Flash stared into the darkness. His eyelids grew heavy. His mind drifted. He imagined he was driving through the rain, fighting hard to stay awake. Alice cried out, 'Don't hit him!' and there was a one- armed man staggering up the road, pale in the headlights, a hatchet embedded in his chest. Flash shot his foot at the brake pedal. The heel of his boot skidded on the wet ground and he snapped awake as he started to fall. He caught himself. He wondered how long he'd been out.

Twisting around, he saw that the stump behind him was deserted. He spotted Nick in back of the tents, the flashlight beam sweeping over the rocks and trees.

'Everything shipshape?' Flash asked when the boy returned.

'No problem.' Nick sat down and covered his head. 'Maybe she won't try anything.'

'Sure hope not. We've gotta stay on our toes, though.' The warning was more to himself than to his son. He was ashamed of falling asleep. He wouldn't let it happen again.

When he felt himself becoming groggy, he went into his lent for cigars. He returned to the seat, unwrapped a cigar, and clamped it between his teeth. He pulled the poncho lot ward enough to shield the cigar from the rain.