only been the one scream from that direction, and there was something ominous about that. There’d also been a flurry of movement in the vicinity, a wild rustling of leaves and branches-the sound of something enormous stomping about. Its location was hard to pinpoint-not that he felt particularly compelled to find it anyway, especially since whatever was making the goddamn racket had probably done something unspeakable to elicit the scream he’d heard.
Shane frowned, realizing this was the kind of sound a movie hero would investigate without hesitation-and without any apparent thought given to personal safety.
He thought about inbred backwoods psychos with hunting knives.
Okay, fuck the hero shit.
It was high time he was gone from this creepy-ass place. The decision made, he moved in the direction of the street, his mind already hard at work conjuring up a good story to cover up his cowardice.
From the sound of things, that wouldn’t be too hard. There was a lot of noise emanating from a place directly ahead of him. Karen screaming again. The shrill cunt. Christ, but breaking up with her was long overdue. She was a good-looking broad, but maybe he was done with his Asian phase.
Maybe he’d get himself a blond girlfriend next.
A flaky little bitch like Dream.
Or maybe even Dream herself.
Sure, why not-she was vulnerable enough now.
Shane was so lost in self-absorption and sexual obsession that he didn’t really hear the sound of snapping branches until the creature emerged from the shadows and stood before him. It was huge, maybe eight feet tall, and covered with matted, shaggy fur.
Dog, he thought, genetic mutant big-ass dog.
But, no, there was something decidedly lupine about this creature. …
“Holy crap.” The words popped out of him unbidden. “A fucking werewolf.”
The creature bared its fangs and snarled.
Shane staggered backward, stumbled over a rock, and collided with a tree. He leaned against the tree while the creature slowly approached. He knew he should run, but at the moment the whole of his mental and physical resources were occupied with the task of keeping him upright. But he was failing even at that-his legs shook beyond his ability to control, and he began to slide down the tree. As the creature got closer, he discerned a splash of fresh blood in its fur. Shane thought immediately of the mystery woman and figured her goose was cooked.
As was his own, he realized.
The creature loomed over Shane now, causing his nose to wrinkle at its horrid breath. The thing smelled as if it gargled with raw sewage. He stared up at its long snout, wincing as huge droplets of saliva splashed on his face. The teeth, of which there were so many, looked like rows of jagged knives. Its yellow eyes glowed faintly in the dark. Shane mumbled a genuinely contrite prayer as the beast slowly lowered its massive head toward his throat.
Then deliverance seemed to arrive in the form of Karen’s nearby voice. Funny, now it sounded like the voice of an angel. An angel of mercy. The creature’s head jerked around at the sound of approaching footsteps.
A voice whispered in Shane’s head: Run, dummy.
He had to do it. This moment of distraction might be the only chance he got to redeem himself. Suddenly full of religion, he swore to God he would be a better human being if only He got him out of this. Not only that, he would do his damnedest to make amends with Karen, who really wasn’t so bad a chick at all, and-
“SHANE!” Karen was closer than ever.
There were other voices, too.
Her friends, admonishing her to be careful and slow down.
Fuck that.
This was it, baby, movie hero time.
Shane felt the strength and power return to his athlete’s body, slamming back into him like a dose of lightning. He got to his feet and charged past the startled creature, running for daylight-figuratively, this being night-just like his glory days on the gridiron. He felt a moment of pure triumph and laughed, knowing he had won.
But then the beast was upon him.
Slashing and drawing blood. The ground rushed toward him. There was a thud. Everything went black.
Dream recoiled as Karen screamed and launched herself off the ground. She backed into Chad, who grunted and gripped her shoulder to stop her. Alicia swept past her and approached Karen, who was wild-eyed and on the verge of hyperventilating. Dream was shocked by the sight of her disheveled and obviously terrified friend.
Alicia laid a tentative hand on Karen’s shoulder. “Hey, girl, calm down. Take a deep breath and tell me what happened here. You see your man out here?”
“No.” Karen started backing away from them. “You heard the scream. Something happened to him.” A note of pleading entered her voice. “We’ve got to find him.” She sobbed. “You’ve got to help me.”
Alicia gripped her shoulder tighter. “Whoa, hold on. We heard the scream, sure, but I’ll tell you right now that wasn’t Shane Wallace.”
“It was obviously the sound of a female in distress,” Chad chimed in.
Alicia’s gaze never wavered from Karen. “Much as it pains me to agree with dickhead here, he’s right. The boy wouldn’t acknowledge pain that way. He’d be cursing up a storm.”
“The forest primeval would resound with ‘fuckers,’ ‘motherfuckers.’ and all the usual variations thereof,” Chad added.
This did little to calm Karen. “But you didn’t see that… that thing.”
Alicia frowned. “What are you talking about, sweetie?”
Agitation showed in Karen’s restless eyes. “I tripped over a rock.” She pointed to a spot near Dream and Chad. They were standing in a small circle of moonlight between the trees, a space just large enough to qualify as a clearing. “Knocked myself woozy. I wasn’t out, but everything went fuzzy for a minute. There was… something. Something big.” Terror edged back into her voice as she described what happened. “Something that wasn’t a man. Something that wasn’t even human. But it walked on two legs like a man. It was … it was …”
She started to sob again.
Chad quietly hummed the familiar notes of the X-Files theme.
Dream successfully resisted an impulse to ram an elbow into his stomach, but she wrenched her shoulder free of his grip and approached the other women. “Karen, what did this thing look like?”
Chad snorted. “You can’t be taking her seriously.”
Alicia said, “Ignore him.”
Frustration showed in Karen’s eyes. “I don’t know. I didn’t see it so much as sense it.” She sniffled. “Everything was shadows, shapes. But I could feel it standing over me. I could sense how big it was. And I could smell its breath. Oh, God …” She put a hand to her mouth. “I can’t tell you how awful that smell was.”
They all heard Chad’s exaggerated sigh. “Oh, Christ. So what we’re really talking about here is a tall hermit who hasn’t brushed his teeth in ten years. A deranged former Harlem Globetrotter, maybe. But we’re certainly not talking about, what, a monster?” He sneered at them. “Karen, do you realize how insane that sounds?”
Dream breathed a weary sigh. “You’re neither needed nor wanted here, Chad. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you’d go back to the car and wait while we sort things out with Karen.” An alien flicker of cruelty stirred within her, causing her to speak before she could reconsider the harshness of her words. “You heartless piece of shit. Somehow you got to be as ugly inside as you are outside.”
Dream winced at the sharp intake of breath from Alicia. She was instantly horrified at the sound of her own voice. That wasn’t her speaking those hurtful, terrible words. It couldn’t be. And, oh, how the tables had suddenly turned. A tide of shame welled within her. “I’m sorry, Chad.”
But the damage had been done.
Chad looked away from her. His chin trembled. “See, girls. Maybe this is why I’ve spurned her all these years, the monster lurking beneath the pretty exterior. Maybe I knew it was there all along.” His voice broke. “Good-bye, Dream. I’m out of here.”
He spun around, stepped back through the line of trees, and disappeared from view.
Dream’s heart lurched. “Chad-“
