“You never do see it,” she said. “Stay near the water, away from the trees. If it wants us it will have to come out and show itself.”
“I don’t want it to show itself. I never thought I’d say this, especially given why we came here in the first place, but I do not want to see it,” C.P. said. He gripped the rifle a little tighter.
There was the sound of branches breaking, the sound getting closer and closer.
“It’s coming,” he said.
“I know.”
“I think we should run.”
The creature roared, the sound filling up the air all around them, pressing against their ears, vibrating inside their heads. Mattie couldn’t run. She couldn’t even walk. The roar made her legs weak, made her hands tremble, made her chest feel like it was caving in.
C.P. must have felt the same way, because he staggered and stopped, his face pale.
The roaring ceased, and Mattie stood there for a moment, trying to find her breath again.
The creature burst from the trees on their side of the stream, its speed impossible to track. Mattie only had a sense, as always, of something enormous, something fur-covered and powerful. There was a flash of one dark eye, a blood-covered maw, teeth, claws. Then C.P. was on his knees, screaming, and the hand that held the rifle was gone.
And so was the rifle, and so was the creature.
She didn’t think. She pulled the long scarf off her neck and took the bloodied, ragged stump where his hand used to be and wrapped it tightly in the cloth. There was blood everywhere, blood soaking into the scarf, blood on her hands and on her trousers, so much blood.
C.P. passed out.
“Oh, no,” Mattie moaned. “No, no, no. Not you, too. You can’t sleep now. The creature will come and take you and then I’ll be alone. Come on, come on, C.P., wake up. Wake up now.”
She shook his shoulder, but he didn’t respond. Her scarf was already soaked through with his blood but they didn’t have any bandages.
She quickly unbuttoned her coat and pulled off her sweater. Underneath she wore an undershirt and this she removed, too, flushing because her breasts were exposed even though C.P. couldn’t see. She quickly pulled all of her layers back on, shivering. Then she dragged C.P. closer to the stream, unwrapped the scarf, pulled up his coat sleeve and put the stump in the freezing water. Blood flowed away into the water.
She was only thinking about cleaning it and binding the wound more tightly with her undershirt, but the shock of the freezing water made C.P. open his eyes and sit up, shouting incoherently.
“Stop,” Mattie said. “Just leave your arm there.”
“Are you crazy? I’m going to get hypothermia,” he said, and then he looked at his wrist, and turned his head away. “Nope, actually, I’m going to be sick.”
Mattie quickly bound the stump tightly with her shirt. The blood still flowed, but it seemed a little more sluggish now. Maybe it was her imagination.
She stood, and tugged at his arm. “We have to go.”
“Jesus, doesn’t losing a limb entitle me to five seconds of rest?” he said.
“No. It’s still here. It’s watching, waiting to see what we’ll do. And if you lay down or pass out it will take you, just like the others.”
He didn’t argue anymore, just let Mattie pull him up.
“Can you walk?” she asked.
“Not by myself,” he admitted. “I’m a little dizzy.”
She slung his uninjured arm around her shoulder. He was heavy, so much heavier and taller than her. She didn’t know if she could drag him. “Don’t fall asleep on me.”
“It came for the rifle,” C.P. said as they started forward, moving slowly.
“What?” Mattie said. She was trying to concentrate on her steps, to match her rhythm to his so that walking would be easier.
“It took the rifle. That guy shot it, right? So when it saw me with the rifle it wanted to make sure we couldn’t hurt it again,” C.P. said.
It made sense, but Mattie wasn’t looking for explanations. She only wanted to get away. She didn’t know how long the creature would follow them.
“We need to walk faster,” she said.
“I don’t think I can. I think you’re going to have to leave me, Samantha Hunter.”
She glanced up at him. His eyes seemed to be rolling in every direction at once.
“Don’t you dare,” she said. “Don’t you dare pass out. It’s you and me and we’re going to make it to the bottom of this mountain so you stay awake, do you hear me? Stay awake.”
They shuffled along, and Mattie felt the creature watching them from the trees, waiting for its chance. Its gaze seemed to press down on her, stopping the breath in her lungs.
Just stay focused on the stream, on putting one foot in front of the other, on keeping C.P. upright.
“Hey,” he said, and he sounded more alert. “Hey, am I hallucinating or is that a road?”
He gestured with his stump, wincing when he caught sight of the bloodied shirt wrapped around it.
Mattie saw it then, too—a dirt road that wound along parallel to the stream, almost hidden by the trees.
The trees. There weren’t many of them, but to get to the road they’d have to cross through the trees.
“The vehicle. Remember the key?” he said. “Oh my god, we’re saved. Let’s go find it.”
The stream was wider here, and there were almost no rocks to step on to keep their feet dry. C.P. plowed forward, tugging Mattie along with him, splashing through the water.
A branch cracked behind them.
“No,” Mattie said. “Don’t follow us. Stay away.”
They climbed up the little incline on the other side of the bank. The trees weren’t as thick here. They could see the road in between the trunks.
“We have to run through,” Mattie said. “Because the trees are its hunting ground. Can you run?”
“I can do anything if there’s a car waiting on the other side.”
“We don’t know there is for sure,” Mattie said. She didn’t want him to get his
