'Gimet,' Jebidiah said.
The sky let the moon loose for a moment, and its light spread through the trees and across the road. In the light there were insects, a large wad of them, buzzing about in the air.
'Bees,' Bill said. 'Damn if them ain't bees. And at night. That ain't right.'
'You an expert on bees?' the deputy asked.
'He's right,' Jebidiah said. 'And look, they're gone now.'
'Flew off,' the deputy said.
'No…. no they didn't,' Bill said. 'I was watching, and they didn't fly nowhere. They're just gone. One moment they were there, then they was gone, and that's all there is to it. They're like ghosts.'
'You done gone crazy,' the deputy said.
'They are not insects of this earth,' Jebidiah said. 'They are familiars.'
'What?' Bill said.
'They assist evil, or evil beings,' Jebidiah said. 'In this case, Gimet. They're like a witch's black cat familiar. Familiars take on animal shapes, insects, that sort of thing.'
'That's ridiculous,' the deputy said. 'That don't make no kind of sense at all.'
'Whatever you say,' Jebidiah said, 'but I would keep my eyes alert, and my senses raw. Wouldn't hurt to keep your revolvers loose in their holsters. You could well need them. Though, come to think of it, your revolvers won't be much use.'
'What the hell does that mean?' Bill said.
Jebidiah didn't answer. He continued to urge his horse on, something that was becoming a bit more difficult as they went. All of the horses snorted and turned their heads left and right, tugged at their bits; their ears went back and their eyes went wide.
'Holy hell,' Bill said, 'what's that?'
Jebidiah and the deputy turned to look at him. Bill was turned in the saddle, looking back. They looked too, just in time to see something that looked pale blue in the moonlight, dive into the brush on the other side of the road. Black dots followed, swarmed in the moonlight, then darted into the bushes behind the pale, blue thing like a load of buckshot.
'What was that?' the deputy said. His voice sounded as if it had been pistol whipped.
'Already told you,' Jebidiah said.
'That couldn't have been nothing human,' the deputy said.
'Don't you get it,' Bill said, 'that's what the preacher is trying to tell you. It's Gimet, and he ain't nowhere alive. His skin was blue. And he's all messed up. I seen more than you did. I got a good look. And them bees. We ought to break out and ride hard.'
'Do as you choose,' the Reverend said. 'I don't intend to.'
'And why not?' Bill said.
'That isn't my job.'
'Well, I ain't got no job. Deputy, ain't you supposed to make sure I get to Nac-ogdoches to get hung? Ain't that your job?'
'It is.'
'Then we ought to ride on, not bother with this fool. He wants to fight some grave crawler, then let him. Ain't nothing we ought to get into.'
'We made a pact to ride together,' the deputy said. 'So we will.'
'I didn't make no pact,' Bill said.
'Your word, your needs, they're nothing to me,' the deputy said.
At that moment, something began to move through the woods on their left. Something moving quick and heavy, not bothering with stealth. Jebidiah looked in the direction of the sounds, saw someone, or something, moving through the underbrush, snapping limbs aside like they were rotten sticks. He could hear the buzz of the bees, loud and angry. Without really meaning to, he urged the horse to a trot. The deputy and Bill joined in with their own mounts, keeping pace with the Reverend's horse.
They came to a place off the side of the road where the brush thinned, and out in the distance they could see what looked like bursting white waves, frozen against the dark. But they soon realized it was tombstones. And there were crosses. A graveyard. The graveyard Old Timer had told them about. The sky had cleared now, the wind had ceased to blow hard. They had a fine view of the cemetery, and as they watched, the thing that had been in the brush moved out of it and went up the little rise where the graves were, climbed up on one of the stones and sat. A black cloud formed around its head, and the sound of buzzing could be heard all the way out to the road. The thing sat there like a king on a throne. Even from that distance it was easy to see it was nude, and male, and his skin was gray — blue in the moonlight — and the head looked misshapen. Moon glow slipped through cracks in the back of the horror's head and poked out of fresh cracks at the front of its skull and speared out of the empty eye sockets. The bee's nest, visible through the wound in its chest, was nestled between the ribs. It pulsed with a yellow-honey glow. From time to time, little black dots moved around the glow and flew up and were temporarily pinned in the moonlight above the creature's head.
'Jesus,' said the deputy.
'Jesus won't help a bit,' Jebidiah said.
'It's Gimet, ain't it? He…. it…. really is dead,' the deputy said.
'Undead,' Jebidiah said. 'I believe he's toying with us. Waiting for when he plans to strike.'
'Strike?' Bill said. 'Why?'
'Because that is his purpose,' Jebidiah said, 'as it is mine to strike back. Gird your loins, men, you will soon be fighting for your life.'
'How about we just ride like hell?' Bill said.
In that moment, Jebidiah's words became prophetic. The thing was gone from the grave stone. Shadows had gathered at the edge of the woods, balled up, become solid, and when the shadows leaped from the even darker shadows of the trees, it was the shape of the thing they had seen on the stone, cool blue in the moonlight, a disaster of a face, and the teeth…. They were long and sharp. Gimet leaped in such a way that his back foot hit the rear of Jebidiah's animal, allowing him to spring over the deputy's horse, to land hard and heavy on Bill. Bill let out a howl and was knocked off his mount. When he hit the road, his hat flying, Gimet grabbed him by his bushy head of straw-colored hair and dragged him off as easily as if he were a kitten. Gimet went into the trees, tugging Bill after him. Gimet blended with the darkness there. The last of Bill was a scream, the raising of his cuffed hands, the cuffs catching the moonlight for a quick blink of silver, then there was a rustle of leaves and a slapping of branches, and Bill was gone.
'My God,' the deputy said. 'My God. Did you see that thing?'
Jebidiah dismounted, moved to the edge of the road, leading his horse, his gun drawn. The deputy did not dismount. He pulled his pistol and held it, his hands trembling. 'Did you see that?' he said again, and again.
'My eyes are as good as your own,' Jebidiah said. 'I saw it. We'll have to go in and get him.'
'Get him?' the deputy said. 'Why in the name of everything that's holy would we do that? Why would we want to be near that thing? He's probably done what he's done already…. Damn, Reverend. Bill, he's a killer. This is just as good as I might want. I say while the old boy is doing whatever he's doing to that bastard, we ride like the goddamn wind, get on out on the far end of this road where it forks. Gimet is supposed to be only able to go on this stretch, ain't he?'
'That's what Old Timer said. You do as you want. I'm going in after him.'
'Why? You don't even know him.'
'It's not about him,' Jebidiah said.
'Ah, hell. I ain't gonna be shamed.' The deputy swung down from his horse, pointed at the place where Gimet had disappeared with Bill. 'Can we get the horses through there?'
'Think we will have to go around a bit. I discern a path over there.'
'Discern?'
'Recognize. Come on, time is wasting.'
They went back up the road a pace, found a trail that led through the trees. The moon was strong now as all
