“What happened to him?” Bill asked softly.
“He died a few months later in a nursing home,” said Mike, wiping his eye with the back of his hand. “It was easier on my grandmother that way, and she lived several more years. I’m glad she didn’t have to live those years remembering the sound of a gunshot.”
“It was the right thing,” said Bill.
“Well, it worked,” said Mike.
“How do you mean?” asked Bill.
“I’m not tired anymore.” Mike smiled. “A little sad, but not tired at all. You want to go see if anyone’s in there? We could just go up the drive and see if there are any cars in the lot. No harm in that.”
“Yeah,” said Bill. “But hold up that detector. Maybe we can get a more precise fix on its position as we drive up.”
Bill steered and drove slowly as they rolled into the entrance of the facility. He split his attention between the road and watching the device in Mike’s hand. Sweeping gently from side-to-side, Mike pinpointed the direction of the strongest signal.
“No cars,” Bill announced. “Place looks empty.”
“That’s odd,” said Mike.
“Why’s that?”
“No, I mean the device.” He pointed. Bill brought the slow-moving car to a stop to see what Mike referred to. “Even though we’re not moving anymore, I’m not getting a consistent signal,” Mike explained. He swung the device off to the left.
“That’s because it’s moving,” said Bill. He whipped around in his seat and pressed his face against his window, searching in the direction of the signal.
“We’ll turn the car around, jackass,” said Mike. “It’s almost behind us.” Mike pointed the device with one had and reached down for the map with the other.
“Shit,” Bill whispered under his breath as he made a three point turn on the narrow drive. Halfway through the maneuver, he realized that he should have backed up to the road to save time, but by then it was too late. Mike held up the device but dodged and ducked his head to try to see out the window.
“See anything?” asked Bill.
“I can’t see much in the woods,” said Mike. “It’s getting too dark out there.”
With the car turned around, Bill raced to the end of the drive and slowed. “Which way?” he asked.
“Hold on,” said Mike, alternating between scanning with the device and looking down at his map.
“Hurry up,” said Bill, “just make a decision. To the right? It looks like it’s moving south.” Bill reached up and turned on the passenger’s light, mounted under the rear-view mirror.
“Yeah, but that road curves back west. Yeah, go. Right! Go!” urged Mike.
Bill sent gravel flying from his rear tires as he bolted out onto the road. Laying the map down on his lap, Mike reached up and angled the GPS towards himself, so he could compare its display to the map. He had the detector pointed off to the left of their current direction of travel, following the creature.
“You’re gonna take a left in about a quarter mile,” Mike told Bill.
“How fast is it going?” asked Bill. “Any idea?”
“Not yet,” said Mike. “We should get a better idea once we’re going east, but right now the signal hasn’t decreased much, so I’d say it doesn’t have a huge lead.”
Bill stabbed the brakes and then released, preparing for the sharp left. He accelerated down the winding narrow road and the two men bounced over rough pavement. Mike struggled to get a lock on the direction, but the twists in the road made the task nearly impossible.
“Talk to me,” said Bill. “Am I going to fast, too slow, what?”
“I can’t tell,” Mike replied. “Wait, slow down. You’re about to cross another road.”
When the road straightened out and Bill decreased their speed, Mike was able to get a better idea of the creature’s path.
“Which way?” asked Bill, stopping at the intersection.
“Straight. Straight.” Mike pointed. “I think we’re almost caught up, but we’re right on the edge of this page.” He flipped back and forth.
The road widened and featured a dotted yellow line.
“Slow down,” ordered Mike. He pointed the detector past Bill and out his window. “It’s right through those woods, moving the same direction as we are.”
“Let’s get ahead of it,” said Bill, accelerating once again.
“Yeah, good,” said Mike. He shifted in his seat, twisting around to the left as Bill pulled ahead of the signal. Soon Mike had to point the device out the back window to track the strongest signal. “Take your next left,” he said. “I want to get a look at this thing.”
“Can do,” said Bill. He glanced at the GPS for a cue and then took a left turn, moving them in the path of the creature.
“Okay,” said Mike. “Stop here and it should pass by us.”
Bill pulled off the road where a dirt track ran underneath cross-country power lines. He killed the engine so they could hear and Mike climbed out, stretching the detector’s power cord through the car window. Bill pushed his door open, but sat in the seat with his hand on the key.
“Signal’s stronger,” said Mike. “Don’t know the distance…”
“Shhh,” ordered Bill. “I can hear something.”
Mike held his breath and listened. At first, all he could hear were crickets and buzzing insects. The deep blue sky showed the first stars of the evening. Streaks of black painted the dome as bats swooped for mosquitoes. Mike opened his mouth to say that he couldn’t hear anything, but then he heard the first pounding footsteps. He thought it must be same sound that early mammals had heard when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and the sound elicited the same response: he wanted to find a nice deep hole to crawl into.
The pounding drew closer until it approached the opposite side of the road. The footfalls were spaced evenly, but too far apart, as if the creature bounced along in low gravity. Suddenly the footsteps stopped, and Mike counted the seconds reflexively. He made it almost to three Mississippi when the car exploded.
Mike ducked away from the car and brought his arms up to protect his head. The detector pulled free from his hand when it reached the end of its cord. Mike didn’t notice as it tumbled to the ground. He was too busy trying to cover up from the flying debris.
Bill’s voice rescued him from his fugue—“Mike! Get in!”
“What?” he opened his eyes and looked around. From the interior lights of the car and small amount of ambient light from the night sky, Mike surveyed the damage. The back window of Bill’s car had shattered, peppering Mike with glass. Bill’s car now featured a deep dent in the roof. Mike gathered the abused device and piled back into the car.
“What happened?” he asked Bill.
“The thing jumped over the road and landed on my roof,” Bill explained. When Mike closed his door, Bill put the car in gear and whipped it into a u-turn while Mike struggled to buckle his seat belt.
“I was so focused on the readout that I didn’t even see it,” said Mike. “What did it look like?”
“Fucking huge,” said Bill. “Where do I go?”
“Next left,” Mike gathered back up his navigation aids. “Device still works, but it’s a little dinged up.”
“As long as it works,” said Bill.
“Do you think it knew we were chasing it?” asked Mike.