“Thanks a lot, man,” he responded, and plunked down next to him in the booth.
The thing pretending to be a naturalist leaned across the table and whispered to her. “You won’t believe what happened. I never should have doubted you!”
She listened, half-dumbfounded by Noah’s behavior and half trying to figure out how she could make it out to the Jeep to grab the backpack and the weapon.
“Steve” continued talking. “So last night, after I dropped you off, I kept on toward Missoula. I wasn’t two miles away when all of a sudden I see this dark shape standing at the edge of the treeline. At first it’s upright, like the shadow of a man just at the edge of the road. Then, as I get a little closer, it drops down on all fours. My headlights lit it up. It charged straight for my car.”
He fell silent and glanced around at the other tables to see if anyone was listening. They weren’t. Above him the speaker piped out a sad ballad about a dejected man who would do anything to get his lady back. Madeline was beginning to notice a pattern.
“It rammed into my car. Full tilt. Smash. Completely creamed the driver’s side. I swerved off the road and into a ditch. The thing came around and opened the passenger door, started climbing in. It was terrifying: absolutely inky black and featureless, more like a shadow than a living thing. But it had eyes-I’ll never forget them; huge red saucer eyes-and a mouth full of pointed teeth. It tore a huge gash in my leg.
“I pulled out my shotgun and shot it. Two times at point-blank range. Right in the head and chest. It let out this howl and flew back into the ditch. I reloaded, hit it again. I tried to get out of my side of the car but couldn’t. I could already smell gas spilling out, so I quickly climbed out of the passenger side.” He looked around again. No one was even glancing over at them. “And can you believe that thing started to get up? I reloaded and fired the rest of my rounds into its chest and ran like hell.”
She watched him as he talked. His voice, mannerisms, eyes, all seemed like Steve. She hadn’t known the naturalist for very long, but even still, she’d felt a kinship with him. They read the same books. Had similar interests and beliefs. Some people you just liked right away and felt a strong connection to. Steve had been one of those people. Suddenly she was starting to have doubts that this was in fact the creature.
“It’s got to be the same thing you saw, right?”
She didn’t answer.
He continued. “I hiked for a long time, my leg killing me, and eventually reached this ranger’s residence. We radioed for backup. But when we got back there, my car had exploded and burned through a meadow on the side of the road. There was no sign of the creature. No body. No remains. Just the smoldering meadow and strewn car parts.”
She looked at Noah, who was listening intently to the ranger. “What happened then?” he asked.
Steve shrugged. “An EMT fixed my leg. I got stitches and some codeine. Went back to my cabin.” He regarded Madeline intently. “And regretted not doing more to help you,” he added.
“You were plenty of help,” she said, leaning even more toward believing him.
“Why didn’t you get the hell away from here?” Steve asked.
She stared at Noah. “I thought I could help,” she said finally. Reaching across the table, she squeezed Noah’s hand. He seemed surprised, but then he squeezed her hand back.
She suddenly thought of a way she could know for sure. She looked uncertainly across the table at the naturalist. “Could I see where it scratched you?” she asked.
Steve raised his eyebrows in shock. “Well, I wouldn’t call it ‘scratched,’ more like ‘took a chunk out of my leg.’ What, are you into the gory stuff? Shark victims, bear attacks, that kind of thing?”
She shook her head. “It would just put my mind to rest about something.” If this was actually Steve, then the wound would still look fresh.
Steve shrugged. “Okay,” he said finally. “But you probably want to finish your dinner first.”
Just then the waitress approached and set a steaming cup of coffee in front of Steve. “Just want to sit here, hon?”
“Sure,” he said, then looked at Noah and Madeline. “If that’s okay with you two.”
“Oh, perfectly,” Noah said, trying to make him feel at ease.
Madeline found she couldn’t eat another bite of omelet until she knew for sure if the person at their table was her new friend or her relentless pursuer.
At her insistence, the three of them went out to the parking lot. Steve wore the kind of pants that zipped off into shorts, and he zipped off the bottom half of the left pant leg. Pulling the leg up, he revealed a blood-soaked bandage covering his thigh. Gently he peeled away the white first aid tape on one side and revealed a hideously long gash in his thigh. Brown stitches, over thirty total, ran the course of the wound, which seeped blood at the edges.
Gasping, Madeline took in the severity of the wound, sucking in breath and wincing.
Noah gave a long, low whistle.
“Satisfied?” Steve asked, grimacing as he replaced the bandage.
Noah nodded.
Madeline still wasn’t sure. She guessed it could fake a wound, too. She said, “Now give me something personal.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Like your watch or a piece of jewelry.”
“What, are you robbing me now, too?”
“Seriously.”
After a pause, during which he scrutinized her, he said, “Okay.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a half dollar. “My grandpa gave it to me. Good luck charm.”
She grasped the coin tightly and let images come to her.
An older man with a kind face sitting in a blanket-covered chair telling a story…
Steve and the woman she’d seen before in the vision from his couch, kissing passionately…
Steve hiking along a road in the dark, leg in agony…
Steve arriving back at the scene of the fire with backup…
This was Steve. She handed the coin back.
“Mind telling me why that was necessary?”
“The creature can-” Madeline began, but was cut off by Noah.
“The creature’s scratches can be poisonous. But it doesn’t look like he infected you.”
Madeline looked at Noah in bewilderment.
Steve sighed. “Well, big thanks for small miracles.” Then he looked at Madeline with concern. “But that thing-twelve rounds right into his chest and head. No effect but to stun him. You need to get away from here, Madeline. Get in your car right now and get the hell away.”
His words chilled her as the three stood out in the shadowed parking lot. Once again she felt vulnerable, uncertain. Ironically, thinking the creature was right there in the diner with them had almost been preferable to having no idea where it actually was. It could be waiting anywhere, hoping to catch her alone. She shuddered against the chill of the evening.
“Let’s get back inside,” she said.
The other two nodded, and they turned their backs to the night, returning to the diner and its cheerful plastic flowers.
Their food had gone cold.
After they ate, and after much debate in the parking lot, Steve went back to his cabin, and Noah and Madeline returned to their own. Noah had tried to convince Steve not to get involved, though the ranger was already in it to some extent, as he had to write up a report about his car. “The other rangers seemed to think it was a grizzly,” he had explained. “They’ve been known to take a gunshot and keep moving.”
“What do you think?” Noah had asked, keeping mum about the true nature of the creature.
Steve had shaken his head. “I don’t know. But whatever it is, it’s no damn grizzly. It’s something otherworldly. And something lethal.”
Noah had nodded, and Madeline and he said no more. Steve said some armed rangers were doing sweeps of the area to see what they could turn up.