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"Nineteen forty-four, forty-five. "
"You were in the war?" He didn't look that old.
"Lied about my age. Dumbest thing I ever did. "
"What happened?" Grace asked.
"We won," the doctor answered drily.
Grace's mouth curved; she always appreciated well-timed sarcasm. "I meant, what did you see there that reminded you of - ?" She waved vaguely in the direction of the body.
"It was so long ago, sometimes I'm able to convince myself I imagined it. "
He paused, rubbing between his eyes as if a headache pounded. I didn't think we were going to like what he had to say, but then, I hadn't liked much of what anyone had said lately.
Doc dropped his hand. "I was a paratrooper. "
"Like Band of Brothers?"
"Pretty much. They dumped us behind the lines in France while the others came in from the sea. I wouldn't have wanted to have been them, though floating through the air between the bombs and the gunfire wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. "
"I bet not. "
"Once we landed, we were supposed to meet up with our unit and head east, liberating towns as we went. I'm not going to go over how long it took or how many we lost in the air and on the ground, but eventually we crossed into Germany. "
"And then?" Grace asked.
"Then some weird things started to happen. There were wolves everywhere. Hundreds of them. "
"Why is that so weird?" I asked. "Isn't the Black Forest - home of Grimms' fairy tales and a whole lot of wolves - in Germany?"
"Problem is, we weren't in the Black Forest and these wolves weren't exactly wolves. "
"How can wolves not be wolves?"
"These were smarter than the average beast. They herded us, stalked us, followed us for miles and miles. They seemed to know what we were going to do, as if they'd been listening to our conversations and understanding them. And when they killed us. . . some of us didn't stay dead. "
I glanced at Josh, then quickly away. "You know how crazy that sounds?"
"Why do you think I never told anyone about it before?"
"When you say they didn't stay dead. . . " I began.
"They were attacked, throats ripped out, and then they healed all their wounds and walked away. "
That sounded far too familiar.
"You never saw them again?" I asked.
He went silent, staring at his feet.
"Doc?" Grace pressed.
"I saw them again. " He lifted his head. "As wolves. "
I discovered I'd inched away from the door and closer to Grace and Doc Bill. I was having a hard time catching my breath.
"Doc," I managed. "What are you saying?"
