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“You want to see your first dead body.”
“No, I want to find a man who I’m sure is out here, murdered.”
“You mean he didn’t just abandon his vehicle with the keys on the seat? Isn’t that what you told his girlfriend?”
A grumble that I now realize is the voice of the younger deputy sheriff, Coleman. It’s the police, out looking for Liam’s body.
Shit.
Yes, being found by his killers would be worse, but this is equally dangerous.
I take one step backward. Then another. I’m in the middle of a third step when the flashlight beam swings my way, a voice saying, “Did you see that?”
I crouch there, holding my breath as the beam cuts a swath through the darkness.
“Something moved,” Coleman says.
“Mmm, yeah. See, the thing is, city boy, that this ain’t the city. Whole lotta stuff moves in these swamps, and the only real question is whether you can eat it... or it can eat you. Which is—may I repeat—why we shouldn’t be out here. They’ll send dogs in the morning.”
“What if the body isn’t here in the morning? What if an alligator or a wild boar hauls it away?”
The older deputy—Mazur—gives a deep sigh.
“What?” Officer Coleman says. “Didn’t you just remind me there are things out here that eat people?”
As they talk, I creep backward. My shoe slips off a fallen log, thumping into a puddle.
“There!” Coleman says. “You heard that, right?”
“Son, did I mention how many critters live out here? I’m humoring you, because you’re a good kid and I hate to squash your enthusiasm, but we need to get our asses back to the station before they need to send dogs looking for us.”
“I just want to check this out.”
Another sigh, but the older deputy doesn’t stop him. I look around wildly. There’s thick vegetation to my left. I start over there, but with each step, my shoe squelches, and I know I’m leaving a trail. Also, I can’t see. I can only make out dim shapes and—
I stumble over another fallen branch and look down—
The branch has five fingers, curled inward. It’s Liam’s outstretched arm.
My chest seizes, panic burbling, the deputies heading my way as I stand beside Liam’s dead body.
One of them spots me and crashes through the undergrowth. I wheel to run even as my brain screams that this is the worst possible idea. Stand my ground. That’s the best course. The only course. Pretend I just found him now and pray for the best. I didn’t kill Liam, so there’s no reason to run, and I’ll only make things worse.
All that goes through my head... as I run. My brain screams instructions, logical instructions, and my legs do their own thing, brain drowned out by instinct. I get three steps before my brain shouts fresh information, information that my body actually hears.
The crashing isn’t coming my way.
“Get the hell back here!” the older deputy bellows.
“He’s running!” the younger one replies.
“Who? The dead guy? Get the hell back—”
A squeal sounds. The squeal of a very angry opossum. The deputies’ voices grow incoherent with distance. I freeze there, waiting to be absolutely certain they’re gone before I—
Mud squelches behind me. I spin, fists going up, but before I see more than a shape, a hand slaps over my mouth. I swing, my fist hitting just as I see Tom’s face, his mouth opening in a hissed, “It’s me.”
Or that’s what I think he was about to say. A fist to the jaw knocks his words away. He staggers and reaches out to steady himself on my arm, but I step away. I stand there, silent, as he recovers and glowers at me.
