Work Text:
Walkin' down the lonesome highway
Met a figure at the crossroads
Some might say he was a devil
Some might think he was an angel
Just ano-
The radio stopped when Pete cut power to the car. He turned to Lynda:
"You wanna get the groceries or pump the gas?"
"I'll do the groceries. You fill the tank." She knew he'd go crazy right now if he had to be stuck inside a building. He'd probably do something like buying cold cuts and mayo with no bread, or four cans of pea soup when they didn't have a can opener.
"Okay. I'll meet you back here."
Pete got out and was at the pump so quickly that it took Lynda a second to realise he'd gone. She hadn't thought he could move that quickly: Before they'd left the house he'd asked and re-asked tonnes of questions to make sure they had everything.
Grabbing her purse, she hopped out of the car as fast as she could; she didn't want Pete to get upset because she was taking too long.
She didn't see the German Shepherd with no tags loping along beside their truck until she nearly stepped on him when she exited.
"Sorry, boy!"
But if he heard her, or was upset about nearly getting stepped on, he made no indication.
*****
Male Human smells fearful. He hastens.
Female Human attends to Male Human with concern. She also hastens, also fearful.
They are bonded, but their fear overcomes their affection. The threat is external, but the bond is in jeopardy, and their poor communication makes them more vulnerable to predators.
They require assistance.
Lynda was crossing the street toward the grocery store, and Pete's attention was focused on the street in both directions. Unseen by either of them, the German Shepherd snuck over to the passenger side of the sedan, reared up on his back legs to shove his forepaw into the latch button, then pushed the door open with his nose and slid into the front of the car. By the time the door had gently shut behind him, the dog had crawled between the bucket seats and lay down in the back.
All Pete noticed, when he was finished pumping the gas, was that the car door was only partially shut. He assumed Lynda hadn't closed it properly when she left - which was his fault for rushing her.
He'd make it up to her, as soon as they were safely away from here.
*****
"Oh, sure, everyone's called me Old Andy ever since grade school. My hair was so blonde it looked white. When I finally went gray, my hair actually got darker!"
"That's quite a story," said Old Andy's passenger. When it was clear the man wasn't going to say anything more than that, Andy said:
"You don't talk much, do ya?"
"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just lost in my thoughts. I did enjoy the story - and I'm wondering what you looked like back then."
"Ha! That's more like it. Yeah, you're a thinker, I can tell. My older brother Michael's a bit like you, except he's not a thinker. He only ever speaks when he's got something to say. Not like me! But he's not really a thinker, like you are, either. Mike's a doer. And I guess that makes me a talker!"
"There's nothing wrong with that. Politicians are talkers. So are comedians."
"I'd rather be the latter than the former, let me tell you!"
"Well, you're halfway there already, Andy. You tell good stories."
"Just about my life."
"Everybody's life is a good story. But it needs the right person to tell it."
Andy was quiet for a moment, thinking about that. The passenger looked away from him and out at the curvy country highway ahead of them. The forest on both sides gradually thinned out, revealing a four-way intersection, and once they'd driven through that the forest grew right back up again. Then they rounded another corner and saw the sign which read:
TRINITY 3km
David had heard of Trinity. Its population was over ten thousand people. The provincial police had a station there. The town had a daily newspaper.
Just when he'd been allowing himself to relax, too.
"Andy, would you please pull over?"
"Sure. What's the matter?"
"I should have said so sooner, but I'm heading North. So I'm going to walk back to that intersection."
"Just on the inside of Trinity is an eatery called Jo's Diner, and there's always someone there from Blasted Oak filling their boots. Blasted Oak is the first town North of here. Now, it just so happens that I'm going to Jo's, for some of her legendary scrambled eggs, so if you stay with me, you're bound to find someone there who'll be happy to take you North with them."
"It sounds nice, but... "
"The eggs are to die for, trust me. Plus a bottomless cup of coffee."
The other man sighed sadly. "If it's all the same to you, Andy, I'd rather just walk."
As he pulled over to the side of the road, Old Andy gave his passenger a long look. He wasn't asking for an explanation, and he knew the stranger wasn't going to offer him one.
The pickup came to a stop on the shoulder. Andy put it in Park.
"My brother Mike's a cop. I can take you straight to him. If you're in any kind of trouble, I'm sure he'd be happy to help."
"Sorry, Andy, but law is exactly the kind of trouble I'm trying to avoid."
"You sure? I'm not going to press you or anything, but my family's always been good judges of character, and you just don't seem the type."
His passenger stepped out, and turned to face him with a full, honest smile. "Thanks for the ride, Andy."
"You're welcome... " and when he paused his eyes twinkled mischievously, because the hitchhiker had never offered his name.
That much the quiet man could give him. "David. My name's David." He held out his hand.
"David," said Old Andy, snatching the man's hand and shaking it like they were dear old friends finally reuniting. "You stay out of trouble, David."
"Thanks, Andy." He hefted his duffel bag over his shoulder. "I'll do my best."
And he meant it, too, one hundred percent. What he left out was that trouble seemed to find him no matter where he went.
Old Andy gave him one last look and nodded, maybe to David, maybe to himself. Then he put the truck back in gear and accelerated onto the road.
David watched the red pickup drive away until it rounded a bend and disappeared behind the trees. He waited a few more seconds, then adjusted the duffel on his shoulder, turned around, and started walking back to the crossroad.
*****
"You missed the turn."
"No, I didn't."
"That was the turn right there!"
"That was the turn?"
"He's right; that was the turn."
Whatever curse Charlie snarled out was lost in the sound of tires squealing as he hit the brakes and did a hard right into the parking lot he'd been about to shoot past. He then slammed the wheel hard to the left, throwing everybody in the car from one side to the other as he narrowly missed hitting an old man. The car made a tight circle in the lot and Charlie aimed it back for the way they'd come in.
There were cars on the street, approaching from both directions, but if Charlie saw them he didn't slow down. Scott and Joey kept their mouths shut; Charlie was already mad enough to drive like a maniac, any angrier and he'd probably smash into someone else on purpose, just to vent his rage.
Where the asphalt at the parking lot's entryway slanted down toward the street, their speeding car left the ground and sailed into the road. The closest car had seen them coming and was already slowing. The other two, in the far lane, were caught completely by surprise, one of them braking so hard it fishtailed 180 degrees, the other swerving into the oncoming lane, saved from head-on collision only by the fact that the other car had already stopped to let Charlie through.
Charlie turned hard to the left again, and the car shot down the street, back toward the road they should have taken.
He took that turn at 60 clicks, and even though his passengers were tossed around some more, they were mostly just relieved that the car hadn't spun out - and that the turn had been a right instead of taking them through more oncoming traffic.
"I'm gonna kill Pete the next time I see him," said Charlie a few moments later. "He shoulda been driving, not me."
Scott and Joey shared the second half of that sentiment, emphatically.
"He was worried about Lynda," Joey said, "what she'd say if she found out it was us who did the robbery."
"How's she gonna find out? We wore masks, right? This isn't our car. The only reason she'd find out is if we got caught, and the only reason we'd get caught would be if we couldn't get out of town fast enough, because he wasn't driving!"
"It wasn't your fault, Charlie. The roads are terrible near the bank; everybody knows that. Even people who've lived in Trinity all their lives wind up in the Industrial Park accidentally."
"Shut up!"
They shut.
Sitting beside him, in the passenger seat, Scott surreptitiously looked down at the pistol tucked into the front of Charlie's jeans. All three of them were carrying guns, because you can't convince tellers to hand over the bank's money without them, but the plan had been to use them as a threat only. Scott knew he couldn't ever shoot a person, and he was pretty sure Joey felt the same, but -
"I'm gonna kill him," Charlie said again.
Scott believed him.
*****
"Are you okay, Pete?"
"Sure, Lynda, I'm fine."
"You just seem like you're in a big hurry, and you've been really quiet."
"I've just got a few things on my mind; that's all." He turned the radio back on, hoping some music would help him relax.
Instead of music there was an emergency news bulletin.
" ... robbed at gunpoint less than half an hour ago. Police believe the car with the three men responsible is still somewhere in the vicinity of Trinity."
It didn't help Pete relax at all.
He snapped off the radio and put more pressure on the accelerator.
"Pete, why are you going so fast?"
"I'm just... real anxious to start our surprise holiday, that's all."
"It's a four-hour drive. We don't need to get there in two hours; I'm sure the campground will still be there. Besides, if we get pulled over for speeding that'll be an even longer delay."
"It's not the police I'm worried about," Pete said softly, barely aware he'd spoken.
"Sorry, I didn't hear that," said Lynda, turning to face him.
That's when she saw the sudden danger coming fast from their left.
"Look out!"
*****
David heard the car approaching behind him from a long way off. The driver was in some kind of huge hurry, so on this road with heavy forest concealing what was around the next bend he decided it would be best to stop walking, step further away from the road, and wait for him to pass.
It took no time at all for the speeding car to appear, and it blew past him as though he wasn't even there. It was going so fast David hadn't even been able to make out how many people were in it, maybe three but he wasn't sure.
He hefted his duffel and started walking again. Then, from up ahead, he heard screeching tires - two sets of screeching tires - followed by the unmistakable sound of two large metal structures crunching against one another at high speed.
He hiked his bag even higher up onto his shoulder and started jogging toward the crash.
*****
Lynda's warning had saved them from serious injury, but even so they were both badly shaken up. Through the cracked windshield Pete saw the front of his car was smashed in so far it was never going to run again. The other car was damaged just as badly. There were three people inside, and the driver looked like -
Oh, no.
"Lynda? Lynda! We've got to go, now."
Lynda shook the cobwebs out of her head - gently, because her ears were ringing a little. "Go? Go where?"
"Out. Out of the car, and then we have to get away from here."
Pete's racing adrenaline was speeding up his recovery, but Lynda was still having trouble getting her bearings. "Pete, it's okay, the other car ran the blinking red light, it's not your fault."
"No, it's not that, it's - "
"WOOF!"
Pete and Lynda both jumped in their seats at the sudden loud bark from behind them. Their heads swam a bit, but at the same time the shock made them more alert.
"Pete... when did you get a dog?"
"I didn't."
Male Human and Female Human are not injured or in distress. Male Human desires urgency.
"Woof!"
"Then whose dog is he?"
"I don't know."
"Woof!"
"He's right; we have to go."
"What do you mean, 'He's right' ?"
The German Shepherd carefully nosed his way between the seats and into the front, ignoring Lynda's protests as he stepped over her legs, grabbed the handle with his teeth, pulled it to unlatch the door, then shoved the door open with his nose and hopped out onto the road.
Lynda turned away from the dog to give Pete a puzzled look. Pete just shrugged.
"Well? The car isn't going anywhere, so... "
"Okay." Lynda followed the dog out. Pete's door was a little bit mangled, but he managed to force it open, and in a moment he was hurrying over to Lynda, who was walking toward the other vehicle.
But Pete didn't want to have anything to do with the people in the other vehicle.
Male Human has fear of the other mobile shelter. He is concerned about safety of Female Human.
The dog padded quickly over to the other car, to get a better sense of what was inside.
Predator! Threat!
Pete reached Lynda and grabbed her arm.
"Pete, what's the matter with you?"
"Woof!"
BANG!
Once again Pete and Lynda were jolted by a sudden loud noise. They could only stare, Pete in fear, Lynda in confusion, at the sight of Charlie stumbling around his open car door with a pistol pointed in the air. He was looking straight at Pete, and there was a big, ugly smile on his face.
Scott and Joey were also getting out of the car. Scott was looking at them, Joey was looking at Charlie. Neither of them looked very happy.
Predator desires to harm Male Human. He has what his species refers to as Gun. Predator's packmates do not desire to harm Male Human and Female Human. One of them fears Predator.
(sniff, sniff)
There is anther creature! Among the trees.
(sniff, sniff)
Human? Not Human. Unknown species.
(sniff, sniff)
Part-Human?
Part... Threat.
But Part-Human is fearful.
"Well," said Charlie, much more loudly than he really needed to, "just when I thought my luck was about as bad as it could be today, suddenly I find a little surprise present for me in the middle of the road - and it's not even my birthday!"
He aimed his gun at Pete's chest.
"How ya doin', Pete?"
Pete took a step sideways, drawing Charlie's aim further away from Lynda.
"Look, Charlie," said Scott, "we already got the cops - "
"Shut up!" Charlie screamed. He whipped around and pointed his gun at Scott for a quick second before quickly returning his attention to Pete.
Scott looked over at Joey, who was finally starting to understand why Scott had been acting so weird since they missed that last turn in Trinity. He didn't know Charlie as well as Scott did - but he was catching up fast.
Joey moved his hand down to his waist, resting it against the handle of his own pistol. "Charlie, put the gun down. We got him. He's not going anywhere."
"Darn right he's not going anywhere," said Charlie. "He's reached the end of the road." His eyebrows lowered as he took careful aim.
Pete and Lynda were frozen in place. Scott turned to Joey, hoping he could do something. Joey wrapped his fingers around his gun, but he couldn't bring himself to draw it.
Imminent attack!
"Police, freeze!"
Charlie turned; the shout had come from the forest behind him. But he didn't see any police, and he didn't see any cop cars. All he could see was -
Some guy in jeans and a denim shirt. A trick!
He swiveled back to Pete. He and Lynda were running for the trees on the other side of the crossroads!
Charlie took careful aim again.
The German Shepherd leapt at him.
BANG!
The dog hit Charlie's arm the same time the gun went off. Pete stumbled and fell forward; Lynda screamed his name. Charlie's gun flew out of his hand, bounced off the asphalt, and clattered under his car. Joey was jolted into drawing his own gun.
Charlie aimed a vicious kick at the dog, but it had moved too far away for him to reach. He pointed to the guy hiding among the trees and shouted at Joey, "Get that guy! He can identify us!"
Joey turned, and saw the stranger for the first time. He started running toward him.
Scott followed quickly behind, desperate to grab any excuse to get away from the intersection. The gun in his waistband was getting in the way, so he drew it and held it tightly in his hand as he ran.
With two armed men racing toward him, David didn't have any choice but to turn and run away through the woods.
Male Human's leg is damaged. Female Human is helping him walk, but their progress is slow.
Predator's gun is under the mobile shelter. His arm is too short to reach it. He smells like rage. He will not hunt Male Human and Female Human until he has the gun.
Predator's packmates are hunting Part-Human and they have guns.
Part-Human requires the most assistance.
With Charlie frantically reaching for his gun under the car, and Lynda supporting Pete as they stumbled into the woods, the German Shepherd left the crossroads, running in the direction where Joey and Scott were chasing David through the forest.
*****
Scott had caught up to Joey. The man they were chasing was making a lot of noise trying to get away, so they knew where he was, and that he was moving about as quickly as they were.
Through panting breaths, Scott asked Joey, "What are we going to do when we catch him?"
"I don't know. Maybe he has a car. We can tie him up and use it to get out of here. The police are still looking for us; they're going to be along any minute."
"So we're not going to kill him?"
"I hope not. But that depends on him."
Scott took a moment to study Joey's face. He was scared, not crazy like Charlie, but he was also determined. He would do what he thought was necessary to get out of this mess.
Scott decided to save his breath for running, and not ask any more questions.
*****
David heard his pursuers crashing through the forest behind him. The ground was uneven and there were many things that could trip him if he wasn't careful, but at the speed the men behind him were coming, he couldn't afford to slow down.
His best bet was to find someplace to hide, where they would run right past him, or maybe he could ambush them. He looked right. He looked left.
He looked down - and just managed to shift his body enough to avoid stepping in a hole deep enough to break his ankle. He stumbled, but kept his eyes on where his feet were landing, and managed to regain his balance without losing too much speed. Then he looked up again
And the low-hanging branch was too close for him to react in time. His forehead smacked into it at full speed, and it knocked him to the forest floor, unconscious.
*****
The dog caught up to the humans easily. They were too tall, not sleek enough, and they only had two legs to run with while maintaining their balance, so they weren't built for running through the woods like he was.
He passed the two pursuers, put on a burst of speed, and reached David just in time to see him crack his head and fall. The dog was standing over him a moment later.
Part-Human is injured but not damaged.
The dog licked his face. Then he barked.
He will not rouse.
The sounds of the two men chasing David were getting closer.
On the other side of David's body the dog noticed there were far fewer trees. He walked over and saw that the ground sloped steeply down to a tiny stream of water.
He could use the water to revive the Human.
He quickly returned to David, crossed over to the other side, bent his head down, got his snout under David's body, and shoved.
David rolled over, onto his stomach.
"Wait, stop!"
"What?"
The dog rolled the Human over again. It was heavy work, and his snout was getting sore.
"Do you hear him?"
"No."
"He must be hiding around here somewhere. Look around."
The dog shoved a third time. It hurt his nose so much he was starting to have trouble breathing. The Human's body rolled once more and came to rest just at the edge of the slope.
"Hey - he's over here! And he's out cold!"
The dog turned around, backed up into the body, and kicked, as though he were digging, with all the force his strong back legs could muster.
The Human tipped over the edge of the slope and started rolling. He rolled completely over once, twice, a third time as he narrowly missed catching his ankles on a sapling, and a fourth time, coming heavily to a stop in the stream.
Face-down in the water.
The dog whimpered.
*****
Cold.
Pain.
Cold.
Flowing cold.
Water.
Head pain.
Face-down, nose pressed into the ground.
Lift head, inhale -
NO! WATER!
Coughing. Head pain.
Water in throat.
Fear.
Coughing.
Trying to rise, head pain, hands slipping, coughing, wheezing -
WATER!
Coughing, head pain, arms sore, water in throat.
Terror.
Coughing, coughing, hands slipping, coughing, voices shouting - chased!
Anger.
Coughing, head pain, coughing, water in lungs, coughing.
Anger!
Splashing, choking, cold water, face in mud, lungs burning, head agony, voices shouting, throat constricting, arms weakening, voices closing -
ANGER!
*****
Doctor David Banner started to Change.
His arms grew stronger. He pushed himself up onto all fours, raised his head, and opened wide his bright, pale, unnatural green eyes.
His arms, chest, and shoulders expanded. The bulging muscles on his back ripped right through his shirt like it was paper.
He lifted himself out of the shallow stream, kneeling in the water. He threw his massive arms out and away from his body, tearing the buttons off the front of his shirt. His skin colour was now a bold green, not as pale as his eyes but every bit as unnatural.
He stood up, taller than he had been, muscular, enormous, and filled with rage.
The Creature turned to the slope, looked up, saw the two men standing at the top of it, and bellowed, long and loud, with a force that shook the branches on the nearby trees.
*****
Scott and Joey had arrived at the top of the slope just in time to see the Creature rise up out of the water.
"What the heck is that thing?
"How should I know?"
When it turned, and saw them, their legs nearly gave out.
Then it voiced its displeasure at them, and although their chests constricted so hard they could barely breathe, their instincts took over, making them do the only thing they could do that might keep them alive.
They turned and ran.
*****
Part-Human is now Not-Human!
Confusion. Fear.
Not-Human notices me!
Not-Human turns away.
I am not Not-Human's prey.
Part-Human's hunters are fleeing. They are no longer threats.
I must return to Male Human and Female Human. Predator may still threaten them. They may require assistance.
*****
As the dog ran back through the forest to the intersection, and Scott and Joey ran anywhere as long as it was far away from the giant green monster, the Creature climbed quickly up the steep slope.
From off in the distance came the sound of a gunshot.
The Creature recognised that sound. The last time he'd heard it, it was made by the man who had made him angry.
With huge, powerful strides the Creature started jogging back toward the sound of the gunshot.
When its head hit the low-hanging tree this time, the Creature didn't even break stride, but the branch snapped like it was a breadstick.
*****
Once she judged they'd gotten far enough into the treeline, Lynda eased Pete down to the ground. Neither of them could continue like this; it caused him agony to move his wounded leg and this made him so heavy she felt like her arm and shoulder were ready to break off and fall to the ground.
She had no idea how long it had taken them to get this far, stumbling the whole way, scared, heads still aching from the car accident, expecting at any moment to hear a gunshot behind them and feel a bullet slam into their backs. It had felt like a very, very long time.
And in that time, she'd made a decision.
She looked around, found a stick long enough and strong enough, but which she could still swing easily, and said to Pete, "I'm going back."
"What? Lynda, you can't!"
"I have to! He's going to reach that gun eventually, and when he does he's going to come after us. We can't outrun him, so our only hope is for me to knock him out before he gets a weapon that's better than mine."
"Lynda - "
"What?" she said, with a look on her face that indicated he'd better have a very good reason for trying to talk her out of it.
He didn't.
"Hurry. Be careful. I love you."
"I love you, too," Lynda said, and gave him a quick kiss before running back through the woods to the intersection, holding her stick, the only advantage she had, tightly in her right hand.
*****
Meanwhile Charlie had finally calmed down enough to think about his situation clearly. He wasn't going to be able to reach his gun with his hand.
But maybe he could reach it with his foot.
He rolled over onto his back and started scraping along the asphalt, moving his ankle back and forth, searching, searching -
Until he hit something.
He slid his foot away, because he didn't want to push it further under the car. He scraped forward another two feet, until his waist was under the front bumper, then he bent his knee, and kicked forward as hard as he could.
His leg hit the gun and sent it skittering out from under the car.
Charlie scrambled to his feet and ran around to where it had stopped. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lynda running toward him, holding some kind of big stick. When she saw him stand up she raised her weapon up and behind her, ready to swing it at him like a baseball bat, but then she noticed the gun and she realised he was going to reach it before she could get close enough to hit him. She turned and tried to run back to the cover of the trees, but Charlie reached his gun and fired into the road at her feet.
BANG!
"Hold it right there, Lynda! I don't want to shoot you, but I will!"
Lynda stopped running, dropped her weapon, and put her hands in the air. She knew Charlie was a good shot; he'd managed to hit Pete at this distance even with his aim thrown off by a leaping dog.
"Stay where you are; don't move." Charlie kept his gun aimed at her back as he slowly walked toward her.
"Pete!" he shouted. "Are you there? I got a gun pointed at your true love! You better come out, you coward, or I'm gonna put a bullet in that pretty face of hers, and then I'm still gonna track you down and give you what you deserve. Your life for hers, Pete, and since I'm such a nice guy I'll make it quick - if you come out now!"
By this time he'd reached Lynda. He shoved her roughly forward, and the two of them started walking toward the tree line.
"Pete was hurt pretty bad," said Lynda. "He might not answer because he's too weak, or even unconscious."
"You better hope he's not," Charlie said. "Because if I haven't seen or heard from him by the time we reach those trees, I'm gonna do exactly what I told him I was gonna do."
He started shouting toward the trees again. "You hear me, Pete? I ain't bluffing! I'm gonna shoot her in the face, and then I'm gonna - "
There was a huge crash from behind them, and the load roar of some creature neither of them had ever heard before.
Charlie and Lynda turned around to see a gigantic green monster burst out of the treeline on the other side of the road. It was still a good distance away, but it was coming toward them - very fast.
Charlie took aim at the creature's chest. Lynda shoved him, trying to knock him to the ground and hopefully disarm him, but Charlie was a very strong man, and he barely lost his balance - although his finger did tighten automatically on the trigger.
BANG!
But the gun was pointed up and sideways, so the bullet sailed harmlessly off into the sky.
Lynda ran as fast as she could for the trees again, deciding that Charlie and the monster could fight it out for now, and she'd worry later about whoever - or whatever - was left standing.
The monster reached the open driver's door of the would-be getaway car. Charlie recovered himself and took aim again.
The monster tore the door off the car, and Charlie's bullet would have hit it square in the chest, but instead the door shielded its body. With a loud PING! and a spark, the projectile deflected harmlessly off the metal. When the monster lifted the door over its head, Charlie was too stunned by its strength to think of firing a second shot. And then it was too late, because the monster hurled the door at him, and Charlie tried to get out of the way but was nowhere near fast enough.
The door smashed into Charlie's body and knocked him flat.
The Creature had avenged itself upon the man who had made it angry. It raised its head to the sky and bellowed once more, in triumph and defiance.
As the sound of its roar echoing back and forth among the trees faded, it was replaced by a new sound, a man-made sound:
Sirens!
The Creature perked up at them. It shook its head violently back and forth, emitted a long, low growl from deep within its massive body, and then turned and jogged back to the trees from which it had come.
Lynda, watching and listening from her own treeline, studied Charlie's unconscious form long enough to reassure herself he wasn't getting up any time soon, then ran to go bring Pete back to the intersection.
*****
"Hey, Joey, you hear those sirens?"
"Oh, no - not the cops!"
"What do you mean, 'Oh no' ? Between Charlie, who's gone mental and started shooting everything in sight, the giant green monster somewhere in these woods, and the police, who would you rather run into right now?"
"Good point - let's follow the sirens."
*****
Predator is unconscious, and the Defender Humans will arrive before he revives.
Not-Human protected Female Human from Predator. Then it ran from the warning call of the Defender Humans' mobile shelter.
(sniff, sniff)
Not-Human is concealed in the trees over there. And it is...
(sniff, sniff)
... Part-Human now? Again?
Confusion.
(sniff, sniff)
Part-Human is in distress.
The dog followed David's scent to his duffel bag.
Soft shell. Humans carry food, their fur, and sometimes shelters in these shells.
He picked it up by the strap.
Heavy. Awkward.
But he was going to be able to carry it to the Human.
*****
David heard something crashing through the brush behind him.
He jumped up, ready to fight or run if he needed to.
But it was just the dog. The one which had knocked the gun out of the shooter's hand at the crossroads.
And he was carrying David's duffel bag.
He couldn't believe it.
On the other hand, if the dog had seen David's Change, he probably hadn't believed that, either.
David quickly walked over to the German Shepherd to relieve him of his burden. "Thanks, boy."
He dropped the bag on a tree stump and opened it, fishing around for another of his dwindling collection of shirts. He put that on quickly, closed up his duffel, hefted the bag onto this shoulder, and nodded his head in the direction of the intersection, where the sound of the sirens had recently stopped.
"Come on - let's go make sure everybody else is okay."
*****
By the time they got back the police had everything under control. There were three police cars and six men in uniform. Two of them were setting up warning flares in all directions, to warn any other vehicles which might be coming toward the intersection. One officer was on his car radio, calling for an ambulance. One was attending to Pete's leg with a first aid kit:
"The bullet's still in there, but it hasn't hit anything vital. Don't put any more weight on it until the paramedics get here. Your leg's going to hurt like crazy for a while after the operation, but you'll be jumping hurdles again in no time."
Another officer was inspecting the still very unconscious Charlie, calling out to the cop at the radio that the would-be bank robber was very banged up, but not in any danger. The two of them paused for a moment to consider the car door beside Charlie's body. It must have been responsible for his injuries, but they had no idea how it could have gotten there.
David knew all too well. Car doors being torn from their hinges was something he was unhappily becoming very familiar with. He looked away and down.
The dog was staring at him.
"What?"
The dog glanced over at the door. Then it looked back to him.
David shrugged.
The dog turned away, and David could have sworn it shrugged, too.
It loped over to Lynda, who was standing near Pete and the cop attending to his leg.
David walked in a different direction, toward the last police officer, who was putting the handcuffed Joey and Scott into the back of his car. Then the cop walked over to a fourth intact vehicle at the intersection, which had arrived right behind the police: a red pickup. Standing beside the truck, grinning at David, was Old Andy.
"Well, hi there, David. I'd like you to meet my brother I told you about. Mike, this is David."
"Pleased to meet you," David said as the cop greeted him with a nod.
"I'm glad you're okay," said Andy. "I was a bit worried about you on the road, the way these maniacs drove out of town. They pulled into the parking lot of Jo's Diner to turn around, and nearly ran me down! I recognised the car and license number from the news report on the radio, so I watched what direction they went in and then called Mike on my CB."
Mike smiled at his brother, "And then, of course, once we were in pursuit, you just couldn't resist following us."
"Well, I had to make sure you were following the right guys!"
David laughed right along with the two brothers. He already knew Andy well enough to know there was no way he was going to miss out on anything exciting going on.
Still laughing, Mike said, "You never know - maybe these aren't the right guys. I think Scott and Joey are trying to get some kind of insanity defense. They were warning me just now about a giant green monster that was chasing them!"
David forced himself to pretend he was still laughing. Mike kept on chuckling, but behind him, unseen by his brother, Old Andy had gone abruptly sober. He glanced at the thrown car door, then his eyes studied David's shirt, which wasn't the same shirt he'd been wearing while riding in Andy's pickup.
"You might be surprised, Mike," Andy said. "Who knows what kind of weird creatures might be prowling the forests along these country roads." He kept his tone light, but he was looking straight at David when he said it.
Oblivious to the wordless conversation taking place around him, Mike laughed even harder than before. "That sounds just like your kind of story, Andy!" He clapped his brother on the shoulder.
"I don't think so. I figure, if there has been some kind of monster or whatever out here this long without anybody knowing about it, well then maybe that's the creature's story to tell, and we should wait 'til it's ready."
Their eyes still locked, David thanked Andy with a short nod of his head.
*****
Meanwhile, Lynda was giving the German Shepherd's head a thorough rubbing. "Thanks, boy. I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but you saved Pete's life."
Pete, sitting on the asphalt with his back against his ruined car, had his head down. He'd been thinking about things, and wasn't happy about how he'd been partially responsible for them. Now he looked up, his eyes wet, and said, in a small voice, "I'm sorry, Lynda. I put you in danger. I should have told you what was going on."
"Yes, you should have. But we'll have time to talk about that while you're getting better."
"Anything you want. I'm not going anywhere."
Lynda smiled and leaned over to kiss Pete on the forehead. "Neither am I."
They stared at each for a long time, both sets of eyes gleaming with love and relief. Neither of them saw the dog leave them alone.
David was walking North, away from the crossroads, away from the crash, away from the aftermath of violence, away from the sound of another approaching siren - an ambulance this time, he supposed - away from the potential of police questions about who he was and what he was doing here...
Away from the people.
Away from Old Andy's easy company and his uplifting stories, away from the young couple who'd been through a horrible ordeal and whose love was now stronger for it, away from the shared laughter of two brothers, each of them a noble soul in his own way, away from the other police officers, good people whose names he didn't know and would never learn.
He reached a bend in the road, where the trees would soon start to block him from view, and he turned one last time to look at all of them.
The dog was walking toward him.
David waited for his fellow traveler to arrive. "Hi, boy. You saved my life back there in the forest, didn't you?"
"Woof!"
"But I bet you never expected what happened next, did you?"
"Grrr... "
"Yeah, well, I'm sorry about that. And listen - thanks."
The dog simply stared at him.
"You're not staying with them, are you?"
The dog gazed over at the intersection. The ambulance had just arrived, its siren now off. Paramedics were hurrying toward the unconscious bank robber and the young man with the injured leg.
Then the dog looked back at David. It blinked.
"No, I didn't think so."
David held out his hand to the dog. "If you want to join me, for a while... "
Part-Human misses his Pack.
Part-Human...
(sniff, sniff)
... grieves.
The dog sauntered over to him, gave his palm two quick licks, and then started walking North, around the bend.
"Okay. I'll carry the duffel."
"Woof!"
And thus, continuing down the road, the two of them, the man and the dog, disappeared behind the trees, out of sight of the people in the intersection, leaving them behind forever.
"So... you know any stories?"
*****
Walkin' down the lonesome highway
Met a figure at the crossroads
Some might say he was a devil
Some might think he was an angel
Just another wand'rin' stranger
Roadside shadow just like me
Walkin' down
Walkin' down
Walkin' down that lonesome highway