Chapter Twelve
JAMIE
I decide to break camp after dinner. I can’t stay the night. My head’s all a jumble with thoughts about Hazel and I can barely think straight. I need to see her. While my dinner’s cooking, I use the time to pack everything away. Once the truck is loaded, I sit down and eat next to the fire.
I’ve been thinking about Hazel nonstop since I got up this morning. Just thinking her name makes me smile. There’s something special about her—no doubt about that, and I’d like to spend more time with her, starting right away if she’ll let me.
The full moon rises over the lake like a beacon, overpowering the light from the fire. I pour the contents of my kettle over the flames, careful to rake through the embers to be sure it’s out, before I secure the last of my camping supplies into a bin in the back of my truck.
A rustling sound to my left gets my attention. I turn and watch for movement and finally see something shiny hiding in the trees. The hair on my neck and arms stands at attention. Something’s watching me. And it feels all kinds of wrong.
“Hello?” I move my hand slowly to the opposite side of the truck bed until my fingers wrap around my wooden walking stick. I don’t have any real weapons out here, and my knife is packed away. I lift the stick out of the truck and turn toward the trees, holding it like a bat.
The shiny thing moves as I move, facing me no matter which way I turn. A soft purring sound emanates from the shadows and I wonder if it’s a mountain lion.
“All right. Come out if you’re coming.” I make my voice as big and as low as I can, hoping I’ll scare it away.
When it charges me, I can barely track its movement. It’s about the size of a Rottweiler dog and it comes at me like a shiny missile. It pounces on my chest. I’m thrown off my feet. I drop my stick and land on my back with the thing on me.
It’s like a giant lizard with huge golden eyes.
I grab hold of it but the skin is smooth and it seems to wriggle out of my hands every time.
It whips its long tail around and I run my hands over it as it passes.
It has some kind of spike on the end that makes it easy to hold.
I pull on the tail, trying to force the thing off me.
The creature shrieks and claws, tearing through my abdomen and my side. When it sees my blood, it clamps a mouth down on me, sucking my skin.
“Fuck!” The cuts hurt, and I know that I’m bleeding, but the creature’s saliva is like fire on my broken skin.
Another creature crashes through the trees, this one much, much larger, though I can’t tell what it is since it’s staying under cover of shadow.
The new arrival shrieks and the creature that’s attacking me freezes for a second before darting away.
I lay still for a moment, listening for more animals, but it sounds like the larger one was chasing the smaller one and wants nothing to do with me.
I move to my truck, and slide into the driver’s seat and realize my keys are no longer in my pocket. They must have fallen out when I fell. The pain is unreal, and I am losing a lot of blood. I need to get out of here and to the hospital quick.
I slide out of the driver’s seat and hobble to the back of the truck, searching for my keys in the moonlight.
The campsite is empty from me clearing it out, but the creature must have jumped through the fire pit as it left.
Smoking embers and charred wood bits litter the ground.
I get on my hands and knees, holding my abdomen while I try to search for my keys through the mess.
It’s too much. I have no energy. I have to take a break.
I roll onto my back and try to get a look at my injuries. My clothes are black with soot from rifling through the scattered embers. When I bring my hands up, they are dripping with blood.