"Holy c.r.a.p." The words popped out of him unbidden. "A f.u.c.king werewolf."

The creature bared its fangs and snarled.

Shane staggered backward, stumbled over a rock, and collided with a tree. He leaned against the tree while the creature slowly approached. He knew he should run, but at the moment the whole of his mental and physical resources were occupied with the task of keeping him upright. But he was failing even at that-his legs shook beyond his ability to control, and he began to slide down the tree. As the creature got closer, he discerned a splash of fresh blood in its fur. Shane thought immediately of the mystery woman and figured her goose was cooked.

As was his own, he realized.

The creature loomed over Shane now, causing his nose

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to wrinkle at its horrid breath. The thing smelled as if it gargled with raw sewage. He stared up at its long snout, wincing as huge droplets of saliva splashed on his face. The teeth, of which there were so many, looked like rows of jagged knives. Its yellow eyes glowed faintly in the dark. Shane mumbled a genuinely contrite prayer as the beast slowly lowered its ma.s.sive head toward his throat.

Then deliverance seemed to arrive in the form of Karen's nearby voice. Funny, now it sounded like the voice of an angel. An angel of mercy. The creature's head jerked around at the sound of approaching footsteps.

A voice whispered in Shane's head: Run, dummy.

He had to do it. This moment of distraction might be the only chance he got to redeem himself. Suddenly full of religion, he swore to G.o.d he would be a better human being if only He got him out of this. Not only that, he would do his d.a.m.nedest to make amends with Karen, who really wasn't so bad a chick at all, and- "SHANE!" Karen was closer than ever.

There were other voices, too.

Her friends, admonishing her to be careful and slow down.

f.u.c.k that.

This was it, baby, movie hero time.

Shane felt the strength and power return to his athlete's body, slamming back into him like a dose of lightning. He got to his feet and charged past the startled creature, running for daylight-figuratively, this being night-just like his glory days on the gridiron. He felt a moment of pure triumph and laughed, knowing he had won.

But then the beast was upon him.

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Slashing and drawing blood. The ground rushed toward him. There was a thud. Everything went black.

Dream recoiled as Karen screamed and launched herself off the ground. She backed into Chad, who grunted and gripped her shoulder to stop her. Alicia swept past her and approached Karen, who was wild-eyed and on the verge of hyperventilating. Dream was shocked by the sight of her disheveled and obviously terrified friend.

Alicia laid a tentative hand on Karen's shoulder. "Hey, girl, calm down. Take a deep breath and tell me what happened here. You see your man out here?"

"No." Karen started backing away from them. "You heard the scream. Something happened to him." A note of pleading entered her voice. "We've got to find him." She sobbed. "You've got to help me."

Alicia gripped her shoulder tighter. "Whoa, hold on. We heard the scream, sure, but I'll tell you right now that wasn't Shane Wallace."

"It was obviously the sound of a female in distress," Chad chimed in.

Alicia's gaze never wavered from Karen. "Much as it pains me to agree with d.i.c.khead here, he's right. The boy wouldn't acknowledge pain that way. He'd be cursing up a storm."

"The forest primeval would resound with *f.u.c.kers,' *motherf.u.c.kers.' and all the usual variations thereof," Chad added.

This did little to calm Karen. "But you didn't see that... that thing."

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Alicia frowned. "What are you talking about, sweetie?"

Agitation showed in Karen's restless eyes. "I tripped over a rock." She pointed to a spot near Dream and Chad. They were standing in a small circle of moonlight between the trees, a s.p.a.ce just large enough to qualify as a clearing. "Knocked myself woozy. I wasn't out, but everything went fuzzy for a minute. There was... something. Something big." Terror edged back into her voice as she described what happened. "Something that wasn't a man. Something that wasn't even human. But it walked on two legs like a man. It was ... it was ..."

She started to sob again.

Chad quietly hummed the familiar notes of the X-Files theme.

Dream successfully resisted an impulse to ram an elbow into his stomach, but she wrenched her shoulder free of his grip and approached the other women. "Karen, what did this thing look like?"

Chad snorted. "You can't be taking her seriously."

Alicia said, "Ignore him."

Frustration showed in Karen's eyes. "I don't know. I didn't see it so much as sense it." She sniffled. "Everything was shadows, shapes. But I could feel it standing over me. I could sense how big it was. And I could smell its breath. Oh, G.o.d ..." She put a hand to her mouth. "I can't tell you how awful that smell was."

They all heard Chad's exaggerated sigh. "Oh, Christ. So what we're really talking about here is a tall hermit who hasn't brushed his teeth in ten years. A deranged former Harlem Globetrotter, maybe. But we're certainly not talking

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about, what, a monster?" He sneered at them. "Karen, do you realize how insane that sounds?"

Dream breathed a weary sigh. "You're neither needed nor wanted here, Chad. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you'd go back to the car and wait while we sort things out with Karen." An alien flicker of cruelty stirred within her, causing her to speak before she could reconsider the harshness of her words. "You heartless piece of s.h.i.t. Somehow you got to be as ugly inside as you are outside."

Dream winced at the sharp intake of breath from Alicia. She was instantly horrified at the sound of her own voice. That wasn't her speaking those hurtful, terrible words. It couldn't be. And, oh, how the tables had suddenly turned. A tide of shame welled within her. "I'm sorry, Chad."

But the damage had been done.

Chad looked away from her. His chin trembled. "See, girls. Maybe this is why I've spurned her all these years, the monster lurking beneath the pretty exterior. Maybe I knew it was there all along." His voice broke. "Good-bye, Dream. I'm out of here."

He spun around, stepped back through the line of trees, and disappeared from view.

Dream's heart lurched. "Chad-"

"Let him go." Alicia's voice was stern. "The sheer quant.i.ty of dysfunction is making me dizzy. He's been goading you all night. You snapped and said something out of character. Let it go at that. We've more important things to tend to."

Dream met Alicia's unwavering gaze, derived some strength from it, and nodded. "Okay, what now?"

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"We find Shane." Karen's voice was insistent, rife with impatience. "He could be hurt. He could be dead."

She made a move to plunge again into the gloom, but Alicia restrained her. "Hold on. Let's do this right this time. There a flashlight in your car, Dream?"

Dream nodded. "In the glove compartment."

"Go get it, girl." Alicia held Karen's gaze. "We'll go find your man when she gets back, okay?"

Dream moved in the direction of the road.

Karen said, "Wait!"

Dream hesitated, glancing first at Alicia then meeting Karen's gaze. "Yes?"

"Shane didn't want anyone to know, but there's a gun in his bag. A Glock." The admission seemed to pain her. "I don't care what Chad says, there's something out here." She swallowed hard. "You should get the gun."

Dream looked at Alicia. "I don't know anything about guns."

Alicia shrugged. "s.h.i.t, I sure don't." There was a new hint of nervousness in her voice. "And I'm not sure we should be f.u.c.king around with firearms anyway."

Karen said, "Shane took me to the shooting range." She was trying to sound confident, but her voice was still all ragged edges. "I know how to use it."

Dream said, "I'll look for it."

But she thought, And I'll leave the G.o.dd.a.m.n thing right where it is.

She decided to keep the sudden flare of anger she felt toward Shane to herself. The son of a b.i.t.c.h had transported a firearm over several state lines.

In her car!

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Karen said, "Thank you."

Dream moved again toward the road, but pulled up short when she heard Alicia say, "Hey... hear that?"

Dream frowned, and listened. "What? I-"

Alicia made a low shushing noise. "Listen!"

There was a moment of absolute stillness.

Then they heard it.

The sound of something approaching from deeper within the woods. Dream was suddenly very afraid. The rational part of her understood what they were hearing was probably just Shane finally returning from whatever he'd been doing-Dream had a strange, almost extrasensory inkling about that-but she was surprised to find a part of herself suddenly buying Karen's giant monster story. The now significantly louder approach of lumbering footsteps filled her with dread. Her imagination supplied a very vivid image of some horror-movie abomination emerging from the darkness to eat them alive.

Something was flailing about out there. Something very clumsy, to judge from the sound of it. Then Dream detected another sound. She couldn't quite make it out. It could have been a moan, or a low growl-the kind of sound a monster might make.

A nearby snapping of twigs made them all flinch.

Dream gasped.

It was even closer than she'd thought.

Run! her mind implored her.

Her feet managed a backward a step or two before the presence finally emerged from the darkness and into the little clearing.

It was Shane.

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Only, he was nearly impossible to recognize. He was covered in blood, and his clothes were shredded rags. He staggered toward them, his mouth opening as he attempted to tell them something, but blood burbled out instead. He took one more unsteady step, wobbled, and crashed to the ground.