“The rules are that you’re not supposed to be out after dark,” Hutch replied, suppressing a yawn. “I’m just making sure that you’re safe.”
“But then who will protect you when you’re back on your own?” Roxie asked. “This just becomes a never-ending cycle.”
Hutch pointed at me. “Mara will keep an eye on me.”
“I’m like a neighborhood watch here,” I replied dryly.
“See?” Hutch asked, but Roxie just shook her head and started walking.
Since I’d agreed to watch Hutch for safety, I kept my post at the open door and watched as they walked across the campsite. Besides, my stomach had started to sour, twisting and turning inside me, and I didn’t feel like I could just go back inside and sit down.
Hutch stumbled once, tripping on a divot in the grass, but Roxie caught his arm and steadied him. When they reached Roxie’s Airstream, she stopped just outside the front door and turned back to talk to him. I could hear their voices, but they were too far away for me to understand what they were saying.
Behind Roxie, her motorhome rocked so subtly I wasn’t sure that anything had happened at first. Then it happened again, jerking more forcefully, and the trailer creaked audibly.
Hutch grabbed Roxie’s arm and they both stepped back from the motorhome. Roxie glanced around, probably checking to see if any of the other trailers were moving, but they weren’t. Something was happening inside her trailer.
Then I saw a rustle in the window above her bedroom. A curtain moved, blowing out through broken glass.
“Roxie, Hutch!” I shouted. “Get away from there!”
They both turned to run away, but it was too late.
A dark blur of teeth dove out the broken window. It landed right on Hutch, knocking him to the ground and choking the scream that had started escaping from his lips. There was the awful sickening sound of ripping flesh and gnashing teeth.
Roxie faced the creature, holding her palms out toward it, and two fireballs burst out from her hands. One was small and orange—a pitiful shell of what Roxie was usually capable of with her pyro—but the other was a large, blue ball that flew right at the animal.
That was enough to frighten the thing, and it disappeared into the protection of the swamp behind the campsite.
37. justice
The air around Roxie’s trailer still smelled of sulfur and blood.
Inside, it was a mess. Broken glass, shredded cushions, even some of the pictures on the wall had been torn up. Roxie was still at the hospital with Hutch, so my plan had been to clean up the trailer before she came back.
“This is … bad,” Luka said, echoing my thoughts.
He stood behind me with a garbage bag, but this was far more than just picking up trash. Cupboard doors had been ripped off their hinges. Costumes had been shredded, so glitter and sequins covered everything.
“She’s not gonna be able to sleep in here for a while,” I said.
“She can stay with me and…” Luka trailed off, choking back Hutch’s name. “He’ll be okay, right?”
My thoughts flashed to this morning, to Hutch lying facedown in the grass. His back had been covered in blood, and his left shoulder appeared to be missing a chunk of flesh and muscle. I’d wrapped him in the old quilt, trying to hold his body together.
Roxie and I tried to help Hutch to his feet, and he’d only groaned at first. He made a few attempts at words, but they sounded like nonsense. We’d half-walked him, half-carried him to Roxie’s truck and loaded him in.
“Do you think that was the bear from my dreams?” Hutch asked before Roxie sped off, taking him to the hospital.
“Yeah,” I told Luka now. “I think he’ll be okay.”
“What the hell kind of animal does this?” Luka asked, gesturing to the mess around us. “What was it even after? There’s hardly any food in here.”
Our conversation was interrupted by the loud wailing of sirens. I peered out the broken window above Roxie’s bed. It was just after eight in the morning, and the sun was already blazing down on us, and the air was thick with humidity and mosquitoes.
Everyone in the camp was already awake, thanks to the attack on Hutch just before dawn. Gideon had come out, shotgun in hand, and while Roxie and I had gotten Hutch up and out of here, Gideon had been patrolling the area for whatever had attacked Hutch.
He’d come back an hour later with nothing to show for his search and told everyone to go about their business. There had been some grumblings that something else should be done, but with Hutch at the hospital and the animal/creature/thing gone, there wasn’t much that could be done.