The Bodies Left Behind

knocked out a molar. She began choking on the tooth and the blood. Tears flowed and she couldn’t see the road any longer.
    Wiping her eyes, Brynn managed to hawk up the tooth and spit it out, coughing hard on the blood, which spattered the steering wheel, slippery as oil. She lost her grip and didn’t make a curve. The car, going about thirty-five, dove off the edge and started down the steep rocky hill toward the lake.
    She flew out of her seat, her feet nowhere near the brakes, as the Honda rolled backward down the cliff. It dropped about six feet and the trunk slammed onto a shelf of limestone, hood pointed straight up in the air. The gun hit her in the ear.
    The car balanced for a moment, with Brynn sprawledacross the backs of the two front seats. Then, with the utmost leisure, the Honda continued to topple, belly flopping upside down into the lake. The car filled instantly with dark water as it sank. Brynn, stunned, was snagged beneath the steering wheel.
    She screamed as the frigid water embraced her body, swatting her hands in panic. She called out, “Joey, Joey.”
    And inhaled a breath that began as air and ended as water.

    “WELL, WE’RE FUCKED, ” Lewis said. “Oh, man. She was a cop.”
    “Don’t panic.”
    “The fuck you talking about? She was a cop, Hart. You get your head around that? There could be a dozen of ’em in the woods. We’ve gotta leave, my friend. Leave! ”
    Breathing hard from the run, the men had slowed and were walking through the dense woodland, toward where they’d seen the car go off the road after Lewis had sent a load of shot into the driver’s side. They moved carefully, looking around like soldiers on patrol. They had no idea if the woman was out of commission from the crash or was in hiding, waiting for them.
    And they couldn’t forget about Michelle either, who might’ve been drawn out of hiding by the ruckus.
    “She wasn’t in a cruiser. And she wasn’t in a uniform jacket.”
    Lewis scrunched his face up skeptically. “I didn’t see what she was wearing underneath. I was a little busy.” Again sarcastic. “And I’m not panicking.”
    “I’ll bet she was probably off duty and came up here to check out that nine-one-one. Didn’t get the message it was a false alarm.”
    Lewis snickered. “You say she wasn’t on duty, my friend. But she was on enough duty to nearly blow your fucking head off.” He said this as if he’d won an argument.
    Your head too, Hart corrected silently. He said, “A lot of cops have to carry their pieces. All the time. Regulation.”
    “I know that.” Lewis gazed at the lake. “I heard the bang, you know. Like a crash. But I wasn’t sure if there was a splash.”
    “I couldn’t hear it go in the water.” Hart nodded toward the Winchester and tapped his ear. “Loud. I don’t usually use shotguns.”
    “You oughta learn ’em, boy. The weapon of choice. Nothing like a scattergun. Scares the shit out of folks.”
    Weapon of choice.
    Crouching, they continued walking slowly. In this morass of trees and tangled brush Hart grew disoriented. They could see the road but he now had no idea where the car had gone over the side. With every step, it seemed, the vista changed.
    Lewis paused, rubbed his neck.
    Hart looked him over. “You hit?”
    “Nope. Right as rain. I dodged in time. I can sense when bullets’re coming. Like in The Matrix. Now, that was a good flick. I have the whole set. You see it?”
    Hart had no idea what he was talking about. “No.”
    “Jesus. You don’t get out much, do you?”
    A crinkle in the bushes nearby.
    Lewis swung the shotgun toward the sound.
    Something low was in the grass nearby, moving fast. Badger or coyote. Maybe a dog. Lewis aimed for it, clicked the safety off.
    “No, no, no . . . Give ourselves away.”
    And you never shoot anything you don’t have to . . . human or animal. Who the hell was this boy?
    Lewis muttered, “We take it out, whatever the fuck it is, it won’t spook us anymore.”
    You’re spooked; I’m not. Hart picked up a rock and flung it nearby. The animal, an indistinct shadow, moved off.
    But it moved off slowly. As if the men weren’t worth bothering about. Crouching, Hart saw a few paw prints in the mud. Not normally superstitious, he couldn’t help thinking that the prints were a warning sign of sorts. Telling them that they’d strolled casually into a very different universe from what they were used to. This is my world, the creature who’d