5/2 14:24

The front door of the barn swung open and a great cloud of flies came pouring out; a nauseating stench of rot and blood flooded the air. A flashlight lit up the corner of a wall, and there before Kevin and Hugo was a heap of shredded meat and blood pooled across the floor — cattle hooves, chunks of flesh, and mixed in among them, a scrap of the plaid shirt Cooper always wore. A few cows that had escaped the slaughter bawled without pause at the sight of light spilling through the open door. The barn's back door stood open too, faint gray daylight filtering in down the length of the corridor, where a thick reddish-brown streak ran straight down the middle of it, vanishing into the muddy bank outside the back door — only a groove leading down into the river water.

"What in the hell is that—" Hugo pulled off his hat, his mouth hanging open, unable to close it for a long moment.

"With all due respect, are we still looking for this Cooper guy?"

"Given the lights, the TV left on, all of it — I'm not feeling too optimistic."

They stepped very carefully into the barn and looked around for a while, but it wasn't long before the thick stench of blood drove them back out.

"I told you! I wasn't seeing things, it's got to be a giant alligator! We have to go warn everyone!" Kevin said.

"Too late for that — the thing's already back in the river, and anyone near the riverbank is in danger."

"So what do we do? Run for it first?"

"I remember the reserve warden keeps a big-caliber, high-penetration gun."

"You want to kill that thing?"

"No, I just think we ought to have some kind of real weapon to defend ourselves. You want to face that thing down with this little popgun?"

"What if we run into it on the way there?"

"Then I guess that's just bad luck for us."

"Forget it, I just want to get out of here fast."

"We get the gun, then head upriver for the state line, and just leave Meuse Town behind, straight out."

"That plan doesn't sound half bad."

"You think we've got a choice?"

They climbed into the cruiser one after the other. Far off, the sky had gone pitch black, lightning flickering ceaselessly between the clouds, and yet not a single peal of thunder sounded.