Free Torrent by Lindsay Buroker

around attacking people. The officer veered toward Simon—he’d stepped outside first. They spoke quietly, and Simon pointed into the woods where the first two people had… disappeared.
    I stood back and shivered. The air felt about thirty degrees colder than when we’d first driven into the campground that evening. The screams had stopped, and I didn’t hear any more thrashing about in the woods. I
did
hear the rumble of engines approaching from the street. They sounded like motorcycles.
    “Must be motorcycle police,” I muttered. There was no way our two strange Harley riders would show up here. They couldn’t possibly know about this.
    Gunshots fired from the woods behind the battered SUV. Snatches of the cops’ conversation reached my ears.
    “…hit it. I know I did.”
    “…bullets didn’t slow it…”
    More headlights turned in from the highway. I stared in disbelief. It was the pair of riders. They rolled into the campground and parked their bikes beside a dumpster. As one, they removed their helmets. They wore the same clothing as they had earlier in the day, including the dark caps.
    I glanced at Simon, but the policeman had his attention. The riders scanned the camp, noting the police, then they had a quick conversation with each other. One pointed toward the south, toward the woods where the people had disappeared. One of the cops was already searching that area. The two who’d run off after the “bear” hadn’t returned.
    The riders jogged across the pavement to the east, both looking in my direction as they passed. They had to recognize me, but neither seemed surprised at seeing us. The gruffer one—Jakatra, hadn’t that been his name?—glared, but that might be his normal expression. The younger one, at least I assumed he was younger since he had more innocence and curiosity about him, gave me a shrug and a wry quirk of the lips. Then they were gone, seeming to disappear as soon as they stepped off the asphalt and into the brush. If they’d been carrying weapons, I hadn’t noticed them. Maybe they didn’t need them. What if that… creature was a pet of theirs, and they’d come to leash it up and take it away until it was time to send it out to kill again?
    “There’s a body over here,” came a call from the woods. “A woman. Get some backup, Steve. Whatever’s out here is dangerous.”
    “It’s a bear, right?”
    “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a bear do anything like this. Better get these people out of here. And tell the backup to bring rifles. This
just
happened.”
    “That’s what I’ve been telling you,” Simon said, but the officer who’d been talking to him wasn’t paying attention anymore. He jogged back to his car and leaned in to grab the radio handset.
    I tugged on Simon’s sleeve. “Do you think we should get out of here while we can? Before they talk to the sheriff’s department and it comes out that we were around for both incidents today?”
    “That’s not our fault.”
    “No, but it might look suspicious to police looking to pin responsibility on someone.”
    “How can we be responsible?” Simon asked. “We don’t have a clue about what’s going on. What’s suspicious is… are those the same two Harleys?”
    “Yeah, our buddies in black drove in, then ran off into the woods.” I pointed in the direction they’d gone.
    “Now
that’s
suspicious. Those are the guys who must be up to something shifty. It’s pure coincidence that we’ve been here for both of these.”
    “Is it?” I wondered.
    “What do you mean?”
    I shrugged. The woods lay out there, dark and ominous, still being bathed by the red police lights. The shade reminded me too much of blood.
    “I found another body,” one of the police called.
    “There’s someone injured over here,” one by the smashed car said. “Steve, get the paramedics out here too.”
    The man at the radio chopped a wave.
    Simon gripped my arm. “Del, what do you mean about it not being a