Six blocks later I entered the 7-Eleven, the door chiming as I did. I was so caught up in my own thoughts, it took me a few beats to figure out that something was wrong. The store was eerily quiet.
But I knew I wasn’t alone; I’d seen heads through the plate-glass window as I’d crossed the parking lot. Four guys, from what I’d been able to tell. But they’d all vanished, and fast. Even the front counter was left unattended. I couldn’t remember ever walking into a convenience store to find the front counter neglected. It was asking to be robbed. Especially after dark.
“hello?” I called out. I walked along the front of the store, glancing down the aisles, which stocked everything from Fig Newtons to Dramamine. “Is anyone here? I need to make change for the pay phone.”
A muffled sound came from the hallway at the rear. It was unlit, presumably leading to the restrooms. I strained to hear the sound again. Given all the false alarms lately, I was afraid this was the beginning of another hallucination.
Then I heard a second sound. The faint squeak of a door closing. I was pretty sure this sound was real, which meant someone could be hiding back there, just out of sight. Anxiety pinched my real, which meant someone could be hiding back there, just out of sight. Anxiety pinched my stomach, and I hustled outside.
Rounding the building, I located the pay phone and punched in 9-1-1. I heard only one ring before a hand reached over my shoulder, clicked the receiver, and ended the call.
CHAPTER 8
I SWUNG AROUND.
He had a good six inches and fifty pounds on me. The lights from the parking lot did a poor job of reaching back here, but I ran down a quick list of identifying features: reddish-blond hair gelled and spiked, watery blue eyes, studs in both ears, a shark-tooth necklace. Light acne on the lower half of his face. A black tank top that showed off a muscle-y bicep inked with a fire-breathing dragon.
“Need help?” he asked with a twist of his lips. He offered me his cell phone, then braced an arm on the pay phone, leaning into my private space. His smile was a little too sweet, a little too superior.
“Hate to see a pretty girl waste money on a call.”
When I didn’t answer, he frowned slightly. “Unless you were placing a free call.” He scratched his cheek, a show of deep contemplation. “But the only free call you can make from a pay phone is … to the police.” Any hint of the angelic vanished from his tone.
I swallowed. “There was no one inside at the front counter. I thought something was wrong.” And now I knew something was wrong. The only reason he’d care if I was calling the police was if it was in his best interest to keep them far, far away. A robbery, then?
“Let me make this simple for you,” he said, slouching down and putting his face close to mine, as if I were five years old and needed slow, clear instruction. “Get back in your car and keep driving.” It dawned on me that he didn’t realize I’d walked here. But the thought became a moot point when I heard scuffling coming from the all ey just around the corner. There was a slew of curse words, and a grunt of pain.
I considered my options. I could take Shark Tooth Necklace’s advice and leave quickly, pretending I’d never been here. Or I could run to the next gas station down the road and call the police. But by then, it might be too late. If they were robbing the store, Shark Tooth and his friends weren’t going to take their sweet time. My only other option was to stay put and make an either very brave, or very stupid, attempt to stop the robbery.
“What’s going on back there?” I asked innocently, signaling the rear of the building.
“Look around,” he replied, his voice soft and silky. “This place is empty. Nobody knows you’re here. Nobody’s ever going to remember you were here. Now be a good girl and get back in your car and drive away.”
“I—”
He pressed his finger to my lips. “I’m not going to ask again.” His voice was gentle, flirtatious even. But his eyes were icy pits.
“I left my keys on the counter inside,” I said, using the first excuse that came to mind. “When I first walked in.”
He took me by the arm and hauled me around to the front of the building. His stride was twice as long as mine, and I found myself half jogging to keep up. All the while I was mentally shaking myself, ordering my ingenuity to think up an excuse for when he figured out I was lying. I didn’t know how he’d react, but I had a general idea, and it made my stomach flip upside down.
The door chimed on our way in. He forced me over to the cash register and flicked aside a cardboard display of ChapStick and a plastic bin of key chains for sale, clearly hunting for my lost keys. He moved to the next register and repeated his rushed hunt. Suddenly he stopped. His eyes drifted idly over me. “Want to tell me where your keys really are?” I wondered if I could outrun him to the street. I wondered what the chances were that a car would drive by when I needed it most. And why, oh why, had I left Coopersmith’s without grabbing my jacket and cell phone?
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Marcie,” I lied.
“Let me tell you something, Marcie,” he said, tucking a curl behind my ear. I tried to take a step back, but he pinched my ear in warning. So I stood there, enduring his touch as his finger trailed over the curve of my ear and along my jaw. He tipped my chin up, forcing me to meet his pale, almost translucent eyes. “Nobody lies to Gabe. When Gabe tells a girl to run along, she better run along. Otherwise it makes Gabe angry. And that’s a bad thing, because Gabe has a short temper. In fact, short is a generous way of putting it. You feel me?” I found it eerie that he referred to himself in the third person, but I wasn’t about to make an issue of it. Instinct told me Gabe didn’t like to be corrected, either. Or questioned. “I’m sorry.” I didn’t dare turn away from him, afraid he might mistake such a movement for a sign of disrespect.
“I want you to go now,” he said in that deceptively velvet voice.
I nodded, backing up. My elbow bumped the door, letting in a rush of cool air.
As soon as I was outside, Gabe called through the glass door, “Ten.” He was slouched against the front counter, a warped smile on his face.
I didn’t know why he’d said the word, but I held my expression in check as I continued to back away, faster now.
“Nine,” he called next.
That’s when I figured out he was counting backward.
“Eight,” he said, pushing up from the counter and taking a few lazy steps toward the door. He placed his palms on the glass, then drew an invisible heart with his finger. Seeing the stricken look on my face, he chuckled. “Seven.”
I turned and ran.
I heard a car approaching on the main road, and I began shouting and flagging my arms. But I was still too far away, and the car zipped past, the drone of its engine vanishing around the bend.
When I made it to the road, I glanced right, then left. On a hasty decision, I turned toward Coopersmith’s.
“Ready or not, here I come,” I heard Gabe call out behind me.
I pumped my arms harder, hearing the obnoxious slap of my ball et flats on the pavement. I wanted to throw a look over my shoulder and see how far back he was, but forced myself to concentrate on the bend in the road ahead. I tried to keep as much distance as possible between me and Gabe. A car would come soon. It had to.
“Is that as fast as you can go?” He couldn’t have been more than twenty feet behind. Worse, his voice didn’t sound fatigued. I was struck by the horrible thought that he wasn’t even trying. He was enjoying the cat-and-mouse, and while I grew more and more tired with every step, he grew more and more excited.
“Keep going!” he singsonged. “But don’t wear yourself out. It won’t be any fun if you can’t put up a fight when I catch you. I want to play.”
Ahead, I heard the deep rumble of an approaching engine. Headlights swung into view, and I moved into the middle of the road, frantically waving my arms. Gabe wouldn’t hurt me with a witness looking on. Would he?
“Stop!” I yelled, continuing to hail what I could now see was a pickup truck rolling closer.
The driver slowed beside me, cracking his window. He was middle-aged with a flannel shirt and smelled strongly of the fish docks.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. His gaze shifted over my shoulder, where I felt Gabe’s presence like a cold crackle in the air.
“Just playing hide-and-seek,” Gabe said, slinging his arm around my shoulders.
“Just playing hide-and-seek,” Gabe said, slinging his arm around my shoulders.
I shrugged him off. “I’ve never seen this guy before,” I told the man. “He threatened me at the 7-Eleven. I think he and his friends are trying to rob the store. When I walked in, the store was empty and I heard a struggle in the back. We need to call the police.” I paused, about to ask the man if he had a cell phone, when I watched with confusion as he turned to face forward, ignoring me. He cranked his window all the way up, locking himself inside the cab of the truck.
“You have to help!” I said, rapping his window. But his forward fixed stare didn’t waver. A little chil danced over my skin. The man wasn’t going to help. He was going to leave me out here with Gabe.
Gabe mimicked me, knocking obnoxiously on the man’s window. “Help me!” he cried in a shril voice. “Gabe and his friends are robbing the 7-Eleven. Oh, mister, you have to help me stop them!” When he finished, he flung his head back, choking on his own laughter.
Almost robotically, the man in the truck looked over at us. His eyes were slightly crossed and unblinking.
“What’s the matter with you!” I said, rattling the truck’s door handle. I smacked the window again.
“Call the police!”
The man stepped on the gas. The truck accelerated slowly, and I jogged beside it, still clinging to the hope that I could open the door. He fed the truck more gas, and I tripped over my feet to keep up.
Suddenly he took off like a shot, and I was flung off into the road.
I whirled to Gabe. “What did you do to him?”
This.
I flinched, hearing the word echo inside my head like a phantom presence. Gabe’s eyes blackened into hollows. His hair started visibly growing, first on top of his head, and then everywhere. It tufted out from his arms, down to the tips of his fingers, until he was covered in fur.
Matted, reeking brown fur. He lumbered toward me on his hind legs, gaining height until he towered over me. He swiped his arm, and I saw a flash of claws. Then he crashed down on all fours, put his wet black nose in my face, and roared—an angry, reverberating sound. He had transformed into a grizzly bear.
In my terror, I tripped backward and went down. I scuttled backward, blindly sweeping the roadside for a rock. Catching one in my hand, I hurled it at the bear. It hit him in the shoulder and bounced aside. I grabbed another rock, aiming for his head. The rock flew into his snout, and he snapped his head to the side, saliva trailing from his mouth. He roared again, then came at me faster than I could scramble backward.