mud, obscuring Max’s boot prints and anything else that might have left its mark. “I thought youse’d be okay. It’s early yet, too early...but I guess if it really needed something...maybe I was wrong about the timing...”
“Freddy!” Jessie’s shout turned him. “Calm down. What the hell are you talking about?”
Freddy’s gaze was haunted. “What did you see?”
“I’m not sure.” Jessie paused, trying to put all the pieces into place. “What did I see?”
Freddy paced again, pulling at his hair and muttering. It took Jessie grabbing his arm to get him to stop. “My grandma always called it the Greedy One.”
“So...it’s not a person?”
“Not anymore.”
Jessie’s stomach turned. “What is it, then?”
“Don’t know. It lives in the woods all around here.” Freddy looked shifty. He backed away, hands up when he saw her expression. “But it’s not supposed to be hungry now! It’s too soon!”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jessie’s fingers gripped the rake handle so hard that her knuckles turned white. “Seriously? You’re trying to tell me there is really some...thing...in the woods and it eats people?”
“It doesn’t eat them! Not like you think. I mean...it takes them. Yes, it does. It needs people. It’s greedy for them, but it’s not...it doesn’t eat them. It just...takes what it needs from them.”
“Which is what exactly?”
Freddy’s eyes darted back and forth again, his mouth turning down. “Essence.”
Jessie slumped, her knees weak and stomach still churning. “Like...a soul?”
“No. Real essence. Um...it’s greedy, hungry for...” Freddy made a familiar, if off-color, gesture: a forefinger inserted into the hole made by his other fist, in and out.
“Sex? It wants sex?”
Freddy looked embarrassed.
Jessie’s laughter was so far from humorous that she was surprised it didn’t come out as a shriek. “It wants to what, fuck us?”
“It wants that feeling. The rush. An essence,” Freddy quickly said. “It feeds on that. It seduces its prey and sucks it dry.”
“It kills what it feeds on?”
“Eventually,” Freddy said. “It can keep them alive for a really long time.”
“Oh, God.” Jessie started for the woods, ignoring Freddy and the mud and everything but following Max’s boot prints. “Max!”
“What you saw wasn’t my sister!” Freddy shouted after her, but Jessie had no more time for him. No time for this.
She needed to get to Max before whatever had led him into the woods did.
* * *
The fall of auburn hair was the same. The slight build, the freckled arms, hands with long fingers. The face, though, was only barely Patty. Unformed, the eyes the wrong shape but the right color, the mouth a lipless slash. The thing in front of him was a monster trying to wear Patty’s face and body, and failing.
Every part of Max ached. He’d followed the monster straight into the woods and into a ditch lined with sharpened sticks and boulders. Nothing had punctured him too badly, thank God, but he was a mess of bruises and scrapes. He may have cracked a few ribs, too. Woozy from the pain, he’d been aware of something grabbing him by the back of the collar and dragging him through the woods to this slanting, ramshackle shelter built against the side of a cliff. It wasn’t quite a cave, though much of it was set into a huge crack in the rock. The rest of it had been constructed of broken trees and woven vines.
Now he sat propped against the rock, his shirt opened to the waist. The thing had been kissing him all over, its wet, slurping mouth leaving a trail of slime along his bare skin. The thought of it made him heave, but he couldn’t move even to turn his face and spit. Something in the saliva, Max thought blearily. Something like a venom that half paralyzed him and, disgustingly, acted as sort of an aphrodisiac as well. It burned, but there was no denying it also sent another sort of fire through him.
The Patty-thing
“Freddy!” Jessie’s shout turned him. “Calm down. What the hell are you talking about?”
Freddy’s gaze was haunted. “What did you see?”
“I’m not sure.” Jessie paused, trying to put all the pieces into place. “What did I see?”
Freddy paced again, pulling at his hair and muttering. It took Jessie grabbing his arm to get him to stop. “My grandma always called it the Greedy One.”
“So...it’s not a person?”
“Not anymore.”
Jessie’s stomach turned. “What is it, then?”
“Don’t know. It lives in the woods all around here.” Freddy looked shifty. He backed away, hands up when he saw her expression. “But it’s not supposed to be hungry now! It’s too soon!”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jessie’s fingers gripped the rake handle so hard that her knuckles turned white. “Seriously? You’re trying to tell me there is really some...thing...in the woods and it eats people?”
“It doesn’t eat them! Not like you think. I mean...it takes them. Yes, it does. It needs people. It’s greedy for them, but it’s not...it doesn’t eat them. It just...takes what it needs from them.”
“Which is what exactly?”
Freddy’s eyes darted back and forth again, his mouth turning down. “Essence.”
Jessie slumped, her knees weak and stomach still churning. “Like...a soul?”
“No. Real essence. Um...it’s greedy, hungry for...” Freddy made a familiar, if off-color, gesture: a forefinger inserted into the hole made by his other fist, in and out.
“Sex? It wants sex?”
Freddy looked embarrassed.
Jessie’s laughter was so far from humorous that she was surprised it didn’t come out as a shriek. “It wants to what, fuck us?”
“It wants that feeling. The rush. An essence,” Freddy quickly said. “It feeds on that. It seduces its prey and sucks it dry.”
“It kills what it feeds on?”
“Eventually,” Freddy said. “It can keep them alive for a really long time.”
“Oh, God.” Jessie started for the woods, ignoring Freddy and the mud and everything but following Max’s boot prints. “Max!”
“What you saw wasn’t my sister!” Freddy shouted after her, but Jessie had no more time for him. No time for this.
She needed to get to Max before whatever had led him into the woods did.
* * *
The fall of auburn hair was the same. The slight build, the freckled arms, hands with long fingers. The face, though, was only barely Patty. Unformed, the eyes the wrong shape but the right color, the mouth a lipless slash. The thing in front of him was a monster trying to wear Patty’s face and body, and failing.
Every part of Max ached. He’d followed the monster straight into the woods and into a ditch lined with sharpened sticks and boulders. Nothing had punctured him too badly, thank God, but he was a mess of bruises and scrapes. He may have cracked a few ribs, too. Woozy from the pain, he’d been aware of something grabbing him by the back of the collar and dragging him through the woods to this slanting, ramshackle shelter built against the side of a cliff. It wasn’t quite a cave, though much of it was set into a huge crack in the rock. The rest of it had been constructed of broken trees and woven vines.
Now he sat propped against the rock, his shirt opened to the waist. The thing had been kissing him all over, its wet, slurping mouth leaving a trail of slime along his bare skin. The thought of it made him heave, but he couldn’t move even to turn his face and spit. Something in the saliva, Max thought blearily. Something like a venom that half paralyzed him and, disgustingly, acted as sort of an aphrodisiac as well. It burned, but there was no denying it also sent another sort of fire through him.
The Patty-thing
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