“Why, Paul!” She turned toward whoever’d spoken outside. “There you are at last!” Without her calling my name, I was able to stumble with Jack toward the back of our flimsy fake farmhouse. Rougarou leaned as far as he could over the pathetic heap of iron nails, and that was awfully far. He had long arms too, and he stretched them all the way out, so we could see fingernails like dirty sickles. “I thought I made it clear I wasn’t having anything to do with you people,” said the man outside to Amerda. “Oh, you did. And we heard you. We were just on our way, weren’t we, my brother? You need not worry about us anymore.” Rougarou snapped his teeth at us and jerked his chin. His meaning was clear, to me anyway. If we made any noise, that man out there was dead. Jack looked at me, and I looked at Jack. We got the message. But listening to folks who are already trying to kill you is never a good idea. Jack set his back to the wall and hefted the board in his hands like a baseball bat.
