Heroic Measures (continued)

All he saw immediately were more shadows and small drifts of garbage and debris. Whatever purpose the alcove served, it did not look as though anyone had swept it out for quite some time. Walter took a hesitant step forward, feeling somewhat reassured when he heard Red’s footstep echo softly behind him.

Swallowing back an acid lump in his throat, Walter took a few more steps into the space. He played the faint beam along the ground. Its pale yellow light revealed nothing more. Walter heard Red’s shuffling steps just behind him and dared to take a few more of his own. Shining the light ahead exposed a dark mass about the size of a medium-sized animal. The faint light provided no details. He could not tell whether it might have been the creature who had issued the howls that he and Red had heard earlier, or simply a bag of discarded garbage.

It’s actually an ideal place for a transient to hide, Walter realized. There’s only one entrance to keep an eye on.

He just hoped that the hypothetical transient had not met its end at the jaws of whatever creatures he had heard.

Walter moved closer, but more slowly now. He sniffed carefully at the air. There was the scent of moist garbage . . . and something else. Recognition of the odor flitted at the edges of his consciousness, but he could not manage to grasp it before it darted away. It was associated with darkness somehow, he sensed.

A place like this? he wondered.

He aimed the light directly at the dark shape on the pavement. Bits of it shone in the faint light. He took it first for bits of plastic still clinging to the remains of a large garbage bag. It looked to have been torn apart, allowing its contents to . . .

Walter spun away. The beam from the flashlight washed crazily over the brick walls that surrounded them. Walter nearly dropped to his knees as he fought back the compulsion to vomit.

“Walt? What’s wrong?”

His ears rang and Red’s voice seemed to come from a far distance. Walter gagged, but managed not to succumb to his body’s instinctive reaction.

“Walt?”

Walter pressed the tiny flashlight into Red’s palm and waved him in the direction of the dark shape. A moment later, his friend’s strangled gasp told him that Red had seen it too.