“—I still heard it howl out in anger over a missed meal.”

Howling Moon Snippet for 10/18

Remember Howling Moon is currently on sale on Kindle for .99 cents through the rest of October.

This weeks snippet is one of my favorites from when I was writing the book. Also remember I’ve posted two others this month so go back through the blog and check them out. Spoilers ahead obviously.

“So you are here because you want to know what an old man saw.”

“You did see it, didn’t you?” Emily watched him return to the counter and begin to pour a couple more shots.

“To be honest, sweetheart, I don’t know what I saw that night,” he replied with a glance back over his shoulder. “I almost didn’t see you there in the road.” He took another drink of his own before he refilled both their glasses and approached her. “I wasn’t driving fast or anything of the sort when I came into those curves, but see…my judgment may have been slightly obscured.” Bradley lifted his glass into the air with a smile. “What happened in that last curve was enough to sober up the drunkest sailor on leave.” He finished off his drink and watched as Emily did the same.

Bradley took both glasses back to the sink but did not refill them. He walked past her taking a seat at the table. “I never actually saw the animal, miss. It was more of a feeling as I came out of that last curve—somethin’ kept my attention off the road and drew it to the embankment where you wrecked. The truth is I never even saw your car until after I picked your broken body up from the pavement. I only saw shadows. I was nearly on top of you before I saw you there—swerved to miss and was several car lengths past before I even realized you weren’t some deer carcass.”

Emily was shocked by his account of the events.

“Somethin’ about that night, in that moment…I almost couldn’t make myself get out of the truck. I was startled but it was more than just about hitting you—somethin’ inside scared me shitless. I backed my truck up and opened the door for only a moment before I closed it and locked it. I remember my daddy telling me stories of the war and fear—in those moments when you grow numb and you just don’t know how to deal. I saw war myself. I saw war, myself.  I saw things back in my day that would scare the hell out of most, but none of those memories give me the feeling I got that night. That moment, all I could see was darkness—but you just know somethin’ isn’t right. Somethin’ is there…waiting to get you.”

Emily knew the feeling. She could remember it well from that night, knowing there was something out there she just could not see.

“I scooted across the seat. I wasn’t outside of the truck…a handful of seconds. I scooped you off the ground and put you in the truck. Even bumped your head on the door in the process. I never looked at your wounds—you were covered in mud, blood and who knows what else. I just knew I had to get you out of there. Even over the roar of my engine, I heard it in the darkness—the intense hate filled growl. It was like no dog’s growl I’d ever heard. I pulled the door shut and locked it, crawled over top of you back to my seat, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. You just kept muttering for God to help you, dear.”

“I’m thankful you were there.” Emily moved from her position just inside the door of the cabin. For the first time she saw the papers at her feet—scattered and opened— they were all about the attacks.

“That’s not all…” the old man looked ashamed to finish.

Emily could see him shake and the fear set in on his face.

“As I drove, I saw somethin’ in my rearview. It was mostly just a shadow but at the very spot where you had lain. As tall as any man, it stood and stretched and—I swear I was a mile away, music on…the sound of your wounded breathing and mumbling, my own heart—I still heard it howl out in anger over a missed meal.”