Jonas

I didn't get a chance to ask what he meant.

There was another crunch, this time from higher up on the ridge above us.

We both looked up.

That's when I saw it.

It was standing just between two poplar trees, maybe eight feet up the slope.

Its eyes caught the light greenish, reflective, animal-like...

but everything else about it was wrong.

It stood upright, but not in any way that looked natural.

Its limbs bent in strange places, legs too long and angled backward, like the joints were on the wrong way.

Its torso was stretched, skin tight and pale like stretched plastic.

and it was swaying, subtly, like someone trying to stay balanced on a narrow beam.

It didn't make a sound, just shifted slightly, like it was thinking about moving, or maybe waiting for us to.

I reached for Rob without taking my eyes off it.

He was already stepping backward.

Don't run, he whispered.

Don't turn.

We backed out slow, one step at a time.

My light kept flicking between the thing on the ridge and the path behind us.

Every few seconds, I glanced back up, but it didn't move.

Just watched.