Lone Star Renegades by Mark Wayne McGinnis Read Free Book Online Page B

move. ”
    “ There ’ s a lot of stuff … things are going to move … shift around. ”
    “ No, Collin! Something alive. It had fur. ”
    He saw Tink trying to look down at her feet through all the clustered stuff.
    “ Just keep going. Probably a squirrel or something. ”
    “ It ’ s the ‘ or something ’ that scares me. ”
    Collin watched as Tink disappeared. The sound of metal objects being pushed aside let him know she was okay. “ Finding a way through down there? ” he asked, maneuvering his own feet into the narrow opening.
    “ Yeah. There ’ s actually more room to move around in, once you get down here. Come on down. ”
    Collin wasn ’ t having quite as easy a time maneuvering as Tink, but he eventually got into the open space where she was waiting. He took the Maglite from between his teeth and played the beam around them.
    “ There. We can crawl back up the other side of the shed, right there, ” Tink said.
    Collin saw what she was referring to. “ What is that? ”
    “ I think it ’ s a jungle gym, lying on its side. ” Tink half crawled, half slid, over to the metal bars and began pulling herself up through the lattice of rounded metal. “ It ’ s like a ladder … easy-peezy. ”
    Collin followed right behind her. As she climbed nearly straight up, he was prepared to follow when his flashlight caught something in its beam: two intensely bright green eyes thirty feet away.
    “ You know, it might help if you ’ d shine that light in front of me so I can see where I ’ m going, ” Tink said, looking down at Collin. Curious, she followed the beam of the light. “ Oh shit. What the hell is that? ”
    “ Probably a cat. Just keep going. ” She began climbing twice as fast as before.
    Collin too climbed fast. What he hadn ’ t mentioned to Tink was that he ’ d seen, in the dim light, more than something with two eyes. The partial face wasn ’ t that of a cat — or a squirrel — or any mammal he was aware of on Earth. This creature looked like a person … a man — but one covered in fur. A wolf man. His mind flashed back to the old black and white Lon Chaney movie. “ Keep going, don ’ t stop, ” Collin urged.
    “ You think? ” Tink retorted. “ We have a problem, ” she said.
    You have no idea , Collin thought. “ What is it? ”
    “ The wing. It ’ s right above me and I can ’ t see a way … wait. Okay, I can crawl off to the side here. ”
    He heard her kicking again and then the sound of something heavy falling. “ Tink? ”
    Nothing … Collin ’ s body tensed. “ Hey Tink … you okay? ”
    Still nothing.
    Finally her voice came, “ I ’ m fine. I think I found a way through here. ”
    “ I ’ m coming. ” Collin got to the underside of the wing and listened for Tink. He again held the flashlight between his teeth and noticed the beam was vibrating. Had he ever been this scared in his life? There was a creature lurking nearby, probably hungry, and Tink had chosen a path that went right in its direction. Collin crawled through the debris around him double-time. His knee hit something hard and an intense pain shot through his leg. He looked down and saw his pants were ripped and there was blood. Crap! He touched the wound with his right hand and assessed the damage. Probably could use a few stitches, but he ’ d live.
    There was a noise to his left. He pointed the Maglite in the general direction. All he saw was more junk.
    “ I ’ m on the wing! I made it! ”
    “ Good, hold tight … I ’ m coming. ” He wiggled through an area that wasn ’ t much wider than his own body and wondered how the other guys, all quite a few pounds bigger and heavier than he was, would make it through here. Eventually he pulled himself through and, sure enough, found the back edge of the wing.
    “ What was that down there, Collin? ” Tink ’ s voice was barely a whisper. He saw her feet. He wiggled out of the shaft he ’ d just maneuvered through and held up his