Unearthly Neighbors by Chad Oliver Read Free Book Online

Charlie whispered suddenly. “I see him.”
     
    The man stood right at the edge of the trees, half hidden by the faint shadows. He did not move at all, but he was looking directly at them.
    Monte did not hesitate. “Keep moving. Stay behind me and on my right. Don’t use that rifle unless I’m actually attacked, and for God’s sake, Charlie, try to look friendly.”
    Monte walked straight toward the man, keeping his pace steady. His heart hammered in his chest. He was within twenty yards of the man, fifteen…
    It was the closest he had ever gotten.
    The man stood as though rooted to the spot, his dark eyes wide and staring. His pale copper skin gleamed wetly in the light, and the fuzz of golden hair on his head seemed almost electrically alive. His long arms almost touched the ground. The man was completely naked, with a series of vertical stripes painted on his chest. The stripes were all vermilion.
    He carried no weapons of any kind.
    Ten yards…
    Monte stopped. Dammit, he thought, he is a man. When you get up this close, there is no doubt at all. Monte put his rifle down on the ground and held up his hands to show that they were empty.
    The man took one quick step backward. His dark eyes blinked. He was quite old, Monte noticed, although his muscles still seemed firm and supple. He looked frightened, confused, uncertain. But there was something else in his face, as though a struggle were raging within him. The dark sunken eyes were sad, and yet strangely eager…
    Don’t run away. Just don’t run away.
    Monte slowly fumbled in his pack. He took out a small piece of raw meat and a cluster of red berries. He held the meat in his right hand and the berries in his left. He extended them toward the man.
    The old man looked at the food silently. He wiped the palms of his hands against the bare skin of his legs.
    Monte took a step forward.
    The man retreated a single step, standing now almost behind a tall blue-barked tree.
    Monte froze, still holding out the food. He didn’t know what to do. If only he could talk to the man…
    He bent over and put the berries and the meat on the ground. Then he waved Charlie back and retreated ten paces. They waited. For a long minute that seemed to stretch into eternity, the old man did nothing at all.
    Then, surprisingly, he whistled—one long whistle, and one short. It sounded exactly like a whistle used to call a dog.
    Nothing happened.
    The man repeated the whistle, urgently.
    This time he got results. An animal whined back in the trees. There was a sound of padded feet slowly moving over a carpet of dead leaves. The sound came closer…
    The animal stepped out into the open and stood beside the man. It was a big beast, and the stink of him filled the air. He stood some four feet high and his coat was a dirty gray. His long muscles rippled under his taut skin. His ears flattened along his sleek head and he growled deep in his throat. He looked at the two strangers and bared his sharp, white teeth.
    Monte held his ground. The animal looked more like a wolf than anything else, but he was built for speed. His head was very long, with massive jaws. He was a killer; Monte knew it instinctively. He felt exactly the same way he felt when he looked at a rattlesnake.
    The wolf-thing sniffed the air and growled again.
    The old man whistled, once.
    The animal went down low, his belly almost touching the ground, and inched his way forward. It snarled constantly, its long white teeth bared. It looked at Monte, saliva dripping from its jaws. Its eyes were yellow, yellow…
    The wolf-thing paused at the meat, then kept coming.
    Monte could feel the sweat dripping down his ribs.
    The old man took a step forward, and whistled again, angrily. The beast paused reluctantly, still snarling. Then it turned, snatched up the meat, and trotted back to the man by the tree. The man patted its sleek head and nodded, and the wolf-thing disappeared into the forest, taking the meat with him. He held it