I didn’t even get a chance to answer. She was up and rummaging through the tent, giggling like a damn fool. A second later she crawled out of the tent and kept on crawling until she was hanging on my legs. In her hand was the crumpled safety sheet the park ranger gave to us earlier. It was a small handout with basic tips on how to avoid bears stealing your food, and what to do if one comes into your camp. Shit like that.

Here’s a little tip about bear pamphlets: never read one stoned.

Sabrina thought it would be funny, and some of it was, like the chapter that told you to bang pots together if a bear advances on you. But then she got to the part about bears being meat eaters who like fish and small mammals.

Sabrina looked down at her five-foot-five-inch frame and frowned. “Small mammals? I’m a small mammal!”

Suddenly she looked scared. Her eyes went wide, her face pale beneath the flickering firelight.

But it wasn’t the pamphlet.

It was the moaning sound coming from the woods.

“What was that?”

I shook my head. “Dunno. It sounded like somebody let the air out of a cow.”

“Maybe a wolf?” she said, almost wishful.

“I doubt it,” I replied. “Maybe a bear.”

Sabrina shot me a look. I had forgotten all about the small-mammal thing.

Then there was another sound, almost the same: a long, painful drone of a wail. This time it came from behind us. The first had been from the front.

Sabrina was scared and all I could think was what an asshole I was, thinking I’d get a day’s peace. There was something out there in the woods, and I don’t know much about the wild, but whatever it was wasn’t human.

I pulled my .45 out of my pant leg, and a small .38 custom from the other. I handed the .38 to Sabrina. She took it, bobbled it, then gripped it firmly in her hand and smiled.

“You got me high and holding a gun in no time, didn’t you?”

I nodded. “I do my best.”

Suddenly the moaning sounds came from all around, and they sounded closer than before. It was dark and we were sitting ducks standing near the fire, so I led Sabrina outside the light and deep into the woods. When I’d put some distance between us and the camp I silently signaled for her to stop.

From this vantage point we could see the camp and the creatures that now stood in the glow of the firelight.

There were three of them. They were humanoid in shape, but completely covered with hair and about seven feet tall.

Beside me, Sabrina whispered, “Ohmygod. Do you know what they are?”

“If they spot us, they’re gonna be carpets, that’s all I know.”