Tierney. Sergeant Tierney. He must have been the one who brought her here. She had to be in the county hospital. It was really over.

"Doctor Miller," the PA announced, "You're wanted in surgery. Doctor Miller."

"Okay," nodded at Tierney. Tierney approached the bed, glancing at the nurse briefly. He looked down at Alice and smiled.

"Your folks are on their way."

She sat up. Her folks? But her father was… of course. Tierney didn't know. He must have spoken to her mother.

She started to calm down. Thank God I made it, she thought, I really made it. I'm alive. But all the others?

"Is anyone else alive?" she asked weakly, looking up at Tierney. His mouth tightened.

"Are… are they all dead?"

Sergeant Tierney nodded.

"Yes, Ma'am."

He would never forget the sight of those bodies, slaughtered like animals. He had never seen anything like it, not even in the war. All things considered, it was a miracle that this poor girl hadn't lost her mind.

"Two of my men pulled you out of the lake," he said, "We thought you were dead too." He paused, almost as if afraid to as the next question. "Do you… remember very much?"

"The boy," Alice stared at him intently, "Is he dead too?"

"Who?"

"The boy—Jason."

He frowned.

"Jason?"

"In the lake!" cried Alice, "The one who attacked me, the one who pulled me underneath the water!"

Tierney felt the chill run down his spine.

"Ma'am," he said, glancing uneasily at the nurse, "We didn't find any boy…"

Alice shook her head.

"But he—"

The injection began to take effect. She felt a bit lightheaded, drowsy as if she were starting to float, floating in the water, drifting.

"Then… he's still there," she whispered, her voice trailing off.

Tierney glanced at the nurse in alarm and the woman shook her head.

They don't believe me, Alice thought, they think I dreamed it. They think I'm crazy but I'm not crazy. I didn't dream it!

She felt the nurse easing her back down onto the bed and the room started to get blurry.

No, she thought, that was 20 years ago. How could he?

But she remembered something rising up from the water.

That nauseating smell, a powerful arm grabbing her, pulling her down. That grotesque, misshapen face—the rotting flesh.

She saw the nurse draw the curtains and she felt herself starting to drift off. Suddenly, she was afraid to close her eyes—afraid of the darkness—terrified of the nightmares she knew would inevitably come.

Just before she fell asleep, partly from the drug, partly from sheer exhaustion, she thought of the gruesome apparition that came out of the lake and she knew whatever it was, it had been no dream.

And whatever it was, it was still out there somewhere, waiting… waiting…