Plus they had teeth. Oh God did they have teeth—each had big jaws that opened wide as a cottonmouth’s, and they was filled to overflowin’ with long sharp transparent fangs that looked like slivers of glass. One of the weirdest touches was the rows of little blue dots of lights along their sides that glowed like neon. They looked like they’d been drug up from the bottom of the sea where the sun don’t shine, a place so deep and dark that even God’s forgot about them.

God…he must’ve been havin’ a real bad day when he made those things. She had to wonder what kind of a world they came from, and how anything else survived with them roamin’ free.

“It’s dark as night out there now! Give it a try! You gotta! They’re putting holes in the hull. They’re tryin’ to sink us!”

“But why’re they tryin’ to do that? Why’re they throwin’ grenades, Luke? If they think we got the old lady and they want her back, ain’t they afraid of killin’ her along with us?”

“Who knows why, damn it!” Luke shouted. “They’ve gone crazy!”

But Semelee caught a look in his eyes, like he was hidin’ somethin’.

“What is it, Luke? What changed their minds? What makes them think she’s not here, or that she’s dead? You didn’t open your big mouth, did you?”

“No. Course not. What kinda fool you take me for?”

“Well, then what? What, Luke?”

Luke looked away. “I guess they found her skin.”

“What? How could they do that? You buried it.” Luke still kept lookin’ away. “You did bury it like I told you to, didn’t you, Luke?”

He shook his head. “Nuh-uh. I hung it up to let the rain clean it off, then I was gonna tan it…you know, like a hide.”

Semelee closed her eyes. If she had a gun right now she’d’ve shot Luke—right through his stupid, brainless head.

Her thoughts flashed back to last night…

She’d been in a frenzy, completely out of control…so pissed at that old lady for killin’ Devil and then ruinin’ her plans for Jack that she just…lost it. All the trouble she had gettin’ those things to come out of their hole didn’t help matters none either. By the time she realized that they wouldn’t come out in the day, she was all but frothin’ at the mouth.

When sunset came, so did the things. She had trouble controllin’ them from the git-go. Soon as they came out they wanted to run wild, but she managed to gather them into a group and herd them toward the old woman’s house. When they got there, they went crazy, rippin’ through the screen and gnawing through the front door.