Kate followed Levi’s tank of an RV for what seemed like 45 miles up the steep, winding mountain road. Thankfully, the rain stopped a few days ago and it was dry. The turns were tight and narrow and there were several curves with no guard rail. Kate clutched the steering wheel tight as her body stiffened. Roads like this always scared her. Maybe because she was only five foot three and could barely see over the top of the dash in her lumbering Suburban. Or maybe because of her dreams where the car went barreling over the side of a steep cliff and smashed into the rocks below, metal crunching in on itself, shards of glass flying wildly. In these dreams, she either dropped her cell phone to the floorboard, just out of reach or it wouldn’t work. Either the phone wouldn’t unlock or every number she tried to dial out wouldn’t connect. She would always wake with a jerk of her body in the dark stillness of her bedroom, wondering if she was still alive. Then she would feel the light rustling of her cat at her feet and smell the familiar scent of her apartment remembering, it’s just a dream. The same dream over and over on repeat. Sometimes her Shepard, Poe, would stir from his bed and come and softly nudge her head with his nose as if he could sense her anxiety. It was strange because this dream in particular put Poe on edge, too. What was even more strange was how much the road she was currently driving reminded her of the road in her dreams. After about two hours, they pulled onto a little bluff overlooking a valley of trees and rocky mountain edges that stretched for miles. The leaves had recently turned and were fiery red, orange and yellow burning against the bright blue sky. Levi pulled his RV neatly into a long, narrow opening in the trees and Kate pulled her SUV into a clearing to the left. She hopped down from her SUV and smelled the crisp autumn air. She got to work on setting up the pop-up camper. It was getting close to dusk now and the locusts where chirping. She saw a few fireflies light up in the tree line. This place was perfect. Levi was the one who picked it. She was surprised when she saw a message from him last week. They kept up with each other after college, but only casually. She knew that Mike, Levi and Alice all graduated with honors and went on to be quite successful, but after what happened to Kate Junior year, she dropped all her classes. She had promised herself she’d go back, she’d transfer her credits to another university and graduate, but she never did. Some traumas dig too deep and never quite let go. After everyone arrived and was getting settled, Levi was setting up folding chairs in a circle around a black, ashen spot on the ground surrounded clumsily by rocks. He had been eager for a camping trip ever since he bought his shiny new camper last year. He was the one who got everyone on board for this trip, the old college gang. He and Kate met Freshman year in one of the Gen-Ed classes. She took to him right away. He was energetic and charismatic. With his dark hair and light blue eyes, it was enough to make any shy, twenty-year-old girl swoon. They almost dated, too, but they were never on the same timeline with each other. And after what happened and Kate dropping out, their lives went opposite directions. He had stayed the course and made his way to the dream life, she veered off wildly and has been flailing ever since. She guessed he sensed that, and it was probably a big reason to get everyone together again. Their unique little band of misfits. Mike and Levi knew each other before college and Mike met Alice shortly after Kate was brought into the fold. It was love at first sight with those two. Kate wasn’t so lucky. Maybe if she had been, maybe if she hadn’t been holding out for someone who would never notice her, things may have been different. She never told any of them what happened, not even Alice. They must have thought she cracked under the pressure and had a breakdown. She was pre-med and the program was rough, but she had everything under control, or so she thought. They sat around a warm, raging campfire once the sun went down and reminisced about the “good days.” Kate tried to focus on the early days and was quiet when anyone talked about Junior year. Everyone seemed to understand the sensitive nature of it for now, but she was sure the questions would come eventually. The music would demand to be faced. Her German Shepard, Poe, sat dutifully at her feet, sensing her anxiety. But after all the small talk, Levi and Mike were packing up the coolers and Alice turned to Kate and said “It was so good to see you again” and hugged her so hard Kate knew she actually meant it and wasn’t just saying what she thought she was supposed to say. With all niceties aside, they probably would have been great friends if they’d been given the chance. As everyone said their goodnights and disappeared into their tents, Kate finished the last two sips of Chardonnay from her stainless-steel cup and got ready to crawl into her sleeping bag. She wasn’t sure where Poe had run off to, but hoped he was just sniffing around the campground. He had been so good at not wandering away the entire weekend, so Kate hoped he wouldn’t start now. Not in the middle of the night, in the pitch blackness. She’d never find him. She called a few times, but he didn’t come, so she cuddled up in her sleeping bag and waited. She must have dozed because when she looked at her phone again, the illuminated lock screen showed it was after midnight. She crawled out of her sleeping bag and unzipped the tent door to look for Poe. The campfire was dying off and only putting out enough light to see the very center of the campground where everyone’s folding chairs still sat in an empty circle of flickering light. She walked out into the coolness of the night and could barely see anything. The shadowy tree line looked empty and still. She whistled a few times and stopped to listen, hoping to hear his clumsy paws crunching dry leaves, but an intense, sickening quiet persisted. Then she heard something so loud and shrill that she almost screamed. She didn’t think it was Poe, he’d never made a noise like that. Kate grabbed a flashlight from her tent and scanned the tree line in an arching motion, but saw nothing. She didn’t hear that godawful screeching again for a solid 2-3 minutes, either. But, when she heard it again, it was closer and louder. Now it really scared her because whatever was making that sound wasn’t a small animal. It had to be at least her size, if not bigger. Much bigger. She saw something move quickly in the right edge of the flashlight beam and almost screamed again. She slowly turned towards it, almost dropping the flashlight. Her hand shook so wildly that the light made a strobe-like effect as it centered on Poe running out of the woods with his tail tucked tightly down between his hind legs, shackles standing up on his back like a mohawk. He was scared as hell. Something tall, hunched, spindly and hairless emerged from the tree line behind him. And that awful screech again. Poe turned on a dime, crouched on his haunches and barked his biggest, meanest big dog bark. It only drew the thing closer to him. Kate, terrified, tried to call Poe, to tell him to get the hell in the tent, but all that came out was a croaked whisper. The noise must have woken up everyone else. She saw a light tick on and heard the creak of Levi’s RV door which was parked twenty feet away from her tent. The creature was on the other side so hopefully she could warn him before he came out guns blazing. God, she hoped he brought a gun. He came around the side of her tent, messy black hair, blue eyes foggy and still half asleep. Levi looked at Kate, then looked towards the barking, howling sound coming from a few feet away. He could only see the dog’s paws as Kate had lowered her flashlight down in her shock. Levi walked over to her, gently took her hand and pulled the flashlight back up and pointed the light back towards Poe and the awful creature she was hoping to hell was just a dream. But it was still there, hunched over as if deformed with its bony limbs contracted inward to its skeletal body. Kate imagined the thing would stand at least eight feet tall had its back not been terribly bent to such an extreme arch. It had sickeningly pale skin that looked all wrong, like a giant that had been decaying for centuries had just climbed out of his grave, barely able to straighten his body to stand upright. Now this gaunt, emaciated thing had woken finding itself to be starved. “What the hell is that thing?” Levi finally spoke, voice still hoarse with sleep. “I don’t . . “ Kate was still in shock, she supposed, she could barely speak. Before she could finish the thought, Poe ran snarling at the beast, the way only animals are willing to do. People hesitate, we analyze, we freeze like Kate was doing right now. Animals have to pick fight or flight in an instant and stick with the decision until death. Did Poe pick fight to protect her? Was he so loyal that he’d rather die than see her hurt? That thought cut through her heart sharper than almost anything else could. Almost. Kate tried to scream, to beg Poe not to go to battle with something he could never beat, but it was useless, Poe was gone. The only warm-blooded creature on earth that ever loved her was now running headfirst into a fight he could never win. The thing shrieked again. It was awful at this proximity. Both Kate and Levi cringed, and Kate realized she was covering her ears. Was she doing that the whole time? With its final battle cry, this one so shrill, Kate’s ear drums pulsed to the sound. The creature’s jaw opened unnaturally wide as if it could unhinge its jaw and snatched Poe up in one quick motion and flung his body up in the air like a rag doll, then swallowed him whole, the jaw opening wider and wider. Kate and Levi stood in shock. This couldn’t be real, it was far too gruesome. She had to be dreaming. As she stood, eyes wide, terror hanging thick in the air while tufts of Poe’s fur sailed to the ground around the beast, someone grabbed her arm at the wrist. She almost jumped out of her skin and spun around to see Levi, looking as terrified as her, but more insistent. He was saying something, but she wasn’t sure what, she felt like she was underwater now. It was like he was trying to talk to her from the other side of soundproof glass. But as he pulled at her wrist and motioned toward his camper, she understood. It was time to get the fuck out of here before that thing realized it was still hungry. She wondered if that jaw could stretch wide enough to devour a five foot three, one hundred twenty-pound female. Probably.