47

Tall Man caught up with Amanda halfway down the hill.  He had shouted to her, told her he was coming, and why, and she had stopped running.  As they walked, he swung the flashlight from side to side.

They heard a bark, then several more — quick, high-pitched, frantic.

"No!" Amanda yelled, and she started to run.  Tall Man reached for her, to stop her, but she was lighter than he, and quicker, and on the downward slope the best he could do was maintain a distance between them of ten feet.

She reached the pool area first; he stopped beside her.  They could hear the sea lions barking, a cacophony of shrieks, but they couldn't see them.  Tall Man shone the light toward the sounds.

Two of the sea lions were huddled against the side of the equipment shed, rocking on their flippers, their heads bobbing as they barked hysterically.  He swung the light to the right.

Something was crouching by the rocks on the far side of the pool, something huge and grayish white.  They could see only its massive back, for its head was bent out of sight.  But as the light fell on it, it rose and turned.

Amanda screamed.  Tall Man felt his heart jump and adrenaline surge through his arms and shoulders.

It was as large as an ape and as gray as ash.  Through the blood that covered its face they saw the glitter of steel teeth, and through the gore that dripped from its hands, long steel claws.  Its body was hairless; the sinews in its arms and legs stood out like whips; where once had been genitals, now there was but a crudely stitched patch of mottled hide.  Its eyes, as the light struck them, gleamed like reflectors.

Behind the thing lay the partly eaten carcass of a sea lion.

The thing opened its mouth, uttered a glottal roar and took a step forward.

"Go!" Tall Man said to Amanda.

"I... but... "  She stood frozen.

"Go!  For crissakes, go warn them!  Go!"

Amanda took a step backward, turned and ran.

Tall Man didn't move.  He glanced up toward high ground.  Behind the thing lay nothing but water, and he wasn't about to tangle with this thing in water.  Not after what he'd heard about it.

He took his knife from his belt, bent his knees and held the knife before him, waving it slowly back and forth.

The thing hunched its shoulders, rolled forward onto the balls of its feet, raised its arms and spread its webbed fingers, baring claws as long and sharp as scalpels.

If man made you, Tall Man thought as he moved in a slow circle, man can unmake you.