Freeks(50)

“Zeke!” Gideon shouted, and the world fell back into motion again. “Get out here!”

If Gideon was calling people to come out, then he must’ve thought it was safe. I crawled out in a hurry, not waiting to see if Luka followed.

I ran toward the sound of his voice and discovered that the fencing around the tiger’s pen had broken. The metal tines were bent and twisted, creating a gap large enough for a bear to fit through.

Gideon knelt on the ground with his shotgun in one hand, while his other was pressed against a wound in the tiger’s abdomen. Safēda’s blue eyes were wild with fear, and her white fur had been stained red with blood.

Mahilā stood at the other side of the pen, howling.

“What happened?” I asked.

Gideon looked back over his shoulder at me. “Get in your trailer. Tell everyone to stay inside.”

“But what happened?” I persisted. “Did you shoot Safēda?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I found her like this. I fired the gun to scare away whatever had attacked her.”

“So you didn’t see it?” I asked.

“Mara!” Gideon snapped. “Get back in your trailer! Lock the door!”

I knew I wouldn’t be able to get any more from him, so I did as I was told. Though I skipped my trailer, instead deciding to hole up in Luka’s trailer with him, Hutch, and Roxie.

We sat at the windows, watching as Zeke rushed around to gather blankets and basic first aid. A few people came out to ask Gideon what was going on, but he sent them all back to their trailers with no more information than he’d given me.

Then Zeke and Gideon loaded Safēda into the back of the truck, and Zeke sped off, presumably to get her the medical care she needed.

Finally, the sky began to lighten, and people began filtering out into the campsite. Normally, most of us weren’t up this early, but I don’t think anyone had gone back to sleep. Not that I blamed them. Gunfire wasn’t a common occurrence in the camp.

“Did you guys get a good look at it?” Hutch asked, not for the first time. “You saw the thing, right?”

He sat in the dinette across from Luka, while Roxie poured herself another cup of coffee. I sat in the swivel chair by the window, with my chin resting on the back of the chair, so I could watch everything that happened outside.

“We didn’t really see much of anything.” Luka repeated the answer he’d been giving Hutch since we’d gone into the trailer a couple hours ago. “It was dark, and we were under the camper.”

“But you think it was an animal?” Hutch pressed.

“It wasn’t human, so it must be an animal,” Luka replied wearily.

“You know those aren’t the only two options,” Hutch said.

“Hutch!” Roxie snapped. “Just let it go for a while, okay?”

The camp looked gray and dull, since the sun hadn’t risen fully yet, and everyone moved slowly as they started their morning routines, looking like zombies in a horror movie. Then the campsite was suddenly flooded with red and blue, and Hutch jumped to his feet to look out the windshield.

“Holy crap,” Hutch said. “There’s a cop here.”

A black-and-white car pulled into the center of the campsite. Caudry Sheriff’s Department had been painted on the side in bold blue letters, and my heart sank when I saw Deputy Bob Gendry getting out of the driver’s seat.

Gideon was already walking toward him, his lips pressed together in a grim line. Blood stained the white ribbed tank he was wearing, and I realized that he’d already lost a lot of clothes to bloodstains this week.

I moved slowly, opening the door to the motorhome and waiting at the bottom of the steps so I didn’t intrude. Mahilā growled, and I looked over to see her locked up in the traveling cage.

“What can I do for you?” Gideon asked.

“We’ve had some complaints about gunfire and possible animal attacks.” Deputy Bob stood with his hands on his belt, emphasizing the fact that he had a gun holstered on his hip.

“We’ve had some problems with an animal harassing our campsite,” Gideon explained carefully. “I fired a gun to scare it off.”

Deputy Bob looked over at the mangled tiger pen, and his full lips pinched into an annoyed pucker. “It seems like you’ve had some problems with your tigers.”

“It’s not our tigers,” Gideon corrected him. “It’s something from around here—something from Caudry—that attacked the tigers.”

“What kind of tiger is that?” Deputy Bob narrowed his small eyes as he watched Mahilā pace her cage.

“She’s a Siberian tiger,” Gideon replied.

“I don’t know much about exotic animals, like what you’ve got here.” The way Deputy Bob gestured when he said that, it seemed as if he was including all the people who lived in the carnival.

“I doubt very much that your knowledge extends beyond the limited things you’ve seen inside of your little backwoods town,” Gideon said, not bothering to even mask the irritation in his voice.

Deputy Bob laughed then, a loud braying sound that echoed through the campsite. “You don’t know anything about Caudry, do you?”

“I know that I’ll be glad when we get out of here,” Gideon countered.