Near the Bone(56)

But she couldn’t be certain. Jen and C.P. both wore clothes that made a lot of noise—the slick surfaces of their jackets, the rough cloth of their pants. They both walked heavily, too, and their boots squeaked in the snow with every step. She couldn’t detect the presence of the creature—or of anything else that might be nearby—with all the racket. Mattie felt like they were announcing their presence to William, who’d hear them coming even with all the cabin windows closed. She tried not to be irritated, because she knew they couldn’t help it. They didn’t know how to be quiet because they’d never really needed to be. They didn’t have to hide from monsters that might hurt them.

The tip of Mattie’s boot touched something hard in the dark—a rock, she thought—and she automatically moved right, skirting around it. The last thing she needed was to trip and fall. The other two were following so close behind that they would probably fall on top of her.

Then there was a sound of metal, a hideous snapping, and Jen was screaming.

The trap. William’s bear trap. She’d forgotten all about it. He’d gone out that morning to set it, to catch his demon.

“Jen! Jen!” C.P. said. Mattie saw his silhouette against the trail, standing stock-still.

“Flashlight!” Mattie said to C.P. Maybe Jen wasn’t hurt too badly. Maybe they would be able to get her out of the trap.

He clicked the light on and Mattie heard him say, “Oh, god.”

The trap had imbedded itself in Jen’s leg, below her knee. Blood poured from the wound, rolling down her pants, making a stain in the snow.

Just like the rabbit, Mattie thought.

She twisted and writhed on the ground, screaming, “Get it off, get it off, get it off me, oh my god, get it off!”

“Hold still,” C.P. said, but Jen was thrashing around, the part of her body not caught in the trap trying to escape. “Hold still!”

William will come, Mattie thought. They were too close to the cabin. He would hear Jen screaming and C.P. shouting and he would come and finish off the other two and drag Mattie away.

“Shh,” Mattie said, falling to her knees next to Jen. She grabbed the other woman’s flailing hands and squeezed them tight. “Shh.”

“It hurts,” Jen whimpered. Mattie saw the gleam of tears on her cheeks. “It hurts.”

Mattie squeezed her hands tighter, trying to comfort. This is my fault. I should have remembered the trap.

C.P.’s flashlight bobbed around as he knelt down to inspect the trap. “I have to loosen the springs. When I do, you pull your leg out as fast as you can. Don’t move around until I loosen it, OK?”

He put the flashlight on the ground close to the trap.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Jen asked. Her voice was strained. Mattie could tell that she was making an enormous effort not to cry out.

“I saw this in a movie once,” he said.

“Oh, great.”

He ignored her comment. “You press down on the springs on either side and it loosens the jaws, but you have to get your leg out fast because I don’t know how much pressure the springs need or how long I’ll be able to hold it.”

Mattie looked at C.P. It was hard to tell with the puffy jacket but he didn’t seem muscle-bound. She didn’t think he’d have enough arm strength to open the springs, and it seemed to her that faster was better. They needed to get Jen out of the trap quickly.

“Stand,” she said.

“What?” he said.

Mattie pointed at the springs. “Stand . . . on . . . it.”

“She’s saying to step on the springs instead of trying to do it with your hands, dope,” Jen said. She sounded stronger, like the act of potentially arguing with C.P. gave her energy.

“Oh. Good idea,” C.P. said.

He stood up and positioned himself in front of the trap.

“Don’t move around,” he said. “I don’t want to make this worse.”

C.P. raised up the toes of his boots in front of each spring and then pushed down on the metal on either side of the jaws.

The teeth loosened so suddenly that Mattie wasn’t ready for it. She’d had an idea that it would be a slow process, but once C.P.’s weight was on the springs, the jaws popped open.

“Pull your leg out!” he cried, but Jen didn’t need telling. She was already freeing herself, pulling away with another cry of pain.

As soon as Jen was loose, C.P. stepped off the trap, which snapped shut again with a clang that seemed to echo all through the woods.

“Oh god,” Jen said. “Oh god, it hurts like hell.”

Then she turned her head away from Mattie and threw up.

“Did that guy put this trap out here?” C.P. asked Mattie.

She noticed how C.P. never called him “William”—always “that guy” or “that nut” or some equivalent. It wasn’t really the right time to ask about this quirk, though.

“Yes,” Mattie said. She wanted to explain that William thought the creature was a demon, and that killing it was a trial sent by God in William’s eyes, but her limited ability to talk made it impossible. Perhaps she could tell them tomorrow.

If we live until tomorrow.

She realized she didn’t feel very certain about this. Griffin had been taken by the monster, and now Jen had been caught in the trap. Jen wouldn’t be able to run or climb or even walk very well with that leg—what Mattie saw of it did not look good.