Voracious - Alice Henderson [116]
None of them seemed too hopeful.
With growing dread, Madeline returned to the stairs and peered upward. She listened for anything unusual above the trains clackity clack on the tracks. She didn’t hear anything.
Slowly she climbed the stairs and looked over the car. The same people still sat there. No one new. No one looked alarmed, all just reading or staring out of the window as scenic Montana faded into night.
She crept through her car, then passed into the next. Still, the two passengers sat there, not even looking up this time. Stefan could be one of them. She could file by them, and he could reach out and grab her, sinking teeth into her neck.
She rushed down the corridor and entered the next car, the one where she’d originally seen George. He still stood there, still clutched the paper towels to his head. He saw her enter the car, and she stopped.
“Madeline,” he demanded, “what the hell is going on?”
She wanted to know for certain if he was the creature. A desperate part of her wanted her friend George to be real. “What were you doing before you came to Mothershead?”
“I lived somewhere else.”
“Yeah, I know that part. But where?”
He wrinkled his brow. “Does it matter?”
“You know damn well that it matters. Answer the question!”
He visibly fumbled for an answer. “I was living in Billings.”
“Doing what?”
Again, he hesitated, caught off guard. “I worked as a bookkeeper. For a law firm.”
“Why were you so evasive when I asked you about your past before?”
He winced, pressing the paper towels closer to the wound. “I was embarrassed, okay? Bookkeeper. Law firm. Not exactly exciting.”
It was a lame excuse, but the creature was obviously not willing to give up his deepest cover with her. “What does exciting matter?” she asked.
He paused. “It’s just that … when I met you, you were always hiking or rock climbing, all this exciting stuff. I was so boring. I just didn’t want you to know how boring.”
She shook her head. This was going nowhere. She wanted to see his wound. By now it should be nearly healed. If it was, or if he refused to show it to her, she would know. “Let me see your head.”
“What?” he asked exasperated, still covering it with the towels.
“Let me see it!” she yelled, suddenly aware of the other passengers in the car, who stared at her and then looked away quickly when she met their eyes.
George backed up. “I don’t think so,” he said.
“Why?”
He paused warily. “I don’t trust you,” he said finally.
She didn’t know how she was going to get past him. He completely blocked the aisle.
The other passengers stared. A couple in their thirties entered the car ahead of them.
“George,” she suddenly gushed. “Oh gosh, you don’t look so good. You look like you’re going to pass out!”
He wrinkled his brow in confusion. “No, I’m not. I—”
“Oh, yeah,” she went on. “Your pupils are completely dilated. You need immediate medical attention!” She turned to the couple as they approached. “Excuse me,” she said. “Can you help me take my friend to the train’s clinic? He’s really in a bad way.”
“Sure,” the woman said quickly. Her husband gave her a withering look. “We’d be glad to help.”
George shook his head. “Really—I don’t need—”
“Nonsense,” Madeline said quickly. Then to the couple: “I really appreciate it. He’s so stubborn. And I don’t think his balance is too great with that bump on his head.”
“No problem,” the husband grumbled, giving in to his wife’s good nature.
Madeline slid her arm around George’s waist, and the husband did the same on the other side. They began slowly walking him toward the rear of the train, where the medical attendant’s area lay. The wife walked ahead of them. “Are you okay?” she asked George.
He exhaled in exasperation. “This is totally unnecessary!”
“See how stubborn he is?” Madeline said to the wife. Inside, though, she