Archie ran right up the side of the mountain like a goat as I struggled to keep up, following a small game trail through thick underbrush. He was all hot and bothered to show me something dandy that he found while out hunting with his dogs last week. I was all tuckered, and out of breath. 

“Are we close yet?” I said breathing heavy.

“Not much farther now!” he said urging me onwards.

We reached an outcropping that overlooked a small stream below us. He stopped and searched for something among the briars and thickets that hugged the side of the rock wall.

“What are we supposed to be looking for?” I asked as my suspenders got snagged in a thorny bush. 

“Words carved into the rock face that say, J Swift,” he said rubbing his hands along the boulders.

“What’s so special about some writing?”

“You’ll see,” he said grinning like a possum.

After a few minutes of searching, I found a rough carving on the rock wall behind some brambles. “Archie! I think I found something.”

He looked at the strange writing and said, “I haven’t seen this before.”

“No? What do you think it means?”

“Hell if I know. The pictures looks like “gyptian writin.” He said shrugging. “But this ain’t what I wanted to show you. There’s somethin” else, keep looking.”

Finally we found the words J Swift a few feet away carved into the rocks.

“Yeeha! That’s it!” he cried. “I knew we was close.”  I followed him as he raced down around the cliff face to a small opening. The entrance to this cave was about a foot high. He opened his pack and pulled out two lanterns. He lit them and handed me one as we got on our hands and knees and crawled inside. The path took a sharp turn down. We lowered ourselves down past a few huge boulders being careful not to fall. The room opened up to where we could stand upright and the floor leveled out. It felt cold and damp.

“Wow, how did you find this place?”I said excitedly.

“I was hunting with my dogs and one of them fell down this big hole and couldn’t get back out. I heard em barking and that’s how I found it. I’d never have known it be here otherwise,” said Archie.

The passageway opened up into a huge chamber. The light from our lanterns put out an eerie glow giving the cave a creepy feeling. There was a fine sand and gravel on the floor as if it was a dry underground river. The passage got narrow again and I got worried that we might go too far and not find our way back. I noticed something shiny reflecting the light on the wall of the cave. As I reached up to touch the shiny object my hand had disturbed a sleeping bat and it fluttered around. I screamed and dropped to my knees. 

“What is it!” Archie whispered.

“A bat,” I screamed. I got to my knees and tried to run with the lantern.

“Not that way!” yelled Archie.

But it was too late. I tripped over a rock and fell. My lantern flew ahead of me into a hole. I peered down and saw that it had fallen a long ways. 

“Archie, do you think you can shine the light down there so I can crawl down and get my lantern?” I said. 

“Just leave it. It looks kinda dangerous,” he said.

I didn’t listen, but was already hugging the rocks and partly sliding down on the seat of my pants.

I got to my lantern and picked it up. It looked okay except the glass had broken. I started to climb back up when I thought I heard a sound coming from further down below.

“Archie, I think there’s something down here!” 

“Like a wild animal?”

 “Not sure, I hear breathing.”

“Get your ass out of there. It could be a bear or mountain lion,” he said.

“Wait, I see something. Shine your lantern a little more to the right.”

“What do you see?”

“It looks like a person. Come on down and help me.”

Archie crept down the hole slowly trying not to drop the lantern. I took the lantern from him and walked over to the body.

When I brought the lantern closer I was shocked to see a pale emaciated man with the lower half of his body pinned beneath a rather large boulder. It looked more skeleton than man with paper thin skin stretched tightly over his bones. He was completely naked, every rib clearly visible, and his eyes were sunken and dark. The stomach area was deeply caved in as if well beyond the point of starvation. But the most horrifying part was the fact that this man appeared to be alive. There was a rapid shallow rise and fall of the chest. I gasped and wanted to turn away and run.

“Archie,…it’s a man and he’s alive,” I said.

Archie got up and came up beside me. My words had awoken the man and his skull turned to face us and he opened his eyes. It looked like death. Archie got closer and peered down at the man. He reached for the man’s hand.

“Sir, are you okay? How long have…?”

It happened so fast. The man snatched Archie’s arm tore into him like a savage beast ripping at flesh with his unusually long sharp teeth. Archie screamed in horror and called for me to help get this man off him. I sat the lantern on the ground and found the only weapon I could find, a rock about the size of a chicken, held it between my hands and started to bash this man in the head.

“Let go, you sorry bastard!” I screamed.

The man stopped temporarily just long enough for Archie to pull away. The man looked at me with a determined gaze and hissed like a cat and then started to growl. He struggled to get loose, but was tightly penned beneath the boulder. 

I picked up the lantern and ran over to Archie who was sitting on the ground cradling his arm.

“Let me see how bad it is,” I said trying to get Archie to show me.

He unwrapped his arm from his bloody shirt and the wound almost made me vomit. The man had tore open a patch of flesh in Archie’s forearm leaving a gaping wound. Blood came out in spurts. I took off my shirt and wrapped it tightly around his arm. I tore off strips of cloth and tied the shirt in place.

“We need to get you to a doctor, quick. That wound looks really bad.” Archie was becoming faint. I had to drag him up out of that hole while the whole time he was screaming, “Dammit,” and, “Oh, fuck!”

In the main room I felt disoriented. “Archie, Which way do we go to get out of here?” 

He tried to look up, but said,”I’m not sure.”

I panicked. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than being lost in a dark cave. I might never find my way out. I sat Archie down and stood there trying to retrace my tracks. 

I held the lantern high trying to notice if one direction looked familiar compared to the other. It did seem like we came in from the left. I asked Archie if he remembered, but he just moaned in pain. It was up to me to make the decision. I tore off a piece of my undershirt and left it on the floor beside the hole. If this wasn’t the way, then when I come back I can see where we’d been, so we could go the other direction. 

I veered off to the right but something felt off. 

“Archie? Did we come this way?” 

He looked up and then to the rear. “I don’t remember. I never been this far inside the cave before ‘cause I didn’t have a lantern when I found it.”

I needed to get out. Fear was getting the best of me. Being lost in a cave was my worst nightmare. I turned around and retraced my tracks back to the hole. 

“Let’s sit here a minute while I try to retrace our tracks,” I said panting.

Archie rocked back and forth holding his arm. “Oh, man, it hurts so bad.”

The creature down in the hole started jabbering in some other language. There was coughing, then a long silence as Archie and I stared at each other. Suddenly there was a god awful scream that echoed through the cave. 

“Oh, dear Lord, please help us get out of here!” I said.

I stood up and looked around. My body was shaking all over and I had that certain uneasy feeling down in the pit of my stomach like I might piss my britches. Just a few steps ahead I saw footprints in the sand. It was mine and they were facing in my direction.

“Archie! I think I found the way out! Where are you?”

“I’m back here!” 

I went back and helped Archie to his feet. 

“What about that man?” said Archie.

“What about him? He tried to kill you and as far as I’m concerned, he can just rot in this cave.”

“But he’ll die.”

“You’ll die if I don’t get you back down off this mountain,” I said.  

I led Archie back to the main chamber following our footprints. I noticed a sliver of light coming from the narrow entrance. 

“Oh thank the Lord, I found the way out!” I said. 

Once outside I was shocked to see Archie covered in blood. The shirt I had wrapped around his forearm was soaked in fresh blood.

“Charles, I don’t feel so good,” he said, barely able to stand. 

It took hours before I got Archie back to our little village called Crooked Knob. He was leaning on me as I drug him back across the corn fields as my uncle Elmer’s dogs barked at us. Elmer was sitting on his porch when he saw us. He perked up and squinted. Archie clung to my shoulder barely able to walk, when he suddenly went limp in my arms and slunk to the ground. 

I hollered as loud as I could, “Elmer! Elmer help me!”

He jumped up out of his rocking chair and hollered, “Mera Lee! Mera Lee. Come quick. It looks like the boys done got themselves in trouble.” He hobbled off his porch and ran towards us. 

“Oh lordy Charles what happened?” said Elmer jumping around.

“Its Archie. He done lost so much blood. He got himself bit by a raccoon,” I said trying to keep our story straight. 

“A coon did this? Well get him inside so Mera Lee can get a look at it.”  

We carried Archie inside and laid him on his bed. Archie’s  sister Sarah and Annie May peeked inside. “Pa what’s wrong with Archie?” 

“He’s been hurt real bad. Go get your mom quick.” 

Mera Lee came a running in from the back yard with a basket of laundry. Mera Lee saw me first all covered in blood and dropped the basket. She ran into the bedroom and saw Archie lying in bed all covered in blood. She ran to his bedside and unwrapped the bloody shirt from his arm. As she exposed his arm I nearly threw up at the site. From the  wrist past the elbow was shredded flesh floating in a pool of oozing blood. 

“Elmer bring me a jug of Moonshine and Sarah you go fetch some water from the well and heat it on the stove. Annie I want you to go and find me some clean sheets. Charles you go get your poppa right now,” said Mera Lee taking charge.

I sprinted down the dirt path through the field that connected our houses trying to avoid the cow paddies. 

“Poppa! Poppa, come quick!” 

My mom opened the screen door wearing an apron and brushing the hair out of her eyes. “Charles what’s wrong?” 

“Get Poppa. Archie’s hurt bad!”

It had been well over two hours since Poppa rode off on ole Midnight to fetch Doc Halverson. Poor Archie had been in and out of consciousness and Mera Lee says that he’d lost a lot of blood. I stuck to the story about it being a raccoon that attacked Archie, but Momma says she thinks there’s something that I ain’t tellin her. Archie started to mumble the words cave and crazy man, but I said I didn’t know what he was talking about. 

I insisted on sitting by Archie’s bedside despite Momma nagging me to go home and get some rest. Besides being my cousin, he was my best friend. Archie opened his eyes and started to scream.“Ahhhhh!” 

“It’s okay, baby. You’re home now,” Mera Lee said patting his shoulder.

“Charles! Charles!” he said searching the room with his eyes.

“I’m right here,” I said feeling scared he’d spill the beans. 

“Is he gone? Did you kill him?” Archie said grabbing my hand.

“You mean… the raccoon?” I said lowering my eyebrows.

“Charles, you best let Archie tell us what happened,” said Mera Lee scolding me.

“It was like he said. We headed out towards Crooked Knob. Up near an outcroppin’ besides the mountain, we found a, a raccoon caught in some kind of trap. We was going to try and free its leg, but I got too close and it grabbed a hold of my arm and started biting me. Charles had to hit it with a rock so it would let go.”

“Archie what was you thinkin? You know better than gettin dat close to a wounded animal,” said Elmer pushing his spectacles back on his nose.

“I wasn’t thinkin’ I guess.  Momma, my arm hurts really bad,” Archie said grimacing, holding his wounded arm in his other hand.

“I know baby. Luke done gone into town to fetch the doc. They’ll be back soon. Don’t you worry,” she said brushing the hair from his sweaty forehead.

It was almost dusk by the time Poppa came back with Doc Halverson.  The old man grabbed his black medical bag and stepped down from the buggy. He hurried inside and sat down in a chair at his bedside. Doc put on his spectacles and said, “Now let’s see what we’re dealing with. How are you feeling Archie?”

“It hurts some’m terrible Doc.”

He cut off the bandages and exposed the wounds.  Looks like you’ll definitely need stitches Archie. Are you sure this was done by a raccoon? These wounds looks like it was made by a much bigger animal.” 

Mera Lee rushed us out of the room while Doc sewed up Archie’s arm. The rest of us gathered around the window to peek inside. I could hear Archie screaming in pain. 

A while later Doc emerged from the house wiping the sweat from his brow. He looked visibly tired. He took a seat on the front porch and the adults gathered around. Mera Lee brought him a cool glass of water. 

Elmer spoke up and said, “So how is he Doc?”

“I ain’t gonna lie. Archie’s hurt bad. He lost lots of blood and that wound’s really nasty. I sewed it up the best I could, but ain’t sure if I can save that arm. I want you to watch him carefully. If that arm starts to swell and change colors I want you to come get me immediately. I’m afraid that raccoon might have rabies. If he starts to act different or gets a fever, you come and get me.” 

Then Doc Halverson pulled me aside and said, “Charles there’s something you boys aren’t telling me. I’ve seen lots of wounds in my life and that wound on Archie’s arm ain’t from no raccoon. Those bite marks don’t look like no animal I ever saw. They look almost human.”

I felt queasy in the pit of my gut. I steadied myself, looked straight into Doc’s intense blood shot eyes, and said. “It was a raccoon Doc, just like we said.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and stormed off in a huff. Poppa helped him climb aboard his buggy. They spoke a few minutes then Doc cracked a whip and said giddy up. I stood by the gate watching as he rode away in his horse and buggy. As Poppa walked past me, I hung my head in shame.

 Archie took a turn for the worse during the night. I fell asleep in the chair beside his bed, and woke up to the sound of moaning and groaning. Archie was burning up. His skin felt hot. I woke Mera Lee and she had me draw a bucket of water from the well. He needed to be cooled off. Archie clutched the blankets closer saying he was shivering. She stripped his clothes off and poured cold water all over his body. He screamed and continued to shiver. I held his hand and told him it would get better, but part of me was scared he wouldn’t.

The next morning the fever was down some, but Archie was still in great pain. Mera Lee seemed to think the worst was over. Poppa killed a chicken and Momma made a big pot of soup. She sent me over with a bowl for Archie. When I brought it back, Mera Lee tried to get him to eat some of it. He said he wasn’t hungry, but she pushed him to drink a little. 

He seemed okay at first, but then he started retching and throwing up the soup. Nothing would stay down. The skin on his arm turned beet red and hot to the touch. Mera Lee told me to run and get Poppa again cause he needed to bring back Doc Halverson and quick.

Poppa left outta here lickety-split. Elmer said that it looked like poor ole Archie was gonna lose that arm for sure. Strange thing was that Archie kept wanting to suck on that silver spoon like it was candy or something. 

He said he liked the taste. Elmer thought it was the sickness talking.

By mid afternoon the fever came back with a vengeance. Archie didn’t seem to be aware of us being there. He kept yammering on and on about all sorts of nonsense. He mumbled something about the old man, then he started screaming and wouldn’t stop. Mera Lee and Elmer tried to calm him down, but he just keep yelling at the top of his lungs. It scared the crap outta little Anna May and Sarah who were peeking in the door to his room.

“Oh lordy lordy! Jesus give me strength. Oh Lord I hope you see fit to spare my son from this terrible affliction,” said Mera Lee kneeling beside his bed her hands clasped in prayer. Archie slept about an hour, then woke up mumbling again. He briefly regained consciousness by asking for water. Elmer got a dipper of water and held it to his lips. Archie started to drink by gulping down the water. He seemed rather thirsty and asked for more. Mera Lee grabbed the bucket and carried it to the bedside table. 

“Here sweetie, you take another big drink,” said Mera Lee. Just as he was sipping another dipperful, Archie’s eyes rolled back in his head and all you could see was the whites of his eyes. Suddenly his head flew backwards against the pillow and his entire body started to jerk and thrash about violently. It took both Elmer and me to hold him down to keep him from hurting his arm more.

The shaking stopped and Archie fell into a deep sleep. His body still felt very hot to the touch. Mera Lee continued to put cold rags on his head. The sun went down and Poppa had not come home with Doc yet. Momma was worried that something had happened along the way.

The next morning the sun came up and no sign of Poppa or Doc Halverson. I got dressed and ran over to check on Archie, but found Mera Lee sitting on the front porch wiping tears from her eyes. 

“So how is Archie doing this morning?” I said. She looked up at me, her eyes swollen and red. Tears streamed down her face dripping off the tip of her nose. She sniffled and said, “Archie’s dead. I fell asleep and when I woke up, I checked to see if he still had a fever and found him cold and stiff. I ain’t told the rest of them yet,” she said sitting down on the back step. I gave her a big hug and started to cry.

We sat together on the front porch and smoked some tobacco in silence. I didn’t know what to say. I’d just lost my best friend and she lost her first born son. Sometimes it’s best to say nothing. I heard the sound of hoofbeats on the road. Poppa was back with Doc Halverson, but they were too late. Poppa got off his horse and ran towards me, but when he saw my face he stopped and kicked the barn door and threw his hat on the ground. 

Then suddenly Sarah appeared at the door and said that Archie was awake and asking for Mera Lee. We both looked at each other with our mouths hanging open in astonishment.

Doc said it was nothing short of a miracle. He’d never seen anyone make such a rapid recovery before in his entire forty year career. Not only had Archie’s fever broke, but the infection in his arm seemed to be gone.  The red purple streaks were gone and the swelling was down. Doc proclaimed that Archie should make a full recovery. Momma and Mera Lee cooked a big meal and insisted doc stay for all his trouble. After all the celebration, Doc happily rode off in his buggy with a pig and three jugs of moonshine.

The next day I came over to see how Archie was doing. Mera Lee sat on the front porch, with a worried look on her face.

“Hi Mera Lee,” I said. She put an index finger in front of her mouth to shush me. She got up and urged me to follow her to the barn. “What’s going on?” I whispered. 

“You tell me. Something happened up in them thar woods that you’re keepin secret. I seen plenty of death in my life, but I ain’t never seen anybody recover from it. I swear on my Momma’s grave that Archie was stone cold dead the other night. When I walked back in that room I was preparing to see a ghost.”

“Maybe he wasn’t dead. Some people just seem like they’s dead,” I said.

“It’s more than that. He ain’t et nothin. And when I opened the curtains to let in some fresh air, he hollers at me and tells me to close them. Says the light hurts his eyes. He wants it dark as night in that room and that ain’t normal. Now I’ll ask you one last time, what happened up in them woods?” she said pointing her finger at me.

“Nothin Mera Lee, I swear.”

“Well we should get back. Maybe you can get him to eat a little somethin’. Maybe talk him into lettin’ me open up them winders.”

We went inside to Archie’s room. Sure enough, the room was kept dark. “Is that you Charles?” said Archie. 

“Yeah, it’s me. How’re you doing? I hear you’re feeling much better,” I said creeping in with my hands in my pockets.

“Yeah, my arm ain’t hurtin no more. You wanna see?”  He looked around to make sure Mera Lee wasn’t looking and undid the bandages. “Look how it is already healing over. It don’t look nearly as bad as I thought it was.” Sure enough the deep gashes were nearly healed over.  I was certain that they were much worse than what I was seeing now. He sat up in bed and said, “I feel good except the light hurts my eyes. And I feel hungry, but every time I take a bite of food, it comes right back up. Something ain’t right.”

Archie’s skin looked a pale blue color. “Here let me open the curtains a bit, I want to get a better look.” I walked over to the curtains and pulled them open, but Archie yelled at me to close them. 

“What’s going on in here?”said Mera Lee walking in the room. 

“I just wanted more light to get a better look,” I said.

“You know what, I do too,” she said slinging open the curtain. 

Archie hollered and screamed bloody murder when the light hit his skin and he jerked the covers back over his head. “Jesus Momma, I told you the light hurts my eyes,” he said pleading. 

She closed the curtains and slowly he pulled his head out from under the covers. I leaned down and noticed that his eyes didn’t look their normal blue color, but a silver grey. He looked slightly ghoulish and it scared me. 

During that day, Archie complained about being hungry, but he couldn’t hold any food down, except water. All he’d do was suck on a spoon like it was a lollipop. He even tried to gnaw on it. Mera Lee asked if I thought his skin looked pale. Archie lay rocking in bed like he was antsy or something. He didn’t act at all like the person I grew up with. He was different, more serious, maybe even desperate, but not the joyful fun loving clown that I knew. 

Later that afternoon Elmer came back from the fields with his favorite hound Rusty. It went into Archie’s room, and jumped up on the bed by Archie’s feet. Mera Lee yelled at Rusty to get down, but Archie insisted he stay. Mera Lee asked me to go home so Archie could get some sleep.

Later on that afternoon, I heard some commotion coming from Archie’s house. Elmer was cursing and hollerin something terrible. I ran out to see what had happened. 

“My dawg, Look what he done to my best coon dawg!” The dog was yelping and limping around the yard. Blood was everywhere. “Somethin ain’t right with that boy. He done went and bit my dawg’s foot near clean off,” said Elmer

Mera Lee was hollering in high pitched wails. I ran inside and saw ole Archie crouching on the edge of the bed with blood spattered all over his nightshirt and face. He licked his bloody fingers and whimpered like a wounded animal.

“Lordy Lordy Lordy! What’s wrong with you boy? Why in God’s green Earth did you go and bite Rusty’s leg? That dawg never once snapped or growled at you in it’s entire life and you go and do something this cruel.”

“I don’t know Momma. When he was layin next to me, I just couldn’t stop myself. I was so hungry for meat, and, and…” he said rockin back and forth in bed. 

“If you’re hungry let me cook you something.” 

“No! You don’t understand, I don’t want it cooked, I want it raw.”

“Raw? You can’t eat meat raw. It ain’t good for ya.” 

Archie screamed and hollered telling everybody to leave him alone. Sarah and Anna peeked in the door, but ran away screaming in terror. I ran out of the house and passed Elmer bandaging the dog’s wound in the yard. 

“Charles, I been thinking that boy got bit by a rabid coon. He ain’t actin’ right. Dey ain’t got no cure for the rabies. If that’s what he got, then he’s good as dead. I’s afraid if he bites a dawg, then he might bite one of us. We might have to tie him down so he won’t hurt nobody. You and your daddy might have to help me. You understand?” 

“Yessir, I do.” 

“If Archie gets worse we is gonna have to do something and Mera Lee ain’t gonna like it.”

Mera Lee came out the door and says, “Charles, would you mind sitting with Archie. He’s in there crying his eyes out and don’t want me in there. I need to wash the blood out of these sheets?” 

I walked inside and sat down in the chair besides Archie’s bed. He sat up in bed rocking back and forth with a blanket pulled over his head.

“Archie, it’s me, Charles. Everybody else is outside. What’s going on?” I said.  

“You tell me. I caught something from that old man in the cave. I don’t feel right inside.”

“Why did you bite Rusty?”

“I’m hungry and I can’t eat normal food. Just like right now I can smell your blood. It pains me to think of the evil thoughts floating around in my head.”

“Elmer thinks you might be dangerous.”

“He might be right,” Archie said as Elmer walked in the door followed by Mera Lee holding a length of rope.

“What are you doing?” screamed Archie.

“This is for your own good. Charles, you and Elmer grab his hands.” She turned to Archie and said, “Honey, listen to me. You’re sick and we need to do this. You could hurt yourself or somebody else,” she pleaded.  

When we tried to grab his hands, he started kicking and hollering. Once we got ahold of him, he pulled loose and stood up on the bed.

“Leave me alone! Don’t touch me!” he screamed.

“We can’t honey. You’re sick. Now get down before you hurt somebody. Okay sweetie?” said Mera Lee.

I distracted Archie by telling him when things are back to normal we can go hunting and fishing. He cracked a smile as Mera Lee stood behind him and threw a blanket over his head so he couldn’t bite us. Elmer and I tackled him and held either arm while Mera Lee tied his arms and legs to the bed posts.

“I’m doing this for your own good Archie. You ain’t well and I can’t have you hurtin’ yourself or somebody else,” said Mera Lee brushing a wisp of hair from her eyes. She pulled the blanket off his head and stared him in the eyes.

“Just leave me be. Ahh! Get out!” cried Archie straining against the restraints.

“Im gonna open this damned window and let in some light,” said Mera Lee. She yanked the curtains back, flooding the room with light. Archie screamed something terrible. His pale skin burned, turning a bright red with blisters.

“Ahh, Close the damned curtains! It burns! It burns!” screamed Archie as he tugged at his bindings.

“The sun’s burning his skin. Maybe we best close the curtains,” said Elmer.

“Oh lordy lordy I do believe that he done gone and caught the rabies!” said Mera Lee pulling the curtains shut. “Taint never seen nothin’ like it.”

I was breathing all hard, cause I was truly scared. Mera Lee stood by the door all crying and shit. Soon afterwards he fell into a sound sleep and I sat with him up until it got dark. Mera Lee told me I best be getting home. She said she’d send Elmer if things got worse.

I walked in the house and Momma says, “What’s goin’ on over there? I heard banging and yelling.”

“There is something terribly wrong with Archie. He be acting like a wild animal. Elmer says he thinks it be rabies. I had to help tie him down in bed to keep him from hurting somebody,” I said.

 Poppa grabbed me by the arm and looked me in the eye all serious. “Damnation boy! You are gonna sit right down here and tell me the truth. That there ain’t no regular coon bite.” 

Poppa sat me down at the kitchen table and demanded that I tell him everything. Eli wanted to listen, but Momma told him to get to bed. Momma stood by the door with her mouth hanging open after I told them about the old man in the cave, Poppa was shaking.

“I’m sorry Poppa, I wanted to tell you, but was afraid,” I said crying. “I didn’t want to kill the man, but he was hurting Archie and I had to kill him to save Archie.” I said hugging my poppa tight. 

I looked him the eyes pleading for mercy, but instead of anger, his face went pale and he looked afeared something mighty. He placed his head in his hands. “Oh lord don’t let it be true,” he said.

“You’re scaring me Luke,” said Momma.

“I didn’t think much of it at the time, but when I was only a boy, my grand pappy would tell us stories about when he was a young man. This one story he’d tell us was about some Shawnee families that used to live on the banks of the Kanawha River somewhere in Virginia. He said the older men of the tribe would tell him all sorts of tales about pale blue creatures that lived in caves and would come out at night to feast on the blood of deer, elk, bears and sometimes a human. Those that were bitten got sick and turned into one of them. We were just kids and didn’t believe any of them stories. That was just stuff the older folks told the kids to behave and not wander off. Maybe Grand Pappy was right. Wonder if you actually ran into one of those creatures. If it’s true and Archie was bitten by one of those things, we gonna have to warn Mera Lee and Elmer. They is in danger.”

It was true, we are a superstitious folk. We believe in ghosts and spirits, good luck charms, and dowsing for water. It’s part of our lives. We’re the faithful. We dearly believe in our Lord, so it weren’t much of a stretch to believe in monsters and evil demons as well.

Up in the wee hours of the night we heard a strange commotion and banging. Poppa woke me up and decided we should go next door to see what the noise was about. Momma wanted to come along but told her to stay indoors and watch the kids. It put a certain fear in her when he said that. He even told her to lock the door and windows. Poppa and I each took a shotgun and quietly walked towards their house.

Next thing we hear is god awful mooing and screaming coming from the pasture. The cow seemed distressed. Poppa told me to take the lantern and check on the cow while’s he goes and has a talk with Elmer.

As I goes walking in dark pasture, the mooing sounds more like a low moaning than the frantic moos just a few seconds ago. This was more like a dying sound and it scared me to the bone. I saw the shape of the cow on her side across the moonlit field, yet it was not alone. Something was crouched on the ground beside it digging into its neck. It was large like a wolf, but hairless like a pig. But as I drew near, it was no animal but a bare ass naked man ripping wildly into that cow hardly noticing me approach.

“Stop or I’ll shoot! Why are you out here messing with our cow?” I said shaking. There was no reply, but the motion stopped. Slowly the crouching man stood upright and looked directly at me not saying a word. “Who’s out there? Who’s out there,” I screamed. There was a few minutes of silence. Not moving but staring at each other as if we were about to pounce.

“Its me,… Archie,” the voice said in a long slow whisper. There was malice in the tone. “Come here Charles. I want to show you something,”

I raised the lantern above my head. The light revealed Archie naked and covered in blood. 

“It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault,” he kept repeating in-between licking his fingers.

“What’s not your fault Archie?” I asked, but then I heard a frantic male voice calling out, “Charles, Charles leave the cow! Hurry I need you come now!”

I raised the rifle and aimed, “What did you do Archie?”

“I couldn’t help it Charles. I couldn’t stop, and I didn’t want to stop at the time.”

“They’re all dead. All of em. He killed em all, even the baby!” Poppa yelled from the front porch. “Oh god help us dear lord.”

“You don’t understand. I didn’t have a choice,” Archie said crying and licking his fingers.

I took aim and fired right at his head, but missed hitting his neck instead. He leapt into a nearby tree howling in pain. “It’s not my fault Charles. You would have done the same thing,” he screamed. 

I took aim again and hit him in the gut causing him to fall from the tree. As I slowly approached him, I raised the lantern and could see that he was still moving. He clawed at the ground in agony. “Kill me Charles while you have the chance, because if you don’t, I’ll kill you and I’ll eat you too.”

I stood over him and saw the wound on his neck healing over. “Do it now because I’m hungry. I’m so fucking hungry. I will eat you!” he screamed as he beat his fists in the dirt.

I took aim and shot him right between the eyes. I heard Poppa hollering for me after the shot. He comes running down the pasture with his rifle drawn. “Was that you shooting Charles?” his voice trembling.

“Its me Poppa. I killed him. I killed Archie. I had to,” I said bursting into tears. I killed two men within a week. I killed my best friend and now I will be hung for my crimes. 

“Charles, they’re all dead. Every last one of them. Archie murdered his entire family.” I dropped my rifle and gave Poppa a hug. “I’m so sorry Poppa. It’s my fault. I talked Archie into helping that man. If we had just left him be, none of this would’ve happened.” 

“What are we gonna do Poppa? You saw what Archie did. Who’s gonna believe us? I’m a murderer Poppa,” I said crying.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this, boy,” Poppa said holding me tight.

That night we drug Archie’s body into their house and placed him on his bed. The house was covered in blood. Elmer was lying in bed with his throat ripped out, Mera Lee was lying beside the bedroom door, slash marks on her face and neck, and her stomach was ripped open and most of the organs were missing. The two children lying in their beds, both with their throats ripped open. All still and cold by the time we got to them. Before morning light, Poppa dropped the lantern in Archie’s bedroom and watched as the fire spread to the blankets then to the curtains until the room was engulfed in flames. Poppa and I stood watching the fire engulf the house from a distance. Momma comes running out the front door screaming, “Luke Charles, is there a fire?”

“Go back there’s nothing we can do now,” Poppa said sternly.

“The children, Mera Lee, Elmer, Archie, are they okay?”

“No, no they’re not sweetie. I’m so so very sorry. They’s all dead. Nothing we can do,” he said.

Momma went running for the door but Poppa stopped her and held on tight as she fought to break loose. She screamed and buried her head in his chest.

The fire burned well into the night as we buried the cow. We couldn’t trust to eat it after Archie got ahold of it. People would wonder why we would have slaughtered cow this time of year. The towns folk saw the fire and by the time the first of them had arrived, the house was reduced to a pile of soot and ash. Momma and Poppa stood sobbing in each other’s arms. We told the neighbors it must have been an accident. Someone must have knocked over a lantern during the night. Told them that Archie was out of his mind with fever, and poor Mera Lee be up all night tending to him. Such a tragedy for such a small isolated area like Crooked Knob. No such thing as a fire department this far out in the sticks. No reliable water supply. You just on your own. 

There were hugs and kisses. People brought food to comfort us in our time of need. I was afraid Mom would break down and tell the truth. Who in their right mind would believe it. But she kept quiet, all of us did.  

That next Sunday the church held a memorial service. The entire town showed up. The preacher talked about grief and loss and how the Lord works in mysterious ways. I sat silent with my family and held my head down with shame. I feared God’s judgement upon me for killing Archie. Momma held my hand tight. Once the service had ended, people came by and offered their condolences. I needed to get away and walked around behind the church and sat in the grass and cried. As I sat there, I heard someone talking through the window above me. I stood and peeked inside. Doc Halverson was talking to Poppa. “That was a horrible tragedy. I’m so sorry for your family’s loss Luke,” he said patting him on the back.

“It surely was Doc. A nightmare for us all,” said Poppa.

“You know, I never to this day saw anything quite as strange as that wound on Archie’s arm. I treated those wounds and never have I seen wounds heal that fast. It was medically impossible, yet we both saw it. That was a miracle. It is hard for me, as a man of science to believe in miracles,” he said shaking his head. “Let me ask you one question Luke. Do you believe those stories we were told as kids about the Indians and the blue people?”

“What are you asking me Doc? Are you telling me you believe in old Indian legends?”

“Just saying, most stories have some basis in fact. All I know is that something unbelievable and weird happened with that boy.” He shook his head and sighed, “Well, I best be going, Luke. It was good seeing your family back at church. You take care.”

“Great seeing you again Doc.

“As he was walking away, he turned and said, “So you believe those stories, don’t you Luke?” Doc said cocking his head to the side.

My Poppa shook his head, let out a huge sigh, and said, “Sometimes, some stories just need to be forgotten.”