The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles by Declan Conner Page A

“you’ll love this.”
His cheeks puffed out and he covered his mouth with his hand as if stifling a
laugh. Johno helped her to put on the blindfold, then dropped the cushion from
his chair on the pebbles. “Kneel down.”
    Johno guided her to kneel. Oliver stepped forward. Ted
positioned himself behind Louise.
    “What do I do?” Louise asked. There was nervousness in her
voice.
    “Just a moment,” Oliver said, and knelt before her, holding
his hairy forearms together and facing Louise.
    “Just lean forward and kiss the blarney stone,” said Johno.
    Amy didn’t get it. Louise reached forward in blind faith,
kissing the area between his arms.
    Oliver rolled out of the way to reveal Johno doing a moony
as Ted whipped off her blindfold.
    “Oh no, that’s gross. How humiliating. Have I just kissed
your butt cheeks?”
    Louise scrambled to her feet, crying. The boys rolled about,
belly laughing. Amy and Tanya rushed over to console Louise.
    Amy heard Ted’s voice. “Damn, Johno, she fell for that, it’s
a good thing you weren’t pulling up your zipper. Did you see the look on her
face?”
    They rolled about on the pebbles, laughing louder, and
holding their stomachs.
    “That’s disgusting,” said Amy, and turned to Louise. “Don’t
worry, you only kissed his arms.”
    Louise brushed Amy and Tanya to one side, then marched in
the direction of the tents. Johno stood and hobbled after her, when his pants
dropped to his ankles and he fell.
    “Wait for me, it was only a joke,” he said, kicking off his
sneakers, then his pants, leaving them behind and hobbling after her.
    Amy strutted over to Ted. “That was a crap thing to do to my
friend,” Amy said. “You can sleep in your pickup. Gyp ’ll keep me company
tonight.”
    Tanya grabbed Oliver’s hand, pulling him to his feet.
    “Come on, that’s enough fun for one night. Bed, lover boy.”
    They trundled away, leaning shoulder to shoulder on each
other to stay upright, the worse for the drinking.
    “You don’t mean that?” Ted said. He took a slug of vodka
from the bottle, while swaying from side to side.
    Amy could feel her cheeks flaming at the sight of Ted.
    “Yes, I mean it. I may see the funny side tomorrow, but I’m
not for sharing my bed with a drunk. Douse the fire.”
    Amy picked up the Tilley lamp, and strolled off, picking up
Johno’s pants and sneakers on the way to her tent. She placed the lamp on the
dry silt, unzipped her tent and ducked inside. Gyp followed, then she zipped up
the opening. Without undressing, she wiggled into her sleeping bag, and Gyp
snuggled beside her. With her last vision of Ted, her mind drifted to her dad.
She knew he was still drinking, even though the bottle of JD he’d hidden in the
filing cabinet that she’d marked remained untouched. He was lying to her to her
when he’d said he wasn’t drinking, she knew that. She knew the signs. Today was
a bad day for him to be alone, and she wished she had spent the evening with
him.

    Amy heard a grumbling, as if in the distance and growing
louder. She opened her eyes. All around her stirred from hazy, to gray scale
focus. Gyp faced the illuminated side of the tent and growled. A shadow
appeared on the fabric. At first, the shadow appeared as a dog on all fours,
and then it stood as if a bear was rearing to its hind legs. Her throat croaked,
Gyp barked, clawing at the tent fabric. It was no bear; the legs, arms, and
body was too sinewy, human like, but with the head of a dog. Her throat cleared,
and she let out a piecing scream. Her sleeping bag acted like a strait jacket,
adding a sense of panic as she struggled out of it, then scrambled to the back
of the tent. The tent around her appeared shrunk, now acting as a closed
coffin. The zip opened and Oliver popped his head inside. Gyp pushed his way
through the opening.
    “Why the screams?”
    Amy explained as best she could in a faltering tone, tears
streaming down her cheeks. Oliver retracted his head, and she