Really? Now? Fine.
“Yeah, I got one.”
King of clubs.
Jerome flipped over the top card. An ace of hearts.
Green shook his head.
“Sorry.”
Jerome stuffed the deck back into his pocket and pulled his guitar onto his lap.
Alf produced an old flip phone and pointed it at Green.
“Gotta drop that smartphone and get one of these, bro. This place doesn’t like smart things. Believe me.”
His words were slurred.
“And even my texts only get through like half the time out here. Like a message in a bottle. Whoosh. Splash. Tossed into the sea. Hey, what’s your friend doing?”
Valentina was shrugging out of her pack in the shadow of the crossed pines.
“She is…getting to work.”
“Cool. Well, welcome and all that. Pull up a log. You know Jerome. You met Casper. You got some drinking to do to catch up with us.”
“Listen, Alf, I’ve been trying to text you all day. You guys really shouldn’t be out here tonight.”
“No? Why’s that? Don’t tell me the moths are involved.”
Alf took a pull from a bottle and frowned.
“Alf. Look. This is serious. All those deaths.”
Alf swayed on his feet. His expression darkened.
“The deaths? Yeah? What about them?”
“Well, that’s why. They’re all…I mean, those people were all killed by the same thing.”
Alf’s eyes widened. He tottered back and forth.
“I told you,” Casper said to his back.
Jerome looked around at the dark trees.
“Woof. Bro. Well, that ain’t good news. Didn’t sound like attacks to me. Jerome’s cousin, chick named Duke, plays D&D on Tuesdays with a guy who has been installing a new HVAC system at the sheriff’s office. He said those campers didn’t OD. Said they all froze to death. So, something is, what, freezing people?”
Word gets around fast, apparently.
“Alf, has it been cold enough to freeze people to death?”
“How should I know? I’ve mostly been an indoor cat lately, smokin’ and watchin’ streams with Jerome.”
Valentina stepped forward into the firelight. Clara’s poultice gleamed wetly in two thick lines, above and below her eyes. The effect was something halfway between a zombie and a raccoon. She reached forward and placed the back of her hand against Alf’s cheek. He gasped and recoiled from her frigid skin.
“Listen to Mr. Green. You are in danger. This is not a night to wander the woods.”
