After Ann tied the boat she pulled herself up the staircase to the parking lot, her leg dragging behind her. Hurt so bad she’d started crying. When she got to the top she saw two cars. Hers and someone else’s. Hers had blown over onto its side. It took her a moment to recognize Chad’s bug. She couldn’t believe he was here. The driver had turned on the lights when she’d come up. She thought she saw him and waved and he waved back.
When she got to Chad’s car she was overcome with the need to get warm again. She opened the passenger door and got in. Right away she asked herself if Chad had grown a beard. Thought it strange that it wasn’t blond. His hands, however, were not the same ones she knew. The nails were not painted black. They looked more like dirty claws.
“Hello Ann,” Cyclops said.
“Who are you?” Ann asked. She reached for the door handle but his hand shot out and stopped her.
“I will tell you.”
“What have you done to Chad?”
“He’s around.”
“Where?”
“I promise you’ll see him. After we talk.”
Ann glanced down and saw the Cyclops’ trench coat piled on the floor. The only person she had seen wear something like that had been the derelict she’d seen on the highway.