How could he know that? Only a handful of people were aware of Anne’s bizarre dreams.
“She’s right,” said Ryder, his voice quiet with regret. “Those creatures are real, and they do want to eat her.”
“Shut up,” barked Jordan. “You don’t know anything about us.”
His shoulders fell in defeat. “I wish that were true. I wish I’d never met you or your daughter. I wish I was just a normal guy and that she was just a normal kid, but neither one of us is going to get their wish.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that our time is up. The creatures from her dreams are called Terraphages. Certain people can call them from wherever it is they live and let them into our world. Those people are called Beacons, and your daughter is one. The fact that I knew where to find her means there’s a Terraphage on the way right now.”
Mama, that’s the man I dreamed about. The one that came right before the monster.
“What a load of crap.” Jordan’s voice didn’t hold nearly as much disbelief as she would have liked.
“You know I’m right. I can see it in your eyes. If I wasn’t right, then how would I know about the dreams? How would I know they’re happening more often?”
Jordan had no answers.
“The Terraphage is coming for her tonight. The only way to stop it from breaking through into our world is to kill her. That’s why I was here.”
“To kill my daughter.” Just saying the words made Jordan’s stomach clench in sickening anger. How dare he even imagine such a thing? She should kill him now. Tell the police it was self-defense. If he lived, he might try to hurt some other child.
Jordan looked toward the weapon lying on the counter and back at the man. Could she do it? Could she really pull the trigger now that he was a threat?
His gaze skittered away until he was staring down at his boots. “I didn’t know she was a kid. It’s almost always an old man.”
As if that excused murder. “And now that you know?”
He let out a defeated sigh. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t kill her, so the Terraphage will be he
re soon to do the job. I’ve failed, and now this whole town will be dead before sunrise.”
“Does that include you?”
“Yeah. It does.”
It was the bleak acceptance in his tone that made her believe him. The resignation. “You really believe this is true, don’t you?”
“Look, lady, I didn’t ask for this job. I don’t want it. I hate killing people, but it’s better than the alternative—letting Earth be overrun by these things whenever they get hungry. I’m just glad my part of this mess is over now. Let someone else worry about it for a change. I’m done.”
“If what you’re saying is true, and something terrible is coming here tonight, then why not kill it instead?”
“Because there’s no way to kill it. Others have died trying. The Terraphage is unstoppable.”
“Have you ever tried?”
“My grandfather did.”
“And?”
“And there wasn’t enough left of him to bury. Just mangled pieces of his armor covered in blood. Nearly two hundred people died before the sun came up and forced the Terraphage back where it came from.”
“If that’s true, then why didn’t any of us hear about it? That kind of thing makes news.”
He shook his head. “It was years ago. Local authorities chalked it up as a tornado from a storm that came out of nowhere. They kept thinking that eventually they’d find the remaining bits of folks spread out across Oklahoma, but they never did. The Terraphage ate them. It gorged itself on human flesh, wrecked the town, and is going to do so again tonight.”
Jordan could almost picture her beloved town torn to ribbons, her friends broken and bleeding. She couldn’t let that happen. Especially not to Anne.