The road into Lignite was small and covered in potholes. I hadn’t seen another car in a long time.
I didn’t know where to go.
A bridge. Shannon had said there was a truss bridge, but I didn’t know what the fuck a truss bridge was. My phone was no help. I had no service. The GPS had cut out ten miles back, and I didn’t want to turn around. If I did, I thought I would keep driving.
I stopped the car on the side of the road near an old collapsed building. It was cooler than I expected it to be when I opened the door and got out of the car. An electric hum ran through my skin, and I fought the urge to shift. It felt safer.
“Hello?” I said.
My voice echoed around me, and it was as if the trees were greeting me.
Hello… ello… lo… lo… lo.
I was alone.
I closed the car door. The sound was startling in the great quiet.
I looked around, unsure of where to go.
Through the trees to my right, I thought I saw the flash of something in the failing sunlight. I walked toward it.
The trees felt different here, unclaimed.
This wasn’t wolf territory, or at least it wasn’t currently.
I growled at a rodent that skittered off through the forest.
The flash came again, brighter than it’d been before.
It looked metal.
I began to run.
I ran alone. No wolves.
It didn’t take long.
The bridge was as old and dead as the buildings. The struts below had turned brown with rust. The metal railings along the top were in better shape, though not by much. The trees around the bridge swayed in the cold breeze.
Before I stepped onto it, I hesitated. My shadow stretched out long in front of me, looking monstrous.
The pavement was cracked, the yellow dividing line faded into almost nothing.
The bridge groaned.
I didn’t look back.
I stepped onto the bridge.
Nothing happened.
I took another step. And then another. And then another.
In the middle of the bridge, the moon caressed my neck, prickling my skin.
“I’m here,” I said.
Nothing.