"We're going to run some more tests just to be sure, but it appears to be benign, so that's good news. I don't anticipate that news changing, but we like to cover all of our bases. Now, as I'd warned, you are going to need surgery to have the tumor removed, which is a relatively simple procedure."

"Slicing me open and cutting something out is simple?"

"That's why I used the word 'relatively,' Mr. Floren. Compared to a quadruple bypass surgery, yes, this is simple."

"You're right, I apologize. I'm just nervous. I should consider myself lucky. Fifty-six years old and this is my first surgery."

"That is is a pretty good run. Don't worry. We'll take great care of you. You'll be off your feet for a few weeks, but this is far better than the alternative, trust me." a pretty good run. Don't worry. We'll take great care of you. You'll be off your feet for a few weeks, but this is far better than the alternative, trust me."

Toby lay at home, watching television. He was going absolutely stir-crazy. He really hoped that Owen had understood him when he described the procedure and explained that he wouldn't be able to visit for a couple of months. It sickened him to think that his friend might be wandering around, lonely and frightened and thinking that something horrible had happened.

Well, technically, a surgeon had sliced open Toby's body. That was pretty horrible. He was certainly feeling the effects of the scalpel. The way he felt now, he might not be up for a trip to the woods ever again.

Of course, that wasn't true. As soon as he could walk a couple of miles without his stomach popping open, he'd be out there to see Owen. Maybe sooner.

"You wouldn't believe it," Toby said. "I don't think I've ever shown you pictures of the World Trade Center, but they're these huge twin towers in New York City. There was this plane sticking right out of it-terrorists flew a plane right into the building! Can you imagine that? And we were all watching this in the lunchroom, totally freaked out, and then right on live TV the towers collapsed! People were gasping and crying and getting mad-it was one of the most messed-up things I've ever seen. And another frickin' plane bashed into the Pentagon. The Pentagon. Pentagon. I'm surprised they didn't go for the White House. Trust me, Owen, you're much better off living out here in your bubble. The world has gone berserk." I'm surprised they didn't go for the White House. Trust me, Owen, you're much better off living out here in your bubble. The world has gone berserk."

2002.

"I need to repair my life. You've gotta help me out, Owen. I can't do it by myself."

"I just don't even care anymore. Maybe someday I won't wake up. That'll be nice. You could take care of all my funeral arrangements. You get the house, you know. Everything else is going to my kids, who might be dead for all I know, but you get the house. It's like some crazy old lady leaving her worldly possessions to her cats. I don't know what you're gonna do with it, but it's there if you want it."

"He says this one might be malignant. Can you believe that shit?"

2003.

"Hello, my name is Toby, and I'm an alcoholic. I had my last drink in the hallway before I came in here."

"So she says, 'Sorry, if you can't get it up, that's not my fault.' And I said, 'I'm the one paying for this, so it's your job. If you can't do it right, I'll take my business someplace else.' That's exactly what I told her. And then she tries to leave without giving me my money back! I said, 'Hey, you can't do that! I know what I paid for!' and she says she's going to call her boyfriend. And so I said fine, you know, if that's the kind of service she wants to provide, she'll learn that this is a word-of-mouth type of business."

"Dodged another bullet. These things keep growing inside me, and the doctors keep cutting them out. I had this dream where it was guilt manifesting itself. It might not have even been a dream. I probably do have guilt tumors floating around in my stomach acid, waiting to take hold and start growing like tomatoes."

"Check this out. It's a cell phone. Everybody's got them these days. I can call anybody I want. Not very good reception out here in the woods, though. Wish I had somebody to talk to."

2004.

"Well, they finally figured out that a robot can do my job. It was always just a matter of time. I'd better learn to flip burgers, or you might have yourself a roommate."

"A real friend wouldn't let me keep doing all this self-destructive stuff. I'm just sayin'."

Toby wondered how much sympathy he'd have for himself if he could watch his life from the outside. Probably not a lot. He'd probably just give himself a disgusted look, shake his head sadly, then call for a janitor to sweep it all away. Get the repulsive bum out of the way so decent people didn't have the eyesore.

Even Owen didn't seem to enjoy his company all that much anymore.

He really had to fix this mess. And he would, after a couple more beers.

CHAPTER T THIRTY-ONE.

2005. 60 years old.

The best thing about being a drunken babbling idiot was that nobody believed you when you blurted out secrets about your monster friend. Toby was a laughingstock in the small bar, whatever it was called, and he rarely ventured there more than once a month, and only when he was already half plastered.

He'd never said anything about the murders, at least as far as he knew, but he'd told the bartender all about Owen. The bartender hadn't cut off his drinks. It wasn't that kind of place.

Toby sat alone in a booth surrounded by empty bottles, although many of those were left over from the last patron. He wondered if he should try to walk home, take a cab, or let the bartender sort it out after he passed out.

A man slid into the seat across from him.

"You're the monster guy, right?"

The man was probably a few years older than Toby, smelled truly vile, and had wild hair and an unkempt gray beard. Even by Toby's drastically reduced standards, the guy looked like a complete bum.

"No."

"Yeah, you are! You don't have to pretend anything with me, man." The bum had a lazy eye and sounded like a hippie. Toby was embarrassed to admit to himself that despite the odor he was happy to have somebody to talk to.

"There's no monster," Toby said. "I make stuff up."

"Man, lower your defenses. I know all of these. Loch Ness Monster, Jersey Devil, aliens in Area 51 and Hangar 18...you go online and know where to look, you can find the truth on anything."

"Fine. So I'm friends with Bigfoot."

"Nah, man. What you described to Jimmy isn't a Bigfoot."

"The bartender's name is Jimmy?"

"I dunno. Might be." The man picked up one of the discarded bottles, shook it, and finished off the drops that remained. "You don't know the story?"

"I didn't know there was a story."

"1946. These American soldiers are back from World War II, and they take their girlfriends out camping, right? Maybe a hundred miles from where we are right now. Nice and peaceful, everybody's having a good time, probably gettin' it on because you don't get laid much when you're out fighting Nazis, and then these things attack them. They've got these scary-ass teeth and claws, and they just rip those people up. up. It's like a war, man. One of our heroes gets away. A girl. Yep, three trained soldiers and it's one of the girls who escapes. So she makes it out of the woods and she's going nuts and she tells somebody what happened, and the next thing you know this team goes in there with rifles and they just mow those things down!" It's like a war, man. One of our heroes gets away. A girl. Yep, three trained soldiers and it's one of the girls who escapes. So she makes it out of the woods and she's going nuts and she tells somebody what happened, and the next thing you know this team goes in there with rifles and they just mow those things down!"

"Sounds kind of far-fetched."

"I know! It's crazy! So you've got this government operation and a bunch of dead creatures, and they think, 'Well, shit, we can't have Americans panicking over soldier-killing monsters after we just got over the whole Nazi thing!' and they cover it all up. The lady who survived goes into an asylum. Rips her own eyes out. Dies a few years later."

"What did they do with the bodies?"

"Underground bunker. They studied them for a while but couldn't figure out what the hell they were, so they froze the bodies until the technology could improve. They're still there."

Toby laughed. "You're a numbfuck. You're telling me that in 2005 we can't do an autopsy on a dead animal and figure out what it is? Your whole story is crap."

The man shrugged. "Hell, for all I know, they've already cloned thousands of 'em and they're gonna take over the planet. Not all information on the World Wide Web is reliable. But I'm just saying, it's a big forest. One of those creatures could have escaped and hid out all this time."

"Yeah."

"I'd love to see one."

"I bet you would."

"Come on, man, you can't hold out. You've gotta share the wealth. I wanna see Aaron."

"It's not Aaron, it's Owen."

"You got a picture?"

Toby took another drink of beer, swished it around in his mouth, then swallowed. "How do I know you're not from that government unit?"

"Man, if I were from a government unit like that, I'd be gettin' some pussy right now, not talking monsters in a crap-smelling pit like this, that's for damn sure."

"Sorry. I don't know where you'd find any soldier-killing supermonster. Good luck on the pussy, though."

"Man, I will blow every whistle I've got if you keep being selfish like this. I'll have the Men in Black scouring those woods for your friend. Next time you see me, I'll be on the front page of a Cryptozoology Today Cryptozoology Today, grinning like a son of a bitch."

"I'm a drunken moron. Why would you believe me even if I said I did have a monster buddy?"

"Because you're still drunk, and now you're denying it. And I'm drunk, too."

"Fuck it. Buy me a beer for the road and we'll go."

The man never offered his name during the drive to Toby's house, and Toby didn't ask. Better that Toby didn't know-it would make it easier to deal with the guilt when the man disappeared forever. Everything but his bones.

Toby had done a lot of irresponsible things, but before now he'd managed to avoid driving while intoxicated. One more to add to the list, he supposed.

What did the man think, he could threaten to expose Owen's presence to the world and not die tonight? The vagrant probably wouldn't make good on his threat; if anything, he'd spend the evening passed out in a gutter and forget he'd ever seen Toby by sunrise. But Toby wasn't taking that chance. He had too much invested in his friendship to let this pathetic hippie scumbag mess with it.

The man decided to start singing as they walked through the woods, which made his upcoming death even more essential.

"You need to shut up," said Toby.

"Sing with me!"