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I saw your face, when I found you. It was messed up. I didn’t come to the hospital sooner? Because I didn’t want to talk about it. But they just pulled a monster out of there, didn’t they? So rather than spend the next few days of my life trying to figure it out I’m going right to the source, right now. Whatever is happening is happening to you, Danny. So either you trust me and let me in, now, or I hit the road. I am not going to end up getting killed because you have communication problems.”
    “ Killed? What are you talking about? Why would you get killed?” Danny asked wryly.
    “ I’ve seen more than enough movies and TV shows to know how this is going to go down, I’ve even read a few books. You know what every science fiction and horror story has in common? The victims. Aliens land on Earth and half the town is dead before the guy who suspected they were aliens says anything. Dude sees a vampire eat his neighbour and he doesn’t call the cops until it’s his turn. Ninety nine percent of all movie plots could be shut down right away if the person who is the lead character just shared what the hell he knew with everyone else.”
    Danny burst out laughing but Phil kept on, deadly serious.
    “Why am I the main character here? Maybe YOU are!” Danny said.
    “ No. You’re the white guy, you’re the hero. More power to you man. I don’t want all this shit following me around. I don’t want all that responsibility and commitment. I just want to keep my head down and get out of this alive.”
    “ I think you’re over-reacting a bit Phil.”
    “ I mean it, you tell me what is going on, to the best of your ability, so I can make an informed decision about which path I take. Otherwise I am just walking blindly into the jaws of death.”
    Danny continued to chuckle until he realized that Phil was truly afraid. Whatever that voice was in the woods, whatever was happening, Phil was a part of it. Danny didn’t even know where to begin with all the odd and terrible things he’d seen. There was no way to put into words what he was experiencing but he owed it to his friend to try. After the monster he’d faced in the morgue he couldn’t ignore the danger all around him. If he was going to protect his friends and family, he’d have to start by telling them the truth. Phil was right in that regard; the more people knew the better prepared they would be. Something big was happening that much Danny was sure of. It was as if something was picking at the edges of the world, trying to peel back a loose piece of reality and climb through.
    “ Can we at least get some beer first?” Danny asked.
    Phil smiled and started the car engin e.
                  After picking up a twelve pack at the Beer Store, Danny and Phil headed for their favourite drinking spot; the curb at the base of Knox Mountain Drive. They parked the car on the dirt shoulder on the opposite site of the intersection and with their beer between their feet they sat on the gray stone curb.
    “ You heard the voice too?” Danny asked.
    Phil nodded as he cracke d his beer bottle open.
    “ Yeah it sounded like T-Pain. I thought there was a car parked somewhere nearby but I didn’t see anything,” Phil replied.
    “ I did. I saw a light. A red beam, flashing somewhere in the forest.”
    “ What was it?”
    “ I don’t know. I never saw anything. I followed it and I found the dead deer we’d shot and,” Phil cut him off quickly.
    “ When I found you there was no deer.”
    “ What? Really?”
    “ Yeah man. Just you and your face, all messed up in fear and shock.”
    Phil stretched open his mouth and e yes, hiding his teeth, to show Danny how he’d looked when Phil had found him. Danny just shook his head.
    “ Is that what I looked like? Really? I don’t remember anything other than the deer. The voice didn’t sound like T-Pain either.”
    “ Well not like T-Pain, exactly, but it was definitely auto tune.”
    “ It didn’t sound