Short Fiction: ‘The Silver Moon Motel’

“The Silver Moon Motel” first appeared as one of the few original stories in my book Dead Ends, which was primarily a collection of stories that had previously appeared in literary magazines and anthologies. It centers on a man driving to a funeral, who pulls into a motel off the beaten path, with a very specific kind of clientele. It appears here in revised and expanded form. Enjoy!

Danny had been on the road for six hours before he pulled into the Silver Moon Motel. Usually, he didn’t mind driving, when he was headed somewhere that he wanted to be. This, on the other hand, he dreaded with every mile. Nobody wanted to go to a funeral. Danny was pretty sure that was universal, unless they were after money, which he supposed was none too small a part of the population. But he certainly didn’t want to go to this funeral, that much he was sure of. It made his skin crawl just thinking about how awkward it would be, and he’d been obsessing over it, imagining more and more excruciating scenarios, for hours. The funeral was for Ed Thompson, his ex-wife’s father. Made his stomach churn just to think those words. Who goes to their ex-father-in-law’s funeral?

Danny and Sally hadn’t even been married that long. Only two years, though they had been high school sweethearts and had been together a long time before finally tying the knot. And even that, he supposed in retrospect, had largely been due to the pressure. Anytime they caught up with old friends or family, they’d get hit with the question: “When are you two getting married?” So blunt. Usually phrased just like that, just those words, with no more genuine enthusiasm or care than a server asking if they’d like to start off with something to drink. They didn’t even give a shit. It was just what was expected, what they knew they were supposed to say and — above all — what they knew Danny and Sally were supposed to do. It got worse after college. They’d been together six years by that point, and even though they were only in their early twenties, it was all anyone ever asked.

So they did it.

And they had regretted it immediately. People say that long distance doesn’t work, but in college, it had worked wonders for them. Seeing each other on breaks, on weekends, brought out the passion again. It always gave them something to look forward to. Being married, living together, their lives totally tethered to one another, it only proved what maybe they’d both always suspected, deep down: they didn’t work. They had in high school. Both of them had been a little geeky, well liked but not really belonging to any particular group. They’d been a perfect fit. And even with everything that happened, even after the screaming matches and the nights he’d stayed out just because he was too angry to go back home, Danny looked back on those high school days with nothing but fondness. Even though they hated each other now (and yes, though it hurt to think, he had to admit that they did) Sally had been his family for a large chunk of his life. They all had, the whole Thompson clan.

Danny had never gotten along with his own father. That in itself was an understatement. The man had been a brute and a bully and had hated Danny from the first moment. He’d heard it said that fathers didn’t love their kids until the first time they held them in their arms. He still had no doubt that that was true for many dads, but it hadn’t been true for his. When you hold your baby for the first time, realize you don’t love it, realize that if you don’t love it now, that feeling is probably never going to come, it leads to resentment and no small amount of shame. And that shame spreads like a cancer until it turns to genuine contempt. Men like Daniel Farson, Senior, were too proud to hate themselves when they know they should, so they hated their sons instead. That was the relationship he’d had with his father. And even two years after dad’s death, he still had the scars to prove it. None of them more painful, nor more permanent, than his own name. He’d gotten used to getting smacked around, but the idea of a man who knows he feels nothing for his child and names the child after himself anyway, that was a hurt Danny could never forgive, and one he knew to his core he would never get over.

And because of that, because he’d recognized the signs of abuse in Danny from the moment they’d met, Ed Thompson had become a father to him. He’d seen the blank spots in Danny’s eyes, in their interactions, where he’d known a father’s love was supposed to go, and did his best to fill them in himself. Danny might have stopped loving Sally after the marriage, maybe even a little before, but he had never stopped loving her dad. Even though it would be painfully awkward, even though he knew he had only been invited as a formality, even if Sally screamed at him to leave the moment he walked in through the door, Danny knew as soon as he held the invitation in his hand that he was going to go to the funeral. The man had been his father, too. He needed to say goodbye.

These were the thoughts Danny had been stuck with for six hours, and they were just as exhausting as the drive itself. The drive from Maine to New York was enough to deal with as it was. It started out as nothing but trees, pretty as they were, and ended up as nothing but traffic. He could deal with the former, the latter portion would be a nightmare, and he was on the cusp of it now. Soon enough, he’d stop seeing trees and start seeing nothing but cluttered, crammed cars as far as the eye could see. He was already tired. Pushing ahead in traffic like that, traffic that stuck no matter what time of day, he was likely to get into an accident. Maybe it would be smart to call it early, find a motel, get some rest and get back on the road in the morning. The sun would be setting soon. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to find a bite to eat as well and get his energy back up.

After keeping his eyes out for twenty minutes, he saw nothing. A convenience store here and there, but no signs for food or lodging. At this point, he’d have to take the first bedbug-ridden place he could find. If he could even find that.

The sun had begun to set behind the trees, and the glare hit his eyes. But it also meant that businesses were starting to light up those signs, making those scattered convenience stores a little easier to spot. Danny wondered, as he lowered the visor to keep the sun out of his eyes, if maybe that would have to be dinner after all. Convenience store burrito and pulling off the side of the road to sleep. It didn’t sound remotely appetizing, and wouldn’t do much to help him rest up for the funeral — you at least want to shower before coming face-to-face with a dead man you loved, right? — but it was beginning to look like his only option.

And then he saw the motel.

Just for a minute, through the trees. He kept driving past an unmarked road, saw the neon light of the sign and wasn’t sure what he was looking at, not at first. Thankfully, there was no one else on the road, allowing him to back up and get a better look. If there had been anyone behind him, he had no doubt he would have assumed it was a trick of the light and just kept on driving. Was there really a motel out here? How come he hadn’t seen a sign for it? The road it was on wasn’t even paved. Now that he stopped to get a look, he could see the motel set deep in the woods, like the forest itself had grown around it. Something about it made him uncomfortable, but he didn’t care. Lizzie Borden could greet him at the door herself and he’d still take a room.

So Danny pulled back a little more, and took the turn.

The bumpy dirt road helped to wake him up a little, nearly spilling his coffee into his lap as he drove onward. Within a few seconds, he could see the sign. It was so bright that Danny supposed it made up for the total lack of advertising. Bright, shining letters announced “THE SILVER MOON MOTEL,” complete with a blinking moon that almost seemed to be winking down at him. Danny stared up at it a little too long as he parked. It was interesting, though. The fact that there was no sign on the road suggested, to him, that they weren’t actually seeking out business. That this was a motel that, for whatever reason, didn’t want to be noticed. Yet, given the sign, was also a motel that was easily noticeable for anyone actively looking for it.

For just an instant, as he parked, Danny wondered exactly where he’d found himself. But he figured that was easy enough to answer. No doubt this was one of dozens of motels along these highways that made their business in sex. Infidelity, prostitution, there were no shortage of people who needed a private place to indulge their secret hungers. Never had been. Danny wasn’t judgmental, and as long as that was all that happened here, he figured he could just keep his head down and not bother anyone and he would be just fine. After all, it was only for one night. He suspected most of the guests didn’t last half that long.

Danny stepped out of the car, basked in the silver light of the sign as the sun continued to sink into the darkness behind the trees. This was the first time he’d stopped to take in the sight of the place itself. Once he’d gotten used to the fact that it was surrounded by woods on all sides, the place looked relatively normal. It was no different than any other motel he’d stayed in on any other road trip he’d ever taken. Were it not for the location and the lack of advertising, he wouldn’t have found it strange at all. In fact, it looked kind of nice. He was also a little surprised to see so many cars in the driveway. But, now that he had an idea of what kind of place this really was, it wasn’t that surprising.

Danny grabbed his overnight bag out of the back and walked inside. Doing so almost felt like stepping back in time. The place looked like it had been virtually untouched since the ’70s, or at least what he knew of the ’70s. Wood paneling and a hideous orange shag carpet, the color of Tang. Only the TVs looked relatively modern. That didn’t surprise him either. People had no problem sleeping on forty-year-old mattresses, but they’d throw a fucking fit without HD. God, listen to me, he thought. I sound so fucking old. Then, the single thought that came out of the blue to make his stomach churn: I sound like my dad. The bile rose in his throat and he stepped up to the front desk, hoping to drown the thought out.

There was no one around. Danny glanced, looked across the room, looked toward the office, but didn’t see a single soul. He rang the bell. Immediately, he heard a loud thump from within the office. He’d startled someone. Weird, he figured, considering the fact that the place looked so busy from the outside. The mousy young woman’s eyes did little to hide her surprise as she approached.

“Can I help you?” She asked, voice tepid and wavering.

“Yeah,” Danny said. “I’d like a room?”

The woman smiled, relieved. “Oh. Okay, sure.”

“Everything okay?” Danny found himself asking.

“Yes,” she said, regaining composure and applying the familiar, insincere concierge smile that he knew so well. “Of course, sir. You’re just cutting it a little close, don’t you think?”

Danny opened his mouth to voice his confusion, but she kept going before he could. “Don’t worry, though. We’ll get you set up with a room straight away.”

“Thanks.” Danny fished his wallet out of his back pocket to pay for his room. But she dismissed it.

“You do want the lunar rate, right?” she asked, the discomfort creeping into her voice again.

“Yes?”

“Well, for our loyal customers, the lunar rate is free of charge.” She picked a key off the wall and stepped out from behind the desk. “It’s right this way.”

Danny knew at that point that there was some mistake, that he should correct her, but a free room was a free room and she had asked for no ID. This kind of opportunity didn’t come around very often, so he intended to seize it. He followed her down the hall without another word. She walked quickly. An unusual pace for a desk clerk, he couldn’t help but think. Looking back, he’d think that was the last red flag he should have seen before running out the door, driving on and never looking back. But he didn’t. And so his fate was sealed the moment she unlocked the door.

“Enjoy your stay,” she said, her tone polite but hurried.

“Thanks,” he said, but the door was closed before the word had even left his mouth.

With a shrug, Danny stepped into the room and placed his bag down on the bed. Ironically, now that he was here, he didn’t feel all that tired anymore. Danny dug through his bag, but there wasn’t much more than an extra change of clothes and his suit for the funeral. He pushed the bag aside and sat down on the bed, and that was when he heard the clang of metal. It didn’t take long to find the source. Had he been at all observant in the five seconds since he’d entered the room, he would have noticed right away. There were bars on the windows, no door to the bathroom, or to the closets, and there were chains on the bed. Those were what he had bumped into as he’d sat down. Chains with heavy shackles, open and inviting. Laid out on the bed as casually as towels.

Danny turned back to the door and heard it lock behind him. “Oh shit,” he said, rushing back to the door to try and pull it open. It was no use. It didn’t budge. “Hey!” Danny shouted, banging on the door and nearly breaking his hand in the process. The wood was reinforced with some kind of metal. Whoever built this place really didn’t want people getting out. Now, finally, he started to freak. What the hell was this? Was this some kind of human trafficking shit? Were these people serial killers? Had he been kidnapped? Jesus Christ, all he’d been looking for was a bite to eat and a place to sleep for a few hours. And —

Danny stopped, distracted by a sound from next door. It was silent now, but he could have sworn he had heard someone moaning. He knew he had. After a few seconds, it came again, more of a wail this time. “Oh God,” he heard someone sobbing from the other side. “God, please forgive me.”

“Hey,” Danny said. “You okay in there?” Whoever was on the other side didn’t respond. Danny continued speaking nonetheless. “Listen, you didn’t do anything to deserve this. These people, they’re into some sick shit, I guess. But if we keep our heads, we can get out of this, you hear me? We can get out of this.”

Whoever was in the other room didn’t respond, at least not verbally. But Danny could hear them shuffling around. It sounded like a struggle, he heard furniture being overturned. The person started moaning again. Then they started to scream.

“Hey,” Danny said, louder. “Hey, you’re okay. You’re going to be fine.” His heart raced and he was sweating more than he had in years. Danny knew it was not going to be fine. He had always liked to imagine himself as someone who could take charge, who didn’t necessarily have his life together, but could rise to the occasion in extreme situations. That was quickly turning out to be a fantasy. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this mess. Hell, he had no idea how he’d even get out of this room.

The other room’s occupant slammed into the wall, knocking a picture down in Danny’s. At the sound of the crash, Danny turned, and he heard a low moan coming from the other side of the wall. But it was quickly replaced by something else. It sounded like a growl. Danny backed away from the wall upon hearing the sound. Maybe they’d gone crazy in there. Danny didn’t think so. That growl didn’t sound remotely human. Good God, he thought, was there some kind of animal in there with him? What the fuck were these people up to? Feeding their guests to lions or tigers or bears or —

Or wolves.

That was what it sounded like alright. Crazy as it was even to think, it sounded like there was a wolf in the room next to his, where there had been a man only a moment ago. Maybe it had killed him. It would have been quick, but he supposed if a wolf went for the throat, there wouldn’t be much time to put up much of a struggle. But he didn’t believe that. No, Danny had heard what he’d heard. The man hadn’t been screaming at the sound of the growl. His scream had become the growl. It didn’t make sense, but there it was.

Danny ran to the window to pull at the bars, but they didn’t budge. As he grabbed them, he looked up at the sky. He’d expected total darkness, but Danny didn’t pay much attention to lunar cycles, Hell, he barely even kept track of the weather. He was not looking up into a dark, empty sky. Instead, he looked up and saw a bright, fat, full moon. And now things made sense. Now they made all the worst kinds of sense in the world. He hadn’t seen anything yet, he had to remind himself. And he was sure there was a rational explanation for what was happening. But just like a child afraid to go to the bathroom in the dark, knowing with total certainty that a monster might get them, he was also sure that there wasn’t.

Whatever it was in the other room, it continued slamming into the wall, scratching away from the other side. Trying to get in. It sounded big and mean. He was sure it was only a matter of time before it found its way inside. Not knowing what else to do, Danny went to his bag. He’d had this thing since high school and barely ever cleaned it out. And while it would be great to find a silver bullet, he knew that was a bit of a stretch. Still, he needed to find something, anything at all, that he could use. He found a paperclip. It would have to do.

Danny had only picked a lock two, maybe three times in his entire life. But he was really counting on that knowledge to come in handy now. It took a few tries after he unfurled the paper clip, but eventually, it worked. Stepping out into the hall, the thrashing sounded louder than ever. He heard them pounding against the door. Not just the one in the room next to his. All of them. Every room. He could hear them all. And he wondered how long those doors would hold.

That gave him all the incentive he needed to move quickly. He raced toward the lobby. It was just as he had left it, with one major exception: the front desk was now fortified behind a steel gate. Inside, he saw the desk clerk. Danny shouted for help, but she didn’t hear, and after a second it clicked that she was wearing big, heavy headphones. Drowning out the sound. He banged on the bars to get her attention. Within a few moments, it worked.

She looked up at him and her eyes went wide. “What are you doing here?” After looking him over, the realization hit her eyes, and she started to understand the situation. “You’re still you. What are… you can’t be here.”

“I really agree,” he said. “Those people back there, they…” His voice trailed off and he swallowed hard. It felt like he’d swallowed a marble. “I can hear them. They changed.”

“Listen…”

“What are they? What happened it sounds like rabid animals, like wolves in every room.”

She stared back at him. They locked eyes after a moment. Danny simply looked down with a sigh. He couldn’t believe it. But hearing them howling now, it was becoming easier and easier to accept. Maybe he could even manage to say it out loud. “Are they what I think they are?”

“Yes,” she said, somewhat guilty.

“You’re telling me you’re out here in the middle of nowhere running a fucking motel for werewolves? You’re out here killing people? What, bringing people in off the street and feeding them to…”

“No! It isn’t like that. I would never…” she sighed, composing herself. “It’s not what you think. This place, it’s a calm place. It’s a refuge. It’s a place where people go when they don’t want to hurt someone.” She glanced back toward the rooms. “You saw the bars, right? The chains? Hell, you said you wanted the lunar rate.”

“I was being cheap, I wasn’t expecting to be eaten!”

“That’s not what happens here. These people come on the full moon, they chain themselves up, it’s a service we offer so that no one gets hurt. They don’t want to hurt anyone. They can’t help what they are. And then they leave in the morning with a clean conscience. It’s a good thing.”

Danny listened, but could not drown out the sounds of snarling. “Well, they don’t sound very happy now.”

“That’s because of you,” she said. “Usually, we don’t have anyone, especially on the full moon. It’s just them. Just the werewolves.”

He’d been bracing himself for the word, but hearing it still hit him hard in the gut. Jesus, this couldn’t be happening.

“I’m locked up in the cage. They can’t get through here and they’ve never really tried. They can smell me, I’m sure. But they know me. Enough to know, in whatever part of their brain that’s still human, that I’m off limits. But you? They’ve never smelled you, there’s nothing familiar. With you, I’m sure they just smell food.”

“Well, that’s just fucking great.”

“Listen to me, you need to get in your car and you need to get out of here, right now. These rooms were built to hold them, but they’ve never had someone like you here before, never had a reason to try and break out. I wouldn’t stick around to find out how well they hold.”

“Works for me,” Danny said. He slung his bag over his shoulder and moved for the door.

That was when he heard a door break open behind him. He froze. He knew he should run, but he couldn’t, even as he heard heavy, padded footsteps making their way down the hall.

“Oh God,” the desk clerk whispered, but he barely heard her.

Danny had never actually thought people could really be frozen in fear, but here he was. Truth be told, that was only part of it. More than anything, he needed to see it. No matter what happened after that, he needed to see. Danny turned. The werewolf was bigger than he had expected. It stood upright, a mass of tall, black fur that nearly cleared the ceiling. The thing’s snout was wet with thick, viscous saliva, dripping down to the floor. Its eyes were blazing red lights in a mass of darkness. Danny changed his mind. He didn’t need to see it, after all.

Locking eyes with the thing, he came to his senses and made his way to the door. And he was almost out before he realized that the thing wasn’t looking at him anymore. It cocked its head and locked its eyes onto her, onto the poor woman behind the desk. Christ, he couldn’t let that happen. A minute ago, she’d tried to save his life. “Hey!” he found himself saying to the thing. “Hey, leave her alone. You know she’s not food, right?”

It didn’t listen. It paid him no attention, it only saw her, parting its twitching, wet lips to reveal long, yellowed teeth. Whatever this was, it seemed somehow personal. Like it was mad at her for breaking the rules. The wolf reached out with a clawed hand and began to pull at the bars. The poor woman screamed. The werewolf studied her with its eyes, letting out a low growl. It slammed against the steel bars.

Danny looked around for something he could use as a weapon. Anything within grabbing distance. But this place was just old furniture and tacky wood paneling. Aside from the steel bars and werewolves. All he saw was a fire poker, gleaming silver, sitting next to a fireplace that looked like it hadn’t been used in decades. Danny reached out for it and heard the metal bars break backward.

The werewolf had gotten through.

He turned back around to face the thing, but now found that he didn’t even have the strength to move forward, let alone to challenge the monster. He hesitated, just for a second, as it grabbed ahold of the woman and pulled her out over the desk. She kicked and screamed, thrashing wildly as it lifted her into the air.

Danny rushed forward and stabbed the poker into the wolf’s back, driving it in deep. The creature howled. The sound wasn’t like anything he’d heard in the movies. Not like anything he’d ever heard from an actual wolf. He felt the howl, almost like he wasn’t even hearing it with his own ears, more like a signal being broadcast directly into his mind. Hearing it made his head buzz. Danny shook his head, trying to drown it out, but it was too powerful, too disorienting. As he stood there trying to stave off the sound, the werewolf swung its arm and swatted him across the room.

It pulled the poker out and turned its attention back to the clerk. Danny was dazed and hurt, getting up too slowly. He could only watch as it opened its jaws wide and lunged forward to take a bite out of her neck. It shook its head as it bit into her, tearing and rending her flesh. Her scream quickly turned to a gurgled cough, and within seconds, it was over. The werewolf pulled its head back. Her neck was nearly gone, head hanging limply to one side, dangling, connected only by remaining tendons and loose flesh.

Danny thought he was going to throw up, but fought the urge and got to his feet. He picked the poker up off the floor while the werewolf’s back was still turned. His hope upon seeing its color had been too much to ask, the poker wasn’t silver at all. But it had slowed it down for a second. Maybe that was the best he could hope for.

The werewolf looked at him, snarling. Then, it turned away and looked back toward the rooms, tilting its head back to let out another howl. Its voice was joined by the others, and the sound inside Danny’s mind was deafening as every werewolf at the Silver Moon Motel joined in the cry. One by one, he could hear the doors cracking open. They’d all be here within seconds. He had to go. Now.

Danny pushed forward through the door and ran out into the parking lot as fast as he could. He was halfway to his car when he turned to see bright lights barreling toward him. His mind could barely even comprehend and didn’t have a chance before the pickup truck plowed into him and knocked him back against the dirt.

For a moment, things were quiet. Lying on his back with the wind knocked out of him, Danny nearly forgot about the werewolves inside, scrambling to get out. He looked up at the truck that nailed him, an ugly green color, the license plate “BIGRICK” hung suspended in the blurred air of his vision, inches away from his face. A man and woman got out of the truck after a moment. The man wore a dirty flannel shirt and smelled like whiskey and the woman stank of cheap perfume, but both were much more welcome than the smell of blood.

“Jesus Christ, kid, are you okay?”

Danny didn’t respond, at first. His head was buzzing and he wondered if maybe he had a concussion.

“Did you hurt him?” The woman asked.

Danny shook his head, sitting up.

“Oh, thank God,” the man in the flannel shirt (Big Rick, no doubt) said. “We’re just looking for a place to fuck, you know? I’m not trying to kill nobody.” He took a closer look at Danny, at the blood splattered all over him. “Good Lord, what happened to you?”

It all came back to Danny now as he struggled to get to his feet. “Run,” he said, simply. “You need to get in your truck and leave. Now.”

“Boy, what the fuck are you talking about?” Then Big Rick’s face went flat and drained of color. The motel doors shattered outward, and the werewolves stepped out into the moonlight. They basked in it for a second, and even as terrified as he was, Danny stopped to take in the curious sight. It reminded him a little of lizards sunning themselves on a rock.

The woman screamed and the werewolves turned in unison.

“What the fuck is that?” Big Rick shouted. “What the fuck is that?! What are they?”

Danny couldn’t take this anymore and he was not about to stand here and watch anything like what he’d seen in the lobby. He caught sight of his car and ran as fast as he could, getting inside without looking back. For a second, his heart skipped as he wondered if he’d dropped his keys. But he hadn’t. They hadn’t left his pocket once since he’d gotten here. Thank God for that. The car started and he backed away. The werewolves emerging from the motel barely noticed him, and he supposed that wasn’t really much of a surprise when they had meat lined up in front of them.

Big Rick backed away from the oncoming horde, eyes nearly bulging out of his head, and tripped, falling backward and hitting his head on the hood of his truck. He dusted himself off, but that one movement was a second too late. They were on him before he could even struggle, digging into his stomach like they were bobbing for apples. Blood pooled up from the wound and stained the ground, a pool quickly growing underneath him. The werewolves tore into him hungrily.

The woman tried to run after Danny as he drove away. Seeing her in the rearview mirror, he felt his conscience coming back. He couldn’t leave her, not with the guilt he already felt for the desk clerk. He stopped the car and waited for her to catch up. Three dark forms, silhouetted in his red brake lights, rose up behind her. Danny knew exactly how it was going to go. The woman barely had time to scream before they grabbed hold of her and dragged her off into the dark.

Danny hit the accelerator hard. He had a long drive ahead of him. And even though he had barely had time to rest, it hardly seemed to matter now. He had no doubt he would make it. He would drive as long as he needed, to get as far away from this as possible. He turned on the air conditioning as he pulled back out onto the road, barely even looking at his blood-soaked hands. Danny touched the dial to turn on the radio, but thought better of it. He could still hear them behind him. Howling. He wondered what else they’d do, free from their chains, wondered how they’d feel about it in the morning, wondered how many more deaths there would be tonight simply because he had pulled into the Silver Moon Motel. This time, it was better to hear the cries of the wolves broadcasting through his mind. Now he preferred them to his own guilty thoughts. And so he ignored the radio, and let the symphony of the wolves play him off as he drove on into the night.

The further he drove, it became easier to tell himself it hadn’t happened. The events of the night felt less and less real the more he distanced himself from them, as the first rays of light broke through the trees. He hadn’t slept, but no longer felt tired. He no longer thought or felt much of anything. Within an hour, he was back to thinking about the funeral, and wondering if he’d still make good time. His hands were shaking, but he didn’t notice them. Danny could still hear the sound of that howling, reverberating inside of his head, if he thought about it. So he didn’t think. He didn’t think about the werewolves, or the three people he had watched die, and he definitely did not think about whether he could have saved that woman if he hadn’t froze, if he had done anything at all. He didn’t think.

Eventually, he came to a twenty-four hour diner. Danny didn’t feel hungry, but he needed to eat all the same. There was still a long road ahead of him. Taking in the sight of the place as he pulled in, Danny guessed that the diner had been sitting firmly planted on this lonely stretch of highway for thirty years, at least. The years left their marks on it. Peeling paint, faded signs, a dent in the roof where it had once caved in and been fixed, but was visibly on the cusp of collapsing again. This was as good a place as any to stop and collect himself. The sun sat high in the sky now, boasting the way it always did in the early morning, oppressively bright.

Danny entered the diner and sat at a booth by himself, staring at the laminated menu for several minutes before remembering to read it. Even though he wasn’t hungry, he treated himself to a big breakfast. Two eggs over easy, bacon, sausage — the patties, too, not those godawful links — home fries and a stack of pancakes. Food had been the last thing on his mind, but as soon as it was placed in front of him, he felt a predatory twisting in his gut, and biology took over as he began to devour everything in front of him.

He was halfway through the second egg when people began to scream. It took a moment for him to even register the sound before he looked up. A man entered the diner. He did not look particularly threatening, at first glance. He had curly brown hair with a well-groomed beard, he was average height, and he wore a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants that were clearly too big for him and that he had no doubt found and stolen somewhere between here and wherever he’d been. The man’s eyes were wide and pale gray, dazed but not disoriented. He knew exactly where he was and exactly what he was doing. The man was also covered in blood.

Danny had never seen the man before in his life, and yet he felt an instant familiarity. The two of them locked eyes and it was clear in an instant that the feeling was mutual. A server behind the bar grabbed her phone and dialed the police, but the man did not give her so much as a glance. His eyes were fixated on Danny. He slowly made his way over to the booth, one step at a time. As the pale moons of his eyes came closer, Danny realized what was happening, and understood. They both knew exactly what had happened last night, and they both knew exactly who was responsible. Danny was too tired to fight.

The man pulled a handgun from his waistband. Danny wondered, despite the circumstances, where that had come from. Unlike the clothes, it clearly belonged to him. He must have gone back for it, after he changed. After the moon had vanished, and he had become a man again. He must have remembered everything he had done. Those images burned into Danny’s mind were burned into the man’s as well, but whereas Danny had only gotten a snapshot, this man saw the full picture. He didn’t just see the blood, he smelled it. He tasted it. Yes, Danny understood that the man was completely aware of what he had done. His blazing eyes bore into Danny, and knew him very well.

The man checked the gun to make sure it was loaded. He no doubt already knew it was, the checking was for Danny’s benefit, so that he could get a good look at the bullet in the chamber. It was silver. The first real silver bullet Danny had ever seen. Danny had no doubt that that bullet had called that chamber home for a good long while, years most likely, and had never been intended for him.

But he would have to do.