Dead as a Doornail
Chapter One
I knew my brother would turn into a panther before he did. As I drove to the remote crossroads
community of Hotshot, my brother watched the sunset in silence. Jason was dressed in old clothes,
and he had a plastic Wal-Mart bag containing a few things he might need-toothbrush, clean
underwear. He hunched inside his bulky camo jacket, looking straight ahead. His face was tense
with the need to control his fear and his excitement.
"You got your cell phone in your pocket?" I asked, knowing I'd already asked him as soon as the
words left my mouth. But Jason just nodded instead of snapping at me. It was still afternoon, but at
the end of January the dark comes early.
Tonight would be the first full moon of the New Year.
When I stopped the car, Jason turned to look at me, and even in the dim light I saw the change in
his eyes. They weren't blue like mine anymore. They were yellowish. The shape of them had
changed.
"My face feels funny," he said. But he still hadn't put two and two together. Tiny Hotshot was silent
and still in the waning light. A cold wind was blowing across the bare fields, and the pines and oaks
were shivering in the gusts of frigid air. Only one man was visible. He was standing outside one of
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