Shadow Jumper

Jack and Beth take the 10 pm bus to Colford. Jack is bored and asks Beth why she wears so much makeup. She tells him that she wants to look scary on purpose so that people won’t talk to her; she doesn’t want to have to talk to anyone about her parents. Beth falls asleep with her head on his shoulder. Jack thinks about shadow jumping.

The bus lurches then stops suddenly. Jack is thrown against the window. All the passengers talk at once and the inside of the bus is in a state of confusion. Jack’s head hurts. He checks on Beth and tells her that they must have hit something. He pulls a flashlight out of his bag. He and Beth exit the bus, but the driver tells them to get back on. He says that something ran in front of the bus. Beth wants to see what the bus hit, justifying her morbid curiosity as good practice for her future medical career. She says that she always carries a first-aid kit.

They walk around the bus and see a dead Labrador with missing patches of hair that are covered in sores.