Otherwise, I’ll be back Sunday evening.
Sheriff
“Did you happen to see this?” she held the note up for him.
“Yeah, I mighta taken a peek at that.” Lloyd smiled. He’d missed a smack of jelly clinging to the corner of his mouth. “I know you’re the brightest bulb here, maybe even smarter than the sheriff, but Kenny’s gonna be a pain about this all weekend.”
“Well, Kenny can suck it.”
Lloyd cackled.
She meant it too. She hadn’t gotten through the academy by taking anybody’s bullshit. She busted her ass, fended off stronger, faster competition, all while thwarting cheesy come-ons and the extra macho fuckery that was par the course, unfortunately.
Kenny was an overweight, self-righteous dickhead, but she could handle him if push came to shove. He was a lot of hot air, and not much else.
“I’m guessing Kenny’s still at the fender-bender over on Belmont?” she said.
“Yep, I was thinking of heading out, since he’ll probably be tied up for a while …. unless you wanted to stick around.”
She knew Lloyd loved riding around in his cruiser. He loved the attention, good and bad, that he got from the people in their surrounding towns. He was also notorious for ticketing speeders. It was his gift, he’d often joked.
She’d take any chance she could get for serenity within the tiny confines of the station.
“I’m good. I must write up a report on the Cutter call. And then get in touch with Kenny. You go on out.”
“Oh yeah, what was it they had out at the Cutter place anyway?”
A werewolf.
The thought caused her to laugh out loud.
“What? What’s so funny?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, nothing to laugh at really. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure what it was. I mean, the carcass was a deer, but I’m not sure what the hell got a hold of it.”
“You call Bruce?”
“Yeah, he hauled what was left out and said he’d let me know for sure what he thought did it. I asked him for his best guess. He got weird and looked kind of peaked.”
“Bruce? That is strange.”
“Said he’d rather not speculate. Not sure what the harm would’ve been, but that’s the way he wanted to play it, so that’s the way we rolled.”
“Huh? Well, I never push Bruce. He ain’t the kind that likes being pushed. Good job.”
Lloyd got up, grabbed his hat and headed for the doors before turning back.
“Yeah, Lloyd?” she said.
He looked puzzled. Something was eating at him.
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” he finally said. “I’m just thinking about something the kids used to say around these parts when I was growing up.”
“Oh yeah? Something that might help?”
“Nah, just stupid kids’ stuff. Well, have a nice day, Kath.”
He shut the door behind him.
Kids’ stuff? Bruce and Lloyd were both acting weird. They acted like they were spooked.
A werewolf.
Although the Cutter kid’s tale was absurd, thinking about it now, she didn’t feel much like laughing.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Come on, Johnny,” Wendy said, tugging her brother’s arm. She hated coming into his bedroom, it was always littered with dirty clothes and porno mags, but she needed him to see the truck.
“What’s up,” Bryan said from his sleeping bag. He propped up on his elbow and ran a hand through his mussed hair.
“You guys need to fucking see this,” she said.
They gathered around Bryan’s truck. Four large scratches ran along the entire right side of the truck bed.
“Fuck, my dad is going to kill me,” Bryan whined.
Wendy ran her hands through her long, brown hair as she paced back and forth. “This is proof. Right fucking here,” she said, stopping and pressing a finger in one of the deep grooves gouged into the truck.
“Yeah, well,” Bryan said, “that ain’t gonna mean shit to my old man. Uh, sorry, dad, yeah, a werewolf—a fucking werewolf—dug the shit outta my truck.”
“Dude, it’s right there, how’s he gonna deny it?” Johnny said.
“He’ll say I was fucking drunk and sideswiped somebody or something. He sure as hell isn’t going to believe it was an animal. He’s a goddamn hunter.” Bryan spun and kicked a rock across the dirt driveway. “I ain’t going home.” He shook his head. “Not until I get that fixed.”
“I thought you bought this truck,” Wendy said.
“Yeah, but he’s still gonna kill the shit out of me.”
“You can crash with us,” Johnny said. “Right, sis?”
Wendy didn’t want Bryan hanging around. The last time he spent a week at the house, she’d woken up with him feeling her up with his hard on pressed against her ass. No thanks.
“If you even think about coming into my room—”
“Jesus, Wendy. You’re still hung up on that? I told you I was sleepwalking. I’ve done it since I was like seven years old.”
“Fuck you, Bryan,” Wendy said shoving him. “I’m sure you always grab tits in your sleep, too. Right?”
Johnny stepped between them.
“Okay, all right, fuck off, both of you.” He slammed a finger into Bryan’s chest. “You—stay the fuck outta my sister’s room. “
“Fine, whatever,” Bryan said.
“And you, whatever you’re thinking, just stop.”
“What?” she said. She knew he already sensed her motives.
“You want to go back out there,” he said, nodding toward the woods. “Well, hell no.”
“You’re gonna stand there and tell me you saw what we all saw last night, the thing that caused that damage, and you don’t have even micro urge to find it. Prove it fucking exists?”
“At what cost,” Johnny said. “You wanna see me or Bryan, or you with those fucking claw marks up the front of us? Fuck off. None of us are going back out there.”
Wendy, jaws clenched, arms crossed, turned away from the boys. She didn’t care. She needed to know. She needed to at least go back to the cabin. Maybe there was more proof to be found.
“But if we can prove the white wolf exists, we could be rich. We could get caught up on the house, stave off those bank assholes.”
“I told you to let me worry about the house.” Johnny put his hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got us this far haven’t I?”
Johnny had taken over the payments for their parent’s house after dad was dragged off to Thomaston State Prison for murdering his girlfriend in a drunken rage. Wendy hadn’t done them any favors by quitting crappy job after crappy job. She wondered what kind of money a discovery like this could bring. Then Johnny could relax and do something else, anything else but babysit her.
“And don’t even think about going back out there alone. You hear me?” he said.
She shrugged him off and stalked toward the house. “Don’t you guys have a date with Lucy Monteith?”
“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that. Shit, thanks, Wendy,” Bryan said.
“Sure. Have fun and don’t catch anything.”
“Ha, fucking, ha,” Bryan said.
“I mean it, Wendy.” Johnny continued. “You’re not going back to the cabin. None of us are. You got that?”
She ignored him and went inside.
Moments like this, she hated Johnny. He’d been this way, trying to tell her what she could and couldn’t do since their dad got locked up.
She grabbed a beer from the fridge brought it down the hall to her room. She didn’t feel much like watching TV, and she sure as hell didn’t want to see Johnny right now. She heard Bryan’s truck rumble to life. She moved to the window and watched Johnny climb in.
Good. Get out of my hair.
He craned his head toward her window. She reached up and closed the blinds.
As the truck kicked into gear, the sound of the engine slowly drifting out of ra
nge, she sat on her bed and wondered what was wrong with her. A tear slipped from her eye. Johnny’s other ten percent got her every time. He did care about something in this small town. And she treated him like a dick for it.
Who’d saved her from Troy Lutz at Katie Crenshaw’s kegger when it turned out the bastard had roofied her? Johnny kicked the door open, and knocked the shit out of him so fast, at least, that’s what everyone told her. Did he ask for a thank you after? Nope. He just carried on like it was nothing special. And at the prom, when Mitch Davies stood her up. Johnny dropped his camping trip with Bryan and Bryan’s cousin, Ricky. He rented a tux, and made her go with him. She hated him for dragging her out the door that night, but she couldn’t deny the swell of pride she felt walking through the doors with her big brother. It didn’t hurt that Mitch looked like he was going to shit his pants when Johnny walked over to his table. She never found out what Johnny said to him, but she didn’t need to.
She finished her beer and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
She shouldn’t go back out to the cabin. Not after what they’d seen, but she couldn’t help it. She felt compelled. They needed the money. Despite Johnny’s claims, the house had nearly been foreclosed upon twice.
She got up, and called her friend, Paul, to give her a lift.
He was there in ten minutes. She grabbed her denim jacket and a couple beers for the road and headed out.
CHAPTER EIGHT
As they pulled up to Lucy’s apartment building, Johnny slammed his palm against the dash.
“What the fuck, man?” Bryan asked.
“My goddamn sister that’s what.”
“What? She’s a big girl. She’s a fucking spit-fire, but she ain’t dumb enough to head back out there after…well, after what we saw.”
He wished he could believe that, but he knew better.
“Listen, I fucking hate to do this, but can I borrow your truck?”
“What do you mean? You—you’re not coming in?”
As bad as he wanted to fuck Lucy Monteith or her friend, Mandy, there was no way he could enjoy a second of it wondering if Wendy hadn’t found someone, Paul Clukey most likely, to take her out to the damn cabin.
“Yeah, man. I can’t. You go have a good time. I need to make sure, ya know?”
“Shit,” Bryan exhaled and slouched. “Fuuuck. You guys are killing me. I swear to God, if it weren’t for you two—”
“You don’t have to go—”
“Yeah, like I’m gonna let you guys run off without me.” Bryan straightened up behind the wheel and put the truck in Reverse. He looked over at Johnny before backing up. “You guys owe me. Big time.”
Johnny smiled as he heard Lucy and Mandy yelling from the second-floor apartment window.
“Where the hell are you guys going?” Lucy said.
Johnny gnawed his finger. Lucy was leaning out the screen-less window with her tits practically falling out of the little halter top.
“Raincheck, tell ‘em we’ll take a raincheck,” Bryan said.
“I told him to stay, but Bryan says he’s too good for sloppy seconds”
“Fuck you, Bryan,” Lucy yelled.
“Dude, what? Not cool, man. Not fucking cool.”
They pulled onto Blake Street. The girls were flipping them off.
“You can both go fuck yourselves,” Mandy shouted.
“Keep talkin’ dirty, girls,” Johnny said. “You’re makin’ your mamas proud.”
“Eat a dick, Johnny, you fucking asshole…”
The rest of Lucy’s tirade was drowned out by the truck tires squealing on the pavement.
Laughing behind the wheel, Bryan said, “She told you to eat a dick.”
“Shut up and drive,” he said, before cracking up himself.
Lucy and Mandy would be pissed, but they’d get over it. Nothing a couple six-packs and a bag of weed wouldn’t cure.
As for his sister, he didn’t have a clue what he was going to do if she was out at the old Dresden place.
The thought of her being out there with that defenseless putz, Paul Clukey, only compounded the urgency to find out.
Please, sis, for one time in your life, trust me.
CHAPTER NINE
Ben set on the bottom step of his back porch waiting for Tyler to arrive. After the fear of last night, they had decided this afternoon that they were going back into the woods. Was it possibly the dumbest idea of all-time? Yes, but Brenton Woods was their turf. It was where they’d built their forts and run like hounds evading imaginary ogres and trolls. If the beast was still out there… well, Ben had thought of that, too. He placed a hand inside his backpack and wrapped the handle his mom’s pistol in his grasp. He felt a sickening thrill run through his stomach. He was more fearful of the gun than he was the creature. He wasn’t going to take the dang thing to school, but he didn’t want to be that kid on the news that shoots his best friend by accident, either. Danny Valance had done that very thing six years ago. His little sister Angel was in Ben and Tyler’s class. School got cancelled for like two days. Ben never hung out with Angel, but she always seemed like a nice kid. Her best friend, Becky, was never the same.
“Ben?”
His mother’s voice startled him. He yanked his hand from the bag.
“Oh my God, ma, you can’t just sneak up on me like that.”
She laughed. “Catch you out here doing something you’re not supposed to?”
He looked at the bag and quickly looked away. His mother had supernatural powers. She always knew when he’d done something wrong, or was planning to.
“Not unless you count being bored to death.”
She reached down and picked up his bag.
Oh, God, no.
Blood thrummed in his veins, his palms grew clammy, and he had to fight just to swallow.
She placed it behind him and took its spot.
“You sure you’re not up to something?”
Shit.
“Just waiting for Tyler to get here already.”
“Oh,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “What are you two doing?”
Now, he really had to be careful. She’d played off the whole monster thing last night. Even threatening to make them watch scary movies with her, but he had a feeling she changed her tune when the cops had come by to remove the dead deer this morning.
“We’re gonna go out to our fort, just retrieve some shit—er…I mean, stuff.”
“Come on,” she said.
How could she—
“I’ve heard you and Tyler say “shit” before. Just don’t let me catch you swearing at me or anyone else, unless, well, unless it’s absolutely called for.”
He exhaled.
She slapped his knee which caused him to jump again.
“Wow, you really did get worked up last night, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Well, you and Tyler just be extra cautious these next couple days, okay? I’d rather you guys just stay here and play your video games, but if you must go out there, I want you to get what you have to get, and then get your butts back here. No messing around. Understand?”
He nodded.
“You see or hear anything you don’t like, I want you back here and in the house. Promise me.”
“Yes, ma.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
She stood, bent down, and kissed the top of his head. “And maybe take a shower tonight, huh? You smell like a boy.”
“Yeah, thanks, ma.”
“Be good,” she said as she went inside.
“Never,” he said.
Shoo, dodged a bullet there.
Unless she decides to clean her closet and realized the shoebox on the top shelf is empty.
Rubbing his hands together, Ben gazed out at the forest beyond his backyard. It had never been scary. Not even when he was little, well, littler. He’d always been mesmerized by the sway of the trees, and their height, reaching up into the sky, day or nig
ht, like magical guardians, standing watch over the land.
As much as he wanted to deny it, that feeling and the security of his sanctuary had been marred. He saw the yellow eyes…. yellow eyes, Jesus, did it really have yellow eyes?... A chill rippled through him. This was stupid. Going out there, this afternoon anyways, was stupid. He shook his head.
Nope, not gonna—
“Hey, man, you ready or what?” Tyler said, coming around the porch.
“Dude, I don’t know…maybe we should just…”
“Oh, shit, Ben. Don’t tell me you’re backing out?”
“Well, I mean…”
“Come on, man. You’re the one that called me over here.”
“I know.”
“You’re the one that wanted to look for clues.”
Ben stood. “I know, all right, but you didn’t see what I saw.”
“A giant white wolf man with yellow eyes? No, I didn’t see that shit and neither did you, because this isn’t a frigging movie, man.”
His trepidation faded and was quickly replaced with anger.
Tyler had believed him last night. Freaked out, adrenaline running or not, Ben saw the fear in his best friend’s face.
“What?” Ben said. “Now, you’re saying don’t believe me? Thanks a lot, man.”
“Oh, man, don’t get all butt-hurt about it. I mean, you saw something, I know that. We saw what that something did. That nasty deer could have been us if –if— we were out here last night, but it wasn’t and we weren’t.”
“Yeah, but what’s to stop it from doing that to us if we see it out there today?”
“I thought you…” Tyler moved in close and whispered, “I thought you were bringing something just in case?”
Ben looked down at the backpack.
He went with his mother to the gun club in Travis every other weekend. The pistol was easy enough to handle, and he’d become a good shot, but he wasn’t even sure it was powerful enough to take down a bobcat, let alone whatever the hell he saw last night.
The white wolf, the thought shoved its way to the front of his brain— intrusive and undeniable.
Shit, he hated looking like a chicken in front of anybody, even Tyler who had seem him cry. Twice. Once when he’d found out his grandma Jane had died, and the other time when he’d found out about his dad.
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