The Chronicles of Beast and Man

by J. Charles Ralston

  Matthew placed the cell phone back on the counter slowly and walked back upstairs and to the bedroom where he would try and go back to sleep. Already he was starting to unearth a plan to deal with the situation. After it was all said and done, Sheriff Rodney Truex was going to understand that Matthew Russell was not someone he wanted to cross.

  It was around ten o’clock and Rod could hear the sound of another helicopter flying overhead. Earlier that morning Rod told Mayor Bobby Preston that he would be holding a press conference to assure everyone that things were well in hand; in other words to tell them to back off. Bobby asked Rod to try and set up a well-planned way to stop the madness. As Rod began to write the first line of his speech, John Austin walked in the door, and quickly plopped down in the chair beside Rod’s desk.

  "I heard about Ryan Lovett. Are you prepared to admit that this has something to do with the Killer Wolf?"

  "I am not ready to say anything, John." Rod said, feeling that this wasn’t the last time he would be saying those words to him.

  "Listen to me Rod. The people here are getting real worried."

  "You think I don’t know that?" Rod interrupted.

  "Yes, but…"

  ”I am going to be holding a conference tomorrow." Rod interrupted again.

  "There is a killer on the loose and people are starting to wonder if you are doing enough to stop him."

  "What in the hell do you want me to do? Am I supposed to be running down the street looking in windows? This killer only strikes once a month, and leaves next to nothing for clues."

  "I get it Rod."

  "No, I don’t think you do get it, John. This is not getting any easier. I don’t know what you want from me!"

  "Rod…"

  "No, John. I have had just about enough of your shit. You know where the front door is, leave when you want, I have work to do." Rod said and then quickly stormed out of the building.

  As he walked across the parking lot he felt eyes upon him. The streets were watching, the town was watching. Rod started his truck and took off, he was not sure where he was going. He also did not really care where he was going as long as he was by himself. As Rod drove he thought about what his next step would be in the investigation. The autopsy report on Gabrielle Parker still hadn’t come back yet. It usually didn’t take any longer than a month for autopsy reports to come back from Peoria, but this one was taking a lot longer.

  The next step in this investigation will be to ask for more assistance. This would mean he’d have to temporarily deputize a few more men. A search party would have to be conducted to try and catch this thing. There would have to be several officers on patrol within the city limits, and men searching around the woods carefully. Rod would also have to invest a large sum of money in silver bullets. Rod laughed out loud at the very idea.

  He drove out of town at a high rate of speed. He felt as if he were about to escape the chaos that surrounded Medusa. Perhaps leaving town he could escape the madness, even if only for a moment.

  All of a sudden, Rod slammed on his brakes to avoid colliding with a shadowy figure. If he hadn’t seen the person when he did, he would have completely run him over. After Rod shook off the near death experience, he gained his composure, and looked up to see the same tall dark man that had spoken to Freddy Alexander the day before.

  He watched as the strange dark man walked around to his window. Rod rolled the window down without even another thought. Rod immediately felt threatened. It might have been the cold look in his eyes, or it might have just been the strong way he carried himself.

  "You need to watch where you are going. I could have killed you!"

  "I had no reason to fear. I knew you were not going to hit me."

  Rod did not understand what he meant by this, he had almost ran him over, but he was acting as if there had been no threat at all.

  "What the hell does that mean?"

  "Have you figured out what is going on here?"

  "Yeah, I almost ran over your crazy-ass."

  "No, the beast that is praying upon the living."

  Rod’s eyes became wide, What does this creep know that I don’t?

  "It is a lycanthrope."

  "What?"

  "A shape shifter, a beast that only appears when the moon is full."

  "A werewolf?"

  "Some men might say this."

  "How do you know this?" Rod asked.

  "I have my reasons why I know, don’t be consumed by that. More important is the fact that I can rid your town of its wickedness." The man said with a low growl in his voice.

  This guy has told me that we have a werewolf problem and that he can get rid of it. Who in the hell does this guy think he is?

  "I don’t know you, but I can tell you right now if there is a creature out there killing the people of my town, I’ll take care of it. I don’t need the help of some ass-hole who just happens to be in town."

  "You do not understand." The man said loudly.

  "No, it is you that doesn’t understand. I am going to take care of the situation, no one else. If you get involved with any part of my investigation I will arrest you on the spot."

  Rod had expected to surprise the man, but he did not seem to be surprised by his words at all.

  "I will respect your wishes, not because I fear incarceration, but simply out of respect. I want you to know that any blood that is shed on the next full moon, will be on your hands." The man then turned and walked away into the woods.

  The conversation between them had felt almost surreal. Even as Rod watched him walk further away, he had to ask himself if it had really taken place. This man had some kind of strange quality about him. He spoke differently and in an obscure manner. Rod already knew that he had not seen the last of this man.

  Crazies like that don’t just go away. Rod thought as he drove on.

  Matthew was sitting in his office trying not to think about Rod Truex. Every single time he thought of the Sheriff he could feel his blood pressure rise. He felt great frustration and extreme anger toward him. Matthew wanted to grab ahold of him by his ignorant head, and slam it into the concrete. Matthew picked back up his pencil and began looking over the blueprints and specs for the new hospital in Monmouth. He was just about to give a part of the blueprints his approval, when suddenly a sultry image of Rod lying on top of his naked wife crept up in his mind. Matthew immediately slammed the pencil down on the desk, breaking it in the process. The entire situation was making Matthew’s head begin to throb; he had to deal with it. He could not go after Marcy; she was not the source of his anger. The source of his untested anger was Marcy’s high school ex boy-friend, Matthew wanted to squish him like a bug.

  From out of nowhere mayor Bobby Preston, Trent Green (part owner of Sheila’s bar and grill), and Marcus Wetzel (owner/operator of the One Stop Gas Station) walked into Matthew’s office.

  "This is an unexpected surprise. What can I do for you gentlemen?"

  "Matthew, we know you are a busy man. We see all the work that is being done by your crew. We only need a moment of your time." Said Mayor Preston.

  "Thank you very much, but I have more than enough time to spare for you gentlemen."

  "That is very nice. We are making this visit so we can speak to you about the growing situation in and around this great town." Mayor Preston said as he wiped the hint of sweat from his forehead.

  "The murders?"

  "Yes, we are sure that as a parent, and a business owner, you would be just as concerned with the situation."

  "Of course," Matthew said, when in reality Matthew hadn’t worried one bit about the murders. His children were far too young to be out in the middle of the night. He himself was almost always in bed by ten, he simply hadn’t given the situation (as the mayor kept calling it) a lot of thought.

  "A few of us are concerned with the tactics that our young Sheriff might be taking." Trent Green said in his usual loud voice.

  "What tactics might those be?" Matthew asked
even though he was already sure he was going to be on their side. The thought of opposing Rod Truex for anything under the sun seemed intriguing.

  "We are not really sure. He has enforced the new curfew, and during the last full moon he enlisted two new temporary deputies for the night, but that seems to be it." Preston explained.

  "Interesting, why haven’t you spoken to Rod?"

  "I have briefly spoken to him, but it doesn’t matter. It seems to go in one ear and out the other."

  "He is like his father, too proud to admit he might be wrong." Trent Green piped up again.

  Judging by Marcus Wetzel’s silence, Matthew was beginning to wonder if he even really wanted to be involved.

  "So what are you wishing to impose upon our fair sheriff?" Matthew asked the mayor.

  "He will be holding a conference tonight, I…I mean, WE want his assurance that he is doing everything he possibly can to resolve this whole mess." Bobby said in an attempt to sound sympathetic.

  "What do you expect of him?" Matthew asked, even though he had already actually made a decision.

  "We want an earlier curfew, we want more police or for him to let outside police get involved. We also want a large man-hunt enforced on the next full moon and the following if needed. Most of all, we want our Sheriff to start acting like he is doing his job."

  Matthew was tickled by the words that left Bobby’s mouth, though he did not completely agree with them. Matthew had not seen any evidence to show that Rod was not doing his job, but the thought of giving Rod hell was personally satisfying.

  "I see where you men are coming from. I’d gladly stand beside you to assure that our streets are safe."

  Satisfied with Matthew’s answer, they continued to speak for a moment and discussed Rod’s press conference that night. They agreed to meet outside the town hall prior to the meeting, then they would go over a few key ideas and make sure they are on the same page. Bobby Preston then made some corny little line about keeping Medusa safe and how they might be saving the town themselves. For a moment Matthew felt that maybe Bobby had an agenda here, but let the thought leave his mind, simply because he did not care. More than likely, any secret or hidden plan that Bobby Preston might be keeping from him probably wouldn’t hurt him.

  Rod was more than just a little surprised by the turnout for the press conference. He had only really expected a few city officials and the press. Instead it looked like half of the town had decided to show up and, the amount of media also surprised him as well. This whole mess had turned into a media frenzy, Rod assumed that it was part of the curse of living in an information age. Everyone was waiting patiently, ready to hear what Rod had to say. Rod had very little time to prepare and was overwhelmed by such a turnout. He felt a little bit like a guilty man about to walk in front of a firing squad. It eventually got to the point where Rod did not want to waste any more time, he sprang to his feet and went to the podium.

  Rod started off by greeting everyone in his typical small town, down-home manner. Then he began to explain what had happened in the last two months, as if they did not already know. He told everyone in the town hall that the young Gabrielle Parker and Duane Ensig both had been murdered in cold blood. Ryan Lovett also had been savagely killed in a similar manner. He gave very few details of each murder, just enough to satisfy the media’s hunger. Rod then went on to explain the methods he had used to try and stop the last murder from happening: and that because of it happening on private property, and in the woods he was unable to do much about it. After that, he told them that he had placed a nine o’clock curfew for anyone under the age of eighteen and a recommended curfew of eleven for everyone else. Rod also made it very clear that no one needed to jump the gun and go crazy trying to seek out revenge. He told them that if everyone would just remain calm about everything that the police would resolve the situation.

  Once Rod was finished he opened up the floor for questions. The first question was from a member of the press, who asked about why the killer only struck during the full moon. Rod confirmed that the murders had only been committed during the night of a full moon. Then, because of this member of the press’s need to use the word killer, Rod decided to address the serial killer idea. Rod explained that he himself was leaning toward the idea that these murders were being committed by an animal rather than a man. Immediately, this got a rise out of the crowd. It was very hard for them to believe that something so twisted could be done by nothing more than an animal. This, of course, spawned a series of questions. One member of the media wanted to know what kind of animal Rod suspected might have been responsible. Rod did not give an answer to the question; he simply said "I do not know at this time". The next question was from Trent Green, who asked Rod if he honestly thought he was doing enough to protect the people of Medusa. Rod was not sure how to respond to this question, he just simply said "Yes, I believe so."

  "Is this the work of the Killer Wolf?" John Austin asked abruptly.

  "At this time, we do not have proof that there is in fact a connection to your so called Killer Wolf." Rod responded in a crisp tone of voice.

  "But don’t you feel that there is an unusual similarity?" A random reporter asked.

  "I don’t know if I would say that."

  "Then what would you say?" John asked.

  I’d say shut the hell up, John. Rod thought to himself.

  "I cannot verify a definite connection between these murders and something that happened five years ago.”

  "The state of the bodies, attacked on a full moon night. Still you can’t verify the connection?" John asked.

  "I cannot, no!"

  This was not going as planned by any means. Rod glanced down at his wrist watch. These questions had to end soon!

  "I am sorry Mr. Truex, but I myself don’t understand how you can’t find any possibility of a connection there.” Another report said, in a very suggestive and rude manner.

  "I simply cannot make that statement for you, as much as you might want me to, I just can’t do it. I think that you all want to believe that there is a deranged nut in a hockey mask doing this, but I believe this is more than likely an animal of some sort." Rod watched as eyes all around the room lit up when he mentioned a nut in a hockey mask. Perhaps Rod should have picked his words a little more wisely. The entire room could feel the anger in Rod’s voice; he was obviously taking all of this personally.

  "So, do you think that this is all being done by a coyote or a bob cat?" John Austin asked.

  "I cannot give you an answer at this time." Rod replied.

  "Whichever animal it is, it only attacks when the moon is full. Correct?" John asked sarcastically. The entire room let out a laugh that made Rod tremble a slight bit.

  "Are you sure you are ready for this meeting, Sheriff?" Someone in the crowd blurted out. Rod shook off the heckler, and continued on.

  Matthew Russell then stood up. "Mr. Truex, I have a wife and two kids, I have a right to know what is going on!"

  The words caught Rod completely off guard; it was probably just because of who said them. Rod was now beginning to sweat. Standing at the podium letting all these people take shots at him, he felt as if he were doing nothing more than digging himself a hole.

  "What was that?" Rod asked only because he had no idea how to answer the statement.

  "I have a wife and two kids. I have a right to know what is going on." Matthew repeated himself.

  He knows, Rod thought to himself. The tone of Matthew’s voice, the forceful way he was presenting the statement. He knows.

  "You are absolutely right Mr. Russell, and as soon as I have more information to give out, you fine people will be the first to know." Rod said and began looking over the crowd for the next question.

  "What about more police?" Matthew blurted out. The question about more police was planned to be asked by Trent Green, but now Matthew had asked it. Not that Trent cared; he enjoyed watching Rod squirm almost as much as Matthew did.

  "If the budget
were bigger, I would’ve already hired on more police."

  “Well, the mayor is right here. Maybe he can tell you whether or not he can shift things around in the budget to get you more police, during this time of need.”

  Mayor Bobby Preston, who was only a few seats away from Matthew, said nothing. He simply lifted his hand up and gave Rod a big thumbs up.

  "Looks like you have your answer there."

  Rod was feeling the pressure of these strange little verbal attacks. He was then beginning to feel as if he were set up to fail from the start.

  "Well, you showed me. I guess I’ll start the process tomorrow." Rod said reluctantly. The crowd began to applaud.

  What in the hell is going on here? Rod asked himself. For the first time in his life, he felt as if he did not have control. Somehow everything had been turned around to make him out to be the bad guy. Rod supposed that everyone was looking for someone to blame in this whole deal, and because no killer could be found; he himself was getting all the blame. Trent Green then stood up and asked Rod about the need of a man hunt across the entire area during the next full moon. Fortunately for Rod this was a question he actually had an answer to. He told the crowd that he fully intended to have a wide man hunt and anyone who wanted to volunteer should sign up at the police station.

  One more question was posed by a local resident, it was a question about the new curfew, and if Rod would be willing to change it. They wanted to change the start time of the curfew from nine o’clock (for all minors) to eight o’clock. Rod told them that he would rather take a vote on that issue because some people might disagree with that decision. Bobby Preston made a note about the curfew issue and planned to bring it up at the next city council meeting.

  Finally, when it looked like every question had been asked, and Rod Truex had taken enough of a beating, the press conference was over. Rod hurried out of the room and went out a back door of the building. Rod quickly got in his truck and drove away. He felt that he was falling into a downward spiral. This was one of the few times in his life that he felt that he needed help. Perhaps that was exactly what he needed. It was getting very late but he began driving. At first he was not sure where he was going, but oddly enough it seemed to be in the direction of Hank and Anna Murray’s country house.