Katey cracked a flimsy wood door and turned back to Rod. “He is asleep.”
“I’ll wake him.” Rod insisted, and Katey stepped out of his way.
-
“Good morning, asshole.” Daniel heard a strange voice say to him from somewhere distant within his bleak and dark blue colored dream.
“Wakey, wakey, dip shit.” The voice then said.
Daniel slowly opened his eyes to see Rod Truex sitting in the recliner that sat beside his bed.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“You know exactly why I am here.”
“No, I don’t, and I think it is time for you to leave.”
“If I go anywhere you are coming with me.”
Rod studied Daniel’s bedroom, it was just as much of a mess as the rest of the house. It was cluttered with trash, fast food wrappers, and an overflowing ashtray stuck out to Rod the most. On the wall there were posters from metal bands such as Slipknot, Anthrax, and Pantera. In the corner of the room there was a pile of ripped and tattered clothing. It was all making even more sense. When his transformation would take place he would rip right though all his clothes. Rod thought to himself.
“What hell is that mess?” Rod asked.
“What?”
“Oh, I am sorry this place is such a goddamn mess you probably don’t know what I am talking about. Let me explain, I was commenting on the large pile of torn clothing over there.” Rod said as he pointed toward them.
“I used to have a dog.”
“A dog?”
“Yeah. A pitbull, why don’t you get out of here while I get dressed?” Daniel said as he got out of bed and put on a pair of jeans.
“No, I don’t give a shit about what you want. What happened to your dog?”
“My dog? Are a member of the animal rights organization now?”
“No, but you are going to wish I was.” Rod said as he reared his fist back and punched Daniel in the face. Rod had lost control, he was losing control of everything. How had he let things get this bad so fast?
Daniel started to move up, Rod jumped on top of him and began punching him in the stomach. He then wrapped his hands around Daniel’s neck strangling him. Daniel began to lose his breath and started to turn red.
What am I doing? I can’t kill this kid just because he pissed me off. I know that he is the one that broke that window…and I am sure he is responsible for the deaths.
Gabrielle Parker, Ryan Lovett, even Dusty Welker’s dog entered Rod’s thoughts. Rod’s grip became a little bit tighter. Daniel’s breathing was then seriously impaired, he was getting closer to the end. Rod then removed his grasp, and Daniel began breathing in hard and fast. Rod dropped back down in the recliner and held his head in hands. What the hell is wrong with me? This isn’t me.
As Rod questioned himself, he noticed a butterfly switchblade knife lying on the floor. He quickly reached down and picked up the knife and hid it within his hand before Daniel could notice.
“What is wrong with you, you crazy asshole!” Daniel said as he rubbed his neck where Rod had just choked him.
Rod did not reply, he sat and starred at the young misfit.
“I am going to have your goddamn badge. You stupid motherfucker!” Daniel exclaimed in a vulgar explicative laced tirade.
“I am taking you in.”
“How do you figure that? You tried to kill me.”
Rod then revealed the switchblade knife. He flipped it around to present the blade. Daniel was shocked to see him holding the knife. Rod then turned the knife on himself and stabbed into the thick fleshy park of his own thigh. Rod had read somewhere that a stab wound to this area would not cause serious damage. The pain was instant and dreadful, Rod quickly removed the blade and began to care for the wound. He removed his jacket and wrapped it around his leg.
“What is wrong with you?” Daniel yelled.
“You stabbed me, you little prick! Your prints are all over the weapon, it is my word over yours, let’s move it, dip shit!”
Rod was able to spring to life and had Daniel handcuffed before the confused kid could even protest.
As Rod pushed him through the house, Daniel’s mother asked what he was being arrested for. Rod told her Daniel was being arrested for assaulting a police officer. She looked down to see the bloody area on Rod’s right leg, she then began screaming at Daniel. Rod could not help but smile. He once again felt that he was in control. Perhaps this was exactly what he needed.
After taking Daniel into the station and throwing him into one of the holding cells, Rod made his way to the hospital. There he was treated for his wound that was supposedly given to him by the juvenile. Even at the hospital, when explaining what had happened to him, the nurse that patched him up gave him more respect than he had received in a long time. To Rod it seemed that things were only getting better for him.
Rod wanted to go back to the police station, but he could not do that right now. He had to go and meet with the men preparing for the manhunt, which was assembling on the Lovett property. Rod doubted that this was probably the right location. The beast had not struck in the same location twice and probably wouldn’t. Still, if this was where everyone was going to begin the manhunt, (which Rod didn’t think should be called a manhunt in the first place) then he should be there.
When Rod arrived he was surprised at how prepared and serious everyone seemed to be. Rod spoke to Deputy Dolgen for a moment. He shared with him the (false) facts of what happened between him and Daniel Montvale.
-
Matthew Russell stood with Trent Green talking about something unimportant, which only was unimportant to Matthew because of his focus on Rod. He was going to have to keep a watchful eye on him if his plan was going to work. He had to try and find that moment when he could get him alone. Little did Matthew know, Rod was not planning on staying long. He had other plans altogether. He was going to use his new injury as an excuse to not have to walk through the woods with everyone else. Rod Truex had to concentrate on his theory, he was still convinced that the true beast laid within Daniel Montvale. Of course, this is a piece of information he was going to keep from everyone else. If he let anyone know that he thought a werewolf theory was even possible, he might as well hand over his gun and badge at the same time.
Rod greeted a couple more people then got into his truck and drove away. Matthew intensely watched Rod leave. Matthew was going to have to take care of Rod another night. The disappointment that Matthew felt stirred right in with the anger he already had for the young Sheriff. He glanced down at his hands, which were shaking as they held his rifle. Somehow Trent did not notice Matthew’s strange behavior and continued talking.
-
Rod arrived back at the police station shortly after nine o’clock. He immediately told Officer Chapman to go on regular duty and leave the station to him. He would man the phones and watch over their new prisoner.
With that done, they were alone again, just Rod and Daniel. Rod drew a chair over from across the room and placed it beside the cell. He retrieved a Remington 12 gauge shotgun from the huge gun cabinet in the middle of the station house. He returned to his chair and placed the shotgun beside him. He then removed a Snickers bar from his pocket and began to chomp away at it.
“What?” Daniel asked the insane looking police officer as he stared at him.
Rod would not answer him. He would only continue to eat his candy bar and stare at him with cold dead eyes.
“I told your people here that you stabbed yourself.”
“They won’t listen to you.” Rod said as he took a break from his candy bar. “No one is going to listen to a piece of shit like you.”
“You are an asshole, a crazy asshole!”
Rod went back to eating, not paying any attention to Daniel’s pathetic insult.
After a long drawn out moment of silence, Rod got up from his chair and made a fresh pot of coffee. Daniel stared at the blank beige wall and thought about what would ha
ppen next. What was he going to do now, and how the hell did he get himself into this situation?
Rod got up once again, found a newspaper and sat back down in his chair next to Daniel’s cell.
Daniel noticed Rod limping from his self-inflicted wound as he walked back to his chair. He knew that Rod couldn’t be out in the woods or on the streets to help find the Killer Wolf. It was then that Daniel wondered why he didn’t just go home and get some rest. Lord knows he would need plenty of rest to be an insane asshole tomorrow.
Daniel, at one point, glanced out the window of his cell and saw the full moon resting in the night sky. Daniel’s mind kicked into high gear and he began to seriously wonder why Rod stuck around to observe him.
“You don’t think it is me, do you?”
Rod ignored Daniel’s question.
“I am talking to you.”
Rod pushed his newspaper down slightly and looked at the young man.
“You don’t think…” Daniel was unable to ask the question again, the words just wouldn’t come out.
Rod then ignored him again, and waited for whatever might happen next, but no transformation took place that night. At least, a transformation did not take place inside that jail cell.
On the Northwest edge of McDonough County, the complete opposite side of town as the manhunt, a man raced through an open field. He ran with the wind pushing against his back and an intense throbbing in his brain. The bright silver light of the moon was shining down upon him. It was already starting, he had to move fast, he did not want anyone to see what was about to take place.
The air felt cold against his skin, but this only lasted for a brief moment. A heat that was growing from inside of him was becoming stronger. His entire body was starting to tingle all over; it was as if he’d been hit with a jolt of electricity.
It had started and there was nothing he could do about it.
He began sweating and his entire body started to itch. He felt sick, he dropped to his knees. His body shook terribly as he scratched his shoulders and then his chest in an attempt to relieve the intense itching. The fur started to push up through his skin. He screamed in agony as his face began to shift and contort. It was an intense pain that even after experiencing time and time again, he could never get used to.
He looked down to see dark, thick, fur covering his now massive legs. Not again he thought as he felt his consciousness begin to slip away.
He sniffed the air until he found the right scent. It led him straight to a cabin where lights were shining brightly out the windows. The scent that caught his attention was of two humans, a man and a woman. He ran toward the scent faster and faster, he longed to taste their blood.
-
Bartholomew Wadd and his lady friend, who he referred to as Miss Ganora, had just finished eating a late dinner. It was not uncommon for Bartholomew to become aroused after a meal. He once told Miss Ganora that watching her stuff large portions of meat in her mouth made him insane. The two went to the bedroom where she swiftly removed her night gown. Bartholomew took a brief moment to take in her breathtaking young body. He had been with her for seven years, but still the sight of her naked body made him speechless.
Bartholomew removed his tie and dropped it on the floor. He then loosened his collar. Trying not to fall down in excitement, Bartholomew removed his slacks and then his briefs. He then stepped onto a chair and above the chair was a noose hanging from a banister.
Bartholomew, in recent years, had become a bit obsessed with autoerotic asphyxiation. Miss Ganora was so in love with her companion that she would do almost anything he asked of her, she did not find his requests strange at all. Bartholomew placed his head inside the noose and Miss Ganora began to caress his genitals. Bartholomew’s feet moved slightly as she began to pleasure him. His neck became stiff as the rope tugged gently, pushing ever so slowly into his skin. Bartholomew was already starting to feel himself drifting to another state, he always felt as if he literally left his own body when attempting to achieve an orgasm through this method. The entire point of the process was to accomplish the most gratifying orgasm that he could. Bartholomew’s eyes were starting to roll back in his head when everything went terribly wrong.
With a thunderous sound something enormous smashed through the bedroom door. Miss Ganora removed Bartholomew from her mouth and sprang to her feet. What she saw was colossal and ungodly. It glared at her with its fire red eyes, she turned as fast as she could to attempt an escape, but it would not allow her to leave. It jumped in front of her knocking the chair out from under Bartholomew’s feet, strangling him in the process.
It snapped its jaws down on her bare shoulder, tasting the delicious salty skin. She dropped to the floor screaming from unbelievable pain. With a quick snap of its neck and a bite from his jaws, it silenced the female by ripping her throat out the same way it had the other victims before her.
Bartholomew was hanging by his neck, using his fingers to try and escape his fate. He placed several fingers between the rope and his neck. It was then that he saw the hideous beast. When he saw it he knew there was no hope. While attempting to save his own life, Bartholomew had not seen the beast viciously slaughter Miss Ganora. But then, in that moment, he saw the bloody naked body lying on the ground. He decided that he did not want to live, not without his Ganora.
The beast watched the half-naked man’s life fade away by his own free will. There was no reason to attack. The man would be dead soon enough and he would be able to feast upon him as well. The beast did not waste any time furiously ripping into Miss Ganora’s body. The blood spilled upon the floor as the beast dug his sharp teeth into the soft flesh. The taste of her blood had been more satisfying than he had expected. The beast had enjoyed the rare taste so much that he made the decision to begin feeding on the male and save the rest of the female body for later. It ripped straight into the male’s chest, pushing around bone to get to the luscious organs. On most nights the beast would be more than happy with only one kill, but on this night the hunger was stronger than it ever had been in the past. After eating the clean organs, it moved down to the man’s thigh and buttock. Breathing heavily, it leapt back down to the female and started back in on her insides when it had the hunger for something different. It moved up to the woman’s head, ripped the flesh away, held the bloody skull with both hands. It squeezed as hard as it possibly could until there was a loud cracking sound. The beast opened its jaws wide and began to feast upon the soft brain. Once finished, the beast looked back at the carnage it had created. It felt satisfied, but the human part of him felt terribly guilty. It did not matter what the human part of the beast wanted once it turned, the primal animal part always won the struggle.
The damage was done and the beast’s hunger was gone, it was time to flee and wait for sunrise to transform back to the human state.
The next day Daniel Montvale was transferred to the county jail, Rod was happy to see him go. Then again, he was disappointed because the transformation never took place. Despite that solid fact Rod was still sure that Daniel was responsible. In Rod’s mind everything added up and made perfect sense. Some of Rod’s disillusions were caused by his anger toward Daniel, and a bit of stress as well. Rod also thought that his theory was true because there had been no account of a single attack from the night before. The manhunt went on throughout the night and not a single murderer (or werewolf) was seen. It was one in the afternoon already, and everything was seriously looking good. The news reports had all cleared out, not even leaving an awful stench where they had parked their news vans. When Rod looked out the window of the police station, it appeared that the entire town seemed to be a little more at ease. There was no doubt in Rod’s mind that this had something to do with the fact that everyone in the manhunt had already spread the news that there had not been an attack the night before. Though it seemed that many people in Medusa had turned their backs on Rod, everyone still desired one common goal. Everyone just wanted the carnage to stop.
/> It was then that Rod’s mind began to shift back to the day before Hank retired. A young boy had been killed in a gruesome way. But then there was not another attack…
Perhaps that was what had happened this time as well. Rod debated the idea that maybe the beast only desires human flesh every five years. Rod had no idea if he was on the right path or not, but he thought it sounded too much like something created in Hollywood for a B-horror flick.
He felt the need to go on patrol, maybe he would do a little more driving than usual. He thought he might try and enjoy the day for a change. He could go drive out north of town and see if the Hansel family ever decorated that tree in their front yard. Every year they decorate a huge pine tree that grows in their front yard. The tree probably stands fifteen feet high, and is always an attraction for everyone in the area.
As Rod walked toward his truck, he noticed the strange dark man he had spoken to a month ago. The man was sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper. Rod studied him for a moment. As much as he might have tried to deny it, he had an urge to speak to him. Finally Rod gave up and approached the dark man.
“I didn’t think I’d see you around anymore,” said Rod.
“Why is that?”
“You hadn’t heard? It is over, nothing happened last night. By the way, I never got your name.”
“My name is Xerxes, and I am afraid you are mistaken.”
“Xerxes?” Rod asked, puzzled by the unusual last name.
“Yes, Xerxes.”
Rod knew that it was a name he wouldn’t soon forget, to him it sounded like a name out of a comic book.
The Chronicles of Beast and Man Page 13
