The Chronicles of Beast and Man

by J. Charles Ralston

  “I have never stepped foot outside of Illinois.”

  “You have an entire lifetime to travel. You are still very young.”

  Freddy was glad to hear someone say he was young. He knew that he had most of his life still ahead of him, but it was good to hear this because everyone else around him always seemed to be in such a hurry for him to get older. His mother, his father, aunts, uncles, teachers…everyone, they all seemed to think he needed to hurry up and finish school and get a job as fast as possible. He understood that these were important things, but why was it so important to do things that everyone else wanted to do? It felt to him as if no one cared what he might want to do.

  “By training you to attack this creature, I might teach you something about life as well.”

  “Like what?”

  “The beast we hunt, it only comes out during the full moon, and the moon is a window to other worlds. It contains powers which most do not understand.”

  Freddy himself did not understand, but he tried very hard.

  “You said that you know how to shoot, I want you to learn discipline when handling your weapon.” Xerxes said with a commanding voice.

  “What difference will discipline make?”

  Xerxes then retrieved his crossbow, loaded back an arrow, fired it, quickly loaded another and fired, then another… once he was done Xerxes had shot off five arrows from his crossbow in less than one minute.

  “Discipline will make all the difference.”

  Needless to say, Freddy was impressed.

  The day before the hunt Rod had let himself become more at ease. He kept reassuring himself that it would all be over soon. No one knew what he and his unusual posse had planned. He had handed over all the materials related to the case, and the autopsy reports were confiscated before he even had a chance to look at them. Not that that mattered anyway, he already knew what they would say. The bank teller didn’t think anything of it when he withdrew five-thousand dollars from his savings account. Besides it was his own money to do with as he pleased.

  While Arnold Omaha was on his lunch break, Rod found himself alone watching a television station covering the ongoing situation in Medusa (as they put it). He suddenly felt as if he were being watched, he turned to see Xerxes standing behind him.

  “My god! You could have given me a heart attack!”

  “I apologize. I only wanted to speak to you about tomorrow.” Xerxes said in his cryptic, monotone voice.

  “Well, what is it?” Rod asked.

  “I would meet you here, but I am afraid that the attention broadcasting is giving the town might be too much for us to meet here in front of everyone. I think it would be best if we met at my motel room at ten o’clock.”

  Just as Xerxes was finishing his sentence Thomas Dolgen walked in. He was immediately confused.

  “And payment?”

  Rod had wished Xerxes had not mentioned anything about a payment, especially not with deputy Dolgen in the room.

  “Yes of course. Everything is taken care of.”

  Xerxes then nodded and excused himself out of the building.

  Once alone, Dolgen rushed over to Rod’s desk to speak to him. “What the hell was that?”

  “That might just be the way we are going to put an end to this entire freaking mess.” Rod said with a scowl.

  “That guy? I’ve seen him around town, he seems strange.”

  “You have no idea, but like I said, he might be just what we needed…in some odd way.”

  Thomas did not say anything after. For a minute he stared blankly at Rod, he could not believe how strange things had become but he himself could not think of a better possible solution.

  Sitting there in disgust that he had to resort to paying some strange wanderer to help him, he felt empty. He felt alone, and then a feeling began to stir from within his loins. He had a need to reach out and touch someone. He understood that after the next night he might not be able to do it again. The chances of he or the other men surviving were slim. He needed Marcy, he didn’t care what Matthew had said. He needed her now…

  He brought his cell phone out from his pocket and sent her a text message.

  She would not reply. When she received the message she immediately deleted it.

  -

  Rod hadn’t sent her a text message in over two months, but now he does out of the blue? He certainly did not have very good timing, especially now that she was working hard to keep a healthy relationship with her husband. After she deleted the new message she thought about going ahead and texting him back, telling him yes. She wanted to drop everything and run to the motel as fast as she could. It took everything she had to not do so. She was going to have to be strong.

  It was amazing that even after the confrontation with her husband, and the thought of losing her family; she could still feel this way for this man. He had an unrealistic amount of control over her. She hated him for this but loved it at the same time as well. The entire situation was very much unfair to her. Months ago, when Rod had asked her before about regrets, she had lied. She definitely had regrets, but those were hers to live with. She could only hope that as she grew older and her children grew up that her regrets could become next to nothing.

  -

  The rest of Rod’s day was riddled with thoughts of Marcy. He decided to take off early, leaving his duties in the hands of Deputy Dolgen. Before leaving, he also confided in Dolgen that he would not be coming in to work at all the next day, he was going to need Dolgen to assume his position. But because of their activities to take place later that night, he would not need to come in until two or three in the afternoon. Part of Dolgen was excited by this but he was also a little confused. The unusual leave of absence on Rod’s part surely meant that he was more than a little worried about the hunt about to take place. Everything was beginning to feel all too real. Dolgen could only hope that they were not getting in a situation that they were not prepared for.

  It was four o’clock in the afternoon now, Rod could not help himself, he text Marcy again.

  I know things are screwed up. But I really need to see you!!!

  Again Marcy would not answer him. As much as she might have wanted to, she would not answer.

  -

  She had not expected him to be so persistent; she was puzzled by his sudden renewed interest in her. Within the last few hours she had gone from not hearing anything more than a sentence from him, to getting two text messages asking her to meet him. She hadn’t spoken to Matthew about what had exactly happened between him and Rod, but she was certain that it was not pleasant.

  For a moment, she debated on answering Rod’s message only to tell him to leave her alone. But it was far too hard for her, she could not do it. She could only hope that silence would be enough of an answer to get her point across.

  What Marcy did not know was that Rod had just finished his first bottle of beer and would soon start his second. The more alcohol he would consume the more he would want to see her.

  The clock moved ever so slow as Rod sipped on his beer and surfed through the cable channels. He had hoped of finding something on that might steer his attention away from thoughts of Marcy, or the insane hunt about to take place the next day.He got up from his recliner and retrieved a new beverage. He stopped at his back door before going back to his living room. He looked out at his snow covered back yard, then up to the stars and at the waning moon staring back down at him in a most foreboding way. He cursed the moon; he cursed the beast and life itself.

  He was desperate for a way out, so desperate that he had asked for the assistance of a complete stranger. Perhaps he had made the wrong decision; maybe he had been making the wrong decisions the entire time. He didn’t know, didn’t care, as long as the ones he made tomorrow were the absolute right ones. There was no perfect way to handle an imperfect situation such as this. He would have to expect the unexpected and see what is left after the smoke clears, in a matter of speaking. He had no more time for regret,
he already regretted too much in his life. He then reached into his pocket and began to text Marcy again.

  Come out and see me!

  This was the message Marcy read when she opened the new text message. She was busy now attempting to cook supper for her family. She could not deal with this message right now. She closed the phone and went back to preparing the lasagna for the oven. She was not sure what was going on, she had never experienced anything like this from Rod, other guys in the past, sure. But, Rod was never the type to bother a girl. He was far too confident to do something like that.

  Quickly she stopped what she was doing and typed up a message.

  I can’t

  Yes you can.

  It did not even take a minute for Rod to reply back to her.

  Marcy looked over her shoulder toward the front door which she could see perfectly from the kitchen. If Matthew happened to walk in the door at that moment she would have to face the possibility of explaining who she was texting.

  You know I can’t.

  After sending the message she carefully turned her cell phone completely off in fear that Matthew might walk in the door at any moment. She was not interested in having her cell phone buzzing every two minutes.

  Fortunately, she made the right decision, because it was not long before Matthew did in fact walk in. As she set up the table for dinner she could not get Rod Truex out of her mind. She was so consumed by his unusual behavior that she excused herself during the meal, and went to the bathroom to check her phone.

  You can do anything you want!

  She read Rod’s words and began to consider what all this meant. She was having serious thoughts of meeting with him. She could not lie to herself. She had been yearning for it with a thirst comparable to that of a man lost in the desert. The longer she remained in the bathroom staring at the message, the more she began to pine for him.

  OK, pick me up outside my house at midnight!

  She sent the message and almost immediately wished that she hadn’t. Her mind had not changed about wanting to see Rod. She just could not believe that she did not have the self-control to stop herself. She was putting her relationship with her husband and family in question, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

  -

  When Rod read the text he was amazed. He placed his beer down on the kitchen table, changed out of his uniform and took a shower. His excitement was growing so much, that he was afraid that he might not be able to wait until midnight. He wanted to rush right out the door and steal Marcy away from Matthew and her family. This thought confused him, because as guilty as the thought made him, it was true. He wished that he could change things and make her love him as much as he knew she loved them. That was not to be…but he could have her all to himself tonight, and perhaps maybe somehow if he is lucky the night would never end.

  The beast was still out there. Somewhere it was lurking in the back of his mind, waiting, stalking his every breath.

  Rod did his best to push his thoughts of the savage beast out of his mind. He was going to deal with it soon enough, for now he only wanted to concentrate on Marcy.

  -

  When it was finally time he drove slowly through the snow covered streets until he came to the Russell family home. He parked and waited, he remembered that he had a pistol under the seat, it had been there for two years. He had completely forgotten about it, but now he was glad it was there. If Matthew decided to take matters in his own hands, he could counter act any such attack. But he was not really worried about that, he did not believe anything was going to happen. Then he saw Marcy walking across the yard through the furiously blowing snow. He smiled as she began to run to him. She opened the door to his truck, gave him a satisfying smile in return, shut the door and they drove away.

  Marcy thought that her plan to sneak away had been completely successful. She had done everything just as she always did, she fed the kids, helped them brush their teeth, read them a bedtime story, and waited to go to bed until they were asleep. She then went to bed with her husband and waited to leave until she was sure that he was completely asleep. She dressed herself in a long coat to hide the fact that she was wearing nothing more than her night gown. But, as she ran across the front lawn, she had no idea that Matthew was watching her from the upstairs bedroom window.

  Matthew could not believe it, she had done it again. Despite his words and his actions, she had done it again. Just as he was about to get dressed and follow them he glanced up to the sky. He saw the moon peering down upon the entire town, no secrets could be hidden from the moon. She saw and knew everything, it was then that Matthew decided to take a different course of action, he would not follow them. Instead he would wait.

  -

  With great excitement Rod drove as fast as he could. He turned down Randolph Street, than down Maple. He was shaking with excitement now; it was as if he were a teenager about to have sex for the first time. Not even two blocks from Marcy’s house they came to a stop sign, an old familiar song came on the radio. Rod shifted the truck into park, their eyes met. They began pressing their lips against one another. As their lips locked in a long drawn out moment his hands began to wander, he moved his left hand to her hip, his right moved down her legs. Their bodies were afire with a passion that they both had been yearning for. She then opened her coat to reveal her silk night gown. She then locked on to the back of his neck and pushed her breasts up against his face. The energy and excitement was overtaking her as it coursed through her body. She then moved her right hand down to his groin. She could feel the heat swelling through his jeans. She only felt it for a moment. He quickly pulled away and removed his jeans in record setting time. As he did this she also removed her red silk panties and threw her leg over his midsection and felt him slide inside her. Their bodies began moving up and down, in a rhythmic pattern, each time more gratifying then the last. She wrapped her hands around the back of his head and pulled him close as she moaned with pleasure. It was still hard for her to believe how good sex with him could be after all those years.

  -

  An hour later they pulled up outside of her house, both felt satisfied, but this was different than the other times. There was a feeling of fulfillment that had never been there before.

  Marcy undid her seat belt, went to give Rod a smile and leave, but suddenly he reached out and grabbed her by the arm. She turned to see him looking at her intensely.

  “I love you.” He said softly.

  There was a time in her life when she could have quickly replied to this statement. She wanted to feel the same way that he did, but she simply could not. Yes, she desired him. She had even yearned for him, but love him?

  She did not.

  “I don’t…” She whispered back.

  He smiled, “and I always will.”

  With that said, she opened the door and left, she walked across the front lawn and into the house, and out of Rod’s life forever.

  -

  When Marcy walked in the house she found Matthew sitting in the dark, waiting on her. Somehow he had found out, she thought. She could not believe it, what could she do? What could she even say?

  “It is over!” She said calmly.

  “I know.” He said hanging his head low. There was no conversation, no long drawn out explanation. After that they both went back upstairs and neither one of them ever spoke about that night again.

  The full moon rose up brighter than Rod had ever remembered seeing it before. To him it seemed to be calling out to them by name. As far back as anyone can remember the moon had stalked the night. As everything else in the world changed, the moon remained the same.

  The four men: Rod Truex, Thomas Dolgen, Xerxes, and Freddy Alexander met at Xerxes’ motel room. From there they went on to a large timber on the southeast side of town. Xerxes claimed that he could feel the transformation beginning to take place. Dolgen thought this all sounded like complete insanity. Rod, on the other hand, simply ignored his words and continued to fo
llow. Whatever opinion he might have had of him did not matter at this time, he was their only hope.

  It was unspeakably cold that night as they followed Xerxes blindly through the woods.

  The further they moved into the darkness of the woods, the harder it became to see without the help of the full moon’s glow. Xerxes had restricted the use of flash lights claiming that it would be their only chance of catching this thing by surprise, if they would be able to at all. It was becoming more obvious that Thomas Dolgen was not interested in anything that Xerxes had to say. At first he had simply rolled his eyes when the man spoke, but as the night continued on he began to quietly groan as well. Rod hoped that they would soon discover their prey, not only to destroy it, but to also stop a possible conflict between Dolgen and Xerxes.

  Then all of sudden, Xerxes stopped walking and demanded that everyone do the same.

  “It is near, I can feel its fury.”

  Something blasted out toward them in a swirl of snow and ugly blackness. It lifted up its powerful claws and tore at the air. By some insane measure of luck, Rod was able to duck down out of the way. He dropped to the ground and immediately rolled over to see the beast peering down upon him.

  Xerxes aimed, and shot a single arrow which struck the beast in the shoulder. The beast howled out in pain, then with its huge hand it grabbed hold of the arrow and removed it with the greatest ease. Before anyone could do anything else, Xerxes lunged forward in a full on attack. He sprang upon the beast in what appeared to be an attempt to over-power the creature to the ground. The others were stunned as they watched the struggle between the man and beast. All of his cryptic words and insane claims had been true. Xerxes had been prepared to face such an entity. The struggle continued, each one watched and wondered what to do next. Then Rod noticed the blood being spread across the snow covered ground. It was not blood from the beast’s wound. It was coming from Xerxes’s stomach. Somehow during the struggle he had been wounded and the blood was beginning to flow more rapidly. It was also beginning to appear that Xerxes was losing strength. Rod watched as the beast’s jaws opened widely and prepared to dig its teeth into Xerxes’s neck. He aimed his shot gun and fired.