OUT OF THE WOODS

CHAPTER FOUR-WINTER IS COMING

The weather changed drastically over the next couple of months. Autumn had come and gone, causing the leaves to change to a beautiful orange and red color. The air was crisp and cool. The sky was a battleship gray color and cloudy. But now, snow had begun falling blanketing the ground in several inches. The tree branches were covered in it, making it look like a winter wonderland.

It was a Saturday. Jake was off from work and so was Carlton. I met them at the local coffee shop. I snuggled into my white parka with faux fur lining the hood. I pulled it up over my head and slipped on my mittens. I rubbed them together and walked the block to the shop; my boots crunching over the snow and ice. Some of the stores had shoveled a path but there were some that hadn’t. I silently cursed under my breath. If someone fell they could certainly sue them for negligence.

Eventually, I reached the shop and opened the door. A little bell above jingled as I stomped my feet on the mat to shake off excess snow before I entered. Jacob was sitting at one of the tables sipping a coffee. The shop smelled of coffee, cinnamon and baked goods. I felt a smile forming on my face. The smell was somehow comforting as I unzipped my parka and swung it over the back of my chair before I sat down across from Jacob. I took off my mittens and beamed at him.

“Hey,” I said to him. “So what’s up?”

Jacob took another sip of his coffee and looked at me steadily. I had gotten a text from Jacob saying that he had to tell me something important. I was nervous, hoping that the Elders hadn’t found out what Jacob had done. It would be the end of us---literally.

“We’re being sent up North,” he said clearing his throat. “Carlton and I. Near Madawaska.” He explained. “Basically, there are similar murders occurring there.”

“What about the murders here?” I asked wide eyed. “What is the captain doing about that?”

“The cases here have been reassigned to two other detectives,” Jacob said rolling his eyes. “Apparently he’s not happy with ‘results’ or some shit.” He said sighing. “But you get to come because I’m not leaving you here alone.” He added the last part meaningfully and I knew exactly what he meant.

At that moment, a jingle above the coffee shop door alerted them to Carlton entering. He spied them and came over, sliding into the chair diagonal from me.

“Did you tell her?” he asked breathlessly as bits of snow slung to his hat and the shoulders of his coat.

“Yes,” I said nodding.

“Good. We leave tonight,”

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I sat in the back of Jacob’s 2018 black Ford Explorer. The cargo space was packed with our luggage and supplies behind me. The outside of the truck had salt residue forming on the doors and mud flaps behind the tires. I was snuggled in my parka looking out the window. Jacob had the heater on so it was comfortable, but not overly hot. Jacob was driving with Carlton in the passenger seat.

I could tell Jacob was a little annoyed at the sudden change in our situation but there was nothing he could do really. He had one of those green tree air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror making the interior of the car smell like pine.

We rolled through a drive through for dinner. I hungrily bit into my hamburger. It was a long drive from East Hollow. At least 9 hours. We stopped a few times to stretch our legs and eventually Carlton took over driving to give Jacob a break. On the way back, I’d take a turn.

It was late now, about midnight. Jacob had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. I too, began dozing off.

After what seemed like hours, I was suddenly thrown against the door, causing me to snap awake violently as I felt the car fishtail on the snowy road. The car skidded sideways sharply until the front end crashed through a guard rail and dove nose first down a small snowy embankment before the grill hit a tree. I was jolted forward and then snapped back against my seat, thanks to the seat belt but my head hit the front passenger headrest.

I heard a hissing noise coming from the front and could see steam rising out from under the front hood. The windshield was cracked and I gingerly rubbed my forehead.

“Emma?” I heard Jacob’s frantic cry. “Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah,” I winced. “What the hell happened?”

“Carlton you okay?” Jacob asked turning to his partner in the drivers seat and gently but urgently shaking his shoulder.

I carefully undid my seatbelt buckle and it snapped back into place.

“Yeah,” Carlton said grunting in pain. “But my leg is caught under the dashboard. And I dunno. Something large darted out in front of the car and we ended up hitting it.”

“Okay,” Jacob said unbuckling his own seat belt. “Stay here. Emma and I are going to check it out and call 911.”

Shakily, I grabbed my door handle and pushed open my door. It opened with a groan and creak as I carefully stepped out. My legs felt a bit like jello at this point and I leaned against the Explorer to get my equilibrium. Jacob joined me. He had a small gash on his temple and blood caked a bit of his hair and dripped down to his jawline but he seemed okay otherwise. He pulled out his cell phone as we slowly began carefully climbing up the embankment to where we thought whatever jumped out in front of the car would be.

“Damn. No signal,” he muttered under his breath as we eventually reached the road again.

We could see the break in the guard rail were the truck crashed through, but a few inches before that, was trail of blood leading into a wooded area. My heart began hammering anxiously in my chest.

More than likely it was a deer or something. Nothing else. At least that’s what I kept telling myself. Jacob had grabbed a flashlight and the circular white light was on the ground. I made sure I kept pace with Jacob, not enjoying being out in the middle of the woods like this on a dark, empty road. I bundled my parka around me tighter and flipped up my hood.

“What do you think we hit?” I asked him as my breath came out in puffs of steam.

“Probably a deer,” he responded, but with his tone, he didn’t sound so sure.

Finally we found a large puddle of blood and Jacob made sure that he kept me behind him incase for safety. He stopped and raised the flashlight to see if he could find the source. When the circular light rolled over the source, I let out a gasp and raised a hand to my mouth. Even Jacob froze and I could see the flashlight shaking violently in his hand.

It looked like a calf, but there were human-ish features to it and it was making a God awful noise between a sob and a bleat. Three of its legs were bent horrifically which was a result of hitting the Explorer’s grill. It was sickening and pitiful.

“Let’s get back to the truck,” Jacob said quietly backing away slowly.

“You’re just going to leave it suffer?” I whispered incredulously.

“Ems,” Jacob said finally turning his eyes onto mine. “It’s dying. Whatever this is, it isn’t normal. Something is going on here and it certainly isn’t natural.”

He eventually began walking back toward the car. I hesitated for a moment before following him. I can tell you, I will still hear that noise in my nightmares for days to come.

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Eventually we got a signal and called 911. Carlton was taken to the nearest hospital. His only injury was a broken leg. Nothing major thank goodness. The Explorer was towed to the nearest town, which was the exact town we were heading too. We hadn’t been too far from it.

Jacob set us up in the nearest hotel. He got two rooms and I had to admit, the idea of a nice hot shower and fresh clean warm clothes was more than appealing. Jacob promised to check in on Carlton.

I quickly showered and pulled on a pair of jeans and a nice soft short sleeved sweater. I towel dried my hair and pulled it into a side braid. I grabbed my parka and pulled it back on eager to do some sight seeing in the town.

The sidewalks were clear of snow as I walked along. There were lots of mom and pop stores, especially antique stores, clothing stores, a diner and a café and other things. I decided to stop in the diner and grab a bite to eat. Jacob texted me that when he was finished checking in Carlton he would meet me. I texted him back where I was and then took a seat in a booth. A young woman around my age with red hair pulled into a bun with a pencil stuck behind her ear and she was wearing a peach colored waitress uniform, came up to me.

“Hiya hun what’ll ya have?” she asked.

“How about a burger, medium rare, fries and a shake?” I offered grinning.

The waitress nodded and jotted down my order before heading off. I looked around the diner. Most of the patrons here seemed to be locals. A few older men were playing cards in a back booth; a trucker was sipping a beer at the counter; and a young couple with friends were laughing and talking over burgers and fries.

“You new in town?” a voice asked in my left ear causing me to jump from being startled.

“What? Oh—yes,” I stammered nervously. “We had a bit of an accident and got a tow truck to come and take the car.”

It was an older man in his late 50s with a beer belly. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt that didn’t seem to fit him right. He had graying dark brown hair and blue eyes.

“An accident? Oh dear,” he said looking concerned. “Was anyone hurt?”

“My best friends partner’s leg was broken, but nothing too serious,” I said as a few moments later the waitress brought me my burger.

“Partner eh?” the man said, his tone suddenly changing. I had an idea on what he might be thinking so I quickly shook my head.

“No, no not like that. They’re police officers; detectives from East Hollow,” I said taking a bite of my burger. “We hit something strange though.”

“Strange?”

“Yeah it looked like a calf but had human features,” I said dunking some fries into ketchup and biting the end off.

The man was silent before he chuckled.

“Well I can tell you missy that if that was the case around here I think most of us farmers would know that,” he said laughing. “Perhaps it was just a deer or something.”

The man finished his beer, slapped down some change on the counter and slid off the stool before leaving. He was still shaking his head and laughing while he exited the diner.

After I was done, I paid the bill and left. I walked around the town a bit doing some window shopping to just pass the time before heading back to the hotel.

Jacob was standing outside my hotel room leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest and one foot propped up against the wall. He looked up when I approached and took out my key.

“So where’d you disappear to?” he asked.

“Just took a walk around town,” I said shrugging. “And bought some food at the diner. How’s Carlton?”

“He’ll be okay,” Jake said. “He’ll be laid out for a few weeks. He’s being sent back home. It’s just you and I now.” He said shrugging.

“So I get to be your partner?” I asked arching an eyebrow at him with a hint of a smile on my face.

“Looks like it yeah,” He added grinning broadly.

I put the key into the door and the light turned green. I grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open. I stepped into the room and switched on the light. Only to find my room in a total war zone.

“Wha---?” I asked raising a hand to my mouth in shock.

I heard Jacob let out a low growl and quickly reach for his side arm. He pulled it from its holster and gently shouldered past me.

“Stay here,” He instructed as he quickly began scouting the room. He checked the bathroom first then proceeded to check under the beds and the closet. Finding nothing, he slipped the gun back into its holster and looked up at me. “Someone was looking for something that’s for sure. Call the front desk.”

I nodded and quickly did what he said.

We were given another room. This time, Jacob had the adjourning room next to mine. We spent most of the evening trying to understand what had happened. Whoever ransacked my room was definitely looking for something…but what? I didn’t have anything. There was nothing special I carried around so what could this person want so desperately they were willing to ransack my room? Jacob said he’d caught a scent. It was someone who smoked and who was also very sick. I had to admit, I’d picked up the same scent when I stepped into the room.

In the new room, I was still uneasy. I showered and pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and a camisole top. I quickly braided my hair and let the plait hang over my left shoulder. Jacob was sitting on one of the chairs. He ran his hands over his face. I could see he was clearly exhausted. It was nearly one am at this point. I climbed onto one of the king sized beds and just sat cross legged.

“I’m still a bit uneasy,” I admitted wrapping my arms around my waist. “Do you think you can stay?”

Jacob looked up at me and smiled.

“Sure,” he said softly.

Feeling a bit better, I laid down on the bed. I looked over at him.

“Jake? I’m kinda glad you bit me,” I admitted. “Cause now we’re definitely a team…and more than best friends…right?”

Jacob’s expression softened even more. There was something else in his eyes, like a smolder, but I couldn’t be exactly sure.

“Absolutely,” he said leaning forward with a serious expression on his face.

With that I dozed off.

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The next morning, I told Jacob about how weird that patron reacted to when I told him about what we hit on the highway. It was like he was trying to dismiss it or he was hiding something. I figured it was the latter. Jacob agreed with me.

We had an appointment with the ME. There was at least three bodies that were found in mysterious circumstances and conditions. Standing in the room, the walls were tiled a dark mint green; There were cabinets filled with liquids, cotton balls, gauzes, and other things; In front of us was a metal slab table where one body was lying beneath a white sheet. The table was about chest level. It was the aroma that burned my nostrils and I knew it was burning Jacobs. The ME offered a special ointment to run beneath our nostrils to mask the scent of formaldehyde. Thankfully it worked and we both breathed easier.

“So,” The ME said pulling back the top half of the sheet exposing the head and torso of the victim. “These wounds do not look normal. Not like any predator we have around these parts. Do you have any idea on what could’ve done this?”

Jacob leaned closer and swept his eyes intently over each wound. I glanced at it and then turned my head away. My stomach was rolling in a threatening manner; threatening to empty of it of the breakfast we’d had.

“It wasn’t a werewolf that’s for sure,” Jacob said sighing. “Whatever did this isn’t in our circle of ‘known’ species.”

Apparently the ME was one of us. Not a werewolf, but a supernatural. A Fireling. Firelings were like pyromaniacs, but they only used their gift for certain circumstances and were kept in check closely by the Elders. They couldn’t fart without the Elders knowing.

“Are the other two bodies like this?” I asked slowly keeping my eyes on the ME, not wanting to look down at the body on the table.

“Similar yes,” The ME said nodding.

He was about 38. Tall, athletic with dark brown hair that was neatly trimmed and blue eyes. He had Scandinavian features; sharp and chiseled that he could become a model at any point in his career. He was wearing a white lab coat over a dark gray shirt and tie, and dark jeans with a black belt around his waist.

“Okay,” Jacob said rubbing his hands together. “See if you can get any kind of DNA off the wounds. Or have you?”

“Not yet,” he said. “These bodies just came in last night. I haven’t done any tests yet…but I will definitely check for any DNA in them. There has to be.”

“Good. Give me a call when you do,” Jacob said handing him his business card.

The ME nodded and we headed out.

Glad to be out in the fresh air, I took a deep breath happily, taking in the scents. A gentle breeze caught the strands of hair that came loose of the braid and gently tickled my cheek. I paused by the passenger side to the rental car Jacob got. It was a Ford Taurus, black. I looked over the roof at Jacob.

“Jake, do you think we should dig deeper into that strange creature we hit?” I asked him.

“Right now, let’s focus on what’s attacking people in this town,” Jacob said. “Then we can find out what’s going on with that.”

I nodded.

That sounded good. One thing at a time for sure. Jacob had called the town police and told them that our previous room had been ransacked. Of course, the thing was no one had broken in. So whoever had done it, had to have had a key…and that meant hotel personnel. The question was Who? And Why?

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The next night, I had decided to take a walk. Jacob had stayed back at the hotel as the ME had found some interesting things in the bodies. I bundled up in my parka and pulled the faux fur lined hood up over my head. I rubbed my mitten gloves together and stuffed them into my pockets. The cold air felt good and my breath congealed in the air each time I breathed out. There was a wooded area next to me. But with my new enhanced senses, I was able to hear the smallest movement in them and sense anything.

But what I didn’t know was a pair of red eyes watching me from the darkened shadows. After several moments I got that creeped out feeling…of being watched. So, I stopped and slowly turned, catching the eye shine of something in the bushes. My nose picked up the scent of something large. It smelled of blood and cinnamon mixed. It didn’t smell right at all. Not like the normal creatures of the woods. I froze and began slowly backing away, which in turn caused this thing to slowly step out from the shadows; abandoning the safety of the darkness and come toward me. A scream froze in my throat as I raised a hand to my mouth in horror.

It was the same type of creature we hit…only this one was ten times bigger. About the size of a great Dane dog. It had the body of a cow, legs like one, but the feet were almost Canidae. The face, was a cross between a cow and a wolf. It let out a snarl and whipped its tail from side to side. But instead of the normal black and white pattern of a regular cow, the body was covered in a coarse fur, almost like a Chinese crested dog. It was ugly. Hideous. And coming toward me.

I turned and began running back the way I came. I could hear it chasing after me, the paws thundering on the snowy ground. Pure panic and fear gripped my chest. There was no way I could defeat this thing or even have a chance at fighting it. Whatever it was.

I turned a corner sharply, my boot sliding on some ice. I landed forward, on my hands and quickly regained balance as I continued to run. It was running directly through the center of the town. How could anyone not know about this? Or hear or see it for that matter?

This only proved that the town was hiding something. My braid bounced against my back as I eventually reached the block where the hotel was. I threw myself through the front doors into the lobby. I ran to the elevators and began frantically pressing the up button. I glanced back in fear as the thing crashed through the glass doors of the hotel. Several patrons screamed and scrambled out of the way. The thing spied me and lowered its head, baring its teeth. I kept hitting the button praying the elevator would come on time.

Just as I thought it was about to launch itself at me, the doors whiffed open and I launched into the elevator. I hit the 4th floor button and the doors began slowly closing just as I caught a glimpse of the creatures head.

As the elevator began ascending only then did I let out a breath of relief. I was still shaking violently when I pounded on the door to my room. I knew Jacob was there. Just then, I heard the elevator ‘bing’ and the doors open. Oh God no!! please no it can’t be that smart!! I thought in terror. Sure enough, the large head peeked out of the elevator and the red eyes landed on me. I screamed.

At that moment, the door to my room was yanked open. Jacob peeked out, saw what I saw and then grabbed my arm yanking me into the room.

He closed the door and quickly put the deadbolt on.

“What the hell is that?” he cried as we could hear it coming toward us.

“I have no idea! Jacob what are we gonna do!” I cried fearfully.

“Get in the bathtub and close the door and lock it,” He instructed. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Jake no!” I cried as he pushed me forcefully into the bathroom. “That thing is too big.”

“Trust me, I’ve got it,” he said and then closed the door hard between us, locking me in the bathroom.

I crawled into the bathtub and pulled the curtain closed enough that I could see the door. My breathing was all I could hear, and the whump whump of my pulse in my ears from the blood rushing.

I heard crashes, a few curses (which came from Jake obviously) and then glass breaking. There was a deafening silence after that which pressed on my ears making me even more nervous. I had no idea what was going on out there nor if Jake was okay.

An enternity seemed to pass when I heard a knock on the door. At least I knew it was Jacob. I doubt that creature knew how to knock…then again it knew how to get into elevators…

“Ems?” I heard Jacobs voice.

Relief poured through me and I jumped to my feet. I unlocked the door and yanked it open to find Jacob standing there leaning against the jam with one arm propped up, the other against his side. But he looked like he’d done battle with a gremlin.

His shirt was bloody and torn in several places; he had a scratch on his cheek and his sleeves were torn and I saw a bite there. Blood soaked the material.

“Oh God,” I breathed as I slung his arm around my shoulder and helped him to one of the beds. I didn’t see the creature, but I did see the broken window and the curtains billowing in. There were glass shards on the carpet inside. “What happened?”

“I tossed it out the window,” he said simply with a lopsided smile but I could see the pain in his expression. I shook my head and went over to my luggage and grabbed the first aide kit I always brought with me. I undid his shirt, keeping my eyes on what I was doing. I knew my heart was still hammering in my chest but this time it had nothing to do with the creature. He was silent too letting me work. I eased the shirt off him. I winced. His wounds were bad and seeping blood.

“These look deep. You’re gonna need stitches,” I said glancing up at him briefly before returning my eyes onto the task at hand.

“Just do what you have to,” he said grunting in discomfort as I dabbed the wounds with peroxide and then grabbed the suture kit.

Once the stitches were in, I wound gauze around his chest and then under his arm like a makeshift sling. I fastened the gauze with little prongs and then tended to his arm injury. Halfway through that, he raised his hand and gently grabbed my chin between his thumb and index finger, forcing me to look up at him.

“I wasn’t going to let anything happen to you Emma,” he said staring into my eyes. Eep I thought swallowing. “We’re soul mates.”

My heart did a funny flip on the words ‘soul mates’ but I felt myself smiling.

“Yeah I know you big oaf,” I said affectionately. “Let me tend to this okay?”

He let out a wan chuckle and then gave me a brief kiss on the cheek. I finished bandaging his arm and then grabbed a bottle of pain killer from the kit.

“Here. Take two.” I instructed. “You lye back and I’ll call someone to clean up this mess.”

Two rooms destroyed in a matter of 48 hours. What the hell was going on here? What the hell was that thing? Someone had answers and we needed to find that person quickly.

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