Crimson Falls (The Depravity Chronicles) (21 page)

They drove for
another few moments in silence.

“Well, do you see
anything?” Simon asked, excitement in his voice.

“Nah, nothing
yet. I think he’s probably in the woods close to the house.”

After what
seemed like an eternity, but was really no more than ten minutes, they arrived
at the Laundromat.

“I’ll park
behind the deli where the delivery truck goes,” Simon said as he pulled into
the parking lot.

“Good thinking.”

After they
parked, the two teenagers climbed into the backseat so Simon could check out
the weapons.

“Flare guns!”
Simon cried. “Good thinking. Let’s hope the shadow is afraid of fire.”

“Right? And
check this out.
Silver
bullets.”

Simon’s jaw
dropped. “Holy shit!” He took one of the bullets out of the box and rolled it
around in his fingers. “Whoa.”

Trevor unzipped
the bag with the Winchesters. “Now, check
this
out.”

“Dude!” Simon
picked one up and studied it.

“Put that down!”
Trevor whispered as he pushed Simon’s hands down. “Someone might see us.”

“Oh, and we
won’t look suspicious getting out of the car with duffle bags and wandering
into the woods.”

“We’re
teenagers,” Trevor said with a wink. “They won’t think anything of it. They’ll
just think we’re hiking or something.”

“Or something,”
Simon said as he rolled his eyes. “Okay, let’s close these up and get moving.”

“I like it when
you take charge,” Trevor said in a mocking tone.

“Shut up, dick,”
Simon shot back. “I’ll take the lighter one since you think you’re so friggin’
tough.”

“As if you could
handle the load,” Trevor grinned.

“I will shoot
you so fast you’ll
wish
the werewolf had gotten you first. Now give me a
Beretta before we get out. Do you still have the one in your pants?”

Both boys
laughed, as only teenagers can.

“I forgot to
ask, what’s with the radio?” Simon asked.

“Just in case we
need to call my mom.”

Simon laughed.
“That’s rich.”

“Well, she is
the sheriff.”

“True that,”
Simon acknowledged.

They trudged
down the length of the connected buildings and stood at the opening of the
woods.

“It’s really
dark,” Simon said in a hush.

“That’s because
it’s nighttime.”

Simon sniffed.
“Oh, is it? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Well, it’s now
or never,” Trevor said.

Simon pulled his
Beretta from the back of his pants. Trevor pulled his from the front. Simon
rolled his eyes. “It’s a good thing you didn’t shoot your dick off.”

“Well, you’re
the sharpshooter.” They laughed nervously, trying to fill the silence of the
forest with crude jokes. After about a minute, both boys stopped and knelt to
the ground.

“Here,” Simon
said, thrusting a flare gun and two flares into Trevor’s hands. “Put this down
your pants and remember not to hurt yourself.”

“Hey, this was
supposed to be
my
hunting trip,” Trevor griped. “
I
am the older
brother in this storyline.”

Simon grabbed a
Winchester, loaded two shells, pumped it, and smiled at Trevor. “In your
dreams.” He handed his Beretta to Trevor. “You take both of these. They each
have ten silver bullets in the chambers.”

“I know how many
it holds!” Trevor yelled. “And I will keep the Winchester. You couldn’t shoot a
mountain with that shotgun.”

“I do just
fine,” Simon disagreed. “But you are the better shot with bigger guns.” He laid
the shotgun down in front of Trevor and took the Berettas. “Safety off?”

“Yeah,” Trevor
said. He picked up the Winchester. “Here,” he said as he pointed toward the bag
with the remaining flares. “Take one of these, too. Just in case I can’t use
mine.”

“Good idea,”
Simon agreed. They stood up, each taking a bag and throwing it across their
shoulders.

“You ready?”
Trevor asked eagerly.

“Let’s do it.”

The forest was
strangely quieter than usual. Trevor was positive that the werewolf had spooked
the woodland creatures. With each step they took, twigs snapped and leaves
crunched.

“I wish they
would invent shoes that didn’t make sound,” Simon said.

“I think gravity
is the problem, not our shoes,” Trevor said.

Suddenly they
heard something moving through the trees about twenty feet ahead of them.
Trevor raised the Winchester and Simon held a flare gun in one hand and a
Beretta in the other. They stood their ground and waited for the werewolf to
charge them. The movement abruptly ceased, and silence again reigned in the
forest.

“What do you
think?” Simon whispered.

Trevor shook his
head wildly. “It can hear us, and understand us. We don’t want to tip our hand.”

Out of the
darkness a shadow walked toward them.

Pow!

The shot from
the Beretta sang through the trees and several things happened at once.
Whatever Simon had shot tried to turn and run, but collapsed onto the ground.
Twigs began snapping all around them and leaves fell from the tree above them.

“What the hell,
dude?” Trevor shouted.

Whoosh!

The flare sailed
straight across their field of vision and got stuck in the branches of a tree.
Under the light emanating from the fire they could see what Simon had shot. It
was a large doe.

“That’s great if
we wanted some deer meat,” Trevor complained. “Now it knows where we are.”

Out of the blue
they heard something moving in the trees above them.

“There’s no way
that’s a squirrel or raccoon,” Simon said as he looked above them. “Should I
use another flare?”

“No! By the time
we find the werewolf we won’t have any flares or silver bullets left. And
werewolves are good tree climbers.”

Trevor was
frustrated, but it was understandable. After all, he almost wasted one of the
shotgun shells on that doe. Simon was just the first to flinch.

“Didn’t you say
that the sheriff’s body fell out of the trees?”

“Yeah. Maybe you’re
right. We should shoot a flare.”

“Don’t need to
tell me twice,” Simon said as he raised the flare gun. He fired into the air
above them. What it revealed made them both shriek. The shadow was perched on a
branch not thirty feet above their heads. When it saw the flare it screeched
and leapt onto the ground in front of them.

Boom!

Boom!

The Winchester
thundered as it kicked back against Trevor’s arm. Again, the shadow shrieked.

Pow!

Pow!

As Simon shot
the Beretta, the shadow fell to its knees.

“I hit it! I hit
it!” Simon shouted.

“Shoot it
again!” Trevor yelled.

Boom!

Pow!

Boom/Pow!

Whoosh!
The flare barely
missed the shadow. It stood back up and everyone froze. Both Trevor and Simon
could hear its heavy, labored breathing. As quickly as the episode began, it
was over. The shadow vanished into the woods. They could hear its sounds fading
as it ran into the distance.

“Holy shit!
Jesus Christ!” Trevor screamed. “Did you see that?”

“No, I wasn’t
paying attention. Of course I saw it!” Simon hollered with excitement and fear.
“Did you get a good look at it?”

“A little,”
Trevor said. “But not long enough to really see what it looked like. But I know
one thing. It was huge, like maybe almost seven feet tall.”

“I don’t know
about that,” Simon said. “But when I shot the flare I swear to God I saw huge,
red eyes. And, like, a big mouth.”

“So you think it
was a werewolf?” Trevor asked.

“Not sure, but I
know one thing for sure. It wasn’t human.”

“No way,
couldn’t be human,” Trevor agreed. “I can’t believe it. We almost killed it.
Like, I know we must have hit it at least once!”

“We’ve done
something that those cops weren’t able to do. And we didn’t even run.” Simon
was now as invested in the hunt as Trevor.

“That’s because
we have something they don’t,” Trevor said proudly.

“What’s that?”

Knowledge of
dark creatures.”

“True that,”
Simon sang.

“Let’s kill this
bastard.”

Together they
prowled through the woods, trying to find the trail of blood that would lead to
the shadow’s lair.

* * * * * *

3

When Sam had
finished watching the video and was brought up to speed, he slapped Damien’s
back and sighed.

“Well, that’s
not something you see every day.”

“Unbelievable,”
Damien said. “But I guess we have no choice but to believe it.”

“I’m going to
find out what’s going on outside,” Sam said as he walked into Anna’s office.
“Hey guys,” he said to Tommy and Trisha.

“Hi, Sam,” Tommy
said, putting his book on the table. “So what do you think?”

“Good question,”
Sam replied. “It’s hard to say at this point.” Sam didn’t want to say too much
to them, concerned they might become frightened for their mother, or themselves.
“Where’s Trevor?”

“Who knows,”
Tommy said, shrugging his shoulders. “He can’t stay still too long. He gets
bored.” Sam nodded, wondering what kind of trouble Trevor’s boredom could
cause.

I hope he didn’t
do something stupid
,
he thought to himself. Sam approached Janet, who looked up and smiled.

“Have you
managed to get in touch with the other guys?” he asked, leaning on her desk and
smiling at Lisa.

“I just talked
to Dean. He and the others are on their way from the church. They had a finance
committee meeting. He said that Father Matthew had left, not feeling well.”

“Did you tell
him that he ended up over here with Pastor Amy?”

“Yeah, I filled
him in. He was shocked, to say the least,” Janet said with a chuckle.

“I bet he was,”
Lisa added.

“Have you seen
Trevor?” Sam asked, looking around the station.

“Yeah, he walked
by here a while ago,” Janet said, nodding toward the break room behind her. “I
imagine he’s gorging himself on pizza, as young boys tend to do.”

“About how long
ago was that?” Sam asked.

Lisa’s smile
faded.

“I’m not sure,”
Janet said, looking at Lisa’s face. “Do you remember?”

“No, but it must
have been a while ago,” Lisa said. “Why, Sam? What’s wrong?”

“I’m sure it’s
nothing,” Sam said as he shook his head. “I just haven’t seen him and wanted to
make sure he was okay.”

“Sure thing,”
Janet said. “Oh, by the way, Sheriff Blackwood and the others are on their way
back from the hospital.”

“How’s Michael?”
Sam asked.

“He’s okay, just
rattled,” Lisa answered. “He’s apparently coming back with them. Dr. Styles is
tagging along to take care of him. Apparently Michael doesn’t want to miss any
of the action.”

“Neither did I,”
Sam pointed out. “After what he’s been through, I don’t think he will be lying
around in a hospital bed waiting for reports from the frontlines.”

“Naturally,”
Lisa said sarcastically, but smiled. Sam studied her expression and felt lucky
to be married to such a strong woman. He knew she worried about him, but she
gave him the latitude to do what he loved.

“When did the
sheriff leave?” he asked.

“She will be
back any minute,” Janet said. “Do you want me to call her?”

“No, that’s not
necessary. I will just talk to her when she gets back. Until then, I’ll check
on Trevor.”

When Sam turned
around to go to the break room, Anna walked through the doors, followed by the
tall Native American he had seen when Damien was showing him videos, then by
Dr. Styles, and several cops.

“Sam!” Jake said
as he walked in behind Father Matthew. “Good to see you in one piece,” he said
as he shook his hand.

“And you as
well,” Sam said, returning Jake’s welcome.

“It’s been a
hell of a night,” Jake said. “Have you heard?”

“Yeah, I’m
officially out of the hospital and in the loop,” Sam said with a grin.

As the group
moved toward Anna’s office, Sam went to the break room to see if Trevor was
there. When he was nowhere to be found, he figured he was probably still
outside where Sam had last talked to him. He still couldn’t shake the feeling
that he needed to make sure Trevor was okay.