The Chronicles of Beast and Man (23 page)

“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.

T
he 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 follow. 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.

Blood and brain, and skull remnants splattered all around. Unfortunately his aim was not accurate. He had only nicked the massive beast, but struck Xerxes. The creature sprang to life and with lightning speed it fled off into the darkness.

“Hurry, we have to follow it!” Freddy screamed out, taking no time to mourn the loss of Xerxes.

With the help of its prints in the snow and a trail of blood it seemed easy to track. As they ran through the country side, Rod suddenly realized that Dolgen had not followed. He glanced back to see him standing over the body of Xerxes. Perhaps he had not realized what kind of battle they were actually going to be part of. Rod had no time to worry about any issues that Dolgen might have. It was time to defeat this thing, while they had the chance. It took a great deal of tracking, but finally they found themselves exiting the woods, and looking upon a small house just outside of town. Rod immediately recognized the place. This house belonged to Shawn Finch, a mechanic at Steve Husher’s Garage.

“We must hurry, before it attacks anyone else.” Freddy said as he ran.

Without another second of hesitation they took off for the house. Rod flung the door open and charged in with his gun drawn. To their surprise, the only thing they found was a pregnant blond haired woman. Rod did not know her name, but he knew that he had seen her about town with Shawn.

“Oh my god!” She screamed over and over.

“Calm down,” Rod yelled in return, “Were not here to hurt you.”

“You are here for him, aren’t you?”

Their eyes widened when they heard her words, could she have any idea what they were up against?

“My name is Emily, Emily Van Mire. I tried to make him stop, I really did. He did for a while…I promise.” She began to cry as she spoke.

“What are you talking about?” Rod asked as he leaned down to her level.

“We used to be together, me and Shawn, but I broke it off, then that boy got killed.”

“Maxwell…”Rod said under his breath.

“Yeah, he told me he couldn’t control it anymore. He said that the cravings were just too much for him. So I agreed to stay with him, and keep it under wraps, and he did for a long time. We had it all figured out, he satisfied the cravings by feeding on animals and such. But then something happened. I don’t know what it was. He couldn’t control it anymore, I pray every time that he won’t turn and attack me.”

Rod was just about to speak when the beast slammed through the front door and landed on Freddy. Freddy tossed and turned trying to escape its powerful grasp.

Afraid that his aim might not be good enough, he was not going to take another chance at shooting the beast. At least he would not attempt it while it was still on top of Freddy. Instead, Rod stepped close to the struggle, lifted his foot and size eleven steel-toed boot and kicked the creature in the side of its face. It did not seem to hurt the beast at all, but it did catch its attention. It immediately rose up and slowly moved in Rod’s direction.

Freddy sprang up from the floor and ran to the corner of the room.

As the beast peered down upon him, he noticed the life that existed within it. Rod knew that somewhere inside those eyes Shawn Finch was still there.

“Shawn…”

The beast’s growls grew quieter as Rod spoke the human name.

“I know you can hear me, it is okay Shawn. It is okay.”

It appeared that the creature was beginning to let the human side come out more. Perhaps it was possible that Shawn could overcome this thing after all.

“It is okay, and we will get you help.”

Then, before Rod could say another word the beast swung its arm at him. Rod had not fully understood exactly how powerful this thing was until it struck him. He felt his feet lift up off the ground, and then his back slammed into the wall, leaving a huge indentation. Before Rod could make a move the beast was upon him, clamping down hard on Rod’s mid-section. It was slowly clenching and unclenching its jaws. The jagged teeth grinded against flesh and bone, Rod never screamed, he only snarled a desperate snarl back at the horrific creature. It was then that Rod lost his ability to see and hear. He knew that he would never do either ever again. Rodney Truex’s body then went limp and the beast dropped it back down into a dark red puddle of blood.

Freddy watched, terrified. He knew that he would be next and he could not let the beast have the chance. Freddy lifted up his shotgun, aimed and fired. The shotgun shell exploded out from the barrel of the gun and ripped through the face of the creature. Freddy then pumped the shotgun and fired again. The body dropped to the floor. Without hesitation Freddy ran over, aimed and fired again, leaving no trace of the creature’s head.

Thomas Dolgen then entered the house through the enormous hole that was once a door way. He was shocked at the bloody carnage that had been spread throughout the room.

He saw the headless creature, which was already transforming back to its human state. Dolgen thought to himself
It is over, thank god it is over!

Freddy knew better than that, it was not over yet. Freddy slowly walked over to Emily who was huddled in the corner covering her head and crying. She was with child, the spawn of the creature, and in a sense she was poisoned. Shawn Fitch had entered her life like a virus and made certain that he had ripped and torn it apart. He may not have planned to do such a thing to her, but he most certainly did do exactly that.

Freddy looked down upon the young woman, he felt no compassion, no empathy. Any shred of either of those was gone when he saw the beast kill Xerxes and Sheriff Truex. Freddy aimed his shotgun at her head and pulled the trigger. Dolgen watched it all take place, but he did not say a word. Freddy looked at him with cold and critical eyes, and numbly said “It had to be done.”

Medusa Gazette, Thursday, January 20
th
2005

The Killer Wolf is Dead

Medusa—Wednesday morning local and state authorities were dispatched to the Finch residence on Wheeler Street. It would seem that Sheriff Rodney Truex and Deputy Thomas Dolgen took it upon themselves to try and stop madness caused by this serial killer. Unfortunately for everyone involved,
the last note in this battle was the bloodiest. Among the bodies discovered was Shawn Finch, who is said to have been responsible for the murders of nine different people since October 31
st
2000. This would include the lives of three taken that night as well. At this time the authorities are unable to release all names of the victims involved, but it has been confirmed that Sheriff Rodney Truex is among them. A service for Truex is to be held this Friday at the White and Sampson’s Funeral Home at 3 p.m., he was 35. It would seem that before perishing from wounds inflicted upon him by Finch,
he actually took the life of the horrible killer. Dolgen has confirmed that he will take over the duties of Sheriff until further notice. Dolgen has promised to do his best to live up to the legacy which Rodney Truex has left behind.

Medusa Gazette, Sunday, February 13
th
2005

Young Medusa Man Missing

Medusa—It has been reported that a young man by the name of Fredrick Alexander has been missing for the better part of a month. It has been confirmed that he is not believed to have been a victim of Shawn “The Killer Wolf” Finch. The young man was last seen by his parents when he went to his bedroom to study for an exam he had the following morning. Any information you might have in relation to the whereabouts of Fredrick Alexander please contact the Medusa Police Department.