Hey guys, sorry again that it took so long. I've been a very busy girl, but hopefully i will have this next chapter out very soon. I'm just now getting to the good parts!
Enjoy!
Braden sat on the sunny grass, ramming his Tonka truck, into one of his puny racing cars.
"Bam!" he yelled, smashing the truck into the car again.
His mother watched from the kitchen window and smiled at her son as she prepared lunch. Marcy looked down to clean off the lettuce, and then put it in the strainer for a salad. When she looked up again, she noticed that there was a black rabbit with large white spots that hopped out of the woods behind their house. She smiled as she watched it, its nose twitching and ears erect as it hopped closer to her son.
Braden didn't notice the rabbit until it was only a few feet from him. He froze dropping his Tonka and car and stared at the rabbit. The rabbit froze and looked at him. Curious Braden held out his hand.
"Hi, bunny."
The rabbit hopped closer, still sniffing cautiously.
Marcy smiled when she saw the rabbit touch her sons hand with its nose. Then she watched as the rabbit opened its mouth and chomped on her sons' hand. Fear bubbled up in her throat at the earsplitting scream that erupted from her son. Almost knocking over the strainer she ran as quickly as she could out the back door to her son.
"Braden, honey, are you okay?"
She looked angrily at the rabbit that still sat only a few feet away, her son's blood on its mouth. Her mouth opened in a silent scream when she saw its eyes. They were a pure hollow white that glared back at her. Without another thought she picked up her son and ran him into the house, immediately calling animal control, her heart still pounding with fear. She looked into the backyard again, but the rabbit was gone.
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"That's all I know," Taylor said, still pacing the tiny kitchenette. She bit on her fingernail thinking.
Sam leaned back, still skeptical, "Animal attacks? Rabid animals of all different species, either killing or injuring humans that weren't provoking them? And you got all of that from a weeks worth of local newspapers?"
Taylor froze in her pace and scrutinized her brother, "You don't believe me?"
"That's not what I said-."
"Here," she slid all the papers towards him, all open on the same page, of the police reports. Since the town was very small it wasn't hard to pick out the major reports. Sam read through all the reports, eyes widening.
"You have got to be kidding me," Sam whispered, reading through the last report.
"What?" Dean had been quiet through her story and now he picked up one of the newspapers and began to read. His expression hardened as he read on. Sam and Taylor watched as Dean read through all of them, he paused, setting down the paper when he had finished.
"So?" Taylor asked when he was finished.
Dean was quiet for a moment, "Okay," he said finally meeting his sisters' gaze, "We'll check it out."
Taylor jumped, elated, "Thank you, Dean," but then paused when she saw the hard look still on Dean's face. She studied him for a second.
"Wait," she asked, narrowing her eyes, "which we?"
Dean looked at Sam, who looked down guiltily.
"No!" Taylor yelled pointing at them, "You two are not leaving me out of this one! I'm the one that figured it out anyway; I should be the one to lead the case."
Dean met her blazing gaze. "No." There was a finality in his voice.
Taylor closed her eyes and took a deep breath, closing her hands into fists at her sides, so that she wouldn't punch her brother.
"This. Is. Ridiculous." Taylor said slowly.
Sam broke in, "I know it seems that way…but it's for your own good."
She turned on her other brother, eyes dark with fury, "My own good?" she sputtered. "What the hell is that? I know what is and what isn't good for me."
"Taylor this is your vacation-."
"Not with that bullshit again," she sighed, running a hand through her heavy hair.
"Taylor-."
"No I get it, okay?" Her gaze slid from brother to brother, "But I still don't need your permission."
She gathered all the newspapers and leaving her brothers speechless went into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Sam sighed. He put his head in his hands, elbows on the table. "Why do you have to do that to her Dean?"
Dean turned to him face still hard, "She's just starting to have a normal life Sam."
Surprise colored Sam's features.
"Look, we both know what this job does to us, and I just want her to have a normal life." Dean paused, chuckling. "Look at us Sam, you've never had a normal life and I know I'm messed up, man."
"No you're not-."
"No, let me finish. Every since Taylor found us, I realized that all I wanted for her is to have a normal life, especially after she lost," Dean's voice cracked, "so much. She may have found that here, with her friend, Victoria. I just want her safe and happy Sam, everything that you and I haven't had."
Sam looked over at his despondent brother, "We could have that too Dean." Sam's soft voice made Dean look up, Sam's expression was hopeful.
"Taylor first."
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Taylor waited till she heard her brothers go to bed for the night and Dean was snoring loudly. She had been pacing for hours, her huge duffel bag waiting for her on the bed next to her purse. She had checked all the drawers numerous times to make sure she had everything. Dressed in jeans a dark blue T with her Carrhart over it, she listened through the wall into Sam's room making sure he was in a deep sleep, he was the lightest sleeper and would be the one, surely, to hear her. She clicked off her bedside lap and waited for her eyes to adjust in the dark. She slung the duffel heavily over one shoulder and grabbed her purse, once she could see enough. She turned the knob slowly, adrenaline pumping now. Once the door was free she swung it silently open. She slunk by Dean's snoring form, seeing by the light from the windows. She paused at the front door, shooting Dean's lump one last look before quietly opening the door and stepping out into the cool, fresh night closing it just as silently behind her.
She was grinning as she walked to her car. She threw her purse into the passenger seat and her duffel in the back, checking to make sure that her laptop was still carefully hidden under the passenger seat; she would need it after this. She now looked through her windshield, trying to see what she could do about the dilemma with the loudness of her car.
She smiled releasing the parking break, and put the gear into reverse, glad that she had a manual transmission. The Camero started to roll backwards, but once she turned the wheel to turn around it slowed. She rolled her eyes, she would have to push. Locking the steering wheel to turn, she got out and pushed the car backwards. She gave herself a pat on the back when it worked and hopped back in, putting it into first gear, slamming her door back shut as the car travel on it's on down the gravel path to the highway. When she felt it was far enough, she turned the key and the car roared to life.
Gravel spit from her tires as she sped away, into the night. She felt exhilarated, and then her conscious took over a second later. She felt bad ditching her brothers, she felt the anger rise, but they needed to let her do things her way. She kept that thought in her mind as she sped into town. She found the house easily; it was her home away from home, her refuge. She pulled up into the spacious driveway and got her things. The house was a faded mahogany color. A small porch with a swing, wrapped the front of the house. A dim light was still on in one of the upstairs windows. Taylor felt better when she saw that. She lugged her stuff up the few stairs onto the porch and cringing she rang the doorbell. It echoed throughout the house.
A minute passed before Taylor saw the hall light come on, and someone come down the stairs.
Victoria opened the door, looking slightly annoyed and sleepy. Her expression changed to worry and surprise when she saw Taylor, fully dressed, carrying all her bags and a frenzied expression on her face. Victoria's face changed to worry.
"Hey, what's going on? Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just need a place to stay for a while," Taylor looked up sheepishly. "Is it okay if I crash here?"
Victoria swung the door wider and motioned her in, "Yeah. Is everything okay with your brothers."
Taylor rolled her eyes towards her, "That's the reason I'm here, Dean's trying to control me and I need to do this job on my own."
"Job?"
Taylor cringed; she forgot Victoria didn't know about her family business. She looked desolately at Victoria.
"The less you know about that part of my life, the better."
Victoria furrowed her brow, "You're going to have to tell me eventually." She set herself on the couch, arms crossed.
Taylor squeezed her eyes shut, "It's really complicated, and…and I don't want you to get hurt."
Taylor looked back up at her new friend, taking in her confused expression.
"Okay, but I still wanna know, eventually."
Taylor smiled and set her stuff on the dinning room table connecting the living room and the kitchen.
"That's a promise I can keep," Taylor assured Victoria, then added, "I was surprised you were up Tori, you have to be in to work so early most of the time."
Victoria waved a hand, "Tomorrow's my day off."
"Oh, that'll be nice."
"Yeah, I was just working on a book," she yawned.
"You should go get some sleep though," Taylor suggest, shooting her friend a concerned look.
"Okay, I won't argue with that. You can stay in the guest room the first door on the left, you remember right?"
"Yeah. Thanks again."
Victoria waved her hand again, yawning, "What're friends for?" She started towards the stairs, "Don't stay up too late," she eyed, Taylor's stuff, "with whatever you're doing."
Taylor laughed, "Okay I won't, mother."
Tori gave her one last smile before she ascended the stairs.
Taylor waited until her friend had closed her bedroom door behind her, before she took out all the newspapers and laid them all around the table. She took out a notebook and a pen.
For hours she went over all the similarities and differences between all the attacks. All of them were the same in that the police had just regarded the animals as rabid, not thinking about the fact that they were all different species, wolves, deer, rabbit and numerous other animals that had no connection. Some of them killed the victims, sometimes it was just a lethal bite, or injury. But all the animals had one thing in common; they all had the same white eyes.
After Taylor had scoured all the newspapers for everything, she went to her computer and went online to look up the local newspaper, but the town was so small that it didn't even have a town site, much less a library. God, what were kids supposed to do in a tourist town? She could think of a few things, but brought her sluggish mind back to the present. She looked at her phone; it was almost 8 in the morning. She yawned.
There was no way she could stop now; she was so close to actually getting somewhere. She would have to ask, Victoria about the attacks once she woke up, the gossip around town would probably provide her with something.
Taylor yawned again. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the fog. She went over her notes again and again, looking through the papers once more. She looked at the most recent, a 5-year-old-boy named Braden had been bitten by a rabid rabbit in his backyard, his mother, Marcy, 35, had called animal control. Animal control and scoured the forest but had found no trace of the animal. Something clicked. She flipped through all the other reports again, none of the other animals had been found either.
Tomorrow she would go talk to Marcy and her son, see what she knew that wasn't in the paper; Taylor would go talk to some of the other victims too.
"What are you doing still up?"
The voice made Taylor jump and turn quickly in her chair.
Victoria's arms were crossed and she looked with concern and annoyance at her friend.
"I-I was researching." Taylor held back a yawn.
"Right. Bedtime girly."
"Wait, wait, I was so close," Taylor tried to hold herself to the table and her friend reached for her, but her tired fingers, slipped easily from the polished wood.
"You can finish it when you get some sleep, and I have to run into work-."
"Wait!" Something clicked urgently in the back of Taylor's mind; it took her a second to slog through the foggy mess. Victoria froze waiting patiently. "My brothers," Taylor finally understood, "my brothers will be looking for me, and they know that you're the only person I know here, they'll follow you back. Please don't go, I need to do this job on my own, they'll make me leave."
Victoria sighed, frustrated, "They can't make you do anything."
"You've never met Dean," Taylor countered.
"I won't let them follow me, okay?"
"How?" Taylor asked halting right before the stairs.
"I'll make sure that I ditch them before I reach the house."
"Okay, okay, I need to do this on my own."
"Right, honey," Victoria, rolled her eyes at her friends sleep deprived ramblings, "you don't worry about me, and I'll be back before you know it. I'll even pick up some coffee and donuts for when you wake up how's that?"
"Sounds good," Taylor yawned, as she stumbled up the last couple of stairs.
Victoria led her into the guest room, helping her friend onto the bed, Taylor curled up immediately. Victoria pulled a quilt over her, before she left the room. Taylor was breathing heavily already as she closed the door; she smiled and shook her head, before starting towards her car.
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Sam woke up to the bright morning light shining in through his window. He stretched and yawned before he got out of the bed, he remembered the night before, the fight that they'd had. He went into Taylor's room to apologize but realized that all her things were gone, her purse, her duffel, everything.
Panic froze him to the spot for a second, until he raced to the front window to see if her car was gone. Sure enough, her spot was empty.
"Dean!" he bellowed.
A loud snort erupted from the lump that was Dean. Sam ran to his fold-out and shook him.
"Dude, what? I think you're gonna break my neck if you keeping doing that," Dean grumbled, groggily rubbing his neck.
"Sorry, but Taylor's gone."
Dean froze, staring at his brother.
"What?"
"Taylor's gone!"
"What!?"
"Yeah."
Dean sat straight up hopped almost stumbling on the sheet to see into Taylor's room.
"I'm gonna kill her."
"Dean's lets be rational."
"Rational!" Dean barked, "Oh I'll show her rational." He was shaking he was so mad. But Sam knew that it was only a cover for his fear.
"Dean, think for a second where is the one place that she would have gone? Especially since she wanted to follow this hunt so badly."
"That restaurant."
Sam rolled his eyes, "And what friend of hers works there?"
Dean's eyes turned to slits, "Victoria."
"Bingo."
"Lets go."
"In your boxers?" Sam laughed as Dean pulled open the front door still in his plain t-shirt and boxers.
"Oh, shut up Sam."
--
They both got dressed in record time, hustling to the car, to catch Victoria there. They sat in the Impala parked in the far corner of the parking lot, waiting. Sam was patient. Dean, on the other hand, keep fidgeting, throwing angry glances at the red building, folding his arms, unfolding them, moving his feet, changing the station, anything to keep in motion.
Dean sighed loudly.
"Dean, Jesus, do you want to run a lap around the building or something? You're making me nervous with all this twitching."
"Right back at ya, Sam. How can you sit there so silently and calm?"
"Because I have self control."
Dean harrumphed and crossed his arms again.
This time Sam sighed, but it caught in his throat as he saw the blue sedan pull into the parking lot. Even Dean froze. The old mercury parked in the front and Victoria got out. They both sat frozen watching her walk into the building.
"Let's go," Dean said reaching for the handle.
"No, Dean, we should follow her back. Taylor probably warned her already. Approaching her would do no good."
Dean sighed again, and tried to relax against the seat while they waited once again.
"I hate waiting," Dean mumbled.
Sam just sent him an annoyed look. Dean ignored him and watched the building for any signs of life. There were very few cars in the parking lot, probably very few customers.
They both twitched alive when Victoria came back out of the building and headed to her car. She pulled out of the parking lot.
Sam and Dean exchanged a triumphant look before following the blue sedan, keeping a safe distance.
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Victoria noticed the dark car behind her right away. She thought of a plan of action quickly. She wouldn't make her escape obvious, she would just continue driving past the turn off to her house, thanking God that it was so far from the main roads and her nearest neighbor at least half a mile away. She smiled and watched the car following her farther back. She followed the road almost out of town, and then took a right, speeding up to almost 50. She didn't think to even look behind her concentrating on the road in front of her. She took another right, backtracking and weaving so that they couldn't follow her. She took a left, heading back north, following up two more blocks before taking another right. Before she even slowed down a little she glanced behind her once more. The black car was nowhere to be found. She laughed, chiding herself; although she knew she wasn't safe yet, so with the adrenaline still pumping she kept up her speed. Just to be careful she took a loop before she continued back on road and took a left onto the old road that led to her house. She looked in her rearview mirror once more; the black Impala was nowhere to be seen.
She was still smiling when she pulled up in front of the house. Taylor met her at the door.
"What are you doing up?"
"Anticipating my death," she answered anxiously, peering around Victoria.
"I lost them," Victoria answered easily, setting her purse and keys, on the old, wooden table next to the door.
Once Taylor was sure Tori hadn't been followed she closed the door and turned back to her friend, surprise on her face. "I should have given you more credit."
Victoria smiled, "It was fun."
Taylor pulled a curtain back, still checking to make sure the black car wasn't anywhere around, "It won't be for long."
Victoria turned back to her confused.
"You don't know my brothers…they're very…," Taylor searched for a word. "Persistent."
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"Damn it!" Dean yelled, tires squealing to a stop. He bashed his hand against the steering wheel.
"Don't worry, Dean, we know her car now, we'll find it, this town isn't so big," Sam said quietly, staring out the window angrily.
Dean turned to him slowly, mouth gaping.
Sam looked at his expression, "What?"
"How do you do that man?"
"Do what?"
"Stay so calm, sometimes I think you're gonna explode, just let it out man."
Sam's expression turned fierce to annoyed.
"I've had a lot of practice, Dean."
"Whatever, I don't wanna be around when you let lose."
Sam rolled his eyes, "Just keep driving Dean."
"Okay, sparky." Sam rolled his eyes again, as soon as the car was in motion again.