As the two temporary partners flew through the city towards the woods, Brandon couldn't help but stare out the window for about 85% of the car ride. He'd never actually flown anywhere before so he took the opportunity to see what the city looked like from above. It was, to say the least, pretty cool. Abby couldn't help but smile at how happy he seemed, dropping his serious demeaner and reminding her that he was still a high school student. Speaking of which..."Did you get an invitation to Paige's Halloween party too?" She asked, already knowing the answer was yes since everyone was suppose to have gotten one.
"Huh?" He asked, tearing his eyes away from the view below. "Oh, yes, I did." he cleared his throat, relaxing against the seat. "But I'm afraid I'm not going to attend." "Why not?" She asked, though she could understand any reason to not go to something that involved Paige. But this was suppose to be the best Halloween party since the whole school would be going, or supposedly anyway. "I have to work on Halloween. I really wanted to go, honestly, since all my friends are going but, because of the beast roaming the city, my boss wouldn't budge and let me take the day off." He sighed, looking defeated. "What a bummer, huh? How about you? Are you going?"
"Yeah, but mostly because my brother bugged me to socialize and stuff." She said with a laugh, remembering Ty and his nagging. "But I'm not really pumped for it. I don't like Paige." He nodded. "Understandable. She's not the easiest person to get along with." "Do you get along with her?" Abby asked since he seemed to hold no disdain in his voice at all. "Don't know. I haven't spoken a word to her. Doesn't matter." He shrugged. "Not in the same clicks. Not even close." Abby nodded and they drove the rest of the way in silence.
Once at the woods, they started roaming, splitting up in the begining to search around the entrance before actually entering it. Abby found nothing, just the usual foliage, rocks, plants, some small animals here and there, and some trash. She picked that up and planned to throw it away later. "Abby!" Brandon called, just as she was heading back to entrance. "What?" She asked as she ran to where he was. He stood, pointing to the ground. "I think someone else is in the woods, despite the keep out signs." And as proof, on the ground he was pointing to, there were foot prints. It was hard to tell how many but Abby took a guess at two or three. The dirt was slightly wet so the foot prints weren't hard to see.
"Why would someone come to the woods after everything that's happened lately?" She wondered out loud. "I don't know. Stupid? Daring? Bored?" Brandon offered before heading inside, following the foot steps and with Abby right behind. They walked for now, glancing around for any signs of anything else. As they got deeper in, though, they both started picking up on voices. Two of them. Girls. Abby frowned as she started recognizing them. "Oh my god." She said, a look of disbelief on her face. "What is it?" Brandon asked, glancing at her. She didn't answer as they got close enough and eventually came to an opening where the voices were coming from. Just as Abby suspected, when she glanced in from where the two were keeping cover, she saw them; Paige's two drones/friends.
"What're they doing here?!" She asked, in shock and anger. The girls were talking, obviously nervous about where they were, and looking around for something with their phones out. "Let's find out." Brandon said before stepping into the clearing. "Hey!" he shouted, causing both girls to scream and jump. He was unphased while Abby couldn't hold back a laugh before joining him. "Who are you?" One of the girls asked. "We're detectives on the case involving the beast." Brandon explained. "And a better question is what're you two doing here?!" Abby snapped. The girls glanced at eachother before one spoke, saying "We-we were sent here by Paige because she wanted us to snap a picture of the beast because she said it would make her party scarier and better..." They both nodded, looking scared. Abby couldn't help but face palm while Brandon rolled his eyes. "You're both ridiculous." Abby said flatly.
The girls huffed, about to object when a noise close behind some trees could be heard. All were silent as they turned to stare, holding their breath. And not a moment later, the beast burst out of the foliage, charging at full speed. The four split up, the two girls running off in a panic, screaming the whole way, while Abby and Brandon simply got out of the way, quickly recovering and pulling out their weapons. Each fired, bringing a roar from the beast as it stopped running and turned to face them. It's face and front claws were dripping with blood and they each got a look at the specifics of the beast. It was definately huge, somewhat bigger than a buffalo or a bison, with long twisted horns, the face of a canine of some sort, and feline eyes, slit and wide open. It's teeth were bared, long, sharp and countless, now covered in blood and meat from it's last meal. It's front legs were clawed, looking similar to that of a big cat, but it's back legs were hooved, stomping behind it as it stared them down, it's long tail swaying side to side behind it in agitation, acting similar to the tail of cat but looking bare, like the tail of a possum or a rat. It was truley horrifying.
"What the hell..." Brandon said quietly, trailing off. Fear was evident in his voice. Abby shared the feeling, her breath shakey as a low growl could be heard coming from the beast. It wasn't happy and, from the way it licked its lips, it wasn't full either. The two stood, frozen in fear, until the creature started to bark, sounding like the mix between dog barking and something else, deeper and raspier. The noise caused them to fire again, aiming more for it's feet than it's head. This thing would defintaely be something to study. As the creature charged at them, Brandon managed to shoot it in the foot, bringing another roar from it but causing it to stumble in its charge and eventally tumble to the ground. As in hit the ground, Abby threw down a netting device, capturing the beast and keeping it on the ground and somewhat imobile. Of course, it fought against the netting, lashing out and sounding more feline now as it cried out. Brandon and Abby stared at it for a moment as it clawed and roared at them, unable to break the netting. LabRat had worked hard to make sure it wouldn't break, using the strongest materials he could think of that would still be able to function as a net. His skills as a mechanic really showed in a lot of his inventions.
"I'll call for back up." Brandon said, taking out his phone. Abby nodded before pulling out her Grossometer and calling Lab Rat. "Lab Rat!" She said, both excited and nervous, once he appeared on the screen. "We caught the beast!" "Really?!" He asked, turning away from his computer with such speed that Hermes lost balance and almost fell off his shoulder. He caught the rat just in time though and put him back in place. Abby nodded and moved aside, allowing the beast to be viewed from where it lay, now dozing off after being shot with a sedative by Brandon. Lab Rat stared, mouth hanging open in shock. "That thing is a monster! It has to have been man made by someone but who in the right mind would and could make a creature like that?!" Abby shrugged, unsure, but glad that they finally managed to catch the beast.
A little while later, about eight police officers were there along with the detective and two animal control workers, all staring wide eyed at the beast. "Damn, this thing is insane to look at. Almost unbelievable." The detective said, shaking his head in disbelief. Abby nodded, watching as the animal workers carried, or more dragged, the animal into the truck to be taken to the prison to be studied and held. "Now we're one step closer to finding out who made this thing." The detective said, watching the truck leave. Several of the cops were picking up evidence that was around the area, for any clues or hints but they were pretty much the same as the last time. Further back, a dead deer was found half eaten, explaining where the monster had gotten it's previous meal. Once done, they too left one by one till only Brandon, Abby and the Detective were left.
"Either of you need a ride home?" He offered as he climbed into his car. "No thank you, sir." Brandon said shaking his head and Abby agreed. He nodded to the two before heading out, leaving them in silence which carried the whole way back to the hospital.
Meanwhile, from deeper in the woods, a pair of eyes watched the group leave with the beast, waiting till all were gone before giving a soft hum and disppearing into the dense foliage.
Respective goodbyes were given before Abby called Lab Rat back up. "Hey, I'm heading over. How's Ty doing?" Abby asked. "Oh yeah." Lab Rat said, frowning at her. "He, uh, wasn't feeling very well or at all well so I helped him home. He's there, probably resting or something." He bit his lip nervously as Abby frowned, worry going into panic crossing her face. "Now Abby, it's alright! Don't explode or go into over drive again. He's going to be fine, just some side effects to the wound and all." Abby took a deep breath before nodding and speaking. "You're right. He's, he's going to be fine. I'm still going to see him. I'll meet you at the gag lab." Lab Rat nodded before disconnecting and leaning back with a sigh.
What a day it had been.
Yay, I finally got another chapter out!
Anyways, so yeah, a major thing finally happened. The beast was caught! As well as someone else has been introduced, sort of. I finally gave a hint that it really is a person behind the beasts creation and not just some horrible monstrosity popping up out of the blue. I'm happy with it and I hope you guys are too. Enjoy and your reviews are always appreciated.
