Aftermath
Day One, 2:00 P.M. P.S.T February 17th, 2076 Scappoose, Or
Two in the afternoon rolled around and Maria was driving along Highway 30, just like every other day with Stephanie in her passenger seat. They always rode in to work together on days like this. Stephanie was afraid of driving in the rain when it was this bad, and it was absolutely pouring. Despite her passenger's playfully hostile takeover of the car radio, Maria found herself with happy thoughts about the previous night and Carter asking her out. A goofy little grin crossed her lips and she focused back on driving to keep them from flying off the road. A left turn down Johnson's Landing Road and a few more minutes and they were pulling back into their lot. But something definitely wasn't right. Carter's truck was still here, and the door was wide open with the lights still on. He shouldn't be here already, there was no way the fleet had made it back this early. Even though Paradise Marina was a few hundred yards away, she could tell that none of the boats were in their usual docks. Maybe he'd taken the day off? But why would he leave his door open when it's raining out? A shiver went down her spine and she knew something wasn't right. Her turning down the rock music on the radio got a "Hey!" from Stephanie, but she didn't care, "Look," she said, pointing at Carter's truck, "Something's up. Call the police. Now." She angled her car at the truck and parked. As the windshield wipers swept back and forth, the torrential downpour made it difficult for her to see anything. As she struggled to make out the view, she eventually gave up and reached into her glove box, pulling out the .45 caliber handgun she kept there. She could hear Stephanie talking to dispatch, but the growing fear and anxiety drowned out all the sounds around her. She feared the worst and could only really hear the pounding of her heartbeat. She turned to her co-worker and simply said, "Stay here. Don't get out of the car." To which she only got a nod.
Out in the rain, Maria called out Carter's name a few times but no answer came. She clicked the safety off and cocked her weapon, keeping it ready just in case. "Carter honey? Are you there?" She called out one last time, but still got no response. She stopped and began to circle around to the left, staying clear away from the door and tree line. As she got closer, she could see Carter's keys and a large hunting knife on the ground, and as she took a few more steps towards the cabin of the truck, that's when she saw the damage on the roof and windshield. It looked like something had smashed it. But how could that be? A loud thunderous boom in the sky overhead made her nearly jump out of her skin, but it was the flock of birds that erupted into the sky near the bank of the channel that made her re-focus. She scanned the truck once more before turning away and jogged to the bank. Why were there so many birds here? Every step closer made her heartbeat increase and her fears grow. But absolutely nothing in Heaven or on Earth could have prepared her for the absolute grizzly scene that met her eyes when she looked down onto the muddy bank. Through the flapping wings and birds fighting each other for a better spot, she could make out the side of Carter's face and what was left of his body. When she screamed, the sounds of the different caws and calls of all the gathered scavengers drowned out the sound she made. She began to back pedal, but slipped and landed on her backside, dropping her weapon. She struggled to find her footing again but when she found it, she broke into a run back to the car and practically jumped inside. She was soaked to the bone, shaking and crying hysterically. The scene played in her mind over and over and she threw up and lost consciousness on the steering wheel.
It didn't take long at all for the first responders to arrive. When dispatch called it out, none of the deputies, fire crew or paramedics could believe their ears. It had been decades since the last murder call came through. Their little corner of the country never really saw anything major like this happen. It was the kind of small town where everyone knew everyone and the community was strong, closely knit and wholesome. It was a good place to raise a family in safety and peace with good schools and good people. The most action anyone ever really saw on the police force was the occasional small bar fight or tourists speeding through town. This town would never really be the same again, and Deputy Lou Carmichael knew it. He was lost deep in thought as his mind raced over different scenarios over what could have happened. From the way Carol on dispatch described it from the initial call, this wasn't just some murder. It sounded like he had been attacked and eaten. But how? The worst thing he'd seen in a while was a hunter who got surprised by a bear after shooting a deer a few miles outside of town. The bear messed him up pretty badly, but he survived. There were also the typical mountain lion sightings by hikers and the rare attack on household pets, but never on a human. He even recalled an Elk goring on another hunter a few years back and that guy also survived. But this? He shuddered at the possibilities in his mind and he had to force them out. He had a job to do. When he pulled in to Julia's Jewel, he could already tell that no one else could believe it either. Three of the other deputies were already on scene, McCovy, Miller and Benson, and they were already walking up to his cruiser. He took a deep breath, pulled on his jacket then his poncho, put on his hat and stepped out into the driving rain. "Alright. Fill me in. Cove. Go."
Deputy Jason McCovy was one of the newest graduates from the academy. There wasn't much special about him, average height and athletic build and short black hair. Rather than go to Portland like most others did, he elected to stay in a small town instead. "Sergeant, it's bad. Really bad. I've already taken a look at the crime scene and. Fuck me man. It's brutal. There's. I. You need to see it for yourself. I've already got Forensics and Coroners from the main station in Portland on the way. Fire's already put up a temporary canopy to preserve what little we got. But it's been raining all night and day so far, so I'm not sure if we're going to get much." He tried to maintain as much composure as he could, but he was still shaking, and it wasn't from the cold or the rain.
"Miller?" Lou pointed at her while asking.
Jenna Miller had been a deputy now for quite a few years. She had transferred from somewhere down in Texas after a nasty divorce and had moved here to escape the heat and ever growing city. She was also visibly shaken and her voice cracked a few times, so she had to excuse herself for a moment before she could actually speak, "I was the first to arrive on scene. I saw it too. I've already taken a statement from the two witnesses who discovered this." She cleared her throat and her ears flattened against her head and continued, "Maria Seranos explained that at about one in the A.M. this morning, Carter and Maria were the last ones inside the bar here. Maria said she decided to make last call early 'cause of the storm coming in. According to her, they left together and he walked her to her car, she says they made plans to go on a date and then she left. Last she saw him, he was walking towards his truck to leave as well. Next says she had picked up Stephanie Jacobs, her co-worker, so they could carpool to work together just a little bit ago. When they came back to the lot, Maria noticed that Carter Murdock's truck was still in the same spot from the previous night. She said she parked, armed herself and got out of her car to see if everything was okay. She says she called out his name a few times, got no answer, saw the knife and keys on the ground and then turned to see a large amount of birds gathered around near the water's edge. When she went to investigate, she found the victim's body. She says she fell, then ran back to her car and passed out. I didn't get much from her passenger, except she's the one that made the initial call and stayed in the car. I've already forwarded the full reports to your station back at the office." She hugged herself, wrapped her long tail around her waist and turned to look back towards the water. She was pretty, for a cat, Lou thought.
"Thanks Miller. Benson?" Lou crossed his arms over his chest.
"I was the last one here Sergeant, I got here only a few minutes before you did. I did a quick sweep of the truck, the trees and did a perimeter check around the bar. Nothing really seems out of place anywhere except the truck, and that tree." He said, pointing to one of the pines. "The roof is caved in and the windshield is cracked. I haven't checked out the tree closely yet, but there's damage done halfway up the trunk. I wanted to wait for you before checking it out closer, Sergeant." There was fear in his voice. Pete Benson had been through war, multiple deployments and tours, riots on the east coast. He'd been through special kinds of hell many times in his life. It's what made him also transfer away from the big city and want to become a small town cop. And even he was afraid.
Lou took another deep breath and slowly exhaled, taking it all in. Silently, he walked back over to his cruiser and popped the trunk, reaching down to unlock the large black case in the back. He withdrew his "pride and joy" as he liked to call it, a modified, upgraded and tactical version of the old Supernova shotgun design that a new company had bought the rights for when the old manufacturer went out of business. He pulled the box of shells out as well, and loaded twenty five rounds into the drum magazine then slung it over his shoulder calmly. He turned to face the trio, "Benson, you're with me, we're gonna check out the area around the truck. You watch my back. Jen, I want you to stay on Maria and Stephanie when they go to the hospital. Let them get checked out and see if you can't get any more information from either of them. Cove, I want you to stay on station and direct the special teams and assist them however they need. Understood?" All three of them gave a "Roger that, Sir." In perfect unison and with Pete in tow, the two made their way over to the abandoned truck.
He tugged the shotgun off his shoulder and clicked the safety off, when his hand wrapped around the grip, it automatically loaded the first round. They cautiously approached the truck. He didn't want to take any chances on whatever did this, still hiding somewhere in the dense miniature forest. He could see the heavy damage done to the roof and the glass. It made him try to look up into the higher branches above, but it was useless with the amount of rain coming down on them. Whatever caused this, must have been big and very, very heavy. He crouched down and saw the knife and keys on the ground, then got up and peeked into the cabin. Carter's cell was still in the cup holder with the charger plugged in and the headlights were on. He got onto his tiptoes to see if there was anything on the roof, but found nothing. He cleared his throat and crouched again to look underneath one last time. Also nothing. He tried looking around for any signs of tracks but with the heavy rain, the chances of finding any were slim to none, they'd have already been washed away hours ago. "Man, this is weird." He heard Benson say quietly. He nodded in agreement and stood again. He turned to face him, put a finger to his lips then pointed at his partner's still holstered sidearm, then motioned for him to follow. Benson nodded, drew his weapon and followed a few feet behind Lou who made his way over towards the large tree he'd pointed out earlier. Sure enough, they could see that the trunk had been dented and damaged, a large chunk of bark was missing and had been splintered, its remnants lay on the ground all around them. He crouched down once more, hoping that the branches and dense needles had kept the area dry enough to preserve at least some evidence, and he was right. He snapped his fingers at Pete and pointed, and they both saw the drops of blood.
"No way. No fucking way Sergeant." Pete said, sounding even more worried than before. "There's no fucking way!"
"Shut up, deputy. We're both thinking the same thing here. The animal that attacked Carter, also did this to the tree. And we're obviously thinking the same thing, and I don't believe it either. Now keep your voice down and stay close." He turned and gave the rest of the area a good scan but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. He relaxed some, figuring that whatever did this was already long gone. He reached for the radio receiver on his shoulder and clicked it on, "Cove, when Forensics gets here, I want you to make sure that they comb the area in front of the truck within a thirty meter radius thoroughly, copy that?"
"Understood Sarge." "Get the Sheriff here. He needs to see this." He said softly, slightly turning his head, his eyes never leaving the deep red droplets on the grass in front him.
"On it."
Lou turned and watched as Pete ran over to his cruiser. He swallowed hard. He knew he also had to see it for himself, even though he didn't want to. Carter was a super close friend. Lou knew him as a good guy. They'd played lots of games of pool or darts at the bar so many times together and had been through so much, that there was a mutual respect between them. On nights that Carter was too piss drunk to make it home, Maria would call Lou and he'd show up to take Carter home safely, making sure that he crashed out on his couch. The next day he'd always pick him up and take him to get his truck. Carter would always come by the station afterwards to give him a few fresh salmon steaks or halibut fillets from his job. He was a decent guy. When his boots squished into the mud and he looked around at the faces of the fire team standing around, he braced himself. "Show me." He said softly. When the tarp lifted, he snapped his head to the side to look away, his eyes going wide and he fought the urge to vomit. He spun and placed his hands on his knees as his heart began pounding in his chest and his eyesight started to go dim. It took him a few long minutes to regain composure and turn back around.
It was Carter alright. The half of his head that hadn't been pecked clean yet confirmed it. His throat had been ripped out completely with the vertebrae of his spine clearly visible, and bits of his collarbones were exposed on either side. Just below, his shirt and jacket had been torn to shreds and his entire chest cavity and torso had been split open and hallowed out, none of his vital organs remained. His left arm had also been torn out just above the bicep and his right arm was clearly broken in several places. From what he could tell, so were his ribs. His lower half had been left almost completely intact, but from the looks of it his legs were also possibly broken. In all his years of hunting and stumbling across animal kills in the wild, he'd never seen this kind of damage or brutality before. Nothing he knew of that inhabited the forests could do this to someone. Especially not a wolf as big as Carter. And that thought sent a chill coursing down his spine.
"Lou?" A very deep and strong voice came from behind the deputy and he turned to see that the Sheriff had arrived.
"Sheriff Grant." Lou nodded and took a few steps away from the scene.
Steven Grant had been the town Sheriff for the last fifteen years. He started at the bottom and slowly worked his way up the ladder, making a name for himself as one of the best and toughest Sheriffs this town had ever seen. And rightly so. As far as Elk go, he was an impressive specimen. He was forty five year old. Six foot seven inches and two hundred and fifty five pounds of well toned and heavily muscled cervid. His hands were huge, and the reason behind the locals calling him Stone-hoof. Next to Lou, he absolutely dwarfed the man, and he reached out and gently patted him on the shoulder as he walked away. Grant had been there for a few minutes and had also seen the carnage. "I've seen enough. Cover him back up and let's wait for the special teams. Thank you gentlemen." The fire crew all nodded and went back to talking amongst themselves. Grant could hear their whispered theories and his ears swiveled about taking it all in. "I'm sorry for the loss of your friend Lou." He tried to sound soft and caring as best he could as he walked over to join him.
"Thanks Steve. He was a good guy."
"What do we know?" The gruff deepness came back instantly in his voice.
Lou and Steve made their way back over to the tree line and Lou pointed up at the trunk. Steve, as tall as he was, didn't have any trouble taking a closer look at the damage. "What am I…" his voice trailed off. His hands reached into his jacket pocket quickly and tugged out a pair of black leather gloves, he slid them on and then reached up to pluck out something stuck in the bark of the tree. He brought it back down and bent down a bit, pulling out his pocket flashlight and shining it onto his find. It was a clump of dark grey fur with bits of flesh still clinging to the roots. He looked to Lou and back at his find. Lou shook his head in disbelief and ran off to get an evidence bag from his cruiser. He brought back several just in case and watched as Steve went back to studying the tree. Steve managed to pull more bits of fur and a few shreds of Carter's jacket and shirt from other parts of the trunk. This confirmed what Lou and Benson had been thinking. Carter had been thrown into the tree. But that was impossible. There was just no way. But here in front of them was the proof. They looked at each other in disbelief, stunned over this revelation.
"This animal. This thing. Whatever it was…" he stopped and stood straight, looking at the smashed in roof of the truck, "was not only fast and agile, but it was also massive, heavy and incredibly powerful. A bear couldn't have done this, none of this says bear to me. Or you." Steve's eyes narrowed a bit at the thought and they walked back out into the lot.
The rain had slowed a bit and instead of a torrent, was now coming down steadily and it looked like it would lighten just a little. They stood there together in silence for a moment as Benson came walking back up to join them. They watched the ambulance crew carefully guide Maria onto the gurney, close the back and speed off when he let them know that they were taking her to the hospital. Her state of shock had gotten worse and they needed to take her in for observation. Jenna's cruiser followed closely behind. A few minutes later the Forensics and Coroners teams arrived and they piled out to an already present McCovy who was already busy giving them orders. They were split into pairs and got busy with their work.
Hours passed by and they seemed to drag on forever. It was now almost eight at night. At six when the sky began to darken, they had set up portable lights around the area to keep everything brightly lit. The rain never fully let up and it was coming down hard again. It was around five when the Sheriff gave the clear for the Coroner to take the body. Most of the other team had already done all they could in the surrounding area, but the sound of a whistle followed by a very loud, "Holy shit!" cut the silence like a knife and those that remained piled around the spot where one of the techs was crouched on the ground and holding something up for them to see. As Steve bent down, the tech turned over a white plaster mold. In the center, was a very large, very deep print. It was easily ten or so inches across at the widest point and about sixteen or so inches long. At the front, four thick and round digits with clear evidence of large claws. At first glance, it looked like a massive wolf paw print. But at the back, a single digit, also clawed confused everyone staring at it. This wasn't like anything ever seen before. It was at that moment that Steve and Lou both knew that this wasn't normal. Steve took out his cell and snapped a photo of the cast and then slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"I want everything back at the main station and processed immediately. Send me any results you find as soon as you have them." The Sheriff said. He was focused, alert and his voice was stern, "Lou, Peter. Tomorrow, we're gonna set up the trail cams around this area and around some of the trails leading into the mountains and surrounding forest. If we're lucky, they'll catch something and give us an idea of what we're dealing with. Hopefully, Gods and Spirits willing, the rain will let up soon and we can come back and see if we missed anything. It's too muddy now, but that'll dry up some and we can get more details out of this mess." He turned to one of the techs and put a massive hand on her little shoulder, "I want Carter's truck towed back to the main station for further processing. And I want that section of tree taken as well. Chop it down. I'll get a crew out here with you tomorrow, and I'll have two deputies on station with you to keep you safe." He raised his arms and stretched, shaking his head with a huff before continuing, "That's all we can do for now. I want my deputies to be armed at all times with either your rifles or shotguns as well as your side arms. This animal is big, it's mean and it is not to be underestimated. I'll assign new patrol routes within the next two hours for the following shifts. For now, everyone needs to leave the area and stay as safe and alert as possible. My deputies and I will stay on station until everyone else is gone. We can get the last bit of work done tomorrow in the daylight. That's all for now."
The five of them watched as the remaining crews left. The lot emptied and the rain picked back up again. They made their way over to the Sheriff's truck and they stood around as he reached for his phone to make a call.
"Sheriff?" Jason asked.
"We need an expert's opinion on this. And I know someone that might be able to help." He said.
'Hello?' Came a tiny, squeaky voice on the other end.
"Miss Sharp? This is Sheriff Steven Grant of the Scappoose Sheriff's Department. May I have a minute of your time?"
'Oh hi! Of course, no need to sound so formal. What can I help you with?'
"We have a situation on our hands. There's been an incident involving a wild animal that we are having trouble identifying. I'm sending you a photo now." He slid his digits across the screen and sent the message on its way with the photo of the cast.
'Got it. Let me see.'
The call went silent.
"Miss Sharp?" Still no response. "Kayli? Are you there?"
'I'll be there in three hours.'
"Understood. Drive safe. I'll inform Highway Patrol to keep an eye out for you, they'll escort you in if they find you. Thank you for your time." He hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket, turning to look at the thick line of trees just a few feet away and then out onto the mountains in the distance. It was out there somewhere. Watching, waiting, and hungry.