Hands wrung in front of her, Rebecca had explained everything she could, and now she just had to wait and pray that something would happen.

The silence between everyone in the room, however, was deafening. Sitting in a small office, there was barely any leg room for the three of them, but luckily they were too submerged in thoughts to breathe, much less move. Rebecca's mother stood to her left, while across from her sat a man about sixty years old, his eyes fixated on something Rebecca couldn't see beyond her head.

Although her impatience ticked like a faulty wall clock in her stomach, Rebecca forced herself to remain calm, waiting for them to process everything Ren had told her, and in turn, she had told them.

"These hybrid creatures," the old man finally said, making Rebecca start slightly at the sudden noise. "I've never heard anything like them before."

"That's because technically they shouldn't even exist," Rebecca's mother exclaimed. "Half of something isn't anything even rumored about."

"And here we are," Rebecca said impatiently. She's had this conversation with practically everyone a million times before, and each time it seemed they drifted farther away from a possible answer. "But now we know the next possible victim, so maybe we can find a pattern to stop the murderer, and protect any future victims."

"We can't find a pattern between two data points, it could be anything," the old man argued. He wasn't trying to ignore her suggestion, just ease her into reality. "We can't do it accurately, anyway."

"So this boy," Rebecca's mother turned to her daughter, arms folded across her chest. Her deputy badge glinted off the sun peaking through a small window, as if to remind everyone who she really was. "Travis DeClair. Ren said he was taken, when?"

"Last night," Rebecca reminded her. "When his sister Mieko was over at the guys's house for a date."

"Mieko? Should we bring her in for questioning?" the older man asked, interest suddenly sparked by a possible lead.

"They already did last night, " Rebecca's mom replied. "She said Travis went to go to the bathroom, and when he took a long time she went to investigate. She found a lot of blood, an open window, and no Travis."

"How did she not hear anything?" the man inquired, stroking the slight stubble on his face.

"Really, Gus?" Rebecca's mother asked, giving the old man an annoyed look. "If whatever took Travis is supernatural in some way, it would know how to cover it's tracks."

"I'm just trying to get all the possible information we can to find this boy and save him, Myriam," Gus shot back. He sighed, standing up and looking between the two women, a worried expression adorning his features. "I've been a werewolf for forty years, and I am honestly clueless. Sorry, but I don't think there's much I can do."

Gus avoided Rebecca's gaze, which was filled with heartbreaking shock and dumbfoundment. She couldn't believe he was giving up so easily.

"We will look for him as best as we can, and we won't stop until he's safe," Myriam looked at her daughter, leaning in slightly as if to make her words more genuine. "But right now, you need to get to class. School starts in about twenty minutes."

Rebecca didn't bother arguing, giving Gus one last lingering stare before walking out of the office and slamming the door shut.


"How's Mieko been holding up?" Rebecca asked, turning her head to look at Ren as they walked side by side down the hall.

"She's pretty freaked out, I'm not going to lie," Ren admitted, taking off his thin burgandy jacket and slinging it over his shoulder. His eyebrows were furrowed. "I'm just worried that she actually did see something weird but she's not saying anything."

"She probably just doesn't understand," Rebecca offered. She winced at how degrading that sounded. "I didn't mean it like that-"

"I know," Ren cut her off. "She doesn't know about the weird stuff that goes on in this town, but I'm trying to get her to talk to me. I mean, her first boyfriend vanished leaving nothing but blood behind. I'd be terrified."

Rebecca raised her eyebrows and sighed in agreement. She felt a tug on her right arm, and a hand clasp her bicep. Her head swiveled to investigate, only to see Kamilla craning her neck to look at Ren with a concerned expression on her face.

Rebecca stopped walking and allowed Kamilla to drag her out of the steady flow of people in the center of the hall. Ren followed, and soon the three of them were standing in a tight circle near a water fountain.

"I heard what happened," Kamilla said to Ren, worry lacing her features. "Mieko isn't hurt, is she?"

"No, she's just a bit shaken," Ren explained. "She'll be alright."

"Good," Kamilla nodded, looking at Rebecca and finally letting go of her arm while awkwardly clearing her throat. "I also just wanted to tell you that Theo's been asking about you a lot lately."

"Theo Raeken?" Rebecca inquired, knowing the answer already, but not knowing how to take such information. As Kamilla nodded, Rebecca thought of something - anything - she could say to this. "What's he been asking about?"

"He's been wondering how involved you are with all the stuff that's been going on lately," Kamilla said. "Trust me, I make it sound much more weird than he does, it's just that, I think he might be trying to figure out what you know."

"Like, do I believe in werewolves and the Tooth Fairy?" Rebecca asked sardonically. Remembering what her mother had told her the previous night, just thinking about Theo and his past deceptions made her temper flare. "Is he too scared of talking to me himself?"

"No, I just think he wants to know whether to be careful or not around you," Kamilla admitted. "He's really concerned about all these murders that have been going on."

"I bet," Rebecca glowered, looking back at the busy hallway disdainfully. Ren and Kamilla exchanged glances, about to launch a full investigation on why Rebecca's mood went so far south so fast. Something sparked Rebecca's attention from across the hall, and before her friends could utter a word she waved them off. "I'll see you guys later."

Pushing past people who glared at her for cutting them off, Rebecca struggled to reach the other side of the hall. Nearly tripping over some girls shoes, she caught herself on a locker right next to a boy who's curled fist was shaking uncontrollably.

The boy was almost six feet tall with buzzed blond hair and a football jersey with the number five written on the back, and the word "MonHeim" in bold letters. His locker was open, and his head was half way inside it. He was muttering what seemed like just random words to himself.

"Connor?" Rebecca asked, going as close as she dared. The boy flinched when she placed a hand on his arm. His head turned ever so slowly, and Rebecca tried to remain calm when she saw his eyes were glowing white.

Swallowing a noise that for sure would not reflect confidence, she dared to take a half step closer to him, looking straight into the empty white pits that showed no sign of emotion.

"Connor, you need to calm down." Rebecca tried to keep her voice steady yet soft, so she wouldn't sound demanding, but at the same time she would seem firm. He opened his mouth to reply, but instead of normal teeth and a tongue, white spikes that jutted from all angles pointed towards a yawning void that was his throat.

Rebecca began to sweat, hoping against hope that Connor wouldn't go on a rampage and hurt someone. She blinked, brown eyes becoming as large as saucers. She didn't know what to do or say that would calm him down and not set him off.

Her hands moved from his arm to his curled fist. She never broke eye contact with him as she removed it from his locker door and slowly uncurled all of his fingers. His hand was shaking, and she placed her own palm upon his. He closed his mouth. She squeezed his hand tightly.

He blinked, and after a few moments of earnest waiting, his eyes returned to normal. Connor was still gasping for breath, but he wasn't eating anyone, so Rebecca sighed, releasing his hand and stepping away.

She felt kind of bad for manipulating him, but it was no secret that Connor had a massive crush on her, so she exploited it when she need to bring him back down to earth. While she was smiling at him, a grin that showed just how relieved she was, he opened his mouth, spikes and black hole gone, to thank her, or maybe to apologise.

Then he suddenly became distracted by something down the hall, over her head. He clamped his mouth shut.

"Thanks, Virk," Connor murmured tersely, closing his locker and walking away.

Rebecca couldn't react for a few heartbeats. She had no idea what had just happened. Finally spinning around to see someone that might have caused Connor to react in such a way, she was met by just a few onlookers who looked away when she glanced at them. None of them struck her as the type that would be able to send a Wendigo running.

Rebecca frowned, readjusting her backpack strap and making her way to class.


All throughout biology class, Rebecca tried her hardest to ignore Theo Raeken. Though when he sat directly between her and the teacher, it gave her ample time to stare daggers into his skull.

Ren was busy doodling aimlessly, his mind a million miles from where he sat. He was probably worrying about his sister; Rebecca felt bad because she was so caught up in her distrust for Theo, she hadn't stopped to give them much of her attention.

The clock on the wall seemed to go three times slower, and Rebecca swore she would lose her mind if she didn't get the hell out of that classroom in three seconds.

On cue, the bell rang through the air, her biology teacher struggling to make himself heard over the pandemonium his students created while rushing to the door. Rebecca was in the hallway in seconds.

She had just made it down the stairs, following the flow of students to the exit, when she sensed someone's eyes on the back of her head. Stepping to the side, Rebecca searched the massive tidal wave of bodies for someone who was looking at soon as she saw him, her face dropped. She should have known.

When he passed by her, she grabbed his arm and yanked him none too lightly from the swarm of kids. He seemed surprised, but regained his composure enough to give her a perplexed expression.

"What's up?" Theo Raeken asked, his voice void of anything but innocent confusion, as if Rebecca was a big bad bully on the playground coming to steal his lunch money.

Rebecca nearly blew steam from her ears. Her nostrils flared, and she had no trouble making sure Theo could hear her over the sound of the students rushing past them. "I know you lied."

"What?" Theo actually seemed bewildered, but that just egged Rebecca on more. She opened her mouth for a smart ass retort, but Theo gestured for her to follow him inside the nearest open classroom.

The teacher had already made a break for it, so when Theo closed the door behind Rebecca, she was free to spin around and express her anger that had been building all day like a snowball rolling down a hill.

"What's the matter? Don't feel like putting up with a credible audience of witnesses? But it doesn't matter, even you can't make up a good enough excuse to get yourself out of this one," Rebecca seethed.

"Hold up for one second," Theo requested, raising his arms up as if to push Rebecca's biting words away from him. "What's this even about?"

"It's about you," Rebecca said, highlighting the word you as she raised her finger to point at Theo. He had dropped his arms, and his face showed only slightly irritated puzzlement. "You, Mr. Theo Raeken, coming around into our town, getting all buddy-buddy with my friends, sneaking around crime scenes and telling me and my mother two different stories and expecting us not to catch that?"

Theo struggled to find a response. "Your ... mother?"

"The Deputy, Sherlock," Rebecca explained, rolling her eyes. "The one who caught you sneaking around the night of the murder!"

Theo took a second to comprehend the information she was shooting at him. "I didn't even know the Deputy was your mother."

"I bet you got thrown off when you realized there was more than one officer Virk in this town," Rebecca rambled, her heart rate increasing with every word. "So you thought you were safe, so the next day you told me a different story!"

"I didn't tell you each a different story," Theo argued, finally finding foothold against Rebecca's hurricane of words. "I told you both I was going to see my mother who had a heart attack, and that's the truth."

"Well you sure didn't mention to me when you nearly ran me over that you were going to take a pit stop at a crime scene!" Rebecca shouted. Theo's voice was still considerably softer than hers, but just as confident.

"You sure forgot to mention to me that's where you came from," Theo shot right back.

Rebecca stopped, looking at Theo with narrowed eyes. "How did you know I came from the crime scene?"

Theo opened his mouth to explain, but Rebecca shook her head and just starting talking over him.

"You know what? Don't even bother. Ren was right, you're the shadiest guy I've ever met." Rebecca took a step closer, until their noses were inches apart. In some way, Theo was still trying to prove that she should give him the benefit of the doubt. Yet Rebecca didn't miss the ways his eyes hardened ever so slightly when she spoke again. "And I don't know what you want from my friends, but you stay away from them. We don't need someone who compulsively lies to the police and straight to our faces around here."

Theo tried to restate his argument, that he hadn't, in fact, lied. However Rebecca had already pushed past him, stepped outside the room, and slammed the classroom door shut behind her before he could force her to listen.


"It's too bad though," Ren said then shrugged. "Before you left you should have given him a good whack in the jaw or something."

"Ren!" Rebecca exclaimed, unable to hide the giggle that erupted due to his words. "I didn't want to fight him, I just gave him a warning."

"Sounds to me like you want to fight him even now," Ren snorts. Rebecca took her eyes off the road for a moment to give Ren a disbelieving look. From the passenger seat, he could only give her a suggestive eyebrow raise that ended in them both laughing.

"Yeah, I guess I wanted to hit him a bit," Rebecca admitted. She had told her friend everything that had happened about her confrontation with Theo ten minutes prior. Rebecca admitted to herself that blowing off a little steam did make her feel considerably better. She pulled into Ren's driveway, shifted into park, and gave him one last odd grin. "I guess Theo Fakin' should watch his back from now on."

Ren smiled as he climbed out of her car, giving her a small wave before bounding up his steps and into his house. Rebecca waited a few seconds, her smile lingering on her face. Sometimes it was nice to forget the looming horror they were dealing with, even for a few seconds.

Finally pulling out of his driveway, Rebecca turned on her radio, wanting to drown out her thoughts. Humming to the insanely repetitive Calvin Harris song that was playing, she tapped her thumbs to the beat and took her time cruising home.

Suddenly the song became riddled with static. Rebecca tried to change the station, but static seemed to infect everywhere she tried. Deciding to turn off the radio, her stomach plummeted when her entire car started to shudder.

"Are you serious?" Rebecca whispered to herself, annoyed. She managed to pull over to a patch of grass right beside a bridge. The creek underneath it bubbled, and she could faintly hear it as her car slowly died. Groaning in frustration she climbed out of her car, shutting the door with more force than necessary. "I can't even be in a good mood for five minutes?"

Looking at her surroundings she sighed. Her house was a good fifteen minute walk from where she was. The creek gurgled as it rushed over pebbles and rocks, its current flowing directly into the forest not too far away where it disappeared between the thick trees.

Rebecca leaned up against her car. She was a useless mechanic, and she stared up at the cloud-covered sky, weighing her options. She stared at the closest house, about twenty or so meters away, warily. She didn't feel like buying a new car if this one got stolen.

She finally pushed off of her car, making her way to the bridge and started a steady walk to her house. She looked out at the creek, then followed it with her eyes to the forest. She froze.

Bent over with tattered clothes, a vaguely humanoid creature scuttled towards the cover of the forest. It's chest was heaving, making its breaths visible as its back arched over until the creatures stomach seemed to be glued to its knees.

Rebecca stood, horrified, about half a kilometre away from the creature. With its bounding steps that seemed more like leaps than anything, it was quickly approaching the trees. Soon it would be gone from sight.

Rebecca, eyes trained on it, wasted no time turning around and briskly walking off the bridge. She walked parallel to the creek, trying not to be bothered too much by the cold air that hit her face or tugged at her strawberry blond hair. She didn't have time to worry about anything but the creature in the forest.

It disappeared in the dense trees and Rebecca quickened her pace. This part of the forest was much more wild and overgrown than the part near Kamilla's house. However when she finally reached it, she didn't even hesitate before climbing over a thick root, using the sparse light she had to follow the only clear path she could see; the one beside the creek.

The canopy of leaves above her head shifted, making the light source ever changing, with tiny spotlights of pure light sometimes appearing then vanishing in seconds. The trees groaned as well, and Rebecca once heard a large branch falling to the ground with a startling thump, that couldn't have landed too far away from where she was. Even though she often checked behind her shoulder, the disturbing sense of being watch haunted her with every step she took.

Shivering slightly, Rebecca tried to convince herself that whatever it was couldn't have been that far ahead of her, and she'd find it soon. Her hope dwindled, and the farther she receded into the forest, the darker it became. The creek descended even though the ground she stood on remained even, making it now almost ten feet below her. It's current had quickened as well, and more water from various sources pooled into it, making it much deeper.

Rebecca didn't dare express her frustration. Instead she stopped moving altogether when the path swerved to the right, away from the creek. Resisting the urge to stomp her foot on the ground for wasting her time, she turned around, ready to walk all the way back to the bridge.

Her eyes caught sight of movement behind the tree closest to her left. Her head instantly snapped to the direction she swore she saw the rustling leaves.

After a heartbeat, doubt filled her mind. It was so windy, how could leaves not rustle?

Looking at the ground, dejected, she went three steps before being knocked off her feet.

Something had slammed into her waist, making her go flying several feet to her right. Her and whatever it was rolled until Rebecca dug her knees and elbows into the tough dirt ground to stop them both from falling over the edge of the path to the creek below.

Rebecca, although her head was spinning slightly due to her rough landing, managed to see clearly the thing that was attacking her.

It was the creature she had been trying to follow. But most importantly - and shockingly - it was Travis DeClair, the boy who had gone missing.

Rebecca barely spared him even a twinge of sympathy as he used his teeth to try and rip off her shirt. His hands were gripping her waist and she could clearly hear his animalistic snorts as his nose intook air much quicker than humanly possible.

Rebecca used her knee to jerk the lower half of his body upward while simultaneously whacking his temple with her elbow. Travis rolled off and away from her, and Rebecca stood, scrambling away from the edge of the small cliff.

Rebecca positioned herself so Travis was between her and the creek. She didn't want to unnecessarily harm him. Possible ways of luring him out of the forest popped into her head before Travis was once again lunging for her midsection.

This time she was ready, and using her knee she hit him in the jaw so hard she heard a sickening crunch. He omitted a howl of pain.

Rebecca began to back away down the path, praying she was quicker than him so she could bring him back to safety. Much to her dismay, however, Travis was once again making his way towards her, and it was terrifying to watch.

Letting out short snuffs and grunts, Travis half crawled, half walked towards her at alarming speeds. He seemed to be persistent to get to her, lurching and flailing his limbs to move faster. Rebecca reacted when she was close enough to see the madness in his eyes. She used the outside of her foot to kick him directly in the nose. When he reared back in agony, she raised her foot a little more then brought her heel down on the exact same spot she had just hit.

Rebecca hoped that if she had just kept hitting his head, he would give up. However, even as she frantically moved away from him, Travis moaned, slowly making his way to her once more. Rebecca noticed in a glint of light, that there was some kind of liquid dripping from his nose, and it did not look like mucus. However she decided to ignore it for the time being, focusing on more important issues.

Rebecca finally gave up on trying to act alone. The last thing she wanted was to kill the poor guy, but who knows what happened to him - he sure wasn't human anymore, as much as he looked like it. Rebecca felt around her pockets for her phone, praying it hadn't been broken.

Finally whipping it out of her sweater pocket, Rebecca pressed the power button, chanting the word, "Please," under her breath. The phone turned on, but instead of her lock screen, wavy lines of static danced across the surface. Rebecca felt panic grip her core.

In the millisecond she took to place herself in a defensive stance, she felt the world around her become slower. A strange crackling filled her ears, sounding like electricity. Overtop of the noise, she heard loud hissing and clashing and footfalls that sounded like the thing they were attached to weighed a tonne.

Rebecca turned her head to the forest the same time Travis did. The thing that emerged from it was hard for Rebecca's mind to comprehend.

The thing that struck Rebecca the most was the ragged breathing that came from the being. It was covered in metal, even the mask that covered its face. Where its eyes should have been were red glass covers. Overtop of its body, the thing wore a long, thick coat.

Rebecca could do nothing but watch as it made its way towards Travis. The sound of electricity and static became louder the closer they got. The way they moved was mesmerising; one second it was walking, the next it appeared a few feet ahead, as if the universe around them was glitching.

Two more or the beings emerged from the forest, surrounding Travis. The first one pulled out a long needle that was filled with a silvery substance.

Mercury.

That single word was like a slap in the face, and the world came rushing back into focus. Rebecca screamed, and when she opened her mouth she realised her voice was being mingled with Travis'. He was fighting against the beings, screeching and recoiling away from the needle.

Rebecca rushed forward, but suddenly the third being, with a strange looking spectacle device attached to its eye, spun around so fast Rebecca hardly even comprehended the movement.

It reached out, grabbing her shirt. Rebecca raised her arm to escape from its metal glove hold on her, but in the next moment she was lying horizontal in mid air. Rebecca could only focus on the canopy of leaves above her head for a second. She blinked, and suddenly pain erupted from her back and spread through her entire body as the strange doctor thing slammed her into the ground. Shock and agony mixed together as she tried to remember how to breathe.

The thing that held her squeezed down on her chest, making sure she didn't move, or breathe for that matter. Crying out, Rebecca couldn't recall the last time she had felt such emotional and physical trauma.

The wind around them picked up, howling and struggling to make its way into her mouth so she could breathe again, but instead the angry torrents ripped at her clothes and made her vision blurry, but she couldn't stop it.

Time around her sped up then slowed down dizzyingly. Rebecca couldn't tell if it was her mind playing tricks on her, or somehow the beings were messing with her perception of everything around her.

Turning her head as her body finally went limp, she saw Travis hit the ground beside her, a steady flow of Mercury pooling out of his mouth, ears, eyes, everywhere. The hold on her chest finally released and Rebecca allowed oxygen to trickle into her trachea and give her life.

The beings, she guessed, had disappeared back into the forest, leaving nothing but a dead body, and a numb buzzing in Rebecca's ears. She lay beside him helplessly as red and silver liquid dripped out of his body and slowly dissolved into the soil.