Chapter 28
-oOo-
Shining the light of his torch onto his watch, Sam frowned. Bringing up his brother's number Sam hoped that like himself, Dean had just lost track of time, a simple reason for neither of them having tried contacting the other at the agreed 45 minute interval. He kept on walking while he waited for the older Hunter to answer.
Moving forward Dean suddenly lurched to one side as his left foot unexpectedly disappeared into the ground up to his knee, only through fast reflexes and throwing his upper body forwards with his arms stretched out in front of himself to arrest his fall did he manage to stop the surprise tilt from ending in a full face plant. With his right foot still on solid ground, he extracted his left foot back out of the narrow channel which, hidden by long lush grasses, cut through the forest floor and which had water coursing along it to a depth of roughly four inches. Stood on just his right leg, Dean stared at the water dripping from his now sodden left boot and the bottom inch of the leg of his denims. Putting his foot to the ground he both felt and heard the water logged slurp of his sock.
"Sonovabitch!"
A pocket in his jacket began to vibrate. Glaring down angrily at where the offending channel ran, he fumbled for his phone.
"What?"
"Um, just checkin' in. Somethin' wrong?"
"Forests. Forests are what's wrong. I got me a boot filled up with water an' my sock's piss wet through an' so now it makes squelchy sounds."
Sam's tone contained both relief and amusement.
"Crap Dean! Squelchy sounds? Man, that's bad! You think you can hang in there till I can get to you?"
"Screw you Sammy...How're you doin'? Havin' fun?"
Dean could clearly hear the frustration in his brother's response.
"Not really. I've followed the route as far as I can but I hit a section so damn overgrown and condensed I can't tell what's what any more. It's gotten harder an' harder to fight my way through without concussin' myself on some branch, goin' for a full face plant, or endin' up with both my eyes poked out. My hands an' face are a mess of cuts an' scratches an' I swear I've left clumps of my hair snarled up an' hanging off just about every tree, shrub, twig an' thorn round here."
Even though his younger brother couldn't see it, Dean furrowed his brows in sympathy.
"That sucks dude. So...What's your next move Samantha?"
"Well, seein' as I've had to quit followin' that route I figured I might as well head over in your direction, pair up with you an' we can work your trail together, yeah?"
There was a brief moment of silence during which Dean tried, and failed, to devise a good enough reason to stop Sam joining him.
"Dean?...You still there?"
"Yeah, still here. Signal cut out there, probably a tree effect...Um, I thought the plan was to separate to increase our chances of findin' Snoopy?"
"Well, I'm changin' the plan. Dean, we both know you're followin' the route that brought the werewolf to our camp last night an', if it decides to visit again tonight, there's a chance it'll come from that same direction; right?...I know you'd rather I was out of the way..."
Dean was quick to interrupt the younger Hunter.
"Sam! It's not like that!"
"Actually, it kinda is. It's you thinkin' you gotta keep me safe again, treatin' me like I'm an inexperienced fragile kid. Well, here's a heads up...I've started followin' your tracks so, like it or not Dean, I'm already headin' towards you."
Sam ended the call, and any argument his older brother might have made. Dean scowled pointlessly at his phone then stuffed it back in his pocket with a sigh. He gazed up at the moon trying to decide whether to carry on following the werewolf's tracks until Sam caught up with him, or to stay put and wait for his stubborn little brother to arrive?
Officer Lou Keenan quickly dropped the vacuum flask of coffee he had been about to open back down at his feet. Sitting up straighter in the passenger seat he peered intently into the night through the car windscreen. Reacting to her partner's body language, Sue Brogen was instantly on the alert.
"You got eyes on something Lou?"
"Maybe, maybe...Listen, I'm gonna go have a closer look. You stay in the car."
"Uh uh, no way partner. I ain't about to let you go walking out there alone buddy."
"Fine, whatever, but stay behind me; ok?"
"At what point did you decide to become Mr Chivalrous?"
"Ha ha. Just watch my back will ya?"
"Always do partner."
Both officers quietly exited the car, not quite fully closing the vehicle's doors in order to avoid alerting whatever might be out there to their presence. Hurriedly joining Lou on the side-walk Sue held back a fraction, letting him take the lead. Lou pointed in the direction of a house four doors down. It's front yard was surrounded by a solid seven foot high wooden fence above which could be seen the silhouetted tops of various garden shrubs. No lights shone in any of the upper story windows. Crouching low and keeping to the inner side of the side-walk the pair slowly and carefully made their way closer to the house. Set into the front fence Lou could see a closed heavy duty five bar wooden gate that ran the width of the driveway. Lou made a fist of one hand, silently signalling his partner to hold. With his back up against the fence Lou cautiously edged along it, stopping when he was in a position to move his head enough to stare between two of the driveway gate's cross beams and into the moonlit garden. Not wanting to use his flash-light he narrowed his eyes and peered as best he could into the shadowed areas where the moons rays couldn't reach. Eventually he turned and gave Sue a shrug of his shoulders, indicating he'd seen nothing out of the ordinary. His gaze hadn't been able to penetrate the three foot wide strip of darkness between the house and the garage.
Having turned to face his partner, Lou was unaware of the large creature covered in long black fur that very swiftly and silently emerged from out of the black gap. The creature was already at the gate and standing on it's hind legs when Lou heard the low, mean, rumbling growl. His hand already reaching to his holster for his gun Lou spun round to face whatever had made the chilling sound. His eyes widened in shock and horror, everything around him disappeared as his vision shrank to focus entirely on the single terrifying image of the black edges of a mouth pulled back to reveal a full set of viscous looking fangs and teeth that were at eye level with him immediately at the other side of the gate.
"No! Lou!"
Growling loudly now, the thing opened it's jaws, fully baring it's teeth to the panicked officer who was struggling to bring his arm up to shoot the Hell beast.
"Stop! Lou!...It's a damn dog!"
With both arms wrapped around her partner's arm, stopping him from raising his gun, Sue forcibly hauled Lou backwards, away from the gate and the snarling, furious Alsation dog. Using her whole body weight she swung the man around until his back was again up against the fence.
"Lou! It's ok, it's ok, you're ok, it's not him, it's just a dog."
The terror left Lou's eyes and his body sagged against the fence on trembling legs.
"Fuck! Jeeze fuck! Sue I'm sorry, I'm real sorry, I thought...Fuck!"
Relaxing, Sue patted the man's chest.
"It's ok, I know. Stop apologising will you? I get it ok? If it'd been me I think I'd have pissed my knickers...Um...You didn't...? Did you?"
Lou huffed a laugh,
"No I did not...Came pretty damn close though."
Sue turned to gaze at the dog who was still at the gate but back on all fours. Hackles raised, it's eyes never left the two cops and it continued to growl threateningly in their direction.
"I think I recognise him...Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was in the back of the car when I pulled the owner over once; he can be a real mean bastard."
Lou smiled weakly,
"Who? The owner or the mutt?"
"Jackass...Gimme a mo', I'll see if I can get him to quiet down."
Lou stayed right where he was and watched while his partner slowly approach the gate. She put her faith in the dog being well trained, so far it hadn't barked, all it had done was warn them away. She didn't doubt the animal would move things up a level if they'd tried climbing the gate. Sue held up her hands, palms out, and began speaking to the angry dog in a soft, reassuring voice.
"Hey Norman, remember me?...Hush hush lad, it's all good my handsome boy, you did a good job Norman, nobody's gonna hurt your family, ok?...C'mon my clever boy, stand down Norman, good job, stand down,...There you go!...Such a good boy Norman. Back off now Norman...Go on now, back to bed with you my beautiful boy...That's right, that's it...Good job Norman, what a clever boy...There you go...Bye-bye Norman."
Turning, Sue found her partner staring at her in open disbelief.
"What? He was doing his job is all, guarding his pack."
"Yeah, but...That huge hairy bad tempered son of a bitch is called Norman?...Are you kidding me?"
The werewolf's course brought it to a small tranquil looking body of water where a doe and her fawn were stood drinking. Both began skittering chaotically backwards away from the water's edge at the sudden appearance of the predator. The monster showed no interest in the panicking prey animals, instead turning right and skirting part way around the edge of the forest pool before then disappearing back into the trees. There was only one thing currently motivating the werewolf, to reach the back road which cut through this side of the forest, the road it used whenever it craved something far greater than simply hunting in order to quell it's hunger by gorging on forest wildlife; the road leading directly into the human town of Grantsville.
-oOo-
Love, Chick xxxxx
