A/N: Thank you all for your reviews so far! I enjoy reading all of your insights on the story, and predictions as to who the attacker is. Of course, I already know exactly what happened and what will happen in this story (for the most part, at least), but I like to see how close your guesses are! If I could, I would give the reader with the closest prediction a prize, but I don't see how I can over the Internet, haha.

-CCM

Chapter 6: Wildfire

In less than a day, the news of the attack on the Poultry Farm had spread throughout Mineral Town like wildfire, no doubt with the help of local gossip, Manna. Popuri had alerted Mayor Thomas and Officer Harris to the attack, both of whom were appalled by the crime scene, and vowed to discover the culprit if it was the last thing they ever did. She had also described it Zack, the man in charge of all of Mineral Town's shipping business. He was a friend of the family, and had been very distressed at the news.

Someone must have accidentally leaked the information on to the town's gossip, Manna, who discussed it with Sasha and Anna at their usual gossip circle in the town square, who then told their respective families, who then let everyone else in town know about the attack. Though honestly, there was no keeping news as big as this from Manna once it happened.

Meanwhile, back on Sunshine Farm, Claire awoke to the sound of someone rapping urgently on her front door. Bailey began barking excitedly, and Claire sleepily got out of bed to answer the call, wrapping a fluffy pink bathrobe around her body in the process.

She yawned as the door swung open. "Aaaaahh...Hello?"

"Claire!"

Claire's visitor was none other than her elderly neighbor Barley, along with his usual lively young granddaughter. The old man shook his head at her disapprovingly.

"It's already ten thirty in the morning, and you're not even up yet? That's going to have to change real soon – farmers wake up at the crack of dawn! How else would you expect to get all your work done on time?"

Claire winced. "Ten thirty? I-I'm really sorry... I've just been... busy... lately. It won't happen again."

Barley chuckled. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. But you're going to be a whole lot busier once you get this farm running in tip-top shape, so you'd better get used to it!"

Well, that's just great. Stifling a sigh, Claire glanced over Barley's shoulder, and that's when she spotted it. The elderly man was tugging a cow behind him on a makeshift rope leash – a good-sized, brown and white spotted cow that stood chewing the lawn contentedly. Claire squealed at the sight.

"Is-Is that mine?"

Barley nodded. "Of course! Here, let's take her out to the barn, and I'll show you how to care for her properly."

Claire bit her lip. "Um... could you hold on a moment? I... kinda still need to get dressed first." She gestured toward her pink bathrobe and bare feet, and Barley nodded again.

"All right. We'll just be out in the barn waiting."

Claire rushed inside and got dressed in her usual outfit, then hurriedly darted out across the yard to the old barn next to Thunder's stable. She hadn't dared to enter the barn before now, fearing the probable mess she would find, but once inside, Claire found that it wasn't nearly as bad as she had expected. The barn was relatively clean, and there were wooden stalls against the wall and feed bins for the livestock. Barley stood at the center of the room with the cow and May, who was petting the bovine happily.

"Claire! There you are! Now, I must explain how to care for your new cow!" He stared at her. "You do know how to milk a cow, right?"

Claire shook her head regretfully, and Barley sighed. "Here." He gestured toward a device in the corner. "That there's a milker we brought over for you. You just have to strap it to on to the cow's udders."

Claire held back an immature giggle, and Barley frowned before continuing. "You should be able to figure it out. And be sure to brush her every day, with the same brush you use for your horse."

He pointed toward the feed bin next to them. "This barn has lots of fodder in stock already, so every day you just have to make sure the bins are full. You can get the fodder over there-" He pointed toward a small door in the wall, then back at the feed bin. "But if you need more, you can always buy some from me at the ranch, or grow your own from the grass seeds they sell at the general store. This bin here is for the animals' fodder, but that long basin over there is for fresh water."

He brought their attention back to the cow itself. "Anyway... what would you like to name her?"

Claire thought for a moment. "How about... Bessie?"

Barley and May stared at her, and Claire blushed. "Um... Daisy? Er, no..." Just then, a certain disturbing memory popped back into her mind, and Claire caught sudden inspiration.

"How about... Clementine?"

Barley nodded. "That's better."

He glanced around the barn, then looked down at his granddaughter. "May... why don't you help Claire out and go pick some weeds out in the field? I'm sure she would greatly appreciate the help."

May nodded gleefully, eager to help her farmer friend. "Okay!" Barley turned toward Claire as the young girl skipped outside.

"So, Claire... I heard about the attack on the Poultry Farm."

Claire's face blanched. "How did you..."

"Everyone in town knows it, as you would know if you hadn't been sleeping the day away! That kind of news spreads like wildfire in a small town like this. So what happened, exactly?"

"Wait... what did you hear?"

"Only that a large number of chickens were brutally killed off in one of the henhouses. And that you and Popuri had been the ones to discover the massacre."

Claire bit her lip nervously. "Well, yeah... but I don't have anything new to say about it. I... I'd prefer not to talk about it, if that's all right."

The old man nodded. "I understand."

He abruptly headed toward the door, and looked back just before he exited the barn. "Goodbye, Claire... And I want you to be careful, ya hear? I don't want you to be next on the list."

Claire was left in silence after the heavy door slammed shut, and her stomach churned at the exchange that had occurred between them. Their conversation had been unsettling, at the very least. Next on the list…? Suddenly, the idea she had formed yesterday worked its way back into her mind.

I have to... I should go see Cliff. He might know something.

Claire gave her new cow a pat on the back and then headed outside, securely locking the barn door behind her before striding off in the direction of the Inn.

As soon as Claire stepped into the Inn, Ann quickly glanced up from her spot behind the counter. The innkeeper girl's eyes widened when she saw who it was, and she hesitated for just a moment before rising from her chair and scurrying over.

"Claire! Did you hear wh-"

"Yes."

She must have said it a bit too aggressively, because Ann stepped back, looking slightly startled, and Claire immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, Ann. I'm just not having the best day so far."

Ann paused for a moment. "Well... I'm sure you know what happened to the Poultry Farm. Poor Popuri... I know how much she adores her chickens."

She leaned in closer, her voice rising in a hurried whisper. "Claire... my father was talking to Duke last night, and apparently Duke told him that his wife heard you were there when the scene of the crime was discovered!"

Claire cringed at the memory. "Yeah, but I seriously don't want to talk about it, okay?"

The redhead nodded apologetically, looking slightly sheepish. "I-I'm really sorry for bringing it up... just forget about it. So, what did you need?"

"I... well, actually, I was looking for Cliff. I know he stays at a room in the Inn. Is he here?"

Ann shook her head. "Nope, sorry. He should be working next door at the winery right now. Duke and Manna gave him a job there some time after he moved in, so you can just head over there and see for yourself."

Claire forced out a smile before turning to leave. "Thanks... I-I'll see you later then, Ann."

"Sure thing!"

Oh, how the farmer wished she could share Ann's cheery and confident disposition at times like these.

Just after Claire had left the Inn and turned toward Aja Winery, she spotted Cliff's familiar brown mane of hair in the field of grapevines, tied up in another ponytail. How could I have missed him?

Carefully, she stepped up to the short wooden fence that surrounded the vineyards and hopped over it in a single ungraceful leap, her jeans catching on one of the wood posts in the process. Cliff immediately glanced over at the sound. His face paled at the sight of the blonde farmer, but still he headed toward her to help untangle her from the fence, blushing all the while.

By the time she could stand up straight, Claire had a similar rosy tint to her cheeks. "Ahem... sorry about that."

Cliff nodded, not speaking, and an uncomfortable silence commenced.

"...So..."

Sensing that Cliff may very well just stand there blushing awkwardly all day, Claire decided that it was her duty to speak up first if she wanted to get things moving. "I...I just wanted to ask you... some things."

He stared at her. "S-Some things...?"

"well, I want to know more about these 'strange things' you told me about at the church the other day. This so-called 'curse' on Mineral Town."

Cliff winced at the memory, looking guilty. "I-I'm sorry for scaring you..."

Claire gave a hollow laugh. "That's not what scares me. You didn't scare me. What scared me was the thing that followed me home, and who, or what, murdered Popuri's chickens! What if it attacks my cow next? Or my dog, or my horse? Or me? What if a human is the next victim on its list?"

Cliff looked utterly shocked. "It... It followed you home?"

The blonde nodded, and began to tell her story in a rush, words spilling freely from her lips as if it were a relief to let it all out. "I... I was walking home from the Inn late one night, and I heard these heavy footsteps behind me... I turned around, and nothing was there. But I heard rustling in the woods lining the road, and I thought I saw something moving around in there out of the corner of my eye, and then I saw a pair of yellow eyes just glaring at me through the trees. I-I freaked out, and started running, and I heard it following me... I dropped my key outside the house, but then I found it and hurried inside, but before I closed the door, I saw this thing just looking at me... Standing there and staring. Waiting. It was huge and black, with the same glowing eyes. That's all I could see."

"…And the chickens...?"

Claire shook her head firmly. "I won't talk about that. It... It was horrible. I never want to see anything like that ever again."

The brown-haired man stood staring at her before responding quietly, "...All right. I... I'll tell you what I know."

He glanced around anxiously before speaking, hoping that he would not be overheard. "…Duke and Manna – you know them, right? Well, they have a daughter. Her name is Aja; they named the winery after her. But she moved away a few years ago, and nobody could really figure out why, exactly. Manna always said that Aja wanted more than what this little town could give her. But that's not the full story."

"How would you know?-"

"I... I'm very close with Manna and Duke. I'm almost like a son to them. And Manna told me that Aja moved away because... because she was attacked while walking home late at night. Manna said that Aja had been assaulted by a creature, something very similar to what you described, and that she wanted out as soon as possible. She couldn't take it. She... she was scared, you see. And afraid that nobody would believe her... that everyone would think she was crazy if she told her story. Immediately after, she was headed for a hospital in the city, where she's been ever since. Duke didn't want to scare the townspeople with the real reason for Aja's departure, so he and Manna made up a story to explain it without freaking out the entire town."

Cliff picked at the hem of his vest nervously before continuing, "I think... I think something similar may have happened to Barley's daughter, Joanna. May's mother. I'm not sure though… She just moved away randomly, leaving her daughter behind, and Barley never really gave a reason for it."

He coughed. "Ahem... th-there isn't any real proof as to why Aja and Joanna left town, but there are some things we do know for sure."

Suddenly, Claire recalled her earlier conversation with Barley, and she passed this information on to Cliff, who narrowed his eyes in thought. "Barley..." His eyes widened as he remembered something.

"...A few months ago, there was a similar attack on Yodel Ranch. Barley must have left the barn door open one night by accident, because in the morning, he found three of his prized dairy cows slaughtered. It.. it shook up the entire town, so this new attack is not good."

He trailed off, and another idea formed in Claire's mind, one that greatly bothered her. So animals have been killed, and there have been attacks on humans, but... has anyone...?

"Cliff... were there any deaths? I mean, did any people die?"

Claire felt a chill run down her spine as Cliff nodded his head 'yes,' refusing to meet her eyes.

A/N: So, this chapter would originally have been much longer, but I decided to break it up into two chapters instead. I did the same thing with Chapters 4 and 5, in fact. This way, the chapters are a bit shorter, but there are more pauses in between. As for Cliff acting all weird and probably OOC and giving Claire, a girl he barely even knows, all this classified information about the town – I imagine that he is still very shy, but has already opened up a little bit after getting a job at the winery, which has happened before Claire moved in rather than after in this particular story. Added on to that, he secretly feels as though Claire may be the only one who can get to the bottom of this mystery, since she's the first new person that Mineral Town brought in in a long while and might be able to give fresh insight to the strange things going on, if that makes sense. Cliff was the new guy in town not long ago, so he was once in Claire's same situation, but he still hasn't gotten too much investigation done and has decided to pass that role onto Claire, or at least enlist her help in it.

On a different note, I've always felt that Bessie and Daisy are extremely generic and rather unoriginal names for cows, so that's why Barley and May just stare at Claire when she suggests those names. I mean, you could be a little more creative, Claire.

-CCM