Chapter 2

We were halfway there when I looked over at Emery who was as silent as a church mouse. This wasn’t like him and I could smell the nervousness rolling off of him. “Hey man, what’s got you so damn quiet?” I nudged him with my elbow. He blinked a few times as his brown eyes scanned the road and both hands gripping the wheel so tight I could see the white in his knuckles, “I’m just a little tense after seeing those pictures. We have seen some pretty nasty shit, dude, but that was,” he stopped and shook his head, “fucked.” I turned back to the road and the images of the body flashed in my head. I shivered, “Yeah, it definitely makes you wonder what the hell are really in these woods.” I looked to my right and my eyes followed the green abyss of trees and foliage that surrounded us. Since we were kids we had heard all the horror stories about the Appalachian monsters that roamed our woods. Like I said before, most of it was to keep us out of the woods. I wondered why though, what did the older generation really know about this place? The night was the most haunting of all around here. I grew up on about 2 acres of land which backed up to a big well known lake and during the summer us kids would play from sun up to sun down in those woods, but as soon as that sun went behind the trees, daddy and momma would make us come inside. Fear clearly etched on their face if they had to call us more than once. We were told that spirits and creatures of demon like origin roamed the forests at night looking to devour anything with a pulse. It did it’s job of keeping us out of there, but every so often some old meth head or stupid teenager would wonder in there and not be seen again. The police and local park rangers would search the area, but nothing would be found. That’s why momma and daddy kept our dogs close and their kids even closer. My daddy would say it’s a curse the natives, put on the town and the land surrounding it because they were forced from their land. I could understand why they would curse it, hell, I know I would. The sound of gravel under the squad cars tires brought me out of my thoughts. We had pulled into the parking lot of the trails at the state park. “Dude, I’m not saying I’m scared, I’m just saying that all those stories your daddy told us when were kids are heavy on my mind.” I straightened at his words, “I was just thinking the same thing. Weird,” I trailed off, “but look, you know how I feel about that fairytale shit. It ain’t nothing like that. Some wolf probably caught rabies after tearing into some animal and lost its shit and went after the first thing it saw. Just breathe, man. Jay will fill us in and we will go from there.” I heaved a sigh and hopped out of the car. Emery followed my move. Jay Connor was the head game warden here at the state park. He ran other parks, but spent most of his time here, as this park was Georgia’s main money maker. The big beautiful Allatoona lake was right here and the towns and counties that surrounded us were rich with history. You couldn’t go 5 feet into the woods without stumbling on a arrowhead or a musket ball. It was a beautiful place, but scary all the same. Jay walked up to us with his hands resting behind his bullet proof vest on his chest. “Hey girls, glad to see you could make it. Thought for sure you would wuss out on this one.” Jay was a bit of a dick, kinda had that good ole’ southern boy act, but he was okay. “Yeah, well at least I’m not a bald man with a big truck and tiny wiener.” Emery launched his assault of words and I couldn’t help but bust out laughing. Jay chuckled, “In all seriousness it’s good to have y’all on board. My guys all turned tail on this one. It’s brutal. Did Combs show the pictures?” Jay hissed and spit some tobacco on the ground. “Fuck Yeah, man. Made my skin crawl. Got any ideas or any leads?” Emery asked with a sick look on his face. “Nah, no leads. We have ideas though. Follow me. It’s easier to walk and talk. We will ride the ATVs out of here and go to the scene.” We followed Jay to the shop where they keep the boats, ATVs, and other cool toys for patrolling. He stopped before we each hopped on our own ride, “It’s 3 miles from here North west,” he pointed behind us, “look, it’s a lot nastier up close. I’m warning you now that you have a chance to give up on this or to continue through, but before you head out there you need to know something.” He spit again, “The wolf and human hair that was found is from the same skin follicle. Also, the eyes were taken from the body.” I know I must have had a crazy look on my face because Emery looked at me and cocked a brow. “Meaning?” I narrowed my eyes as I asked the question. “Meaning either there is some sick freak out here ripping up people and taking their eyes, forensics fucked up or we got a werewolf on our hands.” Jay said this with a straight face and hopped on the four wheeler. I let out a laugh I had never heard before, “You are messing with us! I can get behind the whole sick serial killer thing, but you can’t be serious, right?” I looked at Jay and his eyes went to the ground. I hopped on the four wheeler and nodded for Emery to do the same. “Hell, Tyler, I don’t know. I just know that there is some weird shit going on and someone or something with a mix of human and wolf hair has murdered someone or whatever. I know it sounds insane, but damn if it ain’t weird. Oh and by the way, y’all are getting sworn into secrecy after this shit. Mayor Argent doesn’t want anyone knowing about this outside of Law enforcement and the town council members. Let’s go.” Jay finished what he was saying started his engine. “Keep up the best you can! We can’t have anyone else getting ripped up out here.” I said loudly over the engines to Emery. He sucked at paying attention and I didn’t want him driving off into the middle of the woods without me there. He smirked and flipped me off, “I’m not that stupid!” And as he said that his engine stalled. I shook my head and waited for him to start it back up and we took off after Jay.