All Chapters of Midnight Strays: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

----------- ---------------------A few minutes later . . .----------- ---------------------"This isn't fair," Jane said, clenching her fists and staring at the small mound of earth before her.Red had found something out about the sleep little town that evening. There was only one thing on Pine Brook Road . . . the only thing that had ever been there and the only thing that ever would be . . . Pine Brook Cemetery. On the tombstone read "Jack Ewes: 1964 – 2005." No other epitaph was to be found."What now?" Jane asked almost angrily of Red. "How do I confront a dead guy?!" She fell to her knees and began beating the ground with her hands, leaving Red to hope she didn't start using her powers. "It's not fucking fair! You don't deserve to sleep you son of a bitch!""No rest for the wicked," Sheriff Horton muttered, taking a step back. He knew the girl deserved to vent. She deserved a hell of a lot more.Jane stopped and

----------- -------------Out east . . .----------- -------------Jane and Red were moseying down an old dirt road towards the town's only hotel. The sheriff had offered to give them a lift, but it was only a couple of miles and the two women, especially Jane, needed to walk off some frustration. The sheriff had given Jane some information that she has asked for, and they had agreed to rendezvous the next morning to work out some legal matters.Jane felt like someone riding a roller coaster whose heart was still beating in her chest, but who could finally see the end in sight. She wanted off that crazy ride and get her feet under her for the first time in many years."Talk to me," Red said after a lengthy silence. "What's going through your head?"Jane leaned against her girlfriend. "Nothing. I'm so used to it being dark in there . . . in my mind . . . and scary and chaotic. But now I don't know what to think. I'm not used to it

--------- -----------At the Den . . .--------- -----------Robbie was sitting alone near one of the entrances to the tunnels. He was dead tired and had drifted off several times while leaning against the inside of the overflow tunnel. But he wanted to wait and see if his sister was going to call again. Like everyone, he had been stunned to hear that the Dark One was dead, and wanted to fill big sis in on the new plan. Then, at one moment he opened his eyes and noticed there was someone else in the tunnel with him."Not much of a lookout, are you?" the large man asked in an amused tone. The man was almost as big as Tarloh. Huge shoulders and arms, and his broad chest and powerful legs were clad in something that resembled snake-skin armor.'No,' Robbie thought, preparing to wolf-out. 'Crocodile armor.'"Ho there short stuff," the man continued, a smirk on his lips. "If I wanted to fight you, I'd have started and finished by now.

Red and Jane lay in bed, quiet in each other's arms. Jane had gone through another day of interviews, and it had been taxing. She kept having to answer officials' questions about what had happened with her stepfather all those many years ago, why she hadn't said anything, why she had run away and where had she been. But that part was getting easier for her. What was getting harder was having to explain what she was doing now, and how could people get a hold of her?Jane had been very careful about what she said. She was between jobs and between homes at the moment. She was in a serious relationship. She wasn't there to get any money from her mother. She wasn't looking to profit from her stepfather's actions or death. But all these questions kept bringing up feelings for Jane and putting ideas in her head. She had made a decision about what she wanted, and she had just told her lover."Are you sure?" Red asked, obviously pensive."Yeah." Jane snuggled close

--------- -------------------A few hours later . . .--------- -------------------Tarloh, Talia, Shield and Nathaniel all arrived at the hospital within minutes of each other. They had been enjoyed a brief meal when they got a frantic phone call from Anya. Something had happened to Croc."What happened?" Tarloh said when Anya and Johan met them in the lobby."He . . . huh . . . he went through and then his hand came out and he was panicking and we helped pull him through but he got real sick and was throwing up . . ."Talia wrapped her arms around Anya's shaking shoulders. The girl was spooked. "Is he . . .""He's alive," Johan said, a little more collected than his female counterpart. "The doctor's said he's lost the use of one eye, but no one has any idea what could have caused it. Needless to say, I think Croc found something bad. Maybe what we were looking for."A doctor came over and informed them that th