Chapter 2 #3
“Good volunteers make a strong community.” Scott sounded impressed.
“Having good internet really opened up the Adirondacks during the winter, so we have more options,” Justin added. “I love curling up with a good book, but the social piece is nice too.”
“It’s great that we like a lot of the same things,” Scott said. “That bodes well if we ever get snowed in together.”
He said it off-handedly, and Justin warned himself not to read too much into the statement, but his heart thumped just the same. I can imagine how we could stay warm. “I don’t think we’d have any problem at all,” Justin agreed.
With all the common interests, conversation flowed naturally. Justin and Scott both flirted lightheartedly, and Justin took that as a good sign that Scott might be open to more.
By the time they finished their food and polished off dessert, the positive psychic vibes Justin was picking up gave him courage.
“We’ve got another flight tomorrow. How about dinner again? I bet there are some other local restaurants you haven’t tried yet.”
Scott’s smile was charmingly open. “I’d like that. This has been fun.”
When the check came, Scott reached for it. On impulse, Justin grabbed it first. “I invited you. You’re new in town. My treat.” Does that make it an official date?
To his surprise, Scott didn’t argue. “Thank you. Let me return the favor tomorrow night.”
Justin grinned. “We’ll figure it out when we get there.”
He drove Scott back to the hotel. “Thanks for a great evening.”
“Thank you for dinner and a fun conversation. I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Scott replied with a smile that reached his eyes.
Justin met Scott’s gaze, looking for a signal, then leaned in to press his lips to Scott’s. It deepened from a peck to a lingering kiss that left both of them breathless. Justin couldn’t help wondering whether Scott had gotten as hard as he did.
“See you for the flight tomorrow,” Scott said. “Maybe we can watch a movie together after dinner.” He made the invitation sound casual, but the spark in his eyes told Justin that the privacy might let them take things further.
“Sleep well. See you tomorrow.” Justin hoped his smile carried everything that he hadn’t said out loud. I like you. I think you’re hot. We might be mates.
“Good night.” Scott closed the door and waved, then headed into the hotel. Justin sighed and pulled away, adding some ideas to his mental wish list.
We’ve still got all week. I think we made progress, and if we really are fated mates, then things will work out.
He focused on how well the night had gone as he got ready for bed, and when he jacked off thinking about making love to Scott, his fantasy ended with them curled up in bed together. Mates.
At four in the morning, Justin’s fire department alarm went off on his phone. Groggy, he checked the screen and saw a callout for a wild, possibly dangerous animal.
Muttering under his breath, he dressed quickly, downed a cup of now-cold coffee from the day before, ate a granola bar, and suited up.
He met his crew at the fire department. “Do we know what’s going on? Is it a bear? A moose?” he asked his friend Brandon, a moose shifter. Gage, a Belgian Malinois shifter, joined them, as did Emery, a police deputy and non-shifter.
“The lady called and said there was a ‘monster’ in the back yard, and she was afraid for her life,” Brandon replied. “That’s all I know.”
“Better take the rifles—just in case,” Justin said.
When they arrived at the house, still hours before dawn, a woman in a bathrobe met them at the door.
“It was near the garage. But it ran off toward the old railroad tunnel at the back of the yard.” She shivered, not just from the pre-dawn cold.
“Thank you for coming. I’ve never seen anything like that. It was truly…a monster.”
Justin and the others made their way carefully across the large yard, handheld search lights illuminating their path, rifles in hand. The lawn ended in a thicket, and beyond it, where a mountain loomed, was the dark maw of an old railroad tunnel.
“I’m surprised it’s not gated off,” Justin said as he and Brandon approached the opening with the others close behind them.
Brandon’s light caught a glimpse of motion, something that didn’t move like any normal animal.
“What the hell is that?” Gage yelped. A deep growl warned them to stay back.
“Doesn’t sound like a bear,” Justin said as he and Brandon leveled their rifles in the direction of the noise.
“Sounds too big to be a raccoon or a badger.” Emery readied a net while Brandon tried to capture the creature in the bright beam.
A skittering sound made Justin picture long claws scrabbling on rock. The light hit the creature for just a few seconds, revealing a pushed-in face, compact body, and wicked claws, unlike any of the natural creatures native to the Adirondacks.
He felt certain that glimpse would haunt his nightmares for a long time.
“I’ll try to get him again.” Gage repositioned the spotlight. “This time, shoot!”
The beam played over the interior of the old tunnel, and Justin thought the creature might have slipped out already. Then the light caught it again—rough black fur, misshapen head, strangely taloned feet, and bat-like ears.
Justin and Brandon fired. At this distance, they couldn’t miss.
Except that the creature was faster than they expected. It skittered up the rock wall, fled across the ceiling, and vanished into the darkness.
“Fuck,” Brandon shouted. The four men looked at each other, dumbfounded.
“I’ve never seen anything move like that,” Gage said, clearly spooked. “Except in horror movies.”
“There’s got to be a record of something like that, somewhere.” Emery sounded rattled. “I know it’s a deep, dark forest, but if a creature like that has gotten this close to settled areas, someone else has to have seen it.”
“I’ll talk to Liam,” Justin volunteered. “He’ll know if the library’s got anything that might help and will research it if they don’t.”
“Is it gone? Do we just wait here for it to come back?” Gage’s voice made it clear he wasn’t in favor of that option.
“Give it fifteen minutes, and if it doesn’t show, it’s gone,” Brandon said. As the captain of the squad, the decision was his. “But damned if I know how to fill out the report.”
Justin had joined the local volunteer fire department a few years ago. He was already friends with several of the men and liked the idea of being able to help with emergencies that didn’t require flying.
While fires were the main part of their mission, the VFD also helped with other issues like flooding, rescues, traffic accidents, medical emergencies, and nudging wild animals away from backyards and populated areas.
“That’s a wrap for now,” Brandon said after they waited a full half hour without movement or signs of the creature. “Let’s set up some trail cameras around the tunnel and see if we can catch a look when it finally comes out.”
They spread out to set the motion-sensitive, low-light cameras to capture both sides of the old tunnel, and Brandon left some dry dog food just inside one of the entrances, where anything that stopped to eat would be in full view.
“We can put out a safety notice to report any strange sightings,” Emery said as they walked back to the truck. “And warn people away from trying to adopt the ‘ugly dog.’”
“I never know whether those notices help or not,” Gage said. “On one hand, they let folks know to steer clear, but sometimes they also bring out the bounty hunters.”
“Gotta say something,” Emery said. “Maybe one of our shifter pals will have seen something we didn’t.”
The call had come in the wee hours of the morning, but it was now time that normal people got up for work. The crew dropped the truck off at the firehouse and headed out for their regular jobs, reminding each other of the volunteer schedule for the upcoming holiday events.
Something about the creature stayed on Justin’s mind.
His intuition, part of his psychic gift, felt disquieted by something that seemed so utterly different and alien.
He knew that every so often researchers discovered formerly overlooked species that had been hidden deep in forests, far underwater. or even in large caves.
He remembered Scott’s question and the sighting with his guest on the plane. Is that what this was? Will scientists show up to document a new species? Are there more of them?
Once he picked up a cup of coffee and a muffin at the café, he opened his phone and started searching. He found several fictional beasts and monsters, but no reliable zoological information on anything resembling what they had seen. More questions kept cycling in his mind.
If there hadn’t been four of us, or if we hadn’t been armed, would it have attacked? We heard its claws. What kind of teeth did it have? Could it kill a person, and are there more like that?
After more fruitless web searching, Justin closed his browser and tossed his cup in the trash.
To get his mind off the callout, Justin chose to focus on his date that night with Scott. He agreed to go out for dinner again.
Justin had two previously scheduled flights in the morning. Strong coffee kept him awake despite the early morning disruption. Liam ambled by after the second flight.
Liam was the head librarian at Fox Hollow’s local library, which had a well-rounded collection of books and a busy inter-library loan program.
“What’s up? I got your text this morning,” Liam asked. “Something about monsters?”
Justin told him about the encounter with the creature at the old tunnel, the fragmentary glimpses he had gotten with his client, Scott’s question, and what his web searches had revealed.
“We set up a camera, but so far it hasn’t gotten anything useful.” Justin showed Liam the images from the trail cam that he had downloaded to his phone. Other than the glint of eyes in the darkness, the camera hadn’t picked up any good shots.