The Demon Wolf - Chapter 13：Trip to Town

“Red, you up?” A voice asks.

Red wakes to the sound of knocking on her door. Getting out of the bed, she goes to her door, unlocking it and opening it.

“Breakfast is almost ready, we’ll head into town after we eat,”

“Okay, let me get dressed,” With that she closes her door, locking the door once more as changes into a grey long sleeve shirt and dark grey jeans, her red hoodie seemingly glowing compared to the dull colors around them. Heading downstairs the two enjoy their breakfast, Red having eggs and bacon with Jerard having some eggs and more deer steak.

“Do you always have that for breakfast?” Red asks.

“Yup, meat is a good source of protein,” He says between bites.

Finishing breakfast the two hop into Jerard’s truck and head for town. As they drive through the woods everything is silent, with only the crumple of the leaves being ran over by the tower and the radio breaking the silence. Red finds herself staring off into the woods, looking at all the small rays of sunlight that managed to get through the tree branches. As they the town comes into sight, the air seems to get denser and depressing.

Driving into town they soon pass by with caution tape covering the front door. Jerard and Red find themselves taking a glance at the front door to see if they can see inside. All they can see is that the doorknob is missing with splintered wood in its place.

“Where is everyone?” Red asks as she stares out her window, looking for any sign of life. She turns to her father who has a troubled expression.

“…They’re probably all inside their homes or work places. Ever since the tale of the Demon Wolf started spreading around town, the townsfolk have never been the same since. Red looks out her window once more, thinking about how odd this all seems. Then again, it does make some sense why she wouldn’t have known about this, telling someone her age about such things would make them as scared as she was the night her home had been attacked.

The two of them drive to a garden market store, a couple other cars in the parking lot, but half of the parking spots still open.

“Good morning-Jerard?” An old guy at one of the front counters says as they enter, “I haven’t seen you in forever,”

“Oh, and good morning to you too Red,”

“Hi,”

“What brings the two of you here?”

“Well, with the funeral for Granny coming up, Randy gave me some time off. So I figured I could some of that free time working on the garden beds with little Red here,”

“…Did Chief Winslow not call you?”

“Call, about what?”

“Well, someone else got…ya know,”

“Was it someone over on the northwest side of town?”

“Yeah,”

“We passed by it on our way here,” Jerard says, rubbing the back of his neck, “I thought it might have just been a robbery or something but…sheesh. Any idea who did it?”

“No but-um…” Billy looks down at Red. Jerard realizes why and quickly acts.

“Hey, Red. Why don’y you go to the plants section and start looking for things you’d like to grow? I’m just gonna catch up with Billy for a bit and than I’ll be right on over, alright?”

“Okay,” Red says, eagerly heading over to the back part of the store where lots of plants of different species are lain about. Entering the back part of the store which is partly open, Red goes from plant to plant looking at all the shades of green and vibrant colors emanating from the flowers. Towards the right side are smaller plants that can be placed on tables or desks. In the middle are the larger plants that you go outside. As she’s looking at some young trees that still almost tower over her, she hears footsteps enter the outside area.

“Hey dad, what do you think about-” She stops halfway through her sentence to see that no one else is in the area with her. Looking around she sees someone inside the store walking past with a shopping cart full of stuff. She turns back to the plants, hoping that the person didn’t hear her. Going to some small bush plants, some with fruits others with flowers, Red reads the tags displaying their name and requirements to keep them healthy.

She hears someone step up to the side of her. Glancing over she sees someone else looking at the different plants. She turns her attention back to the plants. While feeling the leaves on one of the bushes, she can’t help but notice the person looking over in her direction rather intently. She quickly starts to feel uncomfortable, tensing up when she notices them leaning in toward her a bit. Calmly, she makes her way over to the left side where larger indoor plants are, keeping one eye on the person. The person moves to the spot she had been standing in and picks up one of the plants, looking at it carefully.

They than take the plant and put it in a nearby cart and walk out of the room back into the main part of the store. She lets out a small sigh of relief as she tries to calm herself. Her dad soon appears walking into the back part with a shopping cart.

“Find anything you like?” He asks.

“Um,” She glances around at all the options, carefully trying to decide which ones she wants the most, “I, like, this one,” She says walking over to a small Japanese maple, it’s green leaves turning a brilliant crimson red at the tips.

“Alright,” He walks over, looking at the price tag, which widens his eyes, “One hundred bucks,” He says to himself quietly as he places the tree in the cart, “For a tree,” He looks at the tree, trying to figure out how something seemingly so common, could be so much, “What else?” He asks a bit hesitantly, “You can choose…” He quickly calculates numbers in his head, “…three more,”

“Hmm…” Red looks at the others, her decision becoming even harder now, “Let’s get, this one,” She says picking up a small strawberry plant and place it into the cart, “And this, and…this,” She picks a medium sized bush plant with purple flowers on it and a mimosa, that plant that has leaves that close when you touch them. They head back inside the main part of the store to get some plant food and soil. As Jerard walks down an aisle Red stops when she sees a figure on the far end of the store appear from an aisle. It’s Gerald, but his skin is covered in scars and pale. His glowing red eyes keep Red from calling her dad.

“Red?” Jerard realizes she stopped following him, “Red what is-” He stops when he reaches the end of the aisle and sees Gerald. The three of them stare at each other for what feels like forever before Gerald walks down an aisle, disappearing from sight. Red looks up at her dad and is glad she wasn’t the only one who saw it. Jerard looks down at Red, trying to hide his shock.

“Let’s get the soil and food and be on our way,” Jerard says before walking back to the cart, Red following closely. Without very little talking from Red, they get their supplies, both keeping an eye out for Gerald, but not seeing him anywhere. They buy the things and put it all in the truck, taking off.

“Should we tell the police?” Red asks, glancing back at the store.

“Heading there right now,” Jerard replies, focusing on the road. After some time they arrive at the police station. As they exit the truck Red quickly makes her way to her father’s side. As they enter they see Chief Winslow at the desk, he quickly takes notice of them.

“Jerard, I just tried to call your home,” He says as he walks over to them, “Now I know why you didn’t pick up.” He picks up on the worry in their expression, “What’s wrong?” He asks, his expression becoming serious.

“Something’s wrong with Gerald,” Red states before Jerard can speak.

“…What?” Pierre asks, looking almost as stricken as they did when they were staring Gerald in the eyes.

“He was very pale, and covered in scars, and…his eyes were, red,”

He just looks at them completely baffled. He looks around, looking mostly through the front doors, before speaking.

“Come with me,” He says before walking to the left of the front counter. They follow him into his office, “Have a seat. They take their seats as he sits behind his desk.

“You’re sure, you saw Gerald?” He asks Red. She nods. Pierre glances at Jerard for confirmation.

“I saw him too,” He answers. Pierre quickly opens up the case file from last night and goes over the description of the figure Brant had seen. Red eyes.

“…Where did you see him?”

“At the garden market store,” Jerard answers.

“I’ll send someone over there as soon as I can. You guys going anywhere else in town?”

“We were going to head home and plant the plants we just bought,” Red says.

“Alright, you drive safe,” He tells Jerard. Jerard knew he really meant, stay safe, and stay alert.

“We will,” He replies as him and Red get up and leave the station.

…

After his door closes Pierre radios Helen to send an officer to Billy’s store. He opens a new tab on is computer and starts looking up creatures that can be both a human and a giant wolf, starting with werewolves. As he starts searching he calls Randy.

“Hello?” Randy’s voice asks through the phone.

“I know you’ve told me countless stories of supernatural creatures living in these woods, but do you actually believe any of them?”

“Of course, I’ve told you all the crazy shit I’ve seen out here…why?”

“Well, have you seen anything like a werewolf?”

“No, closest thing would be the Demon Wolf, but that’s just a…you’re not thinking-”

“I honestly am. One of the officers saw someone when they were investigating the breaking last night, the place I sent you pictures of,”

“…And?”

“He said they had red eyes. Gerald’s body, went missing a couple days ago, and Jerard and Red just came to the station saying they saw him at Billy’s store,”

“…now that I think about it…didn’t he show around the time the attacks stopped?”

“…Son of a bitch,” Pierre mutters under his breath, “Could that, monster, really been living among us all these years?”

“Seems so, but…”

“But what?”

“But why did he ever stop in the first place, and why did he decide to start attacking again now?”

“…And what happened to him at Granny’s…”

“What?”

“We found his body mutilated at Granny’s the night her and Red were attacked,”

Both of them are silent as they both think the same thing, something else besides the Demon Wolf, has made their town its hunting ground.