The Demon Wolf - Chapter 23：The Sawmill

The heavily damaged police car comes to a halt in front of locked gates blocking their path to the sawmill. Randy puts the car in park, stepping out and unlocking the gate. Driving into the sawmill the emptiness reminding them of the town. A massive building looms over the rest of the gated area, a ginormous saw blade sitting upon its throne, waiting for anything foolish enough to challenge its strength.

They park in front of a much smaller building, the engine’s roar coming to a stop, the air now filled with a deadly silence.

“Let’s move this into here so I can do a quick inventory,” Randy states as he pops open the trunk and unlocks the door to the building, “I’m gonna lock up the gate real quick, be right back,” And he heads off as the others start picking up stuff and open the door to the building. Going inside they enter a large room where several rows of lockers make small little halls. Benches are placed between the rows to provide seating. They all put the stuff by on and by the nearest bench. After three trips they finish unloading the car, Randy soon coming back.

“Alright let’s see,” Randy says as he kneels down. He starts mumbling to himself as he picks up each jar, carefully examining their contents, “Damnit, I had all the strong stuff in the freezer…” He states as he stands up, “Whatever, we’ll make do with what we have. Follow me,” They head off to the right, walking all the way down to the last row where all the lockers have identical locks on them.

Randy walks up to the closest one on the left side and unlocks it. The locker is filled to the brim with ammo.

“I always wondered why no one ever came to this row,” Jerard comments as Randy walks over to the next one.

“The best way to hide things, is to keep them in plane sight. Pierre’s come here dozens of times to do inspections, never once bothered checking the lockers,” Randy replies as he unlocks the locker. More ammo, and a shotgun, “Gosh dammit, where is the holy water?” He mumbles to himself as he walks off farther down the hall. Red looks at the tags on the lockers, what look like initials seem to be written on them.

The first one Randy opened has “A.M.O” written on it. The next one has “A.&.S.G.”. She starts looking at the others, a lot of them having the “A.M.O” tag. One on the right side has the initials, “F.T.”. Looking further down the right side near the middle she spots one that has, “H.W.”

“Uh, Grandpa Randy,” Red says to get his attention, “I think the holy water’s in there,” She points to the locker. Randy turns and looks at it, than sees the label.

“Sharp eye kiddo,” He says with a smile, “I forgot I even labeled these,” He says as he unlocks it. “Here we go,” He says as the others all walk up to him. They look inside the locker to see bottles, and large jugs full of water, all the containers having a cross drawn with sharpie on them.

“Since when does drawing a cross on a bottle make it holy water?” Helena asks as she picks one up.

“That’s just there to remind me so I don’t just dump it somewhere or give it to the workers. I had that priest guy at the church come and bless all this,” He states as he picks up a jug and puts it on the bench. He walks over to the first two lockers he had opened and picks up two boxes of ammo.

“Did Granny ever teach you to shoot?” Randy asks Red.

“No. Did, Granny know?”

“She could shoot a squirrel in the eye from over a mile away. Hold on, I think I got something you can use,”

“Randy, we’re not giving my daughter a gun,” Jerard says defiantly.

“Relax, it’s not a gun,” He says as he reads the labels on the lockers until he finds the one he’s looking for. Unlocking it he pulls out a metal bat. Walking back over to them he takes the top off the jug.

“Y’all might wanna stand back for this,” They distance themselves as Randy places the bat on the bench and picks up the jug. He pours water all over the bat, the water splattering everywhere. A drop gets onto Jerard’s hand.

“Are you okay dad?” She asks. He looks at her, the look going away, being replaced by the faintest hint of a warm smile.

“I’m fine, it’s just, best if I keep a bit more distance next time,” Randy does the same scooting the ammo further away from them before he douses them in holy water. Randy does the same for more shotgun ammo, and then for pistol ammo. Randy unlocks another locker full of various guns.

“Jerard, Helena, come take your picks,” Randy says as he pulls out a sawed off shotgun and a magnum.. He puts the magnum in a holster under his coat as Jerard and Helena walk over. Helena takes a pistol while Jerard takes a pump action shotgun. Red walks over to them, glancing at all the different guns in the locker. Randy closes and relocks it.

“Don’t want them getting their hands on this,” Randy says as he puts the keys into his coat pocket.

…

A nice and clean looking police car comes to a stop at the gate to the sawmill. Looking at the dirt, they can see the smallest hint of fresh tire marks.

“So predictable,” Pierre says mockingly, “Gerald, unlock the gate will ya?” Abiding to his request, Gerald gets out and walks up to the gate. With a sing of his axe the lock falls right off. Pierre turns off the car and gets out, tossing the keys into the nearby woods.

“Sure you can handle Jerard? Last time didn’t go so well for you,” Pierre asks as the two walk into the sawmill yard.

“He caught me by surprise,” Gerald replies angrily, his grip on his axe tightens.

“Alright, well you know the plan, go get what you need,” Gerald takes off towards a medium sized building as Pierre sees the beaten-up police car sitting in front of a small building.

“Bingo,”