Quote from Mae on June 28, 2024, 1:39 am

****

As it so happened, not everyone was out of town that night...

Jennifer Peters, Reknab's pristine redheaded nurse was driving into town off a dusty road late that evening. She wore a paisley bandana and drove a misty grey Oldsmobile, the borrowed ride of a relative with whom she was staying. With the windows down and the wind blowing in her face, she listened to the radio to keep her heart steady and her hands on the wheel. She could see the sun setting down over the fields of home, and knew that within a few short hours the moon would be up. But she was undeterred; a woman on a mission. She had one thing on her mind, and it made her feel a little bit like a daredevil and a lot like the biggest idiot south of the hills. But there was nothing for it. Tonight, she was looking for answers, and she would have them whatever the risk.

Jenn had lived her whole life in Reknab Bend, with the exception of a few years spent away at school, and a few others here and there. But she'd always come back home again, right where momma wanted her and where daddy was buried. Grandpa and grandma were very proud of that spirited young nurse who they'd helped send to school. They offered her a room with them whenever she was without. But Jenn had a hold on her independence, and was about as optimistic about the future as a canary out of a cage. So, she had her own apartment, an apartment which was sadly evacuated four weeks ago, along with most of the town.

Jenn had been present when the hole opened up on main street. It stirred up quite a rush; a bit of excitement for young people like Jenn and Robby Gelton and others who lived for anything to ever happen in the sleepy town, and a bit of the end of the world for old timers like Albert Rich and Mildred McGordner who liked the predictable unescapable routine. But the farms had been declared safe early on, and Jenn finally took her grandparents up on their offer. There, she was considered safe.

Safe, that is, if Jennifer Peters would ever stop looking for trouble.

So it was. Since some parts of town were open again, Jenn decided to drive through on her way up to everyone-knows-where, and happened to pass by Herby's Pond. There, she took a casual glance out at the familiar park and saw, much to her surprise, some hobo trying to catch fish.

"Hey!" Jenn called out to him, slowing down on the side of the street. "Hey, you okay there, buster? You can't catch fish here! It's illegal."

The man looked up with surprise and disdain.
"I'm not trying to catch fish!" He declared, "I need to make a phone call and that fish ate my quarter!"

"Oh, well if that's all it is!" Jenn stuck her tongue out and took her hand off the wheel to fish a silver dollar out of her pocket. "Here, you can have this!"

Quote from Skyelre on June 28, 2024, 10:41 pm

The fading light from the west casted long shadows that draped over most of main street. The shadows fell on Tito's truck, engulfing it in the growing darkness. In the same way as the light faded outside, Tito's inward light that he was trying to follow to guide him felt like it was fading as well.

Tito didn't know what to do. Zander wasn't at the antique shop. No one was. He wasn't sure where he could conveniently find the next sort of friendly werewolf on such short notice, and time was running out.

" You must still be useful to them."

The words of the stranger echoed in his mind. What did she mean by that? How could him knowing about werewolves be useful at all, to anyone?

Nothing made sense. Tito's only hope had been that Zander would be better equipt to decipher the warning the woman had given him, but he was gone. The only other option seemed to be to follow the woman's instructions and head towards Middlecrest, and maybe, go talk to the police there. But that could easily be a trap. He had no clue who could be trusted and who couldn't, or who even was a werewolf and who was just being weird.

Tito stared out at the slowly dimming gloomy abandoned main street, but saw none of it, his mind consumed by the growing darkness within.

After some time of getting lost in feeling hopeless and scared, bowing his head and clasping his hands, he turned to the only source that had the power to help him in that moment.

Quote from Mae on June 29, 2024, 11:31 pm

The man stood half-way up to his calves in water and stared at Jenn's offer with a blank look in his eyes.

"Hey, did you hear me?" Jenn called to him again. She blew her horn twice to wake him up from his daydream.

"Yes! Yes, I heard you!" He said suddenly, and high-kneed himself out of the water onto the shore. Then he came across the green lawn to get the silver dollar Jenn extended from her hand.

"Thank you, for this..." The man said, looking at the coin. "Do you by chance know the way to Middlecrest?"

"Doesn't everybody? " Jenn asked, then she saw that he might be serious and pointed to the little road that dipped into the park. "You see that road? Follow it up that way, til you get on Murphey street. Then take a left and go til you see a enormous hole - big, big bottomless pit. Just turn left, and follow that road til you get past Stone Avenue. If you get on the Old North Road, though, you've gone too far."

The man licked his lips and nodded his head, wincing. He followed the direction Jenn pointed with his eyes, but didn't look confident that he would be able to remember the way.

Jenn looked the bedraggled man up and down while he stared opposite her direction. She raised a curious brow and asked, "Hey, you're not escaped from some loony-bin, are you?"

"Oh!" The man blanched and looked at her. "No - no, I mean - No, best not - no..."

"Good." Jenn smiled and didn't seem to notice his change in color. She pointed her thumb to the passenger side and said, "Then get in. I can take you past Stone Avenue at least, but I'll have to drop you off. I'm going the other way."

Quote from Skyelre on July 7, 2024, 12:05 am

***

" Why'd he come here of all places?"

" He must be looking for that werewolf that was living in the antique shop."

" But I thought there was a pack here, not just a loner."

" There could be, according to Officer Hughes, but they seem to not be living in the town."

" So what are our orders?"

" Well... If he approaches the mountain, we shoot him."

Quote from Adriana on July 15, 2024, 11:57 am

***

Earlier...

The hours of the afternoon had given way into evening.

Chapman had not yet returned from his trip into the mountain..

On his way to his meeting with the Alpha, he had made a note of a number of oddities, never-minding the sinkhole.

Reknab was predictable. The stubborn and proud farming community that made up the populace was a people set in their routines, and even the hole in the historic downtown had not long deterred many of them from continuing their day to day activities.

The gathering of werewolves to the mountain like moths to a light was also predictable, however a mystery unto itself.

Zeit's ranch was frozen in time. Of all the trips the old officer had made out to it, the cows still grazed unaffected, the light on her porch was still on, and everything appeared kept up and undisturbed by the changing of time and season.

Therefore, when things were out of place, or a stranger passed through.. it was noticeable, and note worthy.

Several months ago, Ulric's presence had brought in it's wake a wave of attention that was not ideal for the young pack, who had barely begun to establish their roots when they were revealed in untimely fashion.

Bianca and Robin had brought him up to speed on the events that had occurred in May, from each of their perspectives. Chapman was well aware of the wariness and anxiety that had settled into his granddaughters heart on account of them. Like ripples in still water, the effects of those weeks leading up to their mountain retreat could still be seen, and would still affect, change and shape their lives in various ways and to various degrees.

Now it seemed, Saber's presence had done much the same... and yet, Chapman had to wonder why.

Saber was a new werewolf. If he had been chased from Pinerich, why was there so much evidence of the cities involvement in recent days? Scattered throughout Reknab, Chapman could discern in his observations that the city had been active throughout the little farming community, with which he was well acquainted and had spent time in between visits-even prior to the new pack's establishment.

Talkane's faction devoted themselves to culling loners, not creating new bloods and setting them loose to wreak havoc, and Tiffany was not there to retrieve him, though a less experienced man might have deduced it was so.

Chapman lingered to see what answers he might glean from his investigations. He would be a recognized face by some, and his disposition made him easy to approach and had a tendency to put folk at ease.

He was not shy man, and he did not particularly care if his presence was noted. If he ran into a man or woman on the street who was approachable, he would stop to visit-telling them he was retiring-and even invited some to his retirement party-and told them he wanted to nose around and see what all the fuss was about with the sinkhole, that he'd seen the papers and wanted to see it for himself. He was bold, and confident; nothing he said was a lie, but in usual fashion, he never gave the whole truth of the matter.

He spent the afternoon and evening eating at the local dives that were open, visiting with the officers at the police station, and shooting the breeze with farmers, asking how their yields had been with the strange weather. He wore a heavy police jacket over a white undershirt, and no longer donned his police uniform, appearing as a civilian as he perused the streets.

But more than the farmer might know, or else the off duty nurse or young teen working the store cash register, Chapman discerned, and grew increasingly agitated by what he discovered. It compelled him to stay much longer than he had intended..

***

Present...

There was a gentle knock on Tito's truck-window.

Quote from Skyelre on July 22, 2024, 7:08 pm

Tito's head was still bowed when Chapman had approached.

While Tito's cheeks where stained with tears, his countenance appeared calm and sober. A moment passed after the knock before he opened his eyes and saw Chapman out the window.
Tito opened the door slowly, trying to wipe away the remnants of the tears on his face. As he turned to Chapman, the sinkhole was noticed in his peripheral view.

" Do I need to move my truck?" He asked the older gentleman.

Quote from Adriana on July 22, 2024, 8:55 pm

Chapman stepped aside to give the young man space to open his door, and to stay or go from the truck-whichever was more comfortable.

He looked over the young man and shook his head, "No, son-just checking on you. It's getting cold out-wanted to see if you needed a jump, or some money for a payphone. Doubt the cab of a truck is a very comfortable place to spend a September night in the mountains... you got a place lined up somewhere warm?" he asked, leaning with one arm on the side of the truck and breathing out a white plume as he lowered his chin and raised up his brow a little.

Even from this distance he could discern than Tito did not have any substances in his system, and he could smell the brine of his tears and the anxiety of the day he wore.

Quote from Skyelre on July 23, 2024, 12:16 am

Tito was initially confused, but as Chapman continued, Tito realized he had been sitting in his truck looking glum and desperate just a moment ago, it wouldn't be a stretch for any one of the scenarios the older man suggested to be true. But they weren't. Tito wished, if only, his problem was so small and simple to solve, but it wasn't.

" Oh, no- I have a place, I'm not homeless," he replied with an awkward laugh. He looked over at his truck before turning back to Chapman. " And my trucks running fine, but thank you for checking on me." But as much as he tried to maintain the smile on his face, it wasn't long till something found its way into his mind and his countenance grew heavy once more.

Quote from Adriana on July 23, 2024, 9:22 am

Chapman listened with his eyes keenly on the young man. He nodded slowly even as he drew up a hand to rub at the coarse, gray stubble along his jaw.

Everything about his expression was calm, but the situation clearly begged the question, “then what are you doing out here?”

He couldn’t linger long, but he wasn’t satisfied with the answer he was given.

Pushing himself off the truck and dusting off his hands, he might have sighed quietly.

“Well, unless you’ve got family here, I would reccommend heading back-they can be a suspicious lot here, least- they’re slow to trust new faces.” he said, smiling in a glum way.

“It’s awful late… mind my asking which way is home? I’m going back to Middlecrest myself, and don’t mind following you-make sure you don’t fall asleep at the wheel. Or maybe it would be the other way around!” he said, laughing a little.