Dead of Winter (CA - Robin, Uno, & Bob)
Quote from Adriana on November 1, 2023, 3:19 pmThe thick, masculine voice on the other end of the line certainly didn’t belong to Robin.
“That how it is? Won’t waste my time, then-“ it said, and hung up.
The thick, masculine voice on the other end of the line certainly didn’t belong to Robin.
“That how it is? Won’t waste my time, then-“ it said, and hung up.
Quote from Indy on November 1, 2023, 3:26 pmAs the phone line clicked dead, he felt his heart thunder in his chest. Who was that? He had never heard the voice before, but there was an instinctual chill. What had Steele said? It depends on the mood of the monster.
She was probably already dead, and the guy was thumbing through her belongings looking for whatever he could get his hands on. Monster, and clearly one of them. He shouldn't call back. She was already dead. There was nothing that could be done for her...
His hands went anyways to his phone. And he pressed the contact with Robin's name and waited.
Stupid, stupid... but no, he was just getting it for information. For later, so Steele could add it to the tally list of former wolves.
As the phone line clicked dead, he felt his heart thunder in his chest. Who was that? He had never heard the voice before, but there was an instinctual chill. What had Steele said? It depends on the mood of the monster.
She was probably already dead, and the guy was thumbing through her belongings looking for whatever he could get his hands on. Monster, and clearly one of them. He shouldn't call back. She was already dead. There was nothing that could be done for her...
His hands went anyways to his phone. And he pressed the contact with Robin's name and waited.
Stupid, stupid... but no, he was just getting it for information. For later, so Steele could add it to the tally list of former wolves.
Quote from Adriana on November 1, 2023, 3:41 pm"You alone?" the voice at the other end asked, "Don't play me."
In the background, the sound of a ragged breath, maybe a groan... it wasn't the person speaking into the phone.
"You alone?" the voice at the other end asked, "Don't play me."
In the background, the sound of a ragged breath, maybe a groan... it wasn't the person speaking into the phone.
Quote from Adriana on November 1, 2023, 4:05 pm"Don't matter. Got a pen and paper? I got a dog out here, belongs to you.. better come pick her up, if you want her. Got two days 'fore she goes into the river."
The voice in the background rattled out a cough.
An address was provided.
"Show up with anyone else, I'll shoot her."
The line was cut.
"Don't matter. Got a pen and paper? I got a dog out here, belongs to you.. better come pick her up, if you want her. Got two days 'fore she goes into the river."
The voice in the background rattled out a cough.
An address was provided.
"Show up with anyone else, I'll shoot her."
The line was cut.
Quote from Indy on November 2, 2023, 2:34 pmHe should tell Steele. He shouldn’t tell Steele.
He should do nothing. He stared at the pages of paper in front of him, but all the words swam a thousand miles away -- an unseeing eye to an ocean of meaningless ink on paper.
“Told you I wouldn’t even open the door if you came crawling back and begged”.
No one was around. Didn’t matter. The pages looked like they judged the words, so a mounting pressure in his chest escaped like steam from his nose. A hand swept out and the steam escaped in a shout. Pages scattered in a flurry and rained down to the floor.
“Die like a DOG!”
The pages had all flopped to the ground. Stomp them, smash them, into tiny balls his fist went, and a leg kicked up a clump of papers. It brought no satisfaction. No matter how well he abused the pages around him, the sensation remained like cold hands clenching his heart.
He fell to the floor, back leaning against the wall, and curled small. He felt like a child, too small to know what was happening. Helpless and stupid and slow and watching as it all happened without him. He leaned his face to his knees and sobbed. It was an honest sob; one he hadn’t allowed himself to have in a very long time. How could he? He was a hunter and Steele’s nephew. Even if he had been either of those things, Robin had been there too. He couldn’t have let himself be this way unless he was alone.
When nothing else would come out, he layed back against the wall and felt every nerve of his body drained dry.
“She’s just a dog. Doesn’t matter. You can get a new one…” he mumbled, but the words had no conviction.
He stared at the pages absently. His mentor had asked him to organize the pages while he was gone – although in retrospect, he wondered if Steele had just told him that to give himself something to do. In his eyes, he was a child. Usually, that would make his throat burn. But now it seemed almost funny. Wasn’t he? It was what everyone saw, anyways, when they looked at him.
As his eyes flitted, he looked again to the pages. The image on the front caught his eyes. It was a gruesome scene. Steele had a supply have old police procedurals, as well as more recent ones that he would acquire. It was the easiest way to keep up with the motions of their prey, he always said. For the first time that morning, he wondered what prey Steele had been trying to hunt.
More for lack of anything else to do, he stooped to his knees and gathered the pages. Most hadn’t been more than a little bent. In no time at all, he had them all rearranged. As he worked, he couldn’t help but look over the case files. He was used to the graphic nature of the job, and so thus observed them the same way a physician might a deadly disease. He could see the pattern without feeling the emotion. It was a series of murders and missing persons cases. Steele had left several notes on the margins of the pages, detailing connections amongst the cases and common patterns.
The final page he picked up was that of a girl. She couldn’t have been much older than him with her doll-like face, wide brown eyes, and wavy brown hair over her shoulders. Angel Rodriguez, the name read. Disappeared a little over a year ago. The high school had turned her in missing, not her parents. Curious. But most curious was before that. Acting out in class. School fights. She had been expelled twice. Sent to two different specialized schools for troubled children. And she’d been seen hanging out with a local gang. None of her neighbors would say much. One elderly neighbor said “they weren’t right”, but had been too frightened to say more.
Only her best friend had given a name. Darius.
He leaned back. Nothing about this was surprising. Werewolves caused disappearances and changes in behavior all the time. It came with the territory. But his mentor had seen a connection in all of these cases. The dates of these files were only within the last year. That much damage in that short of time? This wasn’t just a rogue misfit pack of nobodies. This was an animal with dozens of teeth.
He went to the atlas in the room and flipped it open. He had a cup of pins besides him. Without thinking of why he did it, he found the address the man on the phone had given him on the map and placed a red pin. Then he looked at the case files and placed pins for all the locations given as well.
It took him most of the day. Even after the pins had been placed, he needed to carefully superimpose the image in his head across many different pages of the maps. After a while, he gave up preserving the pages and just ripped them out. He hung them up on the corkboard Steele often used for just this purpose.
Only after he had it all arranged did he see the pattern. Or see the pattern in a way he couldn’t deny it any longer.
The girl’s disappearance, alongside all the other cases, occurred only in Middlecrest and Pinerich. That itself wasn’t surprising. Steele no doubt had filtered these files to be related, and therefore grabbed only those in a certain vicinity. But the red pin he had placed on the map from the phone call was not far outside the range at all…
He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. It was strange how Steele’s training always came back to him. Now, it told him to be calm. To analyze the facts, leading each successively to the next logical conclusion.
Fact. Robin had left to return to where she had come from.
Fact. A man held her hostage.
Fact. A werewolf organization, of significant size to cause several disappearances and deaths existed in the same location.
Fact. Werewolf packs were highly territorial.
Fact. Chances were high, then, that the same pack which had caused these disappearances and deaths, were involved somehow with Robin’s…
He leaned back, starring at the pins and the papers and looked away. So what? It didn’t matter. What could he do about it?
A phone call like that meant no good news. That man wasn’t going to just peacefully hand her over. The location he had given him was in the middle of nowhere – a place good as any to chuck his body and hers at the same time.
“You need a plan,” he growled, mimicking Steele’s voice as he did so, “You can’t just go rushing in. You have to—”
He caught the words before he said them, but in his own company, they only continued in his head. He had to. He had to save her. It didn’t matter what he said. This wasn’t just some ex she’d gone back to, it was-
It was a monster.
He looked back down at the pages.
“Okay.. time for a plan…”
He should tell Steele. He shouldn’t tell Steele.
He should do nothing. He stared at the pages of paper in front of him, but all the words swam a thousand miles away -- an unseeing eye to an ocean of meaningless ink on paper.
“Told you I wouldn’t even open the door if you came crawling back and begged”.
No one was around. Didn’t matter. The pages looked like they judged the words, so a mounting pressure in his chest escaped like steam from his nose. A hand swept out and the steam escaped in a shout. Pages scattered in a flurry and rained down to the floor.
“Die like a DOG!”
The pages had all flopped to the ground. Stomp them, smash them, into tiny balls his fist went, and a leg kicked up a clump of papers. It brought no satisfaction. No matter how well he abused the pages around him, the sensation remained like cold hands clenching his heart.
He fell to the floor, back leaning against the wall, and curled small. He felt like a child, too small to know what was happening. Helpless and stupid and slow and watching as it all happened without him. He leaned his face to his knees and sobbed. It was an honest sob; one he hadn’t allowed himself to have in a very long time. How could he? He was a hunter and Steele’s nephew. Even if he had been either of those things, Robin had been there too. He couldn’t have let himself be this way unless he was alone.
When nothing else would come out, he layed back against the wall and felt every nerve of his body drained dry.
“She’s just a dog. Doesn’t matter. You can get a new one…” he mumbled, but the words had no conviction.
He stared at the pages absently. His mentor had asked him to organize the pages while he was gone – although in retrospect, he wondered if Steele had just told him that to give himself something to do. In his eyes, he was a child. Usually, that would make his throat burn. But now it seemed almost funny. Wasn’t he? It was what everyone saw, anyways, when they looked at him.
As his eyes flitted, he looked again to the pages. The image on the front caught his eyes. It was a gruesome scene. Steele had a supply have old police procedurals, as well as more recent ones that he would acquire. It was the easiest way to keep up with the motions of their prey, he always said. For the first time that morning, he wondered what prey Steele had been trying to hunt.
More for lack of anything else to do, he stooped to his knees and gathered the pages. Most hadn’t been more than a little bent. In no time at all, he had them all rearranged. As he worked, he couldn’t help but look over the case files. He was used to the graphic nature of the job, and so thus observed them the same way a physician might a deadly disease. He could see the pattern without feeling the emotion. It was a series of murders and missing persons cases. Steele had left several notes on the margins of the pages, detailing connections amongst the cases and common patterns.
The final page he picked up was that of a girl. She couldn’t have been much older than him with her doll-like face, wide brown eyes, and wavy brown hair over her shoulders. Angel Rodriguez, the name read. Disappeared a little over a year ago. The high school had turned her in missing, not her parents. Curious. But most curious was before that. Acting out in class. School fights. She had been expelled twice. Sent to two different specialized schools for troubled children. And she’d been seen hanging out with a local gang. None of her neighbors would say much. One elderly neighbor said “they weren’t right”, but had been too frightened to say more.
Only her best friend had given a name. Darius.
He leaned back. Nothing about this was surprising. Werewolves caused disappearances and changes in behavior all the time. It came with the territory. But his mentor had seen a connection in all of these cases. The dates of these files were only within the last year. That much damage in that short of time? This wasn’t just a rogue misfit pack of nobodies. This was an animal with dozens of teeth.
He went to the atlas in the room and flipped it open. He had a cup of pins besides him. Without thinking of why he did it, he found the address the man on the phone had given him on the map and placed a red pin. Then he looked at the case files and placed pins for all the locations given as well.
It took him most of the day. Even after the pins had been placed, he needed to carefully superimpose the image in his head across many different pages of the maps. After a while, he gave up preserving the pages and just ripped them out. He hung them up on the corkboard Steele often used for just this purpose.
Only after he had it all arranged did he see the pattern. Or see the pattern in a way he couldn’t deny it any longer.
The girl’s disappearance, alongside all the other cases, occurred only in Middlecrest and Pinerich. That itself wasn’t surprising. Steele no doubt had filtered these files to be related, and therefore grabbed only those in a certain vicinity. But the red pin he had placed on the map from the phone call was not far outside the range at all…
He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. It was strange how Steele’s training always came back to him. Now, it told him to be calm. To analyze the facts, leading each successively to the next logical conclusion.
Fact. Robin had left to return to where she had come from.
Fact. A man held her hostage.
Fact. A werewolf organization, of significant size to cause several disappearances and deaths existed in the same location.
Fact. Werewolf packs were highly territorial.
Fact. Chances were high, then, that the same pack which had caused these disappearances and deaths, were involved somehow with Robin’s…
He leaned back, starring at the pins and the papers and looked away. So what? It didn’t matter. What could he do about it?
A phone call like that meant no good news. That man wasn’t going to just peacefully hand her over. The location he had given him was in the middle of nowhere – a place good as any to chuck his body and hers at the same time.
“You need a plan,” he growled, mimicking Steele’s voice as he did so, “You can’t just go rushing in. You have to—”
He caught the words before he said them, but in his own company, they only continued in his head. He had to. He had to save her. It didn’t matter what he said. This wasn’t just some ex she’d gone back to, it was-
It was a monster.
He looked back down at the pages.
“Okay.. time for a plan…”
Quote from Adriana on November 2, 2023, 3:22 pm*****
The old airplane hangar sat with it's rusty doors mostly shut. The space they were open was just big enough for a man to fit through.
Tall fields of dry, brown grass gave sway to the heavy wind. The clouds were gray and thick, but it was too cold for rain.
Darius waited. He was not a patient man, or an honest one. If he meant to kill Robin, he would have had the job done already.
Steele had disrespected him, twice now. Once two years ago - when he showed up and, in some act of pity, took Robin in exchange for the packs freedom. Then again, three days ago.
When he'd found Robin's cell phone, and the contact listed as "Steele Jr", Darius figured it was his son. Sounded too young, but, maybe the old dog had another kid later on, after his daughter died. Either way, the opportunity appeared too good to pass up.
He sat at a desk in a room at the back of the hangar. It was a small room, designed to work as a place to rest, radio out, maybe keep some personal belongings. Now it was bare, except for the built in desk, a few wool blankets on the floor, and the cigarette butts and various bottles of alcohol that were strewn about.
He lowered his brow over his burnt orange eyes, glancing back at Robin, who sat up against a wall, restrained and unconscious.
"Tch.. all those years and you ain't got a clue about us. Man, thought I taught you better. Waste of my time. Coulda run the whole op when I'm gone, played your cards right." he spoke slowly, his deep voice lacking emotion. He took a long swig of the beer in front of him. Robin coughed.
"Naw, gotta think your some reborn hero vigilante, some preacher. You're a used up dog, ain't no one ever gon' see you as anything else."
He jerked his arm up to pull back the sleeve and looked at his watch.
"Got six hours."
*****
The old airplane hangar sat with it's rusty doors mostly shut. The space they were open was just big enough for a man to fit through.
Tall fields of dry, brown grass gave sway to the heavy wind. The clouds were gray and thick, but it was too cold for rain.
Darius waited. He was not a patient man, or an honest one. If he meant to kill Robin, he would have had the job done already.
Steele had disrespected him, twice now. Once two years ago - when he showed up and, in some act of pity, took Robin in exchange for the packs freedom. Then again, three days ago.
When he'd found Robin's cell phone, and the contact listed as "Steele Jr", Darius figured it was his son. Sounded too young, but, maybe the old dog had another kid later on, after his daughter died. Either way, the opportunity appeared too good to pass up.
He sat at a desk in a room at the back of the hangar. It was a small room, designed to work as a place to rest, radio out, maybe keep some personal belongings. Now it was bare, except for the built in desk, a few wool blankets on the floor, and the cigarette butts and various bottles of alcohol that were strewn about.
He lowered his brow over his burnt orange eyes, glancing back at Robin, who sat up against a wall, restrained and unconscious.
"Tch.. all those years and you ain't got a clue about us. Man, thought I taught you better. Waste of my time. Coulda run the whole op when I'm gone, played your cards right." he spoke slowly, his deep voice lacking emotion. He took a long swig of the beer in front of him. Robin coughed.
"Naw, gotta think your some reborn hero vigilante, some preacher. You're a used up dog, ain't no one ever gon' see you as anything else."
He jerked his arm up to pull back the sleeve and looked at his watch.
"Got six hours."
Quote from Indy on November 2, 2023, 3:32 pmA small white crown victoria came pulling up across the field. It wasn't a terribly significant thing, although it had bars across the grill. It would do well to push back a crowd of men- lessso to push back a crowd of werewolves. Even so, a car was better protection than nothing at all.
Glasses tensed. He would say it wasn't too late to turn back now, but unfortunately, that time had already come and went. He'd done half the job, now there was the matter of the other half...
Something thunked from the spacious trunk of the vehicle.
"Shutup," he snapped, "Your time is coming. Just be cool, sit nice and tight - not that you can go anywhere else, heh - and you'll be eating raw rats by dinnertime tonight".
He swallowed hard, eyes looking steadily ahead. There wasn't much to look at around him. Although there could be more of them hiding in the wheat, he assumed the hangar was the central point of operations... There was nowhere to go but forward. He inched his car forward, then stopped a few hundred yards from the hangar.
A small white crown victoria came pulling up across the field. It wasn't a terribly significant thing, although it had bars across the grill. It would do well to push back a crowd of men- lessso to push back a crowd of werewolves. Even so, a car was better protection than nothing at all.
Glasses tensed. He would say it wasn't too late to turn back now, but unfortunately, that time had already come and went. He'd done half the job, now there was the matter of the other half...
Something thunked from the spacious trunk of the vehicle.
"Shutup," he snapped, "Your time is coming. Just be cool, sit nice and tight - not that you can go anywhere else, heh - and you'll be eating raw rats by dinnertime tonight".
He swallowed hard, eyes looking steadily ahead. There wasn't much to look at around him. Although there could be more of them hiding in the wheat, he assumed the hangar was the central point of operations... There was nowhere to go but forward. He inched his car forward, then stopped a few hundred yards from the hangar.
Quote from Adriana on November 2, 2023, 4:03 pmLong before the car stopped, static came over a radio on the desk in front of Darius. "Driving up--half mile." then a few minutes later, "Quarter mile out. Parking."
"Sights on him. Don't kill em unless you have to."
He stood and left. The door to the windowless, metal room was shut and locked, and he went to the doors of the hangar. When he reached them, he wasn't a man. The only thing that could be seen in the dark shed was the silhouette of a beast, with two orange eyes like pinpricks staring out and waiting for the driver to emerge.
Long before the car stopped, static came over a radio on the desk in front of Darius. "Driving up--half mile." then a few minutes later, "Quarter mile out. Parking."
"Sights on him. Don't kill em unless you have to."
He stood and left. The door to the windowless, metal room was shut and locked, and he went to the doors of the hangar. When he reached them, he wasn't a man. The only thing that could be seen in the dark shed was the silhouette of a beast, with two orange eyes like pinpricks staring out and waiting for the driver to emerge.
Quote from Indy on November 2, 2023, 4:09 pmHe didn't bother to roll down his windows. That monster would hear him just fine in a loud speaking voice.. possibly, well enough to hear the sound of breathing from his trunk.
"Show me she's alive".
His attention was to the monster, but also to the fields and the beasts that surrounded him. He wouldn't close the gap yet. He would need his space if any of this had hope to succeed.
He didn't bother to roll down his windows. That monster would hear him just fine in a loud speaking voice.. possibly, well enough to hear the sound of breathing from his trunk.
"Show me she's alive".
His attention was to the monster, but also to the fields and the beasts that surrounded him. He wouldn't close the gap yet. He would need his space if any of this had hope to succeed.
