Here's the beginning of a book I'm writing. If you like it, leave a tip if you can
It was March in New York city, the weather was just starting to get nice, and Tyler was excited about this week. It was Spring Break, and it was going to be the best Spring Break ever. In the years previous, they had always just stayed in the city, and sure there was plenty to do, but nothing beats the sun, sand and that ocean breeze for spring break. Plus, no girls are taking their tops off in the middle of Time Square, at least, no girls you want to see without a shirt on. So this was going to be the best Spring Break ever.
He sat in his room waiting for Jeff's call, they were supposed to have left already. Tyler had his bags packed and by the door, but Jeff hadn't called yet. So he decided to kill some time. He grabbed his stash box, grabbed a medium sized joint and burned it about half way down before thinking, "Maybe something happened." So he put it out, and decided to call Jeff. But no answer, "shite". So he called Chloe, she answered:
"Hey Tyler, have you heard from Jeff yet? I thought we were supposed to leave like a half hour ago." She said.
"That's actually why I called, you haven't heard anything either?" He replied.
"No." She said sounding confused and kind of angry
"Well thanks, I'll let you know if I hear anything." He said before hanging up. "shite" he said, then dialed Shane's number.
"Tyler" he answered sounding somber, "Were about to be at your house, but... We hit someone"
"YOU HIT SOMEONE!? What do you mean you hit someone?" Tyler yelled.
"I mean... we hit someone." Shane replied. Then he hung up.
"SHIIIIIIT!" Tyler yelled, "What the frak were they thinking? This was going to be the best week ever." The he heard a honk, so he went outside. There was Jeff's huge white SUV, and all over the grill and hood of the car were red smeared stains. Tyler looked at the car in shock and horror, but then the passenger side window rolled down and he could hear and then see Jeff and Shane laughing hysterically.
"You should see the look on your face!" Shane said, through laughs while pointing at Tyler mockingly. "It's fake dude."
"Are you serious?" Said Tyler bewildered, "We aren't going to be able to drive around like that."
"Don't worry." Jeff replied, "We'll hit a car wash before we leave town."
Then the back passenger window rolled down, Beth was sitting there and said "Come on slow poke, get your stuff and lets go get Chloe." So Tyler went inside, grabbed his 2 duffle bags, put them in the trunk, and called Chloe to tell her they were coming as he got in the backseat.
"I just got picked up, we're coming to get you now." He told her.
"Finally," she said happily, "I'll be outside." Then hung up.
When they pulled up, Tyler saw Chloe's hand go over her mouth, then Shane rolled down the window to point another mocking finger and telling her the truth. Then Chloe got in the back with Tyler and Beth, after throwing her bags in the trunk.
"Now for a carwash, and just over a thousand miles to the beach." Jeff announced, "But we're gonna have to drive through the boonies... The deep South. You guys ready for some crazy red necks?" he said laughing.
"Maybe we should keep the blood on the car," Shane joked, "To scare off any creepers."
"No," Tyler said, "I have weed on me, and we'll probably get pulled over every 20 minutes if we don't wash that shite off."
"Why you gotta bring that shite in my car?" Jeff asked, looking in the rear view mirror at Tyler, but then caught a glimpse of himself and patted his hand on his gelled up hair.
"Don't get mad at him" Beth said, punching Jeff in the arm, "I told him to bring it" she added.
"Well, I'm not taking the blame for that shite if we get pulled over." He said, disapprovingly "And neither are you." he said to beth, his little sister.
"Whatever" she said to end it, rolling her eyes.
So they went through a car wash, and drove through the night, Shane and Jeff taking turns driving sober, while everyone that wasn't driving slept or smoked and talked. They made it about 700 miles in 30 hrs including stops.
They pulled into a little town about an three hours outside Atlanta as the sun began to go down, it wasn't dark yet but in another hour or two it would be. They saw a small motel and decided to stop for the night. Tyler got out of the car and went into the little office with Shane to get some rooms. When they walked in the office the first thing they notice was amounted wolf, the office was only about 13ft X 13ft, and the wolf was about 6 ft long and facing the door with a angry rabid look.
"Can I help you?" Said a man at the desk that they hadn't even noticed they were so shocked and entranced by the wolf.
"Did you kill that?" Shane asked.
"No, that's my sons, " the man said, "But I cleaned it, stuffed it and mounted it." he added proudly. Then, "Anything I can help you with though gentlemen?"
"Oh," Said Tyler, "Yeah, we're looking for two rooms with four beds."
"Well, I'll need a credit card and ID." The man replied, and Tyler handed him his. He looked around at the rest of the office decorations as he waited, and noticed everything had wolves on it.
"You like wolves?" Tyler asked, and Shane giggled a little.
"Well," the man replied, still entering a few things into the computer. "There are some stories about this town." He looked up from the screen, "Stories of, men who hunt like wolves. Wolves who act like men. Children disappearing from families. Demons that stalk the night."
"Werewolves?" Shane asked on the verge of hysterical laughter
"You think it's funny?" The man said, "My cousin's friend Jim Harnell die just last week. They said an animal broke down his door, and gutted him like a fish right in his living room."
Shane got excited "Would we be allowed to check out the house?"
"NO!" the man replied disgusted, "A man died there, and the city still has it marked off as a crime scene." Then he got their keys, and handed them each one.
Tyler and Shane walked out to the car, and Shane put a key in Jeff's free hand, the other arm was around Chloe. "Thanks." said Jeff, "You with us?" Jeff asked Shane,
"Yeah." he replied, "You're not gonna believe what the guy inside told us." Shane said excited. "This town is haunted by werewolves, and someone was killed LAST WEEK!"
"You don't believe in that shite, do you?" Jeff asked, as he let go of Chloe to go get some stuff out of the trunk.
"Well, no" Shane replied, "But I really think we should try to check out the place where the guy got ripped apart."
"That's sick." Tyler chimed in
"Don't be a pussy." Jeff replied, then added "We'll try to swing by in the morning before we head out." Then he went with Chloe and headed towards the rooms. Then everyone else got stuff to take showers, and a change of clothes, then went to their rooms.
Tyler was in the room watching TV and Beth was in the shower. They intended on sleeping in separate beds, but Tyler was hoping Beth felt something for him, and thought he might try to make a move that night. Beth came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her and started looking for her pajamas.
"What are you watching?' She asked Tyler as she searched a bag.
"I don't even know yet." He replied, "Never seen this before and there's no guide on this TV."
"Well it looks like...she said looking at the TV, "actually I don't know either. We'll have to watch it." She finished, before walking into the bathroom to change.
Then there was a noise at the door. A scratch. Then another. Tyler knew there was a wolf at the door. He sat frozen, the TV was completely tuned out. He didn't even hear Beth walk back in the room.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." She said as Tyler nearly jumped out of his skin, having not noticed her. Then another scratch at the door. Then a knock.
"Come on guys!" It was Shane's voice. They opened the door, and he was laughing. "Sorry," he said "just thought I'd get you excited. Before I told you."
"Told us what?" Tyler replied.
"So Chloe and Jeff are in there..." Shane made some lude gestures, "So I came out here, right. And listen." he said, putting his finger over his lips. And a few seconds later there was a mad howl, as if something was being tortured. But it was like a wolf, calling out to something.
"Holy shite," Tyler said, "frakkin werewolves." then he smiled. "we totally we need to check that place out in the morning."
"You know it" Shane replied, "You got any buds left?" he asked before leaving.
"Yeah." Tyler said, grabbing him a nug and a paper before closing the door. Tyler and Beth were alone. And there was a movie on neither of them had seen.
"So... You want to watch that?" she asked?
"Totally", he said, sitting on the corner of the closest bed. He grabbed the controller and turned up the volume, then she sat next to him.
They sat and watched the movie for a while, then Chloe turned to him and said, "We've... Known each other for a while now right?"
"Yeah" Tyler replied.
"And... we're on spring break."
"Yeah" Tyler said again, quieter and more nervous this time.
"I think..." She said moving closer, "We..." He moved closer. Then they kissed and both of them felt completely relieved, but completely enthralled in the moment. They slowly moved to lay down on the bed. *BOOM* There was a loud bang on the door, then a snarl. The moment was lost, and they were both afraid. Tyler got up to open the door. He slowly moved closer to it. Then another bang. He slowly put his hand towards the knob, then another bang. He opened the door, and "God dammit" he said laughing. And so was Shane.
"You should have seen your face when you opened the door dude." He said still laughing, then "Hey, I still got most of this joint left. You guys want to finish it with me? They're still in their..." He made different lude gestures this time.
"Sure," Tyler said, "As long as you'll stop doing that."
"Deal" said Shane walking in the room, lighting the joint and passing it to Beth.
She took a fat hit then said, "Good thing you had weed, or I would have been pissed."
"I know, I didn't mean to scare you guys." Then he laughed, while Beth and Tyler shared a quick look, "Oh wait, yes I did." Shane finished. Then they all went to bed, and Shane stayed in their room that night, so they shared a bed.
In the morning Shane woke them up, excited to go werewolf hunting, so they got dressed, grabbed their bags and went over to Jeff and Chloe's room and knocked on the door. "You guys ready to get back on the road?" Jeff said as he opened the door.
"NO!" Shane yelled, "We gotta check out the murder scene!"
"You were serious about that shite?" Jeff asked, kind of annoyed.
"Uh, no shite." Shane said matter of factly.
"Alright, then let's go" Jeff said. He and Chloe grabbed their stuff while the rest of them headed to the car. "Do you even know where this place is?" Jeff yelled out to the car.
"No," Shane yelled back, "But this town isn't that big, it won't be too hard to find the police line."
So they loaded up the car and started driving and searching. It got later and later, and soon it was only a few hours till sundown again. "We gotta head out." Jeff said, pissed off.
"Does anyone even know where we are?" Asked Shane, and no one replied. Everyone looked at their phones.
"No signal" said Tyler first
"Me either" added Chloe
"Same" Beth said dissapointed
"Well I got nothin" Shane said last
"So were lost?" asked Chloe?
"It's alright babe, I'll get us out of here, we just gotta head south." So they drove and drove, and eventually it started to get dark. So they turned around, and tried to head back into town. But there weren't even any more paved roads, they had no idea where they were, and no idea how to get back. Then, without any notice, the car ran out of gas, and they were stranded on the side of the road.
"shite" Jeff yelled, "You guys just had to see the frakkin murder scene didn't you. All because of some STUPID lege-" Shane's window was rolled down, and a howl could be heard not far a way. It sounding as it an animal was being tortured, and Shane rolled his window up.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that" he said shakily, as his window closed completely.
"What the hell was that?" Beth whisper-yelled, freaking out.
Jeff started "It was probably just-" then it happened again, and could be hear through the closed windows. "shite, shite, shite!" He finished.
The car shook violently as something smashed into one side, and crawled over the hood of the car. But continued on after stumbling over the car. Chloe crouched down under her seat and started screaming, and Jeff tried to reach back to calm her down. Beth was freaking out too and Tyler grabbed her hand. Shane started looking around for something, anything. And after a few minutes they all calmed down, and sat silently until they all fell asleep.
They woke up in the morning and everyone was ok. They went outside to look at the car and there was a huge dent in the side, and scratches across the hood. "What the frak!" Jeff yelled examining the damage, "What the hell could have done this?"
"Werewolf!" Shane said excitedly right away, taking a picture with his phone.
"Look there's a church." Said Chloe, pointing out into a field and out about two miles at a small brown wooden building with a steeple topped with a cross. "And it's Sunday, we should go."
"I haven't been to church since I was like twelve." Jeff sneered.
"Liar!" said Beth "Mom makes us go every Christmas and Easter."
"I meant by choice." He argued back.
"We should still go" said Chloe, grabbing Jeff's arm.
"What about the car though?" he asked, pointing at the damage.
"It'll be fine!' Chloe assured him, "You afraid a WEREWOLF might get it?" She said laughing and tickling him, then going up to kiss him. "Let's go." She said.
"Alright" he finally agreed, then kissed her, and they all headed into the field, towards the church.
They walked up to the church and could hear singing inside. "Are you sure this is ok?" Jeff asked, skeptical about walking into a church right in the middle of a service.
"It's fine" Chloe said putting a hand on the door, "They won't even noti-" as she opened the door the singing stopped and the 20 or so people, made up of four or five families scattered in the pews of the church, all turned back to look at the open door.
"It seems we have some visitors" said the minister, standing on the stage at the front of the congregation. "Find a seat wherever you'd like, and everyone give them a nice welcome."
"Welcome!" the whole church said in unison.
So they found an empty pew in the back and sat down "It seems we will have to do without retribution today as our guests may not approve, but-" Jeff started talking so that the group tuned out the minister.
"Yeah, 'no one will notice'." He said grudgingly to Chloe.
"I'm sorry." She replied. Then everyone started singing again, a strange chant like hymn. Then the members of the congregation began ponding their feet on the ground and there was a howl, that sounded like it was coming from inside the church.
"What the frak!" Shane yelled, and the church fell to silence again.
"Excuse me son, but this is the lords house." Said one of the church members that was close, and had two kids sitting with him.
"I'm sorry." Shane apologized, "Do you know what that was though?" and the man ignored him. "Wow, really?" he said, looking back at his friends. "Can you believe this guy?" he asked.
"SHHH!" Chloe said putting her finger over her mouth.
The minister got loud enough to grab their attention "-and god said ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'. Then everyone fell silent, and there was a thick tension in the room. Tyler could tell it was because of them, they were in the way of something.
"I think we should go." Said Tyler, and a few of the church members looked at him with eyes that said he was right. Him and Beth stood up.
"You don't have to ask me twice." Jeff said jumping up, and Chloe followed reluctantly. Shane was the last one out the door, but before crossing the threshold he turned and gave the congregation two middle fingers, then left and closed the door.
They headed back to the car, and started making plans about what to do next. "We need to find a gas station." Jeff started.
"Well..." Said Shane pausing for a moment, "there is a parking lot full of cars over there..."
"And?" asked Beth.
"We could syphon from their tanks." Answered Shane
"Stealing from a church?" Said Chloe sounding sad.
"It's that, or go back in there and ask for directions. And I really don't think we should interrupt again" said shane, "And I kinda flipped them all off."
So they grabbed a few containers and went to the parking lot.
"I really don't think this is a good idea." Said Chloe, grabbing Jeff's arm and looking at the church, afraid that someone was going to come out at any moment.
"It's fine." He told her, "This seems like the kind of town where church isn't over until that guy decides he's done talking." Shane was on the side of the church, cutting a section of hose from their spicket. He brought it over to Jeff who stuck it in the gas tank of a large truck, then sucked on the other end until gas went into his mouth and he spit it out. He stuck the lose end in one of the containers they had brought, and it started to fill up.
There was scream like howl from inside the church, everyone jumped and Jeff dropped the gas and the hose started flowing all over the ground. "shite, shite." He said grabbing the container and putting it back on the hose, "we need to get the frak out of here... Hand me another bottle!" He said angrily as the first one filled up. Then he filled up that one and two more. They started running back to the SUV, looking back at the church the whole time and yelling to each other.
"What the frak do you think was in there?" Yelled Tyler.
"Werewolves!" Yelled Shane.
"Stop it with that shite" said Jeff, who was afraid, and who could tell Chloe was freaking out as well.
They got back to the car, got in, and buckled up.
A voice came from behind the back seat and everyone jumped, "I seen what ya'll were doing." It said quietly, and everyone turned around as they jumped. Chloe and Beth both screamed.
When they turned around their was a young girl there. "We-We're sorry." Chloe said scared.
"It's ok" The girl replied, "I want to get out of here, they... They do... things... here."
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.
"The wolves..." the girl said, "It's just wrong." and she started to cry silently.
"We need to get the frak out of here" Jeff said starting the car, "But we can't be kidnaping anyone, how old are you?"
"Eighteen." She replied.
"And what's your name?" Beth asked.
"Catherine." She answered.
Catherine told them how to get back into town so they could fill up the gas tank the rest of the way, then they planned on heading out. But while they were at the gas station, there was a small group of men there, and one of the guys in the group yelled to them. "What are ya'll doing with the preachers daughter? I ain't never seen you before."
Catherine walked over to him and spoke with him quietly, then he yelled "You can't leave, your father wouldn't forgive us." And he grabbed her, then one of the guys he was standing with walked over to Jeff, Tyler and Shane and said, "Ya'll go wherever you need to go, you ain't taking her with you."
Jeff bowed up, "She's an adult." he argued, "She can make her own decisions. Plus, what the frak is going on in this creepy ass town anyways?" The guy shoved him, and Jeff shoved back and they started fighting and went to the ground wrestling. Tyler and Shane each pulled one of them off of each other, and the other guys in the group came over, so Tyler and Shane released both men, who stopped fighting.
"Ya'll better get goin." The guy that ha been fighting with Jeff said.
They got in the car, "This is thrusted up!" Jeff said when he closed the door, and then he punched the roof. "These po-dunk, piece of shite people! They can't make her stay here. And I want to know what she was talking about, we should call the police." and he grabbed his phone.
"The Police!?!" Tyler yelled, "First off we don't know ANYONE in this town. Second, that was the PREACHER'S DAUGHTER, the cops aren't gonna be on our side. Third, we STILL have weed in the car."
Then Jeff got out of the car, and opened the trunk. He shuffled through some bags and pulled out a bat. "What are you doing?" Chloe said nervously.
"She's coming with us." He said, getting back in the driver seat and handing brass knuckles to both Shane and Tyler. "You guys ready?" He asked.
They got out of the car and started walking back towards the group of men and Catherine who were standing by cars at the gas station, one of the guys had Catherine by the arm, and it looked like he was lecturing her.
"Don't do this." Said Chloe, grabbing Jeff and trying to stop him. "You could end up in jail."
"Don't worry, we're leaving town right after this." he replied, and kept walking. Chloe stopped and went back to the car, and Beth went with her.
Jeff, Tyler and Shane walked up side to side, and Jeff put the bat on his shoulder. "Let her go." He said calmly.
"We told you to get out of here." One of the guys holding Catherine hostage said, "This is none of your business, you wouldn't understand."
"Try me." Said Jeff.
"Just leave." The man replied. Then he signaled to one of his friends who went to the trunk of their truck, and grabbed a shovel and a crow bar, and handed the crow bar to the man who had signaled.
"frak you." Said Jeff and he lunged, and swung the bat back before he struck. Then there was a gun shot. Everyone froze, it had come from the direction of the SUV, and everyone turned. Chloe and Beth were standing there, Chloe had a revolver in her hand, and was pointing it in the air. Then she pointed it and the man with the crow bar.
"frakking, LET HER GO!" Chloe yelled, the men dropped what they were holding, including Catherine. And she ran over to them and hugged Chloe.
"Thank you." Catherine said crying.
"We're sorry." One of the men said, "We didn't mean anything. We were just trying to protect ourselves."
"Bullshit!" yelled Jeff.
"Shut the frak up baby!" Chloe yelled, glaring at him. Then she started backing up, and they all followed her back to the car.
When they got back in the car they were all silent for about a minute as Jeff drove as fast as he could towards the highway, then Catherine broke the silence. "Thank ya'll. So much. " She said smiling.
"What the frak was that?" Jeff said looking at Chloe.
"I didn't want anything to happen to you." She said defensively "I know how you are, and my dad's been making me carry this around for a long time. I have a permit."
"What do you mean 'you know how I am'?" he challenged.
"You were just about to beat the shite out of some people for someone you barely know!" She yelled.
"They had no right." he said.
"You had no reason" she yelled back. Then Catherine started talking.
"You guys really did save me. They do terrible things here." She explained.
"Yeah, I want to hear about this." Shane said, "What the hell is going on here?"
"Hold on," Jeff interrupted. "It's getting late, let's stop somewhere and you can tell us there. Where's a safe place to stay?" And she gave him directions to a nearby town off the highway and they rented a few rooms at a motel, but before they went in their room, they gathered in the parking lot to hear what Catherine had to say.
"So, why did you feel like you had to leave?" Chloe asked.
"When I was little I had a brother, and he would always get into mischief. But he was just a baby, he didn't know. And when we was 4 years old..." She started crying.
"He died?" Beth asked almost crying herself.
"No." Catherine replied. "Worse."
"Worse?" Everyone said at the same time, except Chloe who said "Shhh!"
"They..." Catherine continued, "They said he was a demon. That he deserved the firey pit that god had mad for him... And..."
"So they killed your brother?!?" Jeff yelled getting pissed off.
"No." She said crying into her hands. Then there was a howl. "They put him with the wolves." She finished.
"They fed him to wolves?" Chloe said sickened.
"No." Catherine replied wiping her tears. "They made him a demon. They said he was already a demon, but he wasn't. And they make me watch over him and the others when they are old enough, my father says that I'm their shepherd."
"What the frak are you talking about?" Jeff asked, "So what are you taking care of?" Then there was another howl.
"This land used to be sacred to the Indians" Catherine explained. "There are wolves that used to run free here, and the people that lived here worshiped them. They taught them how to hunt, how to care for one another, how to live. But the settlers came, and they saw what the Indians culture as satanic worship. So they locked all the children, from all those families..." She paused , overwhelmed by tears for a moment. "They locked them under ground. In the den with the wolves., they thought the wolves would eat them, and teach a lesson to those who they thought were dealing with the devil. But they didn't." She started crying again, but this time with a smile. "The wolves took care of the children, and when they opened the cage a week later, the wolves had even sacrificed one of their own to feed them." There was another howl, and she looked at the moon. "I shouldn't have left." she said, seeming worried now. "We can still hear them..."
"But what happened to your brother?" Tyler asked.
"He... Hold on, let me tell what they are." Catherine started, "The wolves never ate any of the children, and eventually there was only one wolf left. It sacrificed it's whole family for those children. So the settlers slayed the entire tribe right in front of the children, and then fed their torn up bodies to them. The settlers started feeding them daily and built a church on top of the den, our church. They left the children and the wolf alone for seven years before deciding what to do with them. There was a riot in town against the church. The people were saying that the church itself was against god, so the church let some of them loose. Those babies that had lost their parents and had no human contact for years. They let a few out, and they murdered so many people-" There was another howl. "They're getting closer!" Catherine said as the blood drained from her face. "We can't stay here tonight." She said heading back to the car.
"What?" asked Jeff "Are there really some kind of demons after us?"
"They aren't demons" she sobbed, "They're just..." she got in the car and closed the door crying. Everyone followed.
"You need to tell us what is going on!" Shane yelled, as Jeff started the car and back out.
"When children are too mischievous when they are babies..." She started crying harder, "They make them live with the demons under the church when they turn four years old."
"Your brother..." Chloe said sadly.
"They get raised by those things" Catherine continued. "And I was chosen to feed them, but none of them get human contact for seven years before I can see them."
"So..." Shane started, "What is he like?"
"They..." She paused and took a breath. "They burn out their eyes so that they become dependent on their other senses..." she cried so hard she couldn't talk for a while. But then she said, "Let me finish telling you what happened." She wiped her eyes, "They let some of them go to stop the riot, and they never came back after murdering almost thirty people and running off into the woods. So they developed a system, they isolate the children in pairs when they are very little, before being introduced to the rest of the demons."
"I think you should call them werewolves." Shane interrupted.
"Seriously?" Jeff said slapping him in the chest.
"Well, then once they introduce them to the rest of the demons," Catherine continued, "They allow them to be released to hunt sinners after seven years, but-"
"Wait." Tyler interrupted this time, "You said 'they hunt sinners', what does that mean?"
"They release them at night," Catherine answered, "And if you don't mark your house with wolfsbane or monkshood as the church requires, they will take your whole family."..."But that's not the point." She continued, "They put them in pairs, and they only release one, that way the one they release will always come back..."
"So when do they call them back?" Tyler asked.
"That's why I said I shouldn't have left" Catherine replied.
"What do you mean?" he was getting worried.
"My brother doesn't have a pair... They left him on his own, I'm the only thing he will come to. And I'm almost positive that the howl we've been hearing... Is his." Catherine finally told them. Everyone looked at each other and their was a moment of silence.
"Would he kill you?" Jeff asked.
"Shut up!" Chloe yelled at him.
"No" Catherine answered, "But someone is with him. And I don't think we're safe."
"One of the people from the church?" Beth asked.
"A demon." Catherine replied.
They drove for about twenty minutes, before Catherine said "Exit here." They exited and she directed Jeff through some back roads, then eventually she said, "We'll have to sleep in the car tonight, but I don't think anyone but my brother will find us here."
"Woah!-" Jeff was about to argue.
"It's fine, just let me get out first when he gets here." She assured him, "The hunt will be called off in a few hours, and the other demon will leave. My brother... He can... I mean... Can he come with us?"
Jeff replied, "I-I don't know what the frak to say right now. Let's try to sleep and talk about this... I don't know when I'll be ready, but I guess he'll be here in the morning."
"Okay." Catherine replied sadly. And they all tried to sleep, but most of them couldn't. Jeff and Catherine were the only ones that did. Jeff hoping he wouldn't have to wake up and face whatever this was. Catherine hoping her brother would be there in the morning.
It was still dark when something slammed into the side of the car, and everyone was stirred.
"Is that him?" Beth asked.
"Yes." Catherine replied, with a giant smile on her face. She got out of the car, and the thing jumped up and started licking her. It had long matted hair all the way down it's back, and animal furs covering only a few parts of it's body. Something was on it's fingers that looked like knives, and it's eyes were just scared fleshy patched, the rest of his body wasn't much different. It jumped down off of her and sniffed around, then looked into the car and growled. Catherine grabbed it's face, and pointed it to look her in the eye and said "Family" and pointed into the car. Then she motioned them to get out. "Each of you put your hands out with mine, and let him smell you." So they did, and it growled at first, but it smelled Catherine's hand, then their hand and when Catherine felt it was safe, she told them to scratch the base of his neck. And each time he responded like an animal. As they got a closer look they saw what was on his hands, it looked as if metal blades had been connected to the bones in his fingers with nuts and bolts.
"What's his name?" Jeff asked.
"Michael." She said happily.
"How can he tolerate that?" Beth asked pointing at his hands, after she scratched his neck.
"He's had them since he was little... He doesn't even notice." Catherine answered.
"Why does he have so many scars?" Chloe asked when it was her turn.
"They... Every Sunday, my father holds a retribution ceremony, and... They bring them up in cages, and everyone... They... We take iron to fire, then touch it to their flesh... My father says it washes away our sins, but it just makes the demons angrier... sadder... Can he come with?" She asked.
"We're gonna have to get Michael some sun glasses, some shoes, and maybe a sweat suit." Jeff said smiling, and Catherine ran over and hugged him. "And we gotta put something on his hands... That's leather in there." He said pointing back at the car and looking at Chloe to make sure she saw he wasn't hugging Catherine. So They set him up a nest space with their bags, and headed towards Atlanta to find a town with some stores.
