That’s not gonna happen with me.
We watched the flames for twenty minutes until we heard sirens. Sally got in the Blazer and pulled it off to the side, making space for the pumper truck which roared up to the collapsing cabin and shell of a car. I wasn’t surprised to see the large truck followed by a water tender. While on the LAPD, I’d gone through extensive training with the Los Angeles Fire Department during mandatory crisis management drills. During my training, I’d learned that there were varying types of fire apparatus’, each of which had specific uses. The most common fire truck was the pumper which was the typical one you’d see fighting small housefires in residential neighborhoods. It carried at minimum, just under a thousand gallons of water.
The water tender bringing up the rear was the type of truck specifically used to bring water to a rural site where fire hydrants hooked into city or county water system weren’t available. I wasn’t surprised to see it at this remote scene. I was pleasantly surprised, though, with the capability of the firefighters as they jumped out of the truck, unwound hoses, and immediately went to work, concentrating on putting out the fires. My fury grew as Sally and I watched Greg and Sam lose everything they owned.
At the end of a very long afternoon, we thanked Captain Hank Long of the Prosper Woods Fire Department. I hadn’t met him until now because he’d been on vacation with his family until last evening. I’d met the other guys on the small, all volunteer department of six men in the saloon during my first week in town. All of them were nice guys, and now that I’d seen them in action, I was impressed by how efficient and thorough they were. I told them so before they drove off.
As the sun began to set, I could tell that Sally was agitated. “Is there something wrong other than the obvious?” I asked.
She pointed to the sky. “Full moon tonight. We need to get the hell out of Frederick before dark.”
I hadn’t even thought about what that meant until now. We were in werewolf territory and, though, I’d never given it any consideration, that could mean we were in real trouble. I nodded.
“Let’s go. There’s nothing else we can do out here.”
As Sally and I turned to walk to the Blazer, I spotted several people standing at the edge of the tree line. They were a ragtag bunch, reminding me of hillbillies and hobos. The children had runny noses and dirty faces, and the women looked haggard and small. Among them was Floyd and another guy I recognized from the posse he’d had with him in the bar. Floyd glared at me, and I walked over.
“Did you have anything to do with this, Reardon?” I asked from beneath the kerchief. I noticed how there was a strange yellow glow to his eyes, not unlike the way his eyes had looked the night he’d transformed into that freakish half-man half-wolf form in front of Vincent’s house. It sent a chill down my spine, but I think my unease came more from the anxiety that was bleeding off Sally in fearful waves. Staying out here so late and all alone with my deputy had not been a great move on my part.
Just like she’d told me, Sally had a family and she really needed to get home to them in one piece. We should have left Frederick much earlier, but I’d wanted to stay and supervise the mop up, too afraid that the embers would reignite and set the whole forest on fire. I really needed to delegate and stop being a control freak. Floyd gave me an insolent up and down perusal and then finally settled his gaze on my face.
“Did I have anything to do with what?” he asked.
“With this fire, alpha,” Sally said from beside me.
Floyd turned and glared at my small deputy, taking a step toward her. My hand shot to my holster, and I unsnapped it as I stepped in front of Sally.
“Back off!”
Floyd sneered and the expression quickly morphed into an ugly smile. As a gay man all my life, I’d gone out with a lot of guys, some of them big burly rough trade. But, I’d never seen a guy Floyd’s size who was as ugly on the inside as this one. Hatred and violence practically radiated off the man. If we weren’t the law, and he wasn’t afraid all hell would rain down on him if something happened to us, there was no doubt in my mind that he would try to kill us where we stood.
“Don’t go near her!”
Floyd’s eyes flashed yellow, and he sneered again, glaring at me with such fury, I thought the trees all around us would catch fire. His gaze dropped to my hand on my weapon, and he finally held up both hands.
“No problem, Sher…iff,” he spat. “I just wanted to tell y’all you should leave before the moon’s out.”
Several of Floyd’s pack mumbled their agreement, and I suddenly had a clear understanding of what a pack animal really was. I could very easily imagine these wolves chasing down their prey as a pack, cornering it, and surrounding it, before taking it down. The pack would then devour it together.
My mind flashed back to Buck Walters’ remains. All we’d ever found of him was his head, feet, and hands. The
