Bark (The Werewolf Journal's Book 1) (12 page)

CHAPTER 41

Jay’s father knocked on Jay’s door walking into his son’s room.  “Hey, son, you doing okay?”

“Yeah, Dad, just a lot’s happened over the last few months,” Jay said, lowering his radio, which was playing an old Guns ‘n’ Roses song.

“Where’s Arnie?” his father asked.

“He went to Sarah’s.”

“You think he should be going out with everything going on?  I mean, the cops have been asking a lot of questions about the both of you; and if there is somebody out there killing people, maybe it’s better you stay indoors or at least be around a group of people when you two go out.  I’ve been thinking of maybe taking that job in San Antonio.  You know, maybe I can take Arnie with us, get you two out of this crazy town.” Jay’s dad ran his hand through his beard.

“Sounds good, Dad, but maybe you should let us finish out the school year.” Jay then jumped into his bed, lying down.

“You know, son, if you ever need to talk, no matter what it is, I’ll understand.”

“I know, Dad.”

“You still think about your friend Danny, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I was so used to him knocking on my window every morning to wake me up for school.”

“Or trying to sneak you out at night,” Jay’s father said with a laugh.  “I’d call Danny’s parents, and then we’d call Arnie’s parents, and there all of us were looking for you three boys at all hours of the night.”

“Danny didn’t like to be home; his parents were always fighting.  Even when Arnie and I would go over, they would be arguing,” Jay replied.  “A lot of times we snuck out just to cruise around and give Danny company.”  Jay adjusted the pillow that he was lying on.

“I got to admit, I miss that kid.  No matter how much trouble he got you into, he always knew how to talk ya’ll out of it.  He was a good kid and a good friend to you.  I’m sure he’s in a better place.  How’s Arnie dealing with what happened to his parents?”

“He’s not doing too good, Dad.  I mean he’s gone through a lot.  He’s become real

distant,” Jay said with a sigh.

“I can’t blame the poor kid.  I still can’t believe his parents are gone too.  We used to plan birthday parties together.  I got along with his father really well whenever he was in town.  It feels bad that you all have to go through this.  I wish there was something I could do to make things better.  Don’t worry, son.  Arnie will come around.”

“I can’t imagine what you’re feeling, but if it’s any consolation, I remember when your mom left us, and I saw her with that other man.  It felt like the woman I loved had died even though she was still alive.  It took years before I got over your mother.  I would think of her all the time.  It got to a point where it affected everything I did.  Until one day I saw your mother again at a restaurant with that other man.  She had gone on.  She looked happy, and I was miserable.  That’s when I decided to go on myself because no matter how we lose the people we love, life goes on.  Life doesn’t wait for us to catch up.  You get what I mean?” Jay’s father asked.

“I do, Dad.”

Jay’s father messed up his son’s hair with his hands.  “So now that we got this out of the way, why don’t we try to clean up this room?” his dad said, walking out.

Jay hadn’t had a heart-to-heart with his dad in a while.  The last one they had was when his mom left them.  Dad’s a good man.  It’s too bad he hasn’t found a good woman.  It’s been almost seven years now, he thought, hoping one day his father would find someone to make him happy.  If only I could find a way to make everything right with Arnie.  Jay stared at the ceiling.

CHAPTER 42

“I gotta get going,” Sarah said.  “Have an appointment.  Take care, Jay, and take care of Arnie.  “Goodbye, Mr. Krinard.”

“Don’t forget the eclipse.  It’s in about five minutes,” the teacher said cheerfully.

“I won’t,” Sarah said, leaving.

Jay sat there for a moment knowing that it had come – time to head back to the woods with Arnie.  There’d be a full moon tonight, he thought.  His teacher’s word, eclipse, echoed through his mind.  Jay’s eyes widened as he rushed out of class, realizing what was about to happen.  How could we have overlooked this? he thought as his teacher rushed after him.

Arnie’s eyes scanned through the books as he walked the aisle of the library.  He came across a book that read
The Beast Within
.  An unbearable feeling of heat rushed through his body.  He struggled to the corner of the library, realizing what was about to happen. His bone began to creak and pop as he stumbled to a nearby rest room.  Arnie looked into the mirror in horror as his face began to painfully stretch.  There was nothing he could do.  He couldn’t fight what was happening.  How could I let this happen?  His muscles began to tighten.  It’ll be a massacre, Arnie thought with his last bit of consciousness.

Jay ran through the hallway as a security guard tackled him.  “Where do you think you’re going, kid?” the black security guard asked him.

“Look, I got to get out of here.  I’m not feeling well,” Jay replied.

“That’s what the nurse is for,” the security guard replied.

“You don’t understand.  I forgot my medicine at home.  I need it.”

“All right, kid, get going.  But if you’re not back in an hour, I’ll go looking for you.

“Thanks,” Jay said, running toward the library.

CHAPTER 43

Screams filled the air as students ran out of the library.  Jay pushed and shoved his way through the crowd.  Jay looked up, covering his eyes as the eclipse finally came to an end.

“He killed them all,” a girl cried fanatically.

Jay rushed into the library, covering his mouth in disgust as students and teachers alike lay slaughtered like animals.  There were bodies everywhere.  Blood seeped from one girl’s cracked skull onto her algebra homework.  Another kid’s head had been ripped open, revealing his cranium.  Teachers he knew lay on the floor, blood seeping out of their chests.  Jay had to pause momentarily and stop himself from throwing up as he stepped through the puddles of blood creating red footsteps.  The fire alarm sounded loudly as he looked through the aisles searching for Arnie.  He could hear the doors to the library slamming open.  Police rushed in as horrified survivors screamed outside.

Jay finally came upon an aisle where his friend lay naked on top of another boy.  His body was stained with blood as his fingers perforated the boy’s eyes.  Meat from the boy’s body hung from Arnie’s mouth.

The policemen shoved Jay out of the way as they kicked Arnie off the dead boy’s body. “Sick son of a bitch,” one officer said as another hit Arnie in the head with a nightstick, not caring that he was unconscious.

“Leave him alone.  He’s sick,” Jay yelled as two officers escorted him out.  Jay struggled to stay behind with his friend, but he knew there was nothing he could do to hide what had just happened.  Jay stood outside as passing students tried to get a look at what had happened.  Jay looked around as a girl cried, struggling to clean the blood off her face.  Jay made sure that no one had been bitten as he made his way through the crowd.  He had to make sure that everyone that had survived hadn’t gotten infected or the town would have a far bigger problem.  Thankfully, everyone that survived seemed to have gotten away with just a few bumps and bruises.

A large crowd had amassed outside the library doors as they waited to see the one responsible for the massacre. The doors swung open as they shoved Arnie through the crowd.  Students threw books and trash at him, and the officers tried desperately to control the situation.  The teens cursed Arnie as they made their way through the crowd.  Jay spotted Arnie through the crowd and could tell that the officers had beaten him up even more.  Arnie’s left eye was shut, swollen.  Arnie looked at Jay as the officers pushed him through the doors to the front of the school and shook his head in disbelief as he looked on at television cameras and reporters waiting outside.  The officers covered

his face with a jacket as they led him to a patrol car.  They put Arnie in, and the car drove away.

This is bad, Jay thought as a student shoved him to the floor.  Four more students surrounded Jay.

“That friend of yours killed my sister,” one student shouted at him.

“He’s sick,” Jay replied, trying to get up as another student kicked him in the stomach.

“Sick in the head is what he is,” a student yelled.  The four boys began punching Jay as he covered his face with his arms.  He could feel boots and fists pounding against his body until finally security separated the boys from him.

Jay spit out a bloody tooth to the floor, looking at the boys that had jumped on him in anger. “None of you know what he’s going through.  He’s sick.  He can’t help what’s happening to him!”

“He’s a murderer!” a voice yelled a security guard escorted Jay to the office.

CHAPTER 44

“Have you been able to get a hold of Inspector Rodriguez?” Detective Roberta asked.

“Yeah.  He said he’ll be in tonight to question the alleged.  It doesn’t make sense; that boy couldn’t have killed all those people himself.  What’s the body count so far?” the older-looking officer who was balding asked.

“Fifteen students, including four teachers,” Roberta replied.  “Witnesses said there was an animal in the library.  Nobody really got a good look, and those that did are dead.”

“So then what’s the story on the kid?”

“He’s involved – there’s no question.  The only question is, where’s the animal that’s been helping him do all the killings?  There’s no way he could have done all that with his bare hands,” Roberta said, leaning against the soda machine in the hallway of the precinct.

Jay sped down the highway, adjusting his rearview mirror.  Shit has hit the fan.  It’ll take a miracle to get Arnie out of jail.  Maybe if they keep him locked up and he changes, then someone could help.  Not likely though, Jay thought, knowing full well what would happen if he did.  They would turn Arnie into some kind of lab rat.  Even if Jay did find the other wolf, Arnie was fucked.  He’d spend the rest of his life in jail or executed, which wasn’t so bad if that happened.  He could go dig Arnie up and get the fuck out of the city.  A fucking eclipse!  Who would have thought?  Jay’s phone rang.

“Hello,” the voice on the other end said.  It was Arnie.

“Hey, how you hanging in there?”

“I’m hanging,” Arnie answered back.  “Look, man, you got to get me out before tonight.”

“I know, but there’s not much I can do.  I went through some of Elena’s stuff, and she has a brother.  Maybe he knows something.  I’m heading over to his house.”

“Jay, have you talked to Sarah?” Arnie asked.

No.  Not since today.  Just before the eclipse she took off, Jay thought with a slight

pause.

“I know what you’re thinking, Jay.  It can’t be,” Arnie said, refusing to hear what Jay was about to say.

“Why not, Arnie?  It makes sense.  She was the last person you were with the night you were attacked.  Then she disappears just before the eclipse.”

“It’s still not enough to go on,” Arnie replied.  “Besides, that night I was attacked it was a full moon.”

“So you said it yourself.  It attacked you in the day.  Maybe she can change at will.”

“No, it’s not possible,” Arnie said, hanging up the phone in anger.

Jay then set his phone down, hoping he was wrong because ever since Arnie got on with Sarah, she had been kind of a sister to him.  He’d hate it to come down to that, Jay thought, tightening his grip on the steering wheel with frustration.  “A fucking eclipse!  Who would have thought?” Jay said to himself.

CHAPTER 45

“Okay, Arnie, I’m going to ask you for the last time.  Where is that pet of yours that you’ve trained to kill?” Inspector Rodriguez asked.

“I told you already.  There’s no pet,” Arnie replied. “I did it.  I killed them all.”

“You’re sick.  You can look at me with a straight face and tell me you slaughtered all those people.”

“Look, Inspector, if I told you the truth, you wouldn’t believe me.  And by the time you did believe, it be too late,” Arnie said, sipping on a glass of water as Inspector Rodriguez walked around him.  Arnie sat, looking nervously at the time on the clock.

“What’s the matter, need to be somewhere?” Inspector Rodriguez asked.

“You need to lock me up soon and throw away the key,” Arnie said, realizing his time was growing short.

“Look, you’re not going anywhere ‘til you answer my questions.”

“You want to know the truth, I tell you being that in a few hours.  It won’t matter anyway for everybody here will be dead.  You ever hear of lycanthropy?”

“What?”

“Lycanthropy.  It’s a disease human beings suffer from.  They can’t control it.  They just change and become something else,” Arnie told him.

“What are you getting at, kid?” Inspector Rodriguez asked, annoyed.

“You’ve heard of werewolves, haven’t you, Inspector?  Or I presume you’ve seen a few movies about them.  I’ve got a good one for you: it’s all true.  Except a few minor details.”

“You expect me to believe that, kid?” Rodriguez said as the hairs on his back began to stand.

“I don’t expect you to do anything.  I wouldn’t believe it either, but ever since that night I was attacked by one, I’ve been turning into a fucking monster every time that fucking moon is full.  You think I like killing people?  I hate it, but I can’t control it.  You don’t know what it’s like being controlled by the moon.  C’mon, Inspector, you can put pieces of a puzzle together.  It’s all in my report the night I was attacked, the day my friend was killed, today at the library.  Look at the evidence, and you’ll find the truth.  There’s a wolf in this, but not the kind you can scare away with pickets.”

“Get him out of here,” Inspector Rodriguez told two other officers, running his fingers through his hair.

Arnie was right.  The inspector had seen the evidence, and he knew deep inside somewhere that there was more to this than met the eye; but Inspector Rodriguez just refused to open his eyes.

CHAPTER 46

Jay knocked on the door of Elena’s brother in frustration.  He tried to get a look inside the house.  He sat on the steps of the red two-story house, not really knowing what to do next.  He looked around as the sun began to set, and as he did, he saw a car heading his way.  It didn’t take long for him to recognize the dirty little red Beetle.  The car stopped in front of the house, and Sarah stepped out.  Jay immediately reached for his gun, pointing it at Sarah.

“Don’t move, Sarah, or I swear to God I’ll blow you away,” Jay said.

“What are you doing?” Sarah asked, confused.

“Don’t act innocent with me.  You know what the fuck I’m talking about.  I know what you are, Sarah.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sarah said, starting to cry.

“Then why the hell are you here?”

“Arnie told me that Elena wanted to talk to him.  That she had something important to tell him.  I thought maybe her son knew something,” Sarah said, wiping her tears.

“Look, Sarah, you better start telling me the fucking truth, or I swear to God I’ll blow your fucking brains all over this fucking place!”

“Okay, okay,” Sarah said, crying.

“You remember that day Danny died?” Sarah said, wiping her nose.

“Yes.”

“Well, I had gone over to the courts to see Arnie and I saw everything,” Sarah said.  “I saw him turn into that beast.  I saw him kill Danny.  I ran all the way home.  I had never been so scared in my life.  At first I was scared I didn’t want to have anything to do with him but then…”

“Then what?” Jay asked.

“Elena called me, told me to stay away from Arnie, that he was dangerous,” Sarah continued.  “You see, Jay, she had asked Arnie to go to her house because she was going to kill him.  She knew what he was.”

“How did she know?” Jay asked.

“I don’t know; the day she read his hand she saw something.”

“So what did you do?” Jay asked.

“I went over and confronted her, begged her to help.  When she refused, I killed her,” Sarah said, trying to stop herself from crying.  “I tried to make it look like some lunatic did it so they wouldn’t trace her death back to me.  I can’t believe what I did, but I love Arnie. I don’t sleep much anymore. I see Elena’s face every time I close my eyes.”

“Sarah, what would bring you to do something like that?  Even if she was going to kill Arnie, we could have handled it another way,” Jay said.

“You don’t understand.  I can’t lose Arnie.  I’m pregnant,” Sarah cried out.

“Jesus Christ!” Jay said, walking over to Sarah and hugging her as she began to cry frantically.

“It’s okay.  We’ll figure this out.  Don’t worry, Sarah,” Jay said, holding her as his body tingled with emotion.