Bark (The Werewolf Journal's Book 1) (14 page)

CHAPTER 51

Jay threw the shovel over the huge cemetery gates and climbed over them.  This has got to be about the most stupid thing I have ever done, he thought, turning on his flashlight.  He scanned the graves with his flashlight, trying to remember where Sarah had been buried until finally he came across her name.  Jay then put the flashlight down and began to dig.  I never thought it would be as hard as it is, he thought, shoveling dirt from the ground where Sarah was buried.

It took Jay about four hours of digging.  Then finally he reached her coffin, and Jay breathed heavily as he came to a stop.  A loud thud was heard as his shovel banged against the coffin.  Jay had his answer when he saw the hole in the coffin.

Jay closed his eyes and ripped open the coffin.  He opened it and to his horror there was a huge hole in the abdomen of Sarah’s dress.  It was chilling to see his friend whom he had talked to eight months before, lying in a coffin, decayed as she was.  He had a bigger problem now.

All my fears had been confirmed, Jay thought, climbing out of the grave.  Jay jumped back in fear as he saw Arnie sitting on Sarah’s gravestone, looking down on him.

“Don’t worry.  It’s not a full moon tonight,” Arnie sat, studying Jay.  “What are you doing here, Jay?  Why in the world are you digging up Sarah’s grave?”

Jay thought about telling him the truth, but then he really didn’t know how Arnie would take it, so he lied.  “I had to know if she was the one.  I really thought she was the one that was responsible for all this,” Jay answered.

“How could you think that?” Arnie blurted angrily.

“I don’t know.  I just didn’t know where else to look,” Jay said.  “I haven’t heard from you in months.”

“You know who killed her, don’t you?” Arnie asked.

“It was Elena’s son,” Jay replied.

“Then why come here?” Arnie asked.

“Because I killed him,” Jay said with a sigh.  “I killed him, and you’re still not cured.  I thought maybe, just maybe, there was another; and I was wrong.”

“I figured as much, when I read the papers on how Sarah died.  I put two and two together,” Arnie told him.  “Her attacker was Izik, Elena’s son.  I knew then that there was no cure.”

“So why not call me?  I could have helped.”

“There’s no helping me.  It’s over,” Arnie said.

“I know,” Jay said, reaching for his gun behind his back.

“No,” Arnie said, knocking the gun out of Jay’s hand.  “I don’t want to die,” Arnie said, slamming Jay on to the ground as he pinned Jay’s hands to the ground with his own.  “I’m not the same person I used to be,” Arnie continued, looking into Jay’s eyes.  “I’m more the wolf now than I am that friend you used to know.  I can’t explain it.  I don’t want to be like this, but it’s like breathing… if I don’t, I’ll die.”

“You can’t be serious,” Jay replied.

“I’m sorry, my friend.  I am.  Forget about me.  Leave me alone.  You’re the last good thing that I remember.  I don’t want to hurt you,” Arnie said, releasing his grip on Jay’s hands, getting up, leaving Jay in disbelief, staring at the moon that was only half full.

CHAPTER 52

Arnie’s Journal  December 5, 1993

Saw Arnie last night.  I hate to say this, but he’s changed.  It’s almost as if I don’t know him anymore.  He let me go.  He asked me to stay away.  To stay out of his life, but the Arnie I knew would have wanted me to end his suffering.  Maybe I should leave it alone before I wind up dead or someone close to me dies.  I really want to turn away and do nothing but I can’t.  Not now.  Especially after what I found out at the graveyard.  I’m going to do some research; maybe I can find out what really happened to Sarah’s baby.

CHAPTER 53

Jay scanned through old newspaper articles in the downtown library around the time Sarah was killed.  He tried to find anything on abandoned children but couldn’t.  There has to be something, he thought, as he looked through the articles.  He has to be doing something wrong, Jay thought, sipping on his Coca-Cola.

Sarah had only been about a month pregnant when she told him.  It would be impossible for the baby to have developed fully.  What if it actually spent the whole eight months buried with Sarah as it developed?  Jay thought, knowing fully well how stupid that sounded.  If it was infected, how would it have survived without nourishment?  Silver is the only way to kill a werewolf.  Hunger is not one of them, he thought.  Then if it did go to full term, he would have to look at the more recent papers.  It took about ten minutes before he came across an article that caught his eye.  A baby had been found abandoned outside the gates of Pinsburb Cemetery.  The paramedics called it a miracle it survived so long.  “It looked as if somebody had tried to bury it,” one of the paramedics said.  “It was almost as if the poor baby crawled out of wherever it was, but how could something that helpless have been able to do that or survive the storm that had been raging that night?” the paper read.

There was no question in Jay’s mind on how it survived.  Now the question was how to find it.  The baby had been taken to the hospital.  It had been two weeks since that happened.  Two weeks, that baby could be anywhere, he thought, switching off the monitor on the screen.  He knew he needed to find that baby, and the worst thing was he knew what he needed to do.  The only question was would he be able to do it?

Detective Rodriguez walked up to the grave site, withdrawing his cigarette from his mouth.

“What now?” Rodriguez asked detective Roberta.

“Sarah Berline was dug up last night,” Roberta said.

“The same Sarah Berline that used to be with Arnie Alvarez?”

“Yes, the same one.”

“Why would anyone want to do this?” Rodriguez asked.

“It beats me, but besides the damage to the coffin, nothing’s missing.”

“It had to be him, but what was he doing here?”

“You got me,” Roberta replied as Rodriguez flicked his cigarette into the grass.

“I tell you, I need to get out of this town,” Detective Rodriguez said, nodding his head.

“You and me both,” Roberta replied.  “How’s it going with that investigation on that kid?” Roberta asked.

“We got nothing.  It’s almost as if he disappeared from this earth.  People are still dying.  Everyone in this town’s afraid to go out.  This past Halloween, I didn’t see a damn kid on the street.  People shouldn’t live in fear like this.”

“You can’t blame this town, can you?” Roberta asked.

“No, I guess not.  I swear, when I find this son of a bitch, I’m going to shoot him.  I’m not going to wait for a judge to decide this asshole’s fate.  Too many people have died. So many families have lost loved ones.”

“I hear that,” Roberta replied as she walked Rodriguez to his car.

“The things that are happening here just aren’t normal.  That son of a bitch killed a lot of my friends.  It’s gotten so bad that we can’t even recruit officers to work here. Everyone’s too damn afraid,” Rodriguez said, slamming the door of his car as he got in.

“You need to get some sleep, Rodriguez.” Roberta said as she leaned against his car.

“If you had somebody close to you die like the way some of these people have, would you be able to?” Rodriguez asked.

“No, I suppose not.”

“Take a look at these pictures,” Rodriguez said, pulling a file out from his backseat.  “Those are all children.  Children, goddamn it!  This kid has no conscience.  He’s completely fucking nuts, and I will bring him down! I promise,” he continued as Detective Roberta looked through the pictures.

Roberta covered her mouth in disbelief.

“You see what I mean?  You’ve only been here a couple of months, Roberta.  If you want to get out, now’s the time.  This town is no picnic; it’s a fucking nightmare.  But if you want to stay, I sure could use you,” Rodriguez said.

“I’m not going anywhere.  I want to catch this kid as bad as you,” she said, giving

Rodriguez back the pictures.

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Rodriguez said, starting his car.  “I’m sorry we threw you out here so fast.  I mean, you’re just out of the academy, but we’re so short on manpower.”

“I understand.  Just try and get some rest,” she said, slapping her hands against the roof of Detective Rodriguez’s car.

“I’ll try,” Rodriguez said, speeding away.

Roberta stood there, watching Rodriguez’s car disappear in the distance.  She wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into.  She had seen more shit in two weeks than anyone in her position should have to.  Something inside told her to take Rodriguez on his offer and leave.  She had a little girl, only five years old.  She had more to lose than Rodriguez and a lot of other cops, but then if she wanted to be something else, she should have never joined the force.  She would see this through and hopefully help catch this nutcase and make the town safe again.  She only prayed she was making the right decision by staying.

CHAPTER 54

Arnie walked into the meadow where Jay used to take him.  He looked up and could see the full moon beginning to rise.  He thought, it wouldn’t be much longer until I will start to change.  I used to fear the change, but a part of me now welcomes it.  I can’t help what I am becoming.  I’ve lost everything, even myself.  A tear slid down his cheek. I can’t go anywhere anymore without someone recognizing me, but when I’m the wolf I can do anything, and nothing matters.

I don’t want to feel the way I do but I am driven to feed.  And if I don’t, I feel like dying, Arnie thought as he tore his shirt open.  I miss Sarah more than anything.  I never got a chance to tell her goodbye.  I promised myself that I would end my life once the one that made me was killed, but I can’t anymore.  There was a time when I would have given anything for my friend, Jay, to blow me away, but now I want to live.  This curse is like a drug.  The longer I’m under, the more I want to be.  Maybe that’s why Izik was able to change during the day.  Maybe that’s what Izik was trying to tell me. Maybe Izik wasn’t always that way.  Maybe he was like me once until he became a child to the moon.  He could have killed me whenever he wanted, but he didn’t.  Maybe he wanted a companion.  Someone he could share his lonely existence with.  I wish Jay could understand what I’m feeling… the absolute freedom of what I’ve become.  It was good seeing him.

Arnie fell to his knees.  He prayed Jay had decided to leave the city, because the wolf, unlike him, kept its memories.  It knew the people it cared about, and when it found them, it killed them.  Just being around Jay, he could feel the beast within him wanting to lash out at him.  He could feel it, wanting to lash out at everything that made him weak.

I used to fear the change and the sight of a full moon, but now I welcome it and have accepted what I have become.  Feeding is a part of me; it is my nature now.  How could wanting to feed to live be wrong?  What makes human beings any different?  Animals have feelings too, and they fear death just as well.  I know ’cause I smell it every time a dog barks when I’m near it, or the way a horse runs away from me when I try to pet it.  Humans have huge slaughterhouses filled with chickens and cows and other animals that their heart so desires.  People hunt for sport as I hunt to live.  People are the ones that are the real monsters.  Arnie stared at the moon.  There are thousands of soldiers that die each day for silly things like politics and power.  There’s nothing pure about the way humans kill.  I only kill during the birth of a new moon, but people do it every day.  Humans are just as much a part of the food chain as everything else.  His bones began to creak.  He watched his skin stretch into place.  Arnie screamed in pain as he reached the most painful part of his change, the part where every memory and everything that made him recognizable to the world disappeared.  The beast stood and howled at the moon.  It had been born again.  It then stopped momentarily as a tear slid down its monstrous face.  The beast stretched out its body, howling one last time and headed for the town.