Chapter 9 Cont. Found Something!!

Greg’s going to pick us up at the edge of the forest.”

They crossed the street and snuck between two buildings, ending up on Roseberry Street. As they crossed Roseberry, Chris heard his name called. He turned around to see Glen running towards him. He didn’t realize they had come out beside the police station. Jerrid didn’t stop walking so neither did Chris; he yelled back towards Glen: “I’m in a bit of a hurry, I’ll come see you in a couple hours.” Glen stopped and watched them disappear through a door beside the hardware store.

Jerrid’s apartment was small and empty. There was stained-wood wainscoting along the bottom of walls and the windows were framed in the same light brown color. Across from the door was one ratty brown sofa pushed up against the window. To the right, next to the bedroom was a shelf half occupied with a few books above a fireplace and the kitchen to the left was empty except for a garbage can overflowing with pizza boxes and restaurant take-out bags which--judging by the smell—had been there awhile.
Jerrid came out of the bedroom with his rifle. “Okay, lets go.” They were out of the apartment and down the stairs in a flash. They took a left on Roseberry Street towards the forest. A few ladies were sitting on their chairs outside their stores and only a handful of people walking up and down the street. None of them seemed to notice Jerrid or Chris. Jerrid took out his phone and made a call that only required him to listen and reply “Okay.”

“Greg’s at the edge of the forest with the truck now. We have to hurry.”

“Why are we in such a rush if the thing’s already dead?”

“Because, Greg just found a mutilated bear—with it’s eyes missing and it’s fresh. There’s something out there.”

Chris’ adrenaline was starting to go into overdrive. He could feel his heart pick up speed the closer they got to the forest’s edge. “Should I have a gun or something?”
“Do you know how to use a gun?”

“No.”

“Then, no, you shouldn’t have a gun.”

Chris took a couple of quick steps to get closer to Jerrid. “Are you going to protect me then?”

“I’ll do my best. But I’ll always protect myself first.”

“That’s comforting.”

“That’s the facts kid. There’s Greg.”

Chris could barely make out an army green truck idling in the trees. They started jogging towards the truck. Jerrid opened the door and motioned for Chris to get in first and slide in to the middle. It was a tight squeeze for three men over six feet tall. Gregory started to drive before Jerrid had the door closed.

“What’d you bring him for?” Gregory asked.

Jerrid didn’t answer. “Where did you find the animals?”

“By the old farm.”

“Again? What’s going on over there? That’s five in six weeks and three in two days.”

“Three in two days? When was the first?” Chris asked.

“Thursday evening,” Gregory answered.

They continued driving through the forest on an unmarked trail, dodging trees in the nick of time and bouncing over buried tree trunk and roots. Branches were whacking the sides of the truck with no remorse and all Chris could think about was the damage they were doing to the paint.

“How do you know where you’re going?” Chris asked.

“I just know.”

“Have you marked the trees or something?”

“We just know, kid,” Jerrid answered. “We’ve been in these trees in the darkest of nights, day after day. We could name each tree and find it on a whim if we wanted to—kinda like parents with identical twins.

“We’ve done it before,” Gregory added, “When we need to remember the location of something, we name the tree and that way we know where to come back.”

“But there’s just so many, how is it possible?”

“We know how to track, kid. We see crushed leaves and broken branches and we could tell you what did it and how long ago.

“Plus, we only have a certain amount of land that we cover, that way it’s limited.”

Chris nodded. Not long after they were driving along a clear path. Chris assumed it was the one he drove down when he found the farm. Gregory leaned over the steering wheel to get a closer look through the trees. Chris could feel Jerrid stiffen.

At a moments notice Gregory veered to the left through a small opening in the trees. He slowed down when they got to a point where the trees were too close together to pass.

“The Bear is there, just under that broken tree.” Gregory pointed to a tree fifteen feet away that had been snapped in half a long time ago. Chris could tell by the moss and vegetation that had already made a home in the jagged edges of the snapped parts of the tree.

“Okay kid, time to get out.” Jerrid opened his door and they all exited the vehicle. “We have to walk from here.”

They all started walking through the trees, snapping twigs and crunching leaves under their feet. As they got closer Chris could see a mound of black fur. It was all wet and matted down in some areas. When they started to approach the bear, Chris noticed its position was odd; it was wedged underneath the tree as if it was the tree that killed it. It was lying on its stomach with its head turned away from them. The arms and legs—-what was left of them—-were spread-eagle.

The men circled around the broken tree and stood at the head of the bear. A few flies circled around the empty eye sockets waiting to get in as others flew out.

Chris covered his mouth with his hand because that’s what he figured people do when they see something disgusting. Jerrid and Gregory were unfazed, like they were looking at little dog taking a nap. “Don’t throw up kid.” Jerrid warned.

“I won’t,” Chris removed his hand. He was lucky it didn’t smell much. “Can I take pictures?” He reached for the camera in his pocket while Gregory and Jerrid exchanged looks. They shrugged and Jerrid replied, “Okay.”

Jerrid lifted the bear’s head as if to pose him for the camera and Chris moved to take a step closer, but caught his foot on some matted down leaves. Just as he was about to go down, Gregory grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him from moving at all. “Careful.” Chris composed himself and snapped a picture.

“Wait,” Gregory knelt down “Look at his neck. Flip him over.”

Gregory and Jerrid rolled the bear towards them, out from the tree.

“Ugh,” Chris choked accidentally.

The bear’s throat was missing and its chest was literally ripped open from the front. All the internal organs were missing and any meat on the ribs and pelvic bones was gone; “sucked clean” Gregory noted.

“How can you tell?” Chris asked, positioning his camera.

“From these tendons and flesh left over,” Gregory pointed, “They look stringy, like the inside of a pumpkin. Something was trying to get as much meat off this thing as they could.”

“I thought they usually ate the whole thing; skin and all.”

Neither Gregory nor Jerrid said anything for a moment. “Yeah, they do.” Jerrid lit a cigarette. “I would say the feeding was interrupted, but—“

“He wouldn’t have covered it up by rolling the bear under the tree.” Gregory finished. “And usually they don’t stop eating until there’s nothing left.” Gregory and Jerrid got up and looked around. “There’s no blood or vomit spewed around here. It only ate until it was full.”

“What does that mean?” Chris asked.

“That they’re changing kid. They’re evolving to something smarter. It stopped when it was full.” Jerrid repeated.