The Chronicles of Beast and Man (4 page)

              “They’ll need to identify their daughter won’t they?”

              “Yeah, they will. I’ll go down and let them know though. You know, try and soften the blow a bit, if any. You go home and get some sleep.”
              Rod had no idea who or what had done this horrible act. Suddenly, it dawned on him that last night had been a full moon. He gazed up to the cloudless sky and thought to himself:
Something evil has returned to this small town, or maybe it never left.

5 years earlier

             
I
t was a rainy Halloween night, and Maxwell Hester, a twelve year old sixth grade student at Wilson Elementary was still out
trick-or-treating
even though everyone else had already gone home. He only had a couple more stops to make and then he'd be done. He wanted to make the most out of this
year's
trick or treating because it would probably be his last year to do so. He was really getting too old to be doing it and everyone knew it as well as he did. His bag of candy was just about to start over flowing and it was getting very heavy.

              “Just two more stops, and I am going home.” Maxwell told himself.

              He ran up the stairs and knocked on the door of the huge house that the Willis family called home.

              Jeremy Willis was surprised when he opened the door and saw Maxwell. He wasn’t so much surprised at the sight of
a trick-or-treater
dressed as a hobo, but surprised at how late in the evening it had become. The last group of trick
-
or-treaters that came through had been almost forty five minutes ago. It was almost time for them to stop altogether. Jeremy did not say a word to Maxwell. He simply tossed a couple candy bars in his bag and Maxwell was on his way. Jeremy assumed that the boy would be finished soon anyway, considering the fact that he and his family lived on the edge of town. On most Halloween nights the Willis family was lucky to get fifteen kids to trick-or-treat at their house. Which is nothing compared to the amount of kids that stopped at houses in the middle of town. A good friend of the family once told Jeremy that they had a hundred kids stop by. Jeremy couldn’t imagine a Halloween that busy.

              After Jeremy Willis flung a couple of cheap imitation candy bars into his bag Maxwell hoisted his bag up and continued on. He wasn’t sure how much his bag of goodies weighed but he assumed it was probably close to thirty or forty pounds. It was really looking like things were going to pay off this year. Maxwell felt comfortable with the fact that this would be his last year trick or treating. He'd get out of the trick or treating game with a bang.

              He had one last stop to make, but it was half a mile away.
Perhaps I should just forget about it and go home
, Maxwell thought to himself, but his last stop was the Morone house and he had stopped there every year since he was five. It just wouldn’t be right to not stop there especially when he would never be stopping there again. Maxwell let his weak and tired feet guide him further out into the darkness on the edge of town.

              The light from a full moon sent a pale glow down to the grass. Maxwell could hear the whisper of the wind through the bare trees.

              The long walk to the Morone house always creeped Maxwell out, even when he used to take it with a large group of friends.

              Maxwell heard a strange sound off somewhere in the woods that surrounded the lonely road he was slowly creeping down.

              “Gonna keep going!” Maxwell told himself attempting to boost his courage.
There is nothing out there that isn’t just as scared of me
.

              The sound of the night continued to play tricks on Maxwell until he saw the Morone house in the distance. He was so excited he took off running for the house. He couldn’t make his legs move fast enough to get there. He stormed up the stairs and knocked on the door loudly. When he heard the doorknob begin to turn, he immediately shouted out “TRICK-OR-TREAT.”

              Bethany Morone laughed in delight at Maxwell’s excitement. She had never seen a more enthusiastic trick-or-treater. She knew that he would be her last trick-or-treater of the night, and that he had taken the time to walk all the way out to her house. So she poured the remaining candy from her bowl into Maxwell’s already over-flowing bag of candy and wished him a happy Halloween.

              He had done it. He had stopped at more houses this year than he ever had in the past. He had done it and he also had enough candy to last him until next summer if he didn’t munch it all down within a few weeks.

              At his young age he had accomplished very little, but he had done this. At that moment none of that mattered. Maxwell now had to worry about the half-mile walk back to town. He could actually see a little bit more than he had been able to in years past. He owed his improved sight to the full moon that hung forebodingly in the purple colored sky.

              The further Maxwell continued on, the more his fears tugged at his very core.

              The wind blew down into the woods that surrounded the lonely road that Maxwell walked.
He heard the winds soft whisper, and it actually made him feel a little bit better. He realized in that instance, that he was not the only one who had been frightened like this before. He believed everyone in the world became frightened at one time or another. Why should he be any different?

              Besides,
there is nothing out there that isn’t just as scared of me
, he reminded himself again.

              Then all of a sudden Maxwell heard the sound of crackling dead leaves off in the distance.

              Was something following him?

              The sound repeated and Maxwell was certain that this was the sound of footsteps. He did not run; he was still unsure if there was even a threat, and he still had a long way to go before he would reach town.

              The crackling of dead leaves under each step became louder, the footsteps getting closer.

              An intense and thunderous sound in the form of a howl surrounded Maxwell. He wanted to scream, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good.

              Maxwell turned to see the black outline of something running toward him. He had no time to question whether it was real or imaginary; he had to run and try to escape whatever it was. He dropped his huge bag of candy, which made a loud thud when it hit the ground. He began running as fast as he could. Judging by its size, he knew that whatever this thing was it would probably be faster than him.

              In a split second Maxwell watched as a pair of fur covered, very human-like arms reached around him as the beast tackled him to the ground. He tried to scream but only half of the scream actually left his mouth before it was over. Maxwell was found the following morning by a farmer driving into town for his second cup of morning coffee. Maxwell’s body had been ripped apart and disemboweled.

-

              Anna Murray was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for Hank when she answered the phone call from Clara. Maxwell Hester’s remains had been found only ten minutes earlier and she needed Sheriff Murray as soon as possible. Clara of course did not give Anna any details as to why she needed Hank so badly, she only said that it was urgent. It didn’t take long for Hank to stumble out of bed and get to the phone. Clara then told Hank of the remains. Hank could not believe it. Everything was beginning to look grimmer.             

              How was Hank going to handle this?

              He was a man of the law, and worked his entire life to get his position. The worst thing that had happened in Medusa since he became Sheriff twenty years ago was a car wreck out on Byron road. Three people died in that accident and it was awful, but it was nothing like this.

              When Hank arrived on the scene he was greeted by Rod, who at that time was considered Hank’s second in command. Rod Truex was only a deputy at that time. He had been the first police officer on the scene when Maxwell’s body was discovered. He had seen the torn flesh and ripped clothes; all of which would stay with Rod for years to come. But that wasn’t what he’d remember most...

             
The look in Maxwell’s cold dead eyes would be burnt into Rod’s memory forever.             

“What happened?” Hank asked the then thirty year old Deputy.             

“It is real bad Hank, real bad. Whoever did this had more than just murder on their mind.” Rod explained.             

Hank cringed at the sound of the word murder.
Murders were not supposed to happen in Medusa goddamnit.
Hank thought to himself.

              “So who is it under the tarp anyway?” Hank asked as the ambulance approached the body and the EMTs began performing their job.

              “I don’t know sir. Whoever he is, he is young.”

              “Well, that is not good...” Hank said and then told Rod he would see him back at the office. He got in his car and drove away.

-

Headline of Medusa Gazette:
Moonlight Murderer on the Loose

             
In the early hours of Thursday November 1
st
the body of a young boy (not yet identified) found. Some of the evidence gathered by the police might point to an animal attack. This reporter disagrees with those theories. The real story is that there is a killer in our midst. Someone that is so deranged that he would go out and hunt the innocent children of our town. This vicious predator not only had the audacity to do this but also did it on Halloween when the moon was full. This individual is demented and needs to be found before another innocent victim is taken by this horrible fiend.

-

              The murder of the young boy shocked the entire town, and made every parent frightened to let their child go outside to play. Hank Murray conducted a full investigation, but found no evidence that could point out a killer. Everything had pointed to the possibility of an animal attack, but the brutality of the crime seemed to tell another story as well.

              No one was quite sure how to handle the situation. Murders were far from commonplace in Medusa. It was nothing like Chicago or even Peoria for that matter.

              Everyone started watching their backs, and people were warned about leaving home after dark. Of course there were some who could not avoid being out late, if they worked late hours or the overnight shift for example.

              The Medusa Police were placed on high alert and the phrase 'mandatory overtime' became commonly used in their conversations. Though no one knew what had happened on that Halloween night, they wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again.

              Eventually the autopsy report on the Maxwell case came back. It did very little to help the investigation. There was no DNA verification, and cause of death was from massive lacerations with sharp objects. It was also indicated that something had gnawed on the exposed bones. The autopsy also presented the facts that several vital organs had been removed. None of which were removed in a delicate or preservible manner. One of the last notes from the autopsy indicated that a large amount of hair had been found all over the victim. The hair was of a canine origin; it appeared that this was most likely an animal attack. Hank wasn’t sure how he felt about this theory. He wasn’t sure what kind of wild animal could’ve committed such a terrible act. On the other hand, Hank did like the idea of presenting this theory instead of the one involving a psychotic murderer.

Once Hank was done reading the autopsy he placed it on his desk and began to read the newspaper. The headline read
"Moonlight Murderer on the Loose".
Hank winced as he read the article about a sadistic murderer who only kills when the moon is full. Hank was not
pleased. He
was going to have to go on damage control and clear this thing up. Most people probably wouldn’t be able to understand that it wasn’t a person committing these crimes, and it was an animal. They wouldn’t think it was likely; and some people just automatically believe everything that they read. Hank himself was surprised that John Austin (the owner/operator of The Medusa Gazette) would allow such an article in this paper before having all the facts.

              Later that day Hank did a one-on-one interview with John to try and clear up any confusion. He explained that this was most likely an animal attack, and that everyone needed to understand that. Hank then suggested some type of curfew and explained that until this blew over everyone needed to be extra careful. During the interview John Austin suggested more police. Hank only said that he would consider it, but he never hired any more help. John then explained to Hank that several people would like a search party to be conducted during the next full moon to try and stop anything from happening again. Hank indicated that it might be a good idea, but it would have to be well planned.