Sheep's Clothing by Gary Lewis (dark books to read TXT) 📗

table where he slid Sarah's laptop across the shiny, hardwood surface, toward them. He opened it, turning it around to face the group as the dark screen lit up with a flickering flash. Janice watched, feeling slightly claustrophobic while everyone gathered close around her to see. As the video began to play, a late-night forest scene came into view. The bright full moon clearly lit the dirt road that cut diagonally through the center of the frame, surrounded by a black wall of woods on each side.

David reached over to skip through hours of footage until Vance opened his mouth. "What exactly are we lookin' at here?"

"Hush," Janice whispered at him.

David glanced at them before returning to his search. "Here!" David shouted as he gradually skipped back. Janice noticed a dark figure blur past in reverse, catching a flash of white light from the night vision camera.

"There," Sarah said, taking a jab at the air with her finger. "Play it from there."

Frame by frame, a large, blurry figure lurched from the forest to step into the secluded gravel road. Posturing through the pixelated, low quality footage, it plainly walked on two dog-like legs. Its arms extended out from its fur covered body to its sides, brandishing bladed claws. Tall, wolven ears sprung up to attention and it swung its head to the side, raising a long, canine snout to the air. A quick turn ended its pause as it continued across the rocky gravel drive back to the forest until it vanished into the wooded void from which it emerged.

"Fuck yeah," Vance said with a flexing lift of his arm. "That's definitely a werewolf."

Janice looked to him, unsure where the blurry line between his sarcasm and sincerity began. She rolled her eyes at Vance before speaking up. "Is that from the moon camera that you set up?"

"Yeah," David said. "Sarah and I checked it yesterday when we swung by my place."

Tony slowly swayed his arms open. "But that was the only full moon. The night of the cattle mutilations. What about Brad?"

Sarah lifted her head. "But we don't even know if the moon has anything to do with it. For that matter, what the hell this thing even is. What if it's just a-"

Vance interrupted. "Well, I'm not sure if you guys need your vision checked, but..." He motioned his hand toward the laptop.

The room erupted with voices arguing over one another.

"Hold up!” Tony said. “Settle down." He held his palms forward. "We don't know what's going on yet. It's best we hear everyone's opinions and let everybody speak."

Vance smirked into a wide grin. "Isn't this a job for animal control?"

David spoke up. "In the meantime, we're getting knocked off and the authorities can't seem to figure out if it's even a person."

Janice watched Vance look in David's direction, nodding his head up and down, seemingly considering what he had to say.

"What do you think, Jan?" David asked.

Her mind raced with blank ideas as her eyes bounced around the room. "I don't know. I'm just trying to take all this in.” She looked at the map. “Peetie was killed about here." Janice pointed between the marks that Sarah had scribbled onto the creased paper. "But he was missing for a day, so it could have been the same night the cows died right over here," she said, sliding her finger just a bit north.

"Okay. Good,” Sarah said, scribbling her poster board with the marker. “We'll change the date on Peetie."

David stood to talk, sliding his hand over the map. "Speaking of the cattle incident, anyone from around here would've known the Perkins started keeping every one of their cattle in this small pen over here at night." He ran his finger in a circle over a very small bit of the map. "It would make more sense to attack them there than the field that got hit, wouldn't it?"

Janice watched as everyone silently looked at one another.

"I didn't know that," Tony said. "Did you, Sarah?"

"Not really," she answered.

"Yeah,” said Vance with a shrug of his arm. “Me neither."

"Okay," Sarah said. "It was a good idea, David, but it just doesn't work. We don't even know if it's a person."

"Just how long have y'all been awake anyway?" Vance asked the group. "You better be taking care of yourself." Vance stoically stuck his finger in Tony's direction. “We need you in top shape in a couple months."

"Hey, I'm good, bro," Tony said. "It's just these two going 'round the clock."

David turned to the map once again. "I have an idea. Tony, do you still have all those trail cams from our old place?"

"Yeah, bro. I can dig them out." Tony stood, silently looking at David as he stared at the map for a moment.

"What if we set them up on each tree in this field, facing the cattle pen?" David asked, leaving his finger planted onto the map as he turned to Tony.

"I don't know, little bro. It's a long shot," Tony said, brushing his palm across the back of his short, curly hair. "Chances that it'll take the bait in the right time and place are slim."

“David might be onto something,” Vance said, drawing surprise from Janice. “See, these fields are a wide, open path straight to Bluff Mountain.” His hand brushed across the map. “It’s an easy game path from the cattle to where Brad died.”

"Yeah. It's not even a problem," Tony said. "I'll get permission from Roy and Willy Perkins as soon as we leave and set them up."

Janice listened as Vance spoke up once again. "Got a few big bear traps hidden under the back porch. Maybe we can do something with those."

"That might not be such a great idea," Tony said. "Imagine if somebody stepped in one."

Vance paused with a nod. "Ok. So, if it's a werewolf, that would mean it could be a person. Maybe someone we know?"

Janice couldn't believe what she was hearing. Even Vance? He can't seriously be considering this. The last thing she needed was a busy boyfriend, out hunting werewolves.

The room got quiet as everyone looked