Well today we’re on to chapter 3. I still have no name for it. And it’s taking a different turn than what I originally wrote.
So…here ya go.
Chapter 3
“What do you plan on doing if you find the killer?” Thom asked, as our horses shifted restlessly under the lamp-post.
“I don’t know yet.”
“So no plan when you go after a killer?” he arched his eyebrows at me.
I sighed heavily and turned the reigns on Lewis. This was absolutely ridiculous. I shouldn’t be out here looking for a killer. I had no plan. I had no weapons. I nudged him on and listened as only the clip clops of horses hooves resounded off the buildings.
The screaming didn’t register at first. I stopped Lewis and sat there for a few seconds listening.
“What…”
“Shh,” I whispered.
The screaming was distant, but it was there.
“I think it’s that way,” Thom pointed to the right.
I listened a bit longer, “You’re right.”
We nudged the horses on to a gallop and headed for whoever was in trouble. As we neared the end of the street I slid off the saddle and ran down an alley.
“Hey!” I shouted, as someone in a long, black cloak ran in the opposite direction.
I stopped where the person had been stooped over, a womans lifeless body lay there. The terrified look frozen on her face as she stared toward the sky. I gasped and fell backward.
“What is it?” Thom asked.
“A woman.”
“Did you see who ran away?”
I shook my head.
“You! Don’t move!” I looked up as John ran down the alley.
“John…” I couldn’t finish my sentence.
“Anne? What the hell are you doing here?” he grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet.
“I-I heard screaming. There was someone in a long, black cloak who ran down the hallway,” I snuffled.
“I told you to go home! What if the killer didn’t run away and grabbed you?” he asked, looking down at the dead woman.
I glanced down at the growing pool of blood.Her throat looked like it had been ripped out. Her clothing was slashed at and her midsection cut open. Her intestines were ripped out, and she looked like she had been chewed on.
“What happened to her?” I asked, trying to choke back the bile that was rising in my throat.
John took a deep breath, “You found the killer in the middle of eating.”
“Eating? The person is a cannibal?” Thom asked in horror.
“Not a person. It’s an animal of some sort.”
“But I saw a person,” I said, looking up at John in confusion and disbelief.
“That’s where it gets a bit…odd.”
“A bit odd?” Thom said.
“What is going on, John? What is running around our streets?”
“I don’t know, Anne. I have never seen anything like it before.”
I turned away from the grisly scene and stood near Lewis as John examined the unnamed woman. I looked toward the sky, the full moon shining brightly down. A sob escaped and I just wanted to go home. I wanted to be in my bed. I didn’t want to be there.
“Lets go home,” I whispered to Thom.
“Okay.”
We rode in silence. We had both been privy to information that nobody knew. At least not yet. How long did John think he could keep this a secret? There was some wild animal thing out there attacking women. Eventually, everybody in the city would find out.
I had never been so happy to see my parents house.
