The Winter Creek Beast Read online

  The Winter Creek Beast

  By

  CP Bialois

  Copyright 2014

  Cover Art by R.J. Keith

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. An unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and situations are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locations is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To my wife, Jamie, and my dad, Ray: Both of you have given me the courage and tools necessary to follow my dreams.

  To my beta readers: You guys are so awesome and your critiques and ideas are a big part of everything I publish.

  To my readers: For your constant support and desire to read my work. You all are the reason this dream is a reality.

  Other books by CP Bialois:

  Mythological Thriller

  Call of Poseidon

  Horror Short Story Collection

  Skeleton Key

  Science Fiction

  The Last World

  Epic Fantasy

  The Sword and the Flame: The Forging

  The Sword and the Flame: The Purging

  The Sword and the Flame: The Lightwalker (coming November 22, 2014)

  The Sword and the Flame: The Dragonmaster (coming 2015)

  YA Series Sword and Flame Novellas (Epic Fantasy)

  Stranger Passing

  Building A Legend

  Prologue

  Celeb Wells never paid much attention to the witch trials that threatened to tear his hometown of Salem apart. He’d been content living his life as all thirteen-year-old boys do, playing when he wasn’t in school or church. He couldn’t help but smile at the memory of throwing rotten vegetables and rocks at the people being taken away for their trial.

  He could hear his mother’s voice telling him doing that was wrong, but was it really wrong if everyone else took part? He didn’t think so, but after doing as his father asked the previous week when he was called before an old woman, he couldn’t help the fluttering of guilt growing within him.

  His smile faded as the memory of the old woman’s pleading came to him once again. What had been meant as a game to earn his father’s respect had left Caleb with a churning stomach the last few days. Worse still, it hadn’t been the first time he saw his father talk someone into falsifying testimony toward another. Each time it helped Caleb’s father and his family out in some manner. None of it made any sense to him, yet he found himself trudging along the street in an effort to cleanse his soul of any wrongdoing.

  As far as Caleb knew, the old woman hadn’t done anything aside from fail to lower her gaze when his father walked past. The memory of his father coming to him later that night and asking him to testify that the woman was a witch left Caleb confused, but he agreed simply to please his father.

  The following day, Caleb accompanied his father to the trial. When the woman was brought in, Caleb fell to the floor and thrashed about in a fit that terrified those around him. He heard their screams and prayers, but he ignored them and continued his jerking around until his father’s voice pleaded for him to come back. It was their prearranged signal, so Caleb slowed his movements before stopping them a moment later and opening his eyes.

  Though he didn’t understand it at the time, his actions had convinced everyone the woman was a witch. One of those in attendance took it upon themselves to leave the building and wait for the woman to be led to the jail. When the others threw their vegetables and rocks, he threw a hefty one he found and it struck her head, killing the old woman instantly.

  In the days since, his stomach had become worse with each passing hour until Caleb decided telling the local Magistrate was the right thing to do. As with his previous actions, he didn’t know what would happen, but he prayed good would come out of his decision.

  He didn’t notice the woman dressed in a dark blue overcoat and dress approach him until they nearly collided. He jumped when he saw her, but not before something from the cup she carried landed on his neck and shoulder.

  “My apologies, Ma’am. I… wasn’t watching…”

  The woman shook her head. “No, it is I who should apologize. I’ve stained your shirt.”

  He looked at the pink liquid and smiled. “It’ll be fine. My mom will get it out.”

  She smiled at him. “Well, I hope it doesn’t set in too quick.” Without another word, she continued along her path.

  Caleb watched her for a moment. Something about her was familiar to him, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. Letting out a breath, he tried to dismiss it and build up his courage to finish what he started.

  He turned and took a step before pain wracked his body. The sound of bones snapping and screaming filled his ears to the point he tried to block out the sound with his hands. That’s when he noticed the size his hands had become as well as having thick, dark hair growing out from his skin. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized the screaming came from him.

  Caleb’s thinking started to muddle, as though someone had slowed everything around him. Within seconds, an uncontrollable rage started to grow within him to destroy those standing around him, staring and pointing at him. The townspeople shook off their horror and used whatever they could find as a weapon. Anything not large enough to be wielded like a club became a missile.

  Caleb tried to call for help from those attacking him, but whatever words he tried to speak came out as a guttural roar he never imagined could exist. He wanted to run away, to be at peace, but the building rage within him was relentless. With each strike from one of his former neighbors Caleb felt a piece of himself slip away.

  Filled with terror at his memories fading with each passing moment, Caleb turned and ran off into the woods neighboring the village. The realization that he was no longer human tore into his heart, bringing a cry of agony from his throat. He wanted to keep running, to find peace, but the building rage refused to relent. By the time he reached the edge of the trees, his humanity was stripped away and buried under his primal hatred and fear of anything not like him. The only image that remained within his mind was that of the old woman and the young one he had just encountered. His only conscious thought was how much they looked alike.

  Chapter 1

  “What do we have here?” Sheriff Jay Lightfeather crouched next to the remains of a hiker discovered a couple of hours earlier. His identity would be a mystery as there wasn’t enough left to positively confirm who it was. Even DNA wouldn’t help, as the weathered bones and fabric from what had been a cotton shirt were too decomposed. He’d send samples off anyway in the slim hope there was something to be found. He owed it to whoever the body once was.

  Removing his black Stetson, Jay wiped the back of his sleeve across his brow. The action did two things: First, it gave him something to do besides look at the scattered remnants of a person and second, it helped him think. It was an old tell most in the town of Winter Creek knew. It also kept him from winning any hands at poker.

  As far as he knew, there hadn’t been any reports of bear or mountain lion attacks for months. That didn’t mean there weren’t any, just that no one survived to report them. Of course, the victim could’ve been someone hiking that fell and broke their leg. The local wildlife would then partake of the easy meal. That would explain the scattering of bones, but there was something more. Something he couldn’t quite pu
t his finger on yet.

  “What’s the plan, boss?” Melvin Paul stopped just behind the sheriff. While in his second year in the Sheriff’s Department, his exposure to bodies was limited to the animals he killed while hunting.

  Jay glanced over his shoulder at his deputy. “Did ya call Doc?”

  Melvin nodded. “Yes, Sir. Doc Fredericks and Nate will be here shortly.”

  Jay nodded. He liked the kid and hoped he’d stick with the job instead of leaving town for the promise of something bigger and better. Still, he had no say in the boy’s decision and kept quiet on the topic. “Good. Tell Doc I want a DNA test run. It won’t offer much, but we should cover all our bases.”

  “Alright, boss.” After a brief pause, Melvin scratched the side of his head before continuing, “Any idea what coulda done this?”

  Jay shook his head. “Could’ve been anything from a broken leg to a bear. Ain’t no way to tell.” He silently cursed at finding the remains after they weathered a few weeks. Any tracks or other clues were long gone. “Might as well have never happened.”

  “What’s that, boss?”

  “Nuthin’. Just thinking to myself.” His trained eyes scanned the bushes around the scene in an effort to will any evidence to materialize. When nothing appeared by the time he heard the rest of his expected party arrive, he let out a sigh. At least he hadn’t expected the case to work like in the movies. That would’ve been too easy.

  “A bear attack, Jay?” Doc Fredericks and his assistant, Nathan Pierce, approached with a look in their eyes that said they’d seen too many of these scenes.

  Jay nodded at Pierce as the deputy prepared to catalogue everything they found. It was a thankless job but somebody had to be stuck with it. “Looks like it. It’s my guess, depending on what the DNA people say.”

  Doc Fredericks stared at the sheriff for a few seconds before shaking his head. He knew the game. It was standard procedure despite what common sense told them. “C’mon, Nate. May as well get this done while there’s still light.”

  Jay turned to see if he couldn’t find something to occupy his time with besides supervising a glorified cleanup. He just wished he knew what about this whole thing made his skin crawl.

  *****

  It was well past dark by the time Jay and company were finished. After coming to a stop in the space marked “SHERIFF” in bold letters to the right of the sheriff’s office door, Jay slid out of the driver’s seat of his Jeep. He’d sent Melvin home for the night as there was nothing more he could do. Why torture the boy needlessly when he was capable of filling out the reports?

  Jay hated having to catalogue a case like the one they just finished with. If it was fresh, then it wasn’t too bad, but the remains sat there for a week or longer. And not more than a stone’s throw from the hiking trail. Had the hiker not decided to answer his own call of nature there, they probably never would’ve found the body. Such were the mysteries of the forest. It could break a healthy man in no time if he wasn’t prepared.

  Maybe that’s what bothered him about the whole situation. While photographing the area, Melvin stumbled across the lower half of the body. It’d been separated from the rest above the navel and was hidden under a bush. Aside from being badly decomposed, it looked like whatever animal did it didn’t care to eat the legs. That didn’t make sense since a wild animal wouldn’t pass on the available food source. Bears were known to forget where they buried their food from time to time, and the scene looked like a bear attack. The only issue he saw was bears rarely leave their food half buried unless they’re disturbed.

  Then there was the wallet they found. Somehow it managed to survive mostly intact like the jeans the man had been wearing. The man was Mitch Rhodes. If Rhodes had been the town drunk, it would’ve been easier to accept his fate, but he was a local celebrity after winning numerous shooting crowns and becoming a renowned Big Game hunter. He knew those woods better than anybody. As much as he tried to tell himself it could happen, Jay couldn’t see him having an accident. At least they had a name to go with the body.

  As far as Jay knew, Rhodes didn’t have any family. He preferred to live like a rock star and was believed to be the cause of many divorces in the surrounding area. The idea of a jealous lover or irate husband wasn’t anything new, but the problem was finding anyone willing to point the finger. While he was famous, few could stand Rhodes and his arrogant ways.

  Not liking the direction his investigation looked to want to turn, Jay unlocked the door to the Sheriff’s Office and went inside. He hadn’t eaten for most of the day, but paperwork waited for no man. If he was lucky, Melvin left something in the small refrigerator for him to scavenge. Anything to counter the coffee he would be drinking in a matter of minutes. The last thing he wanted was to have the shakes while typing his report. There weren’t enough “damns” in all of creation to cover the looming mistakes he was bound to make.

  Once inside, he locked the door once more and hung his hat on the coat rack off to the side before making his way into the small kitchen. He smiled at seeing the note attached to a bag of fast food waiting for him.

  Jay,

  We both know you’re coming back to work tonight so here’s something to hold you over.

  Edith

  He pulled a cheeseburger out of bag and poured himself a cup of coffee before putting both in the microwave to heat them up. While he waited for the microwave to finish, he washed his hands and made a mental note to get something nice for Edith in the morning to thank her. If there was a sheriff’s office anywhere that had a mother hen, it was Edith Baxter. Not only did she open and close the office without fail, she was also a marvelous secretary who doted over Jay and Melvin.

  The microwave’s ding sounded and he removed his dinner and drink. The night was early by most standards, only seven o’clock, but he had a couple of hours of paperwork ahead of him. With a sigh, he sank into his chair and settled in for his least favorite part of the job. Just another perk of being the boss.

  Chapter 2

  One of the things Janet Crispin loved about camping was the way one could lay back and listen to the call of the world around them. Few things could prove as relaxing or intoxicating as going to sleep listening to the sound of the crickets in the woods around a campsite. It was something she wished she could make her boyfriend understand, but despite her best efforts he refused to find anything redeeming about the outdoor life. At times, she wondered why she put up with his asinine mentality.

  Stanley “Jock” Weigel looked around the inside of the tent as if his eyes could penetrate the thick canvas. “Don’t they ever shut up? I mean, seriously. A man needs his sleep.”

  Being part owner of Lift ‘Em High, a local gym, Jock was never one to be away from what he deemed to be civilization for more than a few hours at most. During such times he was either driving to the city for supplies or trying to impress Janet with his deltoids surrounded by nature. Few things brought out his sexiness more than having his girlfriend watch him flex while doing some menial task. In his mind, he was every bit as rugged as the men on TV with the flannel shirts selling something. That was before he actually experienced his first few hours in the woods.

  Janet rolled her eyes. “Relax. They’re only crickets. They’ll soothe you to sleep if you stop bitching long enough.”

  He turned to face her with his eyes wide and his mouth hung open. “Relax? You think this is relaxing? Give me the sound of traffic any day over this crap.”

  Janet let out a sigh and rolled onto her side, facing away from him. If he wanted to act like such an ass she’d just leave him in the city next time.

  “What are you doing? You aren’t going to sleep… are you?”

  Janet smacked the sleeping bag covering her hip in frustration and looked at him over her shoulder. “Yes, I am. If you don’t like it, then tough.”

  Jock remained quiet for a moment as she put her head back down and closed her eyes. For one of the few times in his life, he didn’t know wh
at to say. It was obvious he overstepped some boundary and pissed her off. It wasn’t that he didn’t love her, it was… he didn’t know what it was. He thought sharing a sleeping bag with her would be some phenomenal experience, but it was nothing more than another mistake on his part.

  Thinking he knew what he could do to show her he was sorry, since he never said it, he pulled his pants on and grabbed a flashlight.

  Janet sat up when she heard him rummaging around. “What are you doing, now?”

  He shrugged. “I got to go to take a piss. Be right back.”

  A small smile played across her face. It told him he’d done the right thing to fix the break between them. He didn’t really have to go, but if he could prove to her the woods didn’t bother him then it was worth it.

  The things I do for some ass. Shaking his head, he glanced back at her as she was once more lying down, but that time facing towards his side. With a renewed vigor, he unzipped the tent flap and crawled outside.

  The light from their fire was burning low, but it still gave off enough light that he could see a dozen feet into the woods around them. Until then he hadn’t thought about how the inside of the tent remained so bright, but he felt a tiny bit of wonder at the ability of the fire to light so much area. He knew it was a simple thing, but he couldn’t help himself.

  Jock was so preoccupied with the fire that he didn’t hear the heavy footsteps behind him until they stopped. He turned with a smile, expecting to see Janet. Instead of his girlfriend, a fur-covered face and snarling mouth greeted him. He tried to scream, but no sound came out as the muscles in his throat seized. His bladder let loose a second before the beast growled and swiped at him.

  Janet heard what sounded like a growl and thump from outside the tent and pushed herself onto her elbows. She strained her ears for several long seconds, but there was nothing besides the sound of the fire burning. She knew there were wild animals in the area, but nothing she could think of fit the sound she heard. After a moment she let out a quiet laugh. It had to be Jock messing with her. He was trying to prove he wasn’t scared by scaring her. Some people never learn.