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Literature / Re: The Kings of Kentworth (Book Two) by Chykwrites(m): 10:16pm On Jun 25, 2019
jbtobsyn:

Don't write it in details and this story is no more being realistic,no suspense at all. Not trying to discourage you but just saying what I see.

Oga abegi! Which one is no suspense? Are you reading with one eye? Are you telling me that you don't feel Bruce is upto something? even now that Megan has started acting strange, i'm not sure, but I guess she has found out something or knows something about his plans and she is very uncomfortable. What did they even do to that Tiffany girl? Why is she suddenly terrified of them?

Oga calm down abeg. You go discourage person now, him go stop story. He is the one writing the story. He knows what he is doing.
.

2 Likes

TV/Movies / Re: What Movie Are You Watching Now? by Chykwrites(m): 8:38pm On Jun 24, 2019
SassyAndy21:


Have you seen the new Child's Play yet? The reviews on the Movie are good. Critics are saying it's a worthy successor to the 1988 original and I loved the original do much as a kid.

Oh Lord! I really really really want to see this Movie. I haven't seen it yet. I like the changes in the story that they made. Instead of a doll possessed by a demon, it a WiFi doll that malfunctions and starts killing. Mark Hamil's (Luke Skywalker from Star wars) voice was a good choice. the trailer left me salivating.
TV/Movies / Re: What Movie Are You Watching Now? by Chykwrites(m): 8:00pm On Jun 24, 2019
SassyAndy21:
mtchewwww..... please, any HORROR MOVIE, fan here?

cool cool cool What's up baby?
Literature / Re: The Kings of Kentworth (Book Two) by Chykwrites(m): 12:22pm On Jun 14, 2019
Slymer, can I just say something? You are an exceptional writer. This story is unlike any story I've read on this forum. I just love it. You way your characters relate and the way you are not even afraid to play with certain elements like sexuality. Damn!
On a normal day, I would be irritated by the gay undertones and what is going on between Trevor and Lance, but look at me, I'm reading your book and wishing Trevor and Lance should end up together.
Slymer,you too much abeg!

3 Likes

Literature / Re: The Kings of Kentworth by Chykwrites(m): 11:41pm On Apr 19, 2019
Damn! grin grin grin Trevor and Lance no go kill person. Guy you better finish this story Oh. I'm hooked like hell. I really want to see where this will go. Next update..fast!
Literature / Re: The Kings of Kentworth by Chykwrites(m): 12:17pm On Mar 19, 2019
Kai! Bruce is a bastard! he had something to do with this. I know this was his plan! Why did he call Trevor to show him his girlfriend's Prom dress at the point in time? Something is up!
Art, Graphics & Video / Re: My Pencilworks by Chykwrites(m): 10:19pm On Dec 17, 2018
3rd batch... smiley

Art, Graphics & Video / Re: My Pencilworks by Chykwrites(m): 10:14pm On Dec 17, 2018
2nd batch... wink

Art, Graphics & Video / My Pencilworks by Chykwrites(m): 10:10pm On Dec 17, 2018
These are some of my works. Note: This is not an advertisement. It's just for fun and sharing.

Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 48 - 53) by Chykwrites(m): 7:42pm On Nov 24, 2018
53.
BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Huh?"

Adam opened his eyes when he heard what he thought was the shortest, most abrupt thunder he had ever heard and realised he was still alive.

Suddenly, his entire lungs were flooded with air when the enormous pressure of the animal's giant left paw was lifted of him.

BANG! BANG!

Adam shook and screamed when he heard the thundering shots again. He raised his hands and pressed them to his ears as he turned to face the source of the shots.

Relief washed over the little boy when he saw three, or was it four men, slowly walking towards him with thier rifles trained at something beyond. Adam could immediately recognise one of them.

"Liam."

Another staccato of loud gun shots caused Adam to press his hands against his ears as he grimaced. He heard a loud roar behind him as someone shouted, "Get the kid! Somebody get the kid!"

Adam suddenly felt someone pull him up from the ground and the next thing he knew, he was hanging on someone's shoulders, bouncing in his limpness as the person trotted away with him.

"Adam!?" He could recognise his mother's voice anywhere. "Oh my God!"

It was only when Adam was brought down from the strangers shoulder that he could see it was Donovan who had carried him away.

Claire run and fell to her knees close her son. Sobbing heavily as she pulled the boy up for a hug that made Adam believe his mother wanted to crush him to death. Claire was scared when she realised her son wasn't even strong enough to hug her back.

"Oh Honey," Claire sobbed as she held the weak boy tight, rocking him back and forth. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

Adam could feel her wet cheeks rub against his face. He was surprised that the loud gunshots from the background didn't scare him anymore. The safety of his mother's arms were warm and reassuring.

Claire then tensed when she felt something. She realised her hands were slippery as she wrapped them behind him. A warm wetness. She raised her hand to her view and widened her eyes with a gasp.

"Blood."

Claire immediately spun and screamed for her colleagues with whom she came with.

"I need help here?" Claire cried, as she laid her son down and began to rip what was left of his pyjamas off his body.

*

Liam, Brent, Patrick and Donovan kept thier guns trained on the beast and kept firing. Patrick's bullet had hit it on its shoulder, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"Son'ava bitch," Patrick cursed as he pulled back and reloaded.

Liam, on the other hand, was slightly puzzled at the fact the animal knew it was being fired at, hell, it had gotten a bullet to the shoulder, but all that didn't seem to scare it away. It just stood there, some few yards from them, growling and snarling at the men.

Then the creature started to do something Liam had rarely seen any creature do before. With its menacing yellow eyes trained on the men, it started to back away. It was moving back.

Liam slowly lowered his rifle and spun to an equally astonished Patrick.

"No fucking way," Patrick's whisper made the hairs on Liam's neck stand.

The animal didn't just spin and walk away; no, it was backing away. One of its large paws moving backwards after the other. It's eyes on all of them.

"Come on!" Brent shouted as he hurried and struggled to reload his rifle. "It's getting away!"

Liam and Patrick were too awe struck to take any action. Brent wasn't an animal expert, so he wouldn't understand what was actually happening before him.

"Well," Liam heard Tate's voice from behind him. "That's strange." Liam didn't need to look back to know that Tate was equally stunned.

Brent reloaded and finally raised his rifle to and started to fire. Donovan then followed.

"No! Wait!" Liam's voice was drowned by the loudness of the gun shots as they struck like quick and short bursts of thunder.

"Brent!" He screamed, but he also doubted Brent could hear him through all the sound. He spun in the direction of the creature and saw it roar in rage. Liam was sure none of the bullets had hit it.

Then suddenly, the creature started to back away faster, with its eyes still on its attackers.

"Come on you bastard!" Donovan roared. "Where do you think you're going, huh?"

Liam,Tate, Patrick and Elliot stood there watching the animal in awe as it backed away. It didn't seem to bother about getting hit by a bullet as the deputies fired; it just kept it's eye on them.

There was something about the way it's yellow eyes settled on the men that made Liam's skin crawl. "What are you?" Liam whispered to himself.

Suddenly, like a reply to Liam's question. the creature spun and disappeared into the darkness.

"Shit!" Donovan cursed as he lowered his gun and ran in the animal's direction hoping to catch it.

"Ehm... not a good idea!" Tate shouted after the officer before he disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Elliott's voice caused Liam and Patrick to turn.

Liam and Patrick tried hard to hide thier amusement when they saw the dread in the man's eyes while they were still fixed on the creature's former position. Elliot then turned to face them; his eyes still wide with shock and expecting Liam's answer.

Liam glanced at Patrick before looking straight into the darkness where the creature had disappeared. "I don't know Elliot," Liam sighed before he faced Elliot with a smirk. "What did you think it was?"

Elliot opened his mouth, but nothing came out, then he looked out into the darkness again. Liam looked at him with a mischievous grin. He was enjoying this. He knew that there was no way Elliot could have expected what he had just seen.

"It....Uhm..I mean.." Elliot was dumbfounded. It was as if he had suddenly lost the ability to speak.

Brent tapped Elliott's trembling shoulders reassuringly and faced him with a smile. "Why so scared?" The officer mocked. "This is what you signed for, right?"

Elliot closed his eyes and clenched his jaw at the realisation that he was being made fun of. He heard Liam and Patrick chuckle and suddenly felt the anger rise in his throat. Elliot shrugged Brent's hands off his shoulder, turned and walked away from the group vehemently; ignoring thier chuckles as he did.

The men stood and watched Elliot walk away for a while before they heard Donovan's voice, wheeled and then saw him emerging from the darkness beyond.

"Did you get it?" Brent asked.

Donovan stopped a few metres from the men looking at him. He shook his in defeat before he sighed a reply. "Bastard got away."

"Ofcourse," Patrick threw his hands in the air and back down again in frustration.

Brent looked away, sighed and clenched his jaw; holding himself from cursing loudly. He then faced Patrick and Liam with intense eyes that seemed to tell them that he was tired of it all.

"What the hell is this thing?" Brent asked emphatically.

Liam knew that it was a panther and he knew Brent knew that too, but surprisingly, he didn't answer the officer's question because he didn't think that would be the correct answer. It was strange.

"A Panther," Patrick replied unexpectedly; a smile on his face.

Brent looked at them for a while before shaking his head and walking away. Donovan the followed.
Liam then looked away and focused on the vast darkness before him.

"He's scared," Patrick said.

Liam faced him and saw that Patrick had lost that smile he had. He was serious now. Almost terrified. Liam looked away slowly and sighed.

"We all are," He said.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 48 - 53) by Chykwrites(m): 7:41pm On Nov 24, 2018
53.
BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Huh?"

Adam opened his eyes when he heard what he thought was the shortest, most abrupt thunder he had ever heard and realised he was still alive.

Suddenly, his entire lungs were flooded with air when the enormous pressure of the animal's giant left paw was lifted of him.

BANG! BANG!

Adam shook and screamed when he heard the thundering shots again. He raised his hands and pressed them to his ears as he turned to face the source of the shots.

Relief washed over the little boy when he saw three, or was it four men, slowly walking towards him with thier rifles trained at something beyond. Adam could immediately recognise one of them.

"Liam."

Another staccato of loud gun shots caused Adam to press his hands against his ears as he grimaced. He heard a loud roar behind him as someone shouted, "Get the kid! Somebody get the kid!"

Adam suddenly felt someone pull him up from the ground and the next thing he knew, he was hanging on someone's shoulders, bouncing in his limpness as the person trotted away with him.

"Adam!?" He could recognise his mother's voice anywhere. "Oh my God!"

It was only when Adam was brought down from the strangers shoulder that he could see it was Donovan who had carried him away.

Claire run and fell to her knees close her son. Sobbing heavily as she pulled the boy up for a hug that made Adam believe his mother wanted to crush him to death. Claire was scared when she realised her son wasn't even strong enough to hug her back.

"Oh Honey," Claire sobbed as she held the weak boy tight, rocking him back and forth. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

Adam could feel her wet cheeks rub against his face. He was surprised that the loud gunshots from the background didn't scare him anymore. The safety of his mother's arms were warm and reassuring.

Claire then tensed when she felt something. She realised her hands were slippery as she wrapped them behind him. A warm wetness. She raised her hand to her view and widened her eyes with a gasp.

"Blood."

Claire immediately spun and screamed for her colleagues with whom she came with.

"I need help here?" Claire cried, as she laid her son down and began to rip what was left of his pyjamas off his body.

*

Liam, Brent, Patrick and Donovan kept thier guns trained on the beast and kept firing. Patrick's bullet had hit it on its shoulder, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"Son'ava bitch," Patrick cursed as he pulled back and reloaded.

Liam, on the other hand, was slightly puzzled at the fact the animal knew it was being fired at, hell, it had gotten a bullet to the shoulder, but all that didn't seem to scare it away. It just stood there, some few yards from them, growling and snarling at the men.

Then the creature started to do something Liam had rarely seen any creature do before. With its menacing yellow eyes trained on the men, it started to back away. It was moving back.

Liam slowly lowered his rifle and spun to an equally astonished Patrick.

"No fucking way," Patrick's whisper made the hairs on Liam's neck stand.

The animal didn't just spin and walk away; no, it was backing away. One of its large paws moving backwards after the other. It's eyes on all of them.

"Come on!" Brent shouted as he hurried and struggled to reload his rifle. "It's getting away!"

Liam and Patrick were too awe struck to take any action. Brent wasn't an animal expert, so he wouldn't understand what was actually happening before him.

"Well," Liam heard Tate's voice from behind him. "That's strange." Liam didn't need to look back to know that Tate was equally stunned.

Brent reloaded and finally raised his rifle to and started to fire. Donovan then followed.

"No! Wait!" Liam's voice was drowned by the loudness of the gun shots as they struck like quick and short bursts of thunder.

"Brent!" He screamed, but he also doubted Brent could hear him through all the sound. He spun in the direction of the creature and saw it roar in rage. Liam was sure none of the bullets had hit it.

Then suddenly, the creature started to back away faster, with its eyes still on its attackers.

"Come on you bastard!" Donovan roared. "Where do you think you're going, huh?"

Liam,Tate, Patrick and Elliot stood there watching the animal in awe as it backed away. It didn't seem to bother about getting hit by a bullet as the deputies fired; it just kept it's eye on them.

There was something about the way it's yellow eyes settled on the men that made Liam's skin crawl. "What are you?" Liam whispered to himself.

Suddenly, like a reply to Liam's question. the creature spun and disappeared into the darkness.

"Shit!" Donovan cursed as he lowered his gun and ran in the animal's direction hoping to catch it.

"Ehm... not a good idea!" Tate shouted after the officer before he disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Elliott's voice caused Liam and Patrick to turn.

Liam and Patrick tried hard to hide thier amusement when they saw the dread in the man's eyes while they were still fixed on the creature's former position. Elliot then turned to face them; his eyes still wide with shock and expecting Liam's answer.

Liam glanced at Patrick before looking straight into the darkness where the creature had disappeared. "I don't know Elliot," Liam sighed before he faced Elliot with a smirk. "What did you think it was?"

Elliot opened his mouth, but nothing came out, then he looked out into the darkness again. Liam looked at him with a mischievous grin. He was enjoying this. He knew that there was no way Elliot could have expected what he had just seen.

"It....Uhm..I mean.." Elliot was dumbfounded. It was as if he had suddenly lost the ability to speak.

Brent tapped Elliott's trembling shoulders reassuringly and faced him with a smile. "Why so scared?" The officer mocked. "This is what you signed for, right?"

Elliot closed his eyes and clenched his jaw at the realisation that he was being made fun of. He heard Liam and Patrick chuckle and suddenly felt the anger rise in his throat. Elliot shrugged Brent's hands off his shoulder, turned and walked away from the group vehemently; ignoring thier chuckles as he did.

The men stood and watched Elliot walk away for a while before they heard Donovan's voice, wheeled and then saw him emerging from the darkness beyond.

"Did you get it?" Brent asked.

Donovan stopped a few metres from the men looking at him. He shook his in defeat before he sighed a reply. "Bastard got away."

"Ofcourse," Patrick threw his hands in the air and back down again in frustration.

Brent looked away, sighed and clenched his jaw; holding himself from cursing loudly. He then faced Patrick and Liam with intense eyes that seemed to tell them that he was tired of it all.

"What the hell is this thing?" Brent asked emphatically.

Liam knew that it was a panther and he knew Brent knew that too, but surprisingly, he didn't answer the officer's question because he didn't think that would be the correct answer. It was strange.

"A Panther," Patrick replied unexpectedly; a smile on his face.

Brent looked at them for a while before shaking his head and walking away. Donovan the followed.
Liam then looked away and focused on the vast darkness before him.

"He's scared," Patrick said.

Liam faced him and saw that Patrick had lost that smile he had. He was serious now. Almost terrified. Liam looked away slowly and sighed.

"We all are," He said.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 48 - 53) by Chykwrites(m): 7:39pm On Nov 24, 2018
52.
When Adam opened his eyes, everything was a blur, but when he spun to the side and felt the prickle of the blades of grass on his face, he knew he was outside the truck.

"Adam!" Samantha's voice was unmistakable but distant. "Run!"

The little boy felt his entire body burn as he lifted himself off the floor to a sitting position, with his palms pressed against the grass behind him for support.

He looked down and realised his Pyjamas had been torn to shreds and that it was just draping down his shoulder now.

"Adam!" Samantha's scream caused him to look up.

Adam saw his sister struggle to get out through the side window of the inverted truck but Luke was holding her back. Luke was equally shouting, but Adam couldn't make out his utterance.

"Adam!" Samantha cried, her face contorted in pain. "Run. Adam please Run!"

Adam sat there, confused. His head hurting and spinning like hell.

He was still trying to grasp what was going on when he felt the warm, wet breath at the back of his head.

He stiffened at the sound of the growl behind him.
His entire body began to move up and down as his breath became heavy and began to quicken. His eyes widened in realisation as he raised his head to the two teens in the truck.

"Don't Move!" was what Luke was screaming. "Adam, Don't Move!

At that point, Adam knew it was behind him. Luke was telling him not to move and Samantha was screaming for him to run. He had never been so terrified in his life, because he knew no matter what he did, the Panther would get him. It was just too close.

Adam swallowed hard and licked his lips. He felt beads of sweat run down from his neck to his back, even though the night was chilly and most of his body was exposed thanks to the rag that used to be his pyjamas.

He started to tremble when he felt the intensity of the heat behind him as the animal was getting closer.

"Oh God Adam Run!" Samantha screamed in tears. Her face filled with agony.

"No! Adam! Don't Move!" Luke countered.

Adam slowly looked up to face them. He tried very hard not to believe this would be the last time he was going to see them. He was trembling so much, he didn't know whether it was the fear or the cold of the night, but his heart was beating so loud, he could hear it loud and clear.

There was a flash of lightening and then thunder followed some seconds later.

The night was cool, but the only hot air Adam could feel was the one being blown at the back of his head.

Then the animal gave a loud grunt that made Adam almost jump before he squeezed his eyes shut in fright as he held himself from crying and sobbing out loud. At that point, Adam knew he was nothing but a prey, a piece of meat the animal wanted, but was watching first.

Suddenly, a large force pushed the little boy to the ground so hard, he was sure the impact would split his head open.

"Ahhh!" Adam yelled in fright as he began to breath heavily. The animal pressed him down to the ground and Adam could not deny the possibility that he was about to die.

He still heard Luke and Samantha screaming out loud as the creature seemed to add more pressure on him by the second. It got to the point where Adam could hardly breath. At that point, the little boy was sure he was staring death in the face.

"P-please," Adam whispered, suddenly thinking,in desperation, that the creature would listen to him, have mercy and let him go. Nothing seemed silly or crazy at this point, especially when he was about to die. "Please don't kill me," Adam was crying now.

There was a roll of thunder as the creature lowered it's head towards the helpless, sobbing boy. Its warm, smelling breath was so intense, Adam swore he could taste it. The creature's pressure on him increased so much he couldn't move anymore. He felt as if an entire car was on top of him. Hell, an entire truck.

The Panther snarled down at the boy, and Adam felt what he was sure was saliva, drop to his cheeks.

From the side of his eyes, he could see the razor sharp fangs exposed as the animal leaned in.

Adam cried softly when he felt it's sharp claws dig into his back. He could feel warm beads of wetness flowing down to his sides. He was Bleeding.

"Nooo!" He heard his sister's haunting and screaming voice.

Laying there, helpless and unable to breath with white hot pain tearing through his back as razor sharp claws tore into his flesh, little Adam Hayes was sure now, that it was all over.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 48 - 53) by Chykwrites(m): 7:38pm On Nov 24, 2018
51.
Samantha opened her eyes to a vision of nothing but pure darkness outside the car. Blurry at first, but it started to clear. It was clear enough for her to see the world which was now upside down outside the windscreen.

It was wasn't until she moved that she realised her neck hurt. She let her legs fall from above her, down to the bottom, which was now the hood of the car.

"A-Adam?" She called as she struggled to look back at the back seat.

The passenger and driver's seats now hung from the top of the truck and there were pieces of glass everywhere. Samantha let out a gasp of pain when she unwittingly pressed her elbow on a few pieces and raised the bloodied elbow to her view. "Shit."

She spun quickly to face Luke when he let out a low groan that made her realise that he was in pain.

"Luke?" She said as she scrambled close to him and held him. "Hey, you okay?"

He turned over to face her while still upside down, revealing the cut just above his brows that cause an uneven trail of blood to run down to his brownish-black hair. Samantha then reached up on his seat and tried to pull his legs down. "Hold on," she whispered. "Let me get you down first."

She pulled Luke's legs down before he fell to the ground with a loud thud and an "Ouch."

"Sorry," Samantha whispered, before she twisted to face her little brother in the back. "Adam?" She called out in a whisper, as she stretched for his body laying limp beneath the hanging back-seats.

"Adam?," Samantha uttered as she shook his body a bit. She was particularly relieved when she saw his shoulder flinch. "Adam. You okay?"


Adam groaned. His face contorted in pain as he flipped over for Samantha to see his bleeding nose.


"Oh God," She let out a light gasp. "You-you're bleeding." She then reached out to touch his face. "Let me see."

"Hey," Adam immediately protested as he waved her hand away, his eyes suddenly widening. "Are you nuts?"

"Sorry," Samantha frowned. "Just wanted to see of its hurts."

Adam pulled himself to rest on his elbow. "I'm bleeding Sam," He scowled, "Ofcourse it hurts."

"Everyone okay?" Luke interrupted with a groan as he sat up and balanced himself in the tight space below his seat.

"I think so," Adam replied.

Samantha turned to face Luke and noticed that apart from the cut on head,there as a cut on his lip too. Beads of blood rolling down his face.

Samantha saw him and immediately took his face in her hand. Luke moved his weak green eyes to face her and she felt her stomach flip. She felt really sorry for him.

Is-Is it still out there?" Adam stuttered in a grimace.

It was as if Samantha and Luke became suddenly aware of thier surroundings when Adam asked that question, they began looking out the cracked and shattered windows.

"I can't see anything," She uttered, as she strained to see through what used to be her side window.


"Me n-neither," Luke replied.

They both looked back at Adam who was behind them and were slightly astonished to meet the little boy's bulging eye.

"Adam?" Samantha uttered in a somewhat breathy whisper. "What's wrong?"

Adam said nothing. His bulging eyes were still fixed on something beyond Samantha and Luke.


"Adam?" Luke furrowed his brows. "You alright?"


Adam opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Samantha could suddenly see that her little brother was trembling. She moved closer and reached for him and held his arm tight. "Adam you're scaring me."

The little boy slowly lifted his trembling finger and pointed to something behind Luke and Samantha. The two teens slowly spun in the direction Adam was pointing.

Outside the surprisingly uncracked windscreen, two large and menacing yellow eyes glared into the truck.
"O-Oh-Oh God," Samantha let out a trembling sigh as she fixed her wide eyes on the windscreen.

"Don't. Move." Luke whispered the separated words. Samantha turned to him and saw his wide eyes fixed in the same direction.

They knew this was a delicate situation. After the entire truck had flipped over, there was no doubt in thier minds that, even if the the windscreen was still intact, and that it had not shattered like the other windows, it was most definitely weakened and it wouldn't take much to break through it. So, here they were, the windscreen standing between them and the beast outside.

Samantha gave a whimper when the animal snarled at them.

"Press your feet down," Luke whispered the words slowly with emphasis.

Samantha turned and faced him in confusion. "What?"

"Press your feet down on the-."

The Windscreen suddenly crashed forward as the creature began fighting it's way into the car to get its meal.

"OhmyGod!" Samantha gave a screaming gasp, with Adam screaming behind her and Luke giving a haunting wail.

The beast kept scratching and wiping, trying to squeeze itself into the vehicle. The kids kept screaming at the top of their Lungs as they pressed thier feet down on the windscreen, pushing it forward and protecting themselves.

"Pin it down!" Luke kept screaming. "Pin it down!"

Adam laid behind them, terrified and crying as he watched as the two teens fought and struggled to keep the creature out of the car.

The animal shot back a bit, heaved and charged straight for the glass. It's impact causing it to crack. Samantha and Adam Screamed in horror.


"Push it back!" Luke shouted as he pressed his leg against the cracked glass in desperation. "Push it back!"

The two teens kept pressing on the split up glass with their sneakers. Breathing heavily and quickly. Realising that the only thing keeping them from the creature's jaws of death was that glass.

They kept pressing down on the large piece of the windscreen with their sneakers as the animal scratched and roared and pushed in rage from the other side.
Samantha faced Luke in time to see him grimace. A sign that the force he was applying to the glass below, was causing him a substantial amount of pain.

The pressure the kids applied, together with that of the beast, suddenly shattered the windscreen of the truck.


"Oh God!," Samantha screamed in horror. "Oh God."

Luke's eyes widened when he saw the animal start to force it's way in and then he and Samantha began to fold thier legs in, with Adam giving out light sobs behind them.

"Kick it!" Luke whispered at first.

"Wha-What?" Samantha turned to face him with furrowed brows.

"Kick it!" Luke roared with the rage of someone who wasn't going to give in. He roared with the rage of someone who wasn't ready to die. "Kick it!

Then the teens began slamming thier sneakers into the animal's snarling face.

The creature roared, obviously frustrated, as it started to push itself further into the truck with a violent force that rocked the car from side to side.

"Ahhh shit!," Luke screamed in pain as he suddenly shot his left leg back up and Samantha could see the Animal had ripped the lower part of his jeans with it's claws, exposing Luke's bloody wound.

"Shit," the teen boy cursed.

Samantha then faced the animal, still forcing it's way in. The entire vehicle rocking sideways, and her little brother crying behind her. She felt this explosion of bitter rage inside her. Everything suddenly began to taste metallic.

She spun to face the struggling monster and saw it snarl at her.

"Motherfucker!" Samantha screamed as she started to kick once again. Ramming her sneakers into the face of the animal as it tried, but failed, to get a hold of her leg.

Then, Luke joined in. Kicking in very quick succession.

"Get! The! Bleep! Away! From! Us!" Samantha screamed each word with a kick.

The animal didn't appear to back away, until two hands stretched forward from behind Samantha and Luke. Luke spun and saw what the hands were holding.

"An Extinguisher."

All of a sudden, the interior of the car was filled with white dust. A suffocating mist of white thickness. Luke and Samantha were caught by surprise, that's why they screamed.

The Animal's Loud roar was heard as the entire truck was jerked around violently. The truck shifted so sharply to the right at one point, Samantha hit her head at the side.

"Hold On!" Luke's scream was drowned by the roar of the animal before them and the deafening hissing sound of the extinguisher.

Then suddenly, as fast as it had all began, it stopped.

The car and stopped jerking around. The roar had stopped, but Adam refused to put off the extinguisher.

"A-Adam!" Luke screamed. "Turn it off!"

Then it stopped.

A grave silence fell in the misty interior of the truck and the only thing that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the kids.

As the white dust began to clear, Luke stretched forward a bit and narrowed his eyes at the windscreen. It was empty.

The animal was gone.

Then he collapsed back with a loud sigh.

"Is-Is it dead?" Adam stuttered.

Luke was then suddenly aware. He tensed when Adam asked that question. It was gone, but was most likely not dead.

He spun and looked out his side window, nothing but darkness. Then he spun in Samantha's direction and stiffened when he saw her bleeding from her head.


"Shit," he said as he leaned in and reached for her. She looked unconscious. She was moving, but Luke could tell she had lost touch with where she was or what was happening.

"Sa-Samantha?" Luke uttered. The panic in his voice was unmistakable as he cupped her face to face his and began to tap her cheeks lightly. "Sam, can you hear me?"
Her eyes began to flutter, before she opened them slowly. Everything was a blur, but she new she was looking into Luke's green eyes.

"Where-Wh-What happened?" Her voice was weak and strained. Her breathing was uneven. Then she grimaced and reached for her head. "Ouch."

Her eyes were brighter as she faced Luke and then shot a wide eyed glance at the windscreen below. She suddenly tensed and drew close to Luke.

"Where is it?" She asked as her eyes darted from one corner to the other in panic. "Where is it?"

"Hey. Hey. hey," Luke suddenly reached up and cupped her face in his palms, calming her down. "Shhh. Hey,It's Okay."

Luke moved his trembling hands from her face, down to her shoulders and realised she was trembling too.

"Is it gone?" Samantha asked in a breathy and trembling whisper as she faced Luke with her wide eyes.

Luke opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He then turned and began looking out the cracked windows and could swear the entire world outside had flashed in a sudden brightness.

"Lightening?"

He was frustrated at the fact the he could see nothing but darkness. He also knew that getting out of the truck could be the most stupid thing he could ever do. He knew the animal was still out there.

Waiting.

The night was silent once more. A silence that was short lived thanks to the sound of rolling thunder that broke through.

"Ca-Can we-Co-Come out now?" Adam whispered.

"Noh-Uhn," Luke uttered as he shook his head and turned to face Adam. "I don't think that's a good Idea, buddy."

Adam frowned and looked around at the windows and then he gestured at the extinguisher beside him. "We could use this when--"


With lightening speed, two giant paws broke through one of the windows behind, and Luke watched in disbelief as Adam was pulled out of the truck with an unbelievable force that Luke had no doubt, was strong enough to tear the little boy in half.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 48 - 53) by Chykwrites(m): 7:37pm On Nov 24, 2018
50.

Luke was flushed.

He stood there and watched as the black beast pressed it's body to the floor; a ritual for most wild cats to gather momentum for a powerful pounce.

Luke was afraid to even turn around and weigh his options. He was scared to take chances with the creature before him. He knew if he looked away, that would be the end. He took one last look at Samantha and Adam crying in the truck before he took a deep breath and exhaled; squeezed his eyes shut and swallowing hard to prepare himself for death.

The sharp and unbelievably loud sound of a car horn struck the still and chilly night. Luke jumped and opened his eyes in time to see the disoriented and confused creature equally raise its stiffened body up right before looking back to the source of the loud noise.

"Ruuun!" Luke could hear the screams of the siblings drowned by the shout of the horn. Samantha and Adam kept shouting as they pressed down on the middle of the steering wheel. "Run,Luke Run!"
Luke looked down and realised that the wild animal had lost interest in him now. It had turned away, with its attention on the pickup truck as it slowly moved and roared at the horning truck.

This was Luke's chance, and he took it.

The teen swiftly dashed into the house through the door and got into the sitting room with his eyes search the whole place.

"Come on!" He screamed as his eyes searched for the keys. "Where the Bleep is-," he stopped when his eyes fixated on the lamp table beside the two sitter couch. The keys were just laying there.

He was about to move when the front door crashed open as the black Panther broke through it and headed straight for Luke.

"Bleep!" He exclaimed as dove away, knocking his shoulder on one of the side tables.

"Shit," the young boy grimaced as a shattering pain shot through his body. He opened his eyes in time to see the beast move towards him quickly.

The cat was close, but the glass bowl of Popcorn on the three seater was closer. Luke knew he wouldn't move fast enough, so he instinctively picked up the glass bowl, swung and shattered it on the head of the approaching beast. It recoiled; shaking away, what Luke guessed, was the pain with a loud roar.

Luke caught sight of the keys one more time and charged for them, but he stopped, startled at how quickly the large black Panther had regained it's composure.

"Oh Come On," Luke moaned as he carefully got to his feet.

The large Cat charged at the teenage boy with lightening speed, but even Luke was shocked at the strength he mustered when he lifted the three seater couch up in the air and blocked the approaching monster, mid-air. The couch tipped over and knocked the animal to the ground, and Luke suddenly saw his cue.

He dashed out of the house, surprised that he didn't care he wasn't able to get the keys, but at the same time, happy to be alive.

Adam and Samantha saw Luke run out of the shattered front door and then few seconds later,they saw thier three seater couch fly out through the same door Luke had run out of; bearly missing him with inch. Thier eyes widened as they saw the black figure charging right behind him as he darted towards the truck, holding his shoulder with one hand.


"Oh my god!," Samantha panicked as she stretched and pushed the driver's door open.

"Hurry!" Adam Screamed.

As soon as the beast was close enough, it took a swing at Luke's back and slashed at his jeans with it's claws, hoping to slow it's prey down.

"Ahhh!" the boy screamed, but didn't stop.

Adam stretched forward and pressed on the car horn hard, in order to confuse the beast again, and it worked.


The animal slowed to a stop for what seemed to be a micro-second before it leapt for the truck. Luke dove into the driver's seat as Samantha and Adam pulled the door shot immediately and then, a loud BANG! followed shortly after.

The Impact dented the door, caused the truck to rock from side to side afterwards with the kids praying it would not top over.

Then there was silence. All they could hear was the sound of thier hearts beating and growl of the creature out side the vehicle. Samantha and Adam both collapsed back on thier seats, panting heavily. Luke pulled himself up, wincing in pain as he held his shoulder.

"Did you get the keys?" Adam asked and Samantha stiffened when she heard that question. She faced Luke, waiting for an answer.

Luke said nothing. He just looked up and gave Samantha a look of despair. A defeated look that made her slump back to her seat.

"Oh God." She sobbed.

Luke equally fell back on his seat. He was tired. Hell, they were all tired.

The three kids just sat there in the truck, quiet. Helpless and at the mercy of the beast outside. Everything had happened so quickly. One minute, they were watching a movie with Popcorn and soda, and now, here they were, fighting for thier lives. Adam was covered in the blood of his pet dog, Luke probably had a broken shoulder and Samantha was scared out of her mind.

Adam stretched and looked out his side window, searching for the creature that was suddenly nowhere to be found.

Luke groaned as he lifted his right leg and brought his injury into view. There was a red slash were the animal had struck him.

"Oh No," Samantha groaned as she moved forward for a closer look. "You're bleeding."

"I'll be fine," Luke grimaced.

"Where is it?" Adam's question made everyone pause and then turn to thier windows to search.

"Is-Is it gone?" Samantha spun to Luke with a glimmer of hope on her face.

With his face still fixed outside, he shook his head and then looked at her. "Can't tell. I think it's better we stay in here till someone comes."

"If someone comes?" Samantha deflated and looked out again.

Luke spun to her. "Wait. Thought you called my Dad?"

"I couldn't, okay," she spun to him with a sigh. "Your password was on."

Luke's jaws clenched as he turned away.

Adam looked away from his window and said, "But we're safe in the truck though, Right?"

Luke sighed heavily and stared into space before he looked at an equally distraught Samantha.



"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah I guess we-"


BOOM!


Samantha screamed in shock as the truck started to rock from side to side when something enormous hit it.


"Oh God!" She started to sob. "It's back"

Another thunderous BOOM shook the car and rocked it from side to side. Adam and Samantha yelled in horror as they held the seats to balance themselves.

Then, just like that, the banging stopped. Everywhere was quiet once more. Nothing could be heard except them breathing heavily and Adam's silent cry for his mum.


"Shhh," Samantha sobbed as she wheeled to face her brother. She pulled him in an embrace and kissed his forehead. "It's Okay."

Suddenly, the kids tensed when the truck began to rock itself sideways. There was no loud bang like before, just a silent rocking. It was as if something was pushing the vehicle on its sides, back and forth.

"What's -What's going on?" Samantha asked wide eyed. "What's happening?"

The rocking stopped and everything became still. The kids were so startled, no of them dared to move.
Luke was confused at first, but then, he raised his wide eyes to Samantha when he realised what the beast outside was trying to do.

"Ho-Hold on to-to something," Luke's whisper was low and haunting.


"Wh-What?" Samantha furrowed her brows in bewilderment.

Suddenly, the entire truck began to tip sideways and nothing but loud voices could be heard in the darkness.

"Oh my God!"

"AHHHHHHH!

"Hold On!"

Everyone was screaming at the top of thier lungs now as Luke's pickup truck began to tip over on its side. Loud crushing sounds of metal filled the air. It was as if the vehicle was groaning along with thier screams.

Samantha felt her side go up so high before she slid down and knocked into Luke. She looked out the wide screen and saw the world before them turning sideways.


"This isn't happening."

The truck moved over until it landed on its side. Samantha was on top of Luke now and the passenger seat and window was right above them.

Then, once again, there was silence.

Adam's moans were heard from the back-seat.

"Adam?" Samantha called. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Before anyone could answer any questions, the truck began to tip again.

"Oh God No!," Luke moaned. "No."

Samantha began to sob and Adam's moans slowly turned to screams as the truck fell side ways once more until the entire truck was completely upside down.
It hit the ground with a force so powerful, Adam's side window shattered to pieces, while the rest of the windows in the truck just cracked.

Silence.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 48 - 53) by Chykwrites(m): 7:36pm On Nov 24, 2018
49.
Luke's heart leapt to his mouth when he heard Samantha scream echo through the house.

"Samantha?!" He yelled as he shot himself away from the door and darted towards the kitchen entrance.

He was about to cross the door, when Samantha suddenly bumped into him and knocked him down. The both of them fell to the floor.

For a split second, Luke was startled at the fact that Samantha, instead of being as embarrassed as Luke about the awkward position of she being pressed against him on the kitchen floor, she was more concerned about whatever was behind her. She was more concerned about whatever was chasing her.

"Wh-What's going -," Luke uttered, as he saw as an excessively panicked Samantha darted her wide eyes to the entrance and swiftly drew herself from the floor.

"Get Up!" She shouted as she began to pull on the boy's t-shirt. "Luke get up. Hurry!"

Luke shifted his gaze to the door and saw the floor darken with a large, almost gigantic dark shadow. But it wasn't the encroaching shadow that made Luke stand up, it was that familiar growl. Lower in intensity this time, but still menacing.

Luke scrambled off the floor, hurried and met Samantha at the door that led to the backyard as she kept struggling to get it open. Adam was still pressed against it, not wanting to let go and determined to stop whatever was outside from getting in.

"No we can't," Adam sobbed. "It's still out there."

"No," Samantha hissed heavily as she kept shooting glances between her terrified little brother and the kitchen entrance behind. "It's in here you idiot. Now, move!"

Adam refused. He didn't believe her. He was scared out of his mind. Luke kept his eyes on the kitchen entrance all the while, as Samantha kept struggling with her little brother to get the door open.

Adam!?" Luke heard Samantha's frustration in her voice warn her brother seriously. Then Luke knew it was to late when he saw oily, thick, black fur emerge from beside the door frame.

It was in.

They had to hide.

Luke instinctively pulled the two siblings in his direction with great speed and then the three kids collapsed right behind the kitchen Island table; shielding them form the sight of the black beast.

"We've gotta-."

"Shhhh." Luke cut Samantha's protests off as the children squeezed themselves behind the table, making sure the predator on the other side did not see them.

The animal finally made its way into the kitchen. Sniffing. Grunting. Snarling. The sounds that seemed to make their hearts beat faster and Adam's breathing quicken. They heard the creature pull out the drawers, and the sharp crashing sounds of breakable plates hitting the marbled floor.

Samantha felt her little brother jolt and stiffen at every single sound, and she held him tighter.

Then the crashing stopped and the grunting appeared to get louder.

Luke sat there, terrified and trying to control his trembling body. Here they were, just the three of them, trapped in the kitchen with a blood thirsty beast and the only thing that stopped them from being found and torn to shreds was the island table in the middle. He slowly turned and faced Samantha with his welling eyes. She had never seen him this scared before. The fact that she could see Luke being equally as scared as she was really did terrify her.

"Panther," Adam gave a trembling whisper.

Luke and Samantha faced the little boy. "What?" They both whispered in unison.

Adam's eyes, filled with tears, was fixed on the aluminium trash can right infront of them as he slowly lifted his trembling hands and pointed at it. "B-Black Pa-Pa-Panther," Adam whispered again.

Luke and Samantha looked in the direction Adam was pointing and saw it. The reflection on the trash can was that of the Black beast behind them.
Luke's eyes widened as he fixated his gaze on what was behind them. "Oh god," He heard Samantha sobbing beside him when she saw it too.

Luke had no words to describe it. It's large yellow eyes, razor sharp claws that peeped out its paws, and yellowish bloodstained fangs. This was the only thing Luke could have imagined in his nightmares. This creature was astoundingly the size of a grizzly bear. Luke wasn't an animal expert, but he was pretty sure wild cats weren't supposed to be that large.

Slightly surprised that Adam knew what this creature was called, he himself had no idea such a monstrosity existed until now. Luke immediately stopped thinking of what he was looking at and started figuring out how they were going to get out of this situation, when he saw the creature crawl closer to them; searching.

Luke turned and looked at Samantha. Her eyes were welling as she mouthed a "What are we going to do?" Her face contorted to that of someone who seemed to be in pain.

Look took his eyes back to the encroaching reflection of the black beast behind them.


"Oh God," Samantha gave a quiet whimper as she pressed an equally terrified and sobbing Adam close to her; her eyes fixed on the reflection.

Luke took a look at them and was afraid to accept the fact that this could be thier last few hours alive. He stared at Samantha and her little hold each other close as they both cried silently; they saw the growing shadow of the animal beside them.

Adam held his big sister close, while she held him closer. Luke saw two siblings bonded by blood, who would rather die together, than one leaving the other and he felt his fear somehow morph into anger.

He had to do something.

Then his eye caught something when he looked look up at the wall before him. The two soda bottles on the table. He could see thier shadows, and then his eyes shifted to the door leading out of the kitchen and into the backyard.

Luke had gotten an idea.

He immediately turned to Samantha and her brother. He cupped her wet face between his palms and looked into her eyes. "Hey. Hey," Luke whispered heavily. "Look at me. Listen Okay?". When I say run. You run out the door."

Samantha furrowed her brows in confusion. She could see desperation in Luke's eyes.

"Do you understand?" Luke shook her head to make sure she understood.

"O-okay."

He didn't wait for her reply before he tuned back and saw how close the animal had gotten. It was so close, Luke could smell the wetness of its fur and the metalic scent of blood.

As its shadow grew from the floor beside them, up to the wall infront of them, Luke felt his heart pounding as he reached up to search for one of the soda bottles.

"What are you doing?" Samantha gave a shaken whisper.

Luke ignored her as he got one of the bottles in his grip. He then looked down at the wide eyed siblings and said..."Ready?"

Samantha was unsure, but Adam nodded his head very quickly in response.

Luke grabbed the bottle filled with orange soda, lifted it and threw it across the kitchen. It flew out of the kitchen entrance and then, there was a loud crash out side the kitchen; a loud crash in the dinning area.

The creature, as Luke had expected, spun quickly with a loud roar that startled Samantha, she almost jumped. It charged away from where the kids were hiding, straight for the source of the noise.


"Now!" Luke gave a sort of heavy, loud whisper as he charged for the backyard door, followed closely by Adam and Samantha. He pulled it open and darted outside with the siblings right behind.

The three kids step outside, agitated, not knowing what to do next as their eyes darted from one place to the other.

"What do we do?" Samantha sobbed. "Do we go to the neighbours?"

"They're too far", Adam protested as he shook his head.

Luke cringed when he realised Adam was right. Even if they started running for the neighbours now, there was no doubt in Luke's mind that that thing would catch up with them and that would be it. Again, he was no animal expert, but he had seen enough Lions and Tigers chase Antelopes on National Geographic and he knew they would not stand a chance.


"The truck," Luke uttered as he immediately remembered he had parked the pickup truck infront of the house. "Let's get in the truck."

The kids hurried over to the front of the house, relieved to see Luke's truck parked infront. They ran over, pulled the doors open and got in. Samantha on the passenger seat, Adam behind and of course, Luke on the driver's.

"Bleep!" Luke hissed as he punched the steering wheel after he had searched for something he obviously did not find.

"What?", Samantha asked.

Luke turned to her with a look of despair.
"The keys," he said. "I forgot the keys." His entire body going up and down as his breaths were heavy.

"Oh God", Samantha deflated and slumped back on her seat.

"Shh," Luke stretched his hand to calm her down as he shot a glance between she and Adam at the back. "It's okay. Listen, i'll hurry in and go get it. Okay?"


"Are you crazy?" Adam snapped with furrowed brows at Luke.

"Look, I'll be fine," Luke assured as he pushed the door open. "It's probably in the kitchen, and not in the living room. I'll just grab the keys, run out and we're outta here."

"....Just stay in the car."

Samantha and Adam watched Luke as he slammed the car door shut and walked passed the front of the car towards the house.

"Oh he's definitely gonna die," Adam said.

"Shut up slowpoke", Samantha wheeled scowled. "Don"t say that."

Luke walked over to the house, got on the steps, and up to the deck. He spun back and faced the kids in the truck and then raised his trembling hands in a nervous thumbs up.

Samantha gave him a nervous smile.

Luke turned back and faced the door, went close and slowly began to reach for the knob.

It suddenly darted out of the already-shattered sitting room window with lightening speed, and landed on its paws outside the house.

"Oh My God!", Samantha screamed. "Luuke!!"

Luke spun and saw the creature standing between him and the truck. "Holy shit!" The teen gave a shaky whisper.

The creature then turned and faced him. It snarled at him and began to move closer.

Luke began to back away from the door slowly, unsure of what to do. The creature kept moving closer and closer and Luke kept moving away slowly.

Luke thought of running, but he knew it would be no use. Even from the way the Creature was staring at him, he could swear the beast was daring him to run.

"Come on kid, I dare you to run. Make this interesting for me."

Luke stole a glance at a crying Adam and Samantha with her hand over her mouth as they stared helplessly. He knew what they were thinking, and he was thinking it too.

This was it.
Literature / Ferocious (chapters 48 - 53) by Chykwrites(m): 7:35pm On Nov 24, 2018
48.
"You're gonna have to pause it again," Samantha turned to Luke with a mischievous smirk on her face.

Luke gave an exasperated sigh. "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" She frowned. "I need to go get a soda."

"Then go get it," Luke hissed.

"...And miss the part where JT takes off his shirt?" Samantha uttered as she got to her feet. "Pause it, Luke."

"Ugh!" Luke grumbled. He stretched for the remote, pressed it and dropped it beside him on the couch. He folded his hands on his chests and frowned at Samantha. "You're the worst person I've ever seen a movie with," he grumbled.
Samantha said nothing. She just gave him a smug and strutted to the kitchen, leaving him in the sitting room with a half eaten bowl of Popcorn.

*

Samantha walked into the Kitchen and went straight to the fridge, pulled it open, and with the cool air hitting her face, she searched, found, and pulled out two plastic bottles of orange flavoured sodas. She closed the fridge and started to walk away, when she suddenly remembered.

"Adam."

Samantha spun and glanced at the Kitchen door leading to the backyard. She remembered that she had told her little brother to take out the trash, and that he had been out there for a while now.

"Adam?" Samantha called, but there was no response.

She turned fully, dropped the sodas on the island table and began to walk towards the door; curiosity written all over her features. "Adam?" she called again, as she kept moving closer to the door. "What are you doing out there?"

Samantha got to the door and stretched forward to grab the knob.

She suddenly recoiled with a startled whimper when the door burst open with Adam darting through it and slamming it shot behind him; pressing himself against it immediately after.

"Jesus Christ Adam," Samantha uttered with heavy breaths as she pressed her left palm to her chest and her wide eyes trained on her little brother. "What the hell? You scared the shit outta--."

Samantha stopped when she noticed the red stains on Adams face and his Spongbob Pyjamas. She knew what it looked like, but she didn't want to believe it because it just didn't make sense.
Where would Adam get blood stains?

"A-Adam?" Samantha stuttered as she eyed her brother askance. He pinned himself to door, as if he was trying to stop something from getting in. Samantha watched as his entire torso moved up and then down as he took deep, heavy and quickened breaths; his terrified wide eyes staring into space.

"Adam?" Samantha uttered again with confusion and worry all over her features. "What's going on?"

For the first time since he entered the kitchen, he turned and faced his sister; startled, like he had just noticed that she was there. "It's - It's - Outside - Ottie - It's.." Adam stuttered as Samantha's confusion grew into impatience at the fact that her brother wasn't making any sense.


"It's what?" Samantha raised her shoulders in frustration. "You're not making any se-"

A loud and deafening "BOOMl!" struck the door. It was so loud, it made the siblings yell in shock. Samantha could swear the entire kitchen shook.
When She saw her little brother's eyes begin to well with tears and his heavy breathing begin to change to sobs, Samantha started trembling.

"What the hell was that?" Luke's voice caused Samantha to turn and find him standing at the Kitchen entrance; brows furrowed with confusion.


BOOM! BOOM!

Samantha let out a sharp scream as two bangs thundered on the door that seemed to shake the entire house now.

"What the Bleep!" Luke shouted; staggering back in shock.

Adam's sobs became heavy and then turned into cries while he was still pinned to the door. Samantha felt her own eyes sting as she stared at him. She felt herself begin to tremble uncontrollably. It was obvious that the little boy had seen what was behind that door and the thought of whatever it getting in the house, terrified him deeply. She wanted to run over and hold him, but it surprised her that she was too scared to even go near him.

The fourth bang, although not as loud as the third, came with a push on the door from the other side . Adam shouted as he stood his ground, planting his bare feet strongly on the hard cold tiles before him, looking for friction.

"Go away!" Samantha's scream was a mixture of fear and rage as tears came down her face. "Leave us alone!"

Luke saw that Adam was no match for whatever was behind that door, and he knew that even if he did not know what it was that was out there, he sure as hell did not want it coming into the house. Luke immediately darted forward, passed Samantha, went over and pushed the door closed. He pressed on until the door slammed shut. Then he spun and pressed his back against it, just like Adam did.

Luke looked to Adam's bloodstained face by his side with wide eyes. "Wh-Who the hell is out there?" He asked with heavy breaths.

Then there was a long and lingering growl. Everyone froze and listened. Samantha's eyes slowly travelled round the kitchen as the growl drew and lingered, from the floor to the ceiling, and then the sink, before she slowly looked up in Luke's direction and mouthed a soundless "What is that?"

Then the growl stopped.

The children waited and prepared themselves for another startling sound, but nothing came. Everything was suddenly quiet. It was so quiet, that the only sounds that they heard, came from their breathing and the humming of the refrigerator at the corner.

Samantha moved closer a little and then placed her trembling hand on the Island table. "Is-Is-Is it g-gone?" She stuttered.

Adam and Luke exchanged glances. They couldn't be sure, and they knew it would stupid to open the door and check. After another three minutes went by without any sound whatsoever, the three of them were convinced that what ever was out there, was gone.

"I-I think it's gone" Luke stuttered; his back still pressed to the door.

Samantha raised her hand to her chest and exhaled heavily as she leaned on the island table beside her.

"Could have been a Bear or something," Luke suggested, as he slowly lifted himself from the door. "It's gotta be a Bear."

Adam, who was still pinned to the door, slowly lifted his face to Luke. "Do-do Bears e-eat Dogs?" Adam stuttered.

Luke turned to face him with a frown. "What?"

"It-It ate O-Ottie," Adam uttered in a shaky and somewhat loud whisper; looking up at Luke with his watery eyes.

Luke's eyes went wide with shock as he looked away from Adam to his sister.

Samantha raised her hand to her mouth in shock when she now realised what the red stains on her brother's face and body was, and who they belonged to.
"Oh my god," was what came out as a trembling whisper.

Luke leaned back on the door. "You should call my Dad," he said as he faced Samantha. "Now."

Samantha turned to him. "Wha-What?" She replied.

"My phone," Luke said. "It's on the couch. Take it. Call my Dad. Tell him to come over with Officers, quickly."

Samantha, who was nodding all the while Luke was talking, quickly spun and hurried out of the kitchen, leaving Adam and Luke still pressed against the door.

She hurried into the sitting room, her eyes darting from place to place. The movie was still playing on the TV and at that moment, Samantha didn't really care that she had told Luke to pause it and he hadn't. Everything was beginning to look like a blur now.

She could not believe what Adam had just told her.

"It ate Ottie."

Samantha suddenly felt her muscles weaken when she remembered those words. What ever was out there had eaten thier dog. She suddenly fixated her eyes on the phone as it lay there on the couch before she reached down and picked it up.

She swiped the screen open and dropped her shoulders with a loud "Shit" when she saw the one sentence that every person on the planet dreaded when they wanted to use someone else's phone in an emergency.

Enter Password

She raked her blonde hair back with her trembling right hand as her eyes darted all over the sitting room in panic. She was supposed to call officer Brent's number, not Nine-One-One. She needed that password.

She thought of dropping it and going straight to her phone, and then she realised that she didn't even remember where she had dropped it and she sure as hell didn't have time to look for anything right now.

"Luke!" She finally called out. "What's your Pa-"

The teenage girl was cut off as the window in the living room exploded into thousands of glittering pieces, before something large and black darted through.

It all happened so fast, that Samantha was knocked to the ground.

She couldn't see what it was because she had to shield her eyes from the thousands of pieces of glass that sprayed all over her body from the unexpected explosion.

Samantha moved her hand down from over her head, pieces of glass falling from her body, before she looked up and saw it.

It shook its entire body hard, like a dog that was just coming out from a bath and then opened it's bright yellow eyes that seemed to be glowing, even with the brightness of the lights in the living room.

Samantha's eyes widened as the animal moved it's eyes and glared at her.

Then suddenly, it snarled, exposing bloodstained red fangs.

Samantha couldn't hold her fear and dread any longer and so she screamed like she had never screamed in her life.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:46pm On Oct 05, 2018
Lol. This is where "Ferocious" really starts. Buckle up guys! wink wink wink
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:46pm On Oct 05, 2018
Hehehe.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:44pm On Oct 05, 2018
47.

"Hey, twerp," Samantha called as she leaned on the sitting room entrance with a bowl of Popcorn in her hand.

Adam spun from the TV and faced her with a frown. "What?"

"It's your turn to take out the trash, remember?" Samantha muttered.

"Take it out for me, Pleeaase." Adam pleaded, feigning puppy eyes as he faced his big sister.

"Nope, not this time," Samantha shook her head and scowled. "Do you think I like it when my hands smell like garbage."

"Oh come on Sam," Adam groaned.

"Now, Adam," Samantha hissed through gritted teeth as she pointed to the kitchen.

"It's okay big guy," Luke said as he rustled Adam's hair with a kind smile.

Adam dragged himself up from the couch beside Luke and walked passed Samantha and into the Kitchen. Samantha heard him mumble mocking imitations of her nagging under his breath, but she chose to ignore him as she made her way to the couch beside Luke.

"You're gonna have to replay," Samantha said as she pinched out a few Popcorns to her mouth. Luke dropped his shoulders with a sigh as he reached for the remote.

*

"Adam, take out the trash. Adam eat your vegetables. Adam change my daipers," The little boy mumbled to himself in mocking imitations of his mum and his sister as he pulled out the black nylon bag from the trash can.

He dragged it on the floor of the kitchen till he made his way to the door and pulled it open. The chilly night breeze hit his face as he came down the steps into the night brightened by moonlight. He walked out of the house and dumped the large plastic bag in the bigger trash can at the far back.

He turned to go back in, but then stopped when he heard a whimper.

"Ottie?"

Adam froze and listened before he walked to the front of the house, rubbing his arms to warm himself up against the freezing night air.
He moved over to Ottie's kennel to see if he was in there.

He wasn't.

Adam raised his confused eyes from the dog's house and began scanning the area.

"Ottie?" Adam called out as he scanned the lawn. He looked back Ottie's kennel and noticed something he had not noticed before.
Ottie's chain. His leash; it was broken. Adam picked up the remaining half of the chain that was still buckled to the Kennel. It was so cold, he dropped it and something else caught his attention. His hands. Adam stared at his hands in confusion.

Under the rays of the security lights, Adam could see that his hands were stained with a particular red liquid.

Another whimper caused the little boy to move his head up and then there was a growl. The two sounds appeared to be coming from behind the house.

"O-Ottie?" Adam gave a shaky whisper as he moved slowly towards the back of the house.

When the little boy got to the large back yard, he was searching. He was confused because there was no sound to trace. Then he heard it again.

The sound of something cracking. That sound he always heard when he gave Ottie a bone and he just kept cracking it.

Adam spun immediately to the bushes beside the picket fences.

"Ottie?"Adam whispered as he moved closer. He narrowed his eyes for better visibility as there were no security lights at this side of the house. The moonlight was all he had at this point.

Then the bush started to move and Adam, through the moonlight, could make out something in the shadow of the bushes.
Adam's curiosity was getting the best of him as he kept moving closer and closer.

"Ottie?" Adam whispered. "What are you doing there, boy?"

Adam wanted to move closer, but then he stopped when the bush moved for some time and then the bone cracking sound again was herd again.

"Ottie? Come on bo-?"

Suddenly, something flew out of the darkness and hit Adam on the head, knocking him to the floor immediately.

"Ouch!" The little boy exclaimed.

Adam raised himself to a sitting position. His head where the the object had hit him hurt and he reached up with his hands to rub it when he noticed that that part of his head was wet. He brought his hands down to his head and saw the same red liquid he had seen on Ottie's chain. They were on his hands.

"Huh?"

Adam struggled to his feet before he looked to the side and saw it.

The little boy gave a horrifying gasp as Ottie's severed head laid there, and was staring straight at him, with its tongue hanging out and it eyes rolled into its head.

"O-Ot..Ottie?" he croaked. Adam began to tremble. His body started to feel weak. He could have sworn he was in a dream.

"O...Ottie?"

Adam fell back to the floor in shock, his wide eyes never leaving the severed head of his pet before him. His gasps now turned to sobs.

Then there was a growl; slow, horrifying and menacing.

He slowly turned his welling eyes to the darkness of the bush before him and saw two demonic yellow eyes materialise from nowhere. They were focused on him.

The little boy knew at this point, he had to be careful. He slowly began to back away, sobbing profusely. His breathing quickened, while his entire body was trembling.
Then Suddenly, it was as if the darkness beyond the bushes had come alive and started to move. Adam watched as the large black creature emerged from the darkness; it's yellow eyes still fixed on him.

"Sa...Sa..Saman...," the whispered words were choked in Adam's throat. He realised he couldn't scream. His throat was numb; just like his legs. Just like his hands.

The chill of the night had suddenly vanished and Adam felt a bead of sweat roll down his back. He was paralysed as he stared; wide eyed, at the approaching yellow eyes and the bloodstained fangs of the snarling black beast that had just eaten his dog.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:43pm On Oct 05, 2018
46.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Patrick shouted as he tried to catch his breath after they stopped at the scene, while Liam just stood there with his hands on his waist, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Don't just stand there," the woman who had yelled cried with her mascara drawn down her face. She gestured to four men who were in a brawl. Fighting really hard. "Do something."

Liam took a look at the woman for a moment and then shifted his gaze to the men who were violently punching each other. He had thought why the woman had called for help at first, but then, he saw the way the men where hitting and punching. One broke a bottle on the back of the other, and one was bleeding profusely from his head. If she had tried to stop them in anyway, they probably would have knocked her teeth in.

Liam dropped his rifle to the floor and charged at the men. Patrick followed.

"Alright!" He shouted. "Knock it off guys, come on!"

Patrick tore two men away from each other while Liam pulled up one man from beating the shit out of another man on the floor.

Everything calmed in time for Patrick and Liam to see everyone one gather at the scene. Kent, Elliot, Donovan, Helen, Larry and Tate appeared, panting heavily from thier just completed run. They all had thier guns trained. They were all prepared.

Claire and Brent later appeared equally breathless and so did Jake and his men. Eyes bulging out in anticipation.

"What in the world!?" Kent exclaimed.

"Sorry Chief," Liam was breathless. "Its...It's a negative."

"False alarm," Patrick added.

Everyone dropped their shoulders in disbelief and disappointment, except Claire, who just turned back and called for her colleagues when she saw the injured men.

One of the fighting men got up, spat out blood and glared at his enraged opponent standing beside Liam, through hooded lids. "You fight like a pussy. And you know why?, cause you're a pussy!", He growled in a drunken demeanour.

The other man slowly burst into a roar as he charged for him with a punch. "You Son'ava biiiitch!".

Liam then quickly moved and and tried to stop him, but Damn. The white hot pain struck Liam just above his left eye as the man's punch hit Liam instead. The impact was so overwhelming, Liam staggered for two seconds before dropping to the ground.

"Ooooooh!" Everyone seemed to scream when Liam got hit. Well, everyone except Elliot and Cross who were holding down a laugh so hard, they burst into a chuckle.

"Get these thugs outta here!" Kent ordered as Donovan, Brent and some of Jake's men hurried over and pulled the bloodied fighters away.

*

"Ouch!" Liam hissed in a grimace as Claire dabbed on his cut with a piece of wool soaked In disinfectant.

"If you don't want this to get infected, I suggest you hold still," Claire mumbled, her eyes fixed on his wound in concentration. "You're lucky you don't need stitches like your drunk-ass friends over there."
Liam spun a little, enough to see the other men being attended to by Claire's colleagues.

"Liam come on," Claire moved back, dropped her shoulders and groaned in frustration at his annoying proclivity for movement.

"Sorry," Liam whispered quickly. "I-I'm Sorry." Then Claire resumed her treatment.

"We should have seen it coming though," Patrick chuckled as he watched Claire work.

"How," Liam asked.

"I mean, what's a party without a little brawl huh?" Patrick snickered.

Claire smiled at Patrick's words as she shook her head, ignoring Liam's eyes on her. She knew his eyes were on her, but she just feigned indifference.

Elliot and his assistant then walked up to them. "Jeez," Elliot said in a feign of concern that irritated Patrick. "That's gotta hurt. Is he gonna live doc?"
Cross to chuckle in a way that everyone was beginning to get pissed.

Claire glanced at Liam's face and saw that he was furious, but had chosen to ignore them.

"But honestly," Cross added. "That punch was legit."

Claire then gave an exasperating sigh before she turned and faced them. "Do you mind?" Claire uttered. "I'm working here."

Elliot narrowed his eyes at her. "You're Claire Hayes aren't you? The one who did the autopsy?"

Claire rolled her eyes. She was getting impatient.

"I was impressed with your deductions," Elliot gave an Impressed nod.

"Thank you," Claire said with a passive aggressive smile. "Now get lost."


Larry and Patrick burst out in a chuckle that obviously annoyed Elliot and Cross.

"Come on let's go," Elliot sneered as his eyes darted from Liam, Claire, Larry and then Patrick. "We don't have time for Armatures."

As they moved away, Cross smirked at Larry. "Later Pokemon," he snickered.

Larry turned to face them as they left with a smile. "Bald freak," Larry muttered under his breath.


"There," Claire sighed. "All done." As Claire placed the plaster on his cut and moved away a little.

"Thanks," Liam groaned as he raised himself up.

Claire then stretched out a bottle of water to the him. "You're welcome."

He eyed Claire and the bottle of water before he reluctantly took it from her. As he took a gulp, he saw her hold a small container that he was familiar with. "Pills?"

"Yep," she replied.

"For what?", Liam scowled.

Claire dropped her shoulders and sighed. "You were punched real hard in the head Liam. You're most likely gonna have a headache tonight now open up."

Liam sighed and then opened his left palm to take two pills. He bent his head and took the pills in his mouth, swallowed and took a gulp of water. "Bleep," he hissed with an expression of disgust in his features.

Patrick chuckled.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please your take your seats as the world's greatest fireworks display is about to begin," A man's voice thundered as he announced over the speaker. His announcement was followed by cheers from the crowd, as everyone started to move down to the display area.

Claire began to park up; throwing the bloodstained wools into a trash can beside the van, before she started to pull off her gloves.

"Thank you," Liam uttered in a soft tone that not only surprised him, but surprised Claire too.

She looked down at him and realised how uneasy he was. He couldn't believe how hard he was finding it to look up at Claire.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Jesus, Liam, it's my job. I have to-"

"N-not for the cut," Liam smiled weakly before finally looking up at her as she paused. "For standing up to that asshole."

She stared at him for a while and then chuckled. "You are something, you know that?"

She was a little perplexed when she saw his response. He said nothing. He just smiled. She rearly saw him this timid. He looked defenceless. Vulnerable.

"..And thanks for staying," Claire said finally.

Liam shot up his eyes to meet hers as a smirk grew on his face.

They held each other eyes for a while in a gaze that made Claire's belly tighten. The tension was building and Claire could feel that at this point something could happen, that is, .... before Chief Kent rudely interrupted.

"Liam!" Kent called in his hoarse voice that caused Liam to jolt to an upright position immediately.

Tate, Brent and Donovan were behind Kent as he started to walk towards Liam and Claire.

"Sir," Liam quickly got to his feet.

"What's happening?" Chief threw his hands up and down again. He was obviously frustrated that nothing was happening. More so, he was worried that they were wrong; that they hadn't calculated correctly.

Liam opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out as he shrugged.

"Normally this sort of activity would have attracted them here by now," Tate looked worried. "It doesn't make sense. The fact that they're nocturnal, is enough."

"You think they're trying to out-smart us?" Kent gave Liam a suspicious look.

Liam chuckled. "They're just animals, sir," he said. "I seriously doubt that."

"Then why the hell aren't they here?" Kent protested. He was confused, and also worried. Looking at him, Claire could tell that he knew what this could mean. At this point, any miscalculation could be devastating.

"..And it kinda makes sense that there hasn't been an attack tonight," Patrick added.

"Yeah", Tate uttered, almost cutting Patrick off in the realisation that he was, at the moment, thinking the same thing as he was. "And they may not be an attack at all."
Everyone turned to face Tate in furrowed brows of confusion.

"Why is that?", Kent asked as he crossed his hands over his chest eager to hear what the young scientist had to say.

"Think of it," Tate stated as he glared at everyone before him. "This isn't thier feeding ground. It has never been. No one has ever been attacked here before."

At that point, nobody but Donovan noticed Liam's eyes bulge out wide like saucers. Even Donovan could see that something about what Tate said, had hit Liam hard.

"Oh. My. God." Liam's whisper was loud enough for everyone to hear.

They all faced Liam. He was frozen in place; eyes wide and mouth open. They took note of the fact that the man had just realised something.

"What is it?" Brent asked in confusion.

In his head, Liam immediately went back to the Mayor's dinner party. He, Patrick, and Tate, answering the questions of the guests.


The Pretty lady's Question.
"How did you know where to find it? "Because from what I was hearing on the news, that thing appeared to be quite smart."

Tate's answer.
"It was simple really. Most Large predators, especially large wild cats, will always come back to the last place they had thier last meal. If they don't get any more, they move to another food source."

Liam immediately felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand as he slowly turned his wide eyes to face a confused Claire standing beside him.

"Liam?" Claire uttered as she studied him. She raised her hand to his back because he looked like he was going to Pass out or something.

"What the hell is going on?!", Kent shouted in frustration as he darted his eyes from Liam to Tate and then Patrick.

Liam was so choked by the fright that his realisation caused as his wide eyed were still on Claire, he couldn't talk. He couldn't move. Hell, he was finding it hard to breath. His heart was pounding in his chest. He couldn't hear the crowd in the festival anymore. He couldn't hear the screams of the people in the rides anymore. He could not hear the music anymore. The only thing he heard now was the beating of his heart.

He slowly moved his watery eyes to Tate, who was studying him with narrowed eyes at first; trying to figure out what was wrong.

Tate's eyes equally widened as the realisation struck too; him like thunder.

"Je...Jesus," Tate gave out a trembling whisper of horror.

At that moment, Tate and Liam immediately darted away from the group in full speed.

"Come on!" Tate screamed at the top of his lungs as he beckoned for everyone else to follow them. "Hurry!"

As Liam sped off with Tate, he pulled out his walkie-talkie and kept screaming into it.

"All units to the Hayes' residence! I repeat! All units to the Hayes' residence!"
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:42pm On Oct 05, 2018
45.
"Are all those needles sterilised," Claire asked her colleagues as she pointed to a small box containing syringe needles.

"Yep." The fat nurse replied.

Claire sighed and nodded in response before one of her colleagues came down from the paramedics van with his eyes fixed on Claire. She knew, even while they were on the road, that he had questions, and now, he was about to ask.

"Say Dr. Hayes? The blonde haired scrub uttered before he scanned the entire park and then looked back at Claire, like he made sure no one was watching them or something. "What are we doing here exactly?"

Claire crossed her her arms over her chest and studied him for a while feigning the fact that she was trying to understand his question. "It's a festival, Mason," Claire said. "....with fireworks. There's bound to be accidents."

Mason raised a brow and held himself from chuckling. Then he turned and gestured to the van behind. "We've got enough medical supplies here for an impending war,there are six of us here instead of just two, and I've noticed the security-"

"Mitch," Claire held out her hand as she cut him off. "You're here to do your job. Just do it."

Mitch opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. Then he looked away. Claire could tell he was someone who obviously didn't like being kept in the dark.

"Yes ma'am," Mason said, as he turned and walked away.

Claire dropped her shoulders and raised her hand to her temple. She could feel a headache coming on. She knew there would be more scenarios like these, more questions. Right from the moment she was ordering for the equipment to be taken out to the festival grounds, she saw the puzzled looks on the faces of her colleagues; some of them were even astonished.

"Ex-excuse me miss?" a voice muttered from behind Claire. She spun and saw three boys, most definitely in thier teens. The one in the middle had a bleeding nose and his green t-shirt was already stained with drops of blood.

Claire immediately reached over, pulled the boy close and bent his head backwards, pulled out a tissue from her pocket and pressed it to his nose as she pulled him closer to the van.

"Mason!" She called out before she turned to the boys with a stern look and asked them,"What happened?"

When the the two boys started exchanging nervous glances at each other, Claire was sure that whatever they were about to say was going to be a lie.

"We-we don't know," one of the boys stuttered. "We...Um...Just found him there."

As Mason came and took the bleeding boy away with a "I got him," Claire narrowed her eyes at them and then began to study them. Her eyes travelled to their slightly dirty shirts and mud soiled jeans that they didn't really do well to clean properly. Plus, the boy on the right still had traces of mud on his right palm. What would the life of teenage boys be without the occasional rough plays?

"Just found him there huh?, Yeah. Right."

Claire raised her eyes to their nervous little adolescent faces, tightened her lips and shook her head.

Then she jotted her thumb to the van behind her. "Go clean yourselves up right now."

The boys scurried away from her and then started mumbling vehemently at each other.

"Watching movies with the kids huh?" Brent's voice made Claire stiffen and she held herself hard from cursing as she slowly spun to meet the police officer's angry glare.

"Hey Brent," Claire faked a smile.

When Brent said nothing, but reply her gesture with a steely glare in which Claire could see his jaw clench, she dropped her shoulders in defeat and sighed.

"Okay", Claire began. "I'm So...."

"What the hell am I gonna do with you, Claire?" Brent hissed.

Claire widened her eyes. She was surprised how she felt like Brent's daughter at the moment.

"What am I? Twelve!?" Claire protested.

"Apparently." Brent shrugged.

She narrowed her eyes at Brent as she clenched her fists. She was seething as she began to move past the officer.

"You're not seeing this my way, are you?" Brent called after her.

Claire kept moving.

"Samantha and Adam," Brent called again and watched as Claire immediately stopped, then spun to face him.

"You're all they've got, Claire." Brent shook his head.

Claire stood there until Brent walked over to meet her. She could see the concern in the man's eyes and frankly, she was grateful, but the truth was, even she didn't know why she had gotten herself so involved in this. She didn't know why she didn't want to be left out. Ever since Brent called her for the autopsy that faithful morning, she was entranced by this case.

Brent got to the front of Claire and stopped. The two of them just stood there, looking at each other.

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered, looking to her feet to avoid Brent's blue eyes boring into her.

Brent thought for a second. He was the one who suggested Claire as the perfect corona for the autopsy on the students. He was the one that called her that morning. He had known Claire since the high school days and he knew that Claire was the one person who hated being kept in the dark. Now, he was, blaming her; reprimanding her over her safety.

He could also tell that Claire wasn't over the tragedy of her husband's death. He could tell that Claire still blamed herself, and worst of all, her daughter hated her; she blamed her.
Claire was so consumed by grief, she wasn't thinking of herself anymore, and as Brent stood there, he could feel his anger suddenly dissolved to pity.

"Want to ride the Ferris-wheel?" Brent smirked.

Claire looked up to meet his wild eyes. Her face contorted to an incredulous expression. "Really?" she thought Brent couldn't possibly be serious.

Here they were, a paramedics team and a team of biologist, zoologists and ex-marines, on the look out for man-eaters that are probably out there picking thier kill right now, and all he thought of was to go on the Ferris wheel?

"Yep," Brent replied.

She chuckled and then looked at the officer before her again and realised he wasn't kidding.

"I've got two tickets already," he said. "I was supposed to go with Donovan, but apparently, he is more interested in the enormous backsides of the ladies out here."

Claire grimaced as he chuckled.

"One ride," Claire warned as she raised a finger and began walking away. "One."

"Yes Ma'am", Brent gave a curt nod.


*

Patrick narrowed his eyes as he tried to get a good look at something in the distance. "Say," he uttered. "Isn't that Claire?"

Liam immediately shot his head up and looked in Patrick's direction. "What? Where?" He began darting his eyes in every direction.

Patrick quickly pointed to Claire and Brent making thier way to one of the cars lowered for them on the Ferris wheel.

"Jesus Christ," Liam cursed through gritted teeth as he clenched his fists when.he saw them. "This woman is impossible."

Patrick turned and faced Liam. He stared at Liam as he watched Brent and Claire mount the Ferris wheel car, and he could immediately tell Liam's expression had suddenly changed from anger to fear and uncertainty.

It was almost as if Liam was afraid for the woman. Patrick then remembered when he saw Liam and Claire share a moment at the police department hall a few days ago. So, he suddenly felt the need to ask his long time friend the question, but not directly.

"Is there a woman in your life, Liam?" Patrick asked in a casual tone as he tore his eyes away from Liam.

Liam suddenly spun with a scowl. "What?"

"Are you seeing anyone?".

Liam coughed out a chuckle and turned his gaze back to the Ferris wheel, fighting the urge to smile as he saw Claire smiling wildly while thier car elevated into the air.

"Does she know?"Patrick asked.

"Know. what?" Liam asked as without even looking at Patrick.

"That you like her," Patrick muttered.

Liam then turned and glared at his friend. He knew what the zoologist was insinuating ever since he asked if there was a woman in his life. He knew he as indirectly asking him if he liked Claire.

"Where the hell is this coming from?" Liam fired.

"Relax man" Patrick chuckled. "It's just a simple-."


"Well it's inappropriate at this point, okay?" Liam hissed. "We're here to do a job, so, let's do it."

"Okay then." Patrick was amused. He fought so hard to hold down a laugh that could earn him a heavy punch from his colleague.

The two men sat there in silence. Apart from the hysterically laughing and cheering crowd they over saw, the thrilled screams and shouts of people on the rides filled the air.
Both men chuckled when they heard someone yell "Ooooh my fucking gooood," as the Roller-coaster a few yards away, began to descend rapidly on its large beam held tracks.

The night was beginning to get cooler now and the hour for the fireworks display was getting closer. Liam looked at the far edge and he could see people putting up relaxable chairs. Some people were already setting up picnic spots and he could also see the technical team running helter-skelter; trying to put everything in order for the display.

They sat there and watched until Claire and Brent got off the Ferris Wheel. Patrick spun to face Liam and saw that his eyes were still on Claire and the Police officer. He thought Liam would have seen him from the corner of his eyes, and that's why he tore his gaze away from Claire immediately. Patrick also thought it would be exhausting to bring up that topic again.

"Alpha two," Liam's walkie-talkie crackled to life. "What's your status. Over."

Liam dropped their shoulders for the fact that this could have been the hundredth time he was been asked this question and it was beginning to get on his nerves.

He pulled out his walkie-talkie vehemently and raised it to his mouth, probably about to say something appalling.

"This is Alpha two, we-"


"Help!!" The high pitched scream of a woman struck the air. "Somebody! Help!"

Liam and Patrick froze. They spun with thier eyes darting to all corners, trying to ascertain the source of the cry, until they saw a group of people rushing to a corner, which was quite close to the woods.

"Somebody help!!"

Liam and Patrick gave each other urgent glances before they shot themselves up from the log and began to sprint towards the scene with alarming speed.

"Get out of the way!" Patrick screamed at the people in his way as he ran past. He knocked down a clown and caused his balloon to escape into the sky above.

"Move!", Liam screamed as he sped on, waving people away with one hand and holding up his walkie-talkie with the other.

"All units to the East section!" Liam shouted into his communicator as he ran through.

".....I repeat! All units to the East section!"
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:42pm On Oct 05, 2018
44.
"Whoa," Donovan uttered as his eyes were fixed on the back side of a particular girl who was strutting by. She was wearing a tank top over tight jean bum shorts. "Check out the package on this fruit cake."

Brent looked over at the girl as she walked away, then he spun and faced Donovan with a scowl. "Oh come on Donnie," Brent replied. "Stephanie may be out here."

Donovan scoffed. "I doubt that....and even if she is, she can't say shit."

Brent quickly spun to face his colleague with an astonished look. "No," Brent uttered as he slowly turned his entire body to face Donovan who had a smug smile on his face. "No you didn't".

"Yes I did. I dumped her sorry ass."

"Oh Come on man," Brent moaned as he dropped his shoulders. "I liked Stephanie."

"Well I didn't," Donovan snickered as he tore his eyes away from Brent and began scanning the area. "At least not anymore."
Brent clenched his jaw as he stared at Donovan. Stephanie wasn't the first and it annoyed him all the more to think that she wasn't going to be the last. Donovan had a bad boy charm that many girls couldn't resist, especially the good-natured ones.

Brent opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped when something behind Donovan caught his eye.

"What the....?"

Brent narrowed his eyes some more; a gesture the caused Donovan to eye him in confusion. "What?"

"No way," Brent hissed as he moved passed Donovan to get a better look at the woman who was standing beside a paramedics van and having a conversation with three medical officials at the Popcorn stand close to the carousel.

*

"So how long have you been in the force?" Helen asked, still grinning at Jake.

"Umm- a couple of years. I'd say nine to ten," Jake said in his characteristically deep voice as he nodded slowly.

"Wow," Helen eyed him. "That's...nice. Your girlfriend must be proud."

Jake gave a toothy smile and Helen started to wonder how a person's teeth could be so white. Jake began shaking his head before he raised his eyes to Helen. "I...Umm...son't have a girlfriend."

Helen could practically hear the angels singing hallelujah in her head as her eyes widened at tall, smiling, handsome Jake.

"Really?" Helen faked a frown.

Jake shrugged.

"Well", Helen drew. "In that -."

"Hey guys." Larry's voice called from a distance, causing Helen and Jake to turn and see him approach them with two pink Cotton candy flosses.

Helen immediately furrowed her brows, while Jake's smile dissolved a little.

"What's up?" Larry grinned as he stopped infront of them.

"Cool," Jake shrugged.

Larry turned to face Helen and saw the way she was glaring at him. He got the message, he got what she was trying to tell him with her eyes, but he wasn't going anywhere.

"This is for you", Larry uttered as he handed Helen one of the cotton candies.

"Oh-Um- Thanks?" Helen stuttered as she shot nervous glances between Larry and Jake.

"You're welcome", Larry grinned, before he lifted his own cotton candy and started to munch away, not minding that Jake was the only one standing there without one.

After one bite of his treat, Larry looked up and met Helen's eyes burning into him, before she mouthed a soundless "What the Bleep are you doing?" but of course, Larry ignored her.

"So," lLarry started. "Ever been to a festival like this before, Jake?"

"Well...Eh...," Jake uttered. "Yeah."

"Oh Yeah, Where ?"

"Well, you know", Jake bent his mouth. "Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, Holland, China...."

"You've been to China?" Helen gasped.

"Yeah, I like to travel alot," Jake replied.

Larry clenched his Jaw and his fists so hard, he heard the wooden stick of the Cotton candy crack a little.

Suddenly, two blonde lady's; probably the sam age as Helen, just came out of no where.

"Helen?" One of them called as she stared at Helen in disbelief.

Helen spun and her eyes widened immediately. "Oh my God!",The female deputy yelled. "Trish! Amy!....You made it this year!"

Then the three women went into a hugging frenzy. Larry heard the three ladies trail off as they exchanged pleasantries, screaming like teenage girls at a boy-band concert. They were so happy to see each other.

Helen finally faced Jake and Larry. "Oh, guys, this is Jake, his a new recruit here. A marine." Helen's voiced seemed.to be filled with pride.

Jake smiled and gave a curt nod. "Hey."

Larry almost threw up in his mouth when he saw the way the girls were eyeing Jake. He held himself from rolling his eyes.

"Hi," the Ladies giggled in unison, sizing up Jake in a flirtatious manner.

"So when did you guys get in?" Helen faced them again.

Larry couldn't believe what just happened. Helen had introduced Jake to her friends while.....

Larry then spun and saw Jake hold done a smile. He had noticed it too.

"Oh hell no." Larry thought to himself.

"Hi!" Larry shouted to get thier attention as his loud voice almost startled everyone. "So...sorry. I-I'm Larry, Helen's friend."


"Oh," one of the girls uttered as they threw confused glances at Larry who was smiling and Helen who was pinching the bridge of her nose. "Hello."

Larry nodded in response, still smiling.

But thier attention was torn away from him again when one of them faced Helen in delight and said, "Oh...guess what, Gavin is here."

Helen's eyes widened immediately. "What?"

Now, Larry and Jake didn't know who Gavin was, but who ever he was, the ladies seemed excited as hell that he was around.

"Where is he?" Helen asked.

"Over there" , One of the girls pointed. "by the bar."

"Come on Let's go", The other girl said, as she started to pull Helen away.

Helen suddenly forgot she was on duty before she spun and gave Jake and Larry an apologetic look. "Sorry guys, be right back," he said.

"No Problem,"Larry uttered as he waved her away with a smile.

"Bye Jake," Helen's friends spun and waved in a flirtatious manner.

Jake gave a curt nod and chuckled as he watched the woman walk away and disappear into the crowd.

After the girls left, Jake and Larry just stood there not saying anything to each other. Jake looked quite relaxed, while Larry wasn't, even as he devoured his cotton candy.

As they stood there, he thought of confronting Jake, man to man, to tell him to stay away from his girl. After all, how did Liam and Patrick say it again, ....oh yeah... This was his territory. Cherrywood Valley was his territory.

He eyed Jake for a while, before he realised, with all those muscles, Jake could kick his ass in a second.

"Relax man," Jake deep voice pulled Larry out of his thoughts. "I'm not gonna steal your girl."

The words startled Larry. He looked up and saw Jake smirking do at him. Larry didn't know what to say. He just stood there, wondering instead, how Jake knew.

"Was I that obvious?" Larry thought.

"And besides," Jake grimaced. "She's not my type."

Larry's eyes widened when Jake made that statement. "Not your....are kidding me?"


"I mean she's cute and all," Jake added. "But..Eh..Nah." He shook his head quickly.

Okay now Larry felt strange as hell. He didn't know if he was offended or just confused.

"Hey Jake!" Someone called from some yards away behind them.

Larry and Jake spun to see some of Jake's colleagues gathered together close to what looked like a barn, each of them with a beer in thier hands.

"There's beer on the house!" A particularly skinny man shouted. "Wanna take break?"

Jake just nodded in response before he turned back to Larry. "Want a beer?"

"Er...no thanks," Larry shook his head as he was still lost; thanks to what Jake had said a few minutes ago.

"Suit yourself," Jake said as he started to back away.

Larry didn't see the need to ask, but he was going to ask anyway.

"Hey," Larry called out after the marine.

Jake spun with raised brows.

"So who's your type exactly, huh?" Larry asked as he dropped his hands to hold his waist in curiousity.

Jake eyed Larry for a second and then shrugged.

"You?" he smirked as he winked at Larry and spun to continue on his way to meet his colleagues.

Larry just stood there with his eyes wide as saucers and his mouth slightly open. He had never been this confused in his life.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:41pm On Oct 05, 2018
43.

The night of the festival had finally arrived.
Norton Park has always been the venue for Cherrywood's annual July 4th fireworks display ever since it was christened way back in the late 40s. It was an ordinary large expanse of greenery before work started on the park in the early fifties and then in the early sixties, Norton Park was the first and only leisure park in Cherrywood Valley.

Tonight was like every other night. Most times, there were fun-fairs at the park and it would be a beehive of activities. But this night was different. This Night was special in every sense.

All it took was for Kent to look around and realise that his little conservative town of Cherrywood was open to the world now. The entire park was filled with people coming in and going out. People going on rides, clowns and mascots playing and dancing around with kids under thier parents' supervision, young people in thier teens and twenties walking around in clothes and manners that Kent could certainly tell that they weren't locals.

The entire park was lit up by beautiful coloured lights that were wound around the trees and nearby bushes.

People on the rides rendering thrilled screams into the night, and Kent was still surprised to see that the Rollercoaster was still working. He smiled at the memory of the time he had gone up there with his father many years ago.

Kent even stole a glance at Tate who was unconsciously swaying to the music that was playing into the night; "Wildest dreams" by Taylor Swift, as he studied his suddenly, exciting environment.

The Chief then lifted his walkie-talkie to his mouth and said, "Okay everyone, Look alive. Be sharp." His vigilant eyes scanning the area.

Then his gaze shifted to Helen and Jake a few yards away.

*

"You know," Helen started as she faced Jake with a dreamy smile on her face. "Shania twain and Carrie Underwood once played here."

Jake faced her with a lopsided grin as he began to nod. "Really?"

*

Some yards away, Larry, Brent and Donovan stood in a group near a small Candy kiosk. Donovan bought a few bubble gums and stretched them out to his colleagues.

"Thanks," Brent uttered as he picked one and started unwrapping.

"Nah," Larry uttered with his eyes fixed on Helen and Jake in the distance. "I'll pass."

Donovan looked confused at first, before he then followed Larry's gaze and he chuckled. Larry then felt Brent's arm pat his back "Sucks to be you bro." Brent chuckled.

Larry spun and saw Brent smiling mischievously at him.

"Ha. Ha. Ha.." Larry scowled as he pulled Brent's hands off him.

Brent and Donovan then burst out in hysterical laughter. Larry tore his eyes away from his laughing colleagues and looked in Helen and Jake's direction once more. The sight of Helen throwing her head back in laughter at something Jake had obviously said. Larry felt his stomach drop when he saw Helen lay her hands on Jake's massive chests to steady herself while she was laughing hysterically.

"Oh Come on," Larry thought. "Really?"

"Wow," Donovan uttered as he tried to catch his breath while laughing. "I gotta say, Helen is a bad ass." The two men burst out in laughter again.
Larry spun and faced them with a frown on his face. He held himself from moving closer and punching them both. Hard. He couldn't explain what he was feeling, I mean, he knew that it was all a joke. All fun and games. But he couldn't hide the anger, or was it jealously?

Larry turned away from them and faced Helen and Jake again in time to see Jake smiling down at the female deputy. The interest in his eyes as he smiled at her made Larry's blood boil.
He immediately left the group and began walking away in Helen and Jake's direction.

"Aww come on Larry," Donovan cooed.

"Yeah, we were just kidding man", Brent called. "Where are you going?"

"Back to my team," Larry hissed through gritted teeth as he walked away, leaving Brent and Donovan who were still laughing behind him. His eyes never left Jake and Helen as he approached.

*

"Alpha two. Status report," Kent's voice called from Liam's walkie-talkie. Liam raised the the communicator from his side and then to his mouth.

"Nothing yet Chief," he said. "Over."

Liam then spun to face Patrick beside him. Liam could tell that his eyes were filled with uncertainty. Like everyone else, Patrick was nervous.

"Yeah", Liam sighed as he patted Patrick's shoulders as he looked away. "I'm nervous too buddy."

Patrick turned to Liam and suddenly began to chuckle as he dug his hands into the pocket of his Jacket. It was suddenly beginning to get cold as Patrick scanned the park for a while. It was beginning to get crowed now. People were everywhere.

He stretched over and looked at the parking-lot. There were more cars there now than before.

"Here," he heard Liam's voice, coupled with the feeling of cold metal rub against his skin. Patrick turned and saw Liam hold out a can of beer to him.

"Aw man." Patrick chuckled as he reached out and took a can from Liam. "Thanks."

The two men found an enormous tree trunk that had fallen and then they sat.
Liam popped his can open and raised it in the air. "to you Jelani. Sleep well brother." he sighed

Patrick raised his can in response to Liam's gesture. "Yeah."

Then both men took sips from thier metal cans and then dropped them. They looked at each other and started to chuckle at one another. Before Patrick began to look round again. Then he turned and faced Liam.

"You sure they'll show up?" Patrick grimaced.

Liam lifted a brow. "Why not?"

"Well", Patrick suddenly became interested in his beer can. "I don't know. I mean, it's kinda noisy out here, like...the type of thing that would scare them away."

Liam then leaned forward and pointed at Patrick. "Exactly. Enough noise to drown out a Prey....crying for help."

Patrick furrowed his brows at Liam. He saw some sense in what Liam was saying, but he doubted if the beasts could be that smart.
"You and I have seen, first hand, what these things are capable of," Liam said. "It's safe not to underestimate them." He then raised his can of beer to his mouth for a sip.

Patrick's phone suddenly rang to.life in the pocket of his jacket. When he pulled it out and looked into the screen, Liam immediately notice his face harden. He wasn't happy with whoever was calling him.
Patrick looked away into the crowd aroundl and immediately pushed the phone back into his pocket, raised his can to his lips and sipped on his beer.

Even Liam could see that the call had changed his mood.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:40pm On Oct 05, 2018
42.
"What's up?" Samantha uttered as she pressed the phone to her wet ear with one hand, and held her towel in place with the other.

"Nothing much" Luke sighed from the other side of the line. "Except for the fact that I may just murder my parents one of these days."

"What happened?" Samantha chuckled as she dropped to a sitting position on her bed.

"Dad just told me the Norton Park festival is a No-No," Luke uttered in a voice that was filled with pure irritation.

Samantha's smirk slowly disappeared when she heard what Luke said. She narrowed her eyes, clenched her jaws and slowly shook her head as she remembered how her mother had also objected to her attendance at the same festival.

She may have been angry when her mother told her she could not go for the festival, but she was mad now as she heard Luke tell her that his dad had told him the same thing.

Samantha threw her head back and gave an exasperated sigh. Surely, this was one of the reasons she came to this boring town. To have a good time at its annual July 4th festival and fireworks display. Her Mum had told her about it, Edith had told her about it, hell, even Luke's friends couldn't stop talking about it, and now, she wasn't going.

"Hello?" Luke uttered. "You there?"

"Yep," Samantha said. "I'm here".

"I'm really sorry. Sam," Luke said. "I'll tell Brie to come pick you up."

Samantha scoffed. "Yeah, right", she replied. "I'm not going either."

"Wha-what?" Luke uttered.

"I'm not going anywhere," samantha said. "At least that's how my mum said it."

"Wait," Luke said. "Your mum said you couldn't go too?"

"Yep," Samantha replied.

She then heard Luke sigh at the other side of the line before he said, "Adults are the worst."

Samantha chuckled.

"I bet it has something to do with the wild cat problem or something," Luke said. "You know, try'na protect us and all."

"Obviously," Samantha rolled her eyes.

"Uh-Huh", Luke muttered. "I heard my dad discussing it with my mum yesterday. Don't know what he told her though, but after thier conversation, even she refused to go to the festival."

"Are you serious?", Samantha gave a light gasp.

"Yep", Luke sighed. "It's just gonna be me, her and two of her friends from culinary school that will be coming over. It's going to be a complete nightmare."

Samantha chuckled again. She thought for a while before the words just came pouring from her mouth. "You could come over," she said.

Luke's side of the line was silent for a while. Even he didn't expect that.

"Re-really?" Luke stuttered.

"Ermm...," Samantha thought for a while. She thought of taking it all back, but she realised it was too late. Then she realised she was going to be stuck with her brother all night,...Urg, plus, Luke didn't look like he would enjoy his night with his mum and her friends either.

"Sure," Samantha replied. "I mean you're not going for the festival, and I'm not going either. Both our parents have made us miserable, so we may as well be miserable together."

Luke laughed.

Then there was silence. Neither Samantha nor Luke was saying anything. It was obvious that there was something different about this conversation.

"Tell you what," Luke started. "We could watch a movie."

"Okay?" Samantha replied.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows?" Luke suggested.

Samantha grimaced. "Nah, seen it."

"Hmmm," okay then, Friends with Benefits?"

Samantha's eyes widened. "Oh yeah. Mila and Justin. You know, I haven't seen that movie."

"Now that's a shocker," Luke chuckled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Samantha grimaced.

"Can't believe a romance buff like you hasn't seen Friends with benefits," Luke teased. "It's weird."

"Oh please," Samantha rolled her eyes. "It's technically a romantic comedy, not pure romance."

"Yeah..whatever you say," Luke chuckled. "I'll bring soda, you get the popcorn running."

"Aye aye captain," Samantha immediately regretted her utterance.

"Aye aye captain? really? who says that? God." She thought to herself. She honestly couldn't understand what had gotten into her. First, she had suggested they hang out, now she was being....Arg!. She suddenly thought up a way to make it way less awkward.

"Okay", she feigned a sigh. "Gotta go."

"Yeah. Okay," Luke uttered.

Silence.

"Okay?", Samantha said. "Bye".

"Okay," Luke chuckled.

"Okay."

"Okay."

Silence.

Samantha could still hear him breathing on the other side of the line.

"Are you gonna drop the phone?" Samantha rolled her eyes.

"Do you want me to?" Luke chuckled.

"Later Luke," Samantha chuckled before she lowered the phone from her ears, all the while, smiling sheepishly.

At this point, Samantha was confused. She was confused about a lot of things, especially the way Luke was beginning to make her feel. The teenage girl collapsed on the bed with her eyes fixed on the ceiling above with a smile on her face.


"What the hell is wrong with me?"


***

"Okay then," Claire replied, after Brent had told her the entire plan for the festival night. "Looks like you guys have gotten it all under control."

"I guess," Brent uttered.

Claire tightened the grip on her phone thinking what else to ask the officer on the other side.

"So this Elliot guy," Claire started. "What's he like?"

"Nah, you know...", Brent muttered. "Just your regular asshole."

Claire Chuckled.

"Is-Erm- Susan gonna be there?" She asked.

"After the stories I told her?" Brent chuckled. "Nah, I doubt it."

"Good," he stated.

"You?" Brent asked.

Claire exhaled long and deeply.

"Claire?", Brent warned.

"Hmm," she answered.

"You know you can't do this," Brent stated, still in a warning tone.

"Do what?" She asked.

"Claire come on,"Brent groaned. "It's dangerous. Too dangerous."

Claire opened her mouth to say something. Something in her gut kept telling her that Brent was right, but she didn't want to give in. "Look," she began. "I don't know what you're talking about, okay?"

Brent sighed. "I've known you for more than ten years Dr. Hayes, and you are one of the most stubborn people I've met."

If only Brent could see the mischievous smirk on the woman's face on the other side of the line, when he said those words.

"Relax Brent," Claire replied. "I'll be fine."

Brent just sighed. "Why don't I believe you?"

"I don't know," Claire shook her head. "Maybe because you're paranoid. Look, Sam and Adam aren't going, and neither am I. We'll probably just be at home, watching a movie or something."

"What about Edith?" Brent asked.

She scoffed. "Edith wouldn't be caught dead in a place filled with fireworks, You know that."

"Good. So she'll be home with you?"

"Mmno", She'll be at the local church with some friends", Claire explained.

"I See."

When the line went silent, Claire could see Brent's worried face in her head. She felt a smile grow on her face and she didn't know why. She suddenly went back to high school. Brent and Bradley were best friends and when Bradley had started dating Claire, he had told her about his best friend who was shy around girls and asked if she could get him a date for the prom. That was when Claire introduced her best friend, Susan. It shocked Bradley and Claire how inseparable Susan and Brent had become years after high school and even through university. On the day of Bradley and Claire's wedding, Susan was her maid of honour and Brent was his friend's best man. It was even more shocking when Brent got on his knees and proposed to Susan right there at thier wedding reception.

When Bradley died, the only person that cried as much as Claire was Brent. Claire remembered Susan calling her to tell her that her husband had not eating for days and that he was going into depression.

On the day of Bradley's funeral, Claire remembered Brent looking into her tear filled eyes, telling her that he had two families now. Brent had told her that Bradley had cried while on his hospital bed because he was scared for his family. Who was going to take care of them? That was when Brent swore on his life that he would protect them. He swore to his dying friend that he would look after them.

Claire came out of her thoughts when she heard Brent's voice over the phone.

"Claire?" Brent called.

She sighed. "Look, Brent," he said. "I'll be fine". It's just gonna be me and the Kids, I'll be totally safe."

Brent sighed again.

"What are you, my father or something...Jeez ?" Claire rolled her eyes.

She smiled as she heard the police officer chuckle on the other side. Even though it could be exhausting sometimes, Claire could not deny how much her fondness and likeness for Brent grew. Ever since Bradley passed away, Brent had made sure Claire and the Kids were always Okay.

He was like a second husband, even though he was married with a kid himself.

"Okay", he said. "Gotta go, the press conference is about to start."

"Oh...o...okay", Claire said with a slight frown at the fact that she wasn't there.

Then the line went dead.

As Claire lowered the phone from her ear, she felt a pang of guilt. She had told him that she was staying home with the kids to watch TV or something.

Well, she had lied. Brent didn't know that Claire had gone to the hospital about three to four days ago to coordinate a medical team for the festival, and that she herself, was gonna be there.

She exhaled heavily with a smirk on her face as she thought. If Brent had never been mad at her before. He was going to.

But wait, if Brent would be mad, what about Liam?

Claire buried her face in her hands and shook her head.Either way, She had to be at that festival.

She just had to be there.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:39pm On Oct 05, 2018
41.
The hall at the Cherrywood Valley Police building had never been this busy before. Police officers gathered in various small groups, laughing and talking to each other; engaged in serious conversations There was an obvious separation between the Cherrywood Cops and the Security experts that were invited to the town on duty about a day ago.

Larry, Donovan and Brent stood there, watching the new recruits that had entered the town on the Mayor's orders to help Elliot Grey as they gathered at the corner. Almost a hundred of them. There were all in dirty green Khakis, rugged and tough looking. They looked like action movie heroes.

"I bet they think they're better than us," Donovan scoffed.

"Actually?" Larry uttered before turning to face Donovan with a wry smile. "They are."

Donovan gave Larry a deadpan stare, holding himself from from smacking him on the head while Brent chuckled at the two deputies.

The hall door opened and the men spun to see Elliot Grey and his team walk through it. Elliot turned his gaze to the three deputies at the corner as he walked by. Brent gave a nod and Elliot ignored him; he looked away like he wasn't even there.

"Hey Pokemon," Cross snickered, his eyes glaring at Larry as he tagged along behind his boss.

Larry narrowed his eyes at him as they passed by.

"Son'ava bitch."

"Where the hell is the Chief?" Donovan hissed as he glared at Elliott and his team settle on thier table, and then at the recruits. He was really beginning to hate this place now and could his feel defences kicking in.

Like an answered prayer, the hall door flung open again. Everyone turned and saw Kent hurrying in with Helen behind him, but no one, except Larry, Brent and Donovan, expected to see Liam, Tate and Patrick come in behind him.

Elliott's casual smile slowly fell off his face when he saw the two scientists and the zookeeper.

Then he got up from his seat and glared at Kent. "What's he doing here?" Elliot Grey pointed to Liam and faced Kent with a frown.

"Didn't you get the Memo?" Liam teased. smirking mysteriously.

"What Memo?" Elliot uttered in confusion.

"We're on your team now," Tate smiled maliciously as he walked over and stopped beside the tall, lanky skin head.

Elliot turned and glared at a smirking Kent.

"That's not a problem", The chief Kent uttered. "Is it?"

"Does the Mayor know?" Elliot asked in a threatening hiss as he raised his chin slightly.

"Mmmno," Kent drew as he shook his head. "I don't think it concerns him."

"Oh", Elliot chuckled. "What,...you're the Mayor now."

Kent exhaled in a manner that made everyone know that he was fed up with Elliott's nonsense all of a sudden. "Look," The chief started. "As far as security matters in this town are concerned,....," Kent then leaned in closer to Elliott's face and said, "I'm the boss. Whatever decision I have to make to make sure the people in this town are safe, I make them."

Elliot swallowed hard. He also swallowed the urge to talk back at him, but the fire in Kent's eyes made him think otherwise.


"..And right now, my decision is that every single one of you in this hall is going to work together on this." Kent stopped to catch his breath for a while. His eyes darting from Elliot, to the recruits and then Liam.

"I've seen what we are gonna be up against, and the fact that there two of them still out there, means we are gonna need all the fucking help we can fucking get," Kent hissed through gritted teeth.

Larry widened his eyes at his boss when he heard his utterances.

"Now can we all do what we came here for?" Kent said as he beckoned for Larry to get the large maps from the corner of the room. "I have a press conference at the town hall in twenty."

"Everyone," Helen announced. "Please take your seats."

Larry handed the map to his boss, who immediately slammed it on the wall infront of the hall and made everyone wonder how it had stuck there so easily. The seating arrangement was like that of a dinner table. Liam, Patrick and Tate sat one after the other, while Elliot and his team sat at the opposite side, giving dirty looks at Liam and his assistants.

Every single person in a uniform, that is, Donovan, Brent, Larry, and the recruits, were on thier feet. The only person with a uniform who was sitting was Helen.

"Okay," Kent said as he studied the large map before him and then looked back at his audience. "Norton Park," he said as he tapped the map on the wall. "A lot of acres of land surrounded by nothing but the woods on both ends and Lake Carlton on the other far side."

"So here's what we're going to do." Kent uttered as he walked over to the large table and placed his hands; resting on it. "We're gonna be divided into four packs. And as packs, you're gonna have Alphas," Kent said.

Larry's chuckle cut through the silence in the room like a knife. He spun to face everyone around him with a delighted smile on his face. "We're gonna be Alphas. Like werewolves and shit," the young deputy giggled in excitement.

"Shut up Larry", Donovan spat with furrowed brows and wide eyes fixed on Larry. It was as if he didn't believe people like Larry actually existed.

Larry's smile and excitement immediately disappeared after Donovan shut him up. He then turned and saw Kent's intense glare that made him sink further into his seat.

Larry cleared his throat. "So..sorry sir."

"As I was saying," Kent said as he sharply blinked away from Larry and faced everyone else in the room. "Four Alphas!"

Kent the faced Liam and pointed to him. "Alpha two!"

Liam instinctively turned in time to catch Elliot roll his eyes as Tate snickered.

Kent then faced Elliot and pointed. "Alpha three!"

The Chief then pointed in the direction of the recruits at the far end of the table. "Hey," Kent called out. "You. What's your name?"

"Jake Spencer, sir," a deep voice replied.
Everyone spun and saw a particularly tall, muscular and quite good looking young man emerge from the group of recruits. Like Cross, Elliott's assistant, he was also a skin head.

Larry's brows furrowed when caught Helen smiling sheepishly at Jake who was standing a few feet before her.

"How many men you got there?" Kent asked.

Jake scanned his colleagues for a while. "About ninety," he said.

"Good," Kent said, before her pointed to him. "You're alpha four."

"Roger that," Jake gave a quick salute.

Larry's eyes never left Helen just as Helen's eyes never left Jake. He could feel his stomach grumble in anger. He moved his gaze up and observed Jake who still stood there, singled out from his men. Okay, he was hot as Bleep, but there ain't no way he was going to waltz into this town and take away a girl Larry had be crushing on ever since he joined the force.

"Now I guess we all know who alpha one is so let's....," Kent said.

"Wait," Larry uttered as he began to scan the entire room. "Who's alpha one? The question made Donovan let out a sigh as he lowered his head and pinched his nose while shaking his head.

Kent gave Larry a deadpan glare. "I think it's only logical that the Chief of Police should also be an Alpha too. Don't you think so Larry?"

"Oh...," Larry uttered with his face turning beet red as he chuckled. "Yeah Ofcourse."

"What a dumbass," Cross chuckled as he shook his head.

Larry immediately held out his middle finger to him before he turned and gave him a fake smile.

"Each alpha takes twenty of Spencer's marines," Kent announced as he nodded in Jake's direction. "Along with Intelligence."

Brent and Donovan immediately raised thier hands at the same time. "Liam," They uttered in unison.

"Yeah," Larry uttered as he raised his hand. "Me too."

"Ooohkay?" Kent said.

"Elliot," Cross raised his hand and said in a way the told them he was mocking the way they picked Liam.

Tate rolled his eyes at them. "Obviously."

"Hey," Larry said as he stared at Patrick and poked Tate in front of him. "What about you guys."

Patrick had an incredulous look on his face when spun to face Larry. "Duh?" Tate uttered as he spun and scowled at Larry.

"Uhm...," a high pitched, but beautiful voice got everyone's attention. "I'll go with Jake," Helen announced with a smile.

Larry spun immediately he heard those words. He saw Helen with her eyes still on Jake and.....and he was smirking at her.

"Motherfucker!"

Kent was about to say something, when Larry raised his hand again. "Uhm..Chief Chief."
Kent dropped his shoulders in exhaustion. He looked at his feet and replied, "Yes, Larry?"

"Uhnm...I..Er...changed my mind," Larry stuttered. "I want to be on Jake's team."

Brent and Donovan suddenly chuckled.

Larry spun to face Helen, she was still looking in Jake's direction, but Jake had shifted his attention to Larry now. He was giving Larry a curious and uncertain look.

"That's right bitch, be afraid. Be very Afraid," Larry thought as he glared at Jake.

"Thank you for the Info, Larry," Kent gave a passive aggressive smile.

"Moving On," the Chief uttered as he checked his wrist watch and walked over to the map. "Norton Park is really big, and there ain't no way we can cover the entire perimeter, which is where the grouping comes in handy."

Kent spun and saw everyone nodding in agreement before he went on. "Alpha two, you take your team and press your way from the east side of the park, down to the south-east edges," Kent directed as he drew lines on the map with his fingers.

Liam nodded with a serious look on his face. "Okay?"

Kent then explained the arrangements to the rest of the groups that were placed on the West, North and Southern side of the park. He then laid some emphasis on alpha two and three, telling them that they needed to be more vigilant, as they were the ones closer to the woods.

"Communicators are gonna be made available, so..", Kent then trailed off.

Patrick spun and looked at Liam. He noticed he was looking at the Chief of Police before him, but he wasn't in the room at all. Liam was somewhere else. He was lost in thought.

"Hey", Patrick tapped his friend.

Liam quickly spun and faced Patrick. "Huh?"

"You Okay?", Patrick asked.

Liam flashed a nervous and obviously fake smile. "I'm fine." As soon as Liam faced forward, the smile disappeared again. It disappeared too quickly.

"Any questions?" Kent asked as he searched the faces of the people before him. Larry looked round for a while before he raised his hands up in the air.

Kent saw him, but ignored the hell out of him. "Okay then," Kent said as he clapped his hands together with a smile on his face. "This is it people. Let's take our town back."

".....Let's show those man-eating sons of bitches who's boss."
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:38pm On Oct 05, 2018
40.
Brent had told Claire the good news over the phone about Kent's interest in working with Liam and his team. She was so happy, she drove herself the station in a heartbeat. "Oh my God," Claire gasped in excitement. "That's...that's great news." Her excited eyes moving from Tate to Brent and then to Patrick.

Brent shrugged. "Apparently," he uttered. "Not everyone shared the Mayor's view on this matter."

"Especially not me," Tate scowled.

Claire then looked over at Chief Kent in the corner with Liam, Larry and Donovan. They were engrossed in what appeared to be a serious discussion.

Then Liam unwittingly looked in Claire's direction. Thier eyes met, and Claire was stunned at the fact that she didn't look away. Liam was staring straight at her, and she at him.

It was strange, the feeling she had as she was looking at the scientist. Suddenly, there was something animalistic about him. Something wild about the way he was staring at her. And then, just like that, he slowly blinked away from her and faced the talking police officer before him.

Claire looked away and straight to her shoes. When she looked up at the men before her, she could tell that Tate and Patrick looked oblivious, but not Brent who shot a confused look under furrowed brows between she and Liam.

Claire felt her face heat up.

"Brent. The ever observant Brent."

"Hey, Brent!", Kent called his deputy over.

"Sir," Claire watched as Brent quickly walked over to join the men at the other side of the hall. She turned back and faced Tate and Patrick who just stood there; observing. Claire could see, from the way Patrick looked over, that he wished he knew what they were talking about.

"So...erm...How's your mother in law doing?" Tate figured he had to break the silence some how.

"She's good", Claire replied with a grin. "She's doing good."

Patrick gave an Impressed nod.

"God," Tate sighed and shook his head as he pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. It was almost as if the reality of the entire situation had just hit him. "This is a nightmare."

Claire and Patrick shook thier heads in solemn response to Tate. When Patrick saw the young man still rubbing his eyes, he knew what he was trying to hide.

Patrick instinctively reached out and patted Tate back. "It's okay buddy," Patrick sighed.

Claire immediately realised that the young scientist had lost a colleague in all this. She realised for a split second the Jelani was gone, and then, she immediately went over, reached and started to rub Tate's back. Unlike Patrick, Claire didn't know what to say.

Tate pulled his hands away to reveal his bloodshot, tear-filled eyes as he sniffed. "I..I'm sorry," the young man said as he tried to feign a perfect composure as he raised his glasses to his eyes once more. "I just....I just miss him."


"We know, we know," Patrick whispered as he patted Tate's back. "Just be strong buddy."

Claire kept rubbing his back, fighting the temptation to pull him for a warm embrace. At that point, she shot a glance at Liam in the far corner and began to realise that Jelani's death may have taken a toll on him too.

Tate may have been more expressive, but Liam sure as hell wasn't. Instead, Liam was even less expressive. After Claire had seen him crying beside Jelani's mangled body, that was it. The man she kept seeing before that faithful day was gone.

The sensitive, emotional and warm man she saw at the Mayor's dinner party was gone.

Claire drew her eyes back to Tate who was smiling at her and Patrick now, though his eyes were still bloodshot.

She then looked up at Patrick. "What's the situation gonna be like," Claire asked him. "You know, on the day of the display. What's the plan?"

"Well..," Patrick sighed and raised his head. "The Mayor brought in a new team, plus, about ninety to a hundred more security personnel."

Claire's eyes became wide as saucers. "Jesus."

Tate turned to face Patrick with a chuckle. "But we both know that's not gonna do shit."

"Thank God Kent decided to work with Liam," Patrick said as he shot a look in thier direction, before looking back at Claire and Tate. "At least one person will know what he's doing."

Tate thought for a second. "Shit." he hissed. "It's gonna be bad. Real bad. The Mayor should've cancelled this thing."

"You can't stand between a man and his money." Patrick raised his shoulders and smiled.

"But...but at least Liam and the team are on it,"Claire uttered. "It may not even be that bad."

"No you don't get it," Tate spun to face her. "The display as at night? With a lot of noise?"

"...and a lot of people," Patrick added.

"Exactly," Tate said as he glanced at him and then back at Claire. "This is what this creatures live for. The kill."

Tate then sighed and raise his fist to his mouth as he, Claire and Patrick turned and looked in Liam and Kent's direction.

"I've seen what these things are capable of, and frankly, I haven't seen anything like that in my life," Tate uttered. "If we're not careful,your Mayor is gonna be responsible for the deaths of a lot of people."

Claire swallowed hard as she felt goosebumps all over her. It scared her a bit to think that the nightmare had not even started.


***


"Mum! mum!" Claire could hear Adam's excited voice call to her as soon as she heard the front door open from the kitchen where she was.

Adam ran into the kitchen and Claire spun to face him, immediately noticing the cause of his excitement.

"Mum," Adam said as he stopped right infront of his mother, pushed up his chest and pointed to his new lack t-shirt he was wearing. "Look what Luke bought me."

Claire recognised the t-shirt immediately and was quite pleased that she could see it clearly now. It was the shirt she had seen the couples wearing while she was driving from the hospital yesterday.

The inscription, "Cherrywood" was right on top the snarling head of a black vat, with blood stained teeth.

"Is this what we are known for now?" Claire thought to herself.

Claire smiled at Adam before telling him to go and wash up. "Dinner will be ready in an hour," she said.

"Okay," Adam said, before he walked up to the fridge, pulled it open and grabbed what looked like a can of ice cream.

"Adam Hayes," Claire called when she saw him.

"It's okay mum," Adam uttered. "I won't take too much." Then he ran off, almost colliding with Edith on his way.

"Opps", Edith chuckled. "Watch it, Prancer."

"Sorry grandma," the little boy yelled on his way to the stairs.

Edith walked in and poured herself a cup of tea, before she went over to the island table, sat there and watched Claire peeling some potatoes as she sipped.

Claire glanced at her mother in law and smiled. The old woman smiled back at her. Claire then furrowed her brows when she remembered something.

"Where's Samantha?" Claire asked. "I haven't seen her all day."

Edith lowered the mug from her mouth before she swallowed her tea. "Don't know," she shrugged and then a mischievous smile appeared on her face. "But I bet she's with Luke."

Claire turned to her with furrowed eyebrows. "...and you think I would disapprove?" Claire scoffed. "I like Luke. He's a good boy."

Edith chuckled as she raised her mug for another sip.

The two women heard the front door open and slam shut again, before Samantha walked into the kitchen with her earphones plugged in her ears. She glanced at her mother and then faced Edith and blew her a kiss.

"Hey sweetie," Edith cooed.

Claire was surprised at the fact that she became quite nervous when her daughter walked into the kitchen. She knew that whatever resentment Samantha had for her, wasn't gone. At least not completely.

That's why Claire's heart skipped a beat when she felt Samantha tap her on her shoulder. Claire spun to face her daughter with slightly raised brows, eager to hear what she could possibly want to tell her. "Yes?"

Samantha pulled out the left earphone from her left ear. "So, I told grandma already but she says I should tell you first," Samantha mumbled.

Claire's eyes darted suspiciously between her daughter and her mother-in-law. "Tell me what?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Luke and I plan to hang out with his friends at Norton Park,"Samantha said.

Claire just shrugged and faced her potatoes. "That's fine," she muttered. "When?"

Samantha moved to the fridge and pulled it open. "On the third. You know, for the fireworks display and July fourth festival," Samantha uttered with her head in the fridge, looking for something.

Claire let out a quiet gasp as she dropped the knife and turned her wide eyes to the teenage girl. "What?" She asked.

Samantha faced her mum and was a little perplexed at her expression. She then dropped her shoulders in exhaustion at the fact that she was going to repeat herself again. "Luke's friends and I planned a picnic at Norton Park for the fireworks carnival," Samantha tried to separate every word for clarity.


"You're not going anywhere." Claire's reply hit Samantha like a truck

Samantha's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wh..what?"

"I said you can't go," Claire repeated as she spun back and picked up her knife, along with a potato and began slicing. She could see a now agitated Samantha from the side of her eye, but she didn't care.

Samantha was very uneasy as she began to shoot annoyed glances at her mother and then to her grandmother. "You...you can't....are you serious right now?"

When Claire didn't reply, Samantha went on. "Look, I know it's about this...animal thing or whatever, but Mum,...the Mayor said on TV that it was perfectly sa..."


"The Mayor doesn't know shit," Claire's words surprised her.

Samantha glared at her mother in an expression that was a mixture of confusion and panic. "But Mum, they have security-"

"Listen to me young lady," Claire growled as she dropped the knife and faced her daughter with dark menacing eyes. "You haven't seen the things I've seen. I've seen what those things can do and i'm telling you that when all hell breaks lose in that Park, it's only God that would be able to save you."

Samantha clenched her jaw. Her fists were also clenched beside her as she narrowed her eyes at her mother.

Claire looked to the floor, calmed herself down and exhaled, before she looked up at her daughter. "Sam", Claire began. "The Mayor doesn't know anything about what is going on here. He is not an expert."

"Oh but of course," Samantha burst out. "We should listen him instead."

Claire furrowed her brows in confusion. "Wh..what are you.."


"You damn well know who I'm talking about Mum," Samantha spat. "He's your expert isn't he?"

Claire closed her eyes and took a deep breath when she realised what her daughter was hitting at.

"Liam".

"He's the only person you've ever listened to," Samantha roared. "No one else matters right?"

At this point, Claire knew it would be wise to ignore her. She licked her lips, turned and picked up the knife along with a potato. She knew replying Samantha would only make things worse. This wasn't the first time she was arguing with her eldest daughter. She had learned the rules.

"Sam..Samantha dear, come here," Edith beckoned to her grand daughter.


Samantha ignored her grandmother as she fixed her deadly gaze at her mother. "Why don't the both of you just go ahead and tie the fucking knot?" The teenage girl spat the words like venom. "Since dad never meant anything to you for you to replace him so eagerly."

The words tore through Claire like a thousand knives. She could feel true physical pain in a chest as she tightened her grip on the knife and held herself from turning and hitting her daughter again.

She spun slowly and looked into her daughters tear filled eyes and said the only words that she could find in her aching heart. "Samantha Hayes," Claire said in a voice that her daughter had never heard before. "You aren't leaving this house on the third of july for anything, Is that understood?"

Samantha glared at her mother so hard, Claire was bracing herself for anything. She couldn't deny the slight pang of heart break she felt when she saw the way her daughter eyed her. Claire could see hate in the girls eyes.

"You should have gone instead of dad," Samantha hissed through gritted teeth.

"Samantha! That's enough!" Edith warned from across the kitchen.

Claire smiled at the teen girl as she felt her eyes begin to sting.

She watched as Samantha slammed the fridge shut and then stormed out of the kitchen. Claire stared at the space were her daughter once stood as she heard her stumping footsteps on the stairs.

Edith walked over to Claire and patted her shoulder gently. "It's okay. It's okay," The old woman uttered softly before she then hurried out of the kitchen and went upstairs, probably going to Samantha's room.

Claire moved her attention back to her chore. She sniffed and wiped the tears beading from her right eye.

Standing there, she began to think that maybe her daughter was right, maybe she should have gone in place of her husband. At least things would have been easier for him, because Claire could not deny the fact that she was getting really tired of everything.

She was getting really tired.
Literature / Ferocious (chapters 39-47) by Chykwrites(m): 7:36pm On Oct 05, 2018
39.
As Claire drove back from the hospital that hot summer afternoon, she looked out her car window and had no doubt in her mind that something had changed about Cherrywood.

Everywhere was more crowded than usual.

Claire could see things that weren't usual; things that weren't there before. The quiet little town she knew had some how come alive. There were more cars on the roads now. Hell, there were more people in the streets, and looking at them, Claire could tell many of them weren't locals.

A group of young people; two girls who wore nothing but bikini tops over hot jean pants and thier sun-shades over thier dark hair, and two shirtless boys with one of them who had a tattoo on his chest and the other with his long blonde hair tied into a man-bun.

She shifted her eyes elsewhere and noticed that most of the shops and the cafés had been adorn with blue, white and red ribbons and decorations. The street lights also had these coloured ribbons swinging between them. The coloured ribbons that showed America's national colours.

Claire was slightly surprised when she saw the unusual crowd of people at Billy's Ice-Cream shop and most of the road side eateries.

She was also slightly surprised at the type of music she heard blasting out from some of the public places, I mean songs like "You're On" by Madeon, "Stitches" by Shawn Mendes and "King" by Years and Years, weren't really popular music choices with Cherrywood locals.

Claire's heart leaped when she shot her attention forward and pressed hard on the brakes of the car the moment a boy; who was obviously in his teens, rolled into the road on his skate-board unexpectedly.

He frowned at Claire as he rolled passed. "Hey, watch were you're going, Lady!" Claire heard the boy yell.

She shook her head and licked her lips before she glared at the boy as he moved passed, then she began to move again.

"City kids," Claire sighed, still shaking her head. She felt a pleasant smile tug on her face when she caught sight of what looked like a happy family as she stopped when the traffic light before her was on red.

Two couples walked hand in hand with thier kids. The man had a little girl licking on her Ice cream; she was obviously his daughter, sitting on his shoulder, with her daddy's head between her legs. The man's wife looked quite pretty. She had a toddler in her arms. Claire watched as the little child shoved his own ice cream filled cone in his mother's face in an attempt to let her have some of his Ice cream.
The woman, in her Ice cream stained face, along with her husband, threw thier heads back in Laughter.

Claire gave a weak smile when she saw how happy they looked. Then she noticed that the man and his wife were wearing the same t-shirt. A black t-shirt that had what Claire could tell was an artwork of the head of a snarling black cat.

Claire narrowed her eyes and tried to get a better look. A loud horn of the car behind her caused her to almost jump in her seat before she shot her eyes forward and saw that the light was green.

Claire couldn't deny the fact that she felt excited with everything that was around her. The change in the streets of Cherrywood gave her this undeniable joy. If she had not felt the summer spirit before, she was feeling it now.

She saw a large colourful billboard on the road side. It was an advert of the upcoming festival and fireworks display at Norton Park on Friday.


Cherrywood Carnival and Fireworks
Date: Friday, July 3rd.
Venue: Norton Park.
Time: 7:00pm till Dawn.


As Claire zoomed past the billboard, she couldn't help but feel sick. Anyone who laid eyes on the billboard and the message would definitely be excited, but she knew better. She knew what could possibly happen that night if care wasn't taken.

Then she thought of the family she had seen on the streets some minute ago, the group of young people she passed by, and she felt herself get sicker.

"Oh God,"Claire sighed. "Please help us."

"...Please."


***

"What the hell does he wanna see us for?" Tate asked as he followed quickly behind Liam; the both of them hurrying into the police station.

"Don't know Kate," Liam said. "That's why we're here."

Tate gave Liam a deadpan look as soon as he heard Liam call him "Kate."

Liam couldn't hide his anxiety ever since he got the call from Brent telling him that Chief Kent wanted to see him urgently.

He had told Tate, Brent and Claire that he wasn't going anywhere and so, when Kent's message was conveyed, Liam had thought Kent was calling him for a warning or something. But it was when Brent told Liam that Kent knew he wasn't going anywhere that he got confused the more.
"And something tells me he's happy about it," Brent had said.

Liam made his way into the incredibly busy office space. police officers running helter-skelter. Most of them had files in thier hands, while others just remained focused on the desktop computers.

Liam stopped in his tracks and scanned the vicinity, before he caught sight of Brent, Larry and Helen gathered at a certain desk, with thier eyes fixed on a computer.

Larry raised his eyes to find Tate and Liam and his face lit up with a smile before he reached up and tapped Brent.

"Hey", Larry uttered tapping Brent very quickly. "They're here." Brent looked up at the two men who were just standing there. They looked confused.

Liam stood there as Larry and Brent began to walk towards them.

"Hey," Brent uttered as soon as he got to the scientists. He nodded over at the Chief's office and said, "You'll have to wait a little, they're still in there."

Tate and Liam shot confused looks in the direction of Kent's office, before they looked back at Larry and Brent. "Who?" The two men uttered in unison.

"The assholes," Larry appeared to be growling at Kent's office.

Brent rolled his eyes and then pinched his nose. "Not now Larry," Brent sighed.

"What?" Larry frowned at Brent. "Calling me a kid just because I was watching Pokemon."

"Huh?", Tate raised a brow.

"Yeah....I mean who doesn't love Pokemon," Larry hissed as he tore his angry glare from Brent and faced Kent's office again. "Pokemon is the shit."

There was a short and awkward silence in the group as Brent hung his head low and shook it, while Liam and Tate exchanged confused glances through furrowed brows.

"Liam," Patrick's voice caused Liam to spin quickly.

Patrick walked into the station with his eyes darting around. At least he looked more cheerful than the time he left the Mayor's office anyway.

"Patrick thank God," Liam said as he inched towards the zookeeper. "What the hell is going on?"

Patrick smiled and shot glances between Liam and Tate. "To be honest, I don't know," Patrick said. "Helen just gave me a call that Kent wanted to see me. That's all I know."

Just then, Brent's phone rang to life in the pocket of his jacket, catching the attention of the group. He picked the phone, swiped it and raised it to his ear.

"Chief?" Brent uttered.

He then shot Liam and Tate a nervous look. "Ermm...yes sir, they're here."

"But sir, I thought...".

"Oh okay...okay sir. Of course. Right away."

Brent then dropped the Phone back and moved forward, nodding for Liam, Tate and Patrick to follow him as he headed towards the Kent's office. "Come on."

Brent walked to the front of the door, and turned to face the men behind him.

"Here we go," he said. He knocked in three quick successions before he heard a loud, "Come in" from the other side, and then Brent turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Liam walked in as soon as Brent gave way for he, Tate, and Patrick to enter the office. His eyes flew straight to the chief as he scratched his moustache and then relaxed back on his seat.

"Dr. Price," Kent uttered. "How nice of you to join us."

Liam furrowed his brows before turning to glance at Tate and Patrick who looked equally confused.
"This is Elliot Grey", Kent uttered as he gestured towards a somewhat young looking man sitting opposite him. "He's a zoologist. Sent here from Brazil."

Liam turned and looked at the man Kent was pointing at. He was serious looking, his eyes were wild and his brown hair neatly pulled back in a short pony tail.

There was another man standing behind him. He was tall, lanky looking and had a smooth clean skin cut chewing on his gum. His sleeveless t-shirt showed an array of tattoos that ran from his wrist, up to his neck.

Liam knew there was something off about the young man when he smiled and gave him a curt nod, but the man didn't respond. Elliot Grey just spun and gave Liam a quick once over.

"Mr Grey is here to help us with our ferocious problem," Kent muttered with what appeared to be a pleasant smile. "He's from the National Geographic Society." Kent then gestured to the lanky skinhead standing behind Elliot. "..and that's his assistant, Cross."

"Oh", Liam said before turning to face Elliot again. "I see".

Elliot said nothing he just turned and kept eyeing Liam. Then his eyes narrowed as if he was trying to remember something about him.

"Mr. Grey this is....."

"Dr. Liam Price," Mr. Grey took the words right out of Kent's mouth with what looked like a devilish smile on his face. "Well I'll be damned."

Liam's eye brows furrowed.

"I didn't know you where in the US," Elliot chuckled. "I thought you were back in Kenya?"

Even though Liam was surprised that Elliot some how knew him, he still gave a smirk, and then opened his mouth to answer when Elliot suddenly turned away from him and faced Kent in a manner that told Liam that the man wasn't interested in what ever he was about to say.

"I have to head back to the hotel now, Kent," Elliot uttered as he got up from his seat. "Have a lot of logistic issues to take care of."

Kent cleared his throat. "Erm...Yes, Ofcourse."

Elliot got up and walked towards the door, but on his way, stopped infront of Liam and looked up at him. Liam was a little impressed that the young man was almost as tall as he was.

Liam was a bit confused when Elliot inched forward and smiled at him. "I hear I'm the one taking your job," Elliot grinned; his intense blue eyes fixed on Liam.

Liam furrowed his brows again.

"It must really suck to be you right now," Elliot said. The lanky tattoo skin head choked out a laugh behind his boss when he heard that.

At that point, Liam felt his heart tighten in anger. He didn't even know when he clenched his fists beside him.

"Later," Elliot said, as he patted Liam's chest and walked out the door and as his assistant, Cross followed, he turned and smirked at Larry.

"See you around, Pokemon," Cross snickered at Larry.

Larry immediately raised his middle finger in response to Cross as she watched him walk out the door.

"Jeez", Tate sighed as he faced forward after watching Elliot and his assistant walk out. "Now I know the assholes Larry was talking about."

Liam faced Kent who looked like he had been holding his breath for over an hour. "Son of a bitch," Kent uttered.

"He's your knew recruit, right," Patrick asked as he inched forward to Kent.

Kent raised a finger to stop Patrick. "He's McLauren's new recruit," Kent corrected. "Not mine."

"What's the difference?" Patrick raised his shoulders. "You're the one who's in charge of the operation, aren't you?"

"Yes," Kent said with a smile as he kicked his feet up and crossed them on his desk. "I am, but he isn't on my team."


"Really?" Tate uttered. "Then who are the people on your team?"

"I'm looking at 'em," Kent sighed.

Liam, Patrick and Tate exchanged confused glances at each other.

"I...I don't under....," Liam uttered before Kent cut him off.

"I'm saying I don't want to work with Ken doll, and stick-insect out there," Kent hissed.

Kent then slowly moved his fingers and pointed to Liam.

"......I want to work with you."
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 31-38) by Chykwrites(m): 7:29pm On Oct 05, 2018
38.
"What is he? Crazy?" Claire uttered in disbelief as she shot worried glances between Brent and Tate out there on her lawn.

"Nope," Tate shrugged. "Just greedy."

"God", Claire hissed again as she raised her hand to her temple. She could swear she was having a headache right now.

Brent had dropped Tate and Liam at the house some minutes ago. Claire had seen Liam trudge up to his room, ignoring her as usual, but she didn't know he was actually going to pick his things, although she did suspect.

"He...he's putting the lives of innocent people in danger for Christ sake," Claire complained.

"Well..," Brent began as he playfully kicked a stone with his boot. "Apparently, He doesn't see it that way."

Claire then looked away from the men with her hands on her waist, and into the vast expanse of greenery way beyond her lawn. She found it hard to believe that even Liam could not have done anything to prevent this, so she faced the men one more time and asked the only question that was lingering on her mind at that moment.

"What about Liam?" She muttered. "I mean, surely, he has a plan, right?"

Brent and Tate exchanged nerve wrecking glances at each other. "He pulled Liam out," Brent said with a wry smile.

Claire eyes widened. "What?"

"We're supposed to be at the airport by this time tomorrow," Tate shrugged again, before he coughed out a chuckle that made Claire realise that the young scientist may lose his mind soon.

Claire threw her hands in the air and pulled them back down again. "Nightmare," she spat. "This is a complete Nightmare."

"The Chief told me an hour ago over the phone, that McLauren had called in someone from National Geographic or something," Brent frowned and shrugged.

Claire and Tate darted thier eyes to the police officer. They couldn't hide thier surprise at Brent's words. "Are you kidding me?" Tate hissed.

"We're even supposed to go pick them up at the Airport tomorrow morning." Brent said.

"Jesus," Tate sighed as he placed his hands on his waists and walked away, shaking his head. The whole situation was obviously too much for the young man.

Claire just stood there, lost in thought. She couldn't believe it.

"Liam was leaving tomorrow."

...and the Mayor was bringing a new team. Claire couldn't help it, but she knew this was not going to end well. Liam could be an asshole sometimes, yes, but something told her that Liam's team knew more about these things than anyone. They've shown great and extensive knowledge of the matter ever since they got here. Hell, they had even succeeded in killing one of these things, and the Mayor was just going to dump them like that?

"Hell No."

Claire immediately spun and began walking towards the house.



"Claire?" Brent called. "Wh..where are you going?"

"To see Liam," Claire said as she grabbed the door knob. "I need to talk to him."

***

"Shit," Luke turned to Samantha and uttered In a heavy whisper as he hurried back to the living and threw himself on the couch beside her. "She's coming."

Immediately the teen left the front window, the front door flew open. Claire walked into the house and glanced into the living room.

Samantha and Luke sat side by side on the two seater couch pretending as if they were watching TV, while Adam was on the floor with a large book filled with animal pictures infront of him.

Luke spun and smiled at Claire. Claire responded with a weak smile that Luke knew was all too forced and fake, before she hurried upstairs.

"Oh yeah," Luke said in a hushed tone as he turned to Samantha. "Something's definitely going on."

"I knew it." Samantha hissed as she spun to look at the stairs and then back at the green-eyed boy beside her.

"...Or maybe we're just being paranoid." Luke grimaced.

Samantha rolled her eyes. "Are you serious right now? You heard the way your dad lashed out the other day,didn't you?"

"Well..," Luke shrugged. "Yeah."

"..And you said your dad and been acting all weird at home, right?" Samantha asked.

"Yeah, but come on Sam," Luke said as he shifted his whole body to face her now. "Someone died in your front lawn three days ago. You don't expect everything to just get normal after that."

Samantha turned to Luke and opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when nothing came out, and then she turned her gaze from Luke, straight to the TV.

Luke still kept his eyes on her for a moment. "You really hate him don't you?" Luke uttered.

Samantha tried hard not to look into Luke's eyes when he side those words. She felt her stomach flip when he said that. She didn't know whether to be mad or not, because she knew he was saying the truth.

"You think he's the cause of everything," Luke said in a mild tone.

"Well, he moved in here sometime ago and suddenly, my mom started acting weird, your dad starts acting weird and someone dies on our front lawn," Samantha lashed out in a tone that almost made Luke jolt and pulled Adam's attention from his book. "So yes, I think he's the cause of everything."

Samantha then turned back to the TV and crossed her hands on her chest. Her breathing had increased now. Even Luke could see that she was seething.

Luke could see that the girl was upset and so he decided to let it go.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and smiled when he saw a message Blake had sent to him earlier that day.

Blake: Hey dude, picnic at the Display. You're in?

Luke: Hell yeah.


Blake: Sweet. You can bring your New York girlfriend, what's her name. wink


Brie had called him yesterday and informed him about the plans for the picnic too, she had said it was for Courtney. To get her mind off Rick's disappearance.

Luke then sighed when he remembered.

"Rick."

He couldn't believe Rick was just gone, and no one knew what had happened to him. Ever since the day at the lake, no one knew what had happened to him. Not his mother, not his brother, not Courtney. Luke felt even sicker when he remembered Courtney telling him that the police think he could be a possible victim of the "Cherrywood beast."

"You okay?" Samantha's voice pulled Luke out of his thoughts.

Luke shot her a glance and cleared his throat. "Yeah sure," he nodded. "I'm good."

Samantha gave him a weak smile that suddenly seemed to flash an exciting idea into his head.

"Hey," Luke uttered as he shifted on the couch. "So, the guys are planning this picnic for the July 4th fireworks display and...."

Samantha smirked as she raised a brow while looking into Luke's nervous eyes. Luke chuckled and looked away from her and then back again. "Wanna come?"

"Sure," Samantha shrugged as she faced the TV. "Anything to get me outta this house."

"Cool," Luke uttered as he slapped the seat beside him on the couch.

"Hey," Adam immediately stood up and pout his lips. "What about me? I wanna come too."

"Forget it Frodo," Samantha hissed as she glared at her little brother.

Luke chuckled. "No. It's okay. He can totally come too," Luke uttered. "The girls will love him anyway."

"Yeah," Adam yelled as he punched his fists in the air.

Samantha narrowed her eyes at her little brother as she shook her head. "Twerp."

***

Claire walked into Liam's room without even knocking, and found him standing infront of the window, looking outside. Thinking deeply.

She looked to the bed and saw a neatly packed box with a backpack beside it.

"God. Brent and Tate were right. He really is leaving."

She looked up at him again. His hands where obviously folded on his chest, his attention still out the window. She could tell that Liam knew she was in the room, but he had chosen to be silent.

Claire scanned the room one more time and felt the anger creep up her throat. She didn't know why, but she didn't want Liam to go. She felt her heartbeat quicken.

She looked up at him with his black hair and his white shirt on top blue jeans over his tanned smooth skin. She felt something in her heart and realised she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stand the fact that Liam was going to give up like this.

"So that's it?", Claire uttered in a shaken tone. "That's it?"

Liam said or did nothing. His eyes still outside his window.

"You're just gonna give up?" Claire hissed.

Silence.

"Oh come on Liam," Claire said as she threw her hands up and back down again. "You're stronger than this."

Liam was still silent.

"You know as much as I do, what will happen if you leave. You know McLauren is thinking about the money." Claire urged on. "People will die, Liam," Claire yelled out. "Innocent People."

Liam shifted his head to the side when he heard Claire's shaken voice that made him realise she was about to cry. Then, for the first time since Claire came into the room, Liam slowly spun and faced her. His eyes were dead and his face bare.

"Think about the innocent people out there," Claire said as she shook her head slowly. "What about the kids that would be playing, without knowing what's out there?" She sobbed.

Liam's eyes were still on her.

Claire then straightened up and narrowed her eyes at the man before her. "What about Jelani?" Claire said in haunting whisper. "He couldn't have died for nothing."

Claire saw as Liam's jaws clenched as he slowly walked to the bed and gently sat on it.

As she watched the man thinking for a while, she began to feel uneasy. There was no way she was going to let him go and deep down, it wasn't just about the man eating animals or saving the tourists.

They had come too far.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh come on Liam", Claire hissed. It's not just about......" The blonde woman stopped short and gave Liam a surprised look. She thought she had heard something, but she wasn't sure.

"Wh...what?" Claire asked.

Liam raised his head and looked up at the distressed woman before him.

"I said, I'm not going anywhere." The scientist said in a steady voice.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 31-38) by Chykwrites(m): 7:27pm On Oct 05, 2018
37.
Chief of police Kent, Liam, Tate, Brent Larry, Patrick and Donovan stood there in the Mayor's office. A deafening silence filled the room as the Mayor just sat there in his desk, with both his fists folded under his chin. Liam thought, compared to Chief Kent and his comrades, the Mayor was taking the news quite well. He had not said a thing since Chief Kent broke the news to him about a minute ago.

Standing there, Liam immediately went back to Kent's reaction in the police department after he had told Chief Kent. "That doesn't make any sense," Kent had hissed at first, before raising his hand to pinch his nose and shake his head, and then he just snapped and threw his table over, screaming at the top of his lungs in clear rage.

Everyone else, like Larry and Donovan, were in total shock.

Kent had not said anything to the group until they had gotten to town hall and into the Mayor's office where he conveyed the bad news to the bald man.

Finally, the Mayor stood up from his seat. The first time he had moved since. The men watched as he moved to his window and looked out.

At this point, Liam was expecting anything. An unexpected outburst. The Mayor was furious; he could tell.

"How many men are we gonna need Kent?" The Mayor uttered, his gaze still fixed outside his window with his palms interlocked behind him.

Liam furrowed his brows as he looked at an equally confused Kent.

"Ermm," Kent uttered. "I-I'm lost s-."

The Mayor spun quickly and faced the men with rage, his eyes were burning as he punched his desk with his fist.
"How many men am I gonna need to protect my tourist gaddammit!" The Mayor's roar cut Kent off and made the men stiffen.

Liam suddenly felt uncomfortable when he heard the Mayor's question. His brows furrowed as he scanned the face of every single person in the room with him to see if he was the only one hearing what the Mayor was saying.

"Umm..sir, I...We..," Kent stuttered in confusion as he looked at his comrades, hoping one of them would help him out.

"It's a simple question Kent," the Mayor uttered as he brought his head forward as if trying to make Kent understand him better. "How many more men are you gonna need on your force?"

"Excuse me sir, but I don't under...,"Liam uttered in confusion.

"You! shut the Bleep up!" The Mayor fired as he pointed to Liam, moving towards him in a rage that made Liam stagger backwards a bit. Liam saw drops of saliva fly out his mouth as he screamed at him in rage.

"You hear me!?, shut up!" The Mayor hissed in a menacing voice. "You're not supposed to be talking right now!"

"Sir with all due respect..," Patrick uttered from behind.

"Listen to me you...," The Mayor tightened his fists in the air as he kept himself from cursing. It was obvious now that the bald man had lost his cool. "You are supposed to be the experts," The Mayor uttered in a humourless chuckle. "You are supposed to be the fucking experts for God Sake!"

"Sir, we...," Patrick uttered again, but closed his mouth and tightened his lips in frustration when he saw the Mayor raise his palm to the air. An obvious sign that the Mayor was telling him to shut his trap.

There was a brief silence and then the Mayor spun to the men again with a smile on his face that was anything but pleasant.

He was seething.

"This is what i'm going to do," The Mayor began as he rubbed his hands together. "I'm gonna mobilise a hundred man security personnel and they are gonna be everywhere on the night of the display and the concert."

Liam immediately went all out when he heard the Mayor's suggestion. "You..You can't be serious!" The words that poured out of his mouth surprised Liam himself.

The Mayor turned and glared at Liam.

"Look sir, I know we made a mistake, but...what...what you're suggesting is...is, sir I've seen what those things can do. People will die sir," Liam said in a manner and tone that he never he knew he had.

Liam then inched forward towards the Mayor and met his eyes. "I've been working with Animals for years Mr. McLauren, and i'm telling you that what I have seen that...those creatures exhibit this past few weeks,.....it's....sir, please, think this through. please." Liam begged.


The Mayor chuckled and looked at the floor beneath him as he himself inched closer to Liam until the two of them were face to face; Liam was taller so he had to look up.

"So-eh-," the Mayor uttered. "What do you suggest I do huh?"

The words were hanging in Liam's throat, but as he stared into the bald man's dark eyes, his instincts told him not to utter a word, or he would regret it. He knew that was what the Mayor was waiting for.

The Mayor then slowly backed away as he kept his menacing glare on Liam.

"If you think that for one second, I will cancel this July fourth and lose over three hundred million dollars worth investments because of your incompetence....," the Mayor then stopped an chuckled before he stopped and glared at Liam with a smile on his face.

"Shit," Tate heard Larry's whisper beside him at the mention of the three hundred million dollars.

"....You must be crazy", The bald man finally completed his statement.

The Mayor then went back to his seat and sat, while dusting his suit in the process.

"Everyone except Chief Kent can leave my office please." The Mayor said coldly as he began to search for what appeared to be a file on his desk.

As everyone started to turn and leave but Liam, Tate and Patrick seemed reluctant. Liam saw Patrick's eyes glaring at the Mayor. His fists clenched at his sides. It made Liam a little glad to know that he wasn't the only one enraged by the situation.

Patrick then spun and matched out of the office in anger. "Hey," Donovan uttered in shock as Patrick yanked him out of the way on his way out.

Liam turned and faced the Mayor one more time. He didn't want to let it. He didn't. The Mayor was seeing it from his own point of view.The point of view of a man who wanted the best for his town. A man who wanted to move his town forward and put it on the world map, no matter the cost. But, Liam felt his own point of view was the most definite and was not to be ignored. He was seeing it from the point of view of a animal expert and he knew that what McLauren was doing was as good as serving these tourists on a dish to these blood thirsty man eaters.

"S...dir", If you would just...", Liam uttered.

"Dr. Price!" The Mayor raised his palm in the air to stop him from talking as he cut him off. "You've obviously proven yourself incapable of handling this situation."

Then he looked up and glared at Liam. "Now I suggest you go back to the third world shit hole you came from and let me handle my town."

Then the Mayor shifted his attention away from Liam, not caring if he was still standing there. Liam felt the bile rise in his throat. He felt his heart beat faster as he slowly spun and started to move towards the door.

He found Tate standing out side the door, waiting for him, giving him a wry smile when he realised his boss had been defeated.

As Liam walked out the door, the mangled body of Jelani flashed in his head, the bodies and bones they had found in the cave, the bodies of the college students he had seen in the pictures.

Liam suddenly felt a splitting headache as he raised his hand to the beam of the door way and rested on it for support.

"This can't be happening".

Mayor McLauren was about to flood the streets of this peaceful little town with the blood of innocent people, and there was nothing Liam could do about it.

Liam had never felt so helpless and angry in his life.
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 31-38) by Chykwrites(m): 7:26pm On Oct 05, 2018
36.
Liam felt his legs weaken beneath him, even though he wasn't that surprised. He knew for sure that a panther, or something similar, had done that to Jelani, but never expected what Tate and Patrick were telling him to his face.

Liam walked over to the room window and stood there for a while; lost in thought. Tate, Claire, Brent and Patrick stood there watching him. Claire had insisted Tate and Patrick move up to Liam's room and tell him.

"He's gonna kill us," Brent hissed through gritted teeth as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking restless and somewhat agitated. "He's gonna fucking kill us."

"Who?" Tate gave Brent a confused look.

Brent turned and gave Tate a glare. "Santa," Brent's sarcasm escaped him. "Who else?"

Liam spun and faced Brent before he walked over to the bed side and sat. Claire could see a thousand things going through the man's mind, but unlike Brent, Liam was calm.

"Bu...but it's not our fault," Patrick started to give nervous utterances. "I mean, how the hell could we have known there were two other large cats out there?"

"Actually," Tate said mildly before he came into view. "I suspected."

Everyone immediately faced the young scientist. "You suspected what?" Patrick asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Tate exhaled. "I ran an observational autopsy on the corpse of the Cat...you know, the one we killed...and I...err...found something really baffling."

"Like what?", Claire asked.
Tate turned to Claire. "I began to suspect when I first saw it on the night when it attacked us in the car, but I wasn't sure." He said.

"Sure of what, Tate?" Brent hissed as he walked close to Tate, seething.

Tate moved back a little in response to Brent's look of frustration. "Well..," Tate raised his hands and scratched the back of his head. "Certain parts of the specimen weren't really mature."

Claire and Brent gave puzzled looks when Tate's face was lit by a wry smile.

"Oh God," Liam sighed as hour raised his hands to his face when he understood what Tate was saying. Claire spun and faced him in time to see him fork his fingers through his black hair in what seemed to be frustration.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Patrick uttered in disbelief as he raised his hands to his head. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Brent and Claire shared puzzled glances at each other. Everyone in this room seemed to know something that she and Brent didn't.

"Wait," Brent said. "What is he talking about? What does he mean?"

"Why didn't you say anything?" Liam's voice was still calm as he stood up from the bed and began pacing around with his hands on his waist.

"I..I just wasn't sure...I mean...", Tate shrugged.

"Is someone gonna tell me what the hell is going on here?" Brent growled; darting his eyes at everyone in the room.

"It all makes sense now, doesn't it?" Patrick said through gritted teeth as he faced Liam. "It's parents obviously killed Jelani."

Brent's eyes suddenly went as wide as saucers as he heard what Patrick had said.

"Parents?" Claire uttered in disbelief.

Tate turned and nodded at Patrick before faced the astonished blonde woman beside him. "We killed thier offspring."

"Jesus-fucking-Christ," Brent exclaimed as he raised his hands to his head. If there was one person who wasn't taking the entire situation well, it was Brent. Claire was pretty sure he was going to pass out at any moment.

Claire spun and turned to face Liam. He was confused now. He looked like someone whose entire life was falling apart. This was too much for him. Hell, it was too much for all of them.

"Its Parents."

Claire still couldn't believe it. The beast they had killed some day ago was actually a baby.

"Jesus Christ."

Tate and Patrick had said that both bite radii found on Jelani's corpse were actually larger than that found on the previous victims. If the one they had killed, as big as it was, wasn't fully grown?....God.

"July fourth was next week".

"J4 festivities were starting next week".

Claire began to feel dizzy at the implications of everything, but she felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand when she remembered that it was Jelani who killed the large cat, and now, he had been torn to pieces. What chance did they have without him?

"God." Claire held herself when she started feeling feverish all of a sudden. If the situation wasn't getting to her before, it was now.

"Does the Chief know?" Liam spun and faced Brent.

"After what happened out here this morning?" Brent uttered. "Obviously he would suspect."

"Yeah, but he definitely won't suspect that we are dealing with two large adult man eaters," Tate hissed as his eyes darted to Liam. "Would he?"

Liam exhaled. "Okay," he said. "Here's what we'll do."

"We go over to the station and tell the Chief what we know," Liam said. "..and then with his help, we can figure out how to let the Mayor in on this too."

"Oh Bleep," Brent buried his head in his hands when he heard Liam's words. Like everyone in that room, that was his fear.

The Mayor.

"Come on Brent," Liam said as he pulled out his phone from his pocket, walking passed them towards the door. "You're dropping Tate, Patrick and me at the station."

"Okay", Brent nodded as he followed behind. "sure."

Tate, Claire and Patrick followed too.
When they all got down stairs, Liam stopped and spun to face Claire who was coming out the front door."What are you doing?" He asked with a casual tone.

"I'm coming with you," Claire said as she closed the door behind her.

"No you are not," Liam hissed in a tone the made Claire shudder, even if she didn't want to show it. Liam then raised his hands slowly and pointed to the house. "Get back in."

Claire looked into Liam's eyes with uncertainty. She had never seen him look at her like this before. His eyes were filled with rage. There was a fire in him that Claire felt he was holding ever since he saw the body of his African friend in pieces that morning.

But still, Claire found the courage to defy his orders. Claire gave a nervous chuckle as she tried to show Liam that she wasn't intimidated by him at all.

"You're crazy if you think I'm not going with you," Claire said as she spun and began strolling towards the car.

Suddenly, she felt Liam's strong arms wrap her and pull her arms back with a force that made Claire yell a little.

"Hey, what are you....?", Claire exclaimed as she yanked her arm away from his grip. "Get your hands off me." She spun and faced the obviously enraged man.

"Get back in the house," Liam growled as he pointed to the house again.

Claire studied the man infront of her as she noticed her breathing begin to quicken and her heart begin to pound.

"No," Claire stood her ground as she raised her chin and crossed her arms on her chest. "You can't..."

"Lady, get back in the fucking house right now!" Liam exclaimed in a rage and a voice that made Claire almost jump. She could swear Liam was about to hit her when he came closer. She even saw the three men behind then exchange nervous looks of concern as Brent stopped himself from coming into the situation.

"What had gotten into him?"

Claire stood there staring at Liam. she was astonished. She saw the way his eyes were burning into her. The way he was breathing and how tense his muscles were. She took a long look at Liam and something told her this man would not hesitate to hit her or something. Not that she would tolerate it or anything, but this was a man who had just lost someone he regarded as family, the only person he regarded as family. At the same time, he just realised that the mission he had was not accomplished and that Jelani, the man who saved his life was gone. Jelani had somewhat died in vain.

Claire knew that at this point, Liam was obviously not thinking straight. That's why she decided to stop. She of all people knew the damage grief could do to a human being.

She turned to the police car on the drive way and saw the three men looking out thier windows, probably wishing that for her sake, Claire would just listen and stay back

She spun back to Liam, stood there and watched as he tore his eye away from her and began matching towards the car. As she watched him pull the car door open and get in, Claire couldn't help that defeated feeling in the gut. She clenched her fists at her sides. Still, another part of her was glad she had done as he said.

"Lady?" Claire thought as she frowned at the realisation of the fact that, Liam had never called her "Lady" before, nor used the "F" word on anyone before.


***


"Let's go," Liam ordered as he pulled on his seat-belt. He saw the way Brent, Patrick and Tate kept thier eyes on him, but ignored them. Brent dug the car keys into the ignition and twisted before the car engine immediately roared to life.

"What do you guys think the Mayor is gonna do," Tate asked softly from the back seat as he shifted his nervous eyes around everyone in the vehicle. "You know...seeing that July fourth festival is next week and all."

"Hell, I know right," Patrick scoffed. "People are moving into town already.Got a friend who works at the Petals hotel and he says it's filled up already."

"Really?" Brent uttered as he spun to face the back of the car, at the same time, backing the car off the drive way. "Jeez."

"The Mayor won't have a choice," Liam said in a hard tone as he kept his eyes on Claire; watching her move into the house moving out of the driveway. He then turned to face Brent on the drivers' seat beside him with his intense eyes.

"....Cherrywood is gonna have to cancel the July fourth celebrations this year."
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 31-38) by Chykwrites(m): 7:25pm On Oct 05, 2018
35.
By 9:30AM that morning, Claire's front lawn was a beehive of activities. A white ambulance was parked by the side, two men were close to the body, taking pictures, before the paramedics walked towards the body and covered in a white cloth, they were probably waiting for a body bag.

Claire just stood there, watching Liam as he knelt down beside the body, rocking himself back and forth, mumbling something under his breath. It really hurt for her to see him like this. The man was in pain; a pain he couldn't hide.

Tate and Patrick where at the far corner and it looked as if they were engaged in a heated argument that had to do with what just happened, because they kept stealing glances at Liam and the body as the spoke to each other.

"Oh God."

Claire didn't understand what was happening. She didn't want to believe what she came out and saw on her front lawn when she heard Edith screaming at the top of her lungs at the staircase. She may have doubted it last night, but she was sure as hell now that all this, was a nightmare.

She tore her eyes away from Liam and the body and then looked towards the front of the house. Susan was standing there with her hands on Adams shoulders. Her teenage Son, Luke was beside Samantha who had her hands crossed on her chest. The poor girl had confusion all over her face ofcourse, as kids, no one would tell them anything.

Brent urged Susan to take the kids into the house before he shifted his attention to Claire and began to walk towards her.

Claire wasn't surprised when nobody asked questions. The only person who was asked some questions was Edith because she was the one who found the body, and even she had gotten enough.

"How are you doing?" Brent exhaled as he walked over and stood beside Claire.

Claire said nothing. She just shook her head. She was too weak to say anything right now. She shifted her gaze in Liam's direction and watched as he knelt there, watching them pack up the mangled remains of his native African brother into to the body bag. Claire and Brent immediately saw the devastation in Liam. This was going to take a big toll on him.


"You think he's gonna be fine?" Brent asked.

"I doubt it", Claire replied.

Claire felt a slight pain in her throat when she watched as Jelani's body was being carried away and Liam watched as it was lifted and hauled into the van.

The look on Liam's face was one Claire had never seen before. She held herself from crying as she watched the man drop his shoulders and lean forward until his head touched the grass before him.

Liam was in so much pain, it was clear. Tate and Patrick shifted thier attention to him and hurried over to console him.

Claire couldn't hold her tears anymore the moment she spun and caught officer Larry in tears with his eyes fixed in Liam's direction. She reached up and wiped the tears off her right eye.

She didn't really relate with Jelani that much, but hey, she felt his presence everyday. He was his own person, and she couldn't believe he was gone.

Claire then remembered what he had told Adam and the gift he had given him. She then remembered Jelani's last words to her.

"Goodnight Ms Hayes."

It sounded crazy, but Claire could swear Jelani knew he was going to die today.



***


It was past two in the afternoon. Brent, Liam and Claire just pulled up infront of the house on thier way back from the hospital where Claire had gone to process Liam's papers for him to be released from medical supervision.

As soon as the car stopped. Liam spun to face Claire in the back seat. He raised the file she had given to him and gave a curt nod.

"Thank you," Liam uttered.

Claire gave a weak smile. Those were the first words Liam had said to anyone that day.

Claire and Brent watched as Liam pushed his door open and walked out of the car and into the house, not minding if they were coming with him or not.

"Poor guy," Brent sighed as he shook his head and pulled the keys out of the ignition.

When Claire got into the house, she found Luke, Samantha and Adam on the three seater vouch watching TV. Tate was on the other single couch. He gave a wry smile when he saw Claire and she smiled back at him.

She took one look at Adam and knew someone had told him the bad news. The boy was resting on Luke's body as Luke had his arms over his shoulder. Luke spun and saw Claire with his slightly widened eyes. "Hey Mrs Hayes," he uttered mildly with a polite smile.

"Hello Luke", Claire uttered as she walked over, leaned forward and kissed Adam's forehead. "How are you?"

"Good," Luke replied.

Claire took one last look at Adam whose tired eyes where fixed on the TV. She shifted her eyes to Samantha who was also watching the TV, pretending her mother wasn't even there.

"Where's Grandma?" Claire asked.

"In the kitchen with Luke's mum." Samantha replied without even glancing at her mother.

Claire knew she was still mad at her, but considering the circumstances right now, She didn't care. She just found the mangled body of a man she had spoken to just few hours ago in her front lawn. Frankly, she wasn't in the mood for Samantha's youthful exuberance right now.

Claire walked out of the sitting room just as Brent walked into the house and collapsed on the couch.

As she moved away, she saw Tate call Brent's attention and the both of them went outside the house to talk. Claire began to feel suspicious, but she decided to ignore it. She walked into the kitchen and saw Susan and Edith were at the island table with a mug of coffee each. Patrick was at the corner with a can of beer in his hand.


"Hey," Patrick uttered when he saw Claire walk in. "Done with the papers?"

"Yep," Claire sighed as she walked over to Edith. She kissed her mother in law on her head and looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?"

Edith gave a weak nod and swallowed. Claire kept studying her. She looked older than usual today. It's not everyone who wakes up in the morning and finds a dismembered body in thier front lawn.

"Here," Susan uttered as she stretched a mug of Coffee in Claire's direction.


"Thanks," Claire took the cup and took a sip.

"I thought you said you killed it", Edith's words caught everyone off guard as she turned and glared at Patrick.

Susan and Claire turned and looked at the astonished zookeeper. He looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him when the three women glared at him.

"Well-em-I..," Patrick began to stutter. "We can't be sure if it's..."


"It's the same animal that killed the Wilson boy and those college kids, isn't it?" Susan interrupted.

"Errmmm..," Patrick uttered before he glanced at Claire with a look on his face that seemed to be asking for help.

Claire knew there was no way around this. She knew there was nothing Patrick could say, because even she knew the truth. The severed limbs, the massive tissue loss at the side of his torso, and of course, the severed neck.

Claire didn't want to believe it herself, but it was pretty obvious. The Cherrywood beast had returned. All she was trying to fathom now was how possible it was because she saw Jelani kill this thing some days ago.

"Patrick," Tate's voice got everyone's attention as they all spun and saw him peeping from the kitchen entrance. "A minute please?"

Patrick then hurried over to meet Tate at the door and Claire could see the relief in his features as he walked over. Tate had saved him.

The two men stood at the kitchen door, Tate whispered something to Patrick that made his eyes widen, then he hurried quickly to the front door of the house with Tate right behind him.

Claire's curiosity was sparked immediately.

"How is he?" Susan's voice broke her concentration.

"Huh?", Claire turned back to Susan.

"Liam," Susan said. "How is he?"

"Devastated," Claire sighed, and she wasn't kidding. She had never seen Liam like that before. Even at the hospital, whenever he looked at her while she was speaking to him, his eyes were different now. The man she had spoken to at the dinner party was gone. He looked almost lifeless now.

Claire then realised that he had every right to be lifeless. Jelani was all he had in this world and he was gone.

Claire suddenly began to feel bad about the way she had left him at the dinner party.



"You should go talk to him," Edith said as if she was reading Claire's mind.

Claire gave a nervous smile as she shifted her gaze from Edith to Susan who was nodding slowly in agreement with Edith's remark.

"Don't tell me to fucking calm down!" Brent's loud roar startled everyone in the kitchen.

"What the hell?" Susan uttered as she raised her hand to her chest in Shock.


Claire then stood up from her seat and headed straight out of the kitchen and to the front door. As she passed the living room, she saw that Brent's voice had also gotten the attention of the kids too; their worried eyes were watching the front door.

"It's okay," Claire said to them to calm them down as she pulled the door open and went outside the house.


Claire met Patrick, Brent and Tate right there at the front deck outside the house. Brent looked like he wanted to punch someone. He looked angry. He looked enraged.

Tate and Patrick shot nervous glances at Claire and Brent.

"What's going on?" Claire demanded as she shot the door behind her.

The three men exchanged glances with each other. None of them could utter a word.

"Look", Claire began. "It's pretty obvious that from what happened this morning, our nightmare is far from over, so I think it's best we stop keeping secrets from each other and look for a way to end this. Even I know that it was one of your black panther..things that killed Jelani. there is obviously still one out there, so we should stop throwing tantrums and figure out what to tell the Mayor."

At that point, Patrick and Tate exchanged nervous glances again.

Claire narrowed her eyes at the both of them. She was certain now that these men were not telling her something. She shifted her weight and crossed her arms on her chest. She licked her lips and glared at Tate.

"Tate," Claire warned.

Tate raised his face to Claire, still unable to meet her eyes.



"What. Is. Going. on.?" Claire separated her words through gritted teeth.

Tate's lips parted, but no words came out.


"Oh for christ sakes just tell her," Brent fired. "Everyone is gonna know eventually."

Claire shot a confused look at the pissed off Police officer. She was getting scared now. She had never seen Brent like this before. She watched in a nervous fright as Brent walked out of the deck at started to pace about in the lawn, lost in thought.


"T-two," Tate uttered softly.

Claire turned and faced the young scientist. "What?" She asked.

"We...err...followed the body to the morgue this morning for an examination." Patrick stuttered.

"We started to suspect after you...you said the last time you saw Je...Jelani was about an hour and a half before his body was found," Tate added.

"The bite radius on his body was far bigger than that of the last one we killed," Patrick said.

Claire began to shake her head now. She was beginning to get confused out of her mind. "Wait," she said as she raised her hand to stop them from talking. "What are you guys talking about?"

Patrick and Tate exchanged nervous glances again. "There ...there were t..two different bite marks on Jelani's body," Patrick uttered.

Claire's eyes slowly bulged and her jaw dropped open as Patrick's words began to register.

"There are two of them, Claire," Tate's voice was trembling now.

"...Jelani was killed by two panthers, each one three times the size of the one we killed a few days ago."
Literature / Re: Ferocious (chapters 31-38) by Chykwrites(m): 7:24pm On Oct 05, 2018
34.
Claire laid there on her bed, still in the evening gown she wore for the party. Brent had left some five minutes ago after he dropped her off. Ofcourse, he kept asking her why she wanted to go home so soon and she just kept telling him that she was tired and needed to rest.

This night had been a long one for her indeed. First, she had gone down an unwanted memory lane of her beloved late husband, now she just realised that Dr. Liam Price may actually have feelings for her.

"Oh God," Claire moaned as she lifted her hand and rubbed her temple.

How could she not see this coming. Even her sixteen year old daughter was smarter than she was in this case. The thought of the fact that Liam was even going to be sleeping in the same house with her tonight made her stomach flip.

Claire stood up, moved to the front of her mirror and stood there, staring at her reflection.

The vision of Liam's face in the moonlight suddenly came to her head and she found a smile tugging slightly on her lips. She didn't want to admit it, but Liam had given her certain type comfort tonight. He had shown her concern. She had seen a side of Liam Price that she had never seen before.

Claire exhaled and deflated before she fell back into her bed. She felt like a confused teenage girl who had just spoken to the hot highschool quarterback for the first time.

Brent dropped off Liam and Jelani an hour and a half later. Claire hurried to her room window when she heard the slamming of car doors. She looked down in time to see Liam step out of the black police car. As soon as he stepped out, he turned to Jelani and looked up at Claire's window.

"Shit."

Claire pulled herself down and hid below, before she heard Brent's car roaring off into the night and Edith's cheerful voice welcoming Liam and his African brother into the house from downstairs.

Susan called that evening to know how Claire was doing and if she was okay. Claire talked to her about everything. From her moment with Rod Willis, to her time with Liam, but she dared not tell her about Liam's confession, because she knew she wouldn't hear the last of it from Susan.


It was when Claire woke up and turned to face her alarm clock that read "1:25AM," She realised she had fallen asleep, in her evening gown.

"Crap, guess I was more tired than I thought"

She pulled herself up, took a bath and changed to her silk night gown. Before she laid down again, she decided to get a glass of water. She always hydrates a little before sleeping and she groaned when she remembered the kitchen was all the way downstairs.
Claire made her way out of her room and walked through the hall way, but she stopped short when she noticed Adam's room was slightly open.

She then changed her direction and walked over to Adam's room. She walked into the room and saw the little boy covered up to his neck in his Toy Story duvet. He looked so adorable, Claire couldn't help but smile as she stared at him.

Then he moved a little; turning slightly to his side, and that was when Claire saw it. The thing around his neck. Claire moved in for a closer look and realised that Adam was wearing a necklace made with animal teeth. Canines, and then some beads all held in place by a black string.

It looked like something she had seen Jelani wear all the time. As she reached down and touched the necklace in curiosity, Adam slowly turned his head and faced his mother before he opened his sleepy eyes slowly.

"Mum?" The boy whispered.

"Hey sweety," Claire whispered. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

"Has Jelani gone yet?" The boy asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

Claire then sat close to her son on his bed with a perplexed expression. "Gone?" she asked. "What do you mean honey?"

"Jelani told me he was going away," Adam said, and then he reached up and rubbed the necklace on his neck. "He even gave me a present and said he will always be with me and protect from the black devils as long as I wear this."

"The black devils?"

Claire suddenly felt a chill go down her spine. She didn't know what to say. She knew Liam and Jelani were going to leave, but it wasn't tomorrow, but the next day after. She was meant to process thier hospital papers tomorrow.

"Okay sweety," Claire whispered. "Come on. Go back to bed, okay?"

"Okay," Adam yawned, before he sank back into his pillow.

Claire watched him drift off, kissed his forehead and left the room.


After She had gotten her glass of water, Claire decided to check the front of the house, as she was sure she would find Jelani there.

She looked out the front window, and there he was. He was sitting in the front lawn, legs crossed under him like always ever since he came to the house.

His bow and arrow lay on the floor beside him and nothing but darkness infront of him. Claire could feel the freezing night air hit her face from the window and wondered how he was coping without a shirt on.

So, she decided to ask him herself. She thought it was cold inside, but when she stepped outside, it was a different story. She couldn't understand the summer nights in Cherrywood anymore. She was always use to warm summer nights, but this, this was strange.

She wrapped her hands around herself and walked towards the native African man.

"Hey-hey Jelani," Claire uttered.

Jelani gave no response. He didn't even turn to face her. He's eyes remained closed as he was focused on his meditation.

"Ofcourse," Claire thought.

She then stretched forward and tapped his shoulder. Jelani suddenly spun and faced her. Claire was so startled, she jerked back a little.

She became uneasy as he glared at her. She started to think maybe it was all a bad idea disturbing him.

"You should come inside," Claire suggested as she began to demonstrate with her hands since she knew he didn't understand English, pointing to the house and hugging herself. "It's getting really cold."

Jelani glared at her for a while and then turned his attention forward. Claire raised her hands to the air and dropped them again in frustration.


She looked in the direction of Jelani's gaze. It was pure darkness, but she could make out the towering trees and green vegetation. It was just the tiny glittering stars in the skies now. The moon was gone.

Claire turned and faced Jelani again. "Suit yourself," she shrugged as she began working back to the house.

Then Claire heard something that made her freeze.

"Goodbye Ms Hayes", Jelani said in a suprisenly fluent Queens English.

Claire froze, spun back and faced the native African man with widened eyes. "Di-di-did you just-?" Claire uttered.


She hurried to Jelani's side again. "Did you just speak English?" Claire choked.

Jelani did not respond. His eyes were still fixed forward.

"You mean you speak English?" Claire hissed.

Jelani was still silent.

Claire then tightened her lips in rage. She was seething. She didn't know if this was his idea of a sick joke, but she was over it. "Fine," Claire said. "Goodbye."

Then she turned and made her way to the house. When she got in and closed the door shut. She turned and looked out the window at the African warrior in her front lawn.

She doubted if there was anyone on the planet weirder than this guy. Claire turned and made her way up the staircase. It now made sense to her how Adam could have gotten that information from him, he spoke English.

Then she frowned at another thought.

Why did he tell her Goodbye?


***

Later that morning, Edith rolled in her bed and looked up at the large grandfather clock before her.

"Five thirty."

The old woman dragged herself out of bed, slipped into her flip-flops and headed downstairs to put up hot water for tea. She started every day with tea. It was a thing for her. Dragging herself from bed to do it was the hard part, but this on this particular day, it was made easy by Ottie's obnoxious early morning barking.

"The damned dog can't just ignore the squirrels, can he?" Edith hissed as she moved down the stairs.

She got to the kitchen, picked up the kettle, filled it with water and the placed it on the burner.

She then made her way towards the sitting room, but she stopped short as Ottie's loud barking was beginning to get quite unusual. She stopped at the front door and pulled it open.


Ottie stopped barking immediately it saw Edith emerge from inside the house. The dog started to wag its tail playfully. Whimpering loudly and pulling on the chain that held it to the dog house behind.

Edith chuckled as she moved towards the over-excited animal.


"Hey boy" Edith cooed. "What's the matter?"

Ottie got more restless as the old woman got closer.


Edith finally got to the Labradore and began to play with him, rustling his fur as he licked her palms and face.


"Good boy" Edith cooed. "That's a good boy. Now you hush up, you hear, 'cos some people are still sleeping."


Ottie barked out as if in response to her instructions. Edith chuckled as she backed away from dog and started to make her way back to the house.

Then she stopped when she caught something from the side of her eye. It was out there, laying in the grass. laying in the lawn. She didn't know what it was, but she knew she would have to get closer to find out.

The old woman kept moving closer and closer now and the figure laying in the grass began to materialise. It started to make sense.

Edith jumped and yelled when Ottie started to bark again.


"Jesus Christ Ottie! shut up! " Edith shouted.

Ottie was suddenly calm.

Edith turned and faced the figure on the lawn again and continued moving closer.

As Edith got closer and closer, her heart began to race. Her eyes began to widen and her lips began to part at what she was staring at.

"N-No.....It can't be," the old woman thought to herself as she began to tremble.

Edith felt the blood in her face start to drain as she got closer. The hairs behind her neck began to stand. The old woman raised her hand and pressed it to her chest as she began to breathe heavily.

"Oh...Oh My God!" She gave a haunting Whisper. "No."

Edith raised her hand from her chest and squeezed her mouth to stop her from screaming that morning when she saw what was infront of her.

Both his limbs were gone. His left arm had been severed from below the elbow and the right one was completely gone. The green grass around him was painted red with his blood. Jelani's severed head lay beside his mangled body, staring into the morning sky with haunting dead brown eyes.

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