Shadows of the Night

[Otis McNutt 395]

Chance Hardwick, Detective first grade of the Pryce Falls Police Department exited his unmarked cruiser and approached the yellow crime scene tape.

"Hey Chance, they called you in on this?" Benny, an older Uniformed officer asked.

"You know me Benny, I couldn't stay away." Chance said. "So what've we got?" he added.

"I couldn't tell you, I've seen things on the job but this one's new to me." Benny said

Chance ducked under the tape and made his way to the illuminated part of the woods, CSU had already been there and collected evidence and now it was the detectives turn to see what he could gleem from the mess.

"Lift it." he said to the coroner motioning to the sheet.

"What the hell!" Chance said as he looked down at the VIC, he was a white male about 35 years old, his throat was torn out and he had claw marks all over his body.

"How long has he been dead Sam?" Chance asked Samuel Baines, Pryce Falls coroner.

"I won't know for sure until I get him back to the lab, but judging by the flies I'd say two weeks tops." Sam said

"Two weeks, he seems pretty well dressed for a homeless man, and well groomed too so why hasn't anybody reported him missing?" Chance asked.

"That's your department Detective, I just handle the stiffs." Sam said.

Sam waved his assistant over with a stretcher for the body

"You mind if I take him with me now Detective?" Sam asked.

"Wait...you smell that?" Chance asked.

"Smell what, the putrid scent of rotting flesh?" Sam asked.

"No, there's something else a subtle scent of Antiseptic, bag his boots and have CSU run an analysis on them." He said.

Chance sat at his desk and poured over photos of the scene, trying desperatly to gellm something from them, when a news report on a muted TV caught his eye.

"We've had enough!" a frazzled farmer in muddy coveralls shouted at an attractive asian reporter.

"All you damn treehuggers out there up in arms about lettin the wolves go free, first it was our cattle and now they's takin' people's lives." he shouted.

"Am I to understand that the man killed on the edge of Pryce Falls National Forest wasn't the first victim?" Julie Chen of Action News 4 asked.

"Yer damn Skippy Julie." The farmer said

"I lost Three of my herd this year, and my brother lost two his self and now it's people Julie, when will people learn that wolves are menaces that need to be delt with!"

Julie turned back to camera and smiled.

"Not everyone is as gung ho to kill the wolves, Dr. Piper Rollins of the Pryce Falls Natural Sciences Center had this to say earlier."

The live feed switched to a recorded interview of an attractive red head, her piercing green eyes looking deep into the camera.

"Wolves are wery of humans Julie, the idea of a wolf attacking a human in this manner is laughable I have no doubt in my mind that whatever this animal is, it isn't a wolf."

Chance turned of the television and picked up his phone.

"Get me the number for Piper Rollins."

[Teto 2609]

There is no such thing as a shadow in the night your argument is invalid.

But aside, very nice story Eli (:

[FreckleFart 0]

"You mind if I take him with me now Detective?" Sam asked.

"Wait...you smell that?" Sam asked.

"Smell what, the putrid sent of rotting flesh?" Sam asked.

...

[Otis McNutt 395]

There is no such thing as a shadow in the night your argument is invalid.

But aside, very nice story Eli (:

The "Shadow" in question is not a literal shadow but rather the thing that is stalking the streets of Pryce Falls.

[Teto 2609]

The "Shadow" in question is not a literal shadow but rather the thing that is stalking the streets of Pryce Falls.

I was kidding.

[DragonBottles 2]

It looks like a play script. Use less dialogue, more good writing please.

[Otis McNutt 395]

Chance hung up his phone and noticed someone was beconing to him.

"Yeah Sam what've you got?" Chance asked walking over

"I'm not sure man, you better come and see." Sam said

Chance and Sam walked down to the cold storage to where the John Doe was being kept. Walking inside Sam handed Chance a file folder.

"What's this?" Chance Asked

"It's a workup of the VIC's blood and it's very strange." Sam said

"What is?" Chance asked

"The guy has Rabies, but it's an entirely new strain of the disease."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that whatever bit this guy was sick, so sick that I have to call the CDC and issue a Rabies alert."

Chance looked at his watch.

"Ok you do that, I have to meet with this Dr. Rollins to see if we can nail down this animnal."

"The Chick from the news, man she's hot good luck!" Sam said winking.

Chance drove back to the scene of the attack and as he pulled up noticed that the Doctor was already there.

"Doctor Rollins?" Chance asked

"Hello Detective." She said scribbling notes in a small pad.

"I'm sorry but it looks like I wont need you afterall, the coroner found rabies in the VIC's blood so it looks like were looking for a wolf afterall." Chance said

"I'm not sure about that Detective, the mesurments I've take suggest that it was much bigger that your average...wait did you say Rabies?"

"Yeah some weird strain that nobody's ever seen before."

Chance handed her the workup of the rabies.

"I've seen this before." she said

"You have, where?' He asked

[Teto 2609]

It looks like a play script. Use less dialogue, more good writing please.

[Otis McNutt 395]

Piper lifted up a white sheet covering the item which was deep in the basement of the Natural Sciences center's cold storage research lab.

"What am I looking at?" Chance asked staring at the shapless mass.

"This well preserved specimine was found buried in a Peat Bog near here." she said

"What is it, it looks like a giant slab of mud." Chance asked

Piper grabbed Chances hand man moved him to where she was standing, shining a light on the mass Chance saw exactly what was preserved.

"That's a man, how long was he buried out there?" Chance asked

"Carbon dating puts it at 1000 years."

"He's been here for 1000 years, is he an Indian?" Chance asked.

"No, when we found him he was wearing a pelt, a wolf pelt of a species found only in Europe Genetic testing revealed him to be a Norseman...a Viking."

"Oh yeah I heard something about Vikings coming over years before Columbus, but what does this have to do with our animal attacks?"

Piper grabbed a file and handed it to Chance, after flipping a few pages he tossed it on the table.

"How about you give me the Cliff's Notes version." He said

"When we tested his Genes we also discovered some anomoly, this man had rabies the exact strain that was found in your victim."

"So this man was killed by an animal?" Chance asked

"No as far as we can tell he just walked into the Bog and got stuck, but more importantly was the rabies was found everywhere."

"So."

"So...so that is unheard of with Rabies, Rabies gets into the nervous system and makes it's way to the brain completly bypassisng the immune system. This man had the desease everywhere, in his lungs, kidneys, lives even in his testicals almost as if he was born with the disease already present and if he had the disease he most certainly passed it to his children."

Chance sighed and shook his head in mild confusion.

"So what does this mean?" he asked.

"It means that this man had a desease that normally kills in weeks,but he had it all his life. Not to mention the wolf pelt he wore."

"Wolf pelt?"

"In Viking lore those warriors who wore a wolf pelt were part of an elete group of warriors known as Berserkers. Warriors who would drink a potion and then go into fits of rage where they would be pointed at enemies and let loose like animals."

"So you're saying that a person killed or victim?" Chance asked

"Not just a person Chance, in the old Norse the Berserkers were known as Úlfhéðnar that means Werewolf. We pumped the mans stomach and found he had eaten pounds and pounds of Arnica montana that's Wolf's Bane."

Chance looked at her and smirked.

"A Werewolf?"