Читать книгу Small Town Monsters - Craig Nybo - Страница 26

Craig Nybo

8

shy. People started loading their shotguns and keeping them handy. The feds came into the picture, but after conducting their investigation, they determined that the two girls were the victims of animal attacks and left the matter to the rangers.

“There were six more killings over the next four weeks. Then the hysteria set in. I suppose folks were looking for something or someone to pin the whole thing on. People can get nasty when they’re backed up into a corner. They started saying words like lycanthrope and werewolf.

“I guess man has always had an affinity for his beastly core. Some primal part of us yearns to explore the dark half of the soul, the half that the good book tells us to lock away and never even peek at through the bars. When the dark half of the soul is kept completely at bay, we start seeing things. The mind starts playing tricks on us. The light bends just right and we spot shadows just beyond the mind’s eye’s peripheral view. In that place, legends are born—like vampires, werewolves, and old Buren’s el chupacabra.”

Hugh fell silent. He took another beer from the cooler and handed it to Kurt. “Would you mind popping the top for me? I just can’t trust these palsied old hands anymore.”

“Are you jibjabbing me again?” Kurt asked.

“About the killings or the monsters?” Hugh asked.

Kurt popped the top off the beer and handed it back to Hugh. “Did they ever track down your monster?” Kurt asked.

“Those times defied logic. And when there is no logic, man tends to seek out those who are different and rise against them. History shows it again and again. There are the Salem witch trials, the pagan executions during the time of Constantine; it’s a cycle. The scapegoat—back in ‘52 I think it was when it all came down—was a boy of 23 who lived with his father. The two lived a hermit lifestyle on the outskirts of town, not far from the scout camp. The boy’s name was Danny Slade.

“Danny was a victim of scoliosis; he walked with a monkey gate. He had an inordinate amount of hair all over his body—gave him a wolf-like appearance. He was raised by his father, who employed the sternest of methods; you might even say