Chapter 2.

Part 6. Down by the River.

The next day, after breakfast, Helt met Serena and Emma to talk about the idea for a new club. He had cut short last night’s conversation by claiming to be tired from the long trip to reach University Island. The reality was that he wanted some alone time to explore the campus by himself.

“Hello Ladies.” Helt said politely.

“Good morning.” The short Filipino said cheerfully, her long dark hair glistening in the sunlight.

Emma mumbled something into her cup of coffee. The tall blond seeming a zombie at this hour.

“She is not a morning person.” Serena explained.

“If we want too keep this quiet, I suggest we walk along the river.” the tall German said in a neutral tone. He really did not like mornings either, but life had taught him not to show any weakness.

So the three of them walked along the street to the North Gate, then turned onto a rough path that ran beside the river. Although to be fare it was more a stream, only a few feet wide and deep at most places. If they followed the path east they would eventually reach the village, after half an hour’s walk.

“Why the desire for better relations between people and monsters?” Helt asked.

“Cuz the world ain’t the same as it was 100 years ago, in my grandma’s time.” Emma answered. “People ain't as superstitious and judgmental. Many are lookin for things outside the normal.

Serena nodded, having talked at length about all this with her roommate last night.

“Paganism and Wicca have become respectable. You ain’t gonna see no witch hunts no more.”

Helt shook his head, “But they are humans, its not at all the same for creatures of the night.” he gave Serena a searching look, still not sure what she was. “For example, Vampires are popular in fiction, lots of people might even want to meet a real one, but not may would like to live next to an immortal blood sucker. As soon as anyone goes missing the police will be knocking at the vampire’s door ready to shoot first and ask questions after.”

“That is actually why we should form this club.” Serena answered before Emma could. “To try and find solutions to problems like that. You know most aggression comes from fear, and its ignorance that causes most fear.” she said it so elegantly and with conviction. Helt almost jumped in with agreement right there.

But just then an odd growling sound from the bushes caused everyone to stop.

The tall German sniffed the air, “what is that?”

Serena pointed, “Its there and getting closer.”

The American blond looked into the thick bushes unable to see a thing, “I cant...”

Then suddenly the creature sprang at them !

Part 7. The fight.

The creature jumped out of the bushes. Fur and fangs reflecting the morning sun with an odd green glimmer. It was the size of a large dog with massive paws and claws.

Helt was first to react. He tackled the thing in midair, halfway in its leap towards Serena. Down they went, rolling on the ground. It went for his throat, putting the German on the defensive. It was strong for its size. No laughing matter at all. Yet Helt found himself smiling as he fought for his life.

Then Serena screamed, a sound that went quickly from a high pitch that hurt the ears, to a soundless wave that hit like a hammer. The creature was stunned, unfortunately so was the man.

“Focus!” He told himself “You must recover before it does.”

Someone was yelling, but he could not make any sense of the words, his head was ringing.

Helt pushed the creature off him, it rolled one way he the other. “A bit of distance. A bit of time. That is all I need.” He drew on the deep pool of energy in him, this time he would be at full strength when he took on the thing.

Then several loud pops rang out. Gun shots?

Helt and Serena both looked at the creature twitching on the ground. Then toward the source of the sound. Emma stood with a pistol in hand. She aimed for a half second and fired two more shots into the creature.

“Is it..?” Serena asked hesitantly.

Helt stood up, then kicked it hard as he could right into a nearby tree trunk. It hit with a wet crack. “Should be.” he said “But we best behead it, to be sure.”

Both women looked at him with the “are you serious” expression.

“Have you a knife?” he asked Emma.

“Yaa, just a small one.” she answered.

As she handed it over to the battered and bloody German, her roommate the small Filipino asked “why do you have a gun?”

“You know, Im a walkin stereotype.” the blond American said with a smile.

Helt stepped over cautiously to the creature, poked it with the toe of his boot, then started to the grim work. The smell was making him very hungry. It was unique, not at all like any normal dog. Discreetly he had a taste, “Definitely a mystery here worth looking into.” he said softly.

Part 8. Cleaning up.

“We should get you to a doctor.” Serena said as she tried not to look at Helt.

“I will be fine, its not as bad as it looks.” he replied. Covered in blood as he was, it did look very bad.

“What ya’ll recon we do with Fido?” Emma asked, as she looked off towards the university buildings.

“We must report this to the authorities.” the small Filipino said without hesitation.

Both Helt and Emma looked a bit hesitant over the idea.

Finishing his grim work, the tall German stood up. “What I should do is get cleaned up.” He said, then offered Emma her knife back. “Naw you keep that for now.” she replied.

“We can go report this at the main desk.” Serena said calmly. Although she was still shaken up she was in control.

“Hang on a sec,” the blond asked them “We oughta get our stories strait now. What exactly happened?”

“It attacked us. He fought with it. You shot it. He then cut its head off, just to be safe.” Serena summarized the events, leaving out one thing, how her own shriek had stunned the creature.

“Sounds right enough.” the German and American agreed.

“I will meet you later at the King’s Kant cafe.” Helt added, then started off towards the dorms.

At the main building Serena and Emma found a sea of students filling the grand hall. They were lined up in disorganized fashion waiting for a turn at the administration desk, where 3 staff members tried to deal with the flood. With only a few days until classes were to start there was a lot of paper work to be processed.

They waited a few minutes, which felt like hours, until Emma got frustrated. “Screw this, lets come back later.”

“But this is serious.” Serena protested, “We need to tell some one as soon as possible.”

“Ok then, follow me.” the American pushed her way to the front of the line.

“No no. You must wait your turn.” the man behind the desk said sternly.

“No can do. We got an emergency here.” Emma said loudly.

“With new students everything is an emergency.” he said gruffly. “Well then, short as you can be, explain it.”

She held up her cell phone to show him the photo of the dead creature. “This do it for ya?”

“ah yes. You will want to go over there to the security office. A guard will assist you.” he said in a more polite tone.

Serena was maybe more shocked by her roommates rude behaviour than by the creature's attack. In her experience you simply did not act that way. Or if you did you faced serious punishment afterwards. “I can do the talking this time?” She asked in her irresistible charming way.

“No problem.” Emma answered happily.

An hour later they left the security office. Captain Wraven had taken their statement, asking a few pointed questions. He then assured them it was nothing serious to worry about. Next he dispatched a team to check on the area, just in case. He then reviewed some or the details as he waited for the team to report in. Lastly he promised to inform the women when the investigation was finished. It was all very professional, like this sort of thing happened regularly. Which it did.

Part 9. At the Cafe.

“You are handlin this all, real well.” Emma said to Serena as they walked towards the cafe.

“It is as the Professor said, we all have some experience of the unusual.” the small woman answered. The truth was that crowds of people were more disturbing to her than wild animals. So much noise, so many emotions. She had worked hard to get use to them. It was necessary, if she wanted to live up to family obligations, she could not avoid the public.

“There’s our boy.” the American blond said “Over yonder in the back.”

King’s Kant Cafe was a long narrow coffee shop, with the philosopher Immanual Kant as its figure head. The smell of fresh brewed coffee and baked dread filled the place. The tables in back were always out of the sunlight. Helt sat at one, a book in front of him. “That was faster than I expected.” he said as the two women approached him. “How did they take the news?”

“Very professional. Like it was no big deal to them.” Serena explained briefly.

“Have you read this?” He asked, tapping the student handbook on the table.

“Glanced at it.” Emma said

Serena shook her head, “Just the first few pages.”

“We need to find the second part.” He said bluntly.

“Didn’t know there was one.” the blond replied.

“Several times it refers to pages numbered in the 200s, yet it only contains 161 pages.” Helt explained.

“Book store or library.” Serena offered the obvious places to look.

“The book warns there may be dangerous animals on the island. But it is not specific.” He flipped to a page near the beginning “It also says hunting is forbidden without a permit.”

“You said you were here a few days before we arrived?” Serena asked her roommate, who nodded agreement. “Did you talk with any of the older students? Did they give any idea of how dangerous this place might be?”

“I recon not. They just went on like things was normal.” Emma answered.

“Of course they did.” the Filipino said with a hint of satisfaction in her voice, she was starting to understand how this place worked. “The rules. Its all about the rules. Keeping secrets and acting normal is a big deal here. I expect no one will tell us very much. Helt is right, we should read the book and the second part too, if we can find it.”

Looking very smug the German said “You may also want to go shopping at the armory, and then apply for a weapons permit.” He looked directly at Emma, “If you didn't already get one.” He flipped the book to the page; Rules Regarding Weapons.

“Oh I guess I forgot to do that.” the blond said in a fake air-head voice.

“Library, shopping, permits, reading. What else?” Serena asked.

“We never did finish our talk about the club.” Helt pointed out.

“and I expect we will need a permit for that too.” she said with a smile. 

 

Emma,.. Serena,.. Helt,