Chronicles of the Wolf Book II: A Wolf in Sheep's clothing

Chapter 13

Wild Bill, sure did live up to his name. He smelled to high heaven like alcohol, but it was not just that it was like this stench of alcohol that almost seemed like in all his life he had never smelled like Alcohol. I was unsure how he was still standing, I had this idea that he must have drunk so much alcohol that he is made of alcohol. I was partly joking at that, but the other part was not.

“’Ow Ummmmberrrrtoe,” Wild Bill slurred. “U knows I don’t like tha’ name.” he managed to say but he was speaking extremely slow and extremely slurred.

“Yes, sir sorry sir,” Umberto said.

“U ‘ave to learn how to respe’ ttttt ur elders.” Wild Bill managed to say though he must have spent at least 30 seconds saying ‘respect.’ “Yule never becom a lead like me.”

“Understood sir,” Umberto said.

I sense an uneasiness in him. I also perceived that Umberto was being held back by the drunkard, probably for way too long.

“So, do weees ’av any leads?” Wild Bill said moving his bottle around.

“Only that the latest missing girl apparently had contract with Eugene Redd.” Umberto said a bit uneasy to disclose any more than that.

“UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN” Wild Bill suddenly yelled out. “Oh UUUUUUUUUGEEEEEEENNNNNN!”

Walker and I looked at each other before we looked at Wild Bill.

“UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGEEEEEEEEEENNNNNN!” Wild Bill fell to his knees and screamed out. “OH UUUUUUUUUUGEEEEENNNNNN!”

He suddenly crawled to his stomach and fell asleep in seconds.

“What the hell is this guy's problem?” I asked Umberto.

“I don’t know,” Umberto said rubbing his temples. “I had heard of his antics when I was getting through the junior detective school. I always thought, there is no way that he was that bad, there is no way that he is that crazy. I’ve been around him for a month. I can tell you that those stories were under-exaggerated I don’t know what god I ticked off to make me end up with him.”

Somehow, I pictured Hanuman having a laugh when he asked that.

“I can only imagine,” I said.

“So, what’s the plan?” Walker said

“We have to find Rana still,” Tanya pointed out.

“I think we should start by talking to Mr. Redd,” Umberto said.

“Eugene!” the drunk yelled out as he sat up, we all jumped and stared at him. He just slouched back down and fell back to sleep.

“How the hell is he a detective?” I asked.

“He was the best,” Umberto said. “Legendary, from what I was told.”

“What made him go nuts then?” Walker said.

“Again, with your nuts, what do nuts have to do with anything?” I asked.

“You are not from around here, are you?” Umberto asked laughing.

“He isn’t,” Walker said.

“It was something that happened about twenty years ago apparently,” Umberto said shrugging. “Something happened back then that messed him, and it messed him up bad.”

“This guy has been like this for twenty years?” I asked.

“Apparently,” Umberto said. “That is how back the Wild Bill name goes for him at least.”

I wondered what could have happened to him that would have messed him up that bad. The only thing I could compare it to was how messed up Victor was after the trials. Then I remembered that there are an additional 10 trials, did this man go through the trials and it turned him into a drunk? I thought about that for a moment.

“So where is Eugene?” Walker asked.

“He has a place around here,” Umberto said. “We should start there.”

“Finally, some progress,” I said.

We all headed towards where Umberto said that Eugene Redd apparently lived. It was not far from where we were, it was only a few blocks away. It was a very strange building that had this sort of creepy aura around it. It was this deep red almost blood red in color and it looked like it had seen some stuff. It was strange, it was almost like when you know a place had been through stuff. I did not know how else to explain it.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Tanya said.

I noticed that she was hovering behind Walker, and Walker looked extremely uncomfortable, but he was trying his hardest to save face.

“Sammie sent someone here?” I asked.

“Last place you would send a young woman,” Umberto said and turned towards Tanya.

“Hey, don’t look at me I didn’t send her here,” Tanya said nervously looking around.

“Well let’s have a look-see.” Umberto said, and we all nodded.

Umberto took lead with me scouting around looking everywhere. That earlier feeling of being spied on by a snake had not really gone away. It was still very much prevalent. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but I felt that it was coming from somewhere not too far away.

“What’s going on?” Walker asked.

“I can’t shake this feeling that there is something stalking us.” I said.

“Stalking us?” Walker said.

“I can’t be certain what,” I said.

“Doors open,” Umberto said pushing the door to this creepy place.

Together we walked into the room. I had never seen anything so…red. Everything everywhere was red. Red curtains, red couches, red chairs, red picture frames, red carpets, red floors, red walls, red door frames, hell even red lights.

“What in the world?” Umberto said.

“The guy sure likes his red huh?” I asked.

“A bit too much I think,” Tanya said as she stayed behind Walker.

“I don’t sense anyone here,” I said.

“Extrasensory?” Umberto asked.

“I guess you can say that,” I said.

The place felt empty, I didn’t sense anything in here.

“There hasn’t been anyone here for at least a couple of days.” I added.

I smelled somethings in the air, but it seemed a couple of days old at least. I smelled something like Tanya in the air, but I couldn’t say for certain it was her cousin, but I had my theories it was. I tried to pinpoint where they could have gone but it was as if it didn’t go anywhere.

“Maybe there is some sort of hidden chamber here,” I suggested.

“What makes you say that?” Umberto said.

“I sense that they didn’t really leave from here,” I shrugged.

“Hmm…” Umberto said.

I started to use my senses a bit more thoroughly. I watched as the following happened in my minds eye. Some giant of a man had opened the door, and saw a young girl wearing some sort of strange black dress. The giant let the girl in and the girl was very excited a second later she was hit behind the head and landed on the floor.

I looked at the floor and scanned it by bending down. I noticed there was an indentation on the floor. I then saw the following play out. The giant dragged the girl I saw the drag marks on the floor and suddenly behind a bookcase it disappeared.

“Back here,” I said pushing on the bookcase.

I knocked the bookcase over and behind it was a door.

“How did you figure that out?” Walker said.

“Do not doubt my senses boy,” I said.

“Woah there is a hidden room,” Umberto said.

Umberto walked towards the door and nodded at me to be ready. I nodded back. Umberto opened the door quickly and we peeked in. Behind the door was a set of stairs that went down into darkness. I couldn’t see beyond maybe ten feet down.

“Creepy much?” Tanya said.

“Are we going down there?” Walker said.

“There’s a girl that was knocked out by a giant,” I said.

“How do you know she was knocked out?” Umberto said staring at me.

“The indentation on the floor,” I said pointing at the red carpet. I knew that to him it probably just looked like a carpet. “There is an indentation of a body there and look at these drag marks.”

I pointed at the slight dip in the carpet. I knew that it was very subtle especially since everything being red in this damn place was messing with my eyes. It was hard for even me to see this, maybe that was why he had done this.

“So, she comes here and gets knocked out?” Umberto said.

“That much I can tell,” I nodded.

“Well come on then,” Umberto said he pulled out something from one of his vest’s pocket. It was a small light. The light floated suddenly in front of him and headed town the stairs. “Come on.”

We all looked at each other and nodded. We followed Umberto down the stairs. We went down this long set of stairs. It kept going and going and going. We went down twenty feet, then forty feet, then one hundred feet.

“How much further?” Tanya asked sounding scared her voice breaking.

“I can hear some sort of draft,” I said.

It sounded far away but it was still the first time I had heard anything walking down these stairs. Well the first thing I heard that was not us.

“We must be close to the end,” Umberto said, and I nodded.

“…you fool that is not what I am looking for either…” I heard a voice say, far away, quite the ways away, I stopped to listen. I had stopped quite suddenly mid stride.

“What’s?” Walker had bumped into me as he had been walking behind me.

“Shhh…” I hushed him. “I hear someone.”

“I don’t…” Walker started but I hushed him again.

“…she matches the description you gave,” a second voice said.

“You mean by being a female?” the original voice said.

I listened to this voice. It…it sounded familiar. I could not place it though.

“I swear where do you find these creatures?” it continued.

“Forgive him,” a third voice said. “Eugene not the sharpest.”

“I am plenty sharp,” the second voice said.

“Yes, you are as sharp as a cloud.” The original voice said.

“Hey, I resent that, why the hell are we following this guy Kain?” Eugene said. “We were doing well without this guy.”

“Oh yes you were doing so well…” the original voice said sounding sarcastic. I continued to try to place this voice. I could not figure out who it was though.

“What do you hear?” Umberto said.

“Three men talking…” I whispered.

“About?” Umberto whispered.

“Not sure yet,” I said then quickly added. “Be quiet for a bit.”

“A lot of stuff started going south the second we started interacting with him,” Eugene pointed out. “That kid on Asgard, preventing Xavier from getting that Horn of Jericho thing, for example.”

I took a mental note of this and decided to ask what Asgard was later. I decided not to break my concentration. Especially now that I heard something about Xavier.

“And need I remind you why that man exists?” the original voice said.

“He has a point,” the man who was named Kain responded.

“We had one big set back that we did not get the Horn of Jericho.” The original man said. “But we know that we have the true Red Dawn at our disposal, thanks to our tests earlier.”

“Yeah freezing a bunch of idiots instantly was not as entertaining as we thought.” Eugene said. “And then you have us looking for some girl for some reason, chasing wild geese I tell you.”

“It is you, you are an incompetent oaf,” the original man said. “I can’t believe a child was able to complete his task and you were not.”

“If I may,” Kain said. “Can you describe her again?”

“If I have to,” the original man said.

“What are they saying?” Walker said.

“Shh….” I said.

“…is that descriptive enough?” the first man said.

“Damn it,” I said. “One of them said what they were looking for, but I couldn’t hear it.”

“Sorry,” Walker said.

“I will stay in touch I have to attend to something, just make sure that you insignificant worms do not mess this up.” the original voice said, and it disappeared somehow. I didn’t know how but I knew it.

“I don’t like that guy Kain,” Eugene answered. “Especially how superior he acts with all of us. I thought that Xavier had a bad button on self-importance, but this guy…this guy takes it to a whole new level.”

“I hate to point it out, but we now have the Red Dawn thanks to him,” Kain answered. “Make sure you find that female that he is looking for without further failure.”

“Very well,” Eugene said.

Suddenly I felt that Kain had disappeared too.

“Well I guess I am going to have to kill you,” Eugene said.

“Nmmmm….” some other voice said it was a female in fear.

“He’s going to kill the girl,” I said. I pushed Umberto out of the way and ran down the stairs. Using my heightened senses, I was able to see in the dark. I saw the stairs as it continued to swirl down. I quickened my pace.

Soon I reached the opening I had sensed. I ran in and I was inside of some sort of large cave. I quickly listened out for where Eugene’s voice came from.

“Hold still you little squirt,” Eugene’s voice called.

I turned towards it and ran. I jumped over all these stalagmites and small puddles of water in the cave. I didn’t know how much time I had but I heard the girl pleading in her screams, I knew I needed to get there fast. I continued until I saw this massive man.

I nearly stopped in place. He was as tall as I was as a Beghrest. He was wearing this red armor, that looked like it had been specifically made for him, because it was massive. I scanned the area and saw a girl scurrying away from the beast as he walked towards it. I could smell her fear, I could smell her terror, most of all I could smell her scent she smelled similar to Tanya, I concluded this girl must be Rana.

“Hey ugly!” I yelled out the massive thing turned towards me. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

“Who are you?” Eugene said.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Leave the girl alone.”

“Some hero that came to rescue the damsel in distress?” Eugene said he flexed his massive body and cracked his knuckles. “You made the bad choice trying to rescue her.”

“I wouldn’t try me,” I smirked.

“You clearly do not know who I am,” Eugene said.

“And you my friend clearly do not know what I am,” I said.

“I’ll smash you and kill the girl!” Eugene said.

Eugene suddenly charged at me like a raging bull. He was fast, but he was not as fast as I was. I quickly jumped over him and smacked him not as hard as I could on the back of his neck. I did that because I didn’t know if I would accidentally knock his head off if I tried any harder and I did not want Rana and Tanya to witness that. Eugene went flying forward and skidded to a halt. He reached to his neck and cracked it.

“That actually hurt,” Eugene said.

“I should have hit you harder,” I said.

“Oh, you are interesting,” Eugene said it sounded like he was laughing under that red helmet of his. “Not everyone can hurt me.”

Suddenly without moving. Eugene stretched out his hands. It was as if they were made of rubber.

“What the hell?” I said, and I got grabbed by one of his hands that had become these massive palms. I used all my strength to power out of the clasping hands.

Eugene pulled his arms back and shook his hands in pain.

“What the hell are you?” Eugene asked.

“I should be asking you that,” I said.

“It’ll be interesting killing you,” Eugene said.

He suddenly shook violently and stretched his body even bigger than he already was. He went from seven feet to easily ten in a matter of moments. I stood there in awe. What the hell was this creature? I did not have time to wonder about it though as I had to react quickly. Eugene had tried to smash me into Beghrest juice as I jumped out of the way.

I stared at the crater that Eugene had made with his fist. It seemed like his strength had ten-folded somehow. I began to worry about the girls and Walker getting smashed by this creature. I was not so sure I would not get smashed by this creature as well.

“You’re slippery,” Eugene said.

That gave me this idea. That maybe my speed would be enough to take this thing down. I had to think quickly, but it was like my father said once. The bigger they are the harder they fall.

I slid past the massive thing as it tried to disable this thing somehow. Eugene slammed his giant fist on the floor as I zipped by him. Eugene then raised his hands and simply snapped off a stalactite off the ceiling of the cave and swung at me. I barely jumped out of the way, but the wind from this swing made me fly backwards a bit.

I had to react again and jump out of the way from this thing slamming that giant thing at me again.

“What the hell is that?” I heard Walker said.

“Get the hell out of here boy!” I called back when I looked over at Walker.

“Krishna what the hell is that thing?” Umberto said.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said.

I jumped again as the creature attacked me.

“Stand back,” Umberto said.

Umberto grabbed some weird thing from his side I realized it was weapon of some sort. He aimed it at Eugene as I dodged the thing slamming at me.

“SPADE detective, stop what you are doing!” Umberto said.

“I will crush all of you!” Eugene growled.

“Alright I warned you,” Umberto said.

Umberto fired the strange weapon. A ball of energy came out of it. It shot towards Eugene. Eugene was still trying to attack me, and so it hit Eugene on his neck. Eugene started to shake violently, and he fell to the floor. I looked at the massive Eugene as he suddenly started to become smaller again and then turned towards Umberto.

“What the hell is that?” I asked.

“Disablizer,” Umberto said as he put it back in the holster he had to his side.

I looked around for Rana, I saw that Tanya and Walker had found her and ran over to her. Tanya hugging her cousin deeply.

“What is that thing?” Rana asked.

“Good question.” I asked looking over at Eugene.

Suddenly Eugene stood back up. His eyes glowing red with rage.

“You have not seen the last of me,” Eugene said as he rubbed his neck and quite suddenly, he disappeared.

“That should have killed him,” Umberto said looking shocked.

“Do you know something about this Eugene character?” I demanded of Umberto. “He somehow changed his body size, he was not that big when I first saw him. Plus, he could stretch his arms out, like he was a god damn Cephalopod.”

A cephalopod was this bone-less creature that could stretch its body to be twice its size, as well as compress itself. But to see it on a person was very unnerving.

“I never thought he would be one of those things,” Umberto said.

“What things?” I asked.

“An Unmentionable,” Umberto said.

“An unmentionable?” the girls echoed.

“What is that?” Walker said.

“You have not heard of Unmentionables?” Umberto asked.

“No,” Walker said.

“Don’t look at me I am not even from around here,” I shrugged.

“How much do you guys know about Project Rho?” Umberto asked. Walker and I looked at each other. We now knew something new about Project Rho.