51: The Series

51: Monsters Chapter 2 Part 2

Wren pulled up in front of the sheriff’s department and exited his car. When he went in, he found Deputy Andy Baxter sitting behind his desk with his face buried in his hands. Big Bob and Annie sat near Andy at their desks, seemingly waiting for his arrival.

“Agent Gold, so nice of you to join us this evening,” Big Bob called out as Wren walked into the building.

“I figured, why should you three have all the fun tonight? Andy, can you tell me exactly what happened?” Wren asked as he pulled a chair over and sat down beside Andy.

“Well, sir, I’m not sure. I got a call to go to an address about a possible prowler, and when I got there, this little man thing ran out of a bush and tried to attack me. I have seen some weird things while working here, but nothing like this. It just had this look on its face as if it wanted to kill me. It looked evil,” Andy told him, barely lifting his head.

“Can you tell me exactly what it did? I want to send a team out to collect it, but they need to know what they will be dealing with. The more you can tell me, the better,” Wren told him softly and calmly.

Andy took a deep breath before he began. “Sir, it was a little man that was very short, kind of round maybe, and it wasn’t even knee-high. It came running out, jumped on my leg, and bit me. I tried using pepper spray on it, and it didn’t do anything. Then it tried to climb up my leg, so I punched it, but it was like punching a wall. That is when I hit it with my baton. I don’t know how many times I hit it, but it finally let go and ran back into the bushes where it had come from.”

Andy picked up his expandable baton from the floor under his desk. When he placed it on the desk, Wren could see the damage that had been done to it. The rod now had a definite bend in it, so much so that it was no longer usable.

“You bent your baton on it? This thing looks like you were trying to break rocks with it,” Wren said as he picked up the baton, examined it, and placed it back on Andy’s desk.

“Yes, sir, that’s why I am a little shaken by it. I have never had to use my mace or baton on anything outside of training, and now this,” Andy said, gesturing to the baton on his desk.

“Well, don’t worry about this. Let me have the address, and I will go out with my team, and this will be taken care of,” Wren told him.

Andy wrote down the address where he had encountered the gnome. Wren took it from him as he stood up and began to turn to leave the building.

“You know, I think I am going to go check on a couple of things out in the county,” Big Bob said as he stood and picked up his coat. “Annie and Andy, you two stay here and answer calls as they come in. Madison, try not to send Andy on anything that will add to his nervousness if you can. Wren, I’ll walk you out.”

Wren looked at Big Bob but said nothing. He walked with the big man out the door, knowing he had something on his mind, but did not want to say it in front of the others.

“Alright, Bob, what’s going on?” Wren asked as soon as they were outside, and the door had closed.

“Is this the same thing that Max has had a couple of run-ins with?” Big Bob asked.

“It is, and it seems to be getting more aggressive, which is why we are going to get rid of it. This time, we were lucky, but the next person who encounters it might not be,” Wren told him.

“Are you going out there? You know that if you get hurt while I’m on duty, your wife will skin me alive, don’t you?” Big Bob asked him.

“I know, and I have been thinking about that. Since you already know about all of this, do you think that you could make it official and drive me out there? If you can, that means one less car that will be in the way when the capture is made. I have the feeling this will turn into a three-ring circus before it is all said and done,” Wren told him.

“That shouldn’t be a problem. Let me go and tell Madison that I’ll be driving you out there because I know where it is, and you don’t, and I’ll be right back. I have the feeling that you need to call your team for one of those training exercises you’re famous for, since that is always your official story,” Big Bob said with a broad grin as he turned and walked back into the building.

Wren laughed as he took out his phone and called for his team to meet him at the address Andy had given him. Big Bob was right about everything he had said, from the official story being a training exercise to the fact that if Wren got hurt, Lindsay would want to kill them both. He had barely finished relaying the information to his team leader and hanging up his phone when Big Bob returned and handed him a cup of coffee.

“Black with two sugars, right?” Big Bob asked.

“Yes, it is. Do I want to know how you know that?” Wren asked as they got into Big Bob’s patrol car.

“What can I say? I pay attention to things. You need anything out of your car before we head that way? I know you keep everything but the kitchen sink in the trunk of it,” he said to Wren as he started the car.

“Not with my team being there. They will have everything that will be needed with them. Thanks for the coffee, by the way. I didn’t know it was going to be this cold tonight, or I would have brought my own and dressed a little warmer,” Wren said.

“You have been here long enough to know that Missouri weather is more unpredictable than a squirrel trying to cross the road. It is winter, and today we had 60 degrees and sun. Tonight, it is going to drop down to 20 degrees or lower, and tomorrow we may have snow. This weather is why, right now, Lindsay checks the forecast every couple of hours when she’s awake. I’m pretty sure when we had those storms come through, she was setting alarms so she could wake up and check it,” Big Bob told him.

“Lindsay didn’t have to set alarms. She is only sleeping for an hour or two, then waking up. She was and still is having nightmares that are not letting her sleep nearly enough. She’s been remembering things, and what is happening around here is making it worse,” Wren told him.

“You mean she’s remembering what happened when she was attacked?”

“Yeah. Who told you?” Wren asked.

“No one until you just did,” Big Bob replied, then paused. “I wasn’t there with Lindsay and Little Bob, so I don’t know anything about what happened to her or what they went through until after I got there, and they were putting her in the ambulance. I know that whatever happened out there, Little Bob was white as a sheet. Lindsay was unconscious and covered in mud and blood, but I have never asked either of them about it. I also know that what she was attacked by was something large, and it was not a person, because I saw the tracks and caught a whiff of it that night. I saw one when I was a boy out deer hunting one year. It scared me half to death when I did. I was so scared that all I could do was run back to the house. I have seen, heard, and smelled them from time to time since then, and even that was more than I liked,” Big Bob told Wren as he drove.

“What makes you think it was the same thing?” Wren asked.

“The smell. That is a smell you won’t ever forget. I have only smelled it a few times. I know what it is, and when I smell it, I leave. When me, Little Bob, and Max went out and checked that trail camera, I knew exactly what had been out there, and I also knew I did not want to be there if it came back,” he explained.

“They do have a unique aroma,” Wren said.

“That night, I called, and you were both up, Lindsay said you had an uninvited guest or visitor. It was one of those things, wasn’t it?” Big Bob asked with a bit of stress in his voice.

“It was. It was there when Lindsay was attacked, too. When something was at the house and scared the crap out of the kids during the storms, it was the same one. We had moved it to the south side of the county, but it made its way back. It was looking for her, and you have no idea how much that terrifies me,” Wren told him.

“So what did you do with it? I know you had a team out there until it was found.”

“I did what Lindsay asked me to do; we captured it. It is old and injured, and he is now at the facility on base, where we have been nursing it back to health. I don’t know what to do when it’s well. She said to bring it back to the area around the house. I want it dead. But, at the same time, if what she is remembering is true, it saved her life,” Wren told Big Bob.

“OK, we are almost where that lawn gnome lives, so you will have to explain what she is remembering on the way back. I know you didn’t ask for my opinion, but I’m going to give it to you anyway. Trust her instincts. If she told you to patch it up and bring it back to your house, you need to do it because there is a reason she has that feeling. If she told you to let it sleep on your couch, you should do it, but if you do that, you should also buy stock in an air freshener company because you will be buying it by the truckload,” Big Bob told him.

Wren just smiled and nodded. He knew that Big Bob was right about that, too. Lindsay had the best instincts of anyone that he had ever met. He needed to trust her.

They turned into the driveway at the address where the lawn gnome kept being seen. They pulled up near the bushes where it always seemed to be hiding, parked the car, and waited. Within just a few moments of parking, they saw a bush start to move, and slowly, a small creature that appeared human-like began to step out. It was the same thing that Wren had seen earlier in the day when they had watched the video from Max’s dash camera.

Big Bob asked, “Is that it?”

“It is, and it is fast and mean, so don’t get out of the car,” Wren told him.

“Yeah, I wasn’t planning on it,” Big Bob said as he pushed the button to lock all the doors.

The little creature ran at the car as soon as the door locks clicked, jumped onto the bumper, then the hood, and watched them through the windshield. As it did, it had a menacing scowl on its face, and they could both see what looked like anger in his eyes.

“Just wondering, when is your team going to get here?” Big Bob asked.

“They should be here any minute, I hope,” Wren told him.

“Hope? What do you mean, you hope? What do we do if that little sucker tries to get in here?” Big Bob asked with a note of concern. This was the only time Wren had ever seen him worried about anything work-related.

“Hang on. I see lights on the road, so that should be them.”

The lights came closer and pulled into the driveway behind them. As soon as the truck stopped, the creature ran up the patrol car windshield, slid down the back window, and jumped off the trunk, disappearing into the dark. For a brief moment, they lost track of where it was until they saw it land on the truck behind them.

“You have told your people what this thing is like, haven’t you? If you haven’t, this could wind up looking like the Three Stooges,” Big Bob said as he watched in the rearview mirror.

“I told them, but I have a couple of new people who think they know everything, so this could be interesting if they don’t listen to the instructions I gave them,” Wren told him as he turned to look out the back window.

Wren hoped that everyone on his team would follow his instructions to the letter, but of course, that did not happen. He saw someone begin to walk from the back of the truck toward the hood where the creature was standing. As soon as the soldier reached the hood of the truck, the little beast gave a leap, landed on the soldier’s head, and began to bite him.

“Oh no,” Wren said, dropping his head and reaching for the door handle.

“Don’t you dare get out of this car! Your team can do this,” Big Bob almost yelled at him.

Big Bob hadn’t even finished what he was saying before three more members of Wren’s team were there trying to remove the gnome from the head of the first one. When it finally did let go, it was so it could move on to someone else and begin another attack. Wren knew that no matter what else happened, he had people who were injured. He picked up his phone and made a call.

“Randy, I need your help. We are at a scene, and we have some people hurt. I don’t think any of the injuries are serious or will be, but they do need medical attention, so I need you to come out here immediately. I will send you the address. Thanks, Randy,” Wren said as he hung up the call and sent Randy a text message with the address.

While Wren had been on the phone, he had watched his team try to use different restraint devices with no luck. He was amazed by the fact that this one little thing was fighting multiple soldiers and trained containment specialists and seemed to be winning. It was almost funny, in a way. Wren and Big Bob both watched for another minute before Big Bob spoke.

“Wren, at what point are they going to catch that little monster and have it under control? I mean, do your people like being beaten up, or is this just going bad for them tonight?”

“It is just going badly for them tonight, and I hope they get it under control soon.”

They watched as the team finally began winning the battle with the little gnome. It was amazingly resilient. No matter what they did to try to get control of it, it did not even seem to notice. One of the team members managed to get what looked like a large clamp around it and have some control over its movements. Other members began getting additional clamps onto it, finally gaining complete control of the little creature. They placed a large metal crate beside it and carefully and quickly put it inside, locking the door.

“Alright, Agent Gold, now you can get out of the car,” Big Bob said as he unlocked the doors.

“Thank you for your permission, Deputy Littlejohn,” Wren replied, shaking his head as he opened the car door.

They both got out of the car and walked toward where the crate was sitting. They could hear growls and snarls and see tiny hands reaching through the small openings, trying to grab anything that got close. Wren looked at his bruised and bleeding team. He was unhappy that any of them had gotten hurt, but thankfully, it did not look like any injuries were severe. As soon as his team members saw him, they all snapped to attention.

“At ease, all of you,” Wren ordered. “Give me a rundown of your injuries. I have someone coming here to assess and treat all of you as soon as possible.”

“We will be treated after we have finished this assignment,” a young lieutenant answered Wren.

“I outrank you, or have you forgotten that? You will be treated here as soon as possible. Do you understand?” Wren asked the lieutenant with irritation in his voice.

“Yes, sir!”

“Good,” Wren said as he turned to see a van turning into the driveway. “It looks like our medic is here, so when he has taken care of all of you, you will then load that thing and take it back to the base. Is that clear, lieutenant?” Wren asked him.

“Yes, sir!” the lieutenant answered.

Randy had parked his van behind the trucks and was walking toward them carrying two large medical kits. He was not paying attention to the crate and was forced to jump to the side, narrowly avoiding being grabbed by the creature inside.

“Randy, thank you for coming out and helping with this,” Wren told him when he reached where he was standing.

“Of course Agent Gold. That little thing did all of this?” Randy asked Wren as he looked at the crate and then at the battered team members standing before him.

“It did, and it has also attacked two deputies, one of them twice, so please be very careful around it,” Wren told him.

“Yes, sir,” Randy answered as he began to treat the first soldier’s injuries. As he did, he stopped and looked at Wren. “Agent Gold, I have a question. Have you thought of what this one might do around your wife? She seems to have such a connection with other things for some reason; I wonder if she might with this too,” Randy said.

As he finished his thought, Randy realized he had said too much in front of the soldiers he was treating. He was unsure if Wren had been trying to keep his wife’s ability to connect with some of the things a secret, but now it did not matter.

“No, and I am not going to find out. Lindsay will not be getting near anything that she does not respond to in the course of her duties as sheriff. Is that clear?” Wren told him. He was trying to hide his emotion after hearing Randy say what he did and not doing very well in his attempt. He was angry but also terrified that someone might get the idea to report things to someone. “Randy, you treat everyone’s injuries. Lieutenant, as soon as Randy has finished, get that thing loaded and taken to where Randy tells you to take it. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” came from his team in unison.

“Deputy Littlejohn, are you ready to return to the department?” Wren asked.

“Yes, Agent Gold,” Big Bob answered.

Big Bob had been standing and watching the creature the entire time they were out of the vehicle. He walked with Wren back to the patrol car and got in. Big Bob carefully turned around in the limited space left after Wren’s team had arrived at the scene. He could see from the look on Wren’s face that something was wrong, but he waited to say anything.

“Wren, are you alright?” Big Bob asked after they were about a mile away.

“I was until Randy asked me that about Lindsay,” Wren said. “Now I’m worried that i***t lieutenant will cause trouble. Randy is right about Lindsay being connected to some of these things, like that poltergeist thing that showed up at the department.”

“Why are you worried? You outrank him, and from what I can tell, almost everyone else on that base. He would be an i***t to open his mouth.”

“You remember when Agent Copper started sniffing around? He was making accusations that I was feeding Lindsay information before I had ever told any of you anything. Someone had to have said something to him for that to happen. I thought I knew who was involved in all of that and had taken care of the problem, but what if I missed someone?”

“I remember all that, and I doubt you would’ve missed anyone. Just relax about that i***t, or lock him in a room with that lawn gnome and let it rip the guy apart,” Big Bob said with a chuckle.

“You’re right. I need to relax, but I’m worried about Lindsay right now. Did you know that in the past few months, she has been sneaking off to her doctor and having tests run without telling anyone? She’s OK; the doctor said that it is just the after-effects of when she was attacked, or at least she said that’s what it is.”

Big Bob grunted, then asked, “You don’t think she would lie to you about that, do you?”

“No, but I still wish she would have told me she is having headaches as often as she is. That plus she is not sleeping. Right now, she is lucky if she is getting three hours of sleep in twenty-four. At some point, her body will force her to stop, and it will be bad when it does.”

“How much of this have you told Cat? She has been watching Lindsay like a hawk. I don’t think Lindsay has noticed yet, but that is just a matter of time,” Big Bob told him.

“I only told her that Lindsay isn’t sleeping.”

“Well, we will help you watch after Lindsay, so try not to worry about her when she is at work, except for that whole police thing. That might be something for you to worry about,” Big Bob told Wren as they pulled into the sheriff’s department parking lot. “You feel better now?”

“Maybe. Will you do me a favor and let Andy and Max know that the gnome is gone? I will go home and not go inside the department unless you need me to,” Wren told him.

“Sure, but I’ve got to show you what I have for Max’s desk. It’s in the trunk,” Big Bob told Wren with a massive smile.

They got out of the car and walked to the trunk. Big Bob opened it and pulled out a bag. Inside was a small lawn gnome. They both started to laugh.

Big Bob was still laughing when he said, “I picked it up from Little Bob. I don’t know, but I think this will look pretty good sittin’ on the corner of Max’s desk.”

“You are so mean to him. I love it! I’ll see you later,” Wren said as he walked to his car and got in.

-

The drive home did not take long, but it felt like it took hours. When Wren walked into the house, Lindsay was still up and watching a movie with Crook next to her on the couch.

“Hi, sweetie, how did it go?” Lindsay asked as she stood and walked toward him. When she reached him, she saw what looked like a spot of blood on his shirt. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. A couple of my team members got a cut or two, so don’t worry, the blood isn’t mine,” Wren reassured her.

“I hope that means that thing has been caught, and my deputies will not be attacked by it anymore,” Lindsay said.

Wren wrapped his arms around Lindsay and kissed the top of her head. “They will not be attacked anymore by that thing, I promise. It is on its way to being locked up far away from anyone it can hurt.”

“Thank you. I have the feeling that you are wide awake, so do you want to go change clothes and finish the movie with me?”

“I will, but only if you warm up the leftover Chinese food in the fridge. Does that sound like a plan?”

“It does, so go change, and I will start warming everything up,” Lindsay said with a smile.

Lindsay walked into the kitchen and watched Wren walk into the bedroom as she began warming up the food. She did not know what had happened when Wren was working, but she could tell that something was bothering him, and he was trying to hide it. Lindsay knew that worrying about him was not going to help her sleep. It also did not matter; she was still worried.

As she finished in the kitchen, Wren came out of the bedroom wearing his sweats. They each took a plate and walked into the living room to eat and try to relax a little before they tried to sleep. They sat quietly and ate, then laid down on the couch, saying very little to each other. They had an understanding when it came to each other’s jobs. If one did not volunteer information, the other did not ask questions. In their work, there were always things that they would rather forget than talk about, and this felt like one of those times.