[Chapter 2-1] of [Book I likely won't finish]

All right. I've decided to take the plunge (if only to maybe try and figure out if/what the rules are about books you don't think are yours to write) and here is Chapter 2. This is again a first draft and you're reading at your own risk (of what I don't really know).

Please be advised that I'll be doing this project alongside another (edit 100000 of First Book Ever) and there is NO GUARANTEE I'll finish this one if it doesn't work out. For now, however, enjoy! It might be someone can learn from this.

Riz stopped her car at the site off the last report, and with the engine, [country singer] shut her mouth as well. The road was really in a rural area. The asphalt was cracked and there was no street light in sight as she climbed out of the car and pocketed her keys so she had her hands free for a torch. The torch, small and cheap as everything at the Blackwater police department, didn't reach very far, and the residual heat from inside the car evaporated quickly as she took a few steps.

So where was that monster that'd scared Henny so thoroughly she wasn't able to speak to the police? Riz grumbled. Her car had left tracks on the side of the road where she parked it (couldn't park in the middle of the street no matter how rural the area) and after a few minutes she found the old woman's car tracks as well. In one hand a donut (Ha. Ha.), in the other her flashlight, she observed the way Henny's car wound on the road (tyre tracks) and then close to the slope leading into the forest beyond the road. Henny had been driving straight, at least, while she chatted on the phone, but something deterred her, scared her, Riz could see where the black brake lines shrieked over the cracked asphalt. Then the old woman might have lost control of her car momentarily, tearing the wheel away from whatever she saw on the road, coming close to the incline before once again she ripped the steering wheel the other way. Riz couldn't help some admiration at least for the old biddie. Despite one of her hands being occupied, the woman had managed not to crash down the incline and into a tree. It spoke of some skill in driving, other encounters with deer over her 65 years of life perhaps.

Then why was she playing traumatized now? Riz growled. Her stomach did, too, and she took another bite of the donut. There she was, a policewoman in her early thirties, writing speeding tickets and eating donuts. This wasn't what she'd imagined her life would be like when she signed up some, what, ten years ago? There was much less glamour than she'd expected, and too much paperwork, but on the other hand, it never was achievement, was it? If she'd wanted to be a celebrity she wouldn't have signed up for the police force in an obscure town such as Blackwater.

Chewing, she walked back onto the road. Here, she'd see if it a car came miles away by the headlights, and even she didn't spot them through the trees immediately, she'd hear it. But cars didn't interest her as much at that moment. The beam of her flashlight combed the street like it would if she were trying to clean up after an accident, only she was looking for animal tracks instead of pieces of metal, glass, shards of plastic and airbags. It was well enough to say a few witnesses spotted bigfoot, but Riz didn't buy it. Her mother might be superstitious, but she was not. She had a gun, and she wasn't afraid. If a ghost wanted to challenge her, it might as well. She'd put a bullet through anything that decided to tangle with her.

But nothing did.

It was almost more frustrating than if Cthulu suddenly jumped out of the trees. At least Cthulu she could shoot. This phantom man-elk? She'd have to believe in it first.

Ten minutes passed as she walked down the road and then back up to her car. The donut was gone and the chill was seeping into her bones quickly now as the last warmth she'd held on to faded. She really should have taken Mel up on that offer. A bit of a movie, a bit of popcorn to go with the donuts, a bit of sex.

Riz stopped in the middle of the road (really, one shouldn't) and pointed the flashlight up to see if she could spot some stars as she blew out a sigh. A bit of sex often went a long way when one was stressed. Venus winked down at her as if she knew what Riz was thinking, and Riz scowled back up at the planet.

"You know nothing," she said.

She might have given up then. There were no tracks on the road or on the side of the road of anything, animal or supernatural elk-man, but the moment she lowered her flashlight again, something moved in the corner of her eye. A sharp intake of breath, her heart suddenly frantic, she suppressed that cold jolt of terror and whirled around.

"Oi!"

Something moved. She couldn't see it well because it was still in the trees and at her call started to run away. Run away? What elk-monster was this to be scared this easily? Cthulu didn't bow before anyone! Riz ran after the creature as it sprinted away, but it had a headstart, and anyway, wasn't it a bit small to be the great Lord's offspring?

"OI, I say again!" she yelled after it. Her flashlight bounced, the beam going wildly this way and that as she crashed into the treeline, through the trees, after whatever it was she was chasing.

"Will you stop!"

"I didn't do nothin'!" a voice came back at her.

No elk-man then.

Riz caught up to the creature (a teenage boy could still be considered creature, couldn't it?) and grabbed its hood. The boy jerked forward with momentum, and they might have both tumbled had she not grabbed a tree on the other side as well.

"Why do you run?" she snapped, but the teenage boy, scared as he'd been a moment ago, seemed to have found his juvenile disregard again.

"Why do you follow me!" he demanded back. "I've done nothin' and you're the police! You have no business followin' me around!"

"And what business do you have here, in the middle of the night?"

"Ain't none of your business!"

They stared at each other momentarily, panting, and Riz hated how out of shape she was despite her penchant for donuts.

"I'm not trying to arrest you," she said.

"Why'd you say that? 'Cos I'm black?"

She rolled her eyes. "'Cos you're a (stupid idiot) little careless to be out here in the middle of the night."

His arms crossed and Riz noticed he carried a lit phone in his hand. The phone's camera showed on the screen.

"Why?" he demanded. He sounded defensive and she supposed it fit to his crossed arms.

As she deliberated what best to say (The yeti is on the loose? Cthulu's spawn has been sighted in these woods?) she realized there was something odd about the camera and the phone and most importantly the fact that he was out here at all.

"Why don't you tell me why you're here instead?"

"No deal."

Damn it. She couldn't just warn him there was a monster loose. He'd have questions, and he'd think her mad, and besides, she had a hunch he already knew about the sightings if he was here in the middle of the night with a camera.

She straightened her shoulders, watched as he shrank back ever so slightly, probably not even conscious he did it, and relaxed again. Scaring this kid wasn't the way to go. He was already scared, whatever had possessed him to come out here to re-enact Ghostbusters.

"I was just investigating a crash site," she said, casually, trying to make her voice sound calm, unexcited. "An older lady tried to offroad here and she's in the hospital now. As an officer it's my duty to inspect, yada yada. You know all this. You've seen police work before."

His mouth was still pressed together and she thought he was chewing his lip, but he nodded, carefully.

"Anything you can tell me about the crash, since you're here?"

It was difficult to tell but she thought he paled somewhat.

"If you don't know anything, that's all right. I'm - I got a bit carried away chasing you, that's all. I'm not gonna arrest you." She paused. "I got two more donuts in the car if you like."

"No."

She lifted an eyebrow. "You don't think I'll leave you here by yourself, hm?" Yeti or not, it was late, and way past a teenager's time to be on deserted country roads. "As an officer it's my duty to -"

"All right, all right," he said. "I'll come with you, but, but not to the road."

"Not the road, and why not?"

He didn't respond. Riz was about to repeat her question when something drew her attention to his eyes like a sudden gunshot. Her words stopped in mid sentence she stared. It seemed the boy's eyes were turning red. There was something in them... and a reflection of something small behind her -

Her hand was halfway toward the gun as she whirled around. The boy was staring at the street and now she was too and there was... something out there on the road. It was hazy and dark, but tall, almost half as tall as the trees around it, with two antler-like protrusions on top of its enlongated head. Riz felt suddenly cold. Her breath stopped, and it seemed like her pulse did too as she stared at the road.

Isn't that a cliffhanger!

As always comments are appreciated! And now back to my other project.