Chapter 2

While Francis Callahan was making his way home from the Clinic after his encounter, Sheriff Ben Aster was making his morning patrol after buying a couple sausage and egg wraps and a coffee for breakfast, the take out bag sat in the empty passenger seat next to the sheriff. Ben pulled his crown vic police cruiser into the 'gas up.' where he stepped out of the car and went inside for gas. The clerk was an old bald man with glasses. "Morning Ben." said Bob Leonard with a wave from behind the counter. "Good morning Bob." said the Sheriff, taking a sip of coffee. "What'll it be, sheriff?" asked the elderly store clerk. "Thirty dollars on pump two, and a pack of pall malls. "Sure thing Ben." the old man pushed up his glasses punching in the buttons on the register as the sheriff passed him the money. "Say, Bob, I've got a question for you," "shoot sheriff." said old Bob with a smile. "Are there a lot of coyotes or bears in the woods around town?" "oh yes indeed. None this time of year in terms of bears but coyotes are mean bastards all year round. Gotta be careful with pets and young kids especially when playing out near the woods." "thanks Bob." the sheriff said, grabbing his smokes off the counter and walking towards the glass door with a yellow sign saying 'push' balanced on the metal cage around the glass door and pushed it open stepping out into the cool morning air. Across the street a couple waved at the sheriff as he made his way back to his car. Trent Duset and his wife, Julie Cassidy were crossing the street towards the gas station while the sheriff pumped his gas. "Morning sheriff. "Trent said, his wife waved with a smile as the sheriff waved back and the two walked inside to be greeted by Bob. Ben finished pumping his gas and closed the gas cover.

When he looked up he saw a man dressed as a jogger sprinting very fast across the street. He didn't even check for vehicles before darting through the intersection.The sheriff initially thought nothing of it and got back in his car, turned the ignition and continued his slow patrol. That morning mostly consisted of waving at folks on their commute and yelling at two well known troublemakers, Stan Howard, and Eric skipping school before dropping them back off at school. After being booed by several other students as he left the school, as was a custom here. The sheriff left the building laughing at the kids nonviolent tradition of booing the police for bringing back their friends caught ditching class. When the sheriff got back in his car he noticed the radio trying to contact him. "Sheriff Ben Aster reporting over." "Sheriff, we have a call on dispatch, your presence is requested at Bradley memorial hospital. A patient woke up and is claiming to have been assaulted last night, another man recently showed up and is backing up his story." "Roger that, i'll follow up asap, over and out." "Copy that." the female voice said before fading into static. It was around noon when the sheriff arrived at the hospital. A four story brick building with a couple broken windows. The outside appearance was due to unfortunate budget cuts laying off the maintenance crew. The sheriff walked past a doctor with bags under his eyes and blood all over his scrubs having a cigarette near the entranceway. The doctor had sweaty black hair brushed back and nodded as a substitute wave which the sheriff returned before stepping inside the grim looking building where dim bulbs flickered and an accountant typed out paperwork behind her wide wooden desk across from the entrance.

The sheriff approached the receptionist. A tired looking redhead woman in her early thirties with glasses and blue eyes. She had a nametag which read Cathy. "Hello, Cathy" said Ben with a smile which disappeared when the receptionist responded. "What can I do for you?" not quite scowling. "I'm here to see Claude Williams. I got a call about him being brought in, claiming to have been assaulted last night." "Yes, he was, the report here says he was brought here from the west end medicentre on the other side of Amber between eight and ten Am this morning. He's in room four O two." her expression became less hostile but definitely not more social. "Thank you, the sheriff said. Walking past the elevator which had a red sign saying "Warning, due to power surges, the hospital elevator is reserved for staff only!" and made his way up the staircase catching his breath as he made his way up the dark grey stairwell which echoed after each step. When he stepped out onto the fourth floor he was reacquainted with the flickering dim light bulbs. The sheriff took a few steps into the hallway, and pushed open the door to room four O two. Inside, the man named Claude Williams was laying in a hospital bed, a patch of his curly brown hair poking through the bandages wrapped around his chest, head, nose, one of his eyes and his right arm held out straight on a metal splint. The rest of him was beneath a clean wool blanket. The sun tried and failed to shine through the beige blinds which were closed and cast a sort of brown glow from the window. All Ben could see of Claude, was his mouth which was shut. Claude opened a green eye and looked at the sheriff. The sheriff shut the door behind him which closed with a soft click. That's when the sheriff noticed the dog. A rottweiler with similarly wrapped bandages rose on shaky legs. "Easy." Claude said weakly, turning his head to the dog. "Down." he said as the dog laid back down next to the bed. "Hello Claude." there was a brief pause as Claude turned his head from the dog, back to the sheriff. "Hello Sheriff." Claude said, sounding dazed. The sheriff suspected they had him on quite a bit of morphine for his wounds.

"I wanted to ask you about what happened last night Claude. You're very lucky to be alive right now." "Really? I guess you could look at it like that." he said with a chuckle. "At least we're alive." he chuckled again. "Did you see who did this to you Claude?" the sheriff grabbed a chair in the corner and sat down across from Claude. "Do you think it could have been what's killing people?" Claude asked as Ben pulled a small notepad and pen from his breast pocket. "what do you mean 'IT'? And I do think what happened to you could help lead the police to whoever is behind these murders." Claude let out a sigh. "Sheriff It was the worst thing you could imagine." "what did this to you?" the sheriff asked again. The lamp next to Claude flickered and dimmed. "I remember chasing Donny. We almost got home when, Donny here, decided it was time to go for a run. I chased him through the dog park, jogging path in the ravine near my apartment. I chased Donny through some trees." "and?" the sheriff asked stopping abruptly in his notes. "Something was in there." "was it an animal?" "honestly? I hope so." his voice was slurred from painkillers. "What did it look like?" Ben asked, raising his eyes from his notes which were Claude's story word for word. "Imagine, a wolf, the size of a bear." he said looking down at his blanket, clutching it tightly.

"I know it sounds crazy but you have to believe me!" Claude raised his voice to a sudden shout. "I Know what I saw! Francis Saw! He can tell you! He'll believe me!" Claude was now screaming hysterically. As two nurses both men in blue scrubs burst into the room and held him down. A third nurse entered the room to escort the sheriff out into the hall, closing the door behind her. "I'm sorry sheriff but you'll have to finish your interview some other time, I'm afraid he's too hysterical and we need to monitor the patient and sedate him. Please see the doctor down the hall and he can tell you more." "Thank you nurse." the sheriff said with a nod and made his way down the yellowish dim flickering hallway. The door at the end appeared to be a staff lounge for doctors. The room was large but there were only two doctors in there. A serious looking man with sharp features, clean brown hair, wire frame glasses and curiously enough an earring. The other doctor upon closer inspection wasn't a doctor at all, he looked more like a private detective with his brown trenchcoat and fedora. He was of native descent and appeared to be bald as he took his hat off to wipe sweat from his head with the brim. "Thank you for your time doctor i have to be going now." the man said in a raspy deep voice before tipping his hat to the sheriff and closing the door behind him. "Hello sheriff. It's good to be able to speak to you." "you must be Claude's doctor." "Yes. Henry Barker. You must be the sheriff." The doctor paused briefly to shake the sheriffs hand. "Sheriff If there's something you know that I don't about what's happened to this poor man and his dog, it would greatly improve the chances of saving their lives because ever since he woke up he's been swearing by this story about a monstrous wolf" "Look doctor I'm gonna be blunt, there's been a lot of gruesome murders in Amber over the past month, thirteen to be exact. The victims all found dismembered and partially eaten and so far, Claude is the only person to survive."

"My god are you serious." "I'm afraid I am, you're not from around here are you?" "No I'm from London, my brother died recently… I've come to take over his clinic for him." There was a short silence. "I'm sorry doctor." "No it's fine, were there any more questions you had for me?" "Yes just one, Claude was shouting about a man named Francis who saw everything, can you elaborate on this?" "Yes, Claude and his dog were brought into my clinic around half past six by a middle aged man named Francis Callahan. He was driving a red pickup truck." "did he leave after bringing Claude in? Did he seem afraid of this man at all?" "No I fully believe, whoever this Francis Callahan is that he saved Claude's life." "Thank you doctor, I'll leave you to do your work." "Yes sheriff, good day to you. I need to go check on Claude again, I'll call you if he can give us any useful information." the doctor walked past the sheriff into the hallway back towards Claude's room. The sheriff made his way back down the large staircase and walked past Cathy without saying anything. Ben slammed the door of his police cruiser and started the car, lighting a cigarette and rolling down the window as he did so. After blowing a large puff of smoke out the window, Ben grabbed the radio. "Dispatch I need the address for a Francis Callahan I'm following up on a lead for the Claude William's case." the dispatch operator's voice came through in staticy bursts as it gave the address and Ben made his way, a few blocks east through a trailer park at the edge of town where Francis lived called 'shakers acres' the sign at the entrance was old and crumbling, the red paint that spelt out the charming trailer park name was chipped in several places and the posts holding it up had thick layers of duct tape holding it together.

It was snowing lightly and the sky over Amber was it's usual pleasant grey as the sheriff pulled into Francis Callahan's parking Lot, the red truck the doctor mentioned, wasn't there. As the sheriff got out and closed his door, he noticed a woman standing on the porch grey mixed in with her light brown hair and a worried expression rested on her face. "Are you Mrs.Callahan?" "I am, yes. Nancy's fine." she said with a thin smile that slipped away as she finished introducing herself. "Are you here about what happened with my husband last night?" She asked, pulling the zipper of her faded purple hoodie and pulling the hood up as the wind kicked up from behind her. "I am. My name is Ben Aster, I'm the sheriff. I was wondering if I could come inside and ask you a few questions about what happened with your husband last night?" "Of course, please come inside, this wind is freezing." She was right. The sheriff agreed and followed her inside. The trailer was very nice, well lit, and clean. Ben followed her into the kitchen and sat down around an expensive looking table and chair set, all matching mahogany. The walls were a similar, warm looking shade of brown as the kitchen table while the rug was an old Dark green shag rug from the seventies. "Would you like some coffee at all?" Nancy asked from the kitchen, already making herself a cup." "No thanks." the sheriff said politely. Taking his hat and Jacket off as he sat down.

Nancy sat down with her mug and blew on it a few times before taking a sip. "Can you tell me exactly how your husband found Claude Williams and his three hundred pound dog beaten and bloodied last night?" "He told me about that poor boy and his dog when he got home around ten this morning." She paused, closed her eyes and took another sip of coffee as the sheriff waited with his notepad ready." "Francis had been ice fishing most of the day out at lake Squire." "that's the lake on the western side of town?" "Yes my husband does most of his fishing there. Well as i was saying he finished there around four thirty and called me to let me know he was on his way home, he stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle of wine. It's over on the counter but I haven't washed the blood off it yet." she shook her head at the bottle grimly before taking another sip of coffee. "He said he picked up the man who looked dead if he hadn't been screaming, his dog was growling at something around the trees long enough for Francis to get him in the truck I guess. I'm so happy the dog's okay too. Isn't he? Of course I hope both of them are alright." Nancy finished her coffee and stood up to get more when the sheriff asked. "So it was probably a quarter to five when he found Claude you think?" "I don't know, it sounds about right. Normally he would get home at around five and the place Francis mentioned is fifteen minutes away with traffic but he says he stayed the night at the clinic. I'm sorry I can't be as helpful as my husband but you could probably find him at his fishing shack at Lake squire. Or at Greg's bar, god i hope he isn't there." "Thanks for your time Mrs Callahan." the sheriff put his hat and jacket back on. "Thank you for sharing this with me Nancy. Tell Francis I said hello if I don't run into him today." said Ben opening the front door. "I will drive safe." the sheriff nodded and closed the door behind him and stepped out into the now roaring blizzard.

When the sheriff closed his door he noticed his radio was beeping. He picked it up. "Hello," he said. "Sheriff we just got a call from the Meteor Cafe, something about a lunatic with a knife graffiting up the place." "What?!" he said, not holding the send button on the radio "A few other officers are on the way though your presence is advised." "Copy that I'm on my way." he said, that time holding the send button. Ben put the car in gear, turned on the flashing blue and red lights as well as the siren and left the trailer park.It was around four pm when the sheriff passed the tape covered shakers acres sign while the snow came down heavily and would the rest of the night. While driving through town to the cafe, Ben saw few people in the streets but knew the weather had little to do with it. These murders were choking the life out of Amber and Ben knew he wasn't going to be alone when he catches who or what is behind all of this. Ben could see the cafe's red neon sign ahead glowing in the midday snowstorm. When he pulled into the parking lot he was waved over to another police car by two officers wearing parkas. The sheriff put his hat on his dashboard. The snowstorm was immense now. He put up his winter jacket's fur hood up before he stepped out of the car and walked over to them. The storm was so strong that if the police cars didn't have their flashing lights on as well as the neon cafe sign, he might not have seen them at all until they called over to him. "Hey sheriff over here!" one of the officers called over. "Get in the back and Officer Cole and I will fill you in on the details."

Without arguing the sheriff opened the back door of the police car which was spotless and quickly got in the back seat closing the door behind him. Silencing the deafening storm to a droning wind outside the car. The other officers took their seats in the front and closed both their doors. The officers pulled their hoods down and the sheriff could recognize both of them. Officer Cole was sitting in the driver seat. He was thirty three and had a tan,nobody in Amber could get naturally and had spiked brown hair and a scar from his neck to his lower lip on the left side from what he claims was a hunting accident but he's never told anyone what he was hunting for or where. The other one in the passenger seat who called sheriff Ben over, was named Rufus. Rufus had curly red hair, Rufus and Cole had both worked as police for around five years. "Where are the other officers? We can't deal with something like this alone." Rufus said looking at Cole and Ben through the cage separating the back from the front seats. "Dispatch said backup would be a little tight in this weather, that's why they sent you sheriff." Cole answered the question for the sheriff. "Were you even paying attention to the dispatch call after you turned on the sirens and floored it here?" Cole asked looking disappointed at his partner "Maybe if that jackass mayor didn't lay off half my police force overnight, we might see a few more squad cars out there." The sheriff was of course talking about the locally famous, or I should say infamous mayor Albert Ashcroft cut half the fire, police, schooling and medical funding. He even cut most of the hospital staff after the lying bastard told everyone a year ago when he was running that he would fix Ambers economy by bringing in funding to improve all the things he cut but somewhere along the way, he decided he wanted to turn Amber on its head for all it was worth and now lives paranoid in the mayors fine but haunted looking house on the hill above the church on the east side of town.

"Okay." the sheriff said looking at both of them, "do either of you have a plan?" Cole was the first and only one to respond. "Sir I suggest taking the back entrance while you and Rufus watch the front and side doors. Start a dialogue with him, see what he wants, how many hostages he has." "Sounds good officer Cole Officer." "Officer Rufus." the sheriff said sharply. "Yes sheriff?" "you two stick together. The suspect might not be alone." "Right sheriff." Cole said with a grin, punching Rufus in the shoulder. "Ow." Rufus whined. "Showtime baby." Cole said stepping outside and shutting his door. "Hey Rufus, let me out before you two run inside like fucking cowboys, backdoors can't be opened from the inside." "Shit that's right, one sec." Rufus said, throwing his hood up and stepping outside, the door slammed shut and the sheriff's door swung open hard from a sudden gust of wind. "Jesus christ." Rufus said, grabbing the door which struck his chest with a hard thud and shutting it before the wind could rip it off. "Good save Rufus!" the sheriff said through his thick parka hoodie. Rufus responded with a thumbs up and rubbing where the door struck him. They needed to speak loudly over the wind and snow blowing around them. "Go find your partner around back, don't be spotted." "Who can see shit in this weather sheriff!?" was his response as he was already walking around the building from the parking lot. Rufus was right. They were maybe thirteen feet from the windows of the cafe, which strangely enough had no lights on inside. and the storm raging between them would surely keep them hidden from anybody squinting through the windows, but there was no one to be seen inside the windows.

In fact the sheriff could only see one thing and that was the blinds around the cafe's windows, they looked all but destroyed. Bent and broken and tangled amongst one another as the sheriff approached the entrance, ignoring his own advice about not being seen as he squinted and held his eyes close to the door but saw nothing. Just an empty restaurant on a snowy afternoon, but there was something else inside. The sheriff couldn't quite make it out but it was something about the walls inside that didn't look right. Around back, Officers Rufus and Cole were side by side with the back door in between them, their backs against the red brick wall. They both had their weapons ready. Each one carrying a beretta M92F, Cole modified his from the standard issue 9mm to 10mm with no one suspicions, except from the sheriff who never cared and regularly encouraged gun maintenance, within reason. One time firing an officer on the spot for a bright decal down the slide of his handgun with the word 'Boom' on one side and the word 'headshot' on the other. These were the people the sheriff could tell became cops for one reason and that's to shoot people and flex their power whenever they could. Cole and Rufus were the opposite of that, they were well liked, well trusted, and never caused a problem in the town they protect, which was what Ben looked for in his officers.

Coles radio buzzed static and a voice he couldn't make out through his jacket. "What was that?" Rufus asked, looking across to his partner. "Probably nothing, let's just get inside." "Right." Rufus said with a nod. Reaching for the doorknob he turned it, heard the door click, and pulled it open and went inside. Cole quickly followed his partner inside and they closed the door behind them fast hoping nobody heard the door open, but there wasn't a sound in the cafe at all. The two officers also noticed none of the lights were on. The two ignored it and with hand signals, Officer Cole pulled a tiny flashlight out of his belt pouch and clicked it on. They could see a mop bucket filled with dirty water and the door that led into the kitchen from the coat room for the staff they were currently standing in. The building was pitch black without the lights and Coles flashlight was close to dying from a hunting trip he'd just gotten back from the previous week. The dim flashlight illuminated the clean tiles on the ground. Stepping into the large dark kitchen the two saw nothing. "You got another light on you?" Cole whispered but just as he did he heard a crash in the far side of the room. Quickly he raised his dim light and his gun to the direction of the sound. It was the door for the waiters to bring the food to the guests. "Shit, he knows we're here." Cole said quietly making his way to the door. "Rufus, stay here and keep an eye out." Rufus's lack of a response was taken for a 'yes' as Cole approached the door. Cole could hear nothing from the kitchen or in the space behind the door. Cole reached for it and was startled from the static of his radio buzzing beneath his jacket. "God damnit." he whispered angrily, quickly unzipping the jacket and grabbing the radio hanging from his breast pocket. "What is it?" he asked, still whispering in a very 'this better be important voice.' "Cole get the hell out of there now!" "Why? What's going on?" Cole asked scanning the kitchen with his light before coming to a grim realization. Rufus was gone. "Where's Rufus? Is he with you?" "Cole. Get out now, that's an order." the sheriff could just barely see what was on the wall. When he did he drew his gun and stepped inside the cafe's glass door that chimed as he opened it. The walls were covered in some sort of writing done in a circular pattern, over and over sometimes the strange circular words would intersect and the writing would smear. "What the hell?"

The sheriff said quietly. He couldn't see anyone with him. The sheriff clicked on his flashlight and noticed it wasn't written on the walls. It was painted. The sheriff read the words 'Nocturnis' "oh dear god no." the sheriff muttered as he read the first word. The second word appeared to say 'Infernis'. That's all the sheriff read before raising his gun and turning around as he heard a crash coming from the door that led to the kitchen. Right then, he dropped his flashlight and fumbled around his chest for his radio as he undid the jacket with one hand, the gun still raised as he called Cole. back in the kitchen Cole searched for Rufus before making his way towards the back door still quietly calling his name. "Where the fuck did you go?" officer Cole asked as he pushed open the door he and Rufus had just entered from. Suddenly Cole heard gunshots coming from the cafe and sprinted back through the dark kitchen clearing it in seconds, banging his hip against a counter before he reached the door and kicked it open with his ten millimetre pistol ready, but the action seemed to be over. The sheriff was standing over a crumpled, robed body on the ground, slumped against a wall with a machete in his hand and black flames designed into the robes. The flames rose upward from the base of the arms and the bottom near the feet. Ben picked up his light and shined it on the figure wearing a mask made out of different skulls fused together into some sort of abomination. It looked like a mutated wolf with sharpened, foot and a half long antlers rising from the skull. There were also four eyeholes, the two extra looked disturbingly real and the teeth were way too big to be from a wolf but for some reason they didn't look glued on or anything. "Some plan that was." Cole said, letting out a breath as another of the figures silently crept up from behind Cole with a bloody machete raised over his head. "Cole behind you!" the sheriff shouted at the top of his lungs and Cole quickly dived to the ground as the sheriff put two forty four rounds into the figure's chest. "Rufus where the fuck are you!" Cole screamed, picking himself up off the ground with his gun still in hand. He was about to charge back into the kitchen before the sheriff grabbed his shoulder stopping him in his tracks. "Damnit wait. We can't go running around in the dark and screaming, there could be more of them, think before you charge a room!" "we've gotta find Rufus." Cole said, looking at the sheriff. He was sweating and breathing hard. "Get a hold of yourself Officer Cole." the sheriff said calmly.

"Look we've gotta find the deputy and find a way to get the power back on." "The power's fine sheriff. The heats still on. Shit." he said the last word looking up at the ceiling with his flashlight. The pole light bulbs above them were shattered. The ends still screwed into the fixtures with sharp white ends protruding. "Well where the fuck is the glass?" the floor looked like it had just been swept. "Not even a ketchup stain." Cole said observantly. He came to the Meteor Cafe every afternoon for lunch for the past five years. They only mop when they open and when they close. "Sheriff I might be reaching for straws here but I think we were set up." "what makes you say that?" "you finish reading that graffiti?" Cole asked, lifting his chin in the direction of the circular calligraphy on the wall. "Do you read Latin? All I recognize is the first bit, they're a cult that's been run out of Amber more times than I can count." "Nocturnis Infernis shall rise from the ashes of authority and with the blood of innocent and guilty alike, woe will claim Amber." "guess that's a yes to the Latin. The ashes of authority. Great." the sheriff repeated the phrase with a sarcastic chuckle. "Blood of innocent and guilty alike. I really don't like this sheriff. Let's hurry up and find Rufus." a loud thud came from the bathroom "what was that?" Cole said, the sound caught him off guard. "It came from the men's room." the sheriff turned to the door.

The women's room next to it didn't make a sound but as he paid attention, a constant low thumping could be heard from the bathroom. "Wait here." the sheriff said looking at Cole before reaching for the knob but it was locked. "Shit, needs a key. Maybe it's behind the till? Go see." "got it." Cole said holding his gun low, but ready in both hands with his finger two inches off the trigger as he cleared the distance to the till silently and sure enough, the two keys labeled 'M' and 'W' were laying right next to the cash register. Cole grabbed the one with the M. "sheriff I got it." "Good, here." the sheriff said stretching out his hand and Cole threw the key underhanded and the sheriff caught it out of the air and turned to the green wooden door. It looked old. The sheriff put the key into the lock which wasn't old at all. The lock clicked and the sheriff pushed it open. "Cole. you wanna look for Rufus you do it quietly. Meet me back here in ten minutes." "got it" Cole said with a nod. From the other side he immediately found out what happened to the broken lights, as he heard the glass pieces behind the door, slide against the tile and crunch the wall behind it. "Jesus." the sheriff said, covering his mouth and nose with his hand pointing the flashlight at the ground as the door shut behind him and the hot decaying smell forced its way into his nose.

The light shining down at the floor reflected back up in a warm red. The floor in front of him was covered in blood. As he moved the light forward and brought it up, his mouth dropped open at the horrible sight. About a dozen bodies hacked to pieces, presumably with the machetes the masked figures tried to attack them with earlier and just… threw the bits into a giant pile of meat and gore. "Is there anyone… here?" a faint noise that sounded like whimpering could be heard from one of the far stalls. The sheriff walked in front of the door. "Come on out." he tried adding "its the sheriff." but didn't get the words out as the door crashed open and a woman with dark red hair, a yellow and red waitress dress, and a butcher knife in her right hand, with blood up to her elbow. She screamed as the sheriff caught her arm as the blade was inches from going through his left eye. As he caught her, she punched him in the jaw with her other hand, sending him backwards into the wall, making an "oof" sound as he was flung into the wall. He was surprised how strongly she dazed him with the punch. She raised the knife again, ready to bring it down through his forehead before she saw what he was wearing. When she realized he was the sheriff she dropped the blade and began shaking and hyperventilating.

"Take it easy. I'm not here to hurt you." Dark mascara had run down her face from crying earlier, she had dark blue eyes that were dilated as well as more blood on her face and neck. "Hey, what's your name?" the sheriff asked when the girls breathing slowed and steadied. Her eyes still darted back and forth from the sheriff to the door to the meat pile, to the closed stall next to the one she was hiding in. "hey." the sheriff said, getting her attention once again. "Sarah. Sarah Baker." she muttered the name just loud enough for him to hear. Suddenly the sheriff realized why Sarah kept looking at the closed door behind her. He saw the robes dripping with blood. The body slumped against the toilet and only the legs could be seen. They both tried to ignore the cultist body, most likely put there by Sarah. "Sarah, don't worry. I've got two officers here with me. Outside. You're going to be just fine. Who did this? How many are there?" "I think-" Her words stumbled from holding back tears. "I think there were three. At first there was just one. He was screaming all kinds of nonsense and screaming at everybody To get on the floor.

I ran in here to call the police and hid while they...While they killed everyone. They hacked them to pieces! When they finished… dumping that… there… they left. One almost found me and I. Oh god. What have I done?" she was losing the fight holding back her tears. "Calm down we just need to-" the sound of Cole screaming followed by three loud gunshots cut the sheriff off. And his attention was suddenly on the door. "Hide." the sheriff said pointing at the bathroom cubicle she was hiding in when she nearly killed him. She looked at the sheriff as she picked up the butcher knife trying not to breathe in the necrotic stench of meat in the center of the room. The sheriff quickly yanked the door open and ran into the cafe. "Cole!" the sheriff yelled. His only response was another gunshot from the kitchen. The sheriff pushed open the doorway to the kitchen and could see where Cole was standing from his light. The sheriff raised his light to Cole who was standing with his smoking pistol in both hands, pointed towards a body on the ground. "Cole are you alright." "No. No sheriff I don't think I am." Cole raised his flashlight. Cole shot the robed figure in the back three times after he found him sawing Rufus's head off. Cole shot him once more in the back of the head killing him and the robed killer hit the ground with a thump as the rusty jigsaw he was using, clanged loudly next to him. Both of Rufus's legs and arms were stacked in a pile a few feet to the robed figures left. Rufus's torso could barely be recognized except for the glimmering silver police badge that was still attached to his chest. A long bloody strip of duct tape ran several times around Rufus's mouth. His head was half sawn off before Cole found him and put four bullets in the person decapitating him.

"Jesus christ." Cole said despite the fact that he could not feel less in the presence of god. "Sheriff we need to call this in, now." "I know. I found a waitress hiding in the restroom, I'll go get her and meet you outside at the squad car, you call this in and I'll be right out. Let's take the front." "right." Cole said following the sheriff through the dark kitchen with their small flashlights back to the main area of the cafe. Cole pulled open the front door which hit the wind chime and Cole stepped outside. The sheriff made his way back to the restroom expecting the worst to have happened while he was gone. What if he opens this door and finds that girl, no longer a girl but another pile of meat being thrown into the pile of warm stinking flesh by one of those freaks from the woods. 'Get a hold of yourself dammit.' Ben kept telling himself over and over as he stepped inside the bathroom dim. Which smelt absolutely vile as glass shards clicked under his boots. "Sarah? It's me Ben again. It's safe to come out now." The sheriff's heart was racing in his chest as his brain formulated the worst images it could until he heard a small. "Okay, I'll be right out." the girl said weakly as the door creaked open and shakily she stepped out covering her mouth with the not blood soaked hand. She dropped the knife on the dull green tile stained with blood, and followed the sheriff outside. The sheriff led her outside and quickly opened the back door of Cole's squad car and she got inside, closing it behind her and getting in Rufus's seat and closing the door to shut out the sound of the wind again. Cole was staring blankly past the steering wheel. "I'll meet you back at the station sheriff. Gonna wait here for the crime scene crew to show up. Miss Baker if you've been hurt, the ambulance is on it's way too." Cole didn't look away from the snowstorm ahead of the steering wheel while speaking emotionlessly to Ben and Sarah. Sarah sat shaking and holding back tears while looking at her bloody hand. She thought about washing it off inside but she didn't want to go back inside with the smell of corpses and demented writing on the wall. She just wanted away from here.

In less than a minute they could hear the wailing sirens in the distance slowly growing closer over the gusting wind. "You gonna be okay?" Ben asked but got no response before Sarah said "I think he means you this time." Sarah said, snapping Cole back into reality. "Yeah, yeah don't Worry about me sheriff. Nothing I ain't already used to around here." The sheriff didn't know how to respond as he looked down at his hands clasped together. "Rufus was a good man, Officer Cole and a damn good cop too." "Damn right he was." Cole said putting the key in the ignition and turning on the cruiser, and the flashing lights so their backup could see them through the storm. Cole also cranked the heater. The car had been freezing since they turned it off to go inside the cafe. A police cruiser followed by a shiny black van that doubled as both the CSI transport vehicle as well as the SWAT van drove into the parking lot. The cruiser had it's lights spinning on top of the clean white hood while the siren turned off upon entering the parking lot. The sheriff got out and greeted the two officers that stepped out of the arriving police cruiser. "I thought there was supposed to be an ambulance here too?!" the Sheriff asked one of the two men, Officers Bradley and Bernard who were both dressed in the same winter police gear as the sheriff, down to the matching parkas. "Ambulance has a flat tire, they sent us over, how are you enjoying the weather today sheriff?!" Bernard yelled a few feet away from the sheriff while the blizzard raged around them. "It could be a lot better! You guys are gonna wanna be ready before you go in there. Perps are all dead."

Bradley cracked a joke to Bernard who laughed, but Ben didn't hear what he said. "It���s a fucking bloodbath in that cafe and an officer is dead! Start taking this seriously now or I'll have you both shoveling the parking lot at the station till spring comes!" "dead?! Who's dead?!" Bradley asked, losing any humor previously still in his body. The sheriff struggled only for a moment to get the name out. "Officer Rufus! The Nocturnis Infernis are back!" "Bullshit!" Bradley yelled putting two gloved hands on the sides of his head. "That's gotta be bullshit, the Nocturnis Infernis were run out of town like ten years ago! No way they're back!" Bradley clearly didn't want to face reality. That the boogeymen of Amber, had returned. "What if it was just a bunch of Crackheads in costumes!?" "I seriously hope so! Get your asses inside and wait for SWAT to clear the building again!" Three police officers clad in black tactical gear and submachine guns rushed past Bradley, Bernard and the sheriff who was still plowing his way through the still falling snow which was almost a foot and a half high. Ben opened his car door and got inside shutting it behind him silencing the snowstorm from loud gusts to a muffled groaning that beat the side of his car as he turned on the ignition and began to make his way westward, to lake squire and question Francis Callahan as the sun began to make sink westward behind the clouds ahead of the sheriff who was just passing a green road sign with white text which read "Lake Squire 1.5km"