There's the Wild and Then There's the Weird

In a predator's eyes

Conroy always knew his life was a little weird, not many teenagers go into the military instead of taking the Harvard Scholarship, but staring into the eyes of a bloody mouthed wolf who had been an actual human being not ten minutes ago made Conroy admit that this was beyond his usual level of weird. Add to it the fact that despite everything else in the world setting off one of his PTSD anxiety attacks but this didn't, and Conroy was wondering if he'd eaten a strange mushroom sometime while searching for the children and his sister. He had suspected many strange things about this almost too quiet mountain community and its population of oddly reticent people, but he could put a hand on the bible and solidly swear to God that this had never even once crossed his mind as an option. Werewolves simply could not be real.  

3 MONTHS PRIOR

Conroy was getting off the hellaciously uncomfortable greyhound bus, his jaw aching from clenching it against the urge to scream at people to just MOVE already. Not that there were many people getting off at this stop but he had been cooped up for far too long as it was. He would never admit to his claustrophobic tendencies, having endured far worse than a smelly old bus in the name of training, but just stepping foot outside and breathing in the invigoratingly clean air of a small town immediately removed some of the pressure from his chest.

The small town was the last stop this bus made so Conroy had to wait for all three of the other passengers to grab their nearly identical black luggage before he could grab the one and only olive green duffle bag off of the gravel. This place was so small they hadn’t even bothered to pave sidewalks, everybody just got used to pedestrians on the road. Con didn’t consider himself a city boy, not after excelling at his chosen vocation as an Army Ranger, but he still wondered just how people managed to avoid accidents in the wintertime. Then again, with how small this hamlet was, there wasn’t exactly an over abundance of cars to worry about. That was probably a good thing for Con, as backfiring cars seemed to be a guaranteed trigger for the wounded soldier. Of course, right now most innocuous things seemed to trigger his paranoid panic and anxiety, which was why he was in the middle of nowhere. He hadn’t even been able to find the town on google maps without the coordinates of the town’s sheriff station/ veterinary clinic. Before he could get too much brain ceasing boredom going with the less than captivating ‘downtown’ scenery, his cell phone buzzed. ‘No sidewalks, no ambulance and a police department that was heavily dependent on the local game warden, but at least they have cell reception.’  Conroy groused as he answered the call.

“Conroy.”

“Con? Hey it’s Maol, sorry I’m not already there. One of the kids is presenting with chicken pox and has a fever. But I’ve sent my friend Fao to go pick you up. Please be nice to her, she only bites when provoked.” His older sister teased playfully.

Conroy rubbed at his closed eyes, already suspecting that his sister was doing her best to try and set him up with her ‘friend’. This ‘Feyuh’ was probably the only girl in this town near his own age who wasn’t already married and with a herd of children. This was a common attempt in his family because apparently at twenty-five, he was a hopeless bachelor.

“I can hear you seething even if you forgot to reply Con.” Maol’s voice is amused and yet somehow snide. “No, I am not trying to play matchmaker. In fact, if you hit on Fao, I’ll laugh at you. Seriously, there’ll be mocking, I might even point.” Maol continued in a good natured, barbing tone. “She drives an ugly purple Ford and is really hard to miss.”

“Thanks Ma’.” Conroy kept his tone softer and used the diminutive version of her name to try and curb his growing agitation. His sister knew the problems he suffered when dealing with new people so she wouldn’t do this to him just for kicks.