Meadow Falls - Book One

04 (SE)

The strong stench of decomposing human remains makes me wrinkle my nose in disgust. I turn to look at Nate who does the same behind me. Even if the smell is horrible, is not that bad as Nate and I used to find a body that stinks worse than this one. The smell didn't stop us from finding the body, only speeding us up.

Hazard leads us deeper into the forest covered in Stygian gloom. We reach the dead body after what seems like eternity.

The scene is bloody, making me feel a little cold at the sight itself. If I'm not used to this, I would have thrown up by now.  It is a body of a dead human girl. The body is on a huge stone by a large tree, angled unnaturally. Her glassy blue eyes stare up and her mouth hangs open as if she tried to beg her murderer for her life. Her clothes were covered in blood and torn.

I walk over towards the crime scene and close her fearful lifeless eyes. She would like that if she's watching up from heaven.

Her left hand is separated not far from her body. She has a lot of animal claw marks covering her body and this is no ordinary claw marks. No doubt a werewolf has done this. The damage is too much for an animal to do, except for a werewolf.

Nate begins searching the area for clues as I study the body. This is a usual routine for us. If the body is a male, we would exchange duties. Nate and I learn the basics of forensic anthropology when we were younger, which is one of the conditions for us to be left alone and not send us to an orphanage where we can live an ordinary life. It's either follow the rules or being sent away.

I try moving her right arm slowly. It is stiff but the blood is still warm. This means she has been murdered in less than 24 hours. There aren't that much insects that's starting to surround her body, except for the flies. Luckily, there are no sights of maggots on her.

This is the same way the other humans are killed as stated in the newspapers. No doubt this is the same rogue that killed three other humans and causes these 'mysterious killings'.

I look down at the girl again. She looks like a nice young girl and that thought makes me angry. She still has a long life to live but the stupid rogue killed her instead. Who knows how her life ended? It must be horrible to be killed at a very young age because you had dreams that you never achieve.

I promise myself that the rogue will die and death will arrive slowly yet painfully. I am going to enjoy listening to him scream for mercy...

"Melanie," Nate calls out.

I jog over towards him unconsciously. My mind is occupied with a hundred and one ways to kill the rogue who is responsible of destroying a girl's and three others' lives.

Nate holds up a small piece of fur. We can find the murderer by the colour of his fur. It is bright red. It's such a shame that we hunters are humans and we have no awesome sense of smell like werewolves or we could track down the murderer with the scent.

The good news is that the murderer can't be the black werewolf that attacked the werewolf girl earlier.

I touch the fur and feel it. It's rough, indicating that the murderer must be thick with fur. There are only signs of a lone rogue doing this, not a pack, thank God. A pack of rogues are difficult to dispose off.

From the corner of my eyes, I see a shadow moving in an inhuman speed.

I quickly lock an arrow to my bow, slowly approaching the shadows. Nate tags along behind me with a knife in his hands.

Then the shadow disappear, making me curse inwardly and continue to runs towards where it disappears to. I slow down when I see that the shadow belongs to a red werewolf running for his precious life. This is the very same rogue that killed the girl, I realize. The same killer that killed three other humans.