Bloodfang

Strangers at the Door

"I'm fine," Ricky answered, finally directing his attention to the man who spoke. This guy wasn't as terrifying as his partner. "Who are you?" Ricky asked cautiously. He had one leg extending out behind him. Just in case he needed to, he would bolt. He didn't know who these guys were and if necessary he would slam the door in their faces, lock it, and hide somewhere... preferably in the basement.

The bad feeling he had gotten as soon as he had opened the door was turning to a downright icky one. Ricky so regretted opening the door so rashly. His assumption that it was going to be Rosy at the door had been a rooky mistake. He was no rooky. He had been taught at a very early age to never to talk to strangers or open the door to a stranger and that was a lesson he had never failed to obey. Now in just one rash move, he found himself in a potentially serious situation. He hoped that he was just overreacting.

"No need to fear us young man," the shorter one spoke softly, calmingly, seeming to pick up on Ricky's fear. Ricky found no threat in his tone but he still kept his guard up as the man continued to speak. "My name is Fletcher, and this is my part...friend, Darius."

Ricky tilted his head a little at the hesitation. "Do you guys want to... sell something?"

Fletcher chuckled at the innocent question. "You misunderstand. We are not salesmen. We work with animals. Now... have you seen anything unusual today?"

'No!' A strange rough voice fairly shouted in Ricky's mind, confusing him. Had that been him? Of course it had to have been his own voice screaming in his mind, Ricky assured himself. It had to have been the panic making him, funnily enough, sound unlike himself!

"Son?" the stranger named Fletcher prompted.

Whoever's voice it was, Ricky decided, he would follow its lead. "No," he answered. "With the weather and everything, I've been in the house all day." He had no intention of revealing the wounded wolf in the basement. Plus he still had the nagging, strange voice in his head repeating that he should not allow the men inside. Ricky decided he should never ignore the voice inside his own head. "Why do you ask?" he asked back instead.

"Oh nothing really." Fletcher said casually. "It's just that Colorado tends to have sightings of wild animals wandering near civilization," he explained without really explaining anything.

"Wild animals?" Ricky quizzed.

Fletcher's eyes flickered, "Yes, unfortunately wild animals. Have you seen any wandering around here today?"

"You mean like squirrels and deer?" Ricky asked doing his best to play dumb. These men were making him twitch and the newly discovered inner voice inside his head was repeating an internal rhythmic warning to 'Get rid of them. Get rid of them,' that was impossible for Ricky to ignore. "Because I have seen a few deer," Ricky lied. These men, he felt, were up to no good and he wasn't taking any chances that it was his wolf they wanted. Whatever he needed to do to throw them off the trail was fine by Ricky. Whatever made them leave was even better. Ricky's heart was still racing with anxiety. The strangers at the door were freaking him out though he was trying his best to mask his fear.

Fletcher flashed his own toothy and intimidating grin. "I mean animals that shouldn't be near human civilization. The kind that could bring harm to hu- people if they wondered up on them. Big carnivores. You know like bears, mountain lions," he hesitated before emphasizing, "wolves."

Ricky inwardly winced. "No... I haven't seen any of those," he mumbled, trying so hard to act normal. He quickly added, "Though that sounds really cool." He hoped he was coming across like a typical kid.

The two stared at him long and hard. Darius was trying to see what was inside the house. He also appeared to be... sniffing?

"Are you two hunters?" Ricky suddenly asked, thinking that was more than likely what was going on. They probably trekked big game and didn't like it when their victims got away. They were the ones that most likely shot the wolf. Convinced that that was most likely what was going on, Ricky felt no sympathy for misleading them. In fact, he more determined than ever to send them on their merry way.