“Aaaand that should do it, sir. Fire it up, will you?”The old husky/wolf nodded from behind the steering wheel and cranked the engine of the rusty old farm truck. It sputtered a few times, the engine rattling like a washing machine with far too heavy a load in the cylinder, then miraculously came to life after burping a thick, black cloud of smoke from the tailpipe.
The sun was shining once again on the town of Brickhedge and the northeast as a whole as remnants of the tropical system finally moved off to the north, but not before leaving a chunk of the country in ruin, with over fifty lives lost and millions upon millions of dollars in damage.
A population of Wererats had been flooded out of the sewers in New York and had overrun Manhattan for hours before monster hunters could get in and exterminate them. A problem that was a much bigger deal than a single troll terrorizing a small mountain town.
Or at least, that’s what the residents of said town would have preferred, but with the presidential rally that had been held here the past month, the troll had once again put the little town back on the national news circuit.
Garou Loveless, digging into his seemingly bottomless bank account, had addressed the country the day before, pledging ten million dollars to the relief funds for those affected by the disaster. Meanwhile, his opponents, the current sitting POTUS included, merely addressed the situation, with FEMA being sent in from the latter.
“Aiyeah, Loveless didn’t leave any lasting impression on me following his speech here that day, but after the way he’s approaching the damage from the storm? Well, I say he certainly earned my vote.” The elderly wolfdog said, scratching his bulging belly through his shirt.
Advrik tinkered with a few bits and pieces on the engine as it ran, making sure nothing had gone untouched, loose, or otherwise could cause a failure later. He liked to triple-check his work, made it easier when it came time to ask for those reviews on his Google listing.
“MmmmmMm! Listen to her purr!! Pup, I dunno how to thank you. The old girl hasn’t sounded this good since 1996,” said the wolfdog, removing his wallet. Fat with the money, the old canine was afraid to keep it in a bank account. “How much do I owe you again?”
As wolf and hybrid ironed out the final costs of the work, labor, and additional parts needed, a heavy cloud crept across the sky, blotting out the sun, instantly cooling the land with shade.
And then all came to a halt as a loud, gurgling roar shattered the peaceful autumn day. It sounded close by, too close for comfort, in fact.
Cars were more abundant this far out of town, and those who had been driving with their windows down had come to a screeching halt as the monster’s roar ripped through the town like a siren warning of an impending tornado.
“You know what? Don’t bother with the change. You did a fine job, pup nowifyou’llexcusemeIgottago!” the hybrid said, a youthful burst of energy suddenly returning to both his voice and body as he loped across the parking lot of an old Dollar General. He sped off a moment later in his truck, a whole hundred dollars poorer in his haste.
As the cloud moved out of the way of the sun, the roars ceased and all was still once again.
“Did you fucking hear that?!” the fox on the other end of the line said, calling him up within seconds of the terrifying roar that all of Brickhedge had heard.
“Yeah, I heard,” Advrik said, hesitating to tell her that he’d been closer to it than he would have liked, “It sounded like it was somewhere off of Turnip Street, towards the apartment it attacked the other day.” He told her, standing on the sidewalk in front of the Dollar above General, which happened to be right across from the damaged building.
Brickhedge had been the center of two national news stories in a matter of months. Before that, the most interesting thing that happened in town was that a resident may have had their seventh kid, or there may have been a small police chase through one of the thematically named streets. But a trillionaire announcing his bid for the presidency and a troll attack happening within the span of a month were well out of the realm of anybeast’s predictions.
“Hey, listen, I’m going to head up to the mayor’s office and see if they’ve posted the hunt yet. If you want to meet up there, we’ll—“
Brigid exhaled through her clenched jaw on the other end, “Fuuuuck, sorry, I can’t. I’m actually about to hop in the shower. Callie gave me some rather expensive shampoos and stuff…”
He wanted to playfully comment on that statement so very much, but the was relationship was still too young for him to comfortably do so, he wondered. Neither he nor she had expressed much in the way of sexual intentions towards each other, save for that one saucy selfie she had dropped on him that night.
“Advrik, hello? Earth to wolf.”
“Oh, sorry. Nah, you’re good. Wash up, get yourself smelling and looking pretty. How about we go out for dinner tonight then instead, eh?” Smooth, Advrik, he thought. “My latest client tipped me handsomely; I could pay for our dinner and then some with it alone.”
“So just the tip then, eh?”
He swore he could hear her smirk over the phone.
“That sounds great, Vrik. Just shoot me a text with the time and place, and I’ll be there.” The two playfully chatted with each other for a few more minutes before ending the call.
A short drive later and some clever parallel parking into the same spot he had used on the day he first arrived in Brickhedge. Same rusted old parking meter and all, which he had fed a quarter to.
“Afternoon, Missus. Is the mayor or Eligh available?” The wolf asked, not getting an immediate reply from the cockatoo receptionist. When she finally set the pencil down, she crisscrossed her fingers and gave him a gentle smile in that interesting way only beasts with beaks and bills could.
“Yes, dear, they had actually been expecting you. I’ll buzz you into the mayor’s office.”
Brigid must have called and told Eligh that he was coming, Advrik thought.
A harsh ring, followed by the unlocking sound of the left door. The wolf and bird nodded their appreciation of one another as he stepped past the front desk.
“Advrik, come in, my boy, come in!” The mayor said loudly, his southern accent still sounding like a put-on to the wolf’s ears. “The phones have been ringing off the hook for the last twenty minutes from inquiring minds!”
“And before you ask,” the big grizzly standing near the window chimed in, “They weren’t all from concerned citizens, either.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Advrik asked.
“Ah, uh, well, it seems the rampant reporting of the troll attack here the other night had garnered Brickhedge some additional, unwanted attention by the media.” Mayor Filbert said, leaning back in his behemoth leather chair.
Eligh took a few steps back, taking up one of the two chairs in front of the mayor’s desk, resting his face in the palms of his hand. Advrik noted how glassy his eyes looked.
“Sorry, I had to take an extra dose of my medicine,” the bear apologized. “Monster hunters, Advrik. There are a few well-known ones in town already, waiting for the hunt to be posted, but we keep getting calls from others inquiring about the troll.”
Eligh doubling up on his Xanax meant he’d been having a hard time, the wolf knew. He’d been there, though a double dose for him would be a single dose for the giant bear; it’d no doubt have the same emotional cleansing on him.
“I’m not surprised, to be honest. That’s the reason I’m here.” The wolf admitted, relaying to the officials the event he experienced prior to his visit, that he had good reason to believe that the troll was hanging out in the woods somewhere to the north town.
“You mean it’s still around Callista’s apartment?!” Eligh said voice smoothed slightly by the medication.
“I was right there when it roared; It definitely sounded close by. Could be that it dug its nest somewhere nearby, in which case…”
“Being a troll, they can’t necessarily come out in the sunlight, so if we took a Lucent-infused nest bomb to its hole…” The mayor said, crossing and uncrossing his fingers in a single motion. Bombing monster nests, if the creature was small and weak enough, could take care of the problem in one fell swoop.
A thirty-foot troll, however…
“We’ll have to face the giant head-on,” Advrik said matter of factly.
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