Brian Campo (briancampo) wrote in birthrightrpg, @ 2020-07-25 17:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | brian campo |
His Weight to Bear
Who: Brian
What: Returning to the Scene
When: Today
Where: Searchlight
Ratings PG
Brian crouched in the dirt. Midday sunlight scorched the back of his neck and baked through his t-shirt. He set his sunglasses on the top of his baseball cap and searched the ground around him, as if taking off the shades would make sense of what he was seeing -- or not seeing --- on the south end of Searchlight, a half-mile past the property line of Lucky’s Saloon.
This was the spot.
He knew it. He could smell the blood, fur, and pheromones. The only thing he couldn’t smell was death. The thing was, he knew he ripped that wolf apart. He heard the yelp of a mortal injury. He could still taste the fluid and gore that came from deep inside the other wolf’s body cavity. He had prepared himself to see the carcass and the parts picked off by scavengers. It was his responsibility to look, because he lost his cool; it was his weight to carry. Most of all, Brian was compelled to make sure the wolf was actually dead, not being stalked by it for days.
But there wasn’t a carcass. Not even signs that an animal dragged it away.
Brian stood up and circled around. A bad feeling settled in his stomach, like a hot rock of dread. He looked at the outcropping of rock above him and climbed to the summit. There, between two slabs of sandstone, was a set of rust-colored marks where something huddled to hide. Set among the smears and streaks, there was one clear print: a hand.
No.
“You've got to be fucking--”