Seeing the sharp jostle of trees to the left, Helena pulls off onto the side of the road. The forest sways gently with every breeze that passes through it, but every few moments, a few trees shake violently before returning to their idle state.
Helena glances down at her phone in the passenger seat. One new voice message, from one of her Sentry Officers. The stone-cold voice reads, “Thank you for handling this case, Lester. Tomorrow, I’ll have you remove this wolf from the herd, once and for all.” This was news she’d long anticipated-- it was a task she took up months ago-- but that doesn’t take away the panging guilt, and on a full moon, no less. Maybe that’s why they chose it. She neglects responding until after she investigates the forest. Like many individuals who combat the beasts, Helena is a firm believer in good luck and items that carry it. She grabs the necklace from around her rearview mirror and stuffs it in her pocket.
The moonlight keeps Helena from needing any artificial light, thankfully; as creatures of the night, most beasts wince at the sight of it. As she continues towards the rustling, a piercing shriek echoes through the trees. Something bird-like, yet also an eerily human cry of bloody murder.
“Oh, quit it, would you?” a voice says.
“You bird-things are the worst,” another continues. The voices sound too similar to be completely unrelated, but too different to be a singular being. Helena shoves through the overgrowth, finally within viewing distance of the commotion. Two beasts perch twenty feet up in the trees. Their bodies resemble a mostly human structure, with the exception of longer limbs. The black wings that sprout from their back are chaotic, twitchy, almost to the point where they seem to dislocate and readjust themselves repeatedly. Their beaks spread open and snap shut with every sound.
As they swoop down and attack the two individuals on the ground, the beasts find themselves constantly brushing with capture. For these humans, this task seems like more of a dance than a mission; it’s like they can predict the beasts’ every move. The two young men are almost identical-- alike in stature, posture, behavior-- but they perform as perfect opposites in this fight. The one with curlier hair and brown boots scales a branch, hurling a knife at the beasts. The blade successfully swipes one, causing it to falter and lose altitude. Just in time, the boy with black boots grabs its wing and pins it to the ground. They cackle excitedly after this first catch, and seem to dance a little when they nab the second. Their exaltations echo through the forest like cawing crows. Still kneeling on the creatures, the young man in black injects some sort of sedative into their bodies. They go unconscious in a matter of moments.
Captivated by the scene, Helena fails to notice that she’s completely emerged from behind the foliage. The two young men stop and look Helena up and down. The orange accents of her top, the patch on her shoulder, the utility belt-- it’s immediately telling of her origin. “You’re awfully far from home, Sentry,” the one on the right says.
She gathers her composure. “I don’t want any trouble. I heard radio chatter and--”
“So you’re a Sentry and a snoop! Listen to someone else’s airwaves, why don’t you?”
Helena sighs. “Look, you guys are beast hunters, right? I’ve heard a bit about them. I know that you guys don’t really like strangers, but I just want to ask a few questions.”
The one with the brown boots wipes his knife on his thigh and sheathes it. “Chaos,” he says. “And this is my brother, Calamity. I’m not sure what your source is for all of this, but you better find a new one. First, we don’t hunt the beasts. We help them, give them healing-- and if it’s what they need, we kill them. Believe it or not, these creatures aren’t all bad. But I know you guys like to shoot first and ask questions later.”
Helena furrows her brow and opens her mouth, but gets interrupted. “Second, since I know you’re about to make some snide comment,” Calamity continues, “the nicknames are because we value strangers. You don’t owe us your name, we don’t owe you ours. I don’t need someone’s life story to know their character, their values, and what they stand to gain.”
Like a game of table tennis, Chaos picks up the ball exactly where Calamity left off. “So, what’s yours?”
“My nickname? I don’t have one. Like you said, I’m a Sentry in the city.”
“So make one up,” the twins say in unison. Their behavior begins to climb lower and lower into the uncanny valley. Helena turns the necklace over in her pocket and ponders the question. The only nickname she was ever accustomed to was “Lester”, and that feels cold and impersonal, despite being her last name. She wants this one to mean something.
“Allegra.”
Chaos nods. “Nice choice. You’re a long way from your post, songbird. I’ve never seen an Elk City Sentry more than a mile from the city limits.”
“I’ve rarely been beyond the city limits, admittedly,” she answers. “I… lost something-- someone-- to a beast outside the city. It was a long time ago, so I don’t think you would’ve known her, but I figured that I could stand to expand my knowledge.”
Calamity hangs upside down from a tree branch. How did he manage to climb up there that fast? “The beasts work in mysterious ways,” he says. “You never know if someone’s really gone until you see it with your own eyes. But if you want to learn about them, we’ll be here all night.” He hurls his knife into an adjacent tree, wedging it perfectly into the trunk. The nature of these two just gets weirder and weirder.
Allegra’s watch echoes with another message from the same Sentry Officer. “Lester? It’d be a shame if you threw away this promotion, especially when it carries this much weight for you. I need to make sure you’re on board. Bring him in, like you promised.”
She makes the decision to sleep on everything the twins have told her. They oblige. Chaos reaches for Allegra’s hand. Before the two can engage in a handshake, he grabs her forearm and tilts her chin up with the blade of his knife. “If I so much think that you’re gonna head back into Elk City and cry wolf, I hope you’re prepared to spend a week cleaning bloodstains out of your car. I don’t mind strangers, but I do mind snitches.”
Allegra stiffens. She swallows hard and nods slowly. “I won’t.”
Chaos’s face stretches into a sly smile. She’s not sure whether to be impressed by his skill, or absolutely petrified at how he threatened to kill her in cold blood. Things outside the city are much different than she remembers.
Allegra shifts her car into gear and takes off for Elk City. The phrase “crying wolf” cycles through her mind; it’s about to get far more literal than she ever wanted it to.
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