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Dark Valley

Chapter Ten

© Cederwyn Whitefurr

17thJune, 2019

All Rights Reserved.

Gendrie sat at his computer, typing away on his story, his fevered brow glistening under the light cast from the screen, his heart racing. Behind and slightly to the side, sat a young woman, her raven black hair glistening and dark brown eyes looking furtive and nervous, as she clasped her hands in her robed lap.

"I can not thank you enough Penelope, for trusting in me! Telling me all you know and showing me what the Enclave truly are - you'll make me the most famous reporter in history, when this gets out!"

"You promised me sanctuary and safety, how can you guarantee this? If my brothers and sisters found out I'd broken the covenant, and spoken to an outsider! Let alone - revealed our true identities and selves - my life would be forfeit. I've taken incredible risks to tell you all this - " She spoke quietly, her voice tinged with her nervousness and fear. "I don't want to live my life in fear anymore, fear of what the humans will think of us - what they'll do, once we're exposed..."

Ignoring her, he kept typing, lost in the world she had described to him, words flowing like fine wine across the screen.

"You know what a deadline is?" He asked, as he wiped sweat off his brow, flicking it away disdainfully. "It's where something dies - probably me - if I don't finish this article in time."

A hot, moist breath washed over the back of his neck, causing the hairs to rise as a cold shiver rippled down his spine and his eyes widened as he caught the glimpse of the kangaroo standing behind him - its lips curling back, revealing razor sharp teeth - a look of terror and remorse in its eyes.

He started to scream - he wouldn't be screaming for long - she silently promised him that...

*

Next morning, Selene drove out to the hotel, intending to meet with Gendrie and tell him he was right - but she come to a halt as she seen the Sargent's police car there, an ambulance and as she watched in horror, a body was wheeled out of one of the rooms and loaded into the back of the waiting ambulance.

Leaping from her car, Selene rushed over, then the Sargent stepped before her and held up a hand.

"You don't want any piece of this Selene - " he spoke quietly, his normal, arrogant and gruff attitude - now sickened and horrified. "It - gods, what could do that to a man?"

As the ambulance drove off, Selene slumped back against her car, her blood turned to ice water. Gendrie was right, he was right all along - she started to piece together the puzzle now. With the photographic evidence and the blood vial hidden away in her safe at home, Selene didn't know who to trust - who she could turn to. These Enclave weren't the kind, withdrawn and shy people they professed to be.

Evidence built a little at a time, revealed them as something out of the darkest of nightmares. She began to believe the stories she had overheard in passing - about how they practised vile rites behind those walls. Hell, even the rumours about killing innocent children had circulated around town - they refused to openly come out and deny these rumours, which only added to the speculation and mistrust surrounding this enigmatic people.

One thing was for certain - she was going to see them brought down and exposed as the violent, vicious creatures they were - she would dedicate herself to their destruction, for the safety of humanity - and she felt - her very own soul.

*

Selene, dressed in her police uniform, wore the surgical mask as she watched the preliminary autopsy on Gendrie at the Base Hospital morgue.

"Christ - " Muttered the doctor, as he pulled the sheet back, looking at the body before him. "What on earth did this..."

"I have a suspicion, that these wounds were caused by a kangaroo - can you confirm this?"

Donning his latex gloves, the doctor favoured Selene with a look of incredulous disbelief, before he stared at her.

"You're_not_ kidding - are you?" He asked, then looked back at the body and shuddered.

"No, I'm not..." Selene answered quietly, before turning and leaving the room.

*

Selene sat at her desk at the station, her head cupped in her hands, elbows on the desk, as she shuddered with the thoughts that ran through her mind. How - how could this be real? How could these _creatures_be living under their noses for gods knew how long, without exposing themselves?

"We got to set up a town meeting tonight - " Spoke the Sargent, as he sighed and leaned against Selene's desk. "Rumours are thick and fast out there, everything you can imagine is being said - people are starting to turn on each other, there's fear and uncertainty and - "

Selene startled, before she blinked and pushed her chair away, then stood up and walked to the other side of the office, staring out the window.

"So many dead - so many murdered people - what's happened to this town? How did we allow this to go unchecked?" Selene spoke to herself.

"I'm investigating these, as you know, you don't have the experience nor the - " He told her, as he walked over and touched her on the shoulder.

Selene spun around, and in the blink of an eye, she had him on the ground, in a agonising wrist lock, her foot on his back.

"Don't touch me - don't you _ever_touch me..." Selene snarled, her voice filled with a viciousness he had never witnessed in her.

"Get off me Constable - " He grunted through clenched teeth, both afraid, hurting and angry at her.

"I...sir - " Selene suddenly blinked and released him, backing away and looking terrified. "I - "

Before he could get up, Selene fled the station, the tires of her police car wailing as they left great black marks in its wake.

*

That night, most of the townsfolk gathered in the hall, angry voices, shouts and a few people openly wept.

"Twenty of my sheep were slaughtered the other night - I say we got wild dogs, what are you going to do about it?"

"Who killed the Veterinarian? Who was it that murdered him in cold blood?"

"I hear the enclave were responsible for the disappearance of - "

Holding his hands up, the Sargent fought for control and order as the crowd turned increasingly violent and hostile.

"I heard they rape and murder children, they're animals, monsters!" One woman screamed hysterically.

A deafening bang echoed through the hall, as the double doors were slammed open and Constable Selene entered like the wrath of a vengeful god.

"Idiots, imbeciles, fools!" Selene screamed at them, her hair unkempt, uniform stained and scruffy, as she made her way down the hall, her anger and disgust like a veritable wave before her.

"Constable Sel - " Began the Sargent, before a baleful look from her silenced him as she ascended the stage stairs.

He shrank back from her, incredulous and seething, but he acquiesced the podium to her.

"I won't forget your insubordination - Constable - " He whispered behind her back.

"What proof is there of any of these baseless accusations" Selene railed, slamming her fists on the pulpit. "Well? Who dares stand and casts accusations of these callous misdeeds?"

Someone down the back laughed, whilst another jeered at her, before the crowd turned and began screaming and shouting.

"SILENCE!" Selene roared, her voice like a crack of thunder that echoed off the walls and stunned them into submission.

Once she had the silence she requested, Selene stood like some vengeful Baptist Preacher, glaring at them before her.

"People have gone missing - bodies mutilated and - " Someone screamed.

"We are aware of the murders, and the investigation is ongoing, please - be patient, we're doing the best we can!" Selene pleaded, sensing she was losing control of the crowded hall, filled with shocked townspeople.

"What about the Enclave? Well? We've all heard the rumours about them, what they do under the guise of their so called 'religion' - its a front, a scam, how do we know they haven't been murdering the people? We demand to see justice, we demand -"

Her anger rising, Selene leaned forward from the pulpit, her eyes blazing with rage.

"You - demand?" Selene snarled, then she shuddered and brought herself back under control, taking several deep breaths.

"Yes, there have been murders - gruesome murders! What happened to the Veterinarian, Geoff? We do not know! We can't wave a magic wand and solve the case in a day or two! We are investigating, drawing on outside contacts, on anyone who may know anything, please, come forward! If you're not directly responsible for the brutal murder, you'll be granted indemnity from prosecution!"

Mocking laughter and derisive cat calls echoed back from the hostile crowd.

"What about that Kangaroo? What sick bastard would torture and hang it up like that - think of the children who were traumatised by that - that brutality? What of the Doctor - slaughtered like a beast in the morgue - what..."

"ENOUGH!" Selene shrieked, her hands gripping the pulpit tight, the timber creaking under the strain.

"We - the police, are still investigating these murders, and we _will_find those responsible! What does none of us any good, is you fools shouting and working your mouths, spreading lies, rumours and innuendo like its truth!"

"What about the Enclave? How do we know they're not the ones, murdering our livestock for some sick, satanic sacrificial rites? How do we know they won't come for our children next? What are you_the Police, doing to protect us from _them?"

Selene began pacing, her fists clenching and unclenching, as she fought to control the anger that threatened to spill out of her like blood from a torn jugular.

" What evidence is there that the Enclave have harmed a single one of you- I look around, I see mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters - how many of you have been physically harmed by a single enclave member? Well?"

"They kill and murder children!" Some woman screamed from the back.

"What evidence is there to prove this? Well? Show me a child's body and I'll throw myself at your feet and beg forgiveness! NO! This is another baseless lie and slander - I will not stand for it, and as you know, they have legal protection accorded to them by the Australian Government! Until such time as they actually are proven to have done - anything - that contravenes the laws of this Commonwealth and this country -"

There come the screech of tyres, then a sickening thud against the closed doors as something hit them from outside, then the vehicle drove off, its tires screaming against the bitumen. Selene leapt off the stage and ran down the aisle, before throwing open the doors and recoiling on horror...

There, slumped on the staircase, was the tortured form of an eastern grey kangaroo doe - her body slashed and blood drizzling from dozens of wounds, as she gagged and choked, before blood erupted from her throat and spattered the constables boots as she convulsed wildly and her body went still as death claimed her.

Horrified, Selene stared down at the kangaroo, who lay lifeless on the steps of the town hall - others had come - witnessed the horror of it all and moaned and muttered to themselves. What did it mean? Who was responsible for this terrible cruelty? Selene steeled herself, then ordered the towns people back inside, before she shut the doors and reached for her mobile phone, then placed a call to the veterinarian.

Selene was determined to get to the bottom of this, one way or another - and she was certain, this dead doe laying here - tortured and having suffered unimaginable suffering - was actually one of that which Gendrie had proven to her existed - a Therian - and this time, she wasn't going to let them take the body and do whatever they done - Selene was after blood - this had gone too far, and answers would finally be hers, one way or another...

To Be Continued...