coffee” she said, walking towards the old wood stove she insisted on using. They next hour slipped by in catching up. Finally Dawn asked about Justin. A mother’s worry was evident. “Kiddo, I am sure he’ll be here today” I said, trying to reassure her. But we were both worried. I remember thinking, “they may be grown up, but they are still our babies”. Just as Dawn was about to argue the door opened. “Hey look what I found” Travis said walking in. Behind him were our other 2 children. Justin looked sheepish as he stooped to get thru the doorway. From behind him I heard Katie laughing. She stuck her head around him, saying “I told you he was just lost”. I was taken, as I always am, by how beautiful and graceful Katie is. Not made up or forced, but a simple classic beauty and an easy, almost athletic grace. She has the warped sense of humor and nerdiness of her brothers, but she hides it behind the beauty so many woman work hard to achieve. “Sorry about that, I got caught up working on something” Justin explained. It was a perfectly acceptable reason, coming from Justin. But he looked worried, and he was always a terrible liar. I didn’t think much about it at the time.
The ceremony was simple and elegant. Dawn looked resplendent in her simple white gown adorned with lavender flowers, carrying a bouquet of mountain laurels. Angie looked elegant in her dark grey suit, with a mountain laurel on the lapel and a touch of feminine style. I walked my ex-wife down the aisle and gave her away. Not many men can say they did that, huh? Only Justin looked uncomfortable. I could have written it off by assuming it was the tux, but he looked nervous and pale. I assumed it was the ceremony, and his innate shyness around cameras, that had him looking scared.
After the ceremony and reception were finished, Dawn & Angie left in their old Volvo, trailing beer cans. I asked the kids about their plans. “I have to get back to Huntsville by Monday” Travis said. “I’m heading back too, but I want to do some tourist stuff on the way back” Katie said. “What about you Beans?” I asked, snapping Justin out of his daydream. “Huh?, oh ,,no real plans.” He replied looking around uneasily. As they each went to pack and checkout, I wondered about my oldest.
An hour after dark, I was just finishing dinner and about to get on the road. Delayed by my ex-in-laws family, I was a couple of hours later than I had planned. They had offered me a place to stay the night, but I figured I could get a few hundred miles down the road and find a hotel. I was about to start the bike when my cell phone rang. “Dad?” the voice said.
“Hey Justin, I was just about to hit the road” I told him.
“Um…if you haven’t left yet can you come over to the truckstop on highway 92?” Justin asked.
I could hear the fear in his voice. “Beans, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’ll fill you in when you get here, I’ll be in the diner” Justin said quickly and hung up.
At the diner I questioned him, “Justin, you aren’t giving me much here” I said over coffee. We were sitting in a corner booth.
“I mean, you say you are in danger because you have some artifact and can’t give it back?”
Justin kept glancing around nervously.
“Dad, just take me with you and trust me, and as soon as I figure it out I’ll clue you in, but for now I can’t use my rental car” he explained.
I nodded, “Sure, I’ll take you with me, but two of us on a bike isn’t the easiest way to travel” I said.
As we walked out to the big bike, I saw Justin tense up and start looking around fearfully. Suddenly something caught his eye. Justin was focused on something at the edge of the lot. The bright sodium lights showed the entire truck stop lot clearly, but there was something at the edge of it, something just beyond the fence. “Dad, get the bike started…” Justin said, not taking his eyes off the edge of the shadows. “Justin, we’ll be fine” I replied, but I knew I was lying as I said it. I was already frantically reaching in my pocket for the keys. It was something in Justin’s voice that convinced me. As I swung my leg over the bike and stuck the key in the ignition, Justin saw something that caused absolute panic. “GO GO GO!!! Now!!!” he screamed as he leapt on the back and wrapped his arms around me. His panic was contagious. The V-twin fired up and I gunned it. The big road bike surged forward. I could feel Justin’s fear. Even with both of us onboard, as hard as I was hitting it, the front wheel wanted to come up. I was shifting into third gear before we were out of the lot. I swung the bike up the highway and accelerated even more. As I wound it out, I felt Justin’s grip tighten, squeezing the breath out of me. In the rearview mirror I saw a low dark shape running up the road behind us. It was GAINING on us! As I shifted into 4th gear, I remember praying the red eyes were a reflection of the taillights. But I was not going to bet on it. I twisted on the throttle hard and the big bike jumped again. As we finally began to separate from whatever was chasing us I had an awful thought. “I have less than 2 miles before I get to the interstate, so I’d better have more space between us and whatever the hell THAT is”. The on-ramp was a tight curve that would mean slowing the bike to 45mph or so to take the looping on-ramp, and whatever was behind me wouldn’t be limited to the road. Soon the shadow behind us was lost in the distance. The next 20 hours were a blur of white lines, gas stations and adrenaline. Even as we got into Alabama and closer to Tuscaloosa, the fear of whatever had chased us seemed to keep us alert and wired.
I was amazed. What I had seen in my life had in no way prepared me for what I had seen chasing us. It had gained on us until I topped 50 mph. And it had gotten too close for comfort. Finally back in Tuscaloosa, Justin was sleeping, or more accurately, had collapsed, on my old leather sofa from total exhaustion. I finally felt safe enough to relax for at least a while. Meanwhile, despite what I knew of the legends, I was cleaning and loading the .44 caliber revolver. A single action revolver was not an ideal combat weapon. The hammer had to be cocked for each shot, and reloading was painstakingly slow. The upside was that a 240 grain bullet from a .44 mangum would punch a hole in an engine block. And until I had something better I wanted it loaded and ready. “It sure beats a butcher knife and an onion” Justin said, startling me. I chuckled at the reference to one of my weird dreams I had told the kids about many years before. Justin stumbled towards the bathroom. I was frantically trying to think of a way to stop the monstrosity I had glimpsed. Justin had told me about the relic found in a burned out mansion where his employer had lived. He had told me of the legend of the werewolves and their bloodlust. And of the lost talisman that would allow one to rule them and be invincible. Finally he had brought the cloth bundle out of his old leather rucksack and shown me the relic. I could feel a tingling as I held the silver piece and stared at the jewel.
Now I was trying to think rationally about protecting my son. Aside from the old “cowboy sidearm” the only other weapon in the house was a single-shot hunting rifle. The pistol might be slow, but the rifle was even slower. After what I had seen last night, slower was not better. I thought for a minute and then went to the hall closet again. I pulled out the canvas rifle case and reached up for the box of 30-06 shells. “Slow might not be good, but it wouldn’t hurt to load both guns”, I thought. As I pulled the graceful Ruger rifle from its case I wondered how early the local gun shops opened. ‘I need something bigger’, I thought. In the bright light of the day the entire scenario seemed surrealistic. As I checked and rechecked the pistol I thought of better firearms, but I knew that wasn’t the answer. But until a better answer was found, I wanted to be armed. I also knew that I had to find an answer before Kristy returned and added another person to be protected. I needed to get in touch with Max. If anyone could get firepower on short notice it would be Max.