[Hot Night Dream] Absurd things

4,

Josh looked alert like a ferret on tiptoe.Marsh also quickly bent down, his eyes adjusted to the slight moonlight streaming down through the treetops.

A second howl soon followed.They turned their heads in one direction at the same time, and through the gap between the trunks Marsh saw a large, silvery mirror—the pond, and there must have been a lake near here before the woods grew.Standing by the pond was a tall black figure, the shape of a human could be vaguely distinguished, but for a person, the black hair all over his body might be too eye-catching.

Marsh set off to retreat to the lumberyard.He didn't have much experience dealing with werewolves, and his intuition told him that he should escape as soon as possible.Josh York, however, was unimpressed.Marsh gave him a tug, but the arm was so fixed in place that Marsh thought he was grabbing a solid tree trunk.

At this time, the giant shadow under the moonlight shook twice, and suddenly stopped moving.This is not a good omen, the beast has already noticed the strange smell in the air, and now it is trying to find them with bated breath.The twig swayed ghostly to and fro, knocking now and then on the top of Marsh's head, but even his dull brain was aware that they were now upwind.In general, wilderness experts would not recommend staying upwind of a werewolf for two nighttime travelers taking a nap in the woods.Optimistically, this amounts to suicide.

Josh York never seems to have met a good wilderness expert.When Marsh was busy ignoring the sweat-wet underwear stuck to his back, an afterimage and a violent cyclone passed by the corner of his eyes, and then there was a crazy roar not far away, and a chaotic scene The sound of splashes.

Marsh was half-dead with fright, fearing that his traveling companion had gone mad.He took a few steps toward the pond, knelt down carefully, and used the tall reeds as a cover before he dared to look over—so he no longer worried about Josh's mental state and the field survival experts.

The young man calling himself a lawyer dexterously rolled and jumped around the edge of the werewolf's attack range, while the werewolf waved his sharp claws more and more frantically, as if furious that he could not do any harm to this cunning prey.The splashing water reflected the dazzling light. Marsh couldn't see what attack method Josh was using, but he could tell that the werewolf would suddenly stagger a few times, obviously suffering from some kind of swiftness and huge damage. attack.Josh seized every gap in the attack to get inches closer to the werewolf, like a ferret hunting a brown bear. A minute later, blood flowed down the thick black fur like a gurgling stream, and the werewolf lost an eye.York took a few steps back in front of it, holding a sterling silver cross knife in his hand, thick and sticky blood beads scrambling to roll down from it.

This kind of injury not only did not cause any damage to the monster, but made it even more furious.Marsh watched the incision reassemble at a speed visible to the naked eye, and a more ferocious wolf eye than before was formed in the eye socket.

Josh York gasped.Most of his physical strength has been consumed, and now he has to start dodging those attacks that are much fiercer than before.Once the huge claw reached the hem of his long coat, and turning around again Marsh saw a bloody gash on his left forearm.

Abner Marsh slapped his head sharply and stood up from behind the reeds.How could he allow his brave companion to die at the claws of a mad werewolf?For a moment he stamped in embarrassment, and searched all over his body but found nothing that could be used as a weapon.If he hadn't been too anxious to leave, he would never have allowed himself to go out unarmed like this.

The roar of the werewolf became more and more palpitating.Abner Marsh had no choice, he picked up a fist-sized stone, and threw it towards the monster's broad back with all his strength-hit, and the werewolf's angry roar instantly changed direction, and it flew towards the horse. Shi Fei rushed over and rolled up a large ball of mud from the bottom of the pool.Marsh jumped to the side at the right moment, and the big paw almost brushed against the tip of his nose.

"Come on, you beast!" Suddenly Marsh was not afraid of anything, and he jumped up and punched the huge head.The werewolf let out a short groan in pain, and raised his head to glare at the second assailant.

Marsh stepped back pretending to be calm, and recalled like crazy any prayers he had seen that might be heard by God, but naturally he couldn't remember anything.He noticed that there was a short scar with deep bone visible above the werewolf's nose, which was not left by Josh, but lay there ferociously as if he was born with it.

The werewolf raised its front paws high, and its mountain-like body happened to block the brilliance of the moon.

At this moment the shot rang out, and the body shook only a couple of times before falling lifelessly forward, its paws slapping on the mud, and Marsh had already ducked aside.He saw two silver bullets sinking deep into the back of the werewolf's head, and he felt a lot relieved.

The shooter stood in silence.Josh York feebly put down the short pistol in his hand, bent down and groped in the pond for a while.He put the gun back into his long clothes after he landed, and walked towards Marsh unhurriedly with something in his right hand.The long coat was mostly wet and looked heavy, fitting tightly to his slender and gentle waist.

Marsh looked down at the corpse at his feet.Until the sound of another person's heartbeat comes close enough.They exchanged a wordless look, York pulled out the previous silver dagger, and with an incredible strength for his size, he plunged the entire dagger into the werewolf's back, piercing it precisely. heart.

"Okay," said Josh, "thank you very much."

He pulled a wet strip from his inside pocket and Marsh wrapped it around the wound on his left arm for him.After the simple bandaging, Marsh turned his head and glanced at the pond again. Now it was as quiet as if nothing had happened. Thousands of shining tiny light spots were flying around in the moonlight, like fragments of cicada wings, and like Cracked drops of water.

Josh probably thought Marsh didn't see it, but he did see his companion quickly lick a mouthful of wet blood before turning his head.

He didn't say anything.

5,

"You probably don't know how they got there."

After getting back into the carriage again, Josh's first words were this.Due to the injury, the reins are now in Marsh's hands, and while he is carefully driving the horse, he responds to the words of the people around him.

"I don't really know where those werewolves came from," said Marsh, "but you seem to be dealing with them a lot."

York gave a short chuckle. "I almost live with them." There was an unexplained sadness in his eyes, "You should not be much better than me, I can understand."

"Yeah." Marsh slowed down, noticing the constant torment the jolts were causing his companion.

"I know what it's all about. It's nothing to be surprised about, it's just a question of whether people accept it—you can't believe they were human before."

"Those werewolves? Are they human?"

"Yes." York said as he took out the short knife that had just been fished out of the pond from his pocket. The knife was put in a leather scabbard, and there was still a little mud stuck in the gap between the leather and materials. The wear on the blade is clearly visible.

Josh York frowned, and slid his fingers across the blade reflecting his gray pupils, "The owner of this knife is the beast we killed just now."

Marsh remembered the scar on the werewolf's face.He knew nothing could scar a werewolf that permanently, not even silver's effect on them was temporary.Unless that scar was there from the start.

He told Josh, and he soon received a compliment from the other party.

"You believe me?"

"I never said I didn't believe it."

"Ah, that's really... Never before, no one has ever wanted to listen to me." The haze faded from Josh's face, as if Marsh had just pulled out a needle stuck in his heart.He looked tenderly into the face of Abner Marsh, with gratitude in those eyes. "Thank you, Abner."

"It's nothing. I've heard a lot of people gossip, and I didn't believe it at the time. But then I found that it's wiser to believe most things than not to believe it." Marsh tried to concentrate, staring at the two sides in front of him one by one. Illuminated tree trunks and ground.

Josh York put the knife back in its sheath. "I have observed many people who fanatically tried to become one of 'them'. Many of them have disappeared, but there is one who lives by the river not far from my office." He swallowed Saliva, as if he was swallowing some memories stuck in his throat, "It was a full moon night. When I went to his house, his daughter was lying on the embankment, covered in blood. I went into the house and saw her squatting in the corner of the kitchen biting his wife"

Out of the corner of his eye, Marsh caught a glimpse of Josh turning pale. "You know what, Abner, he hasn't changed in that time. He's still human."

The last sentence made Marsh's heart suddenly constrict.Those few syllables were like a vicious curse, as cold and hard as a skull rolled out of a dungeon.

There was a painful look on Josh York's face, and Marsh couldn't help guessing whether the other party had seen such a scene countless times.Josh opened his mouth with difficulty and closed it again.

"I get it. Stop it." Marsh lowered his voice, trying to sound the gentlest voice he had ever heard.

They were all silent for a while, and then Josh's voice rang out: "Before you, no one has ever believed my words."

The voice was so low that Marsh could hardly hear it, as if blown by a cold wind from far away.

"No need to convince them," Marsh reassured. "At least you and I know how to stop this shit. It's good for us."

"I hope so." The powerful and calm hunter just now seemed to have disappeared.The ferret shrunk its paws and turned into a weak mass.

"Abner." Josh York's voice suddenly became clear. "It may be offensive, but I still don't like humans."

In this terrible age when everyone is preoccupied with fearing the creatures of the night, walking through the dark woods with a stranger who has just known each other to a degree of mutual understanding almost makes Abner Marsh dusty for a long time. The heart began to beat.

It was the latter that Marsh found himself especially saddened by during their dangerous and short journey.When approaching St. Louis, Josh was leaning against him almost entirely, and he couldn't feel the temperature from it, while Josh was shivering faintly from the cold.

Indeed, "they" are also afraid of the cold.

TBC.