It had been a week since the attack at the winter carnival and AMU soldiers were still actively patrolling the town, you could almost see a patrol vehicle on every street. All businesses, schools and offices were expected to commence normal operations today, the presence of the AMU which was obviously meant to give the impression that we were safe didn't really send the intended message. When I arrived at school there was an AMU vehicle parked outside, I stood outside, right by the main door and watched everyone as they walked in.
Bob was approaching the door "They are always responsible for every bad thing that happens" he said as he walked past me.
I ignored him and went in, I was headed to class when I saw Susan at her locker "Hey"
"Hey Fred" she responded with a smile.
"How's your Dad?"
"He's great!" She exclaimed happily as she closed her locker door "He was discharged yesterday, he seems better, he even made breakfast this morning"
I smiled "I'm glad to hear that" I really was glad to hear it, all week I was thinking that if I had been more helpful in that fight then he wouldn't have gotten hurt. "Any idea where Karen and Chris are?"
"I haven't seen them yet but we all have class together. C'mon let's go"
Susan started to walk away when I grabbed her by the arm "Wait, I have to tell you something"
"What is it?"
My heart began to race, I didn't know I could be that nervous but I finally pulled myself together "This might be a bad time to ask this but any other time we're together we always seem to have company. Would you like to grab something to eat sometime, just you and me?"
Susan tried to hide it but I could see her faint smirk "Like a date or just friends grabbing food?"
"The first option, a date" I answered with a nervous chuckle.
Susan took a step towards me "I can't give you an answer right now, there's just so much happening in town and it feels like the wrong time to…"
"Right, Yeah" I cut her off. "I don't know what I was thinking, your Dad just got out of the hospital. We should get to class"
"Fred" Susan called after me as I started to walk, I turned around to look at her as she walked up to me "Ask me again later"
"What?"
"Ask me again when all of this madness is over and the town is back to normal. I'll give you an answer then" she said with a smile.
I smiled back "Okay. In that case I hope the AMU kills that thing soon"
She laughed and walked ahead of me to class.
I entered into the classroom shortly after Susan, Chris and Karen were already seated.
"Why are you smiling?" Karen asked.
I immediately tried to stiffen my face "What? I'm not smiling"
"Someone's in a good mood, what's up?" Chris inquired.
I sat down and faced forward "Nothing"
"Hey Susan" Karen called. "He's definitely smiling right?"
"Definitely" She replied with a smile of her own.
"Alright, let's settle down" Mr. Park said as he entered the classroom which thankfully put an end to Karen and Chris' pestering. "We've all been through a lot recently but it's good to have you all back in class. The school has informed all teachers to remind you of the curfew, this is not the time to sneak off to party or hangout in the woods because there is something dangerous out there. Hopefully this will all be over soon and everything can go back to the way it used to be, for now be wise, make smart decisions and report any suspicious activity to the AMU. Open your books, let's start the class"
It had been about half an hour since Mr. Park started teaching when we heard a siren from a distance, the sound became louder and it was clear that the vehicle was headed straight to the school, everyone got up from their chairs and looked out the window to see what was going on.
"Everyone one return to your seats" Mr. Park voiced, trying to regain control of the class but no one seemed to be paying attention and he wasn't the only teacher having difficulty in doing so, I could also hear other classrooms down the hall being as rowdy as ours.
I looked outside the window to see what was happening, it was just a single AMU vehicle, the vehicle stopped and two soldiers exited the vehicle, the one driving and the other riding shotgun, they hurriedly made their way into the school. Someone grabbed my hand from behind, it was Karen, she had her phone to her ear, she was on a call. She also grabbed Chris and signaled us to follow her, we followed her to the other end of the classroom.
"Thanks mum" Karen said and hung up the phone. "They are here for us"
Chris was clearly shook "What? For us?"
"There's no time. That was my Mum on the line, the AMU just picked put my Dad so we need to get our stories straight" Karen said. "We'll stick to what we told my parents, I was upset about the werewolves being blamed for the murders so I went into the woods to cool off, you guys followed me and that's where we met the Alchemist and he told us about the dire beast, don't mention anything about Fred obviously and Chris, don't mention anything about this chimera or whatever because you in particular haven't seen him. Stick to that story"
"That story is just not believable, not to mention it has a lot of missing details"
"Well we don't have time to come up with a new story, do we?" Karen replied with a snarky tone.
Susan noticed us in the corner and walked up to us "What's going on?" but before we could reply her the two soldiers walked into the classroom, followed by our principal.
"Karen Brown, Fredrick Powell and Chris Palmer, please identify yourselves" one of the soldiers voiced.
We raised our hands slowly. "Please follow me" the soldier said. The soldiers waited for us to walk to the front of the class, one of the soldiers lead the way and the other followed us from behind.
"I'll call your parents" Mr. Park said as we walked away. As we walked the hallway, students were standing by the doors and windows watching us be escorted out. So much for not drawing attention to myself right.
When we got outside the soldier opened the backseat and asked us to get in while the two of them rode in the front. Throughout the whole ride there we were quiet, we obviously couldn't talk freely so we kept exchanging glances. The vehicle drove us to town hall, from the number of AMU vehicles and soldiers around it was obvious they had set up base here. Mayor Darien Stowe was outside, standing with an AMU soldier, he and the soldier started to approach us as we came out of the vehicle.
"Hey kids" The Mayor said in a welcoming voice. "There's nothing to be worried about, we're just going to ask you a few questions and then we'll take you back to school"
They took us into the town hall building and asked us to sit down at the reception, Doris was the receptionist at town hall. Doris and my Mum are friends so I see her from time to time. She said hello and assured us that there was nothing to worry about. Chris was called into an office, he looked at us nervously before going, Karen was called in next, and not long after I was called in. The office looked like any typical office. There was a modern desk with a lamp on top. In front of the desk were two chairs for visitors, and in the corner, there was a sitting area with chairs surrounding a glass table. A man was seated in the owner's chair. He introduced himself as Sergeant Paul and then told me to take a seat.
The Sergeant cleared his throat "After the first murders in the woods one of our soldiers brought the dire beast to our attention before we could confirm it was a dire beast, the carnival happened and it sent shivers all over the country and when we questioned him he said that Mr. Brown and his own son, were the ones who told him about this creature, his son being your friend Chris Palmer, and Mr. Brown is the father of Karen, your werewolf friend. On interrogating Mr. Brown we found out the information came from the three of you and that's why you're here. So please tell me, how did you find out about the Dire Beast?"
I gave him the story we all agreed to tell, Karen was upset so we followed her into the woods and we bumped into the Alchemist who told us about the dire beast and that was how we got the information.
He stared at me silently for a moment and then smiled. He leaned forward from his seat "Can you please give me a description of the Alchemist?"
"The… the Alchemist?" I muttered.
"Yes" He responded. "You saw him in the woods so you obviously have a good description for him, or if you already know who he is and you tell me that would be very helpful"
I had seen the Alchemist in his scary outfit once, on the night of the full moon when he shot at me. I could give him the actual Alchemist description, there was no way they could connect the Alchemist to Jerald Adler – I thought, so I described the alchemist, gruesome mask, rifle and terrifying persona.
"Thank you" He said, he hit a button on the intercom "Send them in"
The door opened and Chris, Karen and Mr. Brown walked in with the Mayor.
"Take a seat please" The mayor said, they both grabbed a chair and sat down.
"We sincerely apologize for the theatrics" The Sergeant said. "We picked you all up suddenly so you wouldn't have time to change your story and thankfully all of your stories aligned, the story has a lot of loopholes but it was the same with the three of you, but then I asked every single one of you to describe the Alchemist, and I got three different descriptions"
"They're kids who stumbled unto someone terrifying, I wouldn't be surprised if their description was off" Mr. Brown said in our defense.
The Sergeant chuckled "Chris said the alchemist was a seven foot man with a furry black coat and a machete, Karen said he had a shotgun, and Fred said he had a rifle. No matter how scared they were you would agree with me that they should've noticed what kind of weapon the Alchemist had in hand, Right?"
The room was dead silent, the Sergeant made a valid point, he probably didn't even believe our story. The silence came to an end with a knock on the door "Thank God" I whispered to myself.
The door opened and Doris from the reception came in "The parents of the children are here"
"Thank you Doris" Mayor Stowe said as she exited the room, he turned to the Sergeant "We need to wrap this up"
The Sergeant stood up "Look, I don't believe a couple of teenagers have anything to do with the murders and attacks, but I also don't believe you all are being entirely truthful. The AMU is here to help, but if we prove that you withheld information from us on purpose then it would be really bad for you guys"
Mayor Darien Stowe opened the door "We can't hold you guys so you're free to go, we're trying to save our town so please reach out with any information you feel can be of help"
Mr. Brown got up and walked towards the Mayor "We've said all me know" he turned to us and beckoned us with his hand "C'mon kids, let's go home"
When we got to the reception I saw my parents standing alongside Chris' Mum, I don't know about Karen and Chris but I was thinking about how my parents would take this incident, they could probably decide to homeschool me.