Curse of the Werebottom

Chapter 6

Outside the Manor, Larry and Eddie stared at each other in disbelief. The tracks were very clear and easy to follow. They trawled through the maze of tents in the huge field, weaving in and out of the many multi-coloured makeshift homes before running the entire length of the wall of the adjourning plant nursery. The tracked followed the wall until they broke away and headed in a straight line right up towards the Manor house itself. Upon reaching the hose, they sharply turned and trailed around to the rear of the property. Larry and Eddie had followed this erratic path and now stood staring at the rear wall of the Manor house. It was tall and it was smooth and it had no doors and it had no windows and it was where the tracks suddenly ended.

"This makes no sense at all," stated Eddie. "I feel like a headless chicken on a wild goose chase. He adopted a pose of a man stroking his chin whilst his other hand cupped his elbow as he sarcastically declared, "The monster obviously appeared out of nowhere, decided to go and smell the flowers before searching around every tent until it found the right people to fart upon. At this time it simply disappeared back into thin air! Quick, get on the phone to the Ghostbusters and tell them not to bother coming because I've solved the case. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off on my travels to Scotland to clear up the whole Loch Ness business before lunch!" Despite his annoyance at Eddie's sense of humour, Larry couldn't help but grin at his best friend. "Knock it off nut job! What did you expect to see here? Perhaps a big neon flashing sign? Monsters only – Humans keep out. Or maybe you expected to find a huge monster sleeping soundly, all curled up on the floor, just waiting for you to come around and declare the tent wrecker under citizen's arrest? After I've phoned the Ghostbusters I'm phoning Sherlock Holmes to let him know that his job is still safe and that there's no need for him to start panicking just yet!"

Eddie laughed in return at his friend's response. "Go on then, Sheer-Luck Holmes, you have a go. What do you think happened here?" Larry's eyes sparkled as he smiled at his friend and surveyed the area as he drifted deep into thought.

Eddie knew his best friend well. Larry was a puzzler and he lived for the next challenge. Since they were young boys Larry always asked the same questions: How and why?

It wasn't really that Larry wanted to know how everything on the planet worked or operated. It was more of a need to know how everything happened to be. It was almost as if once he asked himself this question, he could not fixate on anything else quite properly until the puzzle was solved. Eddie had witnessed many people, adults mostly, become more and more weakened and frustrated at Larry's persistent questioning as they grew up together. Teachers, babysitters, party magicians and entertainers had all fallen foul of Larry's inquisitive nature at some point or another. Whether it was how a rabbit came from a hat, the natural cycle of raining and sunshine or the reasoning of different bedtimes for different ages of children, Larry simply had to understand them all. It wasn't that Larry was a troublesome child. It was simply that he was, as Eddie could best describe it, a puzzler.

Larry turned to Eddie with a look of understanding on his face. "This is how I see it. Fact 1: It doesn't have to travel on the ground. The tracks start and finish in open spaces, we have to be aware that this thing may be able to fly or leap great distances.

Fact 2: Due to the level of violence randomly committed, it is either incredibly stupid, inquisitive or angry. It stomped all over this campsite, in between rows and clusters of tents when there is no obvious reason why it should do so. It's unlikely that it is stupid as it made a getaway from a crowded campsite without actually being seen. It's unlikely that it's inquisitive as it didn't actually explore, discover or disturb anything of value or interest. The most logical solution is that this is a very angry and maybe dangerous creature that only wishes to cause mayhem and destruction. Fact 3: It tracked down the full length of the wall for a reason. It can't be hiding or scared as it trampled all over the site. It is quite probable that this thing was attracted to either the wall, or something beyond the wall. Perhaps it likes flowers or the smell of flowers.

Eddie stared at his friend as he considered everything that he had concluded. Finally he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Fair enough, so we're looking for a flower loving, tent destroying, trump pumping, flying or leaping creature that also has the ability to disappear into thin air. Should be easy enough, where do you suggest we start looking?"

"Before I came for you this morning I already thought that we would need to consult an expert," Larry said. "We need to find Strange Max."