Treacherous ─ Theo Raeken ¹

20; RESTRAINT CONTROL

❝One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go. Whether it's guilt, anger, love, loss or betrayal. Change is never easy. We fight to hold on and we fight to let go.❞

▃▃▃

     IF CASSANDRA HA a choice to go to school or to the tunnel with her father and grandfather, she would have chosen to go to school. Not that she didn't want to spend time with her family, but what has been done by her grandfather last night really affect her. She didn't trust herself anymore, even hating herself is the thing that particularly at this time. She didn't blame Gerard to say that when in fact it is true she was the cause of their death. However it is not important at this time. She promised her father that she will try her best to not let the Black Hound overtake her until they really know who will be their next opponent.

The tunnel is very quiet that only their footsteps are heard. Chris holds his gun while pointing it forward, and she holds the crossbow. As they were walking through the tunnel, Gerard stepped aside towards the pipe. He touched it and turned his hand, it revealed the black soot.

Chris stared at it curiously, "What is that?"

"You might call it a fingerprint." He answered simply as they walked away from the pipe.

"This isn't going to look like anything we've seen before, is it?" Chris asked.

"Definitely not." Cassandra muttered quietly.

"There were a lot of descriptions of the Beast of Gevaudan." Gerard said. "Everything from a red-furred giant wolf to a cloven-hoofed panther the size of a horse. But my grandfather gave me a description that was a bit strange."

Cassandra frowned, "How strange?"

"He said the body was oil black. Solid but shapeless at the same time. Like a shadow pretending to be real." Gerard whispered the last sentence.

Chris and Cassandra exchanged glances before Chris holstering his gun and took out a much larger weapon. She set up her crossbow and aimed forwards.

"How do we stop it?"

"As far as legend goes, the only weapon that proved effective was a simple spear in the hands of a young woman." Gerard replied.

"The Maid of Gevaudan."

Gerard nodded, "Yeah."

They continued to walk until the tunnel is divided into two parts. Then, they decided to split up. Chris and Cassandra heard the sound of scurrying and scuttling somewhere in the tunnel. They continued walking followed the sound. Chris glanced at her a little bit. It is not too obvious, but he felt his daughter a bit distant after the events of last night.

"You okay?"

Cassandra looked at her father for a second before back to the tunnel, "Yeah. Probably not in the good mood."

"I could tell." He said. "Look Cassandra, I'm sorry you had to hear it all from your grandfather instead of me. I wanted to say everything but I'm looking for the right time. And with all that is happening right now, I'm not sure to tell you when the creature is still wandering in Beacon Hills. I think-"

"Dad," She cut him off. "Just stop, okay? It's not your fault. Better to focus on this creature."

Chris sighed, nodding slowly. They continued walking until they found a grate in the floor of the tunnel. They walked closer to the grate, and it turns out the grate is the source of the noise is coming from. The closer they are to the grate, the sound of scurrying and scuttling increasingly audible. They immediately knelt down and tried to look into the grate, but since the grate is too dark they couldn't see anything. So, Chris dropped a flare into the grate and what happened next was very awful. Her eyes widened as she clamped her mouth, staring at the scene in disbelief. Thousands of insects, the source of the noise, spread away from the fire revealed a pile of dead bodies.