Wilt and Wither

Chapter 7

Jax decided to stay with Sam at the house. It had been a rough few hours since we found out about his aunt and I hated to leave him, but I had a job to do. Not sure if I was still getting paid but a job to do none the less.

 Not like I could just pick up and leave at this point.

I threw on a hoodie, a pair of jeans and slipped on my boots. I grabbed my blade and waited for Cole to get his ass down here so we could leave. Why was I even letting that idiot join me! I just had to hope Jax would stay here and not do anything stupid. I had to wrap my head around all of this and take action before it was too late for everyone in this town.

That means containing whatever is sucking the life out of this town and keeping Jackson from turning into a beast. Both issues would be deadly for this town and quite possibly the world.

I had to kill him, that's just that. That's the smart logical thing.

I swallowed hard pushing past the sour taste that thought left.

If he killed something and turned the kind of devastation he would cause would be terribly endless. I could tell him, but there was always a chance he knew. I'd just met him there's no way I could trust him. That whole sweet boy next door act could be a set up.

I tossed those thoughts as Cole walked down the stairs. "Ready." He wore a black knit hat, a black sweater that hugged his well defined chest and black jeans. "I'm sorry are you modeling for Calvin Klein or are you going to rob some place?"

"You wear black." He frowned pushing past me and out the front door.

"Yeah but I don't look like I'm going on a diamond heist."

The night fell all around us. It was cool causing the eerie silence to take on a sinister edge. My body sparked as instinct screamed against what I was planning to do.

Apparently Cole caught on too. "What are you doing?" He stopped as terror drained his features.

"Welp Mr. Man I am going into the rot, how else am I going to find out what is hiding in there and causing it?"

"But if you go in there you may not come back alive." His feet were firmly planted. Secretly I was happy he decided to come along with me.

Ugh what was happening to me?

"Nobody knows for sure what's in the rot because no one will check it out. It could be candy and rainbows, no one knows for sure." I secretly hoped it was candy or rainbows I would be happy with either one. "I'm pretty durable. You can stay here but I need to go out there and find whatever it is. I have a feeling at the starting point is where I'm going to find my answers."

He stood there for a minute thoughts racing through his mind each one displayed on his face.

Fear. Anger. Curiosity.

That last one won out. "Fine let's go." He took a reluctant step on the beginning of the dead grass. The deeper we walked in the woods the danker the smell grew. I struggled to breathe against the smell of rot as it grew thicker the farther we walked.

The grass went from dried up to a pile of mush the deeper we went. "This is insane, what could do this?" I cringed watching the mess spread over my new boots.

I shrugged. I had no clue never in my years had I seen something like this. The smell grew worse and my stomach started to churn. Something was watching us. I stopped abruptly feeling the magic and all I could feel was pure evil.