Claws in the Dark | ✔

XXXV

Metal blades whirred as the helicopter flew through the blizzard. The turbulence was rough but Wilkins managed to maintain control of the gears for it to remain airborne.

Patrick was clutching the bar above his head with one hand and gripping the leather of the seat with the other. Despite the cold, he was sweating profusely, in addition to breathing heavily.

Wilkins glances across at him and chuckled. "Feeling okay, sir? You look a bit pale."

"Huh? Oh! Y-yeah, perfectly f-fine," he replied in a nervous voice. "Why wouldn't I be?" He chuckled as he let go of the bar overhead a d loosened the grip on his seat. He took a deep breath.

"You look like your heart's about to give out."

Patrick mumbled, "Maybe it is," quietly to himself. "This weather is ridiculously dangerous. Are you sure we should even be flying, Wilkins?"

"I told you," she said, "this was the only way."

The chief sighed and looked out at the raging snowstorm. "Yeah, yeah, I know. What's our ETA?"

"We're at least ten minutes out."

"And enough fuel to make it back?"

"Unless we find them in less than twenty minutes, we'll be falling out of the sky halfway back to Peskin, sir."

"Shit," Patrick said, rubbing his hands down his face. "I don't even know. They could be anywhere right now. How the hell are we supposed to find--."

BOOM!! came an explosive noise from in the distance, and they could see the faint orange glow through the heavy snowfall.

"It looks like that explosion happened somewhere in the mountains," Wilkins suggested, looking ahead. The blizzard let up for a bit and they saw the town down below, especially the cars that were left in the middle of the streets and the few bodies, or body parts, that were noticeable in the snow.

"Oh, my God," Bill whispered in horror, tears filling his eyes. "I sent Miles and his family to their death."

"You couldn't have known this would happen," Wilkins said, trying to comfort her boss. "It's not every day you get a case like this."

"But I did know. I knew about the monsters, I knew everything."

Wilkins laughed, thinking that it was just a joke, but then she realized that Patrick was being serious. She exhaled her last laugh as she watched between him and the orange approaching glow. "You're joking, right? Tell me you're fucking pulling my leg."

"I wish I was," he replied. "It was the reason I took the transfer thirty years ago. You see, I grew up in Grandville and worked for their police department, but that was until a similar incident like this occurred. The current police chief of Grandville, a woman named Kelly, and I barely made it out of the town alive before the government came in and covered up everything. They gave us a new life in Peskin and we vowed never to share this information with anyone. She eventually moved back to the town when it announced its grand re-opening, but I stayed."