Buh-Bye, Bessie

[Gabe Rivers]

Gabe swerved his rusty mustang up the dusty track leading to his home, stopping just before ripping into the front porch, the badly welded bumper just touching the small wooden steps that lead up onto it. An uncoordinated hand tried several times to pull the handle on the door, missing the first few times before it finally managed pop it open. Staggering out, boots kicking up dust as they nearly tripped over themselves, Gabe discarded a drained beer-bottle over his head, awaiting the familiar sound of it smashing against the hardened ground. He didn't hear it... instead it was more of a squishy thump, like it had hit something... fleshy...

Sweat-moistened hands lifted to rub blurry eyes as he stood for a while, swaying in his drunkenness, before he turned on his heels to investigate. Heading to where he had thrown the bottle, he couldn't help but heave at the smell that hit him like a slap in the face. What he saw next... words couldn't explain.... It caused him to stumble back and run towards the house, shaking hands grabbing the phone as soon as he was inside, fingers clumsily managing to dial 911, his slurred words explaining what he had saw and giving his address. Putting the phone down... he walked slowly to the window, shaking in fright at the mutilated cow carcass that lay baked in the field...

[Nate Dayes]

Urgh. Great! The third animal mutilation in a week. This would would be the same as the others, the same skilled incisions, the same profesional skinning techniques.

Nate didn't get it, why would anyone want to cut up a cow, then just leave it there to rot? People said it was 'aliens', but he had his own theory about a prankster.

It didn't matter, Sheriff Dayes had to go see what was going on, and since he was the only able officer out of the three in the station, he had to go to every single mutilation. It wasnt the sight that bothered him - there wasn't much blood. It was the smell. Sickening, it was the sort of smell to instantly make you retch and run for cover.

His car pulled up onto the dirt track, kicking up dust as the squad car rolled towards the rusty mustang sitting by the ranch. Dayes pulled it into park and stepped out of the vehicle. The smell had already wafted over him, causing him to cover his mouth and nose.

"Mr Rivers?" He called through his hand at the house.

[Gabe Rivers]

Finally, Gabe was reassured by the familiar voice of the sherriff... someone he usually tried to avoid. But right now, he wasn't after him... he didn't know about the drink driving that had just occurred, and Gabe wanted to keep it that way. Stumbling to the bathroom, he splashed the cold water at his face, hoping it would allow him to come to his senses a little more. Heading towards the door, he chucked a few pieces of gum inside his mouth... the sheriff usually spotted the smell of alcohol on your breath a mile away... but right now, there was a stronger smell that surrounded the ranch...

"Er... hold up, sheriff, I'll be right out!" he called from inside the small house, jaw aching as he chewed and chewed at the gum. Satisfied that the smell had been covered, he ventured out side to greet him, stumbling down the steps as he reached them "... you seen her, sheriff? Someone got old Bessie... sick bastards...". He raised a hand and pointed in the direction of the cow... not walking to closely too the sheriff.

[anne]

Anne pulled her beat up Toyota Tundra into Gabe Rivers' driveway. She rolled her eyes when she saw the Sheriff's car already in the driveway. Why he hadn't called her as soon as he heard of another mutilation, she didn't know. She was temporarily assigned to investigate all of the paranormal occurrences in Winchester which included the abnormal animal mutilations.

As she stepped out of the truck the putrid smell of the animal nearly made her loose her lunch, and she quickly took deep breaths in hopes of calming her intestines down. She stepped up beside the Sheriff and Gabe Rivers', her long black FBI-looking jacket dragging in the dust. Curiosity took over and she bent down, staring at the cow. The way the flesh was cut was similar to the other mutilation cases, and it was obvious that the cow had been killed by the same mutilator as before.

Anne stood up again and listened as Gabe talked to the Sheriff. The early afternoon sun beat down on them, making Summers wish she'd left her jacket in the truck.

"Did you hear anything strange last night, Mr. Rivers?"

Most of the mutilations took place at night, when everyone was sleeping, or in Gabe's case was out partying. She could smell the alcohol on him which was almost as putrid and bitter smelling as the cow's dead carcass.

[Nate Dayes]

Nate rolled his eyes at the sight of the car. She really got under his skin, pretending to be somebody in this town. New Winchester could do without another paranormal fanatic.

"I saw her." He said quietly to Gabe and eyed the usual incisions, neat cut lines on the skull. It was quite scary that this was now normality to him. He even refered to a 'paranormal' activity as 'the usual', as if he were talking about common street crime.

The Sheriff completly ignored the Fed, and instead crouched down for an older look.
He wasn't as young as he used to be, but still he was still flexible. Seems the working out payed off!

"Same as the one in Mansel's." He said and lifted a flap of skin with a stick, just above where the cow's eyeball would be. Again, there was no blood to be found, the bone bleached white against the grey-red of the flesh.

Something caught his eye on the white bone - a black line, only about an inch long. It was definatly a scorch mark, as if someone had a small blow-torch to it. If he knew better he'd say it looked like it could have been a laser burn, like in those movies.
He hid the find well though, dropping the skin back into place and tossing the stick to one side. Nate really didn't want Anne to find the burn, he'd never live it down - she was always on about UFO's and Alien Mutilations.

[Gabe Rivers]

A short sigh escaped his lips as he noticed yet another car occupy the dusty driveway, an eyebrow slightly raised as the very professional looking woman made herself seen. Gabe flicked his sunglasses down off the top off his head, letting them flop over his squinting eyes. Maybe with them covered, the two couldn't read him too well. Arms locked into a fold over his chest and he lent against the side of his car, shrugging his shoulders gently at the Fed's question " Yes I did... have you ever heard 'Old-Man' Winters singing karaoke? I'm scarred for life..." He gave a fake smile and chewed rapidly at the gum inside his mouth... wanting this situation to be over as soon as possible so he could collapse into a coma-like sleep.

[anne]

Anne rolled her eyes and bit back the response to his comment. She hated working cases like this. She dug a camera out of her pocket and started snapping pictures, choosing to ignore Gabe's response for the time being. The man obviously wasn't in the state of mind to be answering any questions.

Summers walked around the dead cow, snapping pictures at different angles and zooming in on the carcass itself. Anyone with a degree in medicine would be able to see that the lacerations and cuts made on the skin itself were far beyond the abilities of a regular scalpel. Of course, people would try and make up some sort of other excuses to explain away from the phenomenon. She still couldn't believe how skeptical people were about the possibility that all of this strange activity going on didn't relate somehow to aliens or the paranormal. She was determined to prove them wrong.

She stood and faced Gabe again, hoping to get a better answer this time. Maybe if she threatened to take him down to the station she'd get a better response. It seemed to convince most uncooperative people.

"Mr. Rivers, are you sure you didn't hear or see anything unusual? Besides the karaoke singer at the bar?" Anne narrowed her eyes at the man, giving him one more chance to answer her questions before she offered to take him down to the station. He was obviously drunk, but she needed to know if he had seen or heard anything unusual that may be related to the mutilation of his cow.

[Nate Dayes]

From behind the Fed, the Sheriff stood grinning at Gabe. She was too uptight and deserved to get wise-ass comments like that.

"Mr. Rivers, are you sure you didn't hear or see anything unusual? Besides the karaoke singer at the bar?" She said.

Nate shook his head and looked down at the ground, a smirk still riding his lips. A second or two of silence ensued, and the Cop looked back up at Gabe who seemed to be contemplating another come-back.

"'Ah, leave him be." Nate said almost laughing, "Mr Rivers loved that cow..."

[Gabe Rivers]

Gabe sighed and tilted his head to the side, firring the gum-ball out onto the heat-cracked floor from the corner of his mouth. "Okay, Okay, Medusa... I left last night about... hmmm... lets see, about midnight it was..." He muttered and mumbled a little at the end of his sentence, trying to recount what had happened "... one of those darn helicopters was flyin' about, scarred the hell outta' the dogs, barkin' like mad they were... like they ain't ever heard one before... must have been one of your lot, Sheriff, after some criminal no doubt...."

He flicked his sunglasses back up onto his head and nodded lightly at Sheriff Dayes' comment. Bessie was the only farm animal he had kept after his parents died, it was his dads favorite one and he used to treat it like a human rather than a cow. Gabe just allowed her to walk around and do as she pleased on the farm, occasionally patting it on the head and talking to it when he was drunk... she was the only thing around at early hours of the morning...

[anne]

Anne nodded her head and wrote some notes down on a pad she took out of her pocket. At least Gabe was cooperating now, even though his attitude was a bit annoying. Anne turned and glared at the Sheriff after he commented on how she should just leave things be. What was the point of coming out to investigate if they weren't going to try and get all the facts?

Nate Dayes infuriated her to no end, and the only reason she was dealing with him was because she had been forced to work with him. He was a skeptic, as she used to be, but ever since her abduction things had changed.

Finally she decided she'd had enough of Nate and said coldly, "Well then, if you think you can handle things from here then I'll just leave you two alone. I have what I need anyway. Good day Mr. Rivers, I hope the good old Sheriff here is able to help you out."

With that, Anne turned around, walked to her pickup truck, slammed the door, and pulled out of the driveway. She knew Nate would find her later and start up one of their usual arguments about how she was acting immaturely. She didn't care though, she was fed up with it all. If people weren't going to believe her what was the point?

[Nate Dayes]

"Ahh c'mon! I didn't mean -" He gave up trying with a laugh, before turning back to Gabe and taking a few steps. He made sure the truck was out of ear-shot before biting his bottom lip and raising his eyebrows at Mr Rivers. "...And don't think I don't know about you drinkin' either, Gabe..." With that stern note he looked back down at the corpse. "What's your view on this anyway? Aliens?!" He added mocking the fanatics.

[Gabe Rivers]

Gabe's eyes followed her car off the drive and he raised a hand in a slight wave, smirking slightly at the obvious rivalry between the two. His smile soon vanished as the Sheriff approached, his words causing a nod of his head. That was one thing he liked about the sheriff, he'd let Gabe off on a few occasions... he knew what he'd been through and that he couldn't help his drinking problem. "Guess this is my last warning.. huh?" he muttered, fingers tapping lightly against the rusted metal of his car "... heh... you know me, I'm too dumb to have a view on anything... but all this talk about aliens... it makes you wonder, it's a possibility..."

[Nate Dayes]

"Pff." Nate grunted with a snigger. "Aliens..." He trailed off. Even he could see a possiblity of it now actually. It was all too bizarre for men to do it, and hell, he knew of no-one in NW with the drive to do it, let alone the smarts. This was something else.

It was the scorch mark that pushed him, though he had to admit, he never did have a sceptic story for the lack of blood either.

"Maybe..." he muttered, thinking aloud.

Snapping out of his thought he looked at the battered ranch; "Could do with a lick of paint, huh?"

[Gabe Rivers]

Gabe smirked as the sheriff was swayed slightly to the idea of aliens. Now that was peculiar... Nate Dayes usually played things by his own eyes and ears, and the sight of him pondering on the thought of the actual existence of aliens seemed out of his character. Letting it go, Gabe turned to look at his home... the wood splintering and the paint peeling as it was harshly baked by the scorching sun of New Winchester. "Yeah... could do with more than that, Sheriff..." he sighed, but shrugged it off... he was never in a fit state to do anything about it, neither did he have the time. His eyes then shifted to the ruined fields, the crops being strangled long ago by the weeds that took over "... I remember this place at its best... look at it now... just a wilderness"

[Nate Dayes]

"So do I, kid..." He said pushing his bottom lip up slightly and covering his eyes from the glare with his hand, while his dark eyes looked over the wilting yellow weeds. The heat was too much for even the weeds. He contemplated talking about his parents, but decided to keep it locked up for a while. His parents were a good couple. They were one of the staples of the community and when they died, a little bit of NW died with them. It wasn't fair.

Nor was it fair to leave a child behind, burdened with the pressure of being his parents boy. He had to live up to them, almost, but when he turned to drink the people turned their backs on him.

The Sheriff had hope - he knew this boy was a good kid, and his alcoholic tendencies were just fallout from his horrific past.

Nate sighed - "...We should try and fix this place up before summer's end." He tried. If not for Gabe's sake, it could be in rememberance. "I'm sure we could round up some of the locals...Get old-man Winter's over here, get him to entertain us!" He said with a chuckle, though his eyes remained on the field.