Sheep's Clothing by Gary Lewis (free ebook reader for pc txt) 📕

silent tension that hung in the car. To the left, an old, rundown, pale blue house lost the white picket fence that had surrounded its yard. It would never be the same as when he, Tony and their parents once called it home. When it passed from view without so much as a word, David knew that something had to give.

"So, did you hear about the monster burning down old barns in Pine Bluff?" David asked.

Tony chuckled. "I saw that on the news. Maybe he's the one who burned down the old rec center last year."

"Wouldn't surprise me," David said, slowing down as they cruised through their old neighborhood. "You know, I drive up the highway right there all the time," David said. "But, here..." He paused with a sigh. "It's sure been a while."

Tony turned his head to him with a large smile that wrapped around his fat cheeks.

"What?" David asked. "You thinking of the time I accidently hit the neighbor’s mailbox and you went and told them you did it?"

"Not at all, bro," Tony said, settling into a light smile. "Not at all."

"You know, little brother," Tony said. "When you drive by here on the way to visit Janice and you get all up in here." Tony poked the side of his temple. "What makes you so nervous before you get there?"

David's disappointment tensed into his face. "Yeah. I overthink everything. I know."

"You're missing the point, man," Tony continued. "What are you afraid is gonna happen when you make your move?"

"Well, she thinks I'm her best friend," David said, nodding his head to the side. "She might... I don't know, freak out. And she's with Vance now."

"You're afraid she won't be your friend anymore," Tony said, still smiling. "But think. You don't want to be her friend. You don't want that." Tony looked straight into David's face. "You know I love you, little brother, and it just hurts me to watch you do this to yourself."

"Alright. Alright," David said in attempt to break the awkward wall that pressed against his chest. "I'll make my move tomorrow."

"Always tomorrow, little brother... Always tomorrow.” Tony paused to look at David. “Tomorrows run out eventually, my man," Tony said, turning to the passing trees as he leaned back.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold up!" Tony shouted, reaching his palm forward. David slowed his approach near a rolling pasture. From the left, bent fence posts opened up to barbed wire twisted across the street like a tangled ball of yarn.

"No.” Tony pointed to the ditch on the right. “There." David carefully pulled over. A large sack of dead weight slumped into the grass on the right, its familiar contour taking the shape of a cow. Ripped open and out of place, it seemed to still long for the limbs that were missing. Intestines were strewn from its belly in a pool of blood that trailed across the street.

"David! Check that out!" Tony said, swinging around his pointing finger. "Looks like it ran through the fence after it got attacked up there." David wondered in awe, listening as Tony tried to make sense of the scene.

"So..." David said with wide eyes. "It was already missing a leg, with its guts hanging out when it busted through the fence?"

"God," Tony said. "I've never seen anything like it."

They both stepped out of the car to venture closer to the dead cow. Trails of dark red blood led to a giant pool that streamed out with hoof prints that ended where the large animal laid. Whatever happened, it took place with a violent ferocity that sucked the warmth from David's skin and left him in a cold shock.

"You ok, bro?” Tony asked. “Not gonna puke on me, are you?"

"No. I'm good," David said with an uncertainty that outweighed his words. "You think a bear or coyote could do that?"

"I've seen us have bears. I've seen us have coyotes. But I never seen us have this," Tony said. "Bet Vance could tell us. Him and his pops been hunting around here forever."

The name still burned in David's chest as he shot a quick glance at Tony that was met only with a smile.

"Let's go check it out." Tony waved him along as he jogged uphill over the other side of the ditch where the cow had come from. "No way," Tony said, halted in place at the top of the embankment in a fixed stare.

"What is it?" David cautiously walked up behind Tony.

The landscape came into view over the hill as a grisly scene stopped David in place.

"There must be ten or fifteen of them," Tony said. "I can't even tell."

Legs and torsos of cattle were strewn across the field where bright green grass had been sprayed blood red across swaths that stretched far beyond where they originated. "It's like the devil came through with a meat shredder, hacked them apart and tossed their pieces everywhere," David said. Something unimaginable had inserted itself into the circle of life and as it ravaged its way through, it left a trail of horror in its wake.

David struggled to make sense out of what happened. "Where did it start and where did it end?"

Tony swung his arms out at his sides. "No idea, little bro."

"We should call someone," David said, walking his way back down to the road.

"I'm on it," Tony said, before climbing back into the car. "Does old man Perkins still own these farms?" Tony asked, scrolling through a mile of contacts.

"No. They sold this one out to them corporate guys last year."

David put the car into drive as he resumed their trip in a daze. But even after their hellish discovery, Tony's phone call with the police department made it impossible for David to cling onto the weight of what they had seen.

"Yes! I said aliens! Y'all got cattle mutilations out here!" Tony said with such sincerity that David wondered if he was serious. "I dunno, but I'd bring a lot of trucks if I were you. It's one hell of a mess," Tony said as David pulled into the bottom of Tony's driveway, coming to a complete stop