Man Eater (Part 3)

Dakota was sitting in front of the tv, watching Tom in his continued pursuit of Jerry, when the news report broke in.

They had been hunting for clues for the last week, coming up with nothing, and now it looked like someone else had gone missing.

“The police are looking for Avery Spotney, who went missing just after sunset yesterday evening. The Spotney twins were returning from a friend's house when they cut through the field outside of Ramsey Court. The twins were returning to their home when Avery suddenly fell off his bike and went missing. His brother, Trevin Spotney, claims that he looked for his brother in the tall grass of the field but was unable to find him. He did report a strange scuffling sound coming from the grass and left to go get his mother.”

The young boy appeared suddenly, looking scared and unsure of himself.

“He fell into the hay and something grabbed him. I tried to help but he was in too deep. So I went and got my Dad but we never found him.”

It switched back to the news anchor, the woman talking to someone off-screen before straightening up.

“Our prayers are with the family of Avery Spotney tonight. Anyone with information on his whereabouts or with information on the case is asked to call the Culver Police Department.”

The show came back on, but Dakota wasn’t in the mood for cartoons anymore, no more than he was interested in the lucky charms getting soggy in his bowl. He heard the phone ring and already knew who it was from. His mom was outback hanging laundry, his stepdad at work, and his sister was out with her friends. He had just been thinking of going to see Nikki, but he suspected that this call would fix that.

“Cooper Residence.”

“Did you see the news?” Crystal asked, her voice strained.

Dakota felt his cheeks warm up a little, he had been expecting it to be George.

“Yeah,” he said, putting the handset in the cradle between his head and shoulder, “I hate it for them. The Spotney Twins were good baseball players. Couch Tate is going to be scrambling next season for a new second baseman.”

There was silence for a minute, and Dakota wondered if he had lost her.

“How do you do that?” she asked, her voice sounding sad and tired.

“Do what?”

“You, Nikki, everyone converts tragedy into inconvenience. I don’t understand it, it must be hereditary.”

Dakota had never really thought about it, but he had to admit that it was true.
They had spent the last week pounding the pavement and looking for clues, but everywhere they went they got the same responses. Madeline’s Den Mother had said it sure was a shame that she had gone because she had been looking forward to the jamboree coming up. Her friend Christa was sad that now she wouldn’t be able to get her Baking Badge. Jasper's friends said they hated that he had disappeared because he had been looking forward to a metal show next month.

Crystal had ridden home with them, and lost in thought, and when Dakota had asked her about it, she had shaken her head.

“No one is sad in this town,” she said, likely hoping it was too low for anyone to hear.

“It’s just how things are here,” Dakota said, incapable of explaining it better than that.

“Anyway,” Crystal said, “George is already here and Nikki is on his way. Come over so we can strategize.”

“Okay,” Dakota said, and as they hung up the phone he jumped when the music suddenly flared through the static on the radio.

I wouldn’t if I were you

No telling what she’ll do

The woman is wild

She could really tear your life apart.

He reached over and turned off the radio. It seemed like he was haunted by that song lately, and if he believed in signs he might have taken that one as a bad sign. What was it that was going to eat him up? Was it whatever was taking Culver’s children or this mysterious girl that had adopted his little friend group?

Either way, Dakota knew he would let them in the end.

His summer would be boring otherwise.
* * * * *

“Jesus, I doubt we could have chosen a hotter day for this.”

Crystal shaded her eyes as she looked at Nikki, “Nik, you would never have made it in San Diego. This is considered a nice day on the west coast.”

After some RC cola and an hour of argument, they had decided to go to the field where Avery had gone missing.

Well, decided was a strong word.

George and Crystal had finally talked Dakota into it and Nikki had come along since he had nothing better to do in the end.

The grassfield behind the neighborhood was huge and most people thought it would be the next victim of Culver’s expanding neighborhood project. Not quick enough to save Avery Spotney from the Snatcher, but his disappearance would probably be the straw that broke the camel's back. Inside of three years, the grass field would be an empty lot and just as the kids were leaving for college, there would be new families moving into brand new houses as the ever-expanding borders of Culver continued to bulge.
They could cut the grass, till the earth, and sift through every grain of sand, but as Dakota stood at the edge of the grass sea he was suddenly sure they would never find Avery’s body.

The poor kid's body wasn’t here to be found, and they were just looking for his discarded memories.

“What are we looking for, exactly?” Dakota asked, “The police took his bike when they found it, as well as the sleeveless t-shirt he was wearing that they found in the field.”

Crystal pulled her hat down low, her sunglasses making her look like an archeologist as she waded headlessly into the grass, “Anything,” she said, “We’re here to see what they might have missed.”

He moved up beside her as she stepped into the grass, taking a stick he had found as he pushed it aside.

As if on cue, a large snake slithered out of their way, its markings making Dakota think it was the kind you didn’t want to mess with if you could help it.

“I don’t know how it is in California, but around here you have to check for snakes before you go blundering off into the tall grass.”

Crystal had seen the snake and she nodded as they started off again. George had a walking stick from their last scout camp outing, but Nikki had brought an honest to god machete with them. They all let him go first as he went hacking through the tall grass like Indian Jones, scattering the wildlife as he crashed through. George and Dakota kept the tall grass at bay as Nikki hacked away, and when they came to the police tape, they saw that they weren't the only ones who had been cutting back grass.

The tape marked off a muddy area about twelve by fifteen feet and it mostly marked a series of skid marks.

Someone had hit the muddy patch and ate it hard. The bike had skidded and the rider had slid through the mud as well. The indention where he had come to rest was clear enough but there was something else too. It was a long drag mark, a long thick line in the mud that stretched back into the grass. It wasn’t deep enough to be a tire track, it was too wide to be a drag mark from Avery, and the police couldn’t seem to decide what it was.

“Maybe it's a wheelbarrow track?” George said, all of them careful to stay behind the police tape.

“I can’t imagine anyone driving a barrow through here.” Nikki said, “I guess it’s possible, but I don’t even really like to ride a bike through here. The wildlife is too numerous, especially at sunset.”

“Do kids ride through here a lot?” Crystal asked.

“Only if they’re in a hurry. Most kids play on the edges of the grass. Kids get snake bit out here sometimes and it tends to make the rest think twice about playing in the deep grass.”

Crystal looked down at her feet as if expecting to see something slithering between her sneakers.

“I can’t imagine why anyone would need a wheelbarrow out here,” Nikki said again, looking at the indentation as it disappeared into the grass.

“Unless they needed to transport something,” Crystal said, “like a body.”

George looked at Dakota, “Which means it could be someone close by.”

“Or it could just be a weird drag mark,” Nikki said, “Heck, it's heading deeper into the grass. If it was going into town I could understand that but it’s going towards the new highway more than anything.”

“It’s the only real clue we have,” Dakota said as if that meant anything.

Nikki threw his hands up in exasperation, “Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, don’t tell me you’re enjoying yourself out here? It’s hotter than Satan’s right toe and I’m tired of playing detectives when we could be doing anything else.”

Nikki had been getting fed up with the investigation lately, reminding them that they had said they would pack it in after a week if they hadn’t found anything. George, however, was saying that what they had learned was bringing in some solid evidence. He had narrowed down the Snatchers hunting ground, and he thought they might be able to catch him with some luck. What was more, Nikki had noticed the glances between Crystal and Dakota and when it seemed obvious that she wasn’t going to throw herself at him, he had kind of lost interest in the case.

Without much to do though, since his best friends were involved in this makeshift Scooby Doo Club, he came along so as not to have to spend time on his own.
Nikki, at his core, was someone who hated spending time alone more than he hated being uncomfortable.

“What the hell are you kids doing?” came a sudden cry and all four of them jumped as an officer made his careful way toward them.

Dakota gritted his teeth, expecting a butt chewing, as that voice was one he knew very well.

His stepdad came up to the other side of the tape, the groups looking at each other like armies across a battlefield.

“Nothin', Dad,” Dakota said, George looking down as if guilty of something.

“This is a crime scene, in case you didn’t know,” Officer Carter said, his face letting them know that he wasn’t mad, just unsure why they were there.

Dakota’s stepdad never really got angry, at least not that he had ever seen. He was a patient guy, probably didn’t possess the mentality they were looking for in a peace officer, and he was more interested in helping than anything. He was a good guy, and Dakota was usually pretty happy to have him around the house.

“We know,” Dakota said, hedging as he tried to come up with a good excuse, “We were just uh looking at the scene. We saw it on the news and just wanted to see it.”

Officer Carter’s face looked at odds with itself as he tried to decide what to do.

“Well, you’ve had your look, right? You haven’t gone in and tampered with anything, right?”

“No, dad, we know better than that.” Dakota said, a little defensively.

“Then head on kids, this place isn’t safe.”

The kids nodded, saying quiet sorrys as they took their leave.

“Co…Dakota, can I have a word?”

Dakota stopped, nodding as he told his friends he’d catch up with them.

He moved around the tape, trying not to break the scene, and his stepdad did his best to meet him halfway.

“Let me give you a ride,” he said, hooking a thumb at his cruiser on the edge of the field.

“I rode my bike,”

“I can fit it in the backseat. I just wanna talk for a minute.”

Dakota nodded, already figuring he knew what this one was going to be about.

They made their ponderous way through the grass field, and Dakota stopped more than once as something big moved through the grass. His stepdad’s boots were a little better equipped for this kind of thing than his hightops, and even he froze to watch his step. It always made Dakota laugh to watch the man at work. He was a big guy, probably six foot three, with a barrel chest and arms of corded muscle from farm work when he was young. Despite his size, he always moved like he was afraid that he might hurt someone by existing. He talked soft, showed a lot of patience, and his appearance usually ensured that even the most ornery drunk didn’t step to Officer Carter.

Dakota climbed into the front seat as his stepdad manhandled his bike into the back seat.

As they set off, he watched the grass wave a farewell to its most recent guests.

“I hear you and your friends have been asking a lot of questions around town,” he said, turning the wheel as they went back towards the neighborhood.

“We’re just asking questions,” Dakota said.

“And I appreciate you wanting to help, but it's dangerous right now for even a group of kids to be wandering around.”

Dakota looked out the window, not answering but just waiting for the ride to be over.
Officer Carter, it seemed, wasn’t done.

“I just want to make sure you guys are safe. It would kill your mother if anything happened to you or your sister, prolly kill me too. Just don’t do anything too brash, okay? I’m not in any hurry to put your name on one of these reports.”

They pulled up into the cul-de-sac then and Dakota got out as he took his bike out of the back of the cruise.

“Just be careful, okay?” His stepdad added, “See you at dinner, buddy.”

“See ya then, Dad,” Dakota said, watching him go as he realized he had likely just lied to his old man.

* * * * *

“You are out of your mind,” Nikki said as Dakota came into the garage.

“Keep your voice down,” Crystal said, “I’m just saying it would be the best way to get information.”

“It’s not allowed,” George said, “We’d get picked up.”

“Not if we were careful,” she said, “If we go waving our flashlights around and attracting attention to ourselves then, yes, we’ll get spotted. But if we’re smart about it, we can go and stake out the area and see whose getting these kids.”

“What are you three talking about?” Dakota asked, having a nasty suspicion that he knew what they were talking about.

“Crystal wants to go out after curfew,” Nikki said.

“Absolutely not,” Dakota said right away, “My stepdad would have a bird and my mom would have a whole flock.”

Crystal rolled her eyes, “ I swear, how sheltered are you guys? Have you never snuck out before?”

All three of them shook their heads in unison. Even before the curfew, they had never really been out when they weren’t supposed to. Culver had a weird set of rules that were unspoken but inherently known, and very few kids out of high school went out after dark. Dakota didn’t even really like to take the trash out once the sunset. It always felt like something might be lurking around, just waiting for you to let your guard down.

“Look, Dakota tells his parents he’s staying at Nikki’s house. Nikki tells his parents he’s staying at George’s house. George tells his parents he’s staying at Dakota’s house, and then we all go out and see what we can see. You all come stay in my garage when we’re done and no one's the wiser.”

“Stay here?” Dakota asked.

“Yeah, why? Is that a problem?” Crystal asked.

“No way my mom would let me stay at a girl's house,” Nikki said.

“Mine either,” said George.

“That's why we don’t tell them, dummy.” Crystal said, “Look, trust me. We’ll go out, get some recon, maybe get some real clues as to who's been doing all this. Don’t you want to solve this? Don’t you want to feel like you're doing something? Don’t you want to get the curfew lifted?”

They all looked at each other, but what she said next made the hairs stand up on the back of Dakota's neck.

“Come on, what are you guys, chicken?”

It was an eerie mimic of Chris’s last words.

“Fine,” Dakota said.

“Sure,” said George.

“Why not?” Nikki said, “I’m sure there's room in the van for all of us.”

Crystal smiled, “Haha, but with any luck, we’ll find nothing more serious than a creep trolling around for more prey. By this time next week, we could be living without the threat of some weirdo hanging over the town.”

They separated then, all agreeing to ask their parents about staying at each other's houses this friday, about two days for now. Dakota knew his parents would say yes, Nikki probably wouldn’t even have to really ask, but it was still risky. Going out after dark…they’d get arrested. They’d get drug home like convicts, and that was if they were lucky.

If they were unlucky, then they might just get to meet the Snatcher who haunted the streets of Culver. 

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Credits