Chapter 5

"What was that about, Tay?" Hannah asked as they walked back to their shop.

"I'm not sure" Taylor said as she waited for a Mercedes to pass so they'd cross the road.

"Hey!" The Mercedes suddenly came to a stop in front of them.

The girls looked at the car's tinted glass expecting a reveal, but it never came.

Getting alarmed, they were about to step back into the restaurant the most secure place they could perceive at the moment. But just then the door of the car was pushed open and a tall and handsome figure stepped out of the car.

When the girls saw who it was they were both surprised.

Hannah was so excited to see the dashing young man as he walked towards them. Taylor on the other hand wasn't so happy about his presence.

"Hey, ladies!" Like a figure from Hollywood, his white teeth seem to reflect the sun.

"Hi, Jerry!" Hannah greeted as she nudged Taylor with her shoulder.

"Jerry.." Taylor said softly.

"Miss me?" He said walking in front of Taylor putting a hand on her chin to lift her face.

Pushing his hand away, her eyes rested on a badge on his belt.

Following her eyes gaze, he smiled and pulled the badge from his waist, handing it to her.

Curious, she took it from his hand, Hannah who was beside her also peered in to see.

"M...H.." She read as her eyes looked at the crossbow behind the letters 'MH'.

"What's MH," Hannah took the badge from Taylor.

Laughing Mark turned back to Taylor, "Haven't you heard about the monster hunters?"

Frowning, Taylor looked at him.

"No, Tay, don't give me that face." He said and raised his hand, "This animal eats humans and other animals!"

"It's called monster hunting, not animal hunting," he tried to make it clear to Taylor.

"That's great!" She said and was about to walk away.

"Tay!" He called holding her by her arm.

Growling in slight pain, Taylor pushed his hand off, "Let go of me!"

Hannah opened her mouth slightly as though she could feel Taylor's pain, cause she could see Mark's fingerprints on the arm that Jerry held.

"Why can't you just loosen up? I already told you that I am not going after the animals you care about, I am going...."

"Yes, I get it, you're going after monsters!" She cut in not changing her expression.

"So what's your problem?" He asked now frowning.

"I don't see the difference, Jerry. If you can kill a big cat, you can also kill a small one!" She said and quickened her pace as she walked across the road.

"Bye, Jerry," Hannah followed.

Gnashing his teeth, Jerry looked at Taylor's figure as it swayed into the vet shop.

"Why do the pretty ones always have to be insane?" He said and brought his phone.

"Yeah, I am there!" He said as he continued staring at the vet shop conceiving a plan to get Taylor in his heart.

"Yeah, I know that restaurant," He glanced at the restaurant's sign and a few seconds later, he put the phone back into his pocket, smiled at the girl whom he noticed staring at him and walked back into the restaurant.

……

"You still hate him don't you?" Hannah asked Taylor who had not said anything since they got back into the shop.

"Any reason I shouldn't?" Taylor asked as she injected the little chihuahua.

"It's not... It's... Taylor!" Hannah dropped the dog in her hand on the bed in distress. "You have to give the men in your life a breather. You don't expect them to have equal passion for animals as you do!"

"I don't expect them to, but they should at least be a little sensitive to these things!" She said putting the little dog down feeling frustrated.

"Mark used to seem that way, but immediately he noticed the baby, he suddenly started seeing these acts as being irresponsible." Taylor sat butt to the bed.

"Irresponsible?" Hannah raised a brow.

"Yeah... Irresponsible!" Taylor said as her eyes glanced at the clock, growing impatient.

"Men, always talking responsibility," Hannah added.

"Responsibility my foot, where were they when I was drowning?" Taylor said and sighed, picking up the chihuahua

"All they do is talk," she placed the chihuahua inside its cage and slammed the door shut. "Easy!" Hannah grimaced. Barking continuously, the dog ran towards the cage's door.

"If it weren't for that animal, I'd probably be dead!" Taylor walked towards her desk.

"I owe them my life!" She said resolutely as she sat down, her eyes fixated on her task file.

……

"Taylor, you better start packing up, we don't want Mark getting angry again!" The woman at the counter said from behind the door.

"Thank you Mrs. Tracy!" Taylor said as her eyes went up to the clock again.

"Get ready, Hannah, we leaving now!" She as she arranged her desk.

"But we still have about 20 minutes," Hannah said patting a dog's head.

"I don't want Mark to come meet me in here," Tracy pulled off her coat.

"Oh, secret mission..." Hannah said playfully as she picked up the dog she'd been playing.

"See you tomorrow, JJ!" She said locking its cage.

……

In Taylor's car, the girls drove through the woods, heading to the place where Mark had hit the dog.

"When last did you drive this?" Hannah faked a cough as she laughed at how dusty the car was.

"A couple of weeks ago," Taylor smiled as she turned on the stereo.

"Nah uh, not so fast girl, you promised me an explanation," Hannah gently pushed Taylor's hand away from the radio knob.

"Mark hit an animal last night," Taylor said and exhaled deeply.

"He what?!" Hannah exclaimed tears already streaming down her eyes.

"No wonder you were so worried at work!" Hannah's voice broke as she spoke. "You should have said something," She gave Taylor a slight jab on her shoulder.

"I didn't want you to get as worried as I was during work hours," Taylor glanced at her side mirror.

"This is an animal we're talking about here, Taylor!" Hannah said now raising her voice. "We shouldn't even have waited this long!"

"I wasn't sure I was going to do this, okay!" Taylor raised her voice irritated.

"And at the time I made up my mind, I wasn't sure it'd still be alive, and there's no way I would just leave the animals at our vet which I was sure of saving their lives to save one I wasn't sure of its status!" Taylor explained angrily.

Understanding Taylor's standpoint, Hannah sat back quietly worried about the animal.

"We are here," Taylor pulled over and they both got down, each with a kit and a torch in hand.

Hannah walked behind Taylor as they made their way into the woods.

"Taylor," Hannah hurried closer to Taylor.

"This place seems creepy..." Hannah added as she looked up at the tall trees.

Making a sound that Hannah understood, Taylor continued to walk forward. Having no choice at this point Hannah had to follow.

"Taylor!" Pointing a torch on the tree, Hannah called as her hand holding the torch shook.

"What's it, Hannah?" Taylor whose eyes had been fixed on a bright scenery after the woods walked back to Hannah.

When she saw the scratches on the tree's bark Hannah's torch light illuminated, she gasped in shock, remembering a similar imprint on her house wall.

"Taylor, I think we should leave!" Hannah said as she instinctively began to retreat.

Just then they heard a growl from behind them.

Hannah stood frozen, as her brain swept through all the growls she's heard in her 5 years of working, but was still unable to find a match. Taylor on the other hand had heard it once, and that was last night.

Turning back they saw a big dog-like creature growling at them, its' eyes blue and sharp, lacking the innocence of not seeing a dead body.

About to run, they heard several howling from different parts of the woods seemingly getting closer.

At this time, it occurred to Taylor that the big dog whom she thought visited her was a wolf!