The Caretaker - 3. Chapter 3

I shuddered as a cold breeze flew up the back of my thighs and my ass. “Brr!”

“We should get out of here,” Grant said.

Chris nodded. “Agreed.”

“Yeah,” I quickly agreed. “I’m freezing my ass off.” Not to mention, I was filthy—and the silence of the surrounding lupoid-infested woods was freaking me out. I reached back and grabbed the tattered Fred Flintstone costume and made another futile attempt to cover myself. Feeling self-conscious, I looked over at Chris, following his gaze to my backside. “Are you checking out my ass?”

Grant scoffed. “Duh.”

The end of Chris’s “lightsaber” smacked Grant in the back of the head.

“Ow!” Grant tried to grab the saber from Chris, but the big guy was too quick. The wooden pole smacked the knuckles of Grant’s right hand. Grant yanked it back with a cry. “Ow!”

“Knock it off,” I grumbled, moving between the two children. “Can we get out of here before that thing comes back?”

“Here.” Chris shrugged off his outer robe, and I was taken aback by his display of chivalry.

He tossed the robe at me and it smacked me in the face. “My hero,” I groused as I caught the robe before it fell to the ground. I pulled it on and started walking.

I was proud of myself for ignoring how warm the robe was, and how good it smelled.

* * * *

Once we were back at mine and Grant’s apartment, I took a long, hot shower. As hot as I could stand it. Knowing that beast had marked me somehow, I used up half a bottle of shower gel and practically scrubbed off a layer of skin. The heat relaxed my muscles, though my scraped up and bruised knees were making themselves known more than ever.

“Katniss.” I scoffed. I couldn’t help but pout as I toweled myself dry. “I’m Neo, if anybody. Or Master Chief…”

When I looked at the empty bathroom counter, I cursed. In my haste to get to the bathroom, I didn’t bring a change of clothes. Securing the towel around my waist, I exited the bathroom.

Grant and Chris were in the living room. They abruptly stopped talking. I noticed Chris’s eyes lingering on my nearly naked body. With a grunt and a scowl, he turned his attention back to Grant.

Ass.

But… That was the second time tonight I’d caught Chris Huntington checking me out. Was this something that happened frequently and I just never noticed? As intrigued I was by the attention, I was more concerned with the fact that a big furry monster was after me. Chris and Grant knew what was going on, and I wanted answers.

That didn’t stop me from letting my towel drop a bit as I went into my bedroom to get dressed.

When I returned, Grant was on the phone and Chris was picking at the paint on his broom handle. He wouldn’t look me in the eye. Pushing off the couch, Chris went to the kitchen and began rummaging through the cupboards.

“Okay, bye.” Grant hung up the phone and tossed it on the couch next to him. “I updated Mom and Dad. They said to sit tight, and to be careful.”

“Sit tight. Right. So, what’s after me?” I asked. “What the hell’s a lupoid?”

“You saw it.” Chris popped a chip into his mouth. “If you forgot what it looked like, I can show you a picture.”

“Maybe we could trap it and talk to it. If we get it to turn back, maybe we could reason with it. It could just be looking for its mate.”

Grant rolled his eyes. “Someone’s been reading too many romance novels.”

“It’s not a man,” Chris said with his mouth full. “It’s an abomination of the natural world, created from tainted soil with tainted magic.”

“It guards the caretaker,” Grant added. “No thought, no emotion. Only instinct.”

They’d mentioned the caretaker before. “And who is the caretaker?”

“The caretaker is entrusted to protect the sacred circle of stones.”

Chris snorted, his voice low and angry. “He’s become twisted and evil. He has tainted the circle with his filth. I told Aunt Norma he needed to be put down.”

My mouth dropped open and I turned to Grant. “Wait. Your parents know about all this?”

Grant shrugged. “Sure.”

“Your mom, the sweetest lady on Earth? The one who just sent us a care package filled with homemade cookies?”

Chris snorted as he flopped down onto the couch with a bag of chips. “Aunt Norma’s a regular Carol from Walking Dead. She runs the order.”

“The order?”

“The order was sworn to protect the caretaker. Until he turned dark.”

I looked between Grant and Chris. Neither spoke. They sat quietly waiting for my reaction. “You’re both freaking crazy. I’m going to bed so I can wake up from this nightmare.”

Turning on my heel, I returned to my bedroom and slammed the door behind me.

Not bothering to turn on the light, I sat down on my bed and sighed. I had no idea how to process what I’d seen, what I’d learned tonight. If I packed up my shit, I could be on the road in no time. I could get away from all of this mess.

Three raps on my door pulled me from my thoughts.

“Go away.”

The door opened. A large body stood in the door frame, silhouetted by the hall light.

Chris.

He shut the door behind him with a click and the room went dark.