Crow Bones [https://cdn.midjourney.com/f61c9ae4-2ccd-4a8d-a680-c9875920f6bd/0_0.webp]
Mr. Bob…
The phone in his hand shook. Mr. Bob’s throat burned and his eyes went blurry. He touched his forehead where his eyebrows used to be. “No, I don’t think you should come home, Mary. They kicked in your back door and went inside before they started the fire. I’m sure of it. This wasn’t just some random robbery. The way your door was splintered and hanging suggests rage.” He coughed into his hand. Speaking was agony for his throat, but he had to convince her to stay put. The first loud bang had woken him up from a deep sleep. Probably, the sound was the accelerant exploding.
From his upstairs window, he’d seen two men flee the house while tendrils of smoke curled through the open doorway. He’d dialed the authorities on his cell phone as he’d headed down the stairs to his first floor. In his slippers and robe, he’d burst from the back of his house armed. There was no sign of the two men. The fire had already licked its way across Mary’s back porch.
The water from his garden hose affected the inferno with as much force as spit affected a kitchen grease fire. “I told the 911 operator about the two men I saw. I gave them as many details about them as I could. They weren’t stupid, and avoided the streetlights, but I could tell they were white. They looked like college boys.”
“It’s probably those damn teenagers that live on the corner.” Mary Lynn said, “The house was empty too long. I knew I had stayed away for too many weeks. What was I thinking?” Her voice was sharp with frustration. “I’ll have to pack up and gather the cats.”
“They weren’t the neighborhood kids, Mare. I’d have recognized them. These were grown men. Stay put, Mary. You are safer where you are. There is nothing to come home to.” Looking at the crow bones of her house thrusting toward the sky, he shuddered.
The ashes steamed. The fire had spread to two other houses. Flames had lept like demons crossing the roofs. He’d barely kept his own property safe. The oak that marked the line between their properties was lost, and the fence that had separated their houses, the one he’d been planning to take down, had become charcoal.
If the fickle wind had changed direction, he’d be a dead man. His lungs burned as he eased himself down to the bench in his front yard. Soaked and covered in soot, his chest tightened. The spray painted sigils were still faintly visible in the burned back door. He wanted to snap a picture, but his legs wouldn’t lift him to standing. Mary’s basement gaped, a deep hole in the ground like a pathway to hell. “You don’t want to see this.”
“What are you talking about? How bad could it be? The fire department is right down the road.”
Firemen were still in her front yard, working on the smoldering heart of the Swanson’s house. They’d lost their dog Baily. “Something isn’t right about this. You should stay away.” His arm felt strangely numb, and he tried opening and closing his hand to dispel the feeling. They’d swamped his yard with water. His slippers were ruined, soggy and cold on his feet. As his phone fell to his lap, Mr. Bob gripped his arm tightly.
Bob’s face was swollen and burned from the intense heat. Mary’s voice sounded far away. He should tell her that he couldn’t breathe well. A bead of his sweat fell onto his phone’s screen, onto a picture of her, his screen saver. His phone lay in the grass, her words becoming a blur of sound as an elephant sank down on his chest. His lips moved as he tried to say, “I’m sorry, Mary.”
“We got another one.” A distant voice called. “Get medical over here. Now! Looks like smoke inhalation and burns. He is going down!”
*
Kennedy…
The waiting was driving her crazy. If they powdered her face one more time, she was going to hurt someone. David had flown with her to Texas. Spy or ally, she didn’t know. Leaving her injured men hadn’t felt right. They’d had to convince her that Red was past the danger point, and that his reason for not talking was a choice, not a sign of brain damage.
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Together, David and she had traveled to Austin to make good on her agreement to help the wolves hide her mess. The film student who had taken on the role of director was off her rocker. She was acting like this whole thing was a big screen blockbuster. All they needed was some B real that would show failed out takes of the “couch scene.”
The sharp faced girl had been arguing for an hour with the Wolf from the council about why they needed to use a better camera for some angles and not just rely on the shit footage from the nanny cam. They had shot the human part of the couch scene three times already.
Act like you are sleeping on the couch. Moan. Twitch. Contort your body like you have no bones and slip out of sight onto the floor. The film student, Kay, complained about everything, including how Kennedy looked fatter now than she had in the original video that was posted.
Little Bear’s pool was compressed with an awkward belly band. What else could she do? Kennedy wanted this to be over. Red still refused to talk to her when she called home. From what she could get out of Jeremiah, the man was being stoic about his injuries and refusing to interact with everyone. He was acting like he was angry about still being alive. She’d never met anyone so stubborn in her life.
“Again… she needs you. Just like before,” David said.
Kennedy got up and drug her feet as she made her way to the couch. The set the wolves had built in a warehouse half a mile from the university was impressive. It looked a hell of a lot like Sandy’s apartment. “The whale is coming.” Kennedy grumbled.
Daniel, the other film student, had only been around fleetingly. Darting in and out of the set, he had huge circles under his eyes and looked like he hadn’t slept much for at least two years.
As Kennedy settled onto the couch, she tried to turn so that the little bump of her stomach would be camouflaged. Daniel approached her. “I think I’ve got the prosthetic ready. After this, I want to do the application. It’s close to being a match… but I don’t know if it will look real.”
Kay snapped, “This camera sucks. It will be fine. Now get out of my shot.”
“But what about the other camera?” Daniel asked.
The girl grimaced, and the council Wolf growled. “What other?”
Kay didn’t hesitate. “If we are making this, we should make it right. There would be some film with proper cameras. If nothing else to record the process.”
Daniel backed up his partner. “It’s just a hand held. Still not great quality. There…” He pointed to a box across the set, “And there.” He pointed to a shelf on the far wall. “Next to our mock nanny cam bear.”
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“You don’t know what it should look like. Trust us.” Her voice full of confidence, Kay focused on the screen in front of her.
Daniel offered, “I know anything extra adds risk. But it’s worth it to raise the level of believability.”
.
Kennedy looked down at her split wrist in awe. “Daniel, this is amazing.” The guy was a genius. The split looked real. Her head hurt, trying to match her non-tingling wrist with what she was seeing. There was only one shot, where her arm was visible as the change progressed, that wasn’t a moving blur on the released video. There was a delicate tube under the apparatus that seeped moisture. Daniel was lying on the floor next to the couch, ready to manipulate the split manually with delicate invisible wires.
The special effects were fragile. They only had one take to nail it. This shot had to be right. “Break a leg,” Daniel said from where he lay on the floor.
“To get this right,” Kennedy hissed, “I’m going to have to land directly on you. You are the one who is going to get a broken leg.”
“Quiet on the set,” Kay yelled.
*
Hungry, tired and grumpy, Kennedy wiped the goo and adhesive from her arm as she joined the others gathered around the viewing screen. “Did we get it?”
“We sure as hell did.” Daniel’s chest swelled with pride.
The Wolf nodded. “It’s impressive.” The brief clip played. Up close it was spookily similar to the original, but this camera view included visible parts of the set, Daniel on the ground beside the couch, and the big film lights. It unveiled the magic, that wasn’t really magic.
Pride on her face, Kay turned toward David and Kennedy. “I’ve got real schoolwork to do, lets get this in the can.” She pointed at David. “Are you still prepared to be her handler? Do we need to get any blue just in case we need to force shift her?”
David said, “That won’t be necessary. She has never forgotten herself in her bear shape.”
“If I have to eat a couch, let’s get this over with.” Kennedy began to unbutton her shirt.
“Craving polyester and foam?” Daniel grinned.
“Well, according to the original clip, it’s my favorite.”
“We need to adjust the lighting first. You’ve got fifteen minutes before we need you in your bear shape.” Kay pointed to the Wolf. “Load some blue in the dart gun.”
David startled. “I told you, no.”
The Wolf raised his hand. “Let’s be safe. I won’t use it.”
Kennedy’s phone buzzed with another annoying text message. She looked down. Her mother. Again. Seven messages so far. The woman knew she was on set. How many times a day did she need to lecture Kennedy on what she should eat to make the baby healthy? She’d had carrots and a leafy salad for breakfast. That woman drove her crazy. She’d read her messages later. Kennedy turned her phone off. They’d be done with filming soon enough.