Jack's voice was calm, as if he had just finished a trivial task, but only he knew how satisfying it had been to vent his frustrations in those short ten minutes.
"We may have found out why these monsters attacked the town," Hodgner's reply caught Jack by surprise.
"Hold on, I'm coming down now."
Jack started taking off his clothes. Luckily, he had grabbed the crowbar again earlier, sparing him from having to fight the disgusting ogres with his bare hands, but his clothes were still stained with foul-smelling fluids.
Admiring his perfectly toned eight-pack abs, Jack chuckled to himself. He peered down from the clock tower, disappointed that he couldn't spot a haystack to leap into with a dramatic eagle screech, executing a "leap of faith."
In the end, he slung the Barrett MK22 over his shoulder, pinched his nose, and hurried down the stinky stairs, running swiftly toward the police station at the intersection.
The bonfire at the intersection was still burning. A woman in a state trooper uniform was sobbing as she tried to lower a mutilated body that was hanging upside down from a tow truck's arm.
Emily stood by, helping the woman while keeping her gun trained on their surroundings. She was startled when she saw Jack, now shirtless, suddenly emerging from the darkness.
Jie Jie, who was guarding the police station's entrance with an automatic rifle, saw Jack looking like a Rambo figure and instinctively thought he was injured. Worried, she rushed over to check him for wounds.
"I'm fine. Is Hodgner inside?" Jack embraced the girl, patting her back to reassure her.
Jie Jie nodded. "He's inside, contacting Rossi and Reid. The power station equipment has been fixed."
Just as she finished speaking, a loud hum filled the air as the streetlights flickered to life one after another. The police station and some surrounding buildings also regained power.
Both Jack and Jie Jie breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if half of the crisis was now over.
Behind Jie Jie stood a few young people, hesitant and nervous. Jack couldn't tell if they were town residents or tourists passing through, but they all looked like typical pretty faces from an American horror movie.
Leaving Jie Jie to continue her watch, Jack instructed her to focus on the east side, where most of the remaining ogres seemed to be gathering. He then headed into the police station.
Hodgner had just put down the police radio. When he saw Jack, now looking like a hardened warrior straight out of a movie, he raised an eyebrow, seemingly unsure how to react.
"This is the reason those monsters attacked Belle Lake. Meet Manard Andrews."
Hodgner led Jack to the police station's makeshift holding cell—a typical small-town setup made of a few welded iron bars. Inside was a burly older man with a large, scarred face. Hodgner introduced him to Jack.
"Another Andrews?" Jack was stunned. "Jeremy's father?"
"You're all dead! My children will tear you to pieces and eat you bit by bit. Let me go, and I promise to spare your lives," Manard Andrews growled, gripping the bars with a menacing glare.
Jack stepped forward, grabbing Manard by the collar and slamming his face against the bars, contorting his features into an absurd shape.
"How about we make a different deal? You call all your freak children, and I'll send them straight to hell."
"Spit!"
"Damn!"
Jack dodged the spit with ease and retaliated with a punch, causing blood to gush from Manard's nose.
"It seems he's formed some kind of symbiotic relationship with these creatures. Sheriff Carter caught him this afternoon during a scuffle with some young men in town. Then, tonight, the town was attacked," Hodgner explained, ignoring Jack's violent response.
"Maybe he found out his son Jeremy was coming back and wanted to throw a grand welcome party," Jack shrugged.
"Bang!" Manard Andrews scrambled to his feet, bashing his head against the iron bars, revealing bloody gums as he smiled in a twisted, disturbing way.
"Wham!" Jack's fist knocked him to the ground again. He glanced at Hodgner.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to get some more specific information from him."
"Go ahead. I'll go pick up Rossi and Reid. Any movements from the creatures?" Hodgner asked, his face grim.
"We've taken out about half of them. The rest are gathering in the east. They might have some hostages in their vehicles, but it's too far to take action for now."
Hodgner nodded and left without saying more.
Manard Andrews had been locked up the entire time, so he might have heard Jack's gunshots outside but didn't know what had happened. He couldn't have known that so many of his controlled creatures had already been killed by Jack.
After listening to Jack and Hodgner's conversation, Manard's eyes burned with rage as he glared at Jack, cursing furiously.
"Smash!" Jack's punch knocked him out cold.
---
"Ah! You bastard! What are you going to do to me?"
Manard Andrews woke up in pain, finding Jack dragging him out of the cell like a dead dog. His limbs were limp, dislocated, and throbbing with intense pain.
"Relax. There are still four hours until dawn. We've got plenty of time," Jack said, tossing the now-limp old man into a chair.
"Let me introduce myself. Jack Tavoler, FBI. I'm here for your son Jeremy."
"F you, pig!"
Jack smiled at the old man who, despite being immobilized, still had a sharp tongue.
"Let's start with where these monsters came from."
---
"It seems to be connected to an old legend in Belle Lake about the so-called mountain people. He doesn't know the exact origins of these ogres. They used to live in the deep mountains near the 'Clark Testing Ground,' but after getting hit by a nuclear bomb, they turned into what they are now."
"His wife and daughter died, his business failed, and he moved to the place in that photo, running that rundown roadside store, preying on passersby."
Half an hour later, Hodgner and Emily returned with Rossi and Reid. Jack had already extracted the full story from the now-maimed old man, and he began explaining it to the group.
"The men would be killed and buried in the desert, while the women were locked in his basement and subjected to horrific abuse. When new victims arrived, the previous ones would be disposed of."
"Jeremy got his twisted nature from his father. According to Manard, having a child around made victims lower their guard."
Everyone present looked disgusted. It was clear now that Jeremy's perversion didn't start with some adult magazines, but from the horrific lessons taught by his own father.
"Manard thought he was being sneaky, but Jeremy had long since discovered what his father was up to. He would spy on his father tormenting the women and even followed him when he buried the bodies."
"One day, Manard noticed that his son had made new friends. Jeremy would take these friends to the burial sites and trade the corpses, not yet fully decayed, for marbles or a freshly caught rabbit."
"That's when Manard's operation expanded. He taught the monsters how to avoid the police, lay tire spikes on roads at night, and destroy evidence. Each side got what they wanted."
"Then why did he come to my town?" Sheriff Carter asked through gritted teeth, still stunningly beautiful despite her tear-streaked face.
Her husband had been captured by the ogres on his way to bring her dinner at the police station. His mutilated body was now hanging from the tow truck's arm in the middle of the intersection.
Jack snorted. "According to him, it was to welcome his son home. He planned to loot some goods from Belle Lake while the town was empty tonight, but when he was scouting the area, he got tangled up with some young people."
"Bullshit! He harassed Cruz (my girlfriend) first!" the young men all shouted in unison.
"Exactly. He just wanted to keep you in town. You and your girlfriends were his targets tonight," Jack's words silenced them. Two of the girls burst into tears again.
It seemed one of their friends had died outside, but Jack wasn't sure if it was the small body he'd seen earlier.
"What should we do next? Hold out until dawn against those monsters?" Sheriff Carter's hateful gaze never left the bloodied, limp form of Manard Andrews, clearly indicating that Jack's punch hadn't satisfied her thirst for revenge.
"He wants to be bait, so we'll let him be the real bait," Jack said with a smirk, glancing toward the clock tower in the distance.
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