The Other Side

The Town That Cried Wolf (Ch. 2)

Montoya doesn't know much about the eager detective before her. While she's only been here for a few years, Detective Winston has never made much of an impression. But now here he is, taking her wild story seriously with no hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"You want me to take you... where we saw the monster?" she asks.

Tucker turns around and sees Chief Allen currently busy with more paperwork, not paying the group any mind for now.

"Let's go somewhere else to talk," Tucker says, motioning to the chief behind him.

Understanding what he's implying, both Montoya and Johnson follow Tucker out of the common room, and into the white linear hall outside of it. No officers or staff seem to be moving through it, due to most of everyone apart of the day shift having clocked out already.

"Yes," Tucker says. "To answer your question, I want you to take me to where you were attacked."

"You want us to go back there?!" Johnson says. "We were nearly killed! That monster almost got us!"

"Besides, why would you want to go?" Montoya asks. "If you believe us, I want you to tell me why."

"Listen, I have no idea what's going on," Tucker says. "The chief put me in charge of this case, but all of the evidence and reports we've collected has left me without any answers. I don't know if there really is a 'monster', but the red eyes you saw lines up with an earlier report. I want to get to the bottom of this."

"You don't know what you're signing up for, man," Johnson warns. "I don't know what the fuck jumped onto our vehicle, but it's something I was lucky to walk away from with a beating heart. You two are free to go on your suicidal road trip. My shift is over, I'm going home."

Without another word, Johnson starts towards the doors leading out of the hallway.

"You say you're lucky," Montoya says, catching Johnson's attention. "While that may be true, eight innocent people weren't. They lost their lives. And as far as we know, the only ones who can do something about it are us."

Johnson turns around and looks at Montoya.

"I'm a person too, Perez," he says. "You saw it. We both did. That thing is way out of our league. If you're smart, you'll realize that."

Johnson turns around and continues down the hall. Eventually, he reaches the double doors leading to the entrance of the precinct and disappears behind them.

Despite feeling the contrary, Montoya knows she can't blame Johnson too much. Half of her wants to give up on this altogether, forget what she saw, and prays the chief lets her keep her job once he gets a good look at the damage her vehicle sustained. But that's not what she joined the force to do. People are getting hurt, and as long as Chief Allen stays the way he is, nothing will be done about it.

"What about you?" Tucker asks, turning back to Montoya. "Will you please take me to where the attack happened?"

Montoya confidently, and without hesitation, tells him:

"I'm driving."

...

Lucas wakes up suddenly, with his brother's face filling his vision.

"Wake up, Lucas!" he says excitedly before immediately starting back to the door.

Lucas groggily sits up and runs his fingers through his hair. As he looks around, he realizes it's still completely dark outside.

Why did he wake me up? Lucas wonders as he rubs his eyes. Gerald's insomnia has always kept him awake at night. Because of it, Gerald is usually always awake when Lucas is still in bed, resulting in him accidentally waking his younger brother. But this time, it was intentional.