Chill: Bottle Episode (almost)

Yesterday we did some Chillin'. Here's last time (though of course that was the conclusion of the last case and this is the beginning of a new one).

It's August 17, 2024, and Nicholas Failor has been hired to fly a bunch of supplies from Seward to Nome, and then to Council, AK. Council isn't really a town, it's a fishing spot - there are some houses there that people use as summer homes or second houses, but no permanent residents. Based on the stuff he's hauling, Nicholas figures that the folks he's delivering to are wealthy - this is higher-end stuff. Looks like rich folks having a party.

And indeed, a woman in her 30s with dyed blonde hair meets him at the Council airstrip, and offers to pay him to help her load her car and then unload it at her house. She introduces herself as Eva Mayer, and they make chit-chat on the way back. When they arrive, Nicholas notes a few other houses in the area, including one near the water. Eva drives her big ol' SUV up to the back door of the house she's staying in (not the one near the water), and she and Nicholas unload the stuff. Nicholas meets one other woman - another blonde, clearly not an outdoorsy sort of person, named Kaitlyn (she has "trophy wife" written all over her). 

Nicholas gets everything unloaded and Eva drives him back to the airstrip. As they pass the house near the water, Nicholas feels the sensation of being slowly submerged in cold water - the Unknown. He tries to get a look at the house, but can't see anything and doesn't wish to arouse suspicion (or endanger Eva) by asking her to stop. She drops him at his plane, and Nicholas decides to investigate.

He unpacks his rifle, grabs some supplies, and hikes back. It's a good two hour walk, and it's late in the afternoon by the time he gets there. He doesn't see anything untoward as he approaches the house, but circles around back and sees that the back door has been smashed in. He considers using Postcognition, but he's never done it without another envoy watching his back and doesn't know if he'd notice anything coming. He decides to have a closer look first.

He pokes his head in the back door and sees an frankly disturbing amount of blood on the kitchen floor - looks like at least a person's worth, and some of it is still tacky. Before he goes further, he contacts the others.

Back in Seward, Amelia Rostov and Britt Lepus are doing inventory at QCOM. Mercy Williams is still at work. Nicholas contacts them on the sat phone and explains what he's found; Amelia tells him to call the police, but Nicholas is already looking around. He cuts some mylar from a tarp in his bag to make some booties so he can look around without getting blood on his boots, and takes a closer look.

It looks like something (or someone) was dragged out of the kitchen down the hall. Nicholas sees human footprints, barefoot, but also some prints that look canine. They're far too big to be dogs, but maybe wolf? Even then, they're on the larger side. They also seem...distended, somehow. He makes two distinct sets, and follows the track and drag marks into the living room. There, he finds another big splash of blood, and the drag marks continue up the stairs.

He follows them, carefully, and winds up in the master bedroom. At the foot of the bed is a pile of corpses. After overcoming his initial revulsion, Nicholas counts four bodies. One of them has been completely dismembered, but all of them have been hollowed out and are missing large chunks of flesh, as though they've been partially eaten.

Nicholas goes outside to call the state police, and sees a woman in a tank top hanging around, looking into the door. She waves to Nicholas and introduces herself as Bonnie, and asks what's going on. He tells her that this place is a crime scene, and she claims that she and her husband were hanging out with the guys in this cabin not long ago. Nicholas asks their names, and she seems a little flummoxed ("George, I think was the older guy?"). 

Nicholas is still shocked and tells the woman that he's going to call the police. He looks down at his phone, and notices her rushing him just in time. She tries to tackle him, and he moves back, trying to bring the butt of his rifle up, but she's fast, and socks him in the mouth. He doesn't feel anything break, but she's also very strong, much stronger than her frame makes her look. She pants slightly and grins at him; he raises the rifle defensively (he's too close to get a shot off), and she taps her forehead. "Go ahead. Right here."

Nicholas doesn't strike her, and she holds up his sat phone, waggles it tauntingly, and then yeets it into the river, and then runs around the house and across the street. Nicholas, fortunately, still has his short wave radio, and contacts Amelia again. By this time Mercy Williams is off work and has joined them. He explains the situation and Amelia tells him, again, call the police. They'll do whatever they can from Seward. Nicholas heads for Eva's house, and Amelia starts working on getting a lift out to Council - it's not accessible by road (certainly not from Seward, which is close to 600 miles away), but Amelia knows people. She can get a ride in a chopper.

While they're waiting, Amelia looks into the SAVE papers they have, looking for info about shapeshifters or lycanthropes, but the notes she finds keep referring her to something called "Lykos." Britt has a better idea - she gets Alison Ware on the phone. Alison tells her that basically if you've seen something in a movie or a book about werewolves, it's probably true, but you can't tell how any given werewolf works just by looking. Some are infective, though, and if one of them bites a person, you put two bullets in their head. Even if they're envoys. Especially if they're envoys. Alison also says that SAVE has a group of envoys that specializes in lycanthropes and she'll try and make contact and get back to Britt. ("This does seem like a Macnamara question.") 

Back in Council, Nicholas knocks on the door of Eva's house. An older man answers ("Yes?"), and Nicholas introduces himself. Eva calls him in, and Nicholas sees a room full of people - four men, five women. One of the men, a fellow in his sixties, introduces himself to Nicholas as Lucas Mayer, Eva's husband (Nicholas notes the 30-year difference between them but has no interest in judgment, especially not at the moment). He explains the situation and that everyone needs to stay put, and Lucas (to whom everyone else seems to defer) agrees. 

While they wait, Nicholas gets a quick lay of the land. The other three men - Danilo, Luther, and Micah - are all friends of and close to the same age as Lucas. One of the women, Esther, is Micah's wife, and is also in her 60s. The other women - Kaitlyn, Sonja, and Janna - are all in their 30s and have the same "rich LA housewife" vibe as Eva. Lucas also recalls that the men in the house by the water were a family - man, his brother, and his two adult sons. Their name was Stokes.

An hour or so later, a police helicopter lands. Nicholas prepares to go meet them, but then a man runs out towards it from another house. Two cops get out and the man excitedly talks with them, pointing to Nicholas (who is now on the porch of Eva's house). The cops draw their guns and approach him. Nicholas, no idiot, drops his rifle and holds up his wallet, and waits for them.

They check his ID, and one of them says "Nicholas Failor? You're Failor?" He says he is, and the cops turn back towards the copter. The man pulls himself into the cockpit, and then smashes everything with a hatchet. The cops run back towards him and he jumps out, raises the ax, yells "DIE PIGS" and charged them. 

Predictably, they shoot him multiple times. He collapses, dead, into the mud.

The cops go back to Nicholas and explain that the chopper is fucked, and the radio is destroyed. One of them borrows Nicholas' short wave and walks off to call in. The other starts asking questions and trying to get Nicholas' statement.

Meanwhile, the other envoys are on a helicopter. Britt gets on the radio and tries to contact Nicholas.

A woman answers. "Helloooo." 

"Um. Hi, I'm looking for Nick."

"Who's this?"

"Who's this?"

"Oh, I'm Bonnie," she says. "And who are you?"

"Britt." Britt pauses. "Can I talk to Nick?"

"I'm looking at him," says Bonnie. "But he can't talk right now. You want me to give him a message for you?"

"No," says Britt. "We're on our way."

"Oh, good. More the merrier." 

"You get around a lot, then?" asks Britt.

"Some," she says. "I'm from Hungary."

"You don't have much of an accent."

"Thanks! I'm pretty good at picking up the local accent." She says something in what Britt assumes to be Hungarian. "Anyway, gotta go. See you tonight."

"OK, bye, puppy."

"Bye, piggy."