I know we're all wondering "what just happened in the previous chapter?" so i'll explain it.

See, Bree had spent too much time with Beasley as the pair had grown to be very emotionally connected to each other. During the period of her search for Beasley's home, something had happened in the town.

Jimothy came out of hiding and approached Bruno, asking to meet with Herb. He claimed he knew how Herb was interested in special creatures and had heard from a couple of informants that he even held a magnificent list of otherworldly creatures hostage, using them to put up expensive private shows to make more money.

Jimothy convinced Bruno that he wanted to make an addition to that list and his offer would be something Herb could not refuse.

"Alright. What exactly is this addition?" Bruno asked looking at Jimothy from head to feet. He'd heard a lot about the infamous outcast but had never met him until today.

It was late evening and he was about to leave his house for the airport when a rickety car much like Herb's but even worse, pulled up in his driveway. A tall, shaggy looking man came out with his face badly bruised, his eye swollen and purple. His right arm hung from a bandage and he walked with a cane.

"Who are you?" Bruno asked, clutching a revolver he had tucked in his jeans.

"No need to get excited, son. You must be Bruno." The man said.

"I am. And you are?"

"Jimothy. I'm very sure you've heard of me." Jim introduced but with little pride. Usually, what people heard of him was bad and even though he could not do anything to change it, he welcomed his identity. It brought him fear-driven respect to a certain level.

A surprised smile spread across Bruno's face. "You're the famous bastard that roughed up the Mayor. Holy shit."

"Careful how you talk, son." Jimothy warned.

"he roughed you back, didn't he? That was cold man, how's the interstate?" Bruno teased mockingly with a laugh.

"I want to speak with your father." Jimothy said holding back from punching Bruno in the face.

Bruno sized up Jim. "Got an appointment?"

Herb had a reputation of his own and so Bruno wasn't surprised that the stranger knew his father.

"I don't need one. I've got an offer he can't refuse, something that'll make him a billionaire within a snap." Jim said.

Bruno shut his car door that had been open the entire time then leaned against it. "crazy maniac wants to give my old man money making ideas. Care to tell me why?"

"I want to speak to Herb first, you'll find out then." Jim said impatiently. His dirty sleeves reeked of alcohol and medicine. This made Bruno scrunch up his nose in disgust every two minutes.

"You talk to me first, then you get to him. If not, then forget it." Bruno said and opened the car door again.

"I know about the drago." Jimothy stated.

Bruno halted and turned to face him, clutching his revolver once more. "What?"

"The serpentine he has locked away in Islay. I know he has three of them. The amphibian, the golden peacock, the amethyst bowfin, the. . ."

Bruno angrily pushed Jimothy against his car with the gun fixed on his jugular. "How do you know about all that?"

Jimothy chuckled. "I'm also a man of many secrets. I know when someone is hiding something especially a man like Herb."

"What do you want from us?" Bruno asked fuming.

"Calm down, son. I only want to help and be helped as well. That's why i came. I know of a creature that your father might find very interesting, a worthy addition to his list of creatures that aren't of this world. Yeah, i believe there's a world outside of our own, that's where they all come from."

Bruno eased back and put away his gun, giving Jimothy enough space to continue talking. He had almost forgotten Jim reeked of bad hygiene and booze and he immediately regretted going so close. He would have to add 'wash, rinse and repeat' to his to-do list later on.

"If Herb can catch this creature, he'll make money beyond his wildest dreams." Jim continued.

"And what's in it for you?" Bruno asked.

"Herb is influential, he's rich and powerful just like that fool that calls himself my brother. He can get me out of here. I want a new life somewhere far away."

"So you want a chance to leave Maine in exchange for information about a uh, special creature?"

"Exactly. You and your father won't be disappointed, i promise that."

Bruno took a while to consider. He knew Jimothy wouldn't have risked coming out into the open if he did not mean business. He could've been spotted by border patrol or the police but he had snuck past them anyway to get to town. The man looked poor and sickly. He had heard about his nasty history with the Mayor who happened to be his brother. He also heard that the Mayor had wanted to jail him for murder but chosen to cast him out of town instead, taking a precious possession from him.

Something about that ceased possession had driven Jimothy even crazier than usual.

It seemed a little odd that Jimothy would ask for freedom now but Bruno believed he deserved it. He had suffered way too much and whatever accident he'd gotten into that had reduced him to church mouse level did not help either. He looked like he would drop dead if he dared to risk a cough.

Bruno also liked the idea of being excessively rich and even though his father would refuse Jim's proposal, he would accept it - whatever it was.

"Alright. What exactly is this new addition?"

A ghostly smile rested on Jim's lips. His voice lightened as he spoke again, as though he spoke of a lost lover. "You've met twee, haven't you?"

Bruno raised an eyebrow in uttter confusion. "I've met a lot of people."

"Yes, given your job but. . . . twee, she's the one you hired some months back. Brown hair, beautiful face, lovely eyes." Jim said trying to describe as best he could.

"You mean Bree? Miss Deckard." Bruno said realizing who the crank meant. "How did you know her?"

Jimothy chuckled. "Long story but she came to me to complain about something. Something she probably already told you about but you neglected her."

Bruno's brain began to piece things together but very slowly.

"Twee claimed she was held responsible for a bunch of missing pigs but it wasn't her who stole those pigs, son. A certain creature had found its way downtown and twee asked my help to catch it to redeem herself."

"Did you? She told me about it but it was too good to be true even though i wanted to believe her." Bruno said, his eyes shining with interest.

"I don't think the girl was lying. She never trapped the thing, she became. . . .how do i put this?. . . . friends with it. It did this to me."

Bruno retracted his head. "What? How?"

"I had her as my hostage because she couldn't hold on to the end of our deal. It came out of nowhere and attacked me. But here's the juicy part."

Jimothy paused enjoying the curiosity that was eating away at Bruno.

"What is it?" Bruno almost yelled.

"It can talk." Jim said.

Bruno's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "That's impossible. What kind of creature is it?"

"I don't know but it's enormous. It threatened me to stay away from twee and left with her. I haven't seen either one since."

Bruno licked his bottom lip as if he could taste the juiciness of the story he'd just been told. "If this creature is, as you say, close to Bree, then it probably still lives here."

"I doubt that you can catch it all by yourself. It's 14 foot tall and weighs over a thousand pounds."

"So we call in favors from across town." Bruno said.

"No, we have to be smart about this. If you wish to catch this creature, you'll need more than favors." Jim said scratching his stubbled chin.

"What else do we need?" Bruno asked.

"A permit to hunt it down. If you can convince the Mayor that the town is in danger and needs to get rid of that monster, it will be a lot more easier. He'll declare some kind of state of emergency. You'll be free to hunt it down, i would help but not in my condition."

"Okay, a permit from the Mayor. That's easy. What else?"

"I'll connect you with an old friend of mine. His name is Galloway, he's good at tracking down creatures."

"But how do we track it down?"

Jimothy gave that ghostly smile again. "Get to twee and it'll come to you."

After their conversation, Bruno and Jim sealed the deal. Bruno gave the secret to Herb who was more than excited to oblige.

He put in a few calls and got to the Mayor, warning him about the mysterious creature that was seeking to eat half the population. Without hesitation, the Mayor had given out a permit, ordering the town into a major lockdown.

A rule was passed that as long as the creature was loose, no one was to leave their houses for work, school or anything else. Whoever was found harboring the creature would be charged with genocide and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Jim brought in Galloway, a skilled hunter from Netherlands. He was twice the size of Herb with blue green eyes that literally mirrored his years of experience and just how crazy he was, probably crazier than Jimothy himself. He had taught Jim how to hunt and was happy to help the town with their problem.

He also brought in a squad of handy hunters just in case.

"All we need now is a description of this animal. Does anyone know where we can find one?" Galloway asked his new crew but nobody had an answer.

Bruno began to search around town for any sort of clues. He asked people, mostly the ones who were close to Bree until he stumbled across Norman.

Norman had gleefully given him Bree's missing sketch of Beasley which he'd snatched the day he had confronted her in her apartment. He also noticed her unhealthy attachment to the creature and was grateful for the measures Bruno's crew were about to take.

After a few weeks of searching for the pair, setting traps and finding nothing, Bruno went to Norman once more. He asked him to urge Bree's mother to look for her missing daughter but even Melinda did not know where to look.

Thankfully, Norman hadn't mentioned Bree's connections with the creature to her. He only made it clear that Bree was in danger wherever she was. Melinda called and called, growing weary by the day but Bree was nowhere to be found.

Two weeks passed and another then Herb placed a bounty on the creature. Whoever could bring it in or at least disclose its whereabouts would receive a huge amount of money and this included Galloway and his crew.

Only a few days passed before Bruno received a call that Bree had been spotted in Queensland.

"How the hell did she get there?" He'd asked rhetorically.

The crew in Australia had assured him that if she was there with the creature, it would come for her but Bruno never heard from them afterwards.

Galloway was informed of the recent sighting and divided his crew members into batches, placing them at every exit and entry point in town including the mouth of the forest near the farmhouse.

Norman took up the responsibility of checking on a worried Melinda.

"What if its already got her? What if she's not okay?" She kept asking amidst tears.

"She'll be fine." He would reply. He was certain that if Bree was affiliated with the creature, then it would not harm her. Would it?

Now that we know about what happened in Maine, let us go to Bree and Beasley in Australia.

The pair went back to their waterfall cave hideout where Beasley finally slumped on the ground looking as weak as ever. Bree managed to tend to her wounds until she only felt dull aches under her chin. Her chest still burned but she knew how to remedy that.

"Are you okay?" Bree asked crawling up to his face. She had been so scared before but now she was just concerned about him. Hey, i've heard that somewhere before!

"I'm fine." Beasley replied with a grunt.

She laid in his forearm, her usual spot and wrapped her arms around him, looking up at his face. Pulse like vibrations from his body seemed to soothe her aching chest really quick. They remained quiet for a long time before Bree finally addressed the elephant in the room, somewhat literally.

"What happened back there?" She asked.

Beasley's eyes flickered in the darkness. He looked lost and confused, almost the same way he did whenever he tried to remember a particular information about his past.

"I couldn't control it." He blurted.

"Control what?" Bree asked.

"The urge to hurt them, all of them. It felt natural, it felt right. It felt like that was who i was." He replied with a distant yet sad look in his eyes.

Bree slid off his arm and sat next to his face, burying her tiny hand in the smooth fur of his cheek. He laid on his stomach like a really big dog waiting for a treat but Bree didn't have any to lighten his mood. She hadn't set up a campfire inside the cave since she'd lost most of the items in her backpack which included her blowtorch.

They sat together in the cold cave which was warm compared to Beasley's original cave. He hadn't gone into it for weeks now.

"I think you were just following your instincts." She said with a shrug even though she did not believe so. There had been something seriously wrong with him. For a nanosecond, when he'd stared at her from the back of the boathouse with those dangerous, mist filled green eyes, she thought he was going to kill her too. It had taken all her willpower to remain as still as she'd been.

Her hand felt warm against his face and he didn't want her to take it off.

He hummed in response and shut his eyes. A warm feeling spread across his face again and when he opened his eyes, Bree had wrapped his ginormous face in a hug. Her own eyes were shut as if she was in a peaceful sleep and her mouth was only an inch away from his nose.

"Bree?" He called.

She opened her eyes and stared at him. "What?"

"We should go back." He said.

"Why? No, they're looking for you. If they find you, they'll hurt you. We can't."

He nodded in agreement. "I know that so you go back instead."

Bree frowned but didn't release her grip from his face, instead she pouted and hugged him again. "I'm not leaving and you can't make me."

He was tempted to laugh but he held back. Bree was stubborn and she wouldn't listen to him even if he asked her a thousand times.

"You have to." He said. "Your mother is worried sick."

Bree seemed to consider his statement and even though he didn't want her to leave, she had to go back to her mother. He would give anything to go back to his but Bree looked less concerned about going home.

"She's fine. She shouldn't worry about me."

"Bree, listen to me. If they find you with me, it won't be good." He said.

Bree finally released her grip. "What are you talking about?"

"You're going to be punished for trying to keep me safe. I know what they're up to. I can't let you suffer because of me."

"I can't let you suffer because of me either. All of this is my fault anyway." She said.

"It's nobody's fault then. Go back and look after your mother, i'll stay here. It's better if we're separated. They won't be able to find me without your help." Beasley said and stood up.

"I'm not going to help them." Bree snapped.

"Exactly." Beasley said. She realized he was joking and gave a weak smile.

"Can i come visit?" She asked wringing her hands together.

"Not until you're sure nobody would follow you." He replied calmly.

Bree went silent for a while then her shoulders slumped. "Fine. I'll go but first. . ."

She dug through her backpack and pulled out a book then handed it to him.

Beasley studied the front page. "Which one is this?"

"It's my favourite. should keep you company while i'm gone." She said and swung her backpack across one arm.

"Looks interesting." He grumbled as he twirled the book in between his claws. It was slightly bigger than The Little Mermaid, had larger fonts and looked colorful.

"You're gonna take me back right?" Bree asked.

Beasley nodded then gently placed the book down in a corner as if one rough move might shred it to pieces. "Yes, come with."

He led her outside into the thick night. Bree had little time to study the surroundings -the cold air, nighttime sounds like hooting owls, crickets chirping, frogs croaking etc. The weather was thick with the smell of impending rain. The clouds darkened, the sky was void of stars and the moon. Bree knew her good days were over and the dark days she'd feared had come.

She followed Beasley until the landscape began to stretch. She hurriedly went to hug him for the last time.

"I'll miss you." She mumbled.

"I'll miss you too." He replied and then he was gone in a blur.

Bree found herself back in a more familiar forest. Bamboos covered the area as far as the eyes could see, a heavy mist was settling across the forest and as she kept walking the mist began to smelled like smoked meat.

A cloud of white pooled in front as she came closer to the mouth of the forest. She knew her way around now and was thankful she didn't bump into any wolves. They usually stayed near the cliffs.

Bree walked through slush, snuggling the strap of her backpack. She felt like her nerves were being flayed with an intense open heat. Her heartbeat unevened and her mind wouldn't stop thinking about a hundred negative thoughts at once.

She began to hear voices as she got closer and closer to the clover patches.

The forest had grown more weed in the past few weeks and so it was difficult to see ahead but Bree spotted flames.

She walked until she came out into the clearing.

A group of men camped some yards away from the back of the Pendulum where the mouth of the forest stretched along in a straight line. The area was flooded by police cars and officers in uniform. Some perched around the closed farm house whilst others leaned against their cars. The pen was void of pigs and Jonas was also nowhere to be seen. Bree had a nasty feeling she couldn't push down. Why was the police here?

One of the campers spotted her immediately and cocked his gun causing the others to follow suit.

"Whoa whoa, easy there. It's just a girl." One officer said placating them with his hands.

Four officers approached her and stopped about a stone throw away but one man continued to advance.

He looked like he was their leader but he wasn't in uniform.

He was huge and had blue green eyes, a clean shaved beard and black short hair. He wore a plaid shirt under a black hoodie jacket and blue jeans complimented by heavy wellingtons. It hadn't been raining and Bree didn't understand why he had wellies on but that was none of her business.

"Hello ma'am. Back from your vacation i see." He said.

He had an accent that Bree couldn't place.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Galloway and you're under arrest." He said with a crooked smile.