Page 3 of Starved Until Sunset

Demetrius stood again. “I’ll check my phone once we’re done. Let’s load this up and get out of here.”

Cody stood and they both took a moment to scan the woods. There was some time before sunset, but shadows were already slowly, steadily pushing the light out from between the trees.

“Yeah, good idea,” Cody said.

They struggled a bit longer, but finally managed to swing the deer a few times and get it up onto the end of the truck bed. Cody climbed in and extended a hand to help Demetrius up, then they dragged it to the back to join three other much more mangled deer carcasses. Four raccoons also made up the grisly menagerie, legs stiff and pointing toward the sky. Two flattened opossums lay nearby and Demetrius couldn’t help thinking about possum pancakes.

“Busy day,” Cody said.

“Yeah.” Demetrius leaned against the side of the truck bed. “I still prefer catching live critters.”

“Me too.” Cody tipped his head toward the end of the truck. “Ready to call it a day?”

“A day, a week, a month, a year, all of it,” Demetrius said. He gave the raccoons a quick glance.

“Trevor is fine,” Cody said, patting Demetrius’s ass. “He’s in his raccoon castle back at the house waiting for dinner.”

“I know. It’s just…”

“It’s been a lot, hasn’t it?”

Demetrius smiled, but it felt sad, and there was a cold spot in his chest. “Yeah.”

They returned to the cab and pulled off their gloves, dropping them on the floor mats. Cody handed over a pack of antibacterial wipes and they each scrubbed at their hands. Once his skin had dried, Demetrius pulled his phone from the pocket of his coveralls as Cody started the engine and turned toward town.

“No full moon,” Demetrius said after checking his app. “Not for another ten days.”

“Great. So, something strong enough to bring down a deer and kill it with a single bite is lurking around the woods outside of town.”

Cody’s phone buzzed from inside the pocket of his coveralls. “Dammit.”

He lifted a butt cheek off the seat and stuck one hand in his pocket. The truck edged over the center line, and Demetrius reached to grab the wheel and bring them back into their lane.

“Easy there, big guy.”

“I know, I know… Just want to make sure it’s not the Pines.”

Which Demetrius knew meant Parson’s Pines, the senior care facility where Cody’s Grandma Felicia resided.

“Just try not to get us killed in the process.”

“Ugh. I can’t get to it.” Cody took the wheel in both hands and leaned toward his door. “Can you reach into my pocket and get my phone?”

“Is this some kind of cheap move to get me to touch your dick?” Demetrius smiled as he slid his hand into the warm darkness of Cody’s pocket. He felt the phone, then extended his fingers a little further to brush the side of Cody’s cock. “Because it’ll work every time.”

“Noted,” Cody said with a grin, keeping his eyes on the road.

Demetrius eased the now silent phone from his pocket. He used Cody’s code to unlock the phone and checked the recents.

“It was Jugs.”

“Nice of him to call so often,” Cody said.

“He left a voicemail.”

“I’ll listen to it later.”

Demetrius locked the phone and held on to it, watching through the dirt-streaked window as the soybean and corn fields grew smaller. The farmhouses, barns, and fields were eventually replaced by houses with big yards, which soon gave way to smaller homes closer together. They rode the rest of the way to the town limits in comfortable silence, and when they passed the sign welcoming travelers to Parson’s Hollow, Demetrius noticed some new graffiti across it: Monster capital.