A heavy silence reigned in the cab of the old truck as the pair flew towards Mt. pleasant, Jessica kept replaying the events of the day in her mind over and over again but always arrived at the same conclusion, she must be crazy.
"Ryan, why were you out there today?"
The man turned his strange eyes on her and shrugged before answering in a clipped tone,
"I was hunting. I could ask you the same thing."
Nodding Jessica replied
"I was hiking with a friend of mine but we got separated, I'm a Wildlife management student at A&M."
"Well if you're planning on being a warden then I'd suggest you work on your terrain association skills"
Jessica huffed in reply but again lapsed into silence as they passed the city limit sign.
"We're almost there I'll drop you off at the police station, please be more careful, you may not be so lucky next time. There's a rather large part of the population in this area that would gut you for the change in your pocket just so they can get their next fix."
"I know, thank you."
As they pulled into a spot outside the police station Ryan got out and opened Jessica's door without removing the keys from the ignition. Before stepping out Jessica looked down at the man she had spent the last few hours with.
'There's something off about this man but I can't place my finger on what exactly'
Ryan looked up at her and offered his hand to help her down, then removing a pen and pad from the glove box he scribbled something down on it.
"If you're ever out this way again and need a guide, don't hesitate to give me a call."
Taking the peice of paper he ripped out Jessica thanked him and started towards the door.
-
Ryan stepped back into the driver side of the truck and reversed out of the parking spot and started home, his mind racing, he mentally kicked himself.
'Why did you give her your number dumbass. Never get involved in their world, it never ends well. maybe it's time to get back to work'
Reaching over without taking his eyes off the road he opened the glove box and withdrew the notepad before Glancing down at a word on the top page
Croccota
-
3 DAYS LATER
College Station, Texas, United States
Jessica sat alone at the desk in her dorm room thinking of the man in East Texas while staring at the peice of paper in front of her as she traced her fingers over the numbers written on it something struck her as odd.
Jessica took a pencil from the cup on the desk and using an open pair of scissors shaved the tip until a large portion of the graphite was exposed. After saving the number written on the paper into her phone she lightly began to shade the page exposing what was written on the page above it. Most of the words were indecipherable but a few stood out
Big Bend...Terlingua...13....dead...possible croc...
pondering the disjointed words Jessica started as an alarm on her phone went off signaling it was time for class. Grabbing her laptop and slipping it into her bag she left her dorm.
'Professor Vaughan is back from his trip today hopefully he won't jet off for another project for a while'
settling into her usual seat she removed her laptop and opened it on the seat back desk infront of her as a slight man of about 40 entered the room among a gaggle of students and set up at the podium.
"good afternoon everyone, first I apologize for my recent absence, there was an outbreak of CWD near OKC that I was asked to look into, second I must apologize as I will be leaving on another consultation trip to west Texas in 2 days something to do with a string of dead javalina near Terlingua however this brings me to my third point there will be an opportunity to earn extra credit. I will be needing some assistance for this and TPWD has approved travel and lodging for 2 assistants if you are interested please email me or come find me during office hours."
Jessica's ears perked up upon hearing Terlingua as her mind flashed back to the blue and brown starburst eyes.
"However today we will be covering CWD and it's ecological impact and risks to humans as it spreads south...."
Jessica's mind wandered as she tuned out the rest of the class.
'Terlingua? I wonder if he's there...'
Jessica started the recording app on her computer so she could take notes later before opening another tab and composing an email to professor Vaughan.
finally the class ended and as everyone started packing up Jessica approached the podium and addressed the teacher.
"Sir, I already sent an email but I'd like to talk to you as well, I would very much like to go with you to Terlingua."
Professor Vaughan tsked before replying
"While I'd rather you have been paying full attention to the lesson, I appreciate your enthusiasm to assist. It's first come first served and I'm pretty sure your the first volunteer, I'll send you all the pertinent information and travel information later today. Thank you miss..."
"Galatas, Jessica Galatas, and thank you sir."
"Are you current in all of your other classes?"
"yes sir, this is actually my only class this semester."
The man laughed before replying
"Lucky you!"
-
A few hours later Jessica was back at her dorm. taking a seat at her desk she opened her laptop and opened a search engine, using it she searched for Terlingua and looked at a map of the area.
'Not much around, and close to the border.'
She jumped as both her phone and computer dinged with a notification, opening her email Jessica saw the message from her teacher along with several attachments. clicking on the first it opened a news article about a local rancher who had stumbled upon a pile of 13 javalinas that had been torn apart not 200 yards from where his goats slept at night. The other link was to a scientific article about the numerous predators found in the area, Bobcats, mountain lions, black bears, rattle snakes, and coyotes although they were primarily scavengers. The final link was a plane ticket to a small airport some distance away.
leaning back in her chair she said to no one in particular.
"Well I guess I'd better pack jeans."