Episode 2: Walking Sam by @wingedcatninja
All of them had been hitting the books hard, looking for some explanation for what they had decided to call the rift coma. Claire, being a young woman of action, was bored and had volunteered to make a supply run. Anything to get out of the house and away from the lore books. She sauntered along the aisles of the small convenience store, grabbing things that were on her list as she found them. Taking any excuse to prolong the time she had to herself away from reading obscure texts in weird languages, she stopped at the newspaper rack and skimmed the headlines.
âHey, this ainât a library, lady.â The squeaky voice of the pimply-faced kid who manned the register piped up behind her and she grimaced at the rack of newspapers. She grabbed a couple of the papers, one local and one national, and headed to the check-out with a sigh.
The kid eyed her the whole time while he rang up her items, and she was a little proud of herself that she actually ignored him instead of punching him in the face. She grabbed the two paper bags and gave him a smile. âThanks. Have a nice day!â Her tone was chipper and the look on his face when she walked away made her laugh. You had to enjoy the little things in life, right?
Stowing the bags in the backseat, she grabbed the papers and slouched in the driverâs seat while she skimmed through them. There were a few promising articles in the national paper that she marked for later before she picked up the local paper.
A few pages in she came across an article about another rash of suicides and attempted suicides at the Pine Ridge reservation. What caught her eye was the mention of a local urban legend about a spirit called Walking Sam. Going back to the beginning, she read the entire article, filtering it through her hunter knowledge. Folding the paper with the article on top, she chose to drive by the library instead of heading back home.
An hour and a half later, Claire had gone through every text the library had on Walking Sam and she was fairly certain it was an actual spirit. It had been around for a century at least, as far as she could tell, and it seemed to crop up every fifteen years like clockwork. Leaving the books and articles on the table where she had been sitting, she hurried out to the car and drove home.
Alex met Claire in the kitchen as she came in from the garage, arms full of groceries. Without asking, the girls both started putting things away. When they were almost done, Alex nudged the paper that had ended up on the counter.
âLooking for cases?â She kept her tone carefully neutral.
Claire shrugged and turned her back, putting some cans away. When she turned back around, Alex was folding one of the paper bags, her hips leaned against the counter.
âWeâre already on a case, Claire. Youâre not just gonna run off chasing some monster with this crap going on?â
(read the rest on ao3, and catch up with the rest of the series here)