Page 13 of Bred By the Wolfman

“A girl,” I say, a growl to my voice. “A girl worked here. Black hair in a braid. Quit two months ago or so.”

He blinks. “N-no girl has quit recently,” he says, clearly shaken. I wonder how many monsters he sees out here. “Not since I’ve been here. Though turnover is high in the service?—”

I cut him off. “Are you sure? Not even on the day shift?”

He rapidly shakes his head. “Not that I know of.”

I reel back from the counter and turn around, striding out of the building as quickly as I entered it. Maybe I understand better now why Amanda took the job at DreamTogether, if this was the kind of place where she spent all of her days.

At least that was quick, so I can get to the next one.

Unfortunately, the following stop proves to be just as fruitless. There are about 250,000 people in Aston, and four different McFlips just within city limits. She might not even live in Aston, I realize as I drive towards the next one in the dark. She might live in one of the smaller towns outside of it, farther from DreamTogether.

Fuck. I didn’t think of that. That adds at least another three or four locations to my list.

The second stop is even less useful to me, because the two employees behind the counter aren’t sure who works the day shift. It looks like I’ll have to come back again in the morning, so I buy a burger and leave.

I decide to go home and get some shut-eye before I have to be back at the hospital tomorrow. There are a couple of planned C-sections, and who knows what else might come up.

I fall asleep hearing Amanda’s cries as I plunge into her, and hoping I’ll pick up her scent again soon.

I’m exhausted by the end of my shift at the hospital the next day, but I’m still intent on carrying out my search. There are three more McFlips to hit in the city and find out what I can about Amanda. Part of me hopes that if I can even pick up just a hint of her smell, I might be able to track her down. It’s a long shot after so much time has passed since she quit, but you never know.

The first place I stop, the swing shift manager is working the counter. He cheerily asks what I’d like to have.

“A friend of mine quit a McFlips a couple months ago,” I begin. “She said she left a pin in one of her uniforms. She really loved that pin but has given up on it.”

The manager thinks. “Hmm, there was someone who quit just a couple weeks back, but she was like, forty. How old is your friend?”

I have to think about this, and the manager starts to look suspicious. “It was her birthday last week,” I explain. “I’m trying to remember if she’s twenty-eight or twenty-nine.”

“Definitely not the woman who quit, then,” he says, and I want to flip over the whole counter. “Sorry.”

I clench my hands into fists and manage to keep from letting out a roar of frustration. I give him a quick nod and stride out, then once I’m in the parking lot, I howl a long, mournful howl. A couple in the parking lot quickly dart away and head for the door.

I try the same gag at the next McFlips, but they haven’t lost any employees recently. I’ll have to come check these places again during the day, I decide, because I didn’t trust the young girl behind the counter to have even been around long enough to know if Amanda worked there or not.

When I get back to my house, I feel like I could pass out at the wheel. I stop in front of my gate and lean out the window of my car, then push the code. The gate groans as it opens, and I think that I should probably come out here with some WD-40 and take care of that.

I haven’t been able to hire anyone for anything around the house since I started saving up for DreamTogether, and it shows. The lawn has grown wild, but I manage to avoid HOA penalties because of my gate and the hedges. None of the flowers came up this year, and the yard is simultaneously withering and out of control.

The inside isn’t much better. I’ve been working so many hours that all self-care has gone out the window, from cleaning up my dishes to sleeping enough to getting exercise. I have a treadmill in my big bedroom, right in front of the second-story windows, but it’s covered in dirty laundry and stretching bands I don’t use.

If I had someone like Amanda around, I would never have let it become like this. I just have no reason to do better when I’m the only one living here, not even a cat or a pet hamster in sight.

I sigh and flop down in one of the living room chairs. This is one of the only clean rooms, simply because I never use it.

I suppose for the sake of the cub, I should get my act together. I’ll have to do a lot better than this if I’m going to become a full-time father in a matter of months.

But for now, I need some fucking sleep.

seven

RUSS

I have an entire twenty-four hours off today, and I’m going to use every last bit of it.

I return to each of the McFlips locations I’ve already visited and ask their daytime staff the same question, spinning the same lie. Still, no sign of her.

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