“Do you think this creature is real and lives here in the museum, Jeff?” Trevor asked, munching on his sandwich. It was nearly midnight and their shift far from over.

Jeff didn’t raise his eyes from the newspaper, looking terribly upset. He could be home watching his favourite series but there he was with a coworker he didn’t particularly like, all because some people believed in folklore and silly supernatural stories. Who on Earth was stupid enough to believe that the stuffed body of a dead animal exposed at the Zoology Museum was motionless during the day, but suddenly come back to life at night to haunt and kill the town’s inhabitants?

“To be honest I think Phil placed me here on purpose.” was his dry answer, his eyes still stuck to the newspaper which he wasn’t even properly reading. He just didn’t want to chat much with Jeff. Phil was the new police station boss and both he and Jeff immediately disliked each other. When two people are equally good at something, jealousy is inevitable. But Phil was the boss and Jeff, much to his annoyance, had no choice but to comply with his orders.

“Do you think he wants to embarrass you?” Trevor was aware of the hostility between the station boss and the team boss. He never asked questions but now that they were alone, why not try to find out more?

“I just think we are wasting our time. We should be interrogating the witnesses and trying to get more from them. The murderer is definitely outside among them, not stuffed here. What a load of rubbish.”

Jeff finally put the newspaper down and took a sip of his now cold coffee.

“Well, those bodies were really gutted... if I may say so, it really didn’t look like they were killed by a human. More like a wild animal or...”

“Oh, for goodness sake, man!” Jeff bursted, suddenly getting up from his chair. Trevor jerked back and went mute. He shouldn’t irritate his boss and add to the animosity between him and Phil. “I’m gonna get another cup of coffee. Do you want one too or are you just going to stay here babbling about supernatural creatures and all that bullshit?”

“Ahem... yes, sure, Jeff. Two spoons of sugar if you don’t mind, please. Thank you. Are you ok with going alone to the kitchen?”

Jeff just rolled his eyes with a sigh and walked out. The kitchen was still a 500 metres corridor away from the small watch room where they were, on the opposite side. A few stuffed animals were displayed along the way. Jeff didn’t notice that one was missing.

He turned on the coffee machine. Damn it, it wasn’t working. Crap. As he prepared to go back, all lights flickered and went off. He immediately took his gun from his holster and a small torch from his pocket. He pointed the feeble light at the door but saw nothing.

“Trevor, if this is you being funny, we’ll have a lot to talk about when our shift is over.” he threatened as he prepared to go back, his eyes slowly getting used to the darkness.

A piercing, spine-chilling scream echoed all over the museum accompanied by growls. Jeff started running.

“Jeff...” from the watch room, Trevor’s voice came out frail, almost disembodied.

Jeff kept running and stumbling.

“Trevor, if this is a joke, it’s not funny at all.”

He halted at the room’s entrance and nearly dropped dead on the floor with the shock. Trevor’s throat was torn, blood spilled down his shirt and chest, his eyes wide with horror. Next to him, a huge grey-haired beast, a dreadful mixture of bear and wolf or so Jeff thought, stared back at the cop, blood dripping from his mouth from the recent kill.

Jeff pointed his gun and shot, but nothing happened. He shot again. Nothing. The beast just kept staring back, getting visibly more enraged.

“What the...?”

Jeff couldn’t finish the sentence as he heard a creepy, yet somehow familiar voice behind him.

“I hope you believe in the supernatural now, Jeff.” Phil said, his eyes shinning bright, a wicked smile on his blood-red lips.

Jeff dropped the gun with the shock, unable to mutter a word. Phil just smiled.

“Kill him!”

The beast pounced on Jeff, immediately biting his throat. Jeff moved his arms like a puppet, his movements uncoordinated. As the blood gushed out, his strength left him too. When the beast let go, Jeff fell lifeless on the ground. Phil smiled, triumph in his bright eyes.

“Good boy ! One less rival to compete against me. Soon we’ll take over this town.”