The grass was damp, so it bent beneath my feet and made no sound. When I reached the last van before the wolf-man's cage, I stopped and listened.
There was a soft jangling sound, as though heavy chains were being lightly shaken.
I stepped out from under cover.
There were dim lights on either side of the wolf-man's cage, so I was able to see everything in perfect detail. He'd been wheeled back here after his act, like he was every night. There was a slab of meat in his cage, which normally he'd be feasting on. But not tonight. Tonight he was focused on something different.
There was a big man in front of the wolf-man's cage. He had a huge pair of pliers with him and had cut some of the chains that were holding the door shut.
The man was trying to unwrap the chains but wasn't doing very well. He swore softly to himself and lifted the pliers to cut through another link.
"What are you doing?"I shouted.
The man jumped with shock, dropped the pliers, and spun around.
It was, as I had guessed, R.V.
He looked guilty and scared at first, but when he saw I was alone he grew in confidence.
"Stay back!"he warned.
"What are you doing?"I demanded.
"Freeing this poor, abused creature,"he said. "I wouldn't keep the wildest of animals in a cage like this. It's inhumane. I'm letting him go. I called the police - they'll be out here in the morning - but I decided to do a little work of my own beforehand."
"You can't do that!"I shrieked. "Are you crazy? That guy's savage. He'd kill everything within a five-mile radius if you let him out!"
"So you say,"R.V. sneered. "I don't believe that. It's been my experience that animals react according to how they're treated. If you treat them like crazy monsters, they'll act that way. If, on the other hand, you treat them with respect, love, and humanity..."
"You don't know what you're doing,"I told him.
"The wolf-man isn't like other animals. Walk away from there before you do any real damage. We can talk it over. We can -"
"No!"he screamed. "I'm through talking!"
He spun back to the chains and began struggling with them again. He reached into the cage and tugged the thickest chains through the bars. The wolf-man watched him silently.
"R.V., stop!"I shouted, and raced over to stop him from opening the door. I grabbed his shoulders and tried pulling him away, but I wasn't strong enough. I punched him in the ribs a few times, but he only grunted and doubled his efforts.
I grabbed for his hands, to pry them off the chains, but the bars were in the way.
"Leave me alone!"R.V. yelled. He turned his head to speak to me directly. His eyes were wild. "You won't stop me!"he screamed. "You won't prevent me from doing my duty. I'll free this victim. I'll see justice done. I'll -"
He stopped ranting all of a sudden. His face turned deathly white and his body shuddered, then went stiff.
There was a crunching, munching, ripping sound, and when I looked inside the cage, I realized the wolf-man had made his move.
He'd sprung across the cage while we were arguing, grabbed both of R.V.'s arms, jammed them in his mouth, and bitten them off below the elbows !
R.V. fell away from the cage, shocked. He lifted his shortened arms and watched as blood pumped from the holes at the ends of his elbows.
I tried grabbing his lower arms back from the mouth of the wolf-man - if I could retrieve them, they could be stuck back on - but he moved too quickly for me, leaped back out of reach, and began chewing. Within seconds the arms were a mess, and I knew they'd never be any good again.
"Where are my hands?"R.V. cried.