Chapter Two: Judas.

"Howdy Judas, you lost?" Jon cordially greeted, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he gave a polite smile. Honestly speaking, he could count the number of times he had directly spoken to his cousin on a single hand, including this one.

Judas stumbled around a bit, a confused expression on his face as he squinted his eyes. He sputtered a few times and then pointed towards Jon before finally speaking "You! You're… ehhhhh, you're Jon! Jon! You're Julie's kid!"

At this, Jon smiled a bit as he ran a hand through his hair. He had to give it to his cousin, not very many members of his mother's family couldn't remember his name, much less his existence. Not that he really minded. "That's me. What're you doing out here?" He asked his cousin out of curiosity. Usually one had to physically restrain Judas from indulging in alcohol, it was pretty strange to find him out here amidst the trees and the snow.

"I was… uhh… I was… doing… stuff…" Judas muttered, unable to form a solid or believable excuse in his drunken stupor… though judging from the still burning joint between his fingers, it was easy to see that he must have left the house to smoke some weed. Beyond all doubt, due to the mix of drugs and booze, he must have gotten himself quite turned around. He was most fortunate that he had chanced upon Jon or he would have gotten terribly lost amidst the snow.

"Stuff… right. How about I just lock up, then I'll take you back to the party? I'm sure there's plenty more beer waiting for you." Jon offered as he turned to lock the hunting stand to ensure that no critters entered and made themselves home. As he did so, he briefly wondered how Judas was still alive given how much he drank. It seemed almost a miracle that the man hadn't died from alcohol poisoning or some type of accident.

Once he locked the latch back into place, he turned to face his cousin once again… but found that he was vanished from sight. He looked around, wondering where Judas could have gone, but stopped when he heard his cousin singing drunkenly once again, the words sounding so slurred that they seemed to be in some type of foreign language.

He looked behind him and saw Judas stumbling and climbing further up the mountain, which was obviously the opposite direction of home. "Hey! Where are you going?! That's the wrong way!" Jon shouted as he chased after his cousin. If those wolves were still around and if they got it in their heads that Judas was either food or a threat, then he would be in deep trouble.

"Come back Judas! You're going in the wrong direction!" He called out, as he ran as fast as he could while wading through some deeper sections of snow that hindered his progress, all the while wondering how his drunken slob of a cousin could have gotten so far ahead of him in such a short time.

"Turn around, you idiot! There's wild animals out here! I just saw a pack of wolves for crying out loud! It's not safe for you up here!" Jon called once again, trying to get his cousin to turn around or at least stop, but Judas either didn't hear him or was outright ignoring him entirely.

Finally, his cousin stumbled and fell face first into a large mound of snow. "You done now?" Jon asked as he marched up towards his fallen cousin.

Judas sputtered as he forced himself back onto his feet, still drunkenly stumbling around until he finally turned towards Jon, who paused upon seeing his slob of a cousin was carrying a kitchen knife tucked away in his belt. "Judas… what are you doing with that knife?" Jon asked, immediately sensing that something was wrong, his hand slowly descending towards his holstered sidearm in case things got ugly.

His fears were confirmed as his cousin fumbled with his belt a bit until he drew the knife and pointed it towards Jon in a menacing manner as he slurred "Shaddup! You think I don't know? You… you… you're always laughing at me. You! Everyone! Are always laughing at me!"

Jon bit his lip nervously since it was plain to see that his cousin was mentally unhinged, most likely due to the mix of drugs and alcohol. "No one's laughing at you. Why would people laugh at you?" Jon asked, trying to placate Judas and calm him down.

"DON'T PATRONIZE ME! Everyone makes fun of me behind my back! 'Look, there goes Judas. The poor bastard is so drunk he can't even tie his shoes'. 'Hey, Judas, you wanna get drunk and party all night? We won't record you and post your craziness online'." Judas muttered angrily while waving the knife around and took a few steps forward.

Jon placed his thumb on the safety switch on his side arm and clicked it a few times to make sure it was off before things became violent as he continued to try and talk his cousin down "I'm not sure what's going on with you, but don't you think this is unnecessary? Just put down the knife and we can talk this out, yeah? I think you're head isn't on straight because of all the booze you've been drinking."

This time, Judas didn't respond and instead gave an almost animalistic snarl as he swung the knife in the air in a clearly deranged manner. Feeling that negotiating was no longer an option, Jon drew his side arm and pointed it directly at his cousin's chest. "Last chance! Don't make me do this" Jon pleaded, but his unstable cousin only continued on towards him with his blade in hand.

Jon placed his finger on the trigger, preparing to squeeze it and fire, but paused in surprise as he saw Judas' eyes become blood red, and thick black veins started to appear on his face and neck. This horrific sight briefly stunned Jon, but he shook off his shock long enough to finally fire off a shot that hit Judas square in the chest, sending him stumbling back.

Jon expected him to fall over dead, instead Judas regained his footing and continued stalking after him, as if he were some kind of undead horror. Pursing his lips, Jon decided to aim for the head this time to ensure his attacker would go down for good… but then a blur of white appeared followed by the sounds of snapping and snarling.

The white wolf he had seen earlier now had its jaws locked tight around Judas' wrist, threatening to tear his hand off. Out of the snow came the other wolves who descended upon Judas, biting at his legs and arms and pulling him down to the ground as they tore into him.

Seeing his chance, Jon quickly ran off back towards his home before the wolves could take notice of him.

Down, down, down, the mountain he ran. His legs were moving so quickly under him that it almost felt like he was gliding across the snow. The sounds of the wolves howls and snarling and Judas' pained screams fading behind him.

It wasn't long before he reached his home and he threw the door open, causing it to slam hard against the wall which made his relatives jump in surprise at the sound and spill their food and drinks across the floor.

His mother, Julie quickly rushed forward asking in a fearful and worried voice "Jon! What happened? Are you okay?"

He could only nod his head, panting breathlessly as he tried to get his second wind, but in-between breaths he managed to speak out "Judas…went nuts… tried to attack me… wolves got him."

A series of gasps and mutterings came from the various partygoers which quickly devolved into a panic as they began to shout questions towards the teenager, demanding more details about the incident. Julie managed to restore order by telling everyone to remain calm and immediately called the police.

Once the police were called, everyone sat or stood about the house in a stiff silence, their appetites lost as they set aside their drinks or food. Julie set her son to the side and wrapped him in a thick blanket to help warm him up while Jon could only replay what had transpired in his head.

What had happened to Judas to drive him over the edge? Why did black veins appear on his face and his eyes turn red? How was he able to shrug off a bullet to the chest, like it was nothing? Jon was certain he had hit him directly in the heart.

The minutes seemed to tick by, very slowly. Not a sound was heard throughout the house, save for the ticking of a clock that everyone seemed to be apprehensively staring at as they waited for the police.

At long last, the sounds of sirens approached and blue and red lights flashing could be seen. Jon sighed as he mentally prepared himself, knowing that the police would undoubtedly question him and take his statement. Who knows? Maybe the police could shed more light upon the incident and provide some answers. For now, all Jon could do was just roll along with it and follow whatever instructions the police would give him and his relatives.