DEAD MEN PAY THEIR DEBTS.

LITTLE FOX.

The two of them walk to where the cow had been. The grass is crushed, still speckled with dots of blood. Jesse casts a glance up as he kneels - the sky is darkening. The days are short, extremely so now that it's winter, but more than that, he doesn't want to be caught out in the woods in the rain. 

Casey stays standing as Jesse puts his face as close to the grass as he can stand. But no matter how closely he eyes the ground, he still can't find anything wrong with it. He sits back on his haunches, then hesitantly reaches forward and touches the blood on the grass. He sucks in a breath as his finger makes contact with the grass - but it feels just like grass. Nothing more, nothing less.

He stands up and walks in a circle around the patch of crushed grass, looking for clues. When nothing turns up, Jesse sighs in frustration and kneels again. He plucks a piece of bloodied grass off the ground, sitting on his haunches.

"Casey?" he mutters, examining at the grass. "I could use a lil' help, you know."

He continues to peer at the blade of grass, until he realizes that Casey's attention isn't on him anymore. Jesse looks up. Casey is staring towards the opposite bank of the river, his brow creased.

"Look over there."

Jesse clutches the blade of grass as he gets to his feet. He squints into the place where Casey's looking at, but he doesn't see anything.

"I don't see an -" He freezes, the grass in his hand fluttering to the floor. "Oh, Jesus."

Blood stains the other side of the bank, in splotches. Jesse tracks the blood up, farther into the woods.

Casey shifts his weight to his other foot, swallowing as he runs a hand through his silvery hair. "I don't like this. I don't like this one bit." He touches Jesse's shoulder. "Come on, let's go back."

Jesse doesn't move.

"Please, Jesse."

"Just a minute. I swear I'm ready to go back," Jesse says distractedly as he walks forward. "I just - just a minute."

He walks forward, wading directly into the river. His eyes are on the bloody stains on the other side - how had no one seen them before? Half the town had been down here this morning, but none of them had thought to look at the other side of the bank?

Jesse inhales sharply as the icy water rushes past him. Behind him, Casey is cursing as he follows Jesse into the river. It's not a deep river; the water doesn't go past Jesse's chest, but his teeth are chattering as he climbs out of the river, water dripping off his coat and shirt.

He hurries to the nearest blood stain he can see. Unlike the ones on the other side of the river, these are large. They're damp still, and the largest one is twice the size of Jesse's head. He inhales, the metallic tang of blood assaulting him.

The sound of swearing snaps him out of it. One glance behind him reveals Casey climbing out the river, looking murderous. Jesse is momentarily diverted by how he's absolutely sopping wet, dripping from everything.

"Why are you so wet? The river isn't that deep -"

"I fell in," Casey snaps stiffly. He shakes his arms, the water dripping everywhere. "Current was stronger than I thought."

He pushes his hair away from his forehead and comes over to Jesse sulkily. At the sight of the blood, he frowns. He slowly looks up, following the trail of blood stains into the forest.

"Blood," Jesse says quietly, almost to himself. "Cow blood." He reaches down and drags a finger through the blood. Behind him, Casey chokes as he brings the bloody fingertip up to his nose and sniffs it. A quick lick reveals that it's -