บท 21: | Payback Time
Jack woke with a spasm of cramps in his legs. It was still dark. He rubbed at his calf muscles and swung them over the side of the bed. And froze.
His fever seemed to have gone. But so had Ava. If she were still lying down, his feet would be in her face right now.
He switched on the bedside light, and his uneasy feeling grew stronger. Ava's rucksack had vanished with her.
Suddenly wide awake, the twinge in his legs forgotten, Jack pulled on his shoes and opened the door a crack. It gave on to the little living room. The clutter and bric-a-brac made strange shapes and shadows in the orange gloom spilled by the streetlamps outside. 'Ava?' Jack whispered.
Nothing.
'Ava!'
The toilet flushed. Jack relaxed a little and waited for her to return. But it was Patience who shuffled into the living room through the other door, wrapped up in a robe, her feet buried in fluffy slippers.
'What's up?' she asked, turning on a side lamp. 'Thought I heard you call for Ava. Well, she ain't out here. Managed to lose your bride-to-be in that itty-bitty room?'
Jack guessed he couldn't blame her for being suspicious. 'Uh, no, I just – that is … ' Jack smiled awkwardly, unsure quite what to say and not wanting to alarm her any further. 'Sorry, I was just, uh … trying to wake her. But she's flat out.' Or out, anyway, he thought worriedly.
'You're all dressed. Not planning on shooting through without saying goodbye I hope?'
He shook his head and smiled politely, his mind elsewhere.
'Couldn't sleep, huh?' Patience sank in an old armchair. 'Well, I know sleepless. And restless.' She chuckled softly. 'Yeah, they're both old friends of mine. I know how it feels to be cooped up with too little space and too much hunger … ' Then her voice hardened. 'And I know who you are, and what you've done. Both of you.'
Jack's face froze in shock. Gooseflesh rose along his arms and neck.
'Just as I knew some crummy punk would try to steal my money on the bus if they thought I was asleep. And that a nice little boy like you would jump to my rescue without suspecting a thing.'
Jack stared in horror at the dark shape in the chair as it started to shake.
'Marcie's put out the word on you two.' Patience's kind features gave way to something twisted and feral. Her eyes shone yellow-white like the moon through the gloom of the room. Her back arched and snapped, and she fell forwards. The robe fell away to reveal a thick, silver-grey fur covering her skin like mold on a peach.
'Payback time,' she snarled. Then her face bent and cracked outwards into a snout, her jaws sagged to reveal long, yellowing teeth. All that had been human was consumed by a wolf.
*****
Jack backed away in horror. He grabbed a throw from the old armchair and tossed it at the nightmare creature creeping towards him. She leaped easily to one side to dodge it. Jack's heart sank further as he circled away from her – and away from both the front door and his stuff in the spare room. Despite her age, the werewolf that had been Patience was fast. Jack debated whether or not he might reach the door that led through to the rest of the bungalow before she could stop him.
It would be close.
A desperate idea came to him. Jack looked past Patience to the doorway of the spare room. 'Ava, get back, quick!' he shouted.
As the Wolf spun around eagerly with a frightening roar, Jack darted for the internal door.
Patience howled as she realized she had been tricked and bounded after him. Jack slammed the door shut in her face. A second later he heard claws on the wood, heavy paws swiping at the handle.
'Ava!' he called, terrified, pushing back against the door with all his weight. 'Ava, are you here?' No answer, save the pounding on the door, which boomed and shook as Patience hurled her lupine bulk against it.
She's gone, he realized with a sick feeling. Isn't it obvious? She ditched you the first chance she got. Jack stared around frantically at the small passageway that gave on to the only other rooms in the place: Patience's bedroom, the bathroom, and the kitchen.
There was a back door in the kitchen.
Jack grabbed a wooden chair from the kitchen and wedged it under the living room door handle. Then he dashed to the back door.
He caught a glimpse of yellow eyes through the grimy glass of the window. Crouched shapes slunk back into the shadows.
Patience had called her friends … No escape that way, then. Well no shit. Could things get any worse?
Jack ran over to the cluttered bathroom, yanking the frayed light cord as he entered. He stood panting under the half-hearted glow of the bare bulb. He knew Patience might break through any moment now. There was a black rectangle of frosted glass above the toilet. The window looked to be just big enough for him to squeeze through.
He jumped back and swore as the window cracked dully under the weight of something heavy from outside. Something was trying to get inside, to get him. He backed away and caught his leg against the bathtub, overbalanced, and fell inside along with bottles of bath salts. Cursing, he scrambled back out and, out of options, dived straight inside Patience's bedroom and slammed the door.
Then he heard the low growl and saw the old grey 'wolf rising from behind the sagging bed, jaws wet and open, beady eyes shining in triumph. She must've got through the living room door while he'd been clattering about in the tub. Crept in here and waited for him, playing with him, knowing that this was the only place he could go.
Now he knew for certain the fooling around was over. It was finally Marcie's payback time.
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