章節 15: Horror, Part 1
On the porch, I wiped away tears, and took a deep breath to clear my head. The pack didn't notice. They were listening intently to Mark. I skipped quietly down the wooden steps, then crossed to Dakota. He slipped his hand into mine and gave it a gentle squeeze, while giving his full attention to Mark.
"We still have a few hours of moonlight left," Mark continued his speech, most of which I'd missed. "We'll need to split up to cover most of the forest."
"But how can we do that?" Raina asked sarcastically. "The forest is huge! There is no way that we can cover it all!"
"So you say," Austin interjected.
"Oh, go to—"
"Raina!" Mark warned, shaking his head.
Austin narrowed his eyes at Raina, and then turned back to Mark. "I don't know about you, but we can cover a lot of territory in one night with nine of us."
"Exactly," Mark added, then turned to Raina. "We might not be able to cover it all, but the werewolf is local, so one of us should run into it." Then he looked at each one of us. "And if you do, don't confront it. Wait for the rest of the pack if you can unless it attacks you first. Then you will have no choice but to defend yourself."
A grumble echoed around the pack.
"And don't hunt alone," Mark added. "Go with a partner. That thing is very strong and powerful, so don't try to take it on by yourself." Then Mark looked around the group once more. "And be careful." We all nodded silently. "Raina and Austin, you go to the north, Eric and Dylan you go to the east, Micah, Lexie, and I will go to the west, and Jessica and Dakota, go to the south." Mark thought for a moment, his eyebrows pulling together, then added, "If you see anything, call for help immediately. And, again, don't take it on by yourself."
As we all headed out into the woods to begin our search, Raina looked at me and called over her shoulder, "Hey, newbie! Try not to kill the rest of us, okay?"
"Raina, I'll show you newbie...." I warned as Dakota started pulling me toward the forest.
"Remember what I said, Raina!" Mark reminded her. "You will respect her. She has more control than any of us did at this stage."
Raina glared at me as a guttural growl erupted from her chest. Then she leapt into the air and exploded into her wolf, landing on four paws, and headed into the woods while never breaking her stride.
Dakota and I headed south at a run, when suddenly the red haze with black edges appeared in my vision, and tremors shimmered down my arms. My body quivered, changing until I leapt into the air at the exact moment I exploded into my silver wolf. Landing on my paws, I dug into the rich black earth heading toward the south with a giant mahogany wolf running by my side.
"Remember," Mark said in the Pack Mind. "This is our last shot to get this thing, then we'll have to wait for a month. Let's make it count."
"We'll get it," Austin said confidentially, and I could hear his footfalls echoing within the pack mind, pushing hard.
"We only have about three more hours of moonlight left," I said as my giant silver paws dug into the rich, black earth.
"Then let's catch this thing," Mark commanded, bringing an end to all conversation.
Even though there were nine of us, there was still a lot of land to cover. Dakota and I pushed hard, dodging the spruce and aspen, weaving agilely through them as the wind blew through my fur. Although it was dark, I could see just as clearly as if it were daylight. We combed the forest, looking for any traces of that murderous thing on the loose. It was hard to believe that it could be human and walking among us, hiding in plain sight. No wonder the dying girl in the forest said that it was like me. It morphed into something nonhuman like me, but that was where the similarities ended.
We combed the area to the south, looking for any traces of the werewolf, but there was nothing, just an occasional bear or mountain lion, and lots of deer, which scattered when they heard our heavy footfalls. We covered all of Colorado in the south, and most of New Mexico when Dakota said in the Pack Mind, "We'd better double back and go through part of Arizona, too."
"Sounds good," I replied, then let Dakota take the lead. On the way back, we took a wide circle through part of Arizona. We were almost into Colorado again when I sensed that something wasn't right.
"Dakota?" I asked hesitantly. "Do you smell that?"
"Yeah," he replied, looking around. "That thing is around here. That's its scent. Be careful, Jess."
"I will. You, too, Dakota." Then I carefully made a narrow loop around, not straying far from Dakota. Suddenly, I heard a guttural demonic growl. "Mark? It's over here!" I yelled in the Pack Mind, looking around cautiously, still unable to see it.
"We're on our way!" Mark said, speaking for the whole pack. I could hear their footfalls pounding hard against the lichen as they pushed onward. The rest of the pack added their agreement as they pushed toward us.
Then, the demonic growling grew louder within the forest, reverberating off the trees. The demon was right around the ridge, warning me to stay away. I slowed to a walk, following the sound.
"Ggggrrrrr...." It growled loudly through clenched teeth.
As I stepped around an old box elder tree, the monster was under a cliff overhang, hiding. Its long, primitive teeth dripped with saliva, baring its teeth with its ears laid back. The werewolf was standing upright on two legs, with the hands of a human, but with the legs and tail of a wolf, and black fur covered its face and body.
I immediately took my fighting stance, baring my sharp teeth, as a guttural growl erupted from deep within my chest. "Dakota, you'd better get over here! I found it!"
"I'm right here," Dakota said within the Pack Mind, growling as he slowly walked to my side. He planted his large front paws into the rich, black earth and squared his shoulders, growling menacingly and baring his teeth. "Jessica don't do anything until the pack gets here unless he does something first. Let's just wait him out."
And no sooner had he thought the words when the werewolf charged us, its lips curled away from its teeth, revealing its primitive fangs that reached almost to its chin, dripping with saliva, gnashing it's teeth, biting at us as it rushed toward us.
"Be careful of its teeth!" I knocked it down, but within a second, it was back on its feet. I rolled back onto my feet as it charged again, but Dakota knocked it down from the other side, sending it flying across the clearing.
"Come on, guys! We need you! Now!" Dakota yelled as the werewolf charged us again, baring its teeth. At the same time, Dakota rammed it hard on the shoulder, cracking its bones, while I ran into its side, knocking it into the clearing again. It got to its feet, yelping a bit, its hackles raised, then ran toward us at lightning speed on two legs with its arms outstretched into fists.
Suddenly, it grabbed Dakota around the throat with its hand, bared its teeth, opened its mouth, leaned toward him. I hit it hard from the side, knocking Dakota free, sending the thing flying back into the clearing again. Sensing that it wouldn't win this fight, it turned to run in the other direction, but it stopped dead in its tracks. The pack had arrived, baring their teeth, seething for the kill.
It was surrounded.
"Austin, Raina spread out to the left, Lexie and Micah, create a circle," Mark instructed. "Keep it cornered! Don't let it escape! Remember how fast the thing is!"
It obviously was intelligent because it realized that it was cornered. There were nine of us and only one of it. Suddenly, the werewolf saw a break in the line and darted toward it at lightning speed, but Eric bit its shoulder, tearing into its flesh.
"Aaahhhh!!!" It let out a great squeal of pain, and then staggered back on two legs, quickly raising up, looking for another escape. Raina stood behind it in its blind spot as a child would hide behind an adult playing Hide and Seek.
But this was not game.
It waited, a part of its flesh hanging from its shoulder as blood oozed down its back. It charged Mark, who was standing in front of it, but Raina quickly attacked it from behind, knocking it to the ground and bit a chunk out of its neck as it screamed in agony. Suddenly, the moon began to fade slightly in the sky, beginning its descent from the heavens, ensuring an ending to the horrors of this night.
"Come on, guys! We don't have much time," Eric announced within the Pack Mind.
"But don't get in a hurry!" Mark countered. "Don't play the hero. Be smart."
"And don't play the fool!" Raina yelled, but this time she kept her eyes on the creature instead of making it a barb at someone.
The werewolf made one last ditch effort to run with flesh hanging and parts of its body missing, but Dakota jumped on its back and pinned it to the ground.
Then Dakota reached down and tore its head off with his razor-sharp teeth while Mark helped. The creature made no sound as blood poured from the cavity where its head once was, just as the moon faded from the sky.
The body quivered and quaked, morphing and changing as it lay upon the ground. Dakota and Mark backed away as it shimmered. All of us were shocked as we eyed what lay upon the ground: the naked body of a human, white skinned and very muscular. I was almost afraid to turn its head over to see if I recognized who it was, but Mark did it anyway. I stumbled back in disbelief, for lying on the ground was Cane Summers, the boy from our school who once had a crush on my Michelle.
If anything had been in my stomach, I would have heaved it right there. "What a waste," I said in the Pack Mind.
"Did you know this guy?" Mark asked, turning to face me.
"Yes," I answered, clearly appalled. "He's a boy from our school. Cane Summers."
"That's a shame," Mark replied, gathering the pieces of the corpse.
"Cane had a major crush on my friend Michelle once, probably still did." I knew the information was irrelevant, but I was still trying to wrap my head around it. Cane Summers, of all people. He was a bit of a loner at school and was always a bit scrawny. Mean kids made fun of him, until recently. In the past year, his muscles suddenly became more defined, developed, and he seemed to have grown a foot in these last few months. Now, I knew why. I had just thought that his body was developing and never gave it a second thought. Many of the girls started to take notice him, as well... including Michelle. Lately, he seemed more confident, too. "How could this have happened? He seemed like a nice kid at school."
"He may have been bitten and not even realized what he was doing," Mark answered. Mark was following my thoughts when he asked, "Do you think he may have performed the ceremony to the Devil, asking for the power to conqueror his enemies?"
"No," I answered, shaking my massive head as moisture soaked the fur beneath my eyes. "He was a good kid. He would never intentionally hurt someone."
"Oh, yeah?" Raina interjected, helping to gather his remains. "Tell that to all the people he's killed over the last few months."
Before I could reply, Mark interjected, "Raina, he may not have known that he was even doing these things. You heard Caleb. He may have woken up in a field somewhere, not aware of what he had done. If bitten, the venom spreads like a virus, almost like AIDS, incurable. But with the werewolf, the victim may not know they are infected."
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