by W A Rowland
At the time, he’d thought it was just one of her usual pep-talks, but now, it seemed almost prophetic. He was then struck by the oddness of his high-school guidance counselor, a woman he hadn’t thought about in years, suddenly resurfacing in his mind just before what could easily turn into a fight for his life. “…if you never push yourself, you’ll never be satisfied with who you are.” The woman’s words echoed in his mind as he parked in the small gravel lot outside of the Landfill.
Guess we’ll see if I pushed myself enough, won’t we, Mrs. Anderson? Liam thought to himself.
“We’ll be fine, Liam. Have a little faith,” Lily said.
“Hey, there you are. You’ve been quiet for the last couple hours, Lily, is everything ok?” he asked, comforted that his normally bubbly guide had broken her silence.
“Yeah, just trying to figure out some guide-y things,” she said nonchalantly.
“Anything I can help with or should know about?” Liam probed, curious as to what could have had his normally chatty friend quiet for that long.
“It has to do with when you augment someone. I don’t know quite how to describe it exactly, but you know how it seems that there’s a substantial amount of concentration required on both of our parts?” she asked.
“Yeah. Focusing on the kind of augment we want,” Liam supplied.
“Yes, that. It doesn’t make sense. Sure, you may need to physically focus your brain to access your powers and astral connection, but I shouldn’t. I exist in astral form, the connection is like a bungee cord for me, I can only stress it so much before it pulls me back, but it would take an incredible event to break it. It’s why we need hosts to interact with the physical world, but it’s also our lifeline to the astral plane. I shouldn’t have to put nearly as much mental focus in order to leverage that energy,” she finished.
“I see,” Liam hedged. “Maybe it has something to do with our bond? Almost like you have to pull me along too when you want to use that power?”
“No, it’s not that. I can’t describe it in physical terms, but it’s not that. You have your own connection to the plane the same as everything else. No, it has something to do with the augmentation skill specifically. Your telekinesis ability doesn’t tax me at all,” she said
“Bast did mention that I’d have to directly affect another demi’s connection to the astral plane in order to change their abilities. Could that be it?”
“Maybe, I can’t tell though. There’s definitely something different about the augmentation ability from the rest,” she said.
“Other than it being supposedly impossible?” Liam added with a grin.
“Yeah, other than that...” She trailed off suddenly pushing Liam to alertness. “Something’s coming, do you feel that?”
Liam sat up in his chair and checked his watch. It was twenty minutes till the arranged meeting time. This was when Bast and Thea had said that any scouts for the kidnappers would probably start to move towards the parking lot. He felt a strange pressure now that she mentioned it. It wasn’t like air pressure from changing elevation. It was more like a mental pressure, making his thoughts fuzzy. He looked around, but the one dim streetlamp in the parking lot only illuminated a small circle in the middle and it was too dark outside of the truck cab to see anything substantial.
“Liam, there’s something strong out there,” Lily said, fear evident in her voice. “We need to go. We need to go now!” she shouted in his head. And then a massive object crashed into the side of the truck, rocking it up onto two wheels momentarily before it settled back down. Another object hit from the other side, making the truck slide sideways across the gravel of the parking lot and into a shallow drainage ditch.
“What the hell is going on?!” Liam heard Sarah scream in his head.
“No idea!” Liam yelled back out loud.
He was trying to start the truck despite its position half in the ditch, but the engine had apparently been damaged by whatever it was that was playing bumper car with the truck. Liam’s door wrenched open and a large furry hand shot inside, grabbing him and yanking him free of the wreck, tossing him into the middle of the lot. He landed in the middle of the beam of a single flickering streetlamp.
Liam rolled gracelessly across the parking lot until he finally came to a stop, cut and bleeding in the middle of the small circle of light. He lifted his head, adrenaline starting to kick in and numb the immense pain he was already in. He sat up and started to stand, but stopped in a crouching position as he heard a shuffling and a growl from just outside his visible range. He noticed then that the other lights around the parking lot had gone out, and from where he was, his eyes couldn’t penetrate the darkness. He heard a series of popping sounds and a well-built, middle-aged man in cargo pants and a grey t-shirt stepped into view, walking casually like he hadn’t a care in the world. Liam looked at his aura and it was as black and deep as the darkest pit. His face had a feral look to it, several days of stubble collected on his chin and a sunburned complexion. His voice came out as a gravely bass as he spoke.
“Give me the core and you get to die quickly pup.”
The completely neutral way in which he had said the words shocked Liam even more than being tossed across the lot. He was frozen in place by the big man’s gaze. Liam swallowed hard. This had to be an intimidation technique, it had to be. They wanted to see how easily Liam would give up the core.
“Back the hell off or nobody gets the core,” Liam hissed back at the big man.
The man sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I’m too tired for this and you’re not even interesting prey!” The man growled out in frustration, then whistled and something leapt at Liam from the left of the circle.
Liam just barely got a look at the mass of fur and fangs that was hurtling at him before a shot rang out. The creature yelped and crashed down next to him, unmoving. He watched as the seven-foot mass of muscle and fur turn into a pale, emaciated man.
“Werewolves!” Sarah pushed into Liam’s head and he looked to see Jax posted up on the truck bed shooting at shadows outside of Liam’s view.
“Liam, get down!” he heard Sarah yell as Jax flipped his rifle to automatic and unleashed a volley of lead into the parking lot.
Liam cowered on the ground as the world above him exploded into flashes of light and the sound of gunfire. Several yips were heard as Jax fired in bursts, but he soon ran out of rounds in his magazine and had to pause. Sarah had crawled up next to him and began to fire her own rifle in bursts. Liam spun on his stomach and crawled towards the truck, seeing that as the safest place for the time being. He was halfway there when Hand appeared next to him and picked him up.
“Sorry, I’m late. Ran into a couple lookouts down the road,” Hand said calmly and pulled a machete out of nowhere.
Hand tossed Liam under the back of the truck where Sarah and Jax were and then disappeared again. Jax and Sarah stopped mowing the parking lot with automatic fire just as Hand reappeared, a machete in each hand now, zipping in and out of the ring of light at blinding speeds. Liam’s eyes finally started to adjust to the lack of light and he could see Hand fighting with several massive shadowy figures. The big man took at least one hit while Liam watched him jump in and out of the fight; these things were fast!
Sarah and Jax had dropped from the back of the truck and Jax pulled on Liam’s shirt. “Time to go,” he said coolly, then turned and started to run towards the direction that Bast’s team would be coming from.
“What about Hand!” Liam shouted as he followed.
“He’ll catch up. It’ll take more than a few werewolves to drop him,” Sarah shouted as she posted and fired behind them, eliciting a yelp from a pursuing wolf. “Three on our trail!” she shouted then started running again.
Liam glanced behind him to see several shadowy figures loping quickly behind. The three hit the road and Liam had to double-take, as suddenly there were two copies of their group running next to them. Three Liams, Sarahs and Jaxs ran side by side down the
road. Then the other two versions of them each broke off into the woods on either side.
“What the hell!” Liam said under his breath, breathing too hard to shout it.
“Jax, mask now!” Sarah said, her face strained in concentration.
“Done,” he said in his usually uncaring tone then turned and lit into their pursuers. Sarah spun as well, and in a few seconds, three werewolves were lying in the road.
“Come on, that won’t keep them out for long,” Sarah said, dashing off into the woods. Liam followed as one of the copies of their group appeared from the woods and continued to run down the road. Sarah pulled Liam in between her and Jax and they crouched behind a fallen log.
“Shouldn’t we…” Liam started, but Sarah put her finger to her lips in the universal, “shut the hell up,” sign.
After a few moments, Liam watched as the shadowy figures of their pursuers got back up and continued to run up the road after their other versions.
They remained silent for a few moments to let the wolves get some distance. Sarah was breathing hard by this point and groaning softly in effort.
“That should be enough,” Jax said simply, putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder as she let out a sigh of relief and collapsed against the log they were hiding behind.
Lily chirped into Liam’s head, then said, “Something’s still not right. There’s something else in the woods here, it wasn’t the werewolves.”
“Y’all, I don’t think we’re safe here,” Liam whispered.
“No shit Sherlock, what gave it away, the were-pack or the gunfire?” Jax hissed angrily.
“My guide is going crazy; she can sense something else in the woods,” Liam explained.
“Damn it.” Sarah gasped, finally getting control of her breathing. “The two that were chasing my copies are on their way back, they figured out it wasn’t us.”
“How’d they do that?” Liam asked.
“No scent and they may have disappeared in the center of the road. I only have so much range I can control,” she explained quickly.
“Well crap, now we’ve got them and whatever else is out there,” Liam said, panicking more than a little.
“Then you should shut up and follow me,” came a sibilant voice from behind the trio. They all started and turned around to see a giant black Jaguar lounging on a branch just above and behind them.
“Bast?” Sarah asked. “I thought you…”
“Yes, yes, found their hideout, got Liam’s friends. Now let’s go!” she said firmly and leapt from the branches, hitting the ground at a sprint.
The three followed as quickly as they could. The nimble cat weaving her way through the trees and underbrush. Liam heard an angry howl echo in the distance.
“Hand is heading towards the rally point,” Sarah said suddenly. “He doesn’t feel like he’s in a good shape.”
“Keep moving, he’ll be fine,” Bast hissed. A few minutes of hard running later, they came to a small clearing where the jeep was parked. In a cluster around it was Steven, Thea, and Michael, all with assault rifles and pistols trained on the wood line.
Huddled in the back seat was Cindy, with a look of obvious discomfort, as she was sandwiched between Rich and Kat, who both looked thoroughly freaked out. Kat shrieked when she saw Liam’s cut and bleeding body running towards them with what looked like an Asian action movie character and teen girl, both holding automatic rifles.
“Liam, what the fuck is going on?!” she shouted at him as he got closer.
“Move now, talk later,” Steven said ushering the three newcomers into the circle and onto the vehicle.
Hand appeared then, bruised and blood-soaked, the big man definitely was worse for wear. “We need to go,” was all he got out before a horrific bellow erupted from the trees.
The demis formed a line facing the direction it had come from and opened fire as werewolves began to sprint from the wood line. The pack was at least forty strong, and Liam spotted several who were missing limbs or covered in gore. The wolves charged the small group with roars and growls.
Hand produced two high caliber pistols in each hand and started running along the flanks of the pack, placing rounds into the heads of the running wolves. Sarah, Jax, and Steven opened up with their rifles, while Bast, Thea, and Michael readied themselves off to the sides. The withering fire knocked about half of the wolves off of their feet, but even then, they were healing quickly and the rest of the pack was eating up the distance to the Jeep.
“Bast, we need to go now!” Steven yelled and stepped onto the side of the Jeep.
“Michael, drive,” Bast said leaping on a wolf that got too close, ripping out its throat with her teeth. “Hand and I will distract.”
Michael jumped into the driver’s seat and revved the engine. The rest of the group still on the ground either jumped onto the back of the jeep or grabbed the roll-cage and rode on the side as the vehicle bolted out of the clearing toward the main road. They hit the pavement and Michael gunned it. Liam caught a glimpse of dark figures appearing on the shoulder of the highway as they rocketed forward.
Liam could barely see with the way the wind was pummeling his face, so when the giant white wolf barreled out of the woods and slammed into the side of the Jeep, it came as a surprise to almost everyone.
Everyone, that is, except Cindy, who screamed “Look out!” a couple seconds before it hit and then teleported out of the hurtling vehicle a split second before the wolf struck it.
OF WOLVES AND MEN
The vehicle’s speed made it impossible to dodge and the Jeep careened out of control off the road, spinning and then flipping, tossing its occupants out in random directions. Liam had been lucky and was tossed when it exited the highway, landing in the grass next to the road. It still hurt like hell, and he probably had some whiplash, but he’d survived it.
Some of the others hadn’t been so lucky. Nobody had been wearing seatbelts, and most were scattered on the side of the road. Liam saw Jax’s limp form crumpled in unnatural ways on the road. A little farther down the road, he saw where Sarah had been thrown into a tree and her small body lay lifeless at its base. Michael was crawling along the edge of the road, his legs obviously broken. Thea, with her strong bones, had made a furrow in the ground and looked a bit shaken, but was at least moving. Rich lay a few yards away from Liam, and seemed to have landed in a similar fashion as he was at least looking around in a dazed fashion.
Liam was shell-shocked from the whole event. He shook his head, but then thought better of it when his world suddenly started to spin again.
“Liam!” came Lily’s distant voice. He thought about how odd it was that a voice in his head could be distant.
“Liam! Snap out of it!” she shouted again, this time getting through.
“Lily, they—” His thought was interrupted by the pounding of giant paws approaching. He looked up and saw what was coming. A ten-foot tall werewolf with snow white fur and emaciated limbs stalked towards them. Its eyes burned brimstone red and saliva dripped from its bloody muzzle. Something hung limply between the teeth of its jaw, and as it chomped down, Liam heard an anguished scream. Kat
Liam sat fixated on the monstrosity as it approached. Seeing his friend breathe her last in between its teeth.
“No!” Liam wailed out, his mind breaking at the horrific sight.
Rich seemed to have recovered some of his senses and had seen the same thing. He rose thoughtlessly and started running at the monster screaming curses as he went.
The white wolf growled and kicked Rich with one of his feet, his claws shredding the man as he was thrown away violently. Michael raised one weak hand and a spark appeared, then the wolf caught fire. It howled with rage as its fur burned, but then leapt twenty feet forward, landing on Michael’s prone form with a crunch. Liam could only watch as this beast killed and devoured his friends. His mind too shocked at the carnage to register fight or flight.
Thea stood from where she’d landed, drawing a hand axe
from her back and charging at the beast. Her first strike taking it in the knee and dropping it down. She got in several good hits and dodged several swipe from clawed hands before it regained its balance and kicked her through a tree. Liam sat dumbstruck. They were dead. All of them were dead. He’d gotten his only friends killed along with several complete strangers, over what?
The wolf turned its gaze on Liam and stalked towards him. Liam looked up into those fiery red eyes and surrendered to his fate.
The white wolf stood over Liam and growled, bits of blood and gore hanging from its chops. “You should have just given me what I wanted,” came the gravely hellish voice as it stooped and looked at Liam closely.
Liam winced at how close the snarling face was to his own. “Go to hell,” he shakily replied.
“Been there,” the wolf replied, then reared back a hand to strike.
But in the split second before it hit, a shadowy figure slammed into the giant wolf, knocking it aside. Liam looked and saw Bast as a jaguar leap away as the mountainous beast swiped at the air.
Bast landed gracefully between Liam and the wolf. “Hello, Julian,” she hissed, her hackles raised.
“Bast,” the wolf growled, “still playing your games kitty cat?”
“Last I heard, you’d been dropped into the ocean in an iron maiden,” she snarled. “Why aren’t you still there?”
“Had some unfinished business,” the wolf growled and then charged. Bast shifted in an instant, the jaguar suddenly replaced with an eight-foot tall anthropomorphic jaguar hybrid holding a massive bladed mace. She was still pitch black, with fur everywhere and a lean, muscled body, the mace looking small in her hands despite its almost six foot length. She swung, hitting Julian in the head as he charged and sending the big wolf sprawling across the pavement.
He was back up in an instant, leaping and barely missing the agile Bast. She swung her mace again, but this time he was ready and caught the handle, knocking it from her grasp. She quickly ducked under his wild claws and appeared at his back, large spikes shooting from where her claws would have been, burying deep into Julian’s back. The enraged wolf spun, landing a kick on Bast sending her flying into the air, but she landed back on her feet a few yards away and leapt.