The Awakening Box Set
Page 50
“Lay off the girl, Blain. You know you won’t do anything of the sort. The Lady is already pissed off at you for allowing the wolf to get away, along with the tiger.” Another voice, also British, interjected, one of the other guys.
Ben put his head into the wall and his eyes up to the holes to see what he could. What he saw was the side of a bed lengthwise. Sitting on the bed, back to him, was the girl. Opposite of her was the brutish man he had seen initially talking to her in the street. Now he could see him up close, Ben was warier of him.
The man wheeled towards where Ben assumed the other man was.
“The wolf was mine, if only that bitch of a tiger hadn’t interfered. If it is anyone’s fault, it is the Lady. She told me only the wolf would be here; she never mentioned anything about no tiger.”
“Don’t get riled up, Blain. Taylor is telling you how it is, no reason to get pissed at him. If you remember, we said you should have taken us with you, and the wolf and the tiger would’ve been dealt with.” This must have been the voice of the third guy Ben had seen.
“Shut up, Joseph. I don’t need you spoutin’ off, too.” The man named Blain turned back to the girl.
“Now, in the meantime, you are going to stay here and be quiet. I may not be able to toss you out the window, but you ain’t so young I wouldn’t hesitate to rape your scrawny little ass.” Blain loomed over her. She leaned back a bit, so his face wasn’t so close to hers.
As soon as he turned, she was up and was headed for the door. Blain was expecting the move and his meaty hand flashed out, grabbing her by the elbow and tossed her back. She landed on the bed and something happened Ben couldn’t believe.
The girl bounced when she hit the bed, and before she landed again, her body went through an amazing transformation. Her face elongated to take on a kind of rat-like features. She was covered almost entirely with hair, except near her ankles and wrists, which were hairless.
Elongated fingers, ending in sharp looking claws, sprouted from her hands. Ben ducked as a hairless tail ripped out of the back of the girl’s clothes and slammed against the wall, right above where his eyes were, knocking drywall dust and insulation down on his head.
The thing which was once the girl was standing on the bed, somehow wielding two wicked looking daggers with wavy blades. He hadn’t seen her pull them, but he now knew what she carried under her coat. They appeared too small for her form now. In fact, at second glance, Ben realized the girl must have grown at least a foot or two in height. Visibly, she was bulkier in shape than before, as well.
Standing upon the bed, daggers pointed at the man named Blain, she threatened him.
“Oh, come now, lass, you can’t be serious?” The man took a step forward and the rat girl took a swipe at him with one of the daggers. It was so quick; Ben wasn’t sure it happened until he saw a line of blood appear from a cut in the man’s arm.
It was there only a second, and for the second time that day, Ben saw something which would live with him forever. The man shook himself and transformed right in front of him. It only took a second and the monstrous form the man took shook Ben to his core.
He was undoubtedly the boar creature he had seen in the video but seeing it in person was a whole other story. It was huge, and it towered over the girl, more so, because it was forced to duck, otherwise it would be too tall for the room.
Ben saw the girl creature hesitate, then leap at the boar. She was nothing if not fierce, Ben thought. The boar grabbed her as if she was nothing and pinned her arms to her sides. She fought hard against him, but it was in vain. He was too strong for her. What Ben saw in the beast’s eyes as he glared at the girl made him want to leap through the wall to rescue her, even knowing it would see him dead. He was about to, when he heard another’s voice, a woman’s voice, quiet and frightened.
“Leave her alone, Blain.”
The boar glanced to the side of the room where the voice came from, then back at the girl. Ben saw the moment of fury was gone, and he relaxed. The boar released the girl who slumped to the floor, daggers dropped. She rubbed the spots on her arms where Blain had squeezed.
“What’s your name, girl?” the woman asked.
Trying to twist in the wall to get a peek at the woman, Ben couldn’t see much past his limited view of the side of the bed. As he glanced back, the girl returned to her human form, huddled in the shelter of her overcoat.
“It’s Shae.”
“Well, Shae, I’m Sarah.” Ben wondered if it was the same Sarah who had been involved in the fight on the street, the one later taken from the hospital.
“I’m afraid it is best if you do what Blain says. I know you heal swiftly, like the rest of us, but it won’t stop him from causing you a lot of pain, which he won’t hesitate to do. It will be easier on you to stay here with me, and we will wait for this Lady to show up. Hopefully, we will get better treatment. Okay?”
The girl peered in the direction of the voice; a tear trailing down her cheek.
“Why don’t you come over here by me, I’ll keep you safe.”
The girl scrambled up and moved out of Ben’s vision. The boar returned to his human form and gave a laugh.
“Don’t listen to her, lass, she can’t even protect herself. Of course, she can’t do much of anything without me telling her. But she is right about one thing, as long as you shut up and behave, you should have little problems from me. You step out of line though… well, ask Sarah there to find out what happens.”
Blain walked out of his vision, and Ben had to strain to hear the rest of the conversation.
“How long till the Lady gets here, Blain?” one of the other guys inquired.
“Dunno, she said she was going to take care of something tonight and hopefully be here in a couple of days. I suppose she will call us tonight to let us know.”
“What happens if the wolf or the tiger show up in the meantime?” It was the voice of the other guy, most likely the fat one.
“Well, first of all, they don’t have any way to find us. But if they did, we would tear them to pieces. Right, Sarah?” he asked with a particularly mocking tone in his voice.
“Clint will kill you, Blain.”
The sound of the slap was almost deafening to Ben, which was followed by a heavy thud as a body hit the wall further down in the room. The entire wall shook, and the drywall bulged on his side from the impact.
Ben heard the girl scream, and Ben braced for the sound of the next slap. It never came. A groan came from the other room and dry wall dust fell again as the woman pulled herself from the wall.
“That’s where you got it wrong, lass. I made the mistake last time by not finishing the job, but I won’t make that mistake, again. Your boyfriend shows up, me and my mates here are going to destroy him. And if the pussy shows up, we’ll kill her, too, but like I said, it doesn’t matter, because they won’t find us. They don’t have an idea we are still here.”
Pulling himself out from the wall, Ben stared off in the distance. These were bad men, worse than men, they were monsters. Literally. If this wolf and tiger were against these men, they couldn’t be all bad. In fact, from what he heard on the street, a vast many thought of them as heroes.
To Ben, the girl didn’t belong with these men, the woman, Sarah, plainly didn’t. But, what could he do about it? This was beyond anything he was prepared to handle.
He gave it some more thought. It was more than he could handle, but perhaps the wolf and tiger could handle it? The problem was, he had no idea where they were, or if they were in Chicago anymore. However, if they were in Chicago, or if they came back, chances are they would start their search where he had found the girl. He decided it would be best to go back to the corner and wait. It was all he could think to do.
It never occurred to him to find out about the guy who arrived with Shae in Chicago.
Epilogue
The wolf tore through the woods and had done so for several days. Aware of little else but the anger in its hear
t. It had traveled through the woods, or at night when it must travel the more populated areas. It ran on four legs, though it was partially aware it could have run on two, its mind was little more than animal, vaguely aware it was more. Something caused this change, but it didn’t matter anymore. It had a destination, and a target for its anger. When it reached its target, it would rip its throat out with its teeth and taste its flesh and blood.
It smelled a deer and shifted direction a little to intercept it. It had feasted upon a couple deer over the past few days, along with two hunters with their orange vests and slow reactions. It was the first time it had tasted human flesh. The flavor lingered on its tongue, even now. It would not go out of its way to hunt humans, but if the opportunity presented itself again, it would not hesitate.
Part of it screamed against this, a part stronger than the animal, but weakened more and more. Soon, it believed, the voice would disappear altogether, and it would be free of its human protests, free to hunt, and free to kill.
The Saga will continue in
“The Gathering”
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THE AWAKENING: PART ONE
Copyright © 2017 by Michael Timmins
All rights reserved.
THE AWAKENING: PART TWO
Copyright © 2017 by Michael Timmins
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, and events portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s imagination.
Michael Timmins lives in Toledo, Ohio with his wife and two sons. His inspiration for writing came from his many years making modules to run for his D&D group. It has been a dream of his to one day get his work published, and now with ease of self-publishing he has made his dream come true.