He reached for the handle of the door, pushed the thumb latch of the handle with his thumb, and heard the door click. Slowly, he pulled it open towards him, and instantly, the air from inside it flew over his face. The scent of heavy mustiness felt like power as it blasted against his nose. So much so, he could almost taste it. In fact, it almost blew his mind. He took it in and breathed it into his soul. Now, more than ever, he recognized the smell. It felt like home. It felt like heaven. Taking it in, he took one-step through the door but stopped. Another smell of must came strong, but this time, he could tell that it came from behind him, and it came with a feeling of a moist heat to the back of his neck. A snarl of a heavy, deep vocalization came next. Feeling it, and now hearing it, he knew instantly that that something now stood directly behind him, and by the sounds of the snarls, he knew what that something was. Oh, fuck me.
Before he could turn, a large black wolf grabbed him from behind, pulled him off his feet, and lifted him high up into the air. It felt so strong, he couldn’t move. He tried to turn to it, but he couldn’t force himself against its strength. Before he knew what happened, the red door opened and just as quickly, he felt himself tossed through the stale air and flung to the center of a large carnivorous room.
He could only see dirt and old concrete as he landed on the floor. His belly struck first as the sounds of his sneakers bounced up to his head. He screamed a shocked awe as he rolled over on the floor and looked back to where he had just been, behind him.
A large, black haired, and powerful looking wolf stepped inside, howling around the room as it moved towards him at the center of the room. Its pitch flew high, and echoed all around the walls. It sounded like thunder.
He watched it come through the door and step towards him, and gasped. He felt more than just shocked, he felt almost dumbfounded. He had never seen anything like it before in his life.
It looked just like a wolf, except it walked on its hind legs. Its legs looked beyond muscular; they looked almost overly powerful. It had such a massive build that he couldn’t quite grasp everything at once. He could just gasp. He could just feel awe. He looked up its legs and towards its chest. Its hands looked human as they moved along its sides. Its black fur glistened as it came into the room, and the lights on the ceiling above it, cast its shadow just ahead of it. He watched it and it blew his mind. Is that what I look like? He felt marveled by all of it. Watching it move made him feel almost like he was watching himself in a mirror. Right then, and there, he knew that he had seen it before. It didn’t just look familiar, but it looked almost natural. It felt almost like he saw a member of the family. It felt like seeing yourself in the face of someone else. It felt like the recollection that one has when they realize that blood is far thicker than water. It’s a powerful feeling. It’s a powerful longing, overwhelming the essence of seeing your own soul.
The wolf came to where he lye and stopped only a foot or so from his feet. It bent down and let out a growl that sounded as deep as any sound he had ever heard before in his entire life. It boomed low. It rattled the air and gurgled within its own heaviness.
Hearing it, seeing it, he literally gasped his heart away.
The wolf reached with an open claw that came towards his face.
“Wait!” a man shouted out behind him and to his left.
The wolf’s hand stopped. It came so close; he could feel its heat burn his skin. It made him blink.
Hearing the voice, he turned to the sound.
A young looking man stood up from a chair on the far side of the large and open room. His deep black hair looked short. His clothes looked clean and neat. His slightly pale face showed strongly with the hanging light fixtures overhead. He looked lean. He looked somewhat muscular. He looked maybe to be in his mid-twenties, if not younger than that. Jimmy recognized him as the one with the heavier colored halo around him that he saw before. He looked like the one that stood out. He looked like the one that seemed to lead the others. He watched him, fascinated by everything he now saw going on around him.
The man left the chair and made his way to the center of the room, and stepped right up to him. He knelt down to one knee when he reached him. “You’re not afraid?” His voice sounded as young as he looked. Something else also seemed to be there in his voice. He sounded concerned. He sounded afraid. He sounded beyond just a little worried.
With it all, Jimmy nodded. The shock of being flung into the room wore off him fast. “Why would I be?” He wiped some dust off his face. It must have cast up on him when he hit the floor.
The man smiled. He showed slightly yellowish teeth behind his well-colored lips. Jimmy couldn’t help but feel amazed at how perfect he looked outside of his teeth. He looked like Collins had.
The man sniffed the air around him, and lifted his chin. He breathed in everything that he smelled. “Who are you?” His deep blue eyes locked onto his stare. They sparkled somewhat, but also gleamed. It looked like seeing a flashlight beam in a mirror behind you.
Jimmy admired the sight. “I’m Jimmy.” He looked around the room, around him, and saw that they were all there. Two men and two women surrounded him on the floor. Each of them looked to be in their early to mid-twenties. They all looked strong. They all looked perfect. It looked almost like they were all models waiting to begin their runway walks. “I’m Jimmy Walls.”
“No!” the man screamed as his voice boomed off the emptiness of the room. It bounced off the walls and sounded almost like they were actually in a very large cave.
The sound caused Jimmy to spin his head back around towards him.
“Who are you?”
Jimmy was about to repeat what he just said, but the image of Collins standing in the mirror came rushing back into his thoughts. He could see his face so clearly, and could hear what he said just as clear, Kalima. Remember me. Remember. Call to him. Call Kalima. Was it that simple? He had no idea what the word even meant. He wasn’t even sure if he even pronounced it right. It sounded like K-a-leema. He wasn’t sure, but spoke it anyway. “Kalima.”
Everyone in the room collectively gasped. The sound came so loud, that he had to turn to each of them in turn, as the shock of the sound struck his heart.
The man kneeling down in front of him also gasped. His voice shook the air. He took in what he heard, but his pause didn’t last all that long because he laughed just as quickly after it.
Jimmy turned back to him and they locked onto each other’s stare.
“Impossible.” The man reached in with his right hand and placed his fingers around Jimmy’s chin.
He let him take him there and hold him still.
“Kalima’s dead.”
Jimmy could hear the man’s heart begin to thunder behind his chest. He could have sworn that he heard it also skip a beat. It told him that something seemed very wrong with all of it. It almost felt like the man didn’t believe him. He must have thought that he was lying. He could feel that he also felt scared. Hell, he looked it, but he also felt something else there with the sounds of his heart racing. He heard fear. He seemed afraid of who he said he was. He seemed to be scared that it might be right. He could only feel it, and feeling it, it made him relax some.
“He’s been dead for over a year now. You can’t be him.”
Jimmy pulled his chin from his hand. It seemed easy to do, and it surprised him some, but also didn’t. “I guess you must be wrong then.” His own heart felt to be beating smoothly. He seemed to be surprising himself with how he seemed to be reacting to all of this. He should feel scared, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t afraid. It now seemed like he was the only calm person in the entire room. “I was told it by Collins.” He brought himself up to his knees. He took the time to brush some of the dust from his shoulders. He was covered in the stuff.
The man’s eyes grew wide, and his heart now thundered even louder inside his chest. His breathing also grew rapid, and now, he looked like he started sweating. The smell became massive. He stood back upright. “Prove i
t.” He stared down at Jimmy’s face.
Jimmy could tell that the man felt more than just afraid, with his racing heart and the sounds of his gasping breaths, it all told him that he also seemed absolutely terrified. “Why?”
The man’s eyes grew larger, with their bright blueness color doubling in their intensity. “If you are who you say you are, then let him out. Prove you are who bit you.”
Jimmy stood up to his feet, and looked around the room as he dusted off his jeans. The others all kept still. He sensed their wonder with everything going on in front of them. He could tell that they all truly felt shocked with what he said. He saw it in their faces. He could see it in their eyes. He turned back to the only door to the outside that he knew of, and saw that the black haired wolf had left. Seeing that, he looked back to the man with the deep black hair and pale face. “Who are you?” As he said it, a memory came rolling into his mind.
He could smell what smelled like smoke. Something burned all around him. He could smell a burnt type of flesh in the air, and the hint of pine came strongly within the scent. A flora surrounded him, mixed within the smoke. He could see that he stood outside, standing in the middle of what looked like a field. He could see trees off in the distance.The green of the field looked matted and looked torn. At his feet, he could see what looked like a bunch of blue covered masses of bodies all around him as far as he could see. It looked like a movie scene of some sort of a battle.
At his feet, closer towards him, a man lied there. He rolled over and looked up right at him. He had blood covering his face. He had what looked like burns on his hands. The man with deep blue eyes looked up to him from under the blue-billed cap that he wore. The bright sun above them helped the blue of his eyes shine. He could hear a voice speak out around him. He recognized the voice of Collins coming from where he, himself, stood.
“Who are you?” Collins’ voice asked.
The boy with the bright blue eyes winced in obvious pain. “My name is Sam. My family calls me Samuel. Can you help me?”
A solemn hand came out to his right. It must have been him giving it.
“Take my hand. I’ll help you, Samuel. I will give you the chance to live like you’ve never lived before.”
He watched the young man reach up and take Collins’—um—his hand.
He blinked and watched the same man take one-step back, and watched him turn away from him. He looked like the one that he just saw in his memory. In fact, he looked almost like he hadn’t aged a day.
“You should know who I am. If you are he that bit you,” he heard the man say as he turned around and focused his eyes back onto his.
Jimmy looked at his back. The white t-shirt he wore rustled under a perfect and strong looking back. Seeing the shirt and thinking of the memory that he just had, he spoke what only made sense. “You’re Samuel, aren’t you?”
The room gasped again. The old warehouse floor echoed with the sound.
Jimmy turned and looked at each of them in turn. He could see the wonder in their eyes explode within them. It all told him that what he said had to be right.
The man turned back around with surprise now heavy on his face as well. The look of fear looked stronger in his eyes.
Jimmy could hear his heartbeat almost explode to a steady thumping behind his ribs. He didn’t like what he heard. There was also something else there behind his face. There was something behind the sound. He looked shocked, but that wasn’t everything. He could tell that the man truly hated seeing him there. He could smell the fear. He could see the hate. He didn’t understand any of it.
“If you are he, show us.”
Jimmy bowed his eyes. If what Samuel asked him to do was to bring out the wolf, he didn’t know how to do it. As far as he knew, the full moon was the only thing that caused the change. He knew of nothing else to bring it out. “I can’t.” He looked back up to the room. “If you mean me bringing out the wolf, I don’t know how.”
“Why not?” The man, who was obviously Samuel, crossed his arms over his chest.
Jimmy blinked again. To him, Samuel obviously looked like he tried to show him that he was the stronger one there. He seemed to be trying to portray to him that he had confidence, but he felt otherwise. He looked nothing but scared. Confidence seemed to be nowhere in him. He looked around the room at all of the faces, and blinked to each of them separately. He wasn’t sure of how they would react to what he was about to say, and wanted to gauge their eyes as he said it. “I said that I don’t know how to change.” He swallowed. “That’s why I’m here—to learn. That’s why I need your help.”
The room gasped again, but they didn’t stop their wondering eyes. Only curiosity showed there. Only the fact that they did believe him also came from behind their eyes.
“Then you’re not him.” Samuel looked to the others in the room. “If you were he, the one that supposedly bit you, you would show us him. You would let us see him.”
Jimmy looked from the eyes surrounding him and back to the man, Samuel, again. “Why do you fear me?” he had to ask. Samuel wasn’t doing what the others did. He didn’t seem to believe him. He seemed to be acting to the others. He could feel it. If he truly didn’t believe who he said he was, then why would he fear him? Why fear who he was?
“I fear nothing.” The man laughed. He raised his arms to the ceiling and then slapped them down again with a flare. The sound of the slap echoed around the dankness of the very large room around them.
It seemed like an exaggeration that Jimmy knew all too well. “You do.” He stepped forward one single step. “I feel it from you. I feel your fear.”
Samuel’s eyes squinted, and his face went even paler. He exhaled one single blast of heavy air, letting all that was in him fly out with a flurry. His heart once again exploded with a heavy thud. “If you’re not going to show us, then we’re wasting our time. I’m leaving.” He turned to the others in the room. “All of you follow me.”
Jimmy looked to everyone in turn and watched as each of them began moving around him and step towards Samuel. They each looked at him with stars in their eyes. The looks said only one thing. They felt curious. They wondered if he was who he claimed to be. All except one of them stopped right by him. He looked right to her and their eyes locked onto each other’s. Seeing her, he could see a look of something else there, other than just a wonder in her eyes. She looked longing. She looked at him with passion. Her black hair flowed around her shoulders with a flare. In his mind, she looked familiar, almost like he saw her before in a dream. The curves of her face fit a pattern that he knew all too well. That long black hair he could have sworn he had felt it before. He felt them within his hands. He touched them in more ways than one. His own heart exploded with passion within it. Looking at her, he could have sworn that he knew her well. Maybe, he knew her even better than that. They were so much more than just friends. They had to be lovers. They had to be strongly in love; everything told him that.
“You too Marie.” Samuel and the others headed back to the chair on the other side of the room. His voice sounded squeaky, and sounded unsure. Seeing her with him made him have to swallow several times. Distrust was there behind his words. He could hear it stronger than the fear he felt. He sounded weak. He couldn’t help but to feel that way.
The woman next to him paused. He looked deeply into her eyes, and almost felt like he could see directly into her soul. Her face continued bouncing around inside his memories.
“Marie?”
She turned from him, and looked to Samuel and the others. She took a step and then another, and made her way to the other side of the room. She took one last look behind her when she reached them.
The look became stronger. He could feel the love. The look she gave him felt like one that you would give to someone when you were forced to leave them. The one that said that the love of your life had to do it, and they didn’t want to go. He felt the power of that stare. It felt strange. It felt needing. It made him feel almost dese
rted.
Samuel and the others turned.
“Wait.” He had to pull himself back together again. Watching them leave him helped him do it. Realizing it, he gasped, as the memories faded, and his mind slapped back together again. They were leaving him. They were all heading away. “Wait. I need your help.” He turned to all of them.
Samuel already walked to a door at the far end of the room.
“I’ve come here for answers.” Jimmy shouted out to the group as they made it to the door and each of them stepped through it. He could do nothing but watch them leave as he screamed again towards their backs. “I’m here looking for answers! Can you help me! What are we? What am I?”
The door closed when the last of them went through it.
“I need your help,” he screamed one final time, now to an empty room. His voice bounced off the walls, echoing as a roll of thunder would do flowing around a valley with mountains surrounding it. He now felt lost. He now felt alone. I need you. I can’t do this alone. Was this all for nothing? Was all of this lost? He didn’t come there for this. Now what do I do? He shrugged. Hell he felt like crying. He felt completely hopeless. He just stood there, in the center of the room for an instant, trying to force his mind for what to do next. It took him only seconds to have something come up within him.
He found the strength to move. He ran to the door and reached for the knob. He turned it, but it wouldn’t open. They obviously locked it. “Fuck!” he shouted to the door. The anger he now felt brought his right hand to the door and he slammed it down to it with an open palm. The bang echoed around the large room behind him. “I just want help.” He turned back to the room. He could do nothing else.
Alone, thinking, he brought everything back into his thoughts. They knew me. They knew who I was. It all seemed beyond the mundane. If they knew him, then he found what he was looking for. They had his answers. They had everything he needed, but now, they were gone. His chance seemed to be fading fast. They left those answers with him, alone in an empty room.
A Werewolf's Saga Books 1, 2, & 3 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets) Page 33