by Tim O'Rourke
The police car gained on us and at first I thought it was going to overtake, but the road was too narrow and made navigating all of the tight bends too dangerous in such treacherous weather. The cop car slowed, but it was still so close that when I glanced back again, I could see the silhouette of the two giant cops wedged into the front of the car. Their size told me that perhaps they were Skin-walkers.
“Keep nice and cool, everyone,” Potter whispered, glancing up into the rear-view mirror again. “Nobody do anything that might draw attention to us.”
“They’re just out on patrol,” I said, trying to convince myself more than him.
Ahead, Potter spotted a disused garage set back from the road. Slowing the car, he steered it off the road and onto the garage forecourt.
From the darkness, we watched the police car sail past up the road.
“See, just out on patrol,” I whispered.
“All the same, we’ll give them a minute or two, to get way ahead of us,” Potter said and lit a cigarette.
I opened the window just an inch to let out the smoke which Potter jetted from his nostrils. Kayla coughed in the background and Potter ignored her, sucking on the end of his cigarette again. Once he was done and satisfied that the cops had got some way ahead of us, Potter crushed out the cigarette end in the ashtray built into the dashboard.
“Let’s go,” he said, starting the car and heading back towards the road.
Lightning cracked behind the clouds overhead, and I couldn’t remember a storm so bad. Rain beat down so hard against the windscreen it was almost impossible to see the road and the treacherous bends ahead.
We hadn’t gone very far, when Potter glanced in the rear-view mirror and said, “I don’t believe it.”
“Believe what?” I said snapping my head round. Out of the back window, I could see the cop car tailing us again.
“Maybe it’s a different...” I started.
“Bullshit,” Potter snapped. “They’re the same cops.”
The Police car sped up so its front bumper was almost touching the boot of our car. Potter kept a steady speed, one eye on the road ahead, the other checking the wing mirror. The police car eased back, and Potter kept our car at the same speed.
Ahead the road widened, just a little, and the police car accelerated fast enough to pull alongside us.
We all looked right. The cop car pulled level as we stared in, the cops turned their heads to look at us. Their heads were huge and sat on broad shoulders. They were so big; it looked as if the two cops had been shoehorned into the car. Their faces were white and ill looking. Their eye sockets were sunken so far back into their faces that they looked as if the holes bored right back into their brains. Then, from deep within those holes, bright yellow light began to shine. It was like their brains had just exploded.
The cop sitting in the passenger seat lowered his window and signalled for Potter to pull over.
Potter wound down his window, the rain lashing in. “Good evening officer,” he smiled. “Is there a problem?”
“Pull over!” the cop ordered, his voice a deep growl.
Knowing that we were in trouble and there was little we could do about it, Potter did what he seemed to do best and that was to inflame the situation.
“What big bright eyes, you have officer,” Potter smiled. “Are they contacts or what? And the fingernails! Wow! And the strange looking faces. I love the whole Lady Gaga thing you and your friend have got going on.”
“Pull over!” The skin-walker roared, its eyes flashing.
Potter wound up his window, and sped up, pulling away from the cop car.
“Why are the following us?” Kayla asked.
“Maybe they can smell your friend,” Potter hissed.
No sooner had those words escaped from his mouth, then Sam began to freak out in the back of the car.
Chapter Six
Isidor
I’d just placed my free hand inside my coat, just to make sure my crossbow was within easy reach, when Sam threw his claws to his face and began to howl.
“Oh sweet-Jesus, help me!” he roared. “I’m burning up!” His back arched off the seat and he jerked violently forward, almost knocking Potter from his seat. The car lurched, and then stalled as the back of it skidded across the wet surface of the country road. Almost at once the night lit up in luminous flashes of blue. At first I thought it was lightning, but soon realised it wasn’t, when I heard the unmistakable whoop-whoop sound of sirens behind us.
“I told you this was a stupid fucking idea!” Potter growled. “But, oh no – nobody ever listens to me,” and I caught him shoot a glance in Kiera’s direction.
Ignoring him, Kiera unfastened her seatbelt and looked back at me and Kayla. “Take hold of Sam,” she hissed.
Kayla and I leant forward and wrapped our arms around Sam’s naked shoulders. “He’s so hot!” Kayla cried.
“For crying out loud, Kayla, now’s not the time to start coming onto wolf-boy...” Potter started.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” she squealed at him. “I meant he’s burning up real bad back here. We need to get him some help – and fast!”
“Remember there’s a couple of cops behind us,” Potter shot back, as he navigated a tight bend in the road, “perhaps you could ask them.”
“Very funny,” Kiera snapped at him.
“Well, you’re the brains, sweet-cheeks. What do we do now?” Potter glared.
“Stop the car!” Kiera answered.
“Stop the car?” we all cried at once as Sam started to convulse between Kayla and me.
“Keep him still!” Potter roared, speeding up.
“I said, stop the car!” Kiera shouted. “We’ll never outrun them, not on roads like this and not in a storm. We’ll tell them our friend is feeling ill and we’re rushing him to see a doctor,” she explained over the whoop-whoop sound and approaching thunder.
“A vet more like,” Potter shouted. “Have you seen him back there with all the hair and stuff? He looks like Captain-fucking-Caveman!”
Sam howled and began to struggle with Kayla and me as we fought to restrain him. “Captain Caveman?” I asked aloud.
“Don’t you dare!” Potter roared back at me, struggling to keep control of the speeding car. “I’m not in the mood!”
“He’s the guy with the big red, white, and blue shield...” I started.
“Right, that’s it! I can’t bear it any longer!” Potter barked and slammed his foot down onto the brake.
There was a hissing sound as the wheels skidded to a stop on the wet road. We all flew forward in our seats, and Sam released a deafening howl. The car had only just stopped spinning when there was a bone-shaking crunch as the police car that was pursuing us smashed into the side of the car. We tail-spun out of control, and I gripped Potter’s headrest with my free hand to steady myself. The world seemed to tumble out of control and it was only when my head smashed into the roof of the car that I realised we had lifted off the road and were cartwheeling through the air. Glass sprayed into the car, and I lowered my head to stop it from cutting my face and gouging my eyes out. Over the sound of crumpling metal and the thunder, I heard both Kiera and Kayla scream. Then, the world fell silent.
I opened my eyes to find myself hanging half in and half out of the back window of the car. My back was propped across the boot and my head hung down covering the number plate. I could smell petrol and it was so strong, it was suffocating. My sense of smell was greater than most, and it was at times like this I wished I couldn’t smell at all. There was a squawking sound, and at first I couldn’t figure out what it was. Looking at the world from upside down, I could see the police car lying on its roof, or was it the right way up? I felt so disorientated that I couldn’t be sure. But the noise was coming from the broken sirens that hung from wires attached to the police car. Rain bounced up off the road and splashed my upturned face. It felt ice cold, like I was being repeatedly slapped. Stirring me from my stupor, the rai
n ran into my hair, and I shook my head to one side to stop it from dripping into my eyes. Then, a sudden thought took hold of me. Where were the others and were they okay?
“Kayla?” I called out, and it sounded more like a groan. Sliding from the boot of the car, I rolled into the road to find myself kneeling in muddy puddles. On my hands and knees, I scrambled alongside the overturned car and peered into the windows. Overhead, the sound of thunder boomed, and the whole world felt as if it were being rocked – pushed. There was a hideous cracking sound, which was closely followed by a flash of lightning that streaked across the sky. It was so bright, that just for a fraction of a second, the night turned into day. Then it was dark again, and I was struggling to see into the beat-up car. With my eyes screwed up tight, I wiped the rain from my face and could see Kayla lying face-down in the foot well between the front and back seats. Sam lay horizontally between the two front seats, looking as if he was impaled on the gearstick. On my hands and knees, I worked my way forwards and could see Kiera pressed against the cracked windscreen. Her face was turned towards me, but her eyes were closed. She looked as if she were asleep – she looked beautiful. But where was Potter? I couldn’t see him.
Then there was another tearing sound, and at first, I thought it was lightning again, but there was no flash this time. I looked up to see Potter hovering above the car, his wings spread wide. They flapped in the roaring wind, sounding like sheets being buffeted about on a washing line. With one claw, he cut open the car as if he were slicing through a sheet of paper. Sparks flew up into the air as he worked quickly to remove the side of it.
“Look what you did,” I shouted over the sound of the storm that was now turning wilder and fiercer with each passing second.
Raising his claws in the air, Potter said, “Cut through most things these will.”
“I’m not talking about your claws!” I yelled at him. “I’m talking about what you did to us. You crashed the car. You could’ve killed us!”
“We’re dead already,” he shot back at me. “What was it the Elders called us? Dead Angels?”
“Why do you always have to be such an arrogant...” I started.
“And why do you have to be so dumb...?”
“I’m not dumb,” I shouted back at him.
“So it’s all an act then?” Potter yelled down at me, as he tossed the sheet of metal that he held in his hands into a nearby field.
But before I could say anything, I could see Kayla stirring in the foot well of the car. Leaping forward, I took her up in my arms and carried her to the side of the road. “Kayla?” I said, standing under the branches of a nearby tree that stretched out over the road.
“Sam?” she whispered, her eyes flickering open.
“It’s me, Isidor,” I told her.
“Where’s Sam?” she asked, and I felt a knot of pain in my stomach as Kayla seemed more concerned for Sam than me. I was her brother. Telling myself not to be so dumb, as she could see that I was okay, I set her down on her feet and went back to the car for Sam.
Potter swooped down, plucked Kiera up into his arms, and carried her to where I had left Kayla. Leaning into the hole that Potter had ripped down the side of the car, I gripped hold of Sam’s shoulders. His skin still felt hot, and he made a whimpering sound in the back of his throat like a dog that had been beat by its master.
“You’re gonna be okay,” I told him, as I pulled him from the car. Jeez, he was heavy. Throwing him over my shoulder, I made my way across the rain-swept road. Then, as I was heading for the trees where Kayla swayed on her feet and Potter was shaking Kiera awake, I felt Sam lift his head from my shoulder and sniff the air. He made another whimpering sound, which without warning, turned into a ferocious growl.
“Isidor, watch your back!” someone shouted as I was knocked to the ground.
Chapter Seven
Kiera
My head felt sore, and I felt something warm drip from my nose and spatter against my top lip. Somebody was holding me up and gently shaking me. I opened my eyes to see Potter staring at me.
“Kiera, are you okay?” he was asking me, but his voice was groggy, as if coming from far away. I felt my legs begin to buckle at the knees and he gripped me by the shoulders. “Kiera?” he said again.
Then I remembered him shouting at Isidor and breaking hard. I could see the world tumbling out of control and my face hitting the windshield.
“You arsehole,” I mumbled and went to slap his face. But I was still disorientated and he easily took hold of my wrist.
“Don’t get so excited, sweet-cheeks,” he half-smiled at me.
“You crashed the car on purpose,” I said, my eyesight starting to focus again, and the feeling returning to my legs.
“It worked though, didn’t it? Those cops are dead,” he said, looking back over his shoulder at the police car, which now sat on its roof spraying flashes of blue light into the night from its crushed emergency lights. Then, letting go of me, Potter shouted, “Isidor watch your back!”
As if the world had been paused, I watched as two guys in police uniforms sprang from beneath the upturned car and into the air. Their transformation from man to wolf was so rapid that if I’d blinked, I would have missed it. Their crisp, white shirts, their trousers, and their boots flew away in ragged strips, revealing the giant wolves that hid beneath them. With snouts similar in size to that of a lion’s, the two wolves launched themselves at Isidor. Everything happened so fast, that Isidor was unaware of the creatures that were about to rip him to pieces, just like their clothes that now fluttered away in the raging wind.
“Isidor!” Kayla shrieked, and I snapped my head right, to see her standing next to me in the pouring rain.
There was a vicious-sounding snarl that was so loud that I threw my hands to my ears. I watched Isidor glance up at Potter as he raced towards him. And as fast as the wolves had shed their uniforms, Potter had removed his long, black coat, his wings were out, and he was speeding through the air. Realising that something wasn’t right, Isidor spun around. It was then that I saw the wolf on his back. It was Sam. The boy’s face was still half human and half wolf and his eyes glowed so bright that they looked like headlamps. He opened his mouth, foamy lengths of saliva swinging from his ivory-looking teeth. Sam threw his head back and roared. Fearing that he was going to tear Isidor’s head from his neck, my claws and fangs sprung out without me having to think about it. It was as natural as breathing to me now. With my head still feeling foggy, I was just about to spring into the air, when I was grabbed from behind. Swiping my claws in the air, I spun around as Kayla ducked to avoid me taking her head clean off. It was Kayla who had hold of me.
“Let go of me!” I shouted at her.
“Look!” she cried, pointing back at Isidor.
I glanced back over my shoulder to see Sam leap from Isidor’s back and drag one of the Skin-walkers out of the air.
“Sam’s helping Isidor,” Kayla shouted over a sudden rumble of thunder. “Sam won’t hurt him.”
Isidor fell forward onto his knees, rolled over, and within an instant he was on his feet again, crossbow in hand and firing off wave after wave of stakes at the Skin-walkers. Potter snatched the second Skin-walker from the air by wrapping his arms around the creature and dragging him away from Isidor. He flew backwards into the air. The wolf kicked wildly with its huge back legs. With the creature’s chest exposed, Isidor seized his chance and filled it with stakes that whizzed through the air with lightning speed.
With the wolf going limp in Potter’s arms, he threw it aside and performed something close to a loop-de-loop in the air above the road. I felt Kayla loosen her grip on me. She was then flashing past as she raced across the road towards Sam, who was now lying on his back and struggling to fight off the Skin-walker that was poised over him. Just like the rest of us, Kayla released her fangs and claws, throwing off her coat so her glitter-coated wings could be freed.
Screeching like a wild bird of prey, she shot through the
dark and clattered into the wolf that was now biting and snapping at Sam. The wolf looked confused, though, like he wasn’t sure whether to kill one of his own. Maybe he couldn’t figure out what the odd-looking wolf-boy was. But in those few seconds of doubt, Kayla sunk her fangs into its neck. Blood jetted from its throat and turned her face the same colour as her hair. I could see her throat bobbing up and down as she drank from the wolf. Her eyes rolled back in their sockets, showing their whites. She looked as if she were in ecstasy.
The Skin-walker went crazy as it lashed out with his giant paws and snapped at the air with its teeth. It howled and roared, black jets of blood shooting from its mouth like vomit.
“Kayla!” I roared, pulling her from the wolf, fearing that if she drank too much of the red stuff, her cravings would never again be sedated by Lot 13.
She made a gargling sound in the back of her throat as she momentarily tried to fight me off. I gripped hold of her and watched as the wolf’s blood ran from the corners of her mouth. My stomach began to cramp as I fought my own sudden urge to let go of her and drink from the wolf myself. Watching the thick, black globules of blood drip from her chin made my head spin, and I looked down at my claws which held her, and saw that the skin on them was starting to crack. I released her, and she fell backwards onto her arse and into the nearest puddle. With my claws held out before me, I gasped in horror as my flesh turned grey and began to break. My claws disappeared back into my fingertips and the cracks went with them. But those sick, cramping feelings in my stomach remained, and the urge for the red stuff was stronger than ever before.
Wheeling around, I watched as the wolf that Kayla had fed on struggled to its feet. It whimpered and then collapsed onto its side as Potter dropped from the sky and removed its head with one quick swipe of his claws. Blood pumped from its neck and clouded the puddles that covered the road. With my eyes fixed on the blood, I stepped forward, as if I were sleepwalking. I ran the tip of my tongue over my lips. All I could see was the blood. The wind and the driving rain had gone, everything had gone, except the red stuff pumping from the neck of the Skin-walker.