Atop a short, thick neck rested a massive head. Two ears poked out at the top, over its fur. It wasn’t hard to imagine the rest – the cold eyes of a predator, a snout filled with rows of sharp teeth.
No way.
This was what my brain conjured up in the last few moments before oxygen deprivation set in – a freaking werewolf? I knew we shouldn’t have watched that stupid movie last night. So lame, and not even in a Team Jacob sort of way.
The creature lunged at Riva. She squealed in terror and dove out of the way. It missed and gouged the tree she’d been standing in front of, scoring it deeply with its claws. My friend threw her flashlight at it, but the beast knocked the cheap plastic projectile away and attacked again, a lumbering strike which my friend just barely managed to avoid.
Or had she?
I knew a feint when I saw one. The attack had been sloppy, belying the grace with which the monster carried itself. It was almost as if it had purposely missed. That spoke of intelligence. It was trying to scare her first, drive her into a frenzy before it tore her to shreds.
Riva backed up, tripped, and then scooted away on her butt until her back was against another tree. “Please run, Tamara,” she whispered in hitched breaths, her voice devoid of all hope.
In the final moments of her life, she was thinking of me.
Tears blurred my vision and with them came resolve.
No! I couldn’t let that happen. Not like this.
It was too late for me – there was little chance of getting to a hospital in time, even if this thing didn’t stand between us and escape. But not for her. She still had a chance and, by God, I was going to give it to her.
I bit down on my tongue, forcing my head to clear for a moment. Summoning everything I had, I pushed myself up with my arms. The movement almost caused me to empty my guts again, but I clenched my teeth until the feeling passed.
It was approaching her, slowly, seeming to savor her terror. The scent of urine caught in my nose and I realized Riva’s bladder had probably loosed itself. Either that or mine had. It was hard to tell in the state I was in.
Grabbing hold of the sapling nearest me, I pulled myself up, forced my legs beneath me, and willed them to hold. They didn’t have to do their job for long, just enough for her to get away.
I took a shaky step away from the tree, then another, my legs supporting my weight. The creature either didn’t notice or didn’t consider me a threat because it continued to face my friend, despite my lack of anything remotely resembling stealth.
The truth was I should have been terrified, but all I could feel inside of me was a cold anger welling up.
“What are you doing?!” Riva screamed, seeing me approach. “Run!”
In response, the beast let out a grumbling sound that could have almost passed as laughter.
Yeah, well, fuck that.
“Go. Get out of here.” My voice was barely a whisper as I sized up the creature. What I was thinking was absolute madness, the craziest form of suicide. At the same time, it definitely beat lying there waiting to die. At least this way my family would get a good story to share.
My family.
I mentally said farewell to my mother, father, and even Chris as I tensed up, gathering all the strength I had left. They deserved better, but I didn’t have the time. So, rather than get hung up on long goodbyes that would go unheard, I flung myself at the creature.
Dizzy as I was, my aim held true. I leapt upon its back, wrapped my legs around its mid-section, and grabbed its massive right arm in a half-nelson.
Hah! Second place in state’s, my ass. I’d like to see the guy who’d taken gold try this shit.
The werewolf snarled in anger and began to spin around, no doubt hoping to shake me loose. The movement caught me by surprise and I subsequently puked all over its fur, but still somehow managed to maintain my grip.
“Get the hell out of here!” I screamed once my throat was clear.
It was an impossible fight against an even less possible monster. I was certain the creature would throw me off with ease – that my last memory in this world would be of my skull splattering against a tree trunk, but I held on.
“Bent!” Riva cried, but I was a bit too busy to acknowledge her.
Any second now this thing was going to peel me off like a tick and gut me on the forest floor. Why on Earth wasn’t she running?!
No matter. I wasn’t going to make it easy for this thing. I grabbed its free arm with mine and wrenched with everything I had – a feeble move, but one that would probably guarantee this beast would be pissed off enough to vent its anger on me, allowing my friend a fighting chance.
The creature abruptly stopped spinning and launched itself backward. Unable to shake me, it was going to crush me instead. This was it.
I screamed out in defiance, determined to make this thing’s victory a costly one.
The crack of bone breaking rent the air and suddenly the wolf dropped to one knee, letting out a squeal that was unmistakable in its meaning – pain.
It was only then that I realized the massive limb I’d locked in an armbar now swung limply. I’d somehow shattered the creature’s arm at the elbow.
“No fucking way,” I whispered to myself.
If this was indeed the last hallucination of a dying mind, it was finally getting good.
CHAPTER 4
I had to admit, I had no idea what to do next. The whole situation was so surreal. Me, covered in puke, breathing hard but somehow still alive while in front of me, down on its knees and squealing like a puppy who’d gotten its tail stepped on, was an honest to goodness werewolf.
Fine, maybe goodness had nothing to do with it. The thing had tried to gut my friend. Then I’d ... well, I had no idea what I did. Maybe it was one of those crazy adrenaline feats that people were supposed to be able to do when a loved one was in danger.
Whatever it was, I didn’t think it wise to stick around and hope that lightning struck twice. I stepped past the creature toward where Riva was still sitting on the ground, watching us wide-eyed.
“Are you okay?” I asked. She nodded numbly, seemingly in too much shock to speak. “Good, then let’s get out of...”
“Bent, behind you!”
Okay, so maybe not in as much shock as I thought.
Of course, that paled in comparison to what an idiot I was. I’d just met a supernatural monster of the not-friendly-variety and what’s the first thing I did? I turned my back on it. A Rhodes Scholar I was not.
Riva’s warning had barely finished leaving her lips when I spun around, far faster than I thought myself capable.
The creature was back on its feet. One arm hung useless by its side, but it still had another tipped with wicked claws. The area around its eyes was damp, as if it had been crying from the pain, but that was probably too human of a concept to apply to this thing. It was breathing in hitched gasps, but a snarl managed to escape its lips as it lunged toward me.
With no time to think, much less plan, I simply balled my fist and swung before I even realized I was doing so.
I fully expected to break my hand against its jaw, assuming it didn’t simply bite my arm in half at the wrist. Much to my surprise, though, bone did shatter, but once again it wasn’t mine. Teeth flew and the creature’s head snapped to the side. It stopped dead in its tracks and stood there for a moment longer, as if confused. Then, its eyes rolled into the back of its head and it crumpled to the ground.
All I could do was stare at it for several seconds. At last, I managed to pull my eyes away and look down at my hand, expecting to find a mangled lump of meat. The brightness of the moon, however, was enough to see that it looked good as new. Hell, I hadn’t even broken a nail.
“Did ... you just p-punch out a ... w-werewolf?” Riva asked from behind me, her voice so shaky I could barely understand what she was saying.
I half-turned toward her, not caring to make the same mistake twice. She was back on her feet, leaning against a tre
e, but to say she was all right was probably a bit of an exaggeration. From the wild look in her eyes, I guessed she was maybe seconds from bolting blindly through the woods, regardless of who was still standing from the fight. “Are you okay?” I repeated.
Rather than answer me, she asked, “Is it dead?”
That ... was actually a really good question. I’d seen enough slasher films to know it was the height of stupidity to assume the killer was vanquished without double-checking.
I glanced at the downed monster, a massive lump of fur on the forest floor. It didn’t seem to be ...
Wait. It took a chuffing breath, then another. “It’s still breathing.” Then, in a louder voice I added, “But maybe I should fix that.”
This wasn’t my usual way of dealing with things. I’d never shied away from a fight, but I didn’t go looking for them either. I wasn’t some icy-blooded psycho. But then I reminded myself that this thing had been hunting us, toying with us in preparation for the kill. If I hadn’t ... done whatever I’d done, Riva and I would surely be dead by now.
And if this thing managed to get back up again, it would almost certainly try to finish the job. That was enough to make up my mind.
I started scanning the floor of the forest, looking for something – a stone or a sturdy branch maybe – that I could use to put this thing out of our misery.
“What are you doing?” Riva asked. I told her and she replied, “But what if it’s a ... person?”
“I don’t know what the hell this thing is,” I snapped. “All I know is it tried to kill us. I, for one, don’t want to give it another chance. Do you?”
The naked terror in her eyes was all the answer I needed.
It seemed my parents had been right to fear the hollows. Who’d have guessed it? In all fairness, though, I had a feeling neither of them had werewolves in mind when dishing out their vague warnings.
Riva grabbed hold of my arm, staying me for a moment. What now? “Hold on a sec. How are you feeling?”
“Huh?” I barely gave the question a second thought as I continued looking for a weapon.
She stepped around and faced me, concern etched on her face. “I’m serious. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Riva. Now, let me...” The words died in my throat as realization sank in. I was fine. My stomach was still churning a bit, but the horrible sickness I’d felt eating away at my guts seemed to be mostly gone. Make no mistake, I hadn’t imagined that. Even if I hadn’t outright been at death’s door just a few minutes ago, I’d certainly been on its front porch. Yet, somehow I was okay now.
Hell, maybe even better than okay. It felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders, quite literally – like I’d been doing deadlifts but suddenly the barbell was gone.
It had to be the adrenaline from the fight. No doubt about it. Somehow it had amped me up and given me enough to deck this thing into next week. I was probably still high as a kite on brain chemicals. Once they wore off, it would be like coming down from the mother of all caffeine rushes. Worse, the clock was still ticking. Without my meds, I could keel over at any...
And yet I didn’t feel like I was about to keel over. Not even close. What the hell was going on?
Unfortunately, introspection would have to wait.
Before I could say anything further, the woods seemingly came to life around us as vicious snarls filled the air, shattering the silence of the forest.
♦ ♦ ♦
Riva jumped into my arms, and I’m not ashamed to admit I hugged her back. Just one of these things had been terrifying enough. If I hadn’t been otherwise preoccupied with dying when it ambushed us, I’m pretty sure I’d have run for the hills and not looked back.
Now, all at once, it was like we’d stepped into Hell’s dog pound. Snarls, yips, and – yep – howls pierced the night from seemingly all directions. Not to overdo the dog analogy, but it sounded like there was an entire pack around us. This was insane. We were only a couple of miles from home, but it was as if we’d stepped into a portal to...
“Ta ... mara.”
“I know,” I replied, trying to look in every direction at once. “If this is it, I’m glad you’re here with...”
“You’re ... crushing ... me.”
What?! “Oh, crap! Sorry.” I released my friend and she dropped to one knee, gasping for breath.”
Guess that stew of brain chemicals hadn’t worn off yet.
I was about to check on her when I spied movement in my periphery. “Uh oh.”
Riva stood back up. She was still wheezing but joined me in looking around wide-eyed. Right on time, too, as massive shapes could be seen moving amidst the trees around us. I was still having trouble wrapping my mind around the concept of a single, real-life werewolf, and now it appeared we had a good dozen or more barely a stone’s throw away.
This was bad. If they charged us, it wouldn’t matter if I was hopped up on a gallon of adrenaline mixed with PCP. There would be little either of us could do except hope for a swift death.
The weird thing was, the more I thought about it, the less terrified I became.
I felt wary and definitely cautious, but the fear was ebbing along with the last of my queasiness. If anything, I was becoming far more focused than afraid, which probably meant that Chris had been right all along and I actually was an idiot.
Riva, for her part, seemed frightened enough for both of us. If her eyes got any larger, I was certain they’d pop out of her skull. I was about to ask if she was okay again, but she seemed to be terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought, much less casual speech.
That wasn’t good. There was no telling what she might do like this. That settled it right there. I had to take control of this situation, and fast.
How? No flipping idea, but it didn’t appear I had a lot of time to strategize.
As the first of the creatures approached us, a massive snarling shape in the darkness, I whispered in my friend’s ear, “Whatever you do, don’t run until I tell you.”
I wasn’t sure whether that was a sound plan or not, but I was certain if she took off in a panic at least some of those things would chase her. I needed them focused on me. Only then did she have a shot of getting out of here. I didn’t care to guess what her odds would be at that point, but they’d have to be better than staying with me. It was the best I could do in this messed-up situation.
More werewolves – amazing how quickly that stopped sounding crazy – began to approach, but I focused on the one that was closer than its ... err ... pack mates, I guess.
It moved forward, growling and sniffing the air. A shaft of moonlight hit it, giving me a much better look than I really wanted. Big as the first one had been, this one was much larger. Seven feet tall if it was an inch, its bloodshot yellow eyes darted between me and the wolf still on the ground.
I didn’t know how smart these things were, but the look in its eyes seemed far more contemplative than any dog I’d ever met. I wasn’t sure what would be worse: these things being feral monsters or thinking animals.
Speaking of canines, my parents had never let me own a dog, but Riva’s mom had a Chihuahua for a while. I seemed to recall her telling us as kids that dogs were all about dominance. That if you wanted to show a dog who was in charge, you stared it down until it looked away.
Mind you, that was much easier to do when the dog in question weighed ten pounds soaking wet.
Screw it. I stepped away from Riva and approached the creature.
“Bent?”
“Stay put,” I hissed at her.
The wolf walked toward me with a disturbingly human gait. Had the light of the moon been any less, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised had it pulled off its head and turned out to be a person in a costume. Sadly, I had a feeling there were no big-budget horror movies being filmed in the area.
I kept my eyes locked on it as it approached, unsure of what I was going to do until I did it. Call me crazy or suicidal, maybe both, b
ut whatever this monster was thinking, it obviously hadn’t been expecting me to suddenly launch myself forward and wrap my arms around its waist.
Before it could do much more than chuff questioningly, I leaned back and put everything I had into it.
Something that size had to weigh at least three hundred pounds. I was in good shape, but realistically, all that should have happened was me getting a hernia and then hoping I died of embarrassment before this thing could gut me.
Reality, however, seemed to have a different plan.
I suplexed the wolf over my body like it was in the flyweight division. As I said, crazy, but sometimes you gotta go with what you know.
It went flying past Riva and into one of its friends, taking them both down in a tangle of fur and claws.
Oh yeah. If I didn’t have the pack’s attention before, I sure as hell did now.
CHAPTER 5
“How did you do that?”
It seemed that Riva wasn’t too terrified to pick perhaps the stupidest time of all to start asking questions.
“I have a confession to make,” I said as the circle of werewolves closed in on us. “I’m actually descended from a long line of monster hunters.”
“Really?”
I stopped and glanced at her sidelong, giving her my best condescending glare. “No.”
The werewolf I’d thrown untangled itself from the one I’d helpfully tossed it into and got back to its feet. Fine by me. That wasn’t the only move I had. Too bad it wasn’t alone. Pity that wrestling, outside of the stuff they showed on TV, was a one-on-one sport. Contrary to what some might think, I hadn’t spent much time training for battles royale ... or fighting monsters, for that matter.
Where the others seemed to be approaching us more cautiously now, the one I’d tossed looked pissed. It lowered its head and appeared ready to charge.
“Get ready,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. “When I say to...”
Get Bent! (The Hybrid of High Moon Book 1) Page 4