by K. R. Smith
“If that was a ‘Welcome’ party remind me never to become a female Werewolf in this tribe.” My Calculator sneered.
“Trust me Vincent,” Dad said dryly, “if you ever turned into a female Werewolf? We wouldn’t greet you like that in fact we would actually turn and run the other way.”
*****
Before I was drugged with DYSTAR, my captors were at least good enough to allow me to shower and change into an old tracksuit with even a meal prepared. But I didn’t eat, I couldn’t. As I sat at the table pushing around the food with my fork, the syringe of DYSTAR seemed to stare up at me from the middle of the table.
Eventually I was led upstairs by Mum, Dad, Gran and Grandpa who as the tribe’s Medicine Man, wanted to observe. Grandfather and Uncle Julian remained in the living room, as they milled around restlessly.
I noticed that my bedroom was now looking tidier with the broken glass vacuumed up thanks to my mother’s cleanliness. I lay down on top of my bed, as Vincent and Mum and Dad sat beside. Nervously, I looked at each of them individually whilst the whole room looked back.
“What’s going to happen?” I asked worriedly as Vincent readied the syringe with the sedative first.
“You’re going to sleep for a couple of hours and when you wake up you won’t be able to phase.” He replied. “Don’t worry B, it’s just for seven days and then your ability will come back.”
I looked on my parents, feeling so scared, I was shaking.
“Does it hurt?” I asked my mother.
“I don’t think so sweet heart.” She promised. “All it does it make you stop phasing for a little while.”
“This is only temporary B.” My father rested his warm palm against my cheek. “As soon as this full moon cycle is over, we can start training you to be ready for the next.”
“I’ll be watching.” Grandpa tried to reassure as he stood at the end of my bed. “You have two Medicine Men looking out for you.”
“Just relax.” My Calculator tried to give an encouraging smile to put my fears at ease.
He placed the syringe/ spray against my neck and next I felt a tickling sensation as I heard the tell-tale HIIISSSSS…!
“Woah…” my eyes started to close by themselves, “…that was faasst…” and then I didn’t get to finish my sentence.
All of the muscles in my body simultaneously went loose as a heavy black curtain fell over my eyes. I was more than ‘out like a light’, I frickin’ well didn’t have a light bulb anymore to turn on!
*****
To be honest, I don’t remember the next two evenings very well let alone at all clearly. I think the first night I woke up on the bathroom floor again. I remember waking up on the cold, hard surface and wondering why I was locked up once more?
Wouldn’t being drugged with DYSTAR mean that I don’t have to be shut away? But I soon got my answer as I felt my chest quickly rise and fall as I was panting. When I caught sight of my hands, I saw my nails were long, sharp and claw-like. Oh… I’m changing again.
I think it was night time, as the bathroom was partially dark but for the light of the full moon spilling onto the white tiles. I hated the bright, eerie light of the full moon because of what it brought…pain. I felt excruciating, horrible, agonizing pain!
Oh my gosh, I think there’s a fire burning in my stomach! It hurt! It hurt so much I couldn’t lie still! I writhed on the bathroom floor in complete and utter hideous torture. I felt like acid was eating me up inside and out! Did they inject me with DYSTAR or frickin’ poison?!
“MUM! MUUUUMMM! THE PAIN! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?! THE PAIN!!” I thought I was screaming in anguish but what came out of me was a thunderous Werewolf’s roar!
I want my Mum and Dad! Where are my parents? I want them to take away the hurt!
My tracksuit top tore as my body expanded with Werewolf muscle and my teeth grew long and sharp just like my nails. I cried as my entire body ached from my change. Even the bathroom seemed to turn brighter, as my human eyes switched to my Werewolf night vision.
“did my eyes change colour like yours do?” “They did.” “What color did they turn?” “Turquoise like your Great, Great Grandfather, Flint Riverclaw’s eyes.”
As our previous words reverberated inside my head, I had to see it; I had to see what I had become. Using the bathroom sink for support, I pulled myself up from the floor and onto my unsteady feet. As my eyes lifted upwards I saw IT.
I saw a female Lokoti Werewolf look back in the small bathroom mirror. Two glowing turquoise eyes stared with an open mouth full of jagged, elongated teeth which looked threatening. I saw the tops of my broad, muscled shoulders peeking through the torn tracksuit top.
I look hideous! I look absolutely disgusting! I really am a monster! Declan kissed THIS?!
“YOU FREAK!” I roared out with my thunderous voice.
My clawed hand jutted out to punch through the mirrored door of the medicine cabinet! Glass went flying everywhere, as the shards landed with a ‘tinkling’ noise onto the bathroom floor.
I don’t remember much after that, but I think Dad must have come inside the bathroom with me at some stage. I recalled for part of the night he sat with his back against the tub, holding me in his stronger Werewolf form. His bigger arms were wrapped tightly about my torso as he held me firmly against his chest, his glowing red Werewolf eyes filling with tears as I writhed in pain. He desperately tried to hold me still to try to soothe the pain somehow.
My father couldn’t ease the pain as he couldn’t do a thing to help. The bloodlust was boiling the very blood in my veins, as my dangerous mouth watered by the very thought of meat…human meat. Fresh, juicy, bleeding meat off the bone that belonged to one of those delicious humans in the township of Alma which was 7 km’s away.
As much as these thoughts taunted my Werewolf senses…a tiny remaining human part wanted to throw up in disgust.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12th September 2084
I survived…somehow I managed to pull through the transition into a new Werewolf.
The first night I changed, I broke my bedroom window and I tried to eat a townsperson but I was stopped by Declan. The second night I changed, I was locked inside my bathroom, unable to phase thanks to the DYSTAR with Dad sitting with me. On the third night I changed, again I was locked inside my bathroom, unable to phase with Grandfather sitting with me.
I slept all day as I writhed in agony thanks to the bloodlust, all night. During the day I had Mum, Gran, Great Grandma and even Aunt Danika to tend to me. The women fussed about as they took away my torn clothes to be mended and they tried to feed me the meals they had prepared. But I wasn’t hungry and all I wanted to do was sleep.
Then during the night I had Dad, Grandfather, Grandpa and Uncle Julian to tend to me in their roles as jailors. They kept me locked inside the bathroom so I couldn’t escape and try to make a run for Alma again. As either Dad or Grandfather sat with me, I heard the whispering of Grandpa and Uncle Julian on the other side of the door.
This was the worst experience of my entire life. It was even worse then the first day I got my period when I was 14 years old. It happened during a game of soccer with Derik and the other boys when Rachel and Mandy waved me off the field so they could whisper that a red patch was beginning to form on the back of my shorts. That day I thought I would die of embarrassment, as Mandy calmly tied her jumper around my waist then she and Rachel walked me home. However that day now paled in comparison, when I rued the facts of life for being a female human? These days I rued being the first female Lokoti Werewolf.
Yet somehow I survived, although I thought I would die from the pain the murderous bloodlust brought upon for not indulging its dangerous craving. But I didn’t die, instead I carried on. Albeit, a broken bathroom mirror, a broken bedroom window and three sets of torn clothes later; I survived the change into my new existence.
Last night, I went over to my repaired window after I had shower
ed and changed in my PJ’s for bed. I examined the handiwork of my father and Uncle Ian as I admired their skill. The new glass was perfectly cut and installed. I sighed wistfully as I looked on the shiny new glass… if only my life could be repaired so easily.
I didn’t want this because I was scared of who I now was. The pack along with my Werewolf relations were right there and willing to train me. The pack felt proud, even if they were apprehensive that I was the new Lokoti Werewolf.
I was the first female Lokoti Werewolf just as I was the Last Circulator. Boy, what a contradiction! I’m both the first and last…oh no, that’s not complicating my life at all, is it?
Just as I took a step back from the window to pull the curtains closed, I saw something. Or, I think I saw something… Hang on a minute, what is that?
My eyes squinted and I think my Werewolf-vision must have kicked in, when I could suddenly see clearer into the dark woods. I spotted a pair of glowing green eyes, watching me from the forest. Uncle Quinn, one of the Lokoti Werewolves had glowing emerald green eyes but these glowing green eyes were a different kind of green. They looked brighter and burned more fiercely, hungrily even. They were Declan’s European Werewolf eyes, I knew it.
He was watching me from the woods, via my bedroom window but why was he spying on me? Was Declan guarding me somehow, to make sure I didn’t make another run for the townspeople in Alma? Why was he here? But as my heart began to pound, I started to think differently…
I remembered his kiss three nights ago, when he stopped me on the border. I felt warm and a little giddy, as I recalled the heat which was generated between us…that was until his huge jaws clamped down on a nerve in my neck. Declan knocked me out cold, to carry me back home. Bastard! I bet he probably enjoyed rendering me unconscious even more than the kissing part!
As my way of saying ‘get lost!’, I whipped the curtains closed before I climbed into bed and switched off my lamp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 4
New Chapter
~ 4 ~
14th September 2084
I was sitting at the dining table reading a book on Ancient Greek Mythology, when Mum walked out of the kitchen carrying her shopping list.
“OK.” She spoke to both me and Dad, who was sitting on the couch with another book. “I’m going down to the store to pick up a few odds and ends. I hope that you both remembered to write down anything you needed.”
Normally Dad would volunteer to go with her to hold the carry basket as she strolled up and down the small aisles, but today he didn’t. For the past five days, he’s stayed home to keep an eye on his daughter, the new Lokoti Werewolf in the family.
I’ve been housebound these past days, so much so I might as well have been in jail with all of these new restrictions! I couldn’t have visitors; I couldn’t go out and visit; I had to meditate or study, to get my mind off the bloodlust.
Grandpa gave me these meditation exercises, but to be honest I found them as about as useful as small puncture repair kit whist trying to plug up a hole in an inflatable life raft, whilst being tossed about a storm-driven sea… In other words, they did diddlysquat in helping me try to ignore or even control the menacing voice of the bloodlust.
Mum had just started to walk towards the front door when I jumped up and cried out, “can I come too?”
That made Dad quickly stand up with apprehension, “I don’t think so B.”
“Why not?” Mum turned his way. “It’s just to the store.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea Jess.” He said.
“But we won’t even be leaving tribal lands!” She argued back.
“B’s supposed to be meditating right now.” Dad said simply.
“She’s been ‘meditating’ for three days straight.” Mum stated. “Even Buddhist Monks leave the temple now and again from their ‘meditation’. When she comes back from the store she can ‘meditate’ again.”
I started to snicker at the tone of voice she used every time she said the word ‘meditate’. But I stopped when Dad turned his unhappy look my way.
“Sorry.” I quickly sat back down again.
“No.” She said firmly and pulled me towards the front door with her. “C’mon B, you can help me shop.”
“Jess…” Dad started to object.
“We’ll be home in thirty minutes!” She called back as we left the house.
As we walked over to Dad’s truck parked out the front, the outside sun warmed my skin. Along with the gentle wind blowing through the trees, the weather instantly picked up my spirits as I felt glad to get out of the house for a little while. Mum hit the remote to release the truck’s central locking and then we climbed in.
“Thanks Mum.” I said appreciatively at her stubbornness which could stand against a Lokoti Werewolf’s resolution.
She gave an affectionate pat on my arm, before she started the engine and reversed out of our driveway. I caught sight of Dad standing on our veranda with his hands on his hips as he reluctantly watched us leave. The frown on his face was so deep, it not only made his face look grave but it looked older.
*****
After we pulled up into a free car space by the store, I hopped out before Mum. With my new strength and energy, I started to notice she moved slower than I did. She closed the door behind herself, locked it and dropped her keys into her handbag as she pulled out her shopping list.
Whilst Mum spent a few seconds doing all of this, my head turned towards the garage beside the store.
I could hear music playing loudly, as ‘The Cult’ belted out of the speakers of the portable stereo that I had once seen on a shelf inside the garage. I could see a pick up truck was parked halfway inside of the garage, with its front half out in the open air. I guessed it was parked as such so the mechanics could use the sunlight to see into the motor’s dark crevices. I saw that a mechanic who looked to be Ben, was lying underneath the truck and somebody was leaning over the top of it, with the bonnet propped up.
My heart picked up speed, as I recognized the familiar male body wearing scuffed black boots, dirty jeans and a tight grey t-shirt, also covered in dirt and grease. My breath almost caught in my throat, when I recognized the large muscles straining underneath the fabric. I think I stopped breathing as if by sensing me, Declan’s head rose and he turned my way. As quickly as his eyes widened by the sight of me, they next narrowed into a glare.
“OK, let’s get this over and done with.” Mum sung, with the shopping list now in her hand. “This shouldn’t take long and besides, your father is probably timing us on his watch!”
Quickly, I ducked my head as I followed her into the Store, with Declan’s eyes following us.
I picked up a carry basket from beside the door and held it for her as she walked ahead. She was almost speed shopping as she didn’t stop, she just simply grabbed as she passed. The basket quickly began to fill up. I started to appreciate my extra Werewolf muscle, as the basket began to strain under the load.
“Bread…milk…butter…eggs…cheese…juice…toothpaste.” Mum read out the list under her breath, as she breezed down the small aisles.
As I walked behind her, I noticed how we attracted a lot of looks from passersby. But then I realized that people weren’t looking at her, they were looking at me. They were all watching with curiosity in their eyes.
Frickin’ hell, word travels fast in this tribe! Does everybody know that I’m a Werewolf? It looked like it, as I ducked my head to walk quickly after.
As we passed a group of teenaged boys who were hanging around the sweets shelf, their eyes widened as they took me in. I think I even overheard one of them inhale deeply as I walked past. I stopped and turned to give the youth a peculiar look, whose eyes bulged because I looked in his direction.
“Oh, hi B!” The 14 year old raised his hand to give a small wave.
“How’s it goin’?” His 13 year old friend asked next.
“Tha
t’s a nice er, top that you’re wearing.” The other 14 year old boy standing with them, fumbled out.
I looked on the kids as if they were nuts! I was wearing a two year old, faded and stretched, red woolen jumper that Grandpa had made as a Christmas present. Not to degrade Grandpa’s workmanship, but there was no way that this jumper looked ‘nice’ anymore, especially with all of the holes I accidentally put in it.
“Come on B.” Mum grabbed hold of my arm to pull me after her.
Just as I was yanked away, I overheard one of the youths critique the one who remarked on my top; “you don’t say nice top you dumb-ass! You’re supposed to compliment women on their shoes!”
When I turned my head back around to give the three a funny look, they instantly stood to attention and waved back. I continued on, shaking my head to myself as I followed Mum to the counter.
I placed the basket on top and began to pile everything onto the surface. This way, the elderly Mr. Barley who owned the general store could mark it off in his book what we were ‘purchasing’. He would put it on our family account for us to make up in a future barter or trade. Since the War, no-one in the tribe used money anymore, as the majority of our money went to trading with outsiders.
“How are you, B?” He asked politely.
“Good thanks Mr. Barley.”
“I suppose with your change, carrying this load isn’t a problem anymore.” He joked, meaning the large amount that Mum was shopping for today.
“Um, no.” I answered awkwardly.
“B’s been stronger than me since she passed her sixteenth birthday. After she turned sixteen, I was getting her to take lids off jars whenever her father wasn’t around.” Mum laughed jovially.
Mr. Barley laughed along with her, before he looked on me closely. “I swear you look taller, as it usually happens to a Lokoti who goes through the change.”
“I think you might be right.” Mum agreed. “I swear she used to be my height, now she’s ten centimeters taller.”