by Love, Aimee
“Drake,” she called.
He bounded forward, teeth bared.
“Go guard Joe,” she told him, hoping he understood. In a best case scenario, she had expected him to start barking or maybe run off down the road, but Drake apparently didn’t like werewolves any more than she did. He ran down the dock and dove into the lake, swimming toward Joe’s dock for all he was worth.
Aubrey watched as the wolf she had shot seemed to melt away like a sandcastle hit by a wave, and then reformed. One moment it was a wolf, then it was a featureless lump, then it was a naked girl. Aubrey shot the ground beside the girl and sent her scurrying into the underbrush. Clearly one shot, even to the head, wasn’t sufficient. She glanced over to see how Joe was holding up, and saw that he was now at least using the fire extinguisher as she’d intended, spraying the chemical foam under the RV and hopefully right into the things face. She felt the dock shift slightly beneath her and froze.
Now that she was focusing on herself, instead of Joe, she could feel the footsteps coming up behind her. Something heavy. She dropped the Beretta with a clatter and brought the Mossberg up, swinging around. The thing was only a few feet away.
“Rose?” She asked hesitantly.
It took a step forward, grinning at her. It wasn’t a nice grin. Aubrey pulled the trigger, not bothering to aim at this range. It staggered back and she chambered another round and fired again, this time at its face. A scream came from across the lake. Aubrey spun around and cursed. Without the night scope on the Beretta, she couldn’t see what was happening over there. She snatched it up and saw Joe, back on his feet, but surrounded by wolves. Drake stood beside him, he was either covered in blood or mud, but if he was injured, he certainly wasn’t showing it. The wolves circled and Drake kept feinting toward them, jaws snapping, making them jump away.
Aubrey aimed carefully and clipped one of the wolves in the leg. It went down and rolled away, toward the trees. As soon as it was clear of Joe and Drake she opened up, unloading the rest of her clip into, ejecting it, slamming in another and firing until that one was spent as well. The other wolves panicked and yelped, not wanting to abandon their comrade or their prey, but not feeling inclined to getting the shit shot out of them either.
Aubrey slammed in another clip, picked a new target and began the process again. She counted nine of them, and she knew she’d need to go inside for more ammo if they didn’t give up soon.
The wolves seemed to come to a decision. They scattered into the trees. Drake tore after them and Aubrey could hear Joe screaming for him to come back.
Forget the dog, she begged him silently. Just go.
She turned to check on her friend behind her, only to find it had vanished. She saw a bloody trail on the deck where it had fallen, as if it had been dragged away, rather than shifted and fled. She turned back in time to see Joe start the engine and flick on his headlights. In their glare, she saw a white streak dart past. Drake, she realized, was still at large.
She holstered the Beretta and picked up the Mossberg, limping forward slowly, keeping an eye on the darkness beside the deck. She got to the back door and ducked into the cabin, hitting the lights and closing and locking the sliding door behind her. Checking the interior for any sign of an intruder, she cut directly across to the front door and went back out onto the deck, hitting the exterior flood lights.
A wolf was standing in her yard, teeth bared. Aubrey limped forward, bringing up the Mossberg. It lunged at her and she fired, chambered a round, and fired again. She took the steps slowly, keeping the wolf in her sights but not wanting to waste more ammo until she could get a point black shot at its head. She only made it as far as the bottom step before she saw it begin to change. Before she could fire, a young girl was standing in the wounded wolf’s place.
Aubrey recognized her as one of the witches she’d seen what seemed like a lifetime ago. She leveled the shotgun at the girls face and walked forward as quickly as she could, until they were standing only a few feet apart. The girl watched her approach defiantly, unconcerned.
“You’uns won’t shoot me now,” the girl said.
“Go home,” Aubrey told her.
“Make me,” the girl said with a smirk.
Aubrey pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Joe careened in
to the yard and swung his truck around so that the passenger door was only a few feet from Aubrey.
“Get in,” he yelled.
Aubrey held up a hand, not taking her eyes from the girl on the ground. She certainly looked dead. Most of her face was gone and the contents of her skull were sprayed across the grass. Aubrey limped up until she was standing over her, put the shotgun an inch from what was left of her head, and fired again. She kept firing until she was out of shells and there was nothing left of the girl above the neck.
Drake dashed out of the trees, and into the yard. He was covered in blood, mud, and wolves. One had a hold of his neck and was half-hopping, half-drug along, two more were running along beside, nipping at his heels. One of them slammed into him with enough force to knock him off his feet, and they all went down in a pile of snapping jaws and fur. He was bigger than they were, but they were clearly going to win.
Aubrey reached into her pocket, pulled out a hand full of shells, and began reloading the shotgun as quickly as she could. Joe jumped out of the truck with a tire iron in his hand.
“Joe, don’t!” She yelled, but she was too late. Joe reached the pile and began laying into the wolves with the improvised cudgel. He hit one of them in the head and it rolled away from the others, dazed. Aubrey shot it again and again until there was nothing left of it but a pile of gore. The other two seemed to realize that killing a dog wasn’t worth it, and lit off into the trees. Aubrey fired at their retreating forms, hitting them both at least once, but she was under no illusions that they were dead. Drake got back on his feet unsteadily.
“Into the truck,” Aubrey told them both. “Keep it running.”
Drake hopped up into the cab obediently, but Joe walked toward her.
“Where the hell are you going?” Joe asked.
Aubrey limped back toward the cabin.
“I’m getting my phone and more ammunition,” she told him.
“Like hell,” Joe ran over to her, easily reaching the door before her and cutting her off. “We’re gettin’ in that truck and drivin’ to Knoxville, or maybe Alaska,” he told her.
She scoffed.
“Oh, I’m sorry Mr. I-don’t-own-a-gun-and-I’ve-never-needed-one, or was it Mr. I-just-fish-and-they-leave-me-alone?”
“Both a those were true until you got here,” he pointed out angrily.
“You can run off with your tail between your legs if you want to,” Aubrey told him, “but I’m not going anywhere until everyone else is evacuated or where I can protect them. How do you know they didn’t just run off to Lettie’s? How long do you think she’ll hold out against them? Or Betty? Or Emaline and Micejah?”
“So we’ll stop at Broad’s and call to warn ‘em,” Joe yelled.
“And they’ll all run to their cars? Outside? Rose and Charlie are the only ones with an attached garage. How many people are you prepared to lose?”
Joe shook his head. “So we’ll come back with a hundred deputies and get ‘em out one by one,” he told her.
“Oh shit,” Aubrey breathed. She pushed past him and into the cabin.
“Get in the truck,” she called back. “I’m right behind you.”
Joe ignored her, following her into the house. She limped over to the back door and picked up her cell phone.
“What do we need to get?” Joe asked her resignedly.
Aubrey pointed to the crates of ammo. She dialed 911 as she limped over to the bathroom.
“911 emergency, how can I help
you?”
Aubrey told the woman who she was.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” the woman told her. “We haven’t been able to free anyone up yet. We have trucks on the way from all the surrounding areas, but the plant is engulfed, and there are still workers trapped inside.”
“That’s all right,” Aubrey told her. “I was just calling to let you know that one of my neighbors came over with a fire extinguisher and we’ve gotten it out.”
“Really?” The poor woman sounded intensely relieved.
“Yes,” Aubrey assured her. “We don’t need any help. Thank you though.”
She hung up before the woman could ask any questions. She grabbed her first aid kit from under the sink and limped back into the living room. Joe was outside, loading the ammo crates into his truck. Aubrey set the security system and went out to join him, hitting the speed dial to call Matt.
“What the hell are you doing callin’ ‘em off?” Joe demanded.
Aubrey held up her hand to silence him.
“Hey, did I wake you?” She asked when she heard a groggy Matt answer.
“What’s up?” He asked.
“Nothing,” she told him, motioning Joe to get into the truck and keeping an eye on the woods. “I was just out playing paint ball with some friends and I left Drake in the car with the phone. I guess the game upset him. Anyway, he tried to eat the phone and my call list says it dialed you. I didn’t want you to hear a bunch of screaming and weapons fire and think it was World War III out here.”
“You woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me your dog called me?” He asked incredulously. Aubrey checked her watch as she climbed up into the truck.
“It’s not that late,” she said defensively.
“I was on a stake out last night,” he told her. “My internal clock is all messed up so I took some sleeping pills. Sorry.”
“Go back to sleep,” Aubrey told him and flipped the phone shut.
“What the hell are you doing?” Joe demanded.
“Making sure that the police don’t show up here,” she snapped back. “Unless you want to explain to Larry why there’s a naked fifteen year old girl with her head blown off in my front yard.”
“Shit,” Joe cursed. Clearly he hadn’t thought of that.
Aubrey dialed Vina.
“How are things at the O.K. Corral?” Vina asked.
“I need you to call everyone and tell…”
“They’re all still here,” Vina told her. “We’ve had a hell of a time keeping the men from going out to get you. I told ‘em you were fine on account of the gun was still firing and they’d only make it worse.”
“We’re on our way,” Aubrey said.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
The front door opened and Charlie stepped out onto the porch with Vina’s old shotgun up and scanning the woods as soon as Joe’s truck pulled into the driveway. Aubrey, Joe and Drake piled out a
nd John and Armistead came down to help them. They grabbed the crates and got inside.
“What now?” Joe asked as he sank down onto the sofa.
“Now somebody volunteers to take you to an emergency room,” Aubrey told him.
He looked down at his leg. The jeans on his right leg were shredded from the knee down and deep gouges in the flesh below were oozing blood.
“I can stitch him up here,” John told her, kneeling down to examine the wounds. “They aren’t deep.”
Aubrey pointed to her neck.
“Neither was this,” she reminded him.
John shook his head.
“The claws that did this were only a few hours old,” he told her. “They didn’t have time to get covered in bacteria the way that old woman’s mouth had. All he needs is some peroxide and a few stitches.”
Aubrey handed him her first aid kit and looked around the room, counting heads.
“Where’s Paloma?” She asked.
“We sent her to visit her daughter in LA,” Vina told her, “on account of her English is getting a little too good for us to talk in front of her anymore.”
“Lilli is supposed to pick her up at the airport there and then fly here herself,” Germaine said.
“What good will that do?” Aubrey asked. “I don’t suppose she had any SWAT training…”
“She can half,” Germaine told Aubrey, the note of pride that entered her voice when she spoke of Lilli even more pronounced than usual.
“Lilli is a werewolf?” Aubrey asked. “But she’s Gerald’s daughter!” She protested. “I thought it didn’t pass from fathers?”
Germaine shook her head.
“Lilli was my daughter’s daughter. Her mother and father died in a car accident when she was just a baby and since Gerald and his wife were having trouble getting pregnant, they adopted her.”
Aubrey’s mind reeled at the idea of a werewolf porn star. At least Lilli didn’t have to worry about picking up any STDs.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help tonight, hon,” Rose put in. “I should have been able to change,” she threw her hands up in frustration, “but sometimes it just doesn’t work these days.”
“When was the first time you saw one?” Vina asked. “One that wasn’t Rose?”
“Devil’s night, the night before Halloween,” Aubrey told her.
“So they’ve been changin’ for three nights. That means we only have to hold out for a few more and then we’ll have some time to figure out what to do,” Vina told her.
“These have been, but what if there are a hundred of them and they go in shifts. For all we know there could be a different group of them for every week of the month,” Aubrey told her.
Vina shook her head. “They’re a pack, and packs sync up,” Vina assured her. “How many were there?”
Aubrey shrugged.
“There were maybe nine wolves that I saw, and one half. What was under the RV?” She asked Joe.
“A half,” he said, as John led him into the kitchen where the light was better. Charlie called Drake over and examined him for any serious wounds.
“So nine wolves and two halves,” Vina said. “Well, it could be worse.”
“I got…” Aubrey counted in her head. “I got two of the wolves for certain, and maybe one of the halves.”
Vina shook her head. “No way,” she told her. “You may have run ‘em off, but they’ll be back.”
“No,” Joe called from the kitchen. “I think she really got ‘em. She blew their heads clean off.”
“If they’re hurt so badly they can’t change back, then they’re dead, right?” Aubrey asked.
Vina nodded and gave her a thumbs up sign. “Then we may only have seven,” Vina smiled with satisfaction. “And they’ll be scared on account of you bein’ such a bad ass. Maybe they won’t come back at all.”
Aubrey rolled her eyes.
“They burned down the Beanie Weenie plant to divert the police. I don’t think they’ll give up that easily. They’ll just come up with a new plan. We need to come up with one of our own before that and we need to do something about all the bodies.”
“They’ll handle the bodies themselves,” Vina assured her. “On account of they got a lot more to lose by bein’ exposed than we do right now.”
Aubrey looked into the kitchen. John had Joe laying on the table and was cleaning his leg. She sat in one of the chairs in the living room where she could keep them in sight.
Everyone drifted off to guest rooms and borrowed pajamas, but even after Joe was stitched up and had fallen asleep on the sofa in front of her, Aubrey didn’t move. She had the tiny kernel of a plan, and was busy giving it flesh and bone.
By morning, Aubrey had every last detail worked out, and as the men all sat down to breakfast, she pulled the women into the library
and laid it out for them.
Lettie was the first to speak. “You’ll never get that plan past the men,” she said with a shake of her head.
Everyone else nodded in agreement.
“I’ll take care of Joe,” Aubrey said. “And you can send the others to the airport to get Lilli. Give them the wrong flight information if you have to, just get them out of the way.”
She left them to take care of the details and went to find an empty bed so she could get a few hours of sleep before getting to work.
“This is the dumbest plan ever,” Joe bellowed indignantly as Aubrey checked the ropes.
“I didn’t think you’d go along with it,” she told him. “That’s why you’re tied up.”
“I can’t believe you’re doin’ this,” Joe told her, straining against the ropes that held him to one of Vina’s kitchen chairs. “Please don’t do this,” he whispered.
“It’s done,” Aubrey said, but she wasn’t talking to Joe. Behind her, Vina reached over and tested the ropes.
“Good knots, sailor,” Vina told her. “Now get goin’. Don’t worry about us, I’ll hold down the fort.”
Aubrey nodded to her, but stayed kneeling beside Joe until she was out of the room.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to him. She stood up and bent over him, kissing him tenderly on the forehead. “And no matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you, too.” She turned and walked out of the room, unwilling to look at the anguish on his face or watch as he strained against the bonds she’d tricked him into.
Aubrey gave Drake a good, long pet, and walked to the door. He trotted along beside her, not even favoring the leg that had his only real wound.
“I’ll see you soon, boy,” she promised and, grabbing the Mossberg, headed out to Joe’s truck. Rose had to grab Drake’s collar to keep him from following, and Aubrey felt strangely relieved as she started the truck and drove off toward the cabin. Seeing them all standing on the front porch, waving good-bye and calling good luck, it felt as if the hardest part of the night were already over.