“Yeah, and lucky Sherman gets to hang out with all three of them tomorrow,” the gargoyle sighed as he put on his jeans.
“I guess that is what happens when you are the most popular kid at school,” the ant creature sighed.
“Uhhh. Popular kid at school?” I asked as I put on my own pants. It was more than a little hard to move, and even though I had a bit of a head start, the other boys were all almost done getting changed into their street clothes.
“Yeah, dude!” the gargoyle said with a freakishly big smile. “Everyone is talking about you, and they don’t even know about the challenge that Giant Gene threw out! Awww, man, you are going to have every girl at school coming after you.”
“Coming after me?” I gulped.
“Yeah, man. Especially when you beat Albert. Damn! You’ll be prom king for sure, and all the girls will want to go with you.”
“And do other stuff with you!” the sasquatch yelled from the other side of the lockers.
“Beat Albert?” I squeaked my question like a mouse.
“Yeah, man. We are counting on you to beat that guy. We can’t let Giant Gene and Fabulous Morgan say that kind of shit to Dr. King.”
“Was Fabulous Morgan the va— the man with the blond hair standing beside Gene?” I asked.
“Yeah, man. You are new, but that was the team from Lincoln High. They are our cross town rivals and are always nipping at our heels in all the sports. We still beat them though, and I can’t tell ya how good it feels,” the gargoyle said.
“We can’t be hot dogging though. Just have to keep our heads down and work. That is what the coaches want, but ugh!” the ant-boy growled and then slammed two of his six fists together. “I want to tell those guys where to shove their fucking egos. Coming into our house and throwing down the gloves like that. It will be wolf pack versus wolf pack at the next tournament.”
“Wolf pack versus wolf pack?” I asked as I finished the painful wiggle that got me into my shirt.
“Yeah, man. We are the Wild Wolves. They are the Timber Wolves. They frickin stole the theme from us. I’m telling you, Sherman. They are a bunch of assholes.”
“That’s crazy. Which school was around first?” I asked
“We were!” the boys growled, and I realized it was a stupid question. I knew how high school pride went, and it probably wouldn’t have mattered if Oak Grove High School was the new one. These guys would probably still think that Lincoln High School took the mascot from them.
“I uhhh, think that Dr. King wants to talk to me a bit before I head home,” I told the boys as I finished putting my glasses on. “I’ll see you guys at practice tomorrow.”
“Sure, man. Hey, good job today. We are all happy that you joined the team,” the gargoyle said as he held his hand out to me. I shook it cautiously, and the other boys shouted their agreement.
“Oh, I’m Titan by the way. I didn’t introduce myself earlier,” the gargoyle said with another nod.
“Ha. Sherman should already know. Titan is the school’s wrestling champ. I’m Tim,” the ant-boy said as he held out one of his many arms to me.
The rest of the team shouted out their names in unison, and I couldn’t really tell which name belonged to which boy. It didn’t matter in the end. I would be gone tonight, and while I felt relief that I wasn’t going to have to do the podcast, or do any more practice, I kind of liked the guys on my team, and they seemed to think that I was good at wrestling.
It felt weird to be noticed.
“I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I said as I made my stiff walk out of the locker room and toward Dr. King’s office.
It was dark outside now, and there were only a few lights on inside of the small classroom that connected the gym to Dr. King’s office. The werewolf’s door was closed, and I heard Mr. Hellsig shouting about the earth gods through the thick wood. I let out deep breath before I knocked and I wondered how I’d be able to get Dr. King to follow me into the hallways where Charlotte was.
I also kind of didn’t want my girlfriend to kill my wrestling coach. I was starting to like the guy.
But I also didn’t want to make Satan angry. He said we had to kill a werewolf and then set up a vampire to take the heat. He said this was a war. He said that I was working with him, and I could have anything I wanted as long as I helped the demons win against the devils, angels, monsters, and supernatural creatures.
I just had to do my part, and Charlotte wouldn’t have to serve Satan anymore.
“Sherman, you gonna stand out there all night? Or are you gonna step into the brain trust of the champions?” Dr. King called out as I debated knocking on the door to his office.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt,” I said as I opened the door.
“That’s okay, Sherman. We were waiting for you. Oh yeah. Why don’t you take a seat right here?” the werewolf said as he gestured to the only remaining chair in his cluttered office. Both Dr. King and Mr. Hellsig were already sitting, and their bulky bodies seemed to take up 80% of the room’s space. I almost felt as if I couldn’t step into the office without sliding up against one of the men’s shoulders.
“The power of the moon, stars, and the celestial bodies in the heavens have come together to provide us with this opportunity for victory. We will hold it with both of our warrior fists, AND WE SHALL NOT LET GO!” Mr. Hellsig seethed as he clenched his fists together.
“Oh yeah. Let me tell you, Sherman, this has been a long time coming. Gene and Morgan have been showboating and grandstanding for too long. Yeah. They’ve said all this stuff about how they are better than us. Yeah. Now, it is one thing to say something when it is the truth and you mean it, but if something isn’t the truth, and you keep saying it, and then you call someone else a liar for saying the truth. What does that make you?” Dr. King asked, and both of the over-muscled men turned to look at me as if they expected an answer.
“Uhhh, it, uhhh, means that they are, not… ahh nice people?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, Sherman, I couldn’t have said that better myself. Morgan and Gene are not nice people. Let’s not even talk about their wrestling prowess, which is, in all honesty, good. Oh yeah. Those two can wrestle. The problem I have with Gene and Morgan, other than the personal beef about my wife, is that they just aren’t setting a good example to their boys. There is just too much grandstanding and showboating. They are doing their hot dogging and not focusing on what they need to do to show those boys what it means to be real wrestlers, yeah. There is no honor in their deeds. Just ego. Oh yeah. It is a shame, too. I’m sure they have good boys over there, but the young men are getting twisted by the jealousy in Gene’s heart and the hubris that flows through Morgan’s veins. Yeah.”
“Gene,” the orc growled the name in a way that made it last about six seconds. “Needs to be taught the error of his ways. He needs to feel the earth crumble at his feet and the land give way to a hot molten magma that will burn his soul. Then, once he is bleached into a bone white by his understanding of the universe, he will emerge from the cave of inner conflict and be reborn as a man of worth!” The two men looked at me when the orc finished talking, and I risked a half smile.
“Uhh. Yeah,” I said cautiously. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to get Dr. King separated from Mr. Hellsig, and out into the hallway on the other side of school so that Charlotte could ambush him. I didn’t think that the succubus girl could take out both of the men alone. Heck, I didn’t even know how she planned on killing the giant werewolf. The man just seemed too powerful.
“Uhhh. Dr. King, I was wondering if we can talk about my training as we walk to the parking lot. It was still my first day of school, and I kind of want to get home as soon as I can.”
“Oh yeah. I got ya, Sherman. A good night’s sleep is important for a growing body. You can’t step into the squared circle without resting beforehand. Oh yeah. I’ll chat with you while we walk.” The werewolf nodded to the orc when he finished talking.
“I wil
l close down the gym, and ensure that the other warriors that we train make it to their destinations without harm,” the orc said as he stood.
I didn’t know if the werewolf’s agreement to walk with me made me happy or sad. On one hand, I wanted us to be successful in our mission. On the other hand, the more time I spent with Dr. King, the more I liked him.
I liked this school also, but I didn’t want to get interviewed tomorrow for the school’s podcast, and I didn’t want to wrestle against that beefcake Albert from the other school. No, it would be better for Charlotte to do what Satan sent us here to do so that we could go on the next mission.
Then the next mission.
How long would I have to keep doing this? What kind of school would Satan tell us to visit next? Who would we have to fight? From my conversations with Satan, it seemed like he had a lot of enemies, and there were many sides to this war. We were just targeting the supernaturals now. Would I have to fight the monsters next? Then the angels? Then the devils? I could be transferring schools for years. It was better than dying, for sure, but I didn’t know if there was a way I’d be able to retire from Satan’s services. He said the war had been going on for over two thousand years. There was a possibility that I would spend the rest of my life being the eyes for Charlotte.
At least I was getting to spend time with the beautiful girl. That was more than worth it. I would have given anything to be with the woman of my dreams, so I supposed that this was a fair exchange.
“Let’s get going Sherman. Yeah. Do you have someone coming to pick you up? Do you need to use my phone?”
“No. I’ve got a phone. I can text,” I said as I reached into my pants pocket. I pulled out my cell phone and texted Charlotte: We are leaving the gym soon. Heading to parking lot as planned.
“Tomorrow morning we are going to work on your level change. Yeah. You’ve gotta be bobbing up and down like an ocean wave,” the werewolf said as he patted me on the back. I winced from the muscle pain when he touched me, but I didn't gasp.
“Tomorrow morning?” I asked.
“Oh yeah! You’ll need to be here at six-thirty for practice.” The man held open the door to his office, and I walked into the classroom.
“I thought we just had practice after school?” I asked, and dread filled my heart.
“Oh yeah, we do. Practice in the morning, and then one after school. Don’t worry, the one we did today was an easy one. You should be all fresh for tomorrow morning. Yeah.”
“Uhhh. Okay.” I reminded myself that I wouldn’t have to worry about practice tomorrow.
“How did you get started wrestling?” I asked the werewolf when we exited the classroom. The night air was crisp, and the chill helped to relieve some of the pain from my aching muscles. The sky had some clouds, but the stars and full moon cast a strange magenta glow on the empty buildings of the closed school.
“I was always into wrestling. Yeah. My mom and dad said I started when I was just a pup. Oh yeah. I was good in high school, and then just got better when I went to college. I even did some of that acting stuff to pay the bills when I was in college.”
“Acting stuff?” I asked as we crossed one of the roads that separated the rest of the school buildings from the athletic area of the campus.
“Oh yeah. You know, the stuff on TV. It’s wrestling but staged for the audience. Gene and I were friends back then, and he told me about it. Then we met Lady Bella, and we got real competitive with each other. Sometimes, women tend to do that. Oh yeah.” The man laughed and then slapped me on the back. “Do you have a girlfriend, Sherman?”
“Oh, uhh. No. I guess I don’t. There is a girl I really like, and I thought that she liked me, but then she kind of said that she didn’t, so I don’t know what to think,” I admitted as I thought of the conversation I had with Charlotte in Satan’s elevator.
“That sounds like most women. Oh yeah.” The werewolf laughed.
“She’s the only girl I’ve ever loved though. So I don’t know what to do.”
“Does she know how ya feel?” he asked
“Oh yeah, I’ve told her a few times.”
“Ohhh. See, Sherman. That’s your problem. I think. Yeah. See, when you love a woman. You shouldn’t tell her until you are sure that she also loves you. It just puts too much pressure on her to meet your expectations.”
“How would I know when the right time is to tell her? Is it too late?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t know. I only know that women are mysterious creatures. You just have to treat them nice, tell them what you like about them a lot, and then when you are positive that the one you love loves you, then you tell her. If you tell her too soon, you might scare her away. Women don’t want to break men’s hearts.”
“I see,” I said, even though I kind of didn’t really understand the strange werewolf’s words.
I had almost forgotten about Charlotte’s ambush, but then I realized that we had made it to the side of the building where she had planned the deed. The school buildings were all separated by an open quad so that students had to walk outside to go to different classrooms. I felt a flurry of mixed emotions flutter in my stomach, and my heart started to hammer in my chest. I didn’t want Charlotte to get hurt, so I hoped that she was able to dispatch Dr. King quickly, but I also didn’t want the man to die, since I kind of liked him. The conflicting thoughts warred in my head again, and I didn’t realize that Charlotte was crouching on the roof high above us until she was suddenly diving through the air at Mr. King.
She was like a silent arrow, and I only caught her movement because I was walking on the opposite side of the man from the moon, and her falling shadow darkened my face for half a moment. The light glimmered off her curved finger talons a second before she struck, and there was the sound of sharp blades ripping through fabric.
Dr. King let out a surprised yelp of pain, and then fell onto his hands and knees. In the pale moonlight, I could only see a bit of the wolf’s face, but I saw that he had a red slash over his face that seemed to divide his skull into symmetrical halves. I had seen Charlotte’s claws slice monsters into pieces with ease, so I expected the alpha werewolf to fall in twain in slow motion like some sort of bloody Japanese anime. Instead, the man just blinked his wolf eyes, and then stood to face my love.
“Stand back, Sherman. Speaking of mysterious women; this one needs to get an education in being rude. Oh yeah.” The werewolf flexed, and I saw Charlotte’s glowing purple eyes widen with surprise.
The succubus darted to her right side toward the building, and the werewolf pounced toward her. Dr. King moved with incredible speed, and his massive hands almost closed around the beautiful girl’s shoulders. She was just a hair faster though, and she ran up the outside wall of the classroom building half a dozen steps before she flipped off.
Her head floated a foot or so above Dr. King’s when she spun through the air, and the winged girl made a quick raking strike with her right hand. I actually saw her claws rip through his skull, but instead of a shower of brains and blood, there appeared to be no damage done to the giant werewolf.
“I don’t want to fight girls. Yeah. But you leave me with no choice, Bitch of Satan!” Dr. King shouted as he spun around. His body lifted into the air, and his fist slammed into Charlotte’s gut as if he was pulling a Street Fighter style dragon punch.
The succubus let out a gasp of air when the werewolf’s fist connected with her stomach, and she folded around his arm like a wet rag. The man moved to bring down his fist to smash her prone body into the concrete pathway, but the girl twisted around his arm, and he only ended up smashing his fist into the ground.
Charlotte seemed to have instantly recovered from the werewolf’s dragon punch, and she wrapped her lean legs around his bicep as she made a flurry of slashes against his face. Giant chunks of the wolf man’s skin and nose tore off with her attack and this time blood did spray everywhere, but I noticed that Dr. King seemed to heal instantly from Charlotte’s attacks. Al
most as soon as she struck it was as if the damage hadn’t even happened to the man, and he didn’t even let out any sound of discomfort from her rapid removal of his face.
“Sherman, don’t worry. Yeah! I’ll protect you from this manifestation of evil. Watch my suplex technique!” The muscular wolf squeezed his arms together over his chest. The motion pinched Charlotte’s left leg against his neck. Then he bent over backwards with a smooth motion and slammed my love’s head into the grass next to the building.
I almost screamed her name with fear, but the sight of her skull smashing into the ground made my heart freeze, and my lungs lost all their ability to function. Charlotte tumbled from the man’s grip, and then she lay still on the ground for half a moment. The girl’s beautiful face was concealed by the grass, and her hair was spread out in a messy tangle.
“They are sneaky and might try to get ya when you turn your back. Oh yeah. Gotta power up the elbow!” Dr. King slapped his right elbow with his left hand three times, and then he leapt impossibly high into the air. He kind of twisted around in mid-jump, and he laid his body out horizontally so that his weight would land on the sharp tip of his downward elbow.
On Charlotte’s pretty head.
The succubus seemed to come out of her stunned state, and she rolled to her side while she looked up at the falling werewolf. I thought that my coach would still hit her, but the girl was quicker, and she spun out of the way at the last possible moment. Dr. King’s elbow smashed into the grass where her head had been only a moment before, and there was a sound of a shotgun blast going off inside of my skull.
Then Charlotte was on his back, and the claws on her fingers where ripping long cuts into the man’s tight shirt. Each attack ripped the fabric open to expose the man’s fur, but there was no blood or screams of pain from the man.
Dr. King reached behind him with his giant paws, but Charlotte rolled backwards off of his shoulders, and then did a flip to avoid his low spinning back fist.
“Hey. You aren’t half bad for a hellspawn. Too bad you choose to fight outside of the squared circle. Now you’ll have to die without honor. Oh yeah. You can’t be trying to attack Sherman and me without pro-vo-cation.”
Werewolf!: Hell High Book 3 Page 6