by Tim O'Rourke
I landed on the roof next to Kiera, her claws dripping red by her sides. The hazel colour of her eyes glowed almost orange and I couldn’t help but notice the faintest of cracks appearing around her eyes and the corners of her mouth. As if reading my mind, Kiera licked the blood from her claws and almost at once, those tiny cracks faded away.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“For now,” she said, glancing back over her shoulder at the police vehicles which were now screaming to a halt at the level crossing. The dawn sky pulsated blue and red as the emergency vehicles made the Whoop! Whoop! sound.
Kayla swept out of the sky and settled beside us, as Sam bounded up from the tracks. His claws made a clacking sound along the roof as he came leaping towards us.
“We can’t just fly out of here,” I said, withdrawing my wings into my back.
“Why not?” Kayla said, her own wings buzzing behind her.
I looked at her and had to stop myself from telling Kayla what Murphy had told me. His words went around in my head as I remembered what he had said.
The wolves have been waiting for hundreds of years for an angel to come, Murphy had explained. All they know is that this angel with wings will be female and will be aided by four others. They believe that she will come and destroy the Treaty that exists between them and the humans and will eventually destroy the wolves. They don’t know her name or when she will come. All they know is that this angel will be dead already.
With Murphy’s voice ringing in my ears, I looked at Kayla and said, “This world doesn’t have human-looking creatures that have wings...”
before I’d the chance to finish my lame excuse, one of the police vehicles’ back doors was thrown open. At first I thought the low rumbling sound I could hear was thunder rolling in across the hills that surrounded us. The morning sky was clear; the storm clouds had long since passed. I looked at the police van again with its doors open and realised the sound was coming from within it.
Slowly, the others turned to look back in the direction of the deep booming noise. We watched as the creatures climbed from the back of the police van. They looked like wolves, but they walked upright like men. Their giant paws swung against their knees, and each of them had wide open jaws which were lined with rows of jagged teeth. Their crimson eyes burnt bright within their colossal skulls. These were the creatures which had been sent to hunt us and kill Isidor, the humans – freaks – that had failed to be matched correctly with the wolves. They had been left deranged, wild, and crazed. They were half wolf-half human
–
neither
species
claiming
responsibility for them.
“Berserkers,” I whispered and looked at Sam.
Chapter Five
Kiera
I watched the creatures spill from the back of the police van. They sniffed the air with long, pointed snouts and made woofing sounds deep within their throats. Even the other Skin-walkers that were present seemed to shy away from them. Then from the back of the van climbed several other police officers. These were dressed from head to foot in thick, black, padded armour, like riot officers. Their faces were covered in masks, which had metal grills covering their features. It was then I noticed that each of these officers held what looked like reins in their gloved fists. The reins were attached to collars which circled the berserkers’ scrawny throats. I had known several police dog handlers on the force back in the other world before it had got pushed.
However, none of them had ever handled such wild and furious-looking beasts as the berserkers.
“There are too many of them,” I said over my shoulder at the others. “If they set those things loose, then we’re...”
Before I’d had the chance to finish what I was saying, the cops were leading the yapping and snarling berserkers along the tracks towards us like a pack of bloodhounds.
“Wings in!” Potter snapped.
“But...” Kayla started.
“We can’t afford to let them see us like this,” Potter barked, looking at me. I hadn’t seen it often, but I could see fear in his eyes. I didn’t believe it was in fear of the berserkers, but something else.
With the sound of the woofing and howling behind me, I glanced back to see the berserkers and the handlers racing along the tracks below us. The cops’ radios crackled as frantic messages screeched out into the night.
Then as one, the officers released the leashes on the berserkers and set them free. At an incredible speed, the berserkers raced forward. Within moments they were scampering and clawing their way up the side of the train carriages and bounding towards us.
“Run!” Potter roared, turning and racing away along the roof of the train.
“Run where?” I yelled after him.
Together we raced away, the sound of the berserkers’ claws scratching at the roof of the train. I looked back and saw streams of drool, turned silver in the morning light, spray from their snarling jaws. Then, behind them, I saw one of the police vans break free from the others and come racing alongside the train. With emergency lights blazing and sirens screaming, the van raced towards us. Looking front, and fearing that it was filled with more of those terrifying berserkers, I sped up. Potter, Kayla, and Sam raced ahead of me, but we were fast running out of train. From the corner of my eye, I saw the police van draw level with us. It slowed, then, unable to believe what I was seeing, Murphy lent through the open window.
With his thick, white hair blowing back off his brow, and pipe dangling from the corner of his mouth, he roared up at us, “What are you waiting for, you fucking Muppets! Jump!”
Potter leapt from the train first, followed by Kayla and Sam. Still wondering if my eyes were deceiving me, but praying they weren’t, I looked back once more as the berserkers lunged at me. Then I jumped. I landed on top of the police van as it bumped and listed over the ballast.
Pieces of grey stone flew up from beneath the wheels of the van as it crunched over the tracks, and away from the train. Potter was punching his fist into the roof of the van. Then with his claws out, he made a circular motion, cutting a hole in the metal roof.
Then, peeling it back like a can of sardines, he looked up at Kayla and Sam and shouted, “Get inside!”
The van skidded to the right, and I flew sideways, the heels of my boots teetering on the edge of the van.
“Easy, tiger!” Potter snapped, taking hold of my hand and pulling me to safety.
The berserkers had leapt from the train and were now racing alongside the van. They snapped and clawed at the side of it, trying to hold on with their bony claws. In Potter’s arms, I peered over the edge of the van to see one of the berserkers take hold of the handle on the driver’s door. It flew open and again I saw the driver, who I thought looked like Murphy, as he nearly fell out of the speeding vehicle. Then lashing out with his leg, he drove his foot into the berserker’s muzzle.
“Get away, you filthy mutt!” Murphy roared, as he drove his foot repeatedly into the upturned and snarling face of the berserker.
I wanted to believe it was Murphy – but somehow, I couldn’t. The last time I had seen him was beneath the Fountain of Souls, where he had been betrayed by Jack Seth. Those images of him being fed to the wolves still haunted my nightmares. I glanced down again, still not believing what I was seeing. It wasn’t the sound of his gruff voice, his thick shock of white hair, or even the waft of pipe smoke which finally convinced me that my friend was back from the dead – it was the sight of his slippered foot smashing repeatedly into the snout of the berserker. Murphy had been the only police officer I had ever known who carried out his duties while wearing a pair of carpet slippers.
“That’s Murphy!” I squealed at Potter.
“I know,” he said back.
“What do you mean you know?” I asked him.
“I can recognise my old sergeant when I see him,” he said, guiding me to the hole he’d made in the roof.
“I thought you’d
be...” I started.
“What?” he said, staring into my eyes.
“Pleased,” I breathed. “I know how much you’ve missed him.”
Potter looked away, but in that moment just before he did, I saw that look in his eyes – the one I couldn’t quite describe, other than he was keeping something back from me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, taking him by the arm and forcing him to look at me.
“We need to talk,” he said, then disappeared into the hole.
I climbed in behind him as the van rattled and shook. Behind the driver’s seat there was room enough for a small unit of police officers.
Kayla sat in one of the seats, her mouth open as she stared at Murphy. Sam sat beside her, staring back out of the window as we sped away from the berserkers and their handlers. The sound of the sirens above us was deafening. Potter climbed into the front seat next to Murphy. He said something to him, but I couldn’t hear what it was he said. Everything was wrong with this picture, and I didn’t need to be able to see things to know it.
Potter wasn’t the kind of guy who showed his feelings that often, but I knew how much the death of Murphy had hurt him, so I at least expected him to look just a little surprised at Murphy rising from the dead. I looked at Potter and could see he looked more pissed off than happy at Murphy’s return. Murphy glanced in the wing mirror, then at Potter.
“We’re not out of trouble yet,” Murphy barked. “We’ve got two police vehicles in pursuit.”
Then, as if never being apart, Potter nodded at his old sergeant as if knowing exactly what to do. He scrambled out of his seat and came into the back of the vehicle where I sat watching him. Without making eye contact, he brushed past me. Holding onto the side of the van to keep himself from toppling over, Potter raised one leg and kicked open the rear doors. They flew apart and I could see the train way off in the distance. The berserkers were some way behind, and unable to keep up with us. Just like Murphy had warned, there were two police cruisers racing just inches from the back of the van. The driver of one of the vehicles lurched the police cruiser forward, its reinforced bumper ramming into the back of the van. We skidded sideways across the narrow country road we were now on.
“What are you waiting for, Potter?
Fucking Christmas?” Murphy roared from up front.
Without saying anything, Potter threw me a sideways glance, and then flung himself from the back of the van. The windshield of the police vehicle shattered inwards as Potter collided with it. With his claws sprung open, Potter reached in through the broken glass, and in one swift movement, he yanked the driver from his seat and tossed him backwards out of the vehicle. I watched the cop hurtle through the air towards me. Ducking, the cop landed in the back of the van. After being momentarily stunned, he shook his head from side to side, and then started to change form. With his eyes blazing yellow, the transforming Skin-walker jumped to its feet.
Murphy threw the van violently to the right.
Fearing that the vehicle might just topple over, I dug my claws into the nearest seat and with my free hand, I swiped at the Skin-walker. It snarled and leapt away. Murphy swung the van to the left, throwing the Skin-walker back towards me. With my claws held out before me, the Skin-walker became impaled on them. My hand felt suddenly hot inside the creature, and it snapped its giant jaws just inches from my face. I clenched its innards in my fists, and twisted my arm to the right. The Skin-walker’s burning eyes bulged in their sockets as it howled in pain. Then it collapsed on top of me, sending me sprawling to my arse.
My head and shoulders hung out from the back of the van, the side of my face just inches from the ground. Long lengths of my hair brushed over the surface of the road and whipped around the wheels.
The dead Skin-walker was a crushing weight on top of me, and with my hand still trapped inside the creature, I couldn’t lever it off me. Fearing that my hair would become entangled around the spinning wheels and drag me beneath them, I screamed for help. Sam and Kayla came to my rescue, heaving the giant wolf from me. My fist made a squelching sound as it came out from within the Skin-walker. With one swift kick, Kayla ejected the dead creature from the back of the police van. It rolled and bounced onto the road, where it disappeared beneath the wheels of the police car which Potter was now driving. Taking me by the arm, Sam pulled me to my feet.
“Are you okay?” he woofed.
“I guess,” I said, looking back at Potter as he raced towards us. The police car which tailed him slammed into the back of his car, forcing him into the rear of our van.
Knowing that if I didn’t act quickly Potter would be sandwiched between the two vehicles, I leapt from the back of the van. I ran over the bonnet of the police vehicle which Potter was fighting desperately to control. I clambered over the roof and the flashing emergency lights, and slid over the trunk and onto the bonnet of the police vehicle behind. With my hair fanning out behind me like blue streaks of lightning, I drove my fist into the windshield. Just like Kristy Hall had attacked my police cruiser back in the Ragged Cove all those months ago, I forced my head and shoulders through the broken windshield and lunged at the cop’s face with my fangs. His flesh came away in thin slices as my fangs slid over the length of his skull. The cop threw his hands to his face, as his snout and whiskers appeared. With my phantom-like heart racing in my chest, I bit and tore at him. His skin fell away just like orange peel, but instead of revealing juicy segments of fruit, the face of a giant wolf appeared. It howled and bit back at me. The police car jack-knifed across the road, throwing me across the bonnet. I sunk my claws into the side of the car as the wolf burst through what was left of the windshield.
With thick clouds of black smoke belching from the engine, I scrambled onto the bonnet of the car.
The wolf spun round in search of me. Spying me in the glare of the pulsating emergency lights, the wolf sprung from the bonnet. Then the vehicle seemed to crumble as the wolf suddenly flew over me. I glanced down to see that Potter had thrown his own vehicle into reverse, smashing into us and throwing the wolf clear.
Only stunned, the wolf rolled onto all fours and came racing back down the centre of the road towards me. I crouched low on the top of the car with my fangs and claws at the ready. Then as the wolf leapt into the air, my wings shot out from within me and I flipped back through the air and over the wolf. It glanced up and howled as if wondering where I had suddenly vanished to. In that moment of confusion, I corkscrewed out of the sky and tore its head from its shoulders. The wolf’s blood spattered my face, and my tongue licked it away from the corners of my mouth. I let go of its head and it dropped through the air like a stone. With my wings closing, I skimmed just inches above the road as I raced back towards Potter. The car he had been driving looked like it had just been pulled from the crusher, and he stood propped against the bonnet with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. His arms and face were covered in streaks of blood, as were mine.
In the distance I could see that Murphy had brought the van to a halt, and the brakes glowed red like two hot coals. He lent from the window and roared at us.
“When you two have quit screwing around, perhaps you would like to come and join us! There’ll be more of those things heading our way.”
I looked at Potter as he took the cigarette from his mouth and flicked it into the bushes.
“Murphy’s right, we should get going,” he said.
Then, looking him straight in his blood-stained face, I said, “You knew he was alive, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he said.
“So why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, as Potter turned to walk away. I couldn’t believe Potter could keep the fact that my friend was alive a secret. How long had he known Murphy was back from the dead? What had Murphy been doing and how long had he been back? More importantly, why had he only seen Potter and not me, Kayla and Isidor? Before Potter had gone a yard, I grabbed his arm and said, “What else haven’t you told me? What other secrets have you b
een keeping from me?”
Murphy pressed on the horn as he leant from the window again. “C’mon!” he roared.
Potter made to move away and again I grabbed him. “What else haven’t you told me?”
Then very slowly, Potter turned to look at me. With that look of fear – or was it sadness – in his eyes, he said, “Your father is alive, Kiera. I’ve seen him.”
I stood and watched Potter walk back towards the police van. Even though my whole body felt bruised and battered from the attack we had just endured, it was nothing compared to the pain I felt inside, knowing that Potter had been keeping the truth about Murphy and my father from me.
Chapter Six
Potter
Murphy drove the van down across the narrow lanes with their tight curves and bends.
There was no other traffic on the road. Vast fields spread out on either side of us, a thin layer of fog hovering like dry-ice over the long grass, the tips of the blades sparkling with dewdrops in the morning light. It was a beautiful morning, and the storm of the previous night had left a crisp winter breeze in its wake. The sky was dove-white, and I wondered if snow was coming.
I turned away from the window and glanced at Murphy. He had a grim look on his face as he stared at the road ahead. The atmosphere in the van was as frosty as the chill wind which buffeted the side of the van. I dared not glance back at the others – at Kiera – I knew she was watching me. I could feel her eyes boring into the back of my head like two pointed screwdrivers. Why had Murphy come back so suddenly? Why hadn’t he sent me some kind of warning so I could figure out what I was going to say to Kiera? She saw most things at the best of times – but Murphy showing up like this was like pointing a giant finger at me. I couldn’t act – I wasn’t even a great liar. How the fuck had Murphy imagined I was going to keep something like this from Kiera? I should’ve never agreed to keep the secret about her father and Murphy coming back from the dead from her.